Papoulakis: Saint Joachim of Vatopaidi (9)

...continued from Part 8

K. Koutsouvelis from Kioni recounted that a certain man from Anogi had been nurturing a bitter hatred for a fellow villager of his, for reasons of honor. Unable to free himself from this passion, he was thinking about taking the mans life and was already planning in his mind how to carrying it out. No one suspected his intentions, and perhaps even the intended victim had no idea of his disposition. One day he was informed that his enemy was in Stavros, and that during the night he would be returning to Anogi. He saw this as a suitable opportunity to wait in ambush in a hidden place, and the moment the man passed by, he would shoot him with his gun.

While blessed Papoulakis was praying for the unfortunate state of all humanity, he was informed by Divine Grace about this mans plan and immediately set off to meet and restrain him. Walking quietly and carefully, the Elder silently and suddenly approached the would-be murderer, who was poised with his finger on the trigger. Having disarmed him, he gave him a severe reprimand, reminding him of the consequences of murder in both the present and the future life. As soon as he brought him to his senses, he told him they were going home. He did not take him, however, to his own home, but to the home of his enemy, whom he had narrowly missed killing. At this meeting, with fatherly concern and true affection, the blessed peacemaking Elder brought about their reconciliation; afterwards, he instructed that a meal be prepared. Thus, through the miraculous intervention of Papoulakis, a lasting peace was restored between enemies whose differences would have been resolved with death.

***

Katerina C. Paizi and L. Ventouras from Vathy related that during the year 1848 a great famine struck Ithaki, particularly in the outlying regions of the island. They milled whatever they could find: legumes, nuts, wild broad beans, and whatever else seemed suitable to alleviate their hunger. Then, against all hope, a vessel from Galaxeidi docked at Ithaki bearing a cargo of maize corn. Papoulakis was eager to pay for it himself in order to share it out among the people. This intervention of the holy Elder was primarily intended to block the traders craving to buy the produce in order to ruthlessly exploit the people, especially the poor, in the black market. He then notified the people that each person should bring a container in order to receive a portion of the corn; this process continued for about a week. As soon as the distribution finished, the captain asked for his money, but unfortunately Papoulakis had not yet managed to collect it. Consequently, the captain pressed charges against the Elder with the police, who berated him severely, considering his actions as fraud. With deep humility, the pious Elder asked for a slight deferment, which was granted him. He sent letters to various friends of his and, as an Athonite, to the monastery of his repentance, as well as to the other Athonite abbots, seeking their help. He soon gathered the required amount and gave proof of his fatherly care and providence at the appropriate moment when the poor people needed protection. When he received the money, the ships captain asked forgiveness for his petulance, and at that same moment a strong earth tremor occurred.

***

D. Raftopoulos from Kioni related that in 1867, on the 7th of February, Papoulakis was a guest at the home of D. Raftopoulos in Kioni. That night, he rose from his sleep in an alarmed state. He woke the woman of the house and informed her that a severe trial, some great misfortune, was on its way. He prompted her to light a fire and to incense the house, and instructed that all should begin to pray. Everyone immediately complied with Papoulakis instruction and prayed as he was able. Around dawn, a major earthquake occurred on Ithaki and Kefallonia (Cephalonia), which continued to recur until July with great damage and destruction in the area.

***

Efstathios Karatzis (Trakalos) from Kioni described how Papoulakis saved three shipwrecked men with his boldness before God. He prophesied their rescue to their relatives, who had given them up for dead and were already holding memorial services for them. The blessed Elder prophesied that they were alive and on Malta, and that the British newspapers would be writing about their rescue, which indeed happened. A few days later, they returned to Ithaki alive and unharmed.

***

Dedomenikos of Vathy recounted that a man from Anogi had a strange habit that he maintained scrupulously, to the detriment of his soul. He kept it secret, however, never letting anyone learn of this activity of his. Having a resentful character, he kept a detailed record in a notebook of anyone who had ever wronged him according to his judgment in order to take revenge when the opportunity would present itself. But this did not escape the clairvoyant Elder. One day Papoulakis visited him at his home, and the man welcomed him with joy. The discreet Elder began counseling him about love and depicting for him the destruction that results from resentment and revenge. At certain points during his admonition, he revealed the mans evil intentions and mentioned the notebook he was keeping. Hearing these revelations, the fellow was shaken, because no one had known about these things. The Elder thus persuaded him to destroy the notebook, replacing it instead with love.

***

Georgios Paizis, a public secretary of Kioni, related that one of the final things that the ever-memorable Papoulakis achieved, with the help of Divine Grace, was a reconciliation with his own bitter and lifelong enemy, a certain G. Tsapralis. Indifferent by character and caught up in the maze of his business ventures, the man did not like the blessed Elder and influenced the bishop of the area at that time, Gavriil (Gabriel), to exile Papoulakis to his monastery. His persecutors wife Eriphili, however, was a pious and faithful woman who esteemed the Elder. When the Elder was approaching his end, a multitude of people drew near him with tears to receive his blessing and to assist him with whatever they could. The Elder declined all their offers, saying that he was awaiting death and that there was nothing more that he needed. To everyone he was continuously bestowing blessing and prayers. As soon as Eriphili, the wife of the merchant Tsapralis, hastened with devotion to take his blessing, he spoke to her about kindness and, at the same time, asked what was happening with the boat of their nephew Kravaris. The woman responded, "The ship has been lost, Elder; moreover, we believe that he himself went down with it, which has left all of us in deep grief." "No, my daughter", Papoulakis told her, "the ship is safe and will soon arrive in the harbor, but I will then no longer be in this life. At that hour you will be taking me for my burial." Then the people asked him what they could bring him, and he replied with a winsome smile, "If I had an apple, I would eat it."

Everyone was wondering where an apple could be found at such a time of the year during February. Bear in mind that at that time they were not able to store fruit as they do today. Mrs. Eriphili remembered that, more than a year before, she had saved nine apples in a drawer, but doubted whether one of them would still be in good condition. She set off for home and told her husband about this and about the prediction regarding the ship. This callous and implacable detractor of Papoulakis then said to his wife, "If you find a good apple then I'll believe that he's a holy man, and Ill pay him homage." Mrs. Eriphili indeed opened her cabinet and found all the apples spoiled that she had saved except for one, which was as red and juicy as if it had just been picked from the tree. With great joy she showed it to her husband, and the two of them set off to see Papoulakis. With a trembling hand the Elder took the apple and said with compunction, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Lk. 18:27). When he saw his lifelong persecutor appear in the doorway, he said with a joyful voice, "Welcome, Captain Georgis".

Filled with emotion, his former enemy was transformed into a devout admirer and contritely asked forgiveness for all his behavior. The clairvoyant Elder had prayed intently to this end; thus he received with fatherly affection his former detractor as a guileless sheep that had returned to the fold of repentance. He considered this accomplishment of Divine Grace to be the final triumph of his lifelong spiritual effort toward the salvation of his neighbor.

After farewells and devout reverences of many faithful who sensed the Elders impending passing, he bestowed his final admonitions and surrendered his spirit into the hands of God. During the funeral procession with his holy remains, the ship of Nicholas Kravaris arrived in the harbor, just as the Elder had predicted.

***

Margarita Moraiti related that once her aunts mother, Charikleias Priovolou, was traveling down by foot from Lefki, carrying her sick little child in a crib on her head, in order to take him to the doctor in Ithaki. On the way she met Papoulakis, who asked her where she was going. "I'm taking the child to the doctor, my dear Papoulakis, because hes very sick." Papoulakis made the sign of the Cross over him and said, "Your child doesn't have anything wrong with him", and indeed he became completely well.

She continued to welcome Papoulakis without mentioning anything about it to him, and as usual would always prepare a meal for him. The situation was revealed to Papoulakis, by the Grace of God, and he told Garoupho, "Dont let this bother you; and Mitsalou who is slandering us will find the karponi [a bad pimple] in her nose, and no one will be able to greet and kiss her because of the stench". And in fact it happened just as the Saint said it would.

***

Stamatoula Griva from Perahori relates that once when the elderly Mrs. Linardena was cooking greens, Papoulakis asked that she save some for him. The elderly woman readily agreed to fulfill the Elders wish, but she told him with embarrassment that she had no oil. "Take a look and see"; Papoulakis told her, "perhaps there is some left in the jar." Though she responded that she had emptied out the vessel and washed it, the holy man once again prompted her to go and take another look, trusting in God. When she did in fact take another look and found the vessel full of oil, she marveled at the mans boldness before God. Papoulakis instructed her not to reveal this to anyone until after his death.


To be continued…Part 10

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The Emptiness of Buddhism

Over the past few days a few articles in the news on Buddhist-style meditation caught my attention which show a growing trend in America.

The first was titled "In the Arizona Desert, Buddhists Will Embark on a Three-Year Silent Retreat". Prolonged silence, they explain, is the only way to reach the deep level of inner awareness required to bring true happiness to the world. However it is not only silence that they are subjecting themselves to, but the attainment of thoughtlessness to escape suffering. Imagine having thoughtlessness as your goal in life? Talk about escapism that denies the realities of life! But then again, for Buddhists life is an illusion so there is no real sense of "reality". As the article explaines, for Buddhists "Life and death had no intrinsic meaning. Instead, reality depended on perception."

The second article was titled "Massachusetts Meditation Center Draws Overstressed Young Adults". This article may seem more mild in its approach, since it seems to only be about young adults of the cyber-generation seeking relief of the stress in their life through meditation. But in essence it is exactly like the first article above, as it says: "Keeping even the most basic forms of communication, like speaking and writing, to a minimum, they meditated in silence, practicing vipassana, or insight meditation, an ancient Buddhist technique that involves focusing one’s attention on the present, on the breath, mind, and body." The goal is the same - to eliminate thoughts through techniques that will essentially help you to escape perceived reality for a reality imperceptable that is found deep within oneself.

To be thoughtless through meditation may help someone appear to escape suffering and stress, but it denies human reason and higher values to the point where you risk even losing your humanity - let alone deny the existence of God outside of oneself. Many like to compare Buddhism with Christianity or with the Orthodox practice of Hesychasm, but the two are so polar opposite that one would have to go to great lengths to make such comparisons appear non-contradictory. But then again, the law of non-contradiction does not appear in this type of Eastern philosophy because if it did it would make it totally unreasonable.

I also read a very interesting and fascinating account of a man who lives nearby me in Brookline who put years into practicing Zen Buddhism. His experience is a complete exposure of the dangers and falsehoods inherent in Buddhism and the utter contradiction it has with Christianity. Though its sort of long, I encourage you to read his testimony titled "Zen and the Art of Not Knowing God".

In the book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, the blessed Fr. Seraphim of Platina exposes the dangers of this "New Spirituality" which invaded America in the 20th century and merely rehashed these old world Asian philosophies. He spoke from experience, having himself turned away from Buddhist and Taoist philosophy towards the pastures and living waters of Orthodox Christianity. He writes and warns:

Other examples of the new Eastern cults in the West could be multiplied; each year finds new ones, or new transformations of old ones. In addition to the overtly religious cults, the last decade especially has seen an increase of secular "consciousness cults," as one popular newsmagazine calls them (U.S. News and World Report, Feb. 16, 1976, p. 40). These "mindtherapy" groups include the "Erhard Seminars Training" established in 1971, "Rolfing," "Silva Mind Control," and various forms of "encounter" and "biofeedback," all of which offer a "release of tensions" and a "tapping of the hidden capabilities" of man, expressed in a more or less plausible 20th-century "scientific" jargon. One is reminded also of other "consciousness" movements that have become less fashionable today, from "Christian Science" to "Science of Mind" to "Scientology."

All these movements are incompatible with Christianity. Orthodox Christians must be told absolutely to stay away from them.

Why do we speak so categorically?

1. These movements have no foundation in Christian tradition or practice, but are purely the product of Eastern pagan religions or of modern spiritism, more or less diluted and often presented as "non-religious." They not only teach wrongly, not in accordance with Christian doctrine, about spiritual life; they also lead one, whether through pagan religious experiences or psychic experiments, into a wrong spiritual path whose end is spiritual and psychic disaster, and ultimately the loss of one's soul eternally.

2. Specifically, the experience of "spiritual quietness" which is given by various kinds of meditation, whether without specific religious content (as is claimed by "TM," some forms of Yoga and Zen, and the secular cults) or with pagan religious content (as in Hare Krishna, the "Divine Light Mission," "31-10," etc.), is an entrance to the "cosmic" spiritual realm where the deeper side of the human personality enters into contact with actual spiritual beings. These beings, in man's fallen state, are first of all the demons or fallen spirits who are closest to man. Zen Buddhist meditators themselves, despite all their cautions about spiritual "experiences," describe their encounters with these spirits (mixed with human fantasies), all the while emphasizing that they are not "clinging" to them.

3. The "initiation" into experiences of the psychic realm which the "consciousness cults" provide involves one in something beyond the conscious control of the human will; thus, once having been "initiated," it is often a very difficult thing to untangle oneself from undesirable psychic experiences. In this way, the "new religious consciousness" becomes an enemy of Christianity that is much more powerful and dangerous than any of the heresies of the past. When experience is emphasized above doctrine, the normal Christian safeguards which protect one against the attacks of fallen spirits are removed or neutralized, and the passiveness and "openness" which characterize the new cults literally open one up to be used by demons. Studies of the experiences of many of the "consciousness cults" show that there is a regular progression in them from experiences which at first are "good" or "neutral" to experiences which become strange and frightening and in the end clearly demonic. Even the purely physical side of psychic disciplines like Yoga are dangerous, because they are derived from and dispose one towards the psychic attitudes and experiences which are the original purpose of Yoga practice.

The seductive power of the "new religious consciousness" is so great today that it can take possession of one even while he believes that he is remaining a Christian. This is true not only of those who indulge in the superficial syncretisms or combinations of Christianity and Eastern religions which have been mentioned above; it is true also of an increasing number of people who regard themselves as fervent Christians. The profound ignorance of true Christian spiritual experience in our times is producing a false Christian "spirituality" whose nature is closely kin to the "new religious consciousness.

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Panagia Plataniotissa: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (2)

The love Greeks have for the Panagia, and in return the love the Panagia has for the Greeks, is manifested through the numerous churches and monasteries dedicated to her throughout Greece. Out of 8660 parishes in Greece, 1900 are dedicated to the Theotokos; and of the 490 monasteries of Greece, 170 honor her as their protectress. And one of the most beautiful and astonishing shrines of the Panagia is found in a small village of Kalavryta known as Plataniotissa.

The history of this shrine goes back to the year 840 during the dark days of iconoclasm. It was at this time that the most famous shrine of Kalavryta, the Monastery of Mega Spelaion (Great Cave), was torched. This Monastery was built in a very large cave five centuries earlier which in apostolic times served as a church in which the Apostle Luke celebrated the Divine Liturgy and according to tradition sculpted the miraculous image of the most pure Virgin known as Mega Speliotissa. During the torching of the Monastery, its beloved icon and its treasures were preserved.

As the church of the Monastery was being rebuilt, the abbot of Mega Spelaion took the sacred icon and went to Patras and Aigio to preach the Orthodox faith. When the church was rebuilt, he planned to return and restore the icon in its temple.

That same year, as the monks from Mega Spelaion Monastery were returning from their sojourn in Patras, they spent the night by the bank of the river in the village of Klapatsouna (as it was called back then). It was on this spot in the fourth century that the founders of the Monastery of Mega Spelaion, Saints Symeon and Theodore, beheld in a vision the three Apostles who in their lifetimes preached and established churches in that area of Achaia - Sts. Paul, Andrew and Luke. This is where these Apostles instructed Sts. Symeon and Theodore to find a shepherd girl named Efrosyne who would lead them to the site of the ancient church and sacred icon. Thus while resting in this same spot, the monks decided to hide the Mega Speliotissa icon in the hollow of a plane tree to protect it from the iconoclasts.

In the morning the monks arose to find a miraculous wonder. The spot where they had left the icon there was found an imprint of the image in the hollow of the hard surface of the plane tree, and this identical image was bathed in light. This remarkable phenomenon of the imprint is preserved to this day and a chapel now resides in the hollow of the tree.

The chapel can be found on the way from Kalavrita to Aigio via Pteri, at around 30km from Kalavrita. In a beautiful green location with abundant spring waters flowing around, the small chapel of Panagia Plataniotissa (All Holy Virgin of the Plane Tree) is tucked inside the hollow of a large plane tree. Its an amazing and unique natural phenomenon which was created when three plane trees sprung out close to each other and over the course of time they united. These three plane trees which have been united as one are considered by the faithful as being an image of the Holy Trinity, while the four plane trees which surround them symbolize the four Gospels.

This historical plane tree measures 25m in height, its base circumference is 16m, and around its middle it measures 12.65m. The hollow can fit approximately twenty people. The sacred imprint of the icon of the Virgin Mary is depicted on the tree’s bark 3m above the ground. An altar area with iconostasion is set up for the service of the Divine Liturgy. On the southeastern wall of the tree is the only window which together with the door bring in sunlight. The iconography within the chapel was done in 1740, and although has amateur characteristics, it encourages a sense of piety and faith among visitors.

Many miracles are done here for the faithful by the grace of the Panagia. Within the hollow are gifts of metalic images which bear testimony to the miraculous powers of the imprinted image. It is also said that on August 23rd each year, which commemorates both the apodoseis of the Dormition feast as well as the day on which the Monastery of Mega Spelaion was founded, a luminous sphere of light descends from the area of the Monastery and comes to envelope the plane tree. This phenomenon causes many to sleep outdoors by the Plataniotissa Chapel, so that they might catch a glimpse of the holy light.

The feast day of the Plataniotissa Chapel is officially celebrated on September 8th each year, to honor the Nativity of the Theotokos. Hundreds gather from throughout Greece to participate in the festivities.

Κοντάκιον τῆς Πλατανιωτίσσης.
Ἦχος πλ. δ´. Τῇ Ὑπερμάχῳ.

Ἡ τῶν Πλατάνων ἀπειρόκαλη μονάζουσα,
ὡς τῶν θηρίων ὠμοιώθη ἡ Βασίλισσα,
ἐν κρύπτῃ δένδρων διεβίωσεν ὡς τοῦ τέλους.
Ἀπηρνήθη τὰ τοῦ θρόνου δικαιώματα
καὶ ἐνεδύθη τοῦ χειμῶνος τὴν λευκότητα.
Αὐτῇ καὶ ἡμεῖς κραυγάζομεν·
χαῖρε Παναγία Πλατανιώτισσα.

The imprinted image of Megalo Spelaiotissa

Read Part One here...Read Part Three here.

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New Atheists vs. Framing Atheists: ID Perspective

Fraticide: New Atheists vs. Framing Atheists

Michael Egnor
August 27, 2009
Discovery News

As of late there has been a lot of spittle passed between two camps in the Darwin-sphere. Things are getting really nasty, as so often happens among atheist factions.

On one side are the new atheists: Coyne, Harris, Dawkins, Dennett, Myers.

On the other side are the … well for want of a better word — the "framing" atheists: Ruse, Mooney, Kirshenbaum, Nisbet, Scott.

With the exception of a few theist Darwinians (an oxymoron, I know) like Ken Miller, the motivation of the combatants seems to be the same: how to best advance an atheist-Darwinian understanding of man and nature. The factions differ on tactics.

The new atheists advocate militancy. They believe:

1) The scientific method is the proper tool for acquiring all knowledge. (Which is self-contradictory, because this positivist assertion is itself a philosophical, not a scientific, inference.)

2) Science, properly understood, proves atheism true (which is, of course, nonsense. The obvious and inescapable inference to formal and final causation in nature — the governance of nature — implies the primacy of a Mind that transcends the natural world).

3) Religion is a scourge on mankind (actually, men have been always and everywhere disposed to evil. The most radical evil known to man has been atheism in power — cf. the Reign of Terror, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, etc…).

4) Totalitarian methods, such as denial of positions of leadership based on religious beliefs (e.g. Francis Collins) and expulsion of skeptics (e.g. Ben Stein's Expelled), are necessary to advance atheism, particularly in science.

The framing atheists advocate tactical savvy. They believe:

1) The scientific method cannot be applied to non-scientific domains of inquiry.

2) Atheism and Darwinism are true for philosophical reasons, but science is best conducted without explicit reference to metaphysics.

3) The impact of religion on mankind is mixed, and it is imperative to preserve the good (Christian ethics) and exclude the bad (creationism).

4) Totalitarian methods, which are inherent to atheism-in-practice, should be eschewed, for tactical as well as (perhaps) moral reasons.

It’ll be interesting to see how the struggle between the new atheists and the framing atheists works itself out. I have no doubt that the new atheist approach is of considerable help to the ID movement. New atheism is an amalgam of all that is odious about atheism: self-aggrandizing arrogance, ignorance of even the rudiments of philosophy or theology or history, and the inexorable recourse to censorship, professional destruction, and other totalitarian methods. The only way in which the new atheists make the theist job harder in this debate is that the new atheists are so radically explicit that they’re difficult to satirize.

Framing atheists are much more difficult to deal with. They are less likely to be practicing scientists, but they are much savvier about the effective advancement of their ideology. The only way that atheism can advance is if it is implicit in cultural change, not explicit. That is why Darwinism has been atheism’s most powerful engine, bar none. The assertion that there is no God and therefore no teleology in nature is, to thoughtful men, transparent nonsense; it can only be advanced by cloaking it in ‘science’ — ill-defined concepts such as ‘evolution’ serve nicely, and have been remarkably effective.

Framing atheists understand this. Philosopher Michael Ruse is a likeable fellow, but his muddled thinking on the Intelligent Design-Darwinism debate is no more correct or even coherent than that of his feral new atheist interlocutors. But Ruse does have the sense to see that Darwinism fails when it is marketed as a totalitarian religion, and that the only way to advance Darwinian atheism and materialism in our culture is to be less than explicit about its (quite obvious) characteristics and implications. Chris Mooney, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Matt Nisbet, and Eugenie Scott understand the marketing tactics needed to advance the atheist world-view as well. I suspect that their critique of the new atheists has little to do with principle; if new atheism were clearly successful in advancing its agenda, the framers would be quietly enjoying atheism’s growing ideological hegemony, and would raise no objections at all to its ugly tactics. But the framers see the iceberg approaching, and they realize that atheism will fail if it is explicit and tries to advance using the totalitarian methods inherent to it.

New atheists' candor has forced framing atheists to do salvage work. But what framing atheists need to ask themselves is this: is atheism worth saving? Perhaps the foundation of existence is a Mind, and not mere matter.

Perhaps teleology in nature is real.

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Blood of St. Januarius Won't Be Kissed This Year Because of Swine Flu

St. Januarius the Hieromartyr (Feast Day - April 21); icon is from St. Nicholas Monastery, Ft. Myers, Florida, with an embedded relic of the Saint.

[I should note that though St. Januarius (Gannaro) is an Orthodox Saint celebrated on April 21st, it is important to keep in mind that this "miracle" is post-schism (first reported in 1389) and more likely to have a natural explanation or even be a Papal hoax of the time as it has been replicated and explained (and we as Orthodox know that Papal authorities were not above formulating hoaxes!). In nearby Ravello the same thing happens supposedly with the blood of St. Panteleimon. In fact, because St. Panteleimon issued blood mixed with milk after his beheading, the vial in Ravello has blood mixed with milk (which makes this whole phenomenon seem more like a hoax). Interestingly after Vatican II the Catholic Church almost totally removed St. Januarius from the list of saints (because of little historical evidence supporting his story), but popular reactions against this compelled them to keep him there. If it is a hoax I don't believe it is perpetual, but maybe something was added to the vial initially to make it look like a miracle. Keep in mind that in the neighborhood of Naples they also claimed to have the blood of St. John the Baptist, St. Stephen the Protomartyr, St. Patricia, Nicholas of Talentino, Aloysius Gonzaga, and others. There were also reports of the liquefication of the breast milk of the Virgin mary as well as the fat of Thomas Aquinas. In Naples they also possess the relics of St. Januarius. - J.S.]

H1N1 Flu Stops Italians From Kissing Saint's Blood

Naples, Italy
Reuters
08 September 2009

Fear of H1N1 flu will stop devout Neapolitans from performing the time-honoured ritual of kissing the blood of their patron Saint Gennaro when the city's annual festival begins later this month.

The decision to forbid kissing of the glass phial containing the Saint's blood was taken reluctantly by ecclesiastical and city authorities Monday, and has brought protests from local politicians.

The phial will be put on display in the city's cathedral for a week from September 19 and the faithful will be allowed to touch it only with their foreheads.

Marco Di Lello, national co-ordinator of the Socialist Party, said the ban would "fuel the psychosis (over flu) which risks becoming unstoppable," and appealed to the archbishop of Naples to try to have the ban revoked.

Last week, a 51-year-old man became Italy's first fatal victim of the H1N1 flu virus, popularly known as swine flu, when he died in a Naples hospital.

In one of Italy's best-known festivals, Saint Gennaro's dried blood is said to liquefy twice a year, 17 centuries after his death. Some Neapolitans fear disaster may strike the city if the "miracle" does not occur.

Legend has it that when Gennaro was beheaded by pagan Romans in 305 A.D., a Neapolitan woman soaked up his blood with a sponge and preserved it in a glass phial.

The substance usually turns to liquid on September 19, the saint's feast day, and on the first Saturday in May. The "miracle" was first recorded in 1389, more than 1,000 years after Gennaro's martyrdom.

More scientifically minded sceptics say the phenomenon is due to chemicals present in the phial whose viscosity changes when it is stirred or moved.

Italy has not been among the nations hardest hit by the H1N1 flu virus, which has spread to at least 177 countries and caused at least 2,800 deaths, the World Health Organisation says.

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Truth or Hoax: Ossuary of James Going to Trial

The Burial Box of Jesus' Brother: Fraud?

By Matthew Kalman
TIME
Jerusalem
Saturday, Sep. 05, 2009

The world of biblical archaeology was stirred in 2002 by the unveiling of a limestone burial box with the Aramaic inscription Yaakov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua ("James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"). Allegedly dating to an era contemporaneous with Christ, the names were a tantalizing collation of potentially great significance: James was indeed the name of a New Testament personage known as the brother of Jesus, both ostensibly the sons of Joseph the carpenter, husband of Mary. If its dates were genuine, the burial box — or ossuary — could well be circumstantial evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, a tenet supported only by gospels and scripture written, at the earliest, a generation after his crucifixion and, of course, by the faith of hundreds of millions through 2,000 years.

Experts, however, declared the ossuary a modern-day forgery. It was seized by Israeli police and its owner, Tel Aviv collector Oded Golan, was arrested and charged with counterfeiting the ossuary and dozens of other items. Golan and co-defendant Robert Deutsch were put on trial in the Jerusalem District Court in 2005. Deutsch is accused of forging other valuables, though not the ossuary. Both men deny all charges.

Their trial is still continuing. Many of the world's top archaeological experts have testified as both prosecution and defense witnesses in proceedings that already run to more than 9,000 pages. And while the original charges against the ossuary appear to have been popularly accepted as conventional wisdom, they seem to be headed for trouble in the courtroom where the fine reading of law comes into play. Judge Aharon Farkash, who has a degree in archaeology, has wondered aloud in court how he can determine the authenticity of the items if the professors cannot agree among themselves.

The director of the Israel Antiquities Authority will soon take the witness stand for the first time since he declared, in December 2004, that the ossuary and other items seized in a two-year investigation were the "tip of the iceberg" of an international conspiracy that placed countless fakes in collections and museums around the world. He promised more arrests. But, while there is much evidence to sift through as the case stands, no other fake items have been seized, no-one else has been arrested, and Judge Farkash has hinted strongly that the prosecution case is foundering.

Next week, defense attorneys will take on one technical aspect, presenting evidence suggesting that scientists testifying for the prosecution have disproved their own findings against the ossuary. The scientific evidence against Golan is largely based on measurements of the oxygen isotopic composition (in technical terms, d18O — Delta 18 Oxygen) of the thin crust — or patina — covering the ossuary inscription.

Scientists are unsure exactly how the patina is formed but most agree it is composed of deposits of solid calcium carbonate that come by way of rain or groundwater. It can contain particles added by wind and perhaps biological. Additionally, depending on the levels of acidity, it may also involve a chemical reaction with the surface of the object. Some scientists say the process is similar to the way stalagmites grow in caves; others disagree.

Testifying for the prosecution, Miryam Bar-Matthews and Avner Ayalon from the Geological Survey of Israel recorded isotopic values as low as -10.2 permil (parts per thousand) in patina found within the inscription on the ossuary. (It is believed that the lower the number permil, the wetter the season was when it was created.) "The patina could not have been created in the Judean Hills or the surrounding area in a natural way," Bar-Matthews told the court in October 2007. With the exception of one letter in the word Yeshua ("Jesus"), she said, "the patina in the other letters is not natural."

Bar-Matthews and Ayalon based on their research on stalagmites in a cave near Jerusalem, where isotopic data showed rainfall and surface temperatures over many centuries, they concluded that the climate in the past 2,000 years could not have produced the patina on the ossuary. As they wrote with Professor Yuval Goren — another prosecution witness and professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University — in the Journal of Archeological Science in 2004, "the patina covering the letters was artificially prepared, most probably with hot water, and deposited onto the underlying letters." The article states: "There is no evidence for the existence of water with such low d18O values in the area during this time span. The range of rain and groundwater d18O values in the Judean Mountains region during the last 3,000 years could not have been lower than approx -6 permil." Pressed by defense counsel, Bar-Matthews declared that an isotopic value lower than -6.5 permil for the ossuary was "impossible."

However, a subsequent paper by Bar-Matthews and Ayalon with their American colleagues Ian Orland and John Valley studied samples from a stalagmite that apparently grew from about 200 B.C. to 1100 A.D. And that showed isotopes as low as -8.5 permil, with annual rainfall in the Roman era reaching double the amounts the scientists had previously calculated. The article, published in the 2009 issue of Quaternary Research, was submitted for publication on October 11, 2007, before Bar-Matthews and Ayalon gave evidence at the ossuary trial.

The defense expects to use these esoteric contradictions against the prosecution when the trial resumes on Sunday. Defense expert Prof Joel Kronfeld of the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University says the new data shatters the prosecution case. "I think this is amazing — it blows my mind," Kronfeld told TIME. "The findings in this study stand in complete contradiction to the assumptions presented by Ayalon and Bar-Matthews, and shed new light on the theory they presented to the court. They not only undercut their own arguments for determining that the patina on several items was not natural but rather quite the opposite. These data can support the authenticity of the items."

Bar-Matthews, however, argues the data from her later study are "irrelevant" to the ossuary trial. She and her colleagues say that the very low values representing wet seasons were "noise" that should not be taken in isolation since patina takes many years to form. Patina's isotopic value would represent an average figure, not just the low winter results. "It's like comparing tomatoes and gloves," Bar-Matthews told TIME. "There is no scenario where we can get light isotopic values below -6 permil also in Jerusalem under natural conditions."

The defense is likely to point out that the tests on the ossuary carried out by Bar-Matthews and Ayalon also found traces of patina in at least two other letters of the inscription with isotopes of -4.65 and -5.82 permil — well within the original range they suggested. Bar-Matthews and Ayalon discounted these results, saying the results had been corrupted either from the limestone of the box or from a nearby crack that had been recently repaired.

The trouble with this kind evidence is, of course, that the formation of patina isn't yet explainable in science everyone can agree on. The patina on one letter could be the result of one particularly wet winter that happened to leave its evidence on the ossuary — but perhaps not in a stalagmite in a cave. Or vice versa. "The analogy between the formation of cave deposits and the formation of patina on archeological objects is imprecise and more work is needed," says Professor Aldo Shemesh, an isotope expert at the Weizmann Institute who was also called as a defense expert. In the end, using this kind of evicence is a numbers game — figuring on averages of statistics over which all the experts disagree. Says Shemesh: "Scientific debates should be discussed and resolved in peer-reviewed literature and scientific conferences, not in court."

In his court, Judge Farkash will have a trial-full more of other evidence to figure what the "facts" are in this case, including examples of other half-finished alletedly ancient artifacts. So, even if the science of patinas leads the court nowhere, the pious may still in the end have to rely on their faith for the certainty of things unseen.

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Ochrid Tragedy Blamed on Madonna by Bulgarian Bishop

Bulgaria Bishop: God's Wrath over Madonna Concert Caused Ochrid Tragedy

September 6, 2009
Novinite.com

The Plovdiv Metropolitan, Nikolai, served Sunday a liturgy for the 15 Bulgarians who drowned Saturday in Lake Ochrid in Macedonia.

The 15 were on the tour boat "Ilinden" in their way to the St. Naum Monastery, when it went underwater. All passengers on the ship were Bulgarians, 40 survived the accident.

The Council of Ministers declared Monday, September 7, a National Day of Mourning, and canceled all Sunday events dedicated to the 124th anniversary of the unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia. The official celebration is traditionally held in the city of Plovdiv because the unification was declared there in 1885.

The only events that took place all over Bulgaria Sunday were the services for those who died in Lake Ochrid the previous day.

Over 200 people gathered Sunday morning at the Plovdiv Cathedral. According to its sexton, the cathedral had never before seen such day of mourning. Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov, and the Speaker of the Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, attended the memorial service for the victims.

During the mass, the Plovdiv Metropolitan, Nikolai, hinted that God had punished Bulgarians over their many sins including celebrating and partying too much on August 29 (the day of the concert of pop diva Madonna in Sofia) instead of mourning for St. John the Baptist.

The Eastern Orthodox believe that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, thus serving as a bridge between that period of revelation and the New Covenant. They also teach that, following his death, John descended into Hades and there once more preached that Jesus the Messiah was coming, so he was the Forerunner of Christ in death as he had been in life.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, August 29 is the day of the beheading of St. John the Forerunner.

A solemn laying of the wreath at the "Unification Monument" with military honors, but without fireworks, will still be held in Plovdiv Sunday evening. Tsetska Tsacheva and the Plovdiv Mayor, Slavcho Atanasov, will attend the ceremony.


Bulgarian Church 'Blames' Madonna Concert for Boat Deaths

September 9, 2009
The Telegraph (UK)
By Matthew Day

A senior figure in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has suggested that a wrathful God, angry with Bulgarians attending a Madonna concert, may have had a hand in a recent boating tragedy that claimed the lives of 15 of his countrymen.

Nikolai, the metropolitan of Bulgaria's second biggest city, Plovdiv, linked the disaster, which occurred on Lake Ochrid in Macedonia on September 5, to the behaviour of Bulgarians who attended the concert.

"The catastrophe in Macedonia in which 15 Bulgarian citizens died was a sign from heaven," said the Metropolitan in a special memorial liturgy for the victims.

Nikolai stressed that the day of the Madonna concert, August 29, had coincided with a holy day commemorating the beheading of John the Baptist, and therefore was not a day for enjoyment.

"The Orthodox Church had called for people not to enjoy themselves on the day marking the execution of John," he added. "We should not allow the young to have fun on a day that should be dedicated to spiritual reflection."

Bulgaria's clergy had led vocal opposition to the American's singer concert once it became known that she would perform on August 29.

The Metropolitan's comments come as the latest controversy to dog Madonna's tour of Europe. She faced similar opposition in Poland from conservative Catholics, opposed to a concert that also happened to fall on a holy day, and in Bucharest she was booed after speaking out on behalf of gipsy rights.


Blame It All on Madonna

Maria Guineva
September 7, 2009
Novinite.com

The tendency to blame others for all miseries is a well known Bulgarian character trait. The bad things that happen to us are never our own fault, always somebody else's. Ill-meaning enemies, bad faith, spells and curse had been casting a shadow over Bulgaria and Bulgarians for centuries.

Thank God, we now have one more scapegoat for the tragedies that seem to follow us - MADONNA!

The Bulgarian Church, which had lost the respect of atheists and most believers, had not been known for its criticism. The local clergy never said a harsh word about the Communist regime during its 45 years of power; in more recent days they kept quiet about the scandals surrounding the so-called Triple Coalition. Well, maybe not... They uttered some outrage once. About Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code."

US pop diva Madonna, however, seems to have turned into the target of their hidden deep inside, and for ages, righteous anger. They voiced it even before her concert in Sofia with demands to cancel it over her disrespectful attitude towards the Christian faith and over the August 29 date, when the Orthodox Church marks the beheading of St. John the Baptist.

Then the tragedy happened. 15 Bulgarian tourists drowned in Lake Ochrid in Macedonia, just a week after the concert, when the 85-year-old tour boat "Ilinden" sunk in the waters on its way to the St. Naum Monastery. All passengers were Bulgarian; 40 survived.

In the tragedy's aftermath, as usual, many tried to grab the spotlight. The Bulgarian Church, in the face of the Plovdiv Metropolitan, Nikolai, did not miss the perfect opportunity to shine either. During a liturgy for the departed, served at the Plovdiv Cathedral the day after the tragedy, and on a glorious (for Bulgaria) historic date, the Unification, he hinted God punished Bulgarians over many sins including celebrating and partying too much on August 29 instead of mourning St. John the Baptist. And just for everyone to make sure what he meant, he confirmed before the TV news channel RE:TV that he was, indeed, targeting Madonna.

Anyone, who has seen the faces of those who were in the group that went to Ochrid or read that they scraped BGN 150 for the trip, knows that those people did not attend the Madonna concert, and no concert at all for that matter. And what should the ones who went to see her, their families, friends and relatives, expect to happen to them after such finger pointing? What will be God's Wrath for them then?

Poor Madonna got blamed for many things: the Ochrid fatalities, bringing traffic in Sofia to a gridlock, destroying the pitch of the National "Vasil Levski" Stadium just before the crucial World Cup qualifier against Montenegro (good thing our football team won, otherwise, only God knows what Madonna would have been accused of...). And, yes, the tickets were too expensive - global financial crisis might be her fault as well...

Bulgaria's Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, has a better idea of the cause of the accident: "Poverty breeds tragedy," he said Monday. How very true! It is, however, also true, that accidents happen and will happen. More so in poor countries, but in some very powerful ones too. The very recent June accident in the Washington DC metro that killed 9 and injured 70 comes to mind. The cause - computer failure and obsolete breaks.

In most accidents, the likely causes seem to be attributed to human error and faulty equipment with poor countries, of course, being more prone to both.

Another unthinkable water tragedy, again in the US, occurred on March 6, 2004, at the time when I happened to be visiting Baltimore: during a sudden storm, the Lady D water taxi capsized in Baltimore's Inner Harbor with 25 on board. Five of them died. The investigation listed the following causes: the weather forecast radar understated the storm and the boat did not have the required stability to carry the load of passengers it took that day.

Five years later, the Maryland authorities gave a thorough account of what has been done: 1. The National Weather Service improved weather radar technology; 2. The Coast Guard now recommends lower limits for the number of people allowed on boats and requires testing passenger vessels for stability regularly instead of only upon launch.

So, better equipment and more control to eliminate killer trains, killer buses, killer boats, and National Days of Mourning - now that's a novel idea! Blame it on Madonna instead.

I am not a Madonna fan, have never been, and did not attend the concert. The truth of the matter is, however, that the event, on top of being a splendid show, was very well organized, just flawless. When I asked two friends of mine about their impressions, one very young, the other in his late fifties, from different educational backgrounds, social and financial status, what both told me, struck me: "For the first time I felt Bulgaria is no longer a poor, oriental country. We made it. We are in the West now. Communism is over!"

I am sure many in Bulgaria think that this is more fun and joy than what Bulgarians should be allowed to experience. But somehow I don't believe God will want to punish us for celebrating the end of Communism...

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Panagia Katsimikados: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (1)

Icon depicting the discovery of the miraculous icon of Panagia Katsimikados

[In Greece today there are 232 churches and monasteries which honor the Nativity of the Theotokos and celebrate their feasts on September 8th. In this series I will give a brief history of a select few over the next few days until the apodoseis of the feast. - J.S.]

Panagia Katsimikados

In the mountains of the district of Kyparissia of Messinia in the region of Pelopponessos lies the Monastery known as Katsimikados (Κατσιμικάδος). It received its name from a miracle which happened there in the year 1000 AD.

A shepherd was tending to his goats (κατσίκες) on the spot where the monastery is today (it did not exist then). This shepherd noticed that one of his small female goats (κατσικάδα in the regional dialect) would leave the others and when it returned its beard was wet even though there was no source of water anywhere near the area. Out of curiosity one day the shepherd followed this goat to see what source of water it had discovered. Finally he noticed his goat go into a bush and soon emerged with a wet beard. Overjoyed the shepherd ran and told the villagers that a well was discovered in the area. Together with the villagers the shepherd helped remove the bush to uncover the well, only to discover an icon which depicted the Nativity of the Theotokos (sources do not tell us if it was found in the water or not). The shepherd then proclaimed: "It is the Panagia and we are the goats" ("η Παναγία είναι της κατσικάδας της εμής"). Because of this the miraculous icon came to be known as Panagia Katsimikados.

We do not know when the monastery was founded exactly, but upon the discovery of the icon a church was built for it and eventually monastics came to inhabit the area. We know the Venetians destroyed it in 1230. In May of 1825 the Egyptian-Turk Imbraem II destroyed it again by fire while 44 monastics escaped to the mountains with its treasures; 43 of which were massacred. In 1837 it was rebuilt from the stones of the area on top of the previous foundation, and 43 years after that its first monk inhabited it once again. In 1923 its 3 monks passed away (one in 1922). After a number of years 3 nuns came to inhabit the monastery and since then it is a female convent.

Entrance

Garden

The interior of the church.

The interior of the church.

The spot where the miraculous icon was found, and today has an oil lamp which burns before the icon night and day.

The beautiful view from the monastery.

Read Part Two here.

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On the Nativity of the Theotokos - Various Church Fathers

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Your birth, O Theotokos, brought joy to the whole world, for from you dawned the sun of righteousness, Christ our God. Freeing us from the curse, He gave us His blessings. Abolishing death, He granted us eternal life.

St. Romanos the Melodist

* O mystery brought about on earth! After the birth, Anna prayed to our God and Maker Who knows all things in advance: "You have heard me, O Lord, as you have heard Hannah who was accused before Eli of being drunk" [1 Sam. 1:14]. She promised Samuel, after his birth, to the Lord to become priest. Just as formerly you have given me too a gift, the barren woman gives birth to the Mother of God and the nurse of our life.

* In your holy birth, Immaculate One, Joachim and Anna were rid of the shame of childlessness; Adam and Eve of the corruption of death. And so your people, free of the guilt of their sins, celebrate crying: "The barren one gives birth to the Theotokos, who nourishes our life."

* Consequently, the tribes of Israel heard that Anna had given birth to the pure Virgin, and they all rejoiced with great gladness. Joachim held a great feast and celebrated splendidly the miraculous birth. And when he had summoned to prayer the priests and the Levites, he placed Mary in the midst of all, in order that she be magnified.


St. Andrew of Crete

* O Bride of the Father, immaculate Mother of the Son, and holy and resplendent temple of the Holy Spirit; O most chaste of all creation, most suitable to His ultimate purpose, on this account the universe was created and, by thy birth, was the eternal will of the Creator fulfilled.

*O Lord, you have opened the womb of Sarah, giving her Isaac as fruit in her old age. Today, O Savior, you have likewise given to godly Anna a fruit born from her womb, even your own Mother without spot.


St. Sergios of Constantinople

* She is the treasure of virginity, the rod of Aaron springing from the root of Jesse, the preaching of the prophets, offshoot of the righteous Joachim and Anna. She is born, and with her is the world become new again. She is born, and the Church clothes herself in majesty. She is the holy temple, the receiver of the Godhead: the instrument of virginity, the bridal chamber of the King, wherein was accomplished the marvelous mystery of the ineffable union of the natures which come together in Christ.


St. Germanos of Constantinople

* As foretold by the angel, today have you come forth, O Virgin, the all-holy offspring of righteous Joachim and Anna...you did destroy the curse and give blessing in its place.

* No more are the gifts of Joachim turned away: for the lament of Anna is changed to joy. "Let all the chosen of Israel rejoice with me," she says, "for behold, the Lord has given me the living Pavilion of His divine glory, unto the joy and gladness of us all and the salvation of our souls.


St. John of Damascus

* The day of the Nativity of the Theotokos is the feast of joy for the whole world, because through the Theotokos the entire human race was renewed and the grief of the first mother Eve was changed into joy. For whereas the latter heard the divine statement, “In pain you shall bring forth children” [Gen. 3:16] the former heard, “Rejoice favoured one!” [Luke 1:28]. The latter heard, “Your recourse shall be towards your husband!” and the former, “The Lord is with you!"

* The holy parents of the Mother of God received from heaven a gift worthy of God, a throne higher than the very cherubim [Is. 6:1; Ez. 1:4] -- she who in childbirth would bear the Word of the Creator.

* The Mother of God was born to us at the holy Sheep Gate. Rejoice, O Sheep Gate, the most holy temple of God's Mother. Rejoice O Sheep Gate, the wall of Joachim's sheep.


St. Stephen the Hymnographer

* Eve declares her daughter and descendent blessed, "for unto me is born deliverance, through which I shall be set free from the bonds of hell."


St. Photios the Great

* The present feast honoring the birth of the Virgin Mother of God easily carries off the glittering prize of seniority against every competitor...for without the Virgin's feast none of those that sprang out would appear...The Virgin's feast, in fulfilling the function of the root, the source, the foundation...takes on with good reason the ornament of all those other feasts, and it is conspicuous with many great boons, and is recognized as the day of universal salvation.

* After God had bestowed on man the enjoyment and mastery over everything in the Garden, it was meet for him who was entrusted with so great authority to be disciplined and trained with some command. However, after transgressing this command, the Creator did not overlook His creatures though they had plunged themselves into such great error. It was needful, therefore, that one Person of the Trinity become man, to make it manifest that the recreation too, like the creation, was their own work. Incarnation entailed a pregnancy and a mother. So it was needful that a mother should be prepared down below for the Creator, for the recreation of shattered humanity. She was to be a virgin, just as the first man had been formed of virgin earth; so the recreation too should be carried out through a virgin womb, and that no transitory pleasure, even lawful, should be as much as imagined in the Creator's birth; for the Lord suffered to be born for the deliverance of him who was a captive of pleasure.

Who then was worthy? Clearly it was she who this day strangely issued from Joachim and Anna, the barren root. It was needful, yea needful, that she who from the very cradle had by a superior reason preserved her body pure, her soul pure, her thoughts pure, should be marked out to be the Creator's Mother.

It was needful that she who had been brought to the temple as an infant, who had trodden the untrodden places, should appear as a living temple for Him Who gave her life. It was needful that she who had been born in a wondrous manner from a sterile womb, and had removed her parents' reproach, should also make good the failure of her forefathers; for she, the descendent, was able to repair the ancestral defeat, who brought forth the Savior of our race by a husbandless birth, and molded His body.

* The Lord's throne (Mary) is being prepared on earth, earthly things are sanctified, the heavenly hosts are mingled with us, and the wicked one, who first deceived us, has his power crushed, as his wiles and devices rot away.


St. Neophytos of Cyprus

* Anna, delivered by the Creator of nature from the bonds of sterility, conceives by her spouse, Mary, a daughter of God. Anna, today gave birth to Mary, the first-fruits of our salvation, the immaculate Mother of God the Word, and the first-fruits of the renewal of our nature that had been aged and tarnished by transgression of the divine precepts.


St. Gregory Palamas

* For her sake, the God-possessed prophets pronounced prophecies, and miracles are wrought to foretell that future great miracle of the world, the Ever-Virgin Mother of God. Generation after generation of vicissitudes and historical events, make a path to their ultimate destination, to the new ministry that will be wrought in her. The rites and laws had provided beforehand a type of the future truth of the Spirit. The end, or rather the beginning and root of those earlier events and wonders of God, is the annunciation to Joachim and Anna, who were accomplished in the virtues, of what was to be accomplished (in their daughter).

* All divinely-inspired Scripture was written for the sake of the Virgin who begat God.

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On the Nativity of the Theotokos - St. Andrew of Crete

Homily on the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God

by Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

The present feastday is for us the beginning of feastdays. Serving as a boundary limit to the law and to foretypes, it at the same time serves as a doorway to grace and truth. "For Christ is the end of the law" (Rom 10:4), Who, having freed us from the writing, doth raise us to spirit. Here is the end (to the law): in that the Lawgiver, having made everything, hath changed the writing in spirit and doth head everything within Himself (Eph 1:10), hath taken the law under its dominion, and the law is become subjected to grace, such that the properties of the law not suffer reciprocal commingling, but only suchlike, that the servile and subservient (in the law) by Divine power be transmuted into the light and free (in grace), "so that we," sayeth the Apostle, "be not enslaved to the elements of the world" (Gal 4:3) and be not in a condition under the slaveish yoke of the writing of the law. Here is the summit of Christ's beneficence towards us! Here are the mysteries of revelation! Here is the theosis [divinisation] assumed upon humankind -- the fruition worked out by the God-man.

The radiant and bright coming-down of God for people ought to possess a joyous basis, opening to us the great gift of salvation. Such like also is the present feastday, having as its basis the Nativity of the Mother of God, and as its purposful end -- the uniting of the Word with flesh, this most glorious of all miracles, unceasingly proclaimed, immeasurable and incomprehensible. The less comprehensible it is, the more it is revealed; and the more it is revealed, the less comprehensible it is. Wherefore the present God-graced day, the first of our feastdays, showing forth the light of virginity and as it were the crown woven from the unfading blossoms of the spiritual garden of Scripture, doth proffer creatures a common joy. Be of good cheer -- sayeth it -- behold, this is the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin and of the renewal of the human race! The Virgin is born, She groweth and is raised up and prepareth Herself to be the Mother of God All-Sovereign of the ages. All this, with the assist of David, makes it for us an object of spiritual contemplation. The Mother of God manifests to us Her God-bestown Birth, and David points to the blessedness of the human race and wondrous co-kinship of God with mankind.

And thus, truly one ought to celebrate the mystery today and to offer to the Mother of God a word by way of gift: since nothing is so pleasing to Her, as a word and praise by word. It is from here also that we receive a twofold benefit: first, we enter into the region of truth, and second, we emerge from the captivity and slavery of the written law. How? Obviously, when darkness vanishes, then light appears; so also here: after the law there follows the freedom of grace.

The present day solemnity is a line of demarcation, separating the truth from its prefigurative symbol, and ushering in the new in place of the old. Paul -- that Divine Trumpeter of the Spirit -- exclaims thus about this: "For anyone that be in Christ, ye are remade a new creature; the old passeth away and behold all is become new" (2 Cor 5:17); "for the law hath perfected nothing adducing for a better hope, whereby we draw nigh to God" (Heb 7:19). The truth of grace hath shown forth brightly.

Let there now be one common festal celebration in both heaven and on earth. Let everything now celebrate, that which is in the world and that beyond the world. Now is made the created temple for the Creator of all; and creation is readied into a new Divine habitation for the Creator. Now our nature having been banished from the land of blessedness doth receive the principle of theosis and doth strive to rise up to the highest glory. Now Adam doth offer from us and for us elements unto God, the most worthy fruit of mankind -- Mary, in Whom the new Adam is rendered Bread for the restoration of the human race. Now is opened the great bosom of virginity, and the Church, in the matrimonial manner, doth place upon it a pure pearl truly immaculate. Now human worthiness doth accept the gift of the first creation and returns to its former condition; the majesty darkened by formless sin -- through the conjoining by His Mother by birth "of Him made beautiful by Goodness," man receives beauty in a most excellent and God-seemly visage. And this creating is done truly by the creation, and recreation by theosis, and theosis by a return to the original perfection! Now a barren one is become beyond expectation a mother, and the Birth-giver hath given birth without knowing man, and she doth sanctify natural birth. Now is readied the majestied color of the Divine scarlet-purple and the impoverished human nature is clothed in royal worthiness. Now -- according to prophecy -- there sprouts forth the Offshoot of David, Who, having eternally become the green-sprouting Staff of Aaron, hath blossomed forth for us with the Staff of Power -- Christ. Now of Judah and David is descended a Virgin Maiden, rendering of herself the royal and priestly worthiness of Him that hath taken on the priesthood of Aaron in the order of Melchisedek (Heb 7:15). Now is begun the renewal of our nature, and the world responding, assuming a God-seemly form, doth receive the principle of a second Divine creation.

The first creation of mankind occurred from the pure and unsullied earth; but their nature darkened the worthiness innate to it, they were deprived of grace through the sin of disobedience; for this we were cast out of the land of life and, in place of the delights of paradise, we received temporal life as our inheritance by birth, and with it the death and corruption of our race. All started to prefer earth to heaven, such that there remained no hope for salvation, beyond the utmost help. Neither the natural nor the written law, nor the fiery reconciliative sayings of the prophets had power to heal the sickness. No one knew how to rectify human nature and by what means it would be most suitable to raise it up to its former worthiness, so long as God the Author of all did not deign to reveal to us another arranged and newly-constituted world, wherein is annihilated the pervasive form of the old poison of sin, and granting us a wondrous, free and perfectly dispassionate life, through our re-creation in the baptism of Divine birth. But how would this great and most glorious blessing be imparted to us, so very in accord with the Divine commands, if God were not to be manifest to us in the flesh, not subject to the laws of nature -- nor deign to dwell with us in a manner, known to Him? And how could all this be accomplished, if first there did not serve the mystery a Pure and Inviolate Virgin, Who contained the Uncontainable, in accord with the law, yet beyond the laws of nature? And could some other virgin have done this, besides she alone, who was chosen before all others by the Creator of nature?

This Virgin is the Mother of God -- Mary, the Most Glorious of God, from the womb of Whom the Most Divine issued forth in the flesh and by whom He Himself did arrange a wondrous temple for Himself. She conceived without seed and gave birth without corruption, since that Her Son was God, though also He was born in the flesh, without mingling and without travail. This Mother, truly, avoided that which is innate to mothers but miraculously fed with milk Her Son, begotten without a man. The Virgin, having given birth to the Seedlessly Conceived-One, remained a Pure Virgin, having preserved incorrupt the marks of virginity. And so in truth She is named the Mother of God; her virginity is esteemed and her birth-giving is glorified. God, having conjoined with mankind and become manifest in the flesh, hath granted Her a unique glory. Woman's nature suddenly is freed from the first curse, and just as the first did bring in sin, so also doth the first initiate salvation also.

But our discourse has attained its chief end, and I, celebrating now and with rejoicing sharing in this sacred feast, I greet you in the common joy. The Redeemer of the human race -- as I said -- willed to arrange a new birth and re-creation of mankind: like as under the first creation, taking dust from the virginal and pure earth, wherein He formed the first Adam, so also now, having arranged His Incarnation upon the earth, -- and so to speak, in place of dust -- He chooses from out of all the creation this Pure and Immaculate Virgin and, having re-created mankind within His chosen-one from amidst mankind, the Creator of Adam is made the New Adam, in order to save the old.

Who indeed was this Virgin and from what sort of parents did she come? Mary, the glory of all, was born of the tribe of David, and from the seed of Joachim. She was descended from Eve, and was the child of Anna. Joachim was a gentle man, pious, raised in God's law. Living prudently and walking before God he grew old without child: the years of his prime provided no continuation of his lineage. Anna was likewise God-loving, prudent, but barren; she lived in harmony with her husband, but was childless. As much concerned about this, as about the observance of the law of the Lord, she indeed was daily stung by the grief of childlessness and suffered that which is the usual lot of the childless -- she grieved, she sorrowed, she was distressed, and impatient at being childless. Thus, Joachim and his spouse lamented that they had no successor to continue their line; yet the spark of hope was not extinguished in them completely: both intensified their prayer about the granting to them of a child to continue their line. In imitation of the prayer heard of Hannah (1 Kings 1: 10), both without leaving the temple fervently beseeched God that He would undo her sterility and make fruitful her childlessness. And they did not give up on their efforts, until their wish be fulfilled. The Bestower of Gifts did not condemn the gift of their hope. The unceasing power came quickly in help to those praying and beseeching God, and it made capable both the one and the other to produce and bear a child. In such manner, from sterile and barren parents, as it were from irrigated trees, was borne for us a most glorious fruition -- the Immaculate Virgin. The constraints of infertility were destroyed -- prayer, upright manner of life -- these rendered them fruitful; the childless begat a Child, and the childless woman was made a happy mother. Thus the immaculate fruition issuing forth from the womb occurred from an infertile mother, and then the parents, in the first blossoming of her growth brought her to the temple and dedicated her to God. The priest, then making the order of services, beheld the face of the girl and of those in front of and behind, and he became gladdened and joyful, seeing as it were the actual fulfillment of the Divine promise. He consecrated her to God, as a reverential gift and propitious sacrifice and, as a great treasury unto salvation, he led her within the very innermost parts of the temple. Here the Maiden walked in the upright ways of the Lord, as in bridal chambers, partaking of heavenly food until the time of betrothal, which was preordained before all the ages by Him Who, by His inscrutable mercy, was born from her, and by Him Who before all creation and time and expanse Divinely begat Him, and together with His consubstantial and co-reigning and co-worshipped Spirit -- this being One Godhead, having One Essence and Kingdom, inseparable and immutable and in which is nothing diverse, except the personal qualities. Wherefore, in solemnity and in song I do offer the Mother of the Word the festal gift; since that He born of her hath taught me to believe in the Trinity: the Son and Word without beginning hath made in her His Incarnation; the Father begetting Him hath blessed this; the Holy Spirit hath signed and sanctified the womb which incomprehensibly hath conceived.

Now is the time to question David: in what did the God of all forswear him? Speak, O Psalmist and Prophet! He hath sworn from the fruit of my loin to sit upon my throne (Ps 131[132]:11). Here in this He is forsworn and wilt not break His oath, He hath forsworn and His Word is sealed with a deed! "Once," said he, "I forswear by My Holiness, that I lie not to David; his seed wilt prevail forever, and his throne, like the sun before Me and like the moon coursing the ages: a faithful witness also in heaven" (Ps 88[89]:35-38). God hath fulfilled this oath, since it is not possible for God to lie (Heb 6:18). Consider this: Christ in the flesh is named my Son (Mt. 22: 42), and all nations will worship my Lord and Son (Ps 71[72]:11), seeing him sit upon a virginal throne! Here also is the Virgin, from whose womb the Pre-eternal One issued forth, incarnated at the end of the ages and renewing the ages, likewise sprung forth from my loins! All this is so!

People of God, holy nation, sacred gathering! Let us revere our paternal memory; let us extol the power of the mystery! Each of us, in the measure given by grace, let us offer a worthy gift for the present feast. Fathers, a prosperous lineage; mothers, fine children; the unbearing, the not-bearing of sin; virgins, a twofold prudence of soul and of body; betrothed, praiseworthy abstinence. If anyone of you be a father, let him imitate the father of the Virgin; and if anyone be without child, let them make harvest of fruitful prayer cultivating a life pleasing to God. The mother, feeding her children, let her rejoice together with Anna, raising her Child, given to her in infertility through prayer. She that is barren, not having given birth, lacking the blessing of a child, let her come with faith to the God-given offshoot of Anna and offer there her barrenness. The virgin, living blamelessly, let her be a mother by discourse, adorning by word the elegance of soul. For a betrothed, let her offer mental sacrifice from the fruits of prayer. All together rich and poor, lads and maidens, old and young (Ps 48:2, 148:12), priests and levites -- let all together keep the feast in honor of the Maiden, the Mother of God and the Prophetess: from Her hath issued forth the Prophet, foretold of by Moses, Christ God the Truth (Dt 18:15). Amen.

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On The Nativity Of The Theotokos - By St. Dimitri of Rostov

Homily On The Nativity Of The Most Pure Theotokos

Which is Celebrated in the Orthodox Church on September 8

By St. Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

The Lord, Who lives in the heavens, wishing to appear on earth and abide with men, first prepared a dwelling place of His glory: His Most Pure Mother. For it is the custom of kings that in whatsoever city they desire to live, a place of residence be prepared for them beforehand. And as the palaces of earthly kings are constructed by the most skilled craftsmen, of the most costly materials, and on the most elevated sights, which are more beautiful and spacious than all the other dwellings of men, in the same manner the palace of the King of Glory must be erected [3 Kings 6]. In the Old Testament, when God desired to dwell in Jerusalem, Solomon built a temple for Him, employing Hiram, a most wise master, who possessed full knowledge of every art and science, and was skilled in every enterprise. He constructed the temple with materials of great value: with costly stone, with aromatic woods of cedar and cypress brought from Lebanon, with pure gold, and upon a high place: that is, upon Mount Moriah [2 Chr. 3]. The temple was of great beauty. On its walls were portrayed the likeness of cherubims, and of various trees and flowers. The temple was so spacious that the whole Israelite people could be accommodated without crowding, and the glory of the Lord would descend in fire and a cloud [2 Chr. 7]. Nevertheless, that temple did not suffice to contain within itself the Uncontainable God, for even though Solomon built Him a temple, "The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. 'What house will ye build me', saith the Lord: 'or what is the place of my rest?'" [Acts 7]

At the beginning of the new era of grace, the Lord was pleased to create a temple not made by hands: the Most Pure, Most Blessed Virgin Mary. By what builder was this temple erected? In truth, by One most wise; by the very Wisdom of God, as the Scripture says, "Wisdom hath built itself a temple" [Prov. 9]. All things created by the Wisdom of God are good and perfect, therefore, as it was the Wisdom of God that created the living temple of the Word (as she saith of herself through the words of the Holy Spirit, "The Lord established me in the beginning of His way") it was not possible that in her there could be any sort of imperfection or sin. The Perfect God created a perfect temple; the Most Radiant King, a most radiant palace; for the Most Pure and Undefiled Bridegroom, a bridal chamber most pure and undefiled; for the Spotless Lamb, an unsullied dwelling place. A Faithful Witness abiding in the heavens said to her, "You are most fair, my love; there is no spot in you" [Song of Songs 4]. And Saint John the Damascene says, "She is wholly the bridal chamber of the Spirit, wholly the city of God, a sea of Grace, wholly good, close to God."1

With what materials was this palace built? In truth, with the most costly, for she, being like precious stone, was of royal lineage, descended from David, who placed a stone in his sling, and with it killed Goliath. The stone foreshadowed the Stone that is Christ, fashioned, as it were, from aromatic woods, of cedar and cypress. The Virgin Theotokos was born of priestly ancestors as well, who offered God sweet smelling sacrifices. Her father, the Holy Righteous Joachim, was the son of Barpather, who traced his ancestry to Nathan, the son of David. Her mother, the Holy Righteous Anna, was the daughter of Matthan the priest, who was of the line of Aaron. Thus, the Most Pure Virgin was by her father of royal descent, and by her mother, of high priestly lineage. Of what precious materials, from what an ancestry was the most illustrious, animate palace of the King of Glory fashioned! As structures built of stone and wood in Solomon's palace were esteemed all the more for the pure gold with which they were covered, so in the case of the Nativity of the Most Pure Theotokos, the nobility of her royal and high-priestly lineage is rendered yet more honorable by the chastity of her holy parents, which is more to be valued "than thousands of gold and silver. She is more precious than costly stones, and nothing that is dear is to be compared to her" [Prov. 3], for the Most Pure Virgin was born of parents possessed of chastity, which is loftier than all nobility, as the Holy Damascene testifies, writing of the Righteous Ancestors of God thus, "O blessed couple Joachim and Anna! Truly, by the fruit of your loins are you known to be blameless, according to the words of the Lord, 'You shall know them by their fruits' [Matt. 7]. You ordered your lives in a manner pleasing to God, and worthy of her who was born of you. Having lived in chastity and righteousness, you brought forth the treasury of virginity, the Virgin, who was a virgin before giving birth, as she gave birth, and even after she gave birth. She alone, being in mind and soul and body ever a virgin, abides always in virginity. It was fitting that this virginity, be born of chastity. Like a pair of doves, Joachim and Anna! You, having chastely observed the laws of nature, have been granted by God that which is above nature, and have brought into the world the Virgin Mother of God. While in the flesh, you have piously and virtuously borne a daughter who is higher than the angels and reigns over them. Most fair and sweet Daughter! Lily, sprung up in the midst of tares from a root most noble and august! By you the royal priesthood has been enriched!" With words such as these does the Holy Damascene clearly indicate the manner of parents who bore the Mother of God, and of what costly materials the palace of the Heavenly King was erected.

Where was this living palace built? In a most exalted place, as the Church testifies, saying,"Truly you are higher than all things, O Pure Virgin."2 Nevertheless, it was not so in respect to locality, but rather her virtues and God's benefactions. The place where the Most Blessed Virgin was born was a little town in the land of Galilee called Nazareth, which was subject to the city of Capernaum. It was inglorious and obscure, and its inhabitants were held in disdain, even as it was once said of Christ, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth" [Jn. 1]? But the Lord, "Who dwells on high and looks down on things that are lowly" [Ps. 112], was well pleased that His Most Pure Mother be born not in Capernaum, which in its pride was lifted up to heaven, but rather in humble Nazareth, indicating that that "which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" [Lk. 16], while that which is despised and disdained by them is regarded by Him as lofty and honorable. Moreover, by its very name Nazareth hints the height of the virtues of the Most Pure Virgin. For as by His nativity in Bethlehem, which name means "House of Bread", the Lord mystically signified that He is the Bread come down from heaven for the life and strength of men. So by the birth of His Most Pure Mother in Nazareth He denotes sublime things. For the name "Nazareth" means a blossoming place, sacred, removed from the things of this world, adorned as it were, with a crown, and guarded. All these epithets are clearly applicable to the Most Pure Virgin, for she is the flower sprung up from the withered tree of a barren and aged womb, which has renewed our nature which has shriveled with age. She is the flower which does not wilt, but ever blossoms with virginity. She is the most fragrant flower, giving birth to the fragrance of the only King. She is the flower which bears the Fruit which is Christ the Lord, the flower which alone has borne the fragrant Apple. She is sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit which has descended upon her and has overshadowed her. She is the holiest of all the saints, as she has borne the Word, Who Himself is more holy than all the Saints. She is excluded from the ranks of the sinners of this world, for throughout her life not even once did she know sin. All of us must say with David, "I know mine iniquity and my sin is ever before me" [Ps. 50], but she alone can say, "Without iniquity I ran, and directed my steps" [Ps. 58]. She is the guide of all men, who hath not only committed no sin herself, but also turns sinners from wicked deeds, even as the Church cries out to her, "Rejoice, you who dost rescues us from the works of mire."3 She is crowned with glory and honor; crowned with glory, because she has blossomed from a royal root; crowned with honor, because she has sprung from a high-priestly line. She is crowned with glory, having come forth from glorious, chaste and righteous parents. She is crowned with honor, for she was esteemed worthy of the Angel's glad tidings and his attendance. She is crowned with glory, as the Mother of God, for what could be more glorious than to bear God? She is crowned with honor as the Ever-Virgin, for what could be more honorable than to remain a virgin even after giving birth? She is crowned with glory, more glorious than the Seraphim, possessed of love for God like that of the Seraphim. She is crowned with honor, more honorable than the Cherubim, having surpassed the Seraphim in wisdom and knowledge of the Divinity. "Glory, honor and peace to every man who works good" [Rom. 2], says the Apostle, and who among the earthborn surpasses the Most Pure Virgin in deeds of virtue? Having fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord, having done all His will, observed all His injunctions, kept all His sayings in her heart, and performed every sort of good deed to her neighbors, she is worthy to be crowned, as one who works all manner of good. She is likewise a repository, in which the treasure of her virginal chastity is guarded so carefully, that not even unto the Angel did she wish to entrust it. Upon seeing the Angel, she was troubled at his words, and considered in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. All these things concerning the Most Pure Virgin are signified by the Name "Nazareth."

Who would not affirm that lofty palace of Christ has been greatly exalted through her virtues and God's blessings? She is exalted, for she has been bestowed on us from heaven, albeit she was born on earth of earthly parents. She was bestowed from heaven, for as certain theologians say, the Archangel Gabriel, who brought glad tidings to Zacharias concerning John, and who likewise announced to Joachim and Anna the conception of the Theotokos, conveyed from heaven her most blessed name, saying unto her barren mother, "Anna, Anna, you shall bear a most blessed daughter, and her name shall be Mary." Undoubtedly, she can be called the holy city; the new Jerusalem, descended from God out of heaven, and the tabernacle of God in men's midst [Rev. 21]. Lofty is this divine tabernacle, for having borne Christ the King, it is exalted above the Seraphim. O "height hard to climb for the thoughts of men!"4

With what sort of beauty is this noetic palace of Christ adorned? Listen to the sweet words John of Damascus, who speaks of her thus, "She was offered to God, the King of All, clad in the splendor of virtues, as it were, in a vesture of gold, and adorned in the grace of the Holy Spirit. All her glory is within, for while every wife derives glory from without, from her husband, the glory of the Theotokos is from within, that is to say, the Fruit of her womb. And again he says, "O Virgin, full of God's grace, O holy temple of God, which Solomon who created the world has erected and in which He has dwelt! Not with gold, nor with inanimate stones are you adorned. In stead of gold, the Spirit shines in you; in place of precious stones, you have Christ within you, the Pearl of great price. Such is the adornment of this palace, the beauty of which far exceeds that of Solomon's temple, in which were depicted the Cherubim, trees, and flowers. Likewise, in this animate temple, in the Most Pure Virgin, a semblance to the Cherubim may be seen; for by her manner of life, which was like that of the Cherubim, she was not only the equal of the Cherubim, but surpassed them. If the Church frequently refers to other Saints as Cherubim, singing, "What shall we call you, O Saints? Cherubim, for Christ has rested upon you,"5 how much more is the Virgin Theotokos like a Cherub? For within her Christ abode in the flesh, and in her most immaculate hands God sat as though upon a throne: Therefore is she called a Cherubic throne. Moreover, in her person the likeness of fertile trees is depicted, for spiritually she is like a fruitful olive tree or a blooming date-palm in the house of the Lord [Ps. 51]. Therefore, she is now called the life-giving garden, as the Church sings , "From a barren root the God of wonders has made a life-bearing garden to spring up for us: His Mother."6 All this is said in respect to her spiritual beauty, but she was not lacking in physical beauty. Many of the teachers of the Church testify that there has never been, nor shall ever be a virgin as fair as the Virgin Theotokos. When Saint Dionysius the Areopagite saw her, he would have called her God, had he not known that God was born of her. Divine grace, with which she was filled, shone forth brilliantly from her face. Such was the palace which the Heavenly King prepared beforehand on earth! She was beautiful in both soul and body, "as a bride adorned for her husband" [Rev. 21], and, what is more, exceeding spacious: "Your womb He made more spacious than the heavens", and therein Christ, God uncontainable, has been contained.

Palaces are usually constructed in such a manner that not only the King, but a multitude of his attendant servants and those who come to him from throughout the world may by amply accommodated. The spacious abode of the Word, the Most Pure Virgin, accommodates not only God the Word as King, but also us His servants, who draw close to God, Who dwells in her. She contains both God and us in her womb, in her compassionate bosom. The chosen and holy vessel, the Apostle Paul, moved by compassion, said to his beloved, spiritual children, "Our heart is enlarged; ye are not straitened in us" [2 Cor. 6]. In which of the Saints may be found such all-embracing, Divine compassion as in the Virgin Mary? Here the chaste are accommodated, and the sinner is not excluded. Here the penitent has his place, while he who is despairing and unrepentant has a refuge like a new ark which shelters not only clean, but unclean animals as well; its entrance is not barred. Her compassion easily accommodates all those who sorrow, who are offended, who hunger, who are strangers, who are troubled, and who are sick. For it is not possible for her to be lacking in mercy, whose womb bore for us the Gracious God.

The palaces of earthly kings are guarded by armed guards, who do not allow everyone desirous to enter therein to do so, but rather stop and carefully question everyone as to why they have come. But as for the living palace of Christ, although she is surrounded by Cherubim and Seraphim, by the innumerable choirs of Angels, and by all the Saints, at the doors of her compassionate mercy no one hinders anyone who is desirous of entering, neither do the guards expel anyone, nor do soldiers drive anyone away after having questioned him as to why he has come, but having prayerfully entered, he receives a gift which profits him according to his petition. Thus, let us hasten to the compassionate bosom of her who was born of a barren womb, hailing her thus, "Rejoice, O immaculate palace of the King of All! Rejoice, dwelling place of God and of the Word! To Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and to you, O Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Bride of the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory from us mortals unto the ages, Amen.

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1. All quotes by St. John the Damascene are taken from his Homily on the Nativity of the Most Pure Theotokos.

2. Canon for the Feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos, Ode 9.

3. Akathist to the Theotokos, Oikos 5.

4. Ibid, Oikos 1.

5. Sticheron to the Martyrs from the Octoechos, Aposticha in Tone 8 for Friday.

6. From the Sticheron of Vespers for the feast.

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