The Miraculous Icon of Panagia Gerontissa

The Holy and Miraculous Icon of the Panagia Gerontissa is found in the Holy Monastery Pantokratoros on Mount Athos and is the only traditional icon depicting her full-bodied and alone. The Monastery was founded about 1357 by Alexios the Stratopedarch and John the Primikerios, and completed in 1363. They are buried at the Monastery. Their Monastery was built on the ruins of the Monastery of Pantokratoros that had been plundered by pirates during the years of Frankish occupation after the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204.

Tradition says that the icon now known as Panagia Gerontissa was given to the Pantokratoros Monastery as a gift of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in the 11th century. It is a copy of the famous icon of Panagia Gorgoepikoos originally found in the Holy Monastery of Pantokratoros in Constantinople, which was built by the same emperor.

According to the Monastery’s traditions, this icon was brought from Constantinople by the founders, Alexios and John, when they came to the Holy Mountain with the purpose of establishing a monastery. They put it in the place they had selected for building the monastery and work began. However, the next morning they found the icon at the place where the monastery stands today. They took it back to its initial location and resumed work. However, the next day the icon was again found at the present location of the monastery. After the miracle was repeated for a third time, the founders began to build on the site that Our Lady the Theotokos had selected. The initial position the founders had chosen is identified with that of the Chapel of St Athanasius the Great approximately 500 metres north-west of the Monastery.

Below is the "Narration of the Miracle-Working Icon of the Mother of God Named Gerontissa" taken verbatim from the book Anotera Episkiasis epi tou Atho (Athos: in the Shadow of Heaven) published in Constantinople in 1861:

This icon stands today inside the katholikon against the east column of the left choir. In earlier days it was placed inside the sanctuary.

In this monastery there once lived a virtuous old abbot who fell sick shortly before his repose, and who knew by revelation the time of it. As he ardently desired to be worthy of and receive the Holy and Life-Giving Communion, the flesh and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ before his departure to eternity, he asked the officiating priest-monk to hasten the end of the Service, but the priest would not respect his abbot’s request and continued to perform the Service at a slow pace. Suddenly he heard a threatening voice coming from this icon of the Mother of God standing in the sanctuary, ordering him to do as the abbot wished. Owing to this miracle the icon was given the symbolic name Gerontissa (‘the Elderess’ or 'the Abbess', since the miracle involved the abbot, or elder, of the Monastery).

In this silver-covered icon, which has been refurbished, the Theotokos is depicted full-length. The jar depicted in relief on the silver cover of the icon was added there in memory of another miracle. On a certain day and while the abbot was praying in front of the icon, the empty oil jars of the monastery were suddenly found filled with olive oil in a miraculous way.

At the time the Saracen pirates raided this Holy Monastery, they threw this sacred icon into a nearby well. At a later time it was found in there following the instructions of a relative of one of those Saracens who had been stricken blind for his impudence and folly. This reckless barbarian, being contemptuous of this sacred item of the Christians, had attempted to cut it into pieces so that he could light his pipe with one of its fragments, but at that same moment he lost his sight because of his audacity and so the icon remained in the well for more than eighty years.

Nevertheless this justly-punished barbarian, when he found himself at death’s door, being in agony and repenting for his impudence, and in the hope of receiving some relief and comfort from his afflictions in return for his repentance, ordered his servants that they must go to Mount Athos, even after his death, and recover there the icon he and his companions had thrown into the well. Therefore the relatives of the repenting barbarian, obedient to his will, came to Mount Athos, indicated the place where this sacred icon had been thrown, and recovered it in honour. This is the tradition maintained in the monastery about this miracle-working icon.

The silver covering of the icon was made in Moscow in 1874 and according to tradition it is a votive offering of a prominent lady from Constantinople in response to a demand from the Blessed Virgin Mary who asked her to offer it. The anthivolon (tracing of the icon) sent to Moscow in order for it to be made is still preserved.

Right beside the marble one on the south side, there is another icon stand where the icons of the saints celebrated each day are placed in turn. This icon stand, dedicated by Priest-monk Anthimos from Sifnos in 1716, is ornamented with inlaid ivory, mother of pearl and carapace, a classic example of the decorative arts of the Eastern Mediterranean at that time.

It should be noted that the presence of the Gerontissa on this large icon (1.96m x 0.76m) of the nave is indeed very commanding as the Theotokos is portrayed full-length, facing slightly to the right in the Hagiosoritissa posture.

The Feast Day for the icon of Panagia Gerontissa is celebrated on December 2 annually. This date commemorates a miracle which occurred on the night of December 1 in 1948 when the Monastery was saved from a fire through the miraculous intervention of the Panagia. Because of this the icon also came to be known as "Pyrosoteira" ("Rescuer from Fire"), which was celebrated the following day on December 2.

Countless miracles are attributed to the Panagia Gerontissa.

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Elder Ambrose Lazaris of Dadiou Monastery

By Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of Vatopaidi Monastery on Mount Athos

Written on December 2/13, 2006

Hieromonk Ambrose (Spyridon Lazaris in the world) fell asleep in the Lord on December 2, 2006 (New Calendar) at the age of 92. He was the spiritual father of the Holy Monastery of Panagia Gavriotissa in Dadiou, as well as that of thousands of Christians from throughout all of Greece. Fr. Ambrose was an Athonite well-spring of Christ's fragrance in the world and is considered one of the contemporary saintly personalities adorned by the Church. He is a fruit of the incarnation of Christ. The Church throughout the ages is a factory which produces saints, and till this day continues to give its merchandise.

The Blessed Fr. Ambrose was born in the village of Lazarata in Lefkada of pious parents, the teacher Panagiotis Lazaris and Louiza. He was the fourth child of many in his family. From childhood young Spyridon was characterized for his calm personality and his love toward the Church. His ethos was fashioned by his pious mother, who, due to her absent spouse away at war, bore the entire burden of raising the children. Spyridon completed only two grades of Elementary School, due to the necessity of helping his mother in agricultural duties. When the time came for him to fulfill his military duties, he served three years as an evzona since he was a tall, upright, handsome young man.

The blessed elder told me in a conversation that after his military duty was completed (he was a Tsolia for the Palace Guard), he wanted to go to the Holy Mountain. However, he did not know where nor how to go. Suddenly there appeared to him a young man around 25 years of age and said to him: "I know those lands. Come with me." And this is how it happened.

They embarked together, went to the sea and boarded the ship. "He also gave me," he said, "bread which we ate together all the days we were together. His name however he did not tell me, though I also never asked him. This is how we arrived in Daphne and from there we walked into the Holy Mountain.


"As long as he was with me, I felt greatly protected. Moving on he showed me the Monastery of Xeropotamou where the Holy Forty Martyrs are honored. He asked me if I wanted us to go venerate and I approved. We entered the church (the katholikon of the Monastery) and as I was venerating the icon, forty young men encircled us. Then the young man told me that 'it is the Forty Holy Martyrs and they are rejoicing because you are becoming a monk'.

"From there we continued along the road and arrived at Karyes and from their the Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou. Here the young man stopped, he showed me the Holy Monastery, and said: 'Here you will live Spyro. You will become a monk, you will be patient and be obedient to the elder' ... and he disappeared."

It appears that this was an angel of the Lord, his guardian angel. The Novice Spyridon stayed in this monastery and at 25 years of age he became a monk with the name Chariton.

One night the abbot told the monk Chariton to read the Ninth Hour in the narthex. He, although he was illiterate, tried to read it, but had great difficulty. The abbot sent him away with indignation and told him insultingly to go to his cell. That same night, while he was praying, the Panagia appeared to him and by her grace in just one night he memorized the entire psalter. He was God-taught and reminds us all of Saint Gregory Palamas, who had great difficulty learning when he was a child. His parents had been brought to some monastery, prayed to the Panagia, and showed him that every night he should do three prostrations to the Panagia and to plead with her to make him a good student. In this way he became the top student. Whenever, though, he forgot to do his prostrations, he received a bad grade.

Here is another incident that happened in the life of Monk Chariton, the man of God, on the Holy Mountain. It was the summer and Fr. Chariton was found in the garden working. He saw a fig and since he was hungry he climbed the tree to eat it. On the Holy Mountain the monks are not allowed to eat anything outside of the trapeza [place where food is served in monasteries], because it is considered secret-eating and thus a severe sin. He ate a few figs, but he slipped and fell from the tree. He remained there fallen and groaned from the pain, because he had broken his leg. Though he fell in the morning, the other monks were looking for him and found him only in the evening in the garden fallen and in much pain. They placed him on top of a door and four people together - for he was stout - transferred him to his cell. As Elder Ambrose himself recalls: "Though I was bedridden and and in pain, across I saw the chapel of the Holy Unmercenaries and pleaded with them to help me. There then appeared two doctors with white shirts and they tried to put my leg in its place. 'Pull Cosma', said one. 'Hold over here Damian', said the other. And in five minutes the pain left me and I became well." When his fellow monks saw him totally healthy, they glorified God and the Holy Unmercenaries.

At the Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou there were five young monks and one older elder. Some of those thought that it may be good to change the elder. The elder learned of this and decided to separate himself from the five monks. Accompanying police evicted the monk Ambrose, then Chariton, to the Monastery of Chilandari. He had many difficulties there and endured sicknesses, to the point where they urged him to go into the world. He went, therefore, to Elder Porphyrios [in Athens], who advised him to go to the Monastery of Dadiou in Fthiotida which was in ruins. In the ruins of the Monastery of Dadiou he found as residents only snakes and wild animals. Elder Porphyrios advised him: "Stay here, be patient and obedient, and God will help you."

He renovated the ruined Holy Monastery, which in turn became a convent. The then Metropolitan of Fthiotida Ambrose honored the elder and made him a hieromonk, giving him at the same time his own name.

One time he hurt his leg and went to the hospital, where they gave him a platinum hip. He hurt though very much. The then Metropolitan of Switzerland Damaskinos brought him to Switzerland for doctors there to see him. They took him to the hospital. There he entrusted his first intervention, they gave him one one-hundredth of a bigger platinum with the result that he needed a new operation to fashion the platinum. When this was done and he was preparing for his departure, they asked him to do some basic tests, which he did. They then found in his left kidney a stone as big as an orange and thus waited for a new surgery.

The Elder said: "Though I was alone in the room, a monk appeared. We went out to the balcony together and sat down to talk. For fifteen minutes we spoke and I told him about my operation and the stone in my kidney. The monk then told me: 'I am Saint Nektarios and I came to see you. I also was sick and gave up my soul in Aretaieion hospital. I endured slanders and sickness with patience. God has given me great grace for the patience I had.' He then touched me and left. When Saint Nektarios left the urge came for me to urinate, so I urinated in a small basin. With the urine a small stone the size of a small orange also exited. With a papertowel I took it and put it in the bedside drawer.


"The next day the surgery was to take place. The Swiss doctor came and told me: 'Prepare for the operation'. I responded that the operation was not needed. I opened the drawer and showed him the stone. When the doctor saw this, he said: 'You Orthodox have a living faith, we have felt it.' The operation did not take place and the stone remained in the office of the Swiss doctor for many years."

That which I saw in the Elder, besides his visions of saints that he had, which are themselves very rare to find in people these days, was that he was a man who lived in much obscurity there in Dadiou. He didn't like to reveal himself, he didn't like to show himself, he didn't like to make an appearance. And this is the reason that he did not gather up a large sisterhood of nuns. Once when we spoke he told me: "I stayed here, I lived in insignificance and labored in prayer, with the Liturgy etc." He did not want to show himself.

Even in the village of Dadiou they hardly knew him. He would not go down there often. He was in the Monastery doing practical work, and as the priest of the Monastery he labored much with the prayer, as he told me. I also saw him how that once I told him something, immediately he entered within himself and prayed. And he gave very good advice. He told me also how much the grace of God helps him: "I am an illiterate man and so many educated people come here, teachers of universities, and my mind is opened and I say such things where I wonder how I say it."

A child who went to the Elder asked him: "What should I do?" The Elder told him: "You will become a monk." And he, though he never thought about it, felt within him a fire and became a monk. That is, you approached this man in the district of Athens and saw that he was not of this world. He was a hermit. He kept the program of a monk. He would awake at night and pray....

He very much loved the Panagia. Then he had requested we bring the Holy Zoni (belt) of our Panagia. He was very much relieved that he had the Holy Zoni in Dadiou and with great reverence and contrition received it.

The first time I saw him, he told me all about those things with Saint Nektarios, that is how he had visited him in Geneva and told him: "Let's go sit outside, where there is a breeze", etc. And for the stone to exit that was in his kidney? These are amazing things and not drama. These are not simple, but great signs.

Elder Ambrose fell asleep on the same day, exactly fifteen years later, on which Elder Porphyrios also fell asleep (12/02/1991). He was a man of God. The Church is a mystical body of Christ.

We, when we would come to Athens, would go and see him.

May we have his prayers. After his falling asleep, I also named a monk Ambrose in his memory.

His life was a presence and witness of Christ, his life empowers our faith.

May we have his prayers!

See also: Elder Ambrose of Dadiou: Prophecies and Charismatic Gifts

Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi with Elder Ambrose

Elder Ambrose with Elder Porphyrios

A copy of Panagia Paramythia, the miraculous icon of Vatopaidi. This icon was in the cell of Elder Ambrose and among his most beloved.

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Orthodox Christmas Reflection (2)

Continued from Part One...

The Prophecy of Isaiah

Saint Cosmas the Poet chants of the Virgin:

"Isaiah, as he watched by night, beheld the light that knows no evening, the light of Thy Theophany, O Christ, that came to pass from tender love for us; and he cries aloud: 'Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in the womb' [Is. 7:14], and shall bear the incarnate Word, and all those on earth shall rejoice exceedingly."

"Lo, the Virgin, as it was said in days of old, has conceived in her womb and brought forth God made man; and she has remianed a virgin. Reconciled to God through her, let us sinners sing her praises, for she is verily the Theotokos."

Saint Basil the Great (c.330-379) defended the application of Isaiah 7:14 to Mary. He argued that if it did not apply to a "virgin", there really would be no sign. He was aware that in the translation, some proposed to read the Greek word neanis instead of parthenos for the Hebrew almah or galmah, but he appealed to Deuteronomy 22:23-28 to justify his interpretation - which was that of all the Fathers. This same Hebrew word almah or, in Greek, parthenos, translated as "virgin", may also be seen in Genesis 24:23, when referring to Rebecca.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (318-c.386) also adds that although the Jews gainsay this by claiming the text says "the damsel" and not "the virgin", he finds truth and writes: "To learn more clearly that even a virgin is called a damsel in the Holy Scripture, hear the book of Kings, saying of Abisag the Somanitess: 'And the damsel (in Greek e neanis, in Hebrew nah-garah) was extremely beautiful' [3 Kings 1:4]; that she was chosen as a virgin and brought to David is admitted...." And, "If Scripture says, 'the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to help her' [Deut. 22:27], does it not speak of a virgin?"

The word almah is used nine times in the Old Testament and never for a married woman. The massive patristic witness remains impressive that the verse in Isaiah refers to a virgin and not a young woman. Saint Justin Martyr (+165) reminded his Jewish opponent in his Dialogue With Trypho that the Septuagint used virgin (parthenos). What value as a sign would an ordinary birth have provided? Since the plan of salvation, which God assured [Gen. 3:16], comprised a woman in an important role, they who believe the prophet is speaking of a virgin also see an echo of the Virgin in "the seed of her" [Gen. 3:15]. This inference cannot be lightly dismissed.

Part Three

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Elder Cleopa Ilie (1912 - 1998)

Archimandrite Cleopa Ilie (1912 - 1998) resided in Sihastria Monastery, Neamt County, Romania.

Fr. Cleopa has found his place in history as the most representative elder and spiritual father of contemporary Romanian Orthodox spirituality. The last twenty years of his life the Elder spent in increased and concentrated prayer: fourteen to fifteen hours a day. He had mystical moments when he did not want to speak to anyone, not even his cell attendant. From four until eight the Elder prayed his morning rule; afterward he confessed monks and lay people until about four in the afternoon, when he began his evening prayer rule, consisting of the canon of repentance, canons to the Theotokos, the Supplicatory Canon, Small Compline and other services.

Fr. Cleopa remembering his nostalgic beginnings: "In the years that I was shepherd of the skete’s sheep together with my brothers, I had great spiritual joy. The sheepfold, the sheep - I lived in quiet and solitude on the mountain, in the midst of nature; it was my monastic and theological school". In the last months of his life the Elder could be heard saying often: "Now I am going to my brothers!" and "Leave me to depart to my brothers!" and "I am going to Christ! Pray for me, the sinner."

On the eve of the Elder’s departure for the next life he began to read his morning rule, when his disciple said to him: "Geronda, its evening now. These prayers should be read tomorrow morning." The Elder answered him saying, "I am reading them now because tomorrow morning I am going to my brothers." On the morning of December 2nd, 1998, at about 2:20 a.m. Elder Cleopa departed for eternity and His Christ.

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The Farewell Letter of Elder Porphyrios

While at the Holy Skete of Kavsokalyvia on Mt. Athos, Elder Porphyrios had given orders for his grave to be dug.

Through a spiritual child of his, he dictated a farewell letter of advice and forgiveness to all his spiritual children.

It is dated June 17, 1991. It was found amongst the monk's garments that were laid out for his burial on the day of his departure. Elder Porphyrios departed in the Lord on December 2, 1991.

It again indicates his profound humbleness.


My dear spiritual Children,

Now that I am still in charge of my faculties, I want to give you some advice.

Ever since I was a child, I was always in sin. When my mother sent me to watch the animals on the mountain, (my father had gone to America to work on the Panama Canal for us his children, because we were poor), there, where I shepherded the animals, I slowly read, word by word, the life of St. John the Hut-dweller and I loved St. John very much.

I said a lot of prayers, like the young child that I was, twelve or fifteen years old, I don't remember too well. I wanted to follow his example. So, with a lot of difficulty, I secretly left my parents and came to Kavsokalyvia on the Holy Mountain.

I became obedient to two elders, the true brothers, Panteleimon and loannikios. They happened to be very devout and full of virtue, I loved them very much and because of that, with their blessing, I gave them absolute obedience. That helped me a lot. I also felt great love for God and got along very well.

However, because of my sins, God allowed me to become ill, and my elders told me to go to my parents in my village of St. John, Evia. Although I had sinned a lot from when I was a small child, when I returned to the world I continued to commit sins which, today are very many. The world, however, thought highly of me, and everyone shouts that I'm a saint.

I however, feel that I am the most sinful person in the world. Of course, whatever I remembered I confessed, and I know God has forgiven me. But now I have the feeling that my spiritual sins are very many and I ask all those who have known me to pray for me, because, for as long as I lived, I humbly prayed for you, too. Now that I'm leaving for heaven, I have the feeling that God will say to me, "What are you doing here?" I have only one thing to say to him, "I am not worthy of here, Lord, but whatever your love wills, it'll do for me." From then on, I don't know what will happen. I however, wish for God's love to act.

I always pray that my spiritual children will love God, Who is everything, so that He will make us worthy to enter His earthly uncreated Church. We must begin from here. I always made the effort to pray, to read the hymns of the Church, the Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints. May you do the same. I tried, by the grace of God, to approach God and may you also do the same.

I beg all of you to forgive me for whatever I did to upset you.

Hieromonk Porphyrios
Kavsokalyvia, June 4/17 1991

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Murder Of Priest Highlights Missionary Role In Russian Church

RFERL
December 01, 2009
By Kevin O'Flynn

MOSCOW -- Flowers still decorate the gates of St. Thomas, the small wooden church in the south of Moscow where Father Daniil Sysoyev served. They represent an outpouring of grief for the priest who had built his parish from nothing and hoped to eventually build in place of the modest wooden structure a brick church big enough to hold 2,000 people.

Four red carnations adorn a photo of the priest, who was murdered November 19 after an unidentified gunman entered his church and shot Sysoyev twice. Someone has pinned up a poem dedicated to him. A sign nearby notes that surveillance cameras have been installed at the church in the wake of the tragedy.

St. Thomas held a service on November 28 to mark the ninth day after the killing. Sysoyev was only 35 years old but had already built a reputation as a priest who stood out for his proselytizing work among Russia’s Muslim community -- a relatively new phenomena for the Orthodox Church.

Andrei Zolotov, a journalist specializing in religious issues, says Sysoyev was known for his missionary zeal.

“He was one of the several most prominent missionaries, and also someone who was known as a bit controversial -- one of those who insisted on the necessity of missionary work among Muslims,” Zolotov says.

Sysoyev actively sought to convert Muslims, working in the capital city’s Muslim communities and reaching out to the thousands of immigrant workers who have come to Moscow from Central Asia, the North Caucasus, and elsewhere. He would routinely go to the city’s construction sites, where many immigrants are employed, and successfully converted as many as 80 people.

But his work didn’t stop there. He also wrote books warning Christians not to marry Muslims and posted online videos that attacked Islam. Copies of his book, “An Orthodox Response to Islam,” have sold out at St. Thomas in the days since his death.

Sysoyev also posted videos of himself on YouTube, in which he would often be heavily critical of the Muslim faith. In one of them, he ends his lecture with an expression of hope that all Muslims would eventually convert to Christianity.

"That’s it. May God help all of us," he says in the video. "We will pray so that Muslims will come to Christianity and not follow the conspiracy of the Prophet.”

'I'm Already Used To It Now'

Sysoyev’s outspokenness did not go unnoticed, and he wrote that he was continually threatened by Muslims angered by his work.

"You're going to laugh, but the Muslims have again threatened to kill me. The threat was by telephone this time," Sysoyev wrote on his blog in October. "It's already the 14th time. Before it scared me, but I'm already used to it now."

After his murder, his wife, Yulia, wrote in a letter of his premonition of death.

“He told us which vestments to bury him in. Then I joked that there was no need to speak about that, we still did not know who would bury whom," Yulia says. "He said that I would bury him.”

The Orthodox Church has come around to the importance of missionary work in Russia in recent years. Zolotov says it is a trend that has been especially evident under the new patriarch, Kirill, who has led the church for less than a year.

“In the last several years, missionary work has been increasingly recognized as a top priority, or one of the top priorities," Zolotov says. "Basically, the election of Patriarch Kirill to a large extent was the manifestation of this recognition that we need to carry out a mission. It is not enough to just be reconstructing the church or sit there saying how important we are for Russian history.”

Part of that mission is to reach out to nominal Russian Orthodox Christians who do not attend church. Different figures show that only between 3 to 10 percent of Russians attend Orthodox Church services, when as many as 80 percent identify themselves as Orthodox.

But many in the church believe that missionary work extends beyond activating dormant Orthodox Christians to attempting to convert members of the Muslim community as well.

Zolotov says while official church policy does not publicly endorse proselytizing of Muslims, it does not discourage priests from missionary work. Patriarch Kirill presided over Sysoyev’s funeral, a gesture that many saw as emphasizing the Orthodox Church’s tacit support for conversion work.


Struck A Nerve

Sysoyev was one of only a few Orthodox priests active in full-time proselytizing work. One of his parishioners, Larisa Vasilieva, was brought up in Kazan, the capital of the Muslim-majority republic of Tatarstan, where her mother was a Muslim and her father an Orthodox Christian. She says Sysoyev struck a nerve by speaking openly about what otherwise remains a hushed battle by the church for influence over what may be as many as 20 million Muslims in Russia.

“Nobody speaks out about it [in Kazan]. But here [in Moscow], he spoke openly and wrote openly about his views, and that is what they did not like," Vasilieva says. "He wrote about what other people think but are too afraid to say.”

With the stark exception of the federal wars in Chechnya and spreading unrest through much of the North Caucasus, experts say contemporary relations between Muslims and Orthodox Christians have rarely been confrontational.

But there are fears that may change as the Orthodox Church, with the explicit backing of the Kremlin, seeks to assert its role as the standard-bearer of Russian national identity. The Sysoyev murder, it is feared, will bring latent tensions between the two communities out into the open.

(And the November 27 bombing of a Moscow-St. Petersburg railway, in which 26 people were killed, may stoke Christian-Muslim tensions further. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but terror attacks in Russia frequently provoke speculation of a North Caucasus link.)

In the wake of Sysoyev’s murder, religious leaders from Russia’s Orthodox, Muslim, and Jewish communities called the killing of a priest in his church a “mortal and unforgivable sin” and warned that “the tragedy might be used by extremist forces to foment interethnic and inter-religious conflict.”

Not all parishioners are convinced that an Islamic extremist was to blame for the killing, however. Some point instead to a land dispute. St. Thomas was facing problems getting permission to construct a larger building on its grounds. Some of Sysoyev’s followers say that his death may have been connected to that dispute and not to his proselytizing work.

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Scientism and Totalitarianism

Michael Egnor
November 30, 2009
Evolution News and Views

There's a totalitarian subtext to scientism. Scientism entails a militant certainty of truth, and an utter intolerance for dissent that is remarkably akin to totalitarian political movements. Scientism is increasingly a spawn of the political left, which has been the primary source of totalitarianism in the past century.

The reaction of Darwinists or of global warming scientists to even the most mild skepticism is remarkably vicious. They hunt down skeptics and suppress differing opinions using practically any means at their disposal. If a school district attaches a sticker to a textbook that says "Darwin's theory is a theory, not a fact, and evidence for and against it should be considered." it will find itself in federal court, facing financial ruin, with jail a possibility for individuals who don't comply. Who would have imagined, a few decades ago, that scientists would use courts to settle scientific disputes?

As the ClimateGate emails amply demonstrate, scientists who believe in global warming systematically exclude and professionally destroy scientists who express skepticism. The emails show a remarkable demand for doctrinal purity in climate science. These pro-global warming scientists manufacture a "consensus" using strong-arm tactics, and enforce it with singular purpose. And when asked why scientists use such brutal tactics, they reply 'because it's consensus science!"

Particularly disturbing to me is the appellation "denialism" applied to mere questioning of scientific orthodoxy. It's an effort to drive anyone who questions orthodoxy out of acceptable society. Bourgeoisie, reactionaries, revisionists, denialists. It fits well in the Leninist lexicon.

Melanie Phillips at the British Spectator has a fine essay on this totalitarian current in the global warming movement. It applies as well to other encroachments of scientism in our civilization.

Green Totalitarianism

Spectator
November 23, 2009

Lord Lawson was right to call in today’s Times for an inquiry into the global warming scandal. As noted below, through a set of hacked emails a group of some of the most influential scientific proponents of anthropogenic global warming have been revealed to have been manipulating, suppressing and distorting scientific evidence in order to bolster their claim. They in turn have said the email messages have been taken out of context. And with so much material now in the public domain, it is possible that some of it has an innocent explanation. But in an awful lot of it it is hard to see such innocence. As Lawson observes:

"There may be a perfectly innocent explanation. But what is clear is that the integrity of the scientific evidence on which not merely the British Government, but other countries, too, through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, claim to base far-reaching and hugely expensive policy decisions, has been called into question. And the reputation of British science has been seriously tarnished. A high-level independent inquiry must be set up without delay."

This is the kind of thing these emails have revealed.

Here is lead IPCC scientist Keith Briffa admitting:

"I tried hard to balance the needs of the science and the IPCC, which were not always the same."

Here are Phil Jones, Director of the Hadley Centre’s Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University and Michael Mann, creator of the infamous (and false) ‘hockey stick curve’ that underpinned AGW theory, discussing how to suppress the work of AGW sceptics, including changing the peer-review rules to do so:

"In one e-mail, the center's director, Phil Jones, writes Pennsylvania State University's Michael E. Mann and questions whether the work of academics that question the link between human activities and global warming deserve to make it into the prestigious IPCC report, which represents the global consensus view on climate science.

"'I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report,' Jones writes. 'Kevin and I will keep them out somehow -- even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!'

"In another, Jones and Mann discuss how they can pressure an academic journal not to accept the work of climate skeptics with whom they disagree. 'Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal,' Mann writes. 'I will be emailing the journal to tell them I'm having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor,' Jones replies."

Here is Phil Jones proposing to delete data to avoid having to reveal it under a Freedom of Information request:

"The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone."

And here is lead IPCC scientist Kevin Trenberth effectively acknowledging the sceptics’ case. On a thread fretting about the likely influence of the BBC’s ‘climate change reporter’ Richard Black in reporting that there had been no warming since 1998 and that Pacific oscillations would ‘force cooling for the next 20-30 years’, Trenberth wails:

"Well I have my own article on where the heck is global warming? We are asking that here in Boulder where we have broken records the past two days for the coldest days on record. We had 4 inches of snow. The high the last 2 days was below 30F and the normal is 69F, and it smashed the previous records for these days by 10F. The low was about 18F and also a record low, well below the previous record low. This is January weather (see the Rockies baseball playoff game was canceled on saturday and then played last night in below freezing weather)... The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't... The fact that we can not account for what is happening in the climate system makes any consideration of geoengineering quite hopeless as we will never be able to tell if it is successful or not! It is a travesty!"

This material has revealed what has been described as ‘Nixonian-style paranoid plotting’ by these scientists to defraud the public. Actually, I think it reveals something even worse.

What appears to be the case is that these scientists did not set out to mislead the world so much as try to force data which did not correspond to their ideology of anthropogenic global warming to support that ideology. For me, one of the most telling emails was this one from Phil Jones on the Medieval Warm Period (MWP):

"Bottom line - their is no way the MWP (whenever it was) was as warm globally as the last 20 years. There is also no way a whole decade in the LIA period was more than 1 deg C on a global basis cooler than the 1961-90 mean. This is all gut feeling, no science, but years of experience of dealing with global scales and varaibility." (My emphasis)

In other words, despite the fact that science (or history) tells us that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than today, thus destroying the basis of the AGW myth that we are living through an unprecedented warming of the climate caused by carbon dioxide arising from industrialisation, it cannot be true – because the Hadley CRU Director’s ‘gut’ tells him so.

All the manipulation, distortion and suppression revealed by these emails took place because it would seem these scientists knew their belief was not only correct but unchallengeable; and so when faced with evidence that showed it was false, they tried every which way to make the data fit the prior agenda. And those who questioned that agenda themselves had to be airbrushed out of the record, because to question it was simply impossible. Only AGW zealots get to decide, apparently, what science is. Truth is what fits their ideological agenda. Anything else is to be expunged.

Which is the more terrifying and devastating: if people are bent and deliberately try to deceive others, or if they are so much in thrall to an ideology that they genuinely have lost the power to think objectively and rationally?

I think that the terrible history of mankind provides the answer to that question. Nixon was a crook. But what we are dealing with here is the totalitarian personality. One thing is now absolutely clear for all to see about the anthropogenic global warming scam: science this is not.

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What’s Natural for Humans?

December 1, 2009
Creation - Evolution Headlines

Should humans do what comes naturally? What comes naturally? And what do we mean by natural?

Nicholas Wade in the New York Times said, “We May Be Born With an Urge to Help.” He began with the same question: “What is the essence of human nature?” Then he discussed evidence that infants have an inborn tendency to help. Who sees this? biologists. After dismissing the views of theologians, Thomas Hobbes and parents, he announced, “But biologists are beginning to form a generally sunnier view of humankind. Their conclusions are derived in part from testing very young children, and partly from comparing human children with those of chimpanzees, hoping that the differences will point to what is distinctively human.” We know he is talking ape ancestry because the picture caption says, “The evolutionary roots of altruism are complex,” and the experiments compared young children with chimpanzees. He also quoted Hilard Kaplan (U of New Mexico) giving a kin-selection opinion of evolution: “Modern humans have lived for most of their existence as hunter gatherers, so much of human nature has presumably been shaped for survival in such conditions.” A more radical view expressed is the opinion of primatologist Frans de Waal. He believes “it is in our biological nature, not our political institutions, that we should put our trust.” Do what comes naturally. Others quoted say, “Humans clearly evolved the ability to detect inequities, control immediate desires, foresee the virtues of norm following and gain the personal, emotional rewards that come from seeing another punished.” But did they also evolve the ability to weave stories about what we evolved to do? In the end, Wade decided to tell us what he thinks we are by nature: “We are selfish by nature, yet also follow rules requiring us to be nice to others.”

A similar subject was raised by PhysOrg: “Empathy distinguishes modern humans from their primate ancestors.” This is the opinion of Sarah Hrdy, a staunch evolutionist: “The line leading to the genus Homo split maybe 7 million years ago from other apes, and this helps explain why 99 percent of the DNA overlaps,” she said, repeating a common misconception (see 06/29/2007). After this emphasis on our similarity with apes, Hrdy pointed to the “deciding factor” that describes human nature compared to chimpanzee nature: empathy. “Understanding what someone else might be thinking or just being interested in attributing a mental state to someone else is something humans do naturally, right from an early age.” In other words, “our aptitude for imagining the emotions of other individuals is a powerful indicator of our humanity.” Where that came from, she speculated, was in the shared care of infants. The article ended with a pun: “So the nursery was the cradle of our humanity.” Hrdy did not explain why this did not arise in all the other primate groups if it is such a good thing – nor if it was caused by a genetic mutation and natural selection.

We may be kind by nature, but self-control has to be forced upon us. PhysOrg reported the views of psychologists at University of Pennsylvania. “Psychologists suggest parents should wait to teach toddlers self-control,” the article announced. They suggest it may be harmful to the developing brain for an infant to hear too soon the parental “No.” “Toddlers are mastering all sorts of social conventions that simply must be learned. They’re the rules of the world. In this sense, trying to hasten the brain’s development may be not only difficult by [sic] unwise,” the article said. Questions about preventing the hand from touching the hot stove or running out into the street come to mind.

Painful memories may be evoked by the words to the junior-age version of the birthday song, Happy Birthday to you; you live in a zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too. Now look at this article in KOMO News. A zoo in Warsaw has put people on display as cavemen in a cage previously used for monkeys. This may not be as morally objectionable as the racist act of putting Ota Benga in a zoo (see CMI), since these cavemen are volunteers, but it raises questions about human nature. Presumably the zookeepers want to make a statement about human kinship with other primates. If so, how far should the display go to be realistic? Other primates don’t wear clothes. They engage in sexual activity and elimination in the open. Those are natural functions, aren’t they? The cavemen in the photo look hostile. They seem unnaturally angry at being imprisoned behind bars. Maybe it is natural for them to have liberty and justice for all. Should they pray, play music, and talk to the visitors? Should they engage in philosophy and science, or would that be unnatural – maybe even “super”-natural? Which side of the cage is the natural side?

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Moscow Patriarchate Publishes Book of Pope's Words

Called Proof of Possible Catholic-Orthodox Cooperation

ROME, DEC. 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Russian Orthodox Church has published a book in Italian and Russian with texts from Benedict XVI on the culture of Europe.

This is the first time the Moscow Patriarchate is publishing a compilation of texts from a Pope. It is titled "Europe, Spiritual Homeland," and includes addresses by Joseph Ratzinger during the course of more than a decade.

The presentation of the book will take place Wednesday in Rome during a round table on "The Role of the Churches in the Cultural Integration of Europe."

The volume will be introduced by the chairman of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev.

"This book is an event of unprecedented historic scope in the millennial history of Catholics and Russian Orthodox," explained the editor of the book, Pierluca Azzaro. "But before and above all, it is a great testimony of love of Christ and between Christians. From this love springs -- should spring -- European culture in all its manifold expressions: a living culture, imbued with an authentically creative moral energy, all together geared to the building of a good future for all."

The editor reflected on the way the volume presents the continent.

"Europe -- the Pope, and Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk in the beautiful introduction, tell us -- is a cultural continent that with its two wings, the Church of the East and of the West, rises above the narrow duality Russia-Western Europe," he said. "Europe is thus presented to our eyes as the common 'spiritual homeland,' according to the beautiful expression used by the Pope in his last journey to the Czech Republic."

Azzaro contended that only by jointly rediscovering and reaffirming this "vital dimension of Europe" will a "downward decline" be warded off.

A vice-chairman of the patriarchate's department of external affairs, Hieromonk Philip (Riabykh), said the book is a "testimony of the absolute identity of views and positions between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in regard to modern social processes."

He added that it is "at the same time proof of the enormous possibility of Catholic-Orthodox cooperation."

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Bulgarian Orthodox Church May Change Back To Old Calendar

Bulgarian Orthodox Church Considers Changing Date of Christmas

December 01, 2009
Directions to Orthodoxy

Senior bishops have made it clear that in 2009 Bulgaria might celebrate Christmas on December 25 for the last time, if the Church decides to renounce the Gregorian Calendar.

Bulgaria switched to the Gregorian Calendar in 1916, and has been celebrating Christmas on December 25 since it was restored as an official holiday after the end of the communist regime.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church may decide in favor of restoring the Julian Calendar, which means that Christmas will have be celebrated on January 7 instead of December 25.

Senior bishops have made it clear that in 2009 Bulgaria might celebrate Christmas on December 25 for the last time, if the Church decides to renounce the Gregorian Calendar.

On December 20, 2009, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is going to hold a meeting to consider the plea of a group of believers and their priest from the village of Chelopechene, asking that Christmas be celebrated on January 7. The plea was filed on November 20, 2009.

The local priest Mariy Dimitrov has been serving according to the Julian Calendar for the last 20 years in his parish with the special permission of Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim.

Those who filed the plea remind that a similar case for the restoration of the Julian Calendar in 1997 attracted the support of five bishops.

Bulgaria switched to the Gregorian Calendar in 1916, and has been celebrating Christmas on December 25 since it was restored as an official holiday after the end of the communist regime.

[Note: The Bulgarian Orthodox Church currently follows the Revised Julian Calendar, not the Gregorian Calendar. All New Calendar Orthodox churches follow the Revised Julian Calendar.]

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School Children in Kosovo Freezing

IC/XC NI/KA
Press Release [PLEASE READ BELOW]

Please kind share the attached with others.
May our Gracious God always bless you and yours!

It's getting cold in the region of Kosovo/Metohija being that it's December and we can well imagine how cold it really gets when you do not have any means to keep warm.

Also the Decani Fund is trying to raise enough money to also support the Serbian families during the holidays in purchasing 200 pigs that will feed more then 200 families.

The Decani Monastery Relief Fund needs our warm Christian love at this time.

Please kindly read the attached.
Thank you!
God love and bless you!

Humbly in Christ our Lord,
+ Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
President Decani Monastery Relief Fund Inc. USA
Who prays for you!

-----------------------------

School Children in Kosovo Freeze

By Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
President of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund USA

December 2009

Beloved Friends in Christ our Lord,

May the great peace and joy of our Lord God always be with you!

Once again Kosovo faces a humanitarian crisis, yet another horrific freezing winter, typically ten to twenty degrees below zero for several months.

This year is different because of an electricity problem which makes the freezing conditions even more challenging to the Serbian population in Kosovo/Metohija.

The new independent government is now charging their Serbian customers 29 Euros a month, and incredibly large percentage of their monthly income. If seventy percent of a Serbian village in Kosovo doesn't pay their bill the whole village will have their electricity turned off.

Schools and the homes of the Serbian population therefore face a problem unlike any other year in recent memory. Putting aside of the question of a permanent solution to the energy crisis in the region of Kosovo/Metohija we offer a partial short term answer for this winters heating crisis. Many buildings and homes in the region have wood stoves, and, as we all know, wood and fire wood have been in short supply for many decades.

Here is what we can do for these suffering people! We can help provide heated school buildings for Serbian children by supplying fire wood to the four schools we support as well as the homes that these children live in.

Send a donation of your choice to the Decani Monastery Relief Fund designating your donation to: Firewood for Schools in Kosovo:

Decani Monastery Relief Fund USA
C/O Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
2618 West Bannock Street
Boise, Idaho 83702
USA

God bless and reward you for your kindness! Peace to your soul!

Humbly in Christ our Lord,

+ Very Reverend Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
President Decani Monastery Relief Fund Inc. USA
Who prays for you!

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The Relic of Saint Symeon Stylite

This sacred relic of Saint Symeon the Stylite is kept at the Holy Monastery of the Metamorphosis (Transfiguration) of the Savior of Moutsialis in Beroea (Veria), Greece.

It is the right hand of Saint Symeon encased in silver which is shaped into a hand. The present silver encasement dates back to 1939. Before this the relic was kept in a box and its history is lost to time. However there are ancient witnesses which do testify to the existence of this relic. Interestingly, the pillar of St. Symeon in Syria was just outside of Beroea, Syria (modern-day Aleppo) and the relic of his hand is in Beroea, Greece.

Many miracles and blessing are ascribed to the right hand of St. Symeon Stylite. Though his feast day is September 1, during the months of July and August the abbot of the Monastery takes the relic to the surrounding villages and blesses the faithful with it.

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Turkish Military Planned Attacks on Christians

November 29, 2009
AINA

Senior Turkish military officers had made extensive plans to terrorize non-Muslims in Turkey. In the large Ergenekon[1] scandal recently a well-planned terrorist operation was revealed. The operation which is called "Kafes Operasyonu Eylem Plani", in English meaning "The Execution of the Cage - Operation" was to eliminate the remaining small group of Christians living in Turkey today.

The plan was revealed when police arrested Levent Bektas, a major in the Turkish army. The evidence seized reveals more than 27 officers and senior military officers involved in the conspiracy against Christians.

In order to identify key persons among the Christians and then kill them, this terrorist network has broken into a Greek church congregation compound and stolen computers. The purpose of this was to access the congregation's member lists.

"When our office was emptied of computers and files, church members were very concerned. Since the murder of the monk Santoro, the journalist Hrant Dink and the brutal murder of three publishing workers in Malatya, Christians are living in constant fear," said lawyer Kezban Hatemi, representing the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul.

On November 28, 2007, the Syriac Orthodox monk Daniel Savci in Turabdin was kidnapped in southeastern Turkey. The monk resides in the St. Gabriel Monastery, which Turkish authorities are trying to confiscate. A few days later the monk was found beaten. Shortly after, the police arrested some village guards, a state-sanctioned militia subordinate to the Turkish army, for the kidnapping. Many people with insight into the situation interpret the kidnapping as a direct threat to the remaining Assyrians in Turabdin.

Christians were attacked across the country. To implement the strategic attacks, the country"s Christian population was mapped out and 939 key persons from different parts of the country were identified as potential targets.

The fully detailed operation consists of four phases: preparation, spreading propaganda, shape opinion and execute.

The newspaper Taraf, which has been able to access the information, has published several articles about this. On its website www.taraf.com.tr it is described in detail how the plan to attack the Christians was to be implemented.

Below are some points that constitute the plan"s main lines.

*Christians are mapped
*Famous and wealthy Christian businessmen kidnapped
*Systematic fires and looting of Christian businesses
*The Armenian newspaper AGOS be subjected to several explosions
*Murder patrols executing attacks against selected individuals
*Christian cemeteries subjected to explosions
*Churches and institutions belonging to Christians subjected to explosions
*Put the blame on imaginary militant organizations

From the late 1980s to the 2000s, thousands of people have been killed, among them there were also many Christians. The perpetrators of the killings have never been found. But officially they have been systematically identified as an organization named "Hizbullah".

A military arsenal provides the network with weapons. The police have, after following the tracks, at a house search in Poyrazköy outside Istanbul found a weapon cache to be used in the attacks. Among the weapons were several items, from C4 explosives to Uzi firearms and other sophisticated weapons.

According to the newspaper Taraf, major Eren Günay has been arrested for having provided the attackers with arms and ammunition. According to the newspaper there are indications that the plan is sanctioned by the highest Turkish military leadership.

For a long time, Christians houses, property and businesses in the Christian areas of the cities of Istanbul and Izmir have been labeled, in order to identify them. MP Sebah Tuncel notified the Turkish government with a written question last summer. The question addressed the Ministry of Interior and was about what the government intends to do against the labeling of Christian properties and about Christians being identified. Even today, the government has not replied to this question yet.

As long as the attacks were aimed at Christians and other minority groups, the Turkish government acted indifferently. Not until the ruling government party AKP themselves felt threatened they began to act. In recent years the relationship between the government and the military has been strained and on several occasions the military has made attempts to make a coup d"état, without succeeding fully.

By Dikran Ego
www.acsatv.com


1 Ergenekon is a terrorist network that consists of many different elements, from high military officers to teachers and journalists, there are many professional groups represented in the network. This network is also called the "deep state" in Turkey.

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Orthodox Christmas Reflection (1)

In the kontakion of the Nativity Feast, composed by St. Romanos the Melodist (c.490-c.556), through the blessing and aid of the Virgin herself, the Church chants:

"Today the Virgin gives birth to Him Who is transcendent in essence; and the earth offers a cave to Him Who is unapproachable. Angels with shepherds give glory; with a star, the magi do journey; for our sakes a young child is born, Who is the pre-eternal God."

"What mysteries beyond mind and speech! God, in His compassion, is born on earth, putting on the form of a servant that He may snatch from servitude to the enemy them that with fervent love cry out: 'Blessed are You, O Saviour Who loves mankind.'"

The Preaching of the Prophets Has Reached Its Fulfillment

Saint Andrew of Crete (c.660-740) comments: "Of you, O Mary, all interpreters of the Spirit sang." Nowhere in the divinely inspired Scripture can one look without seeing some allusion to her.

"Rejoice, Mediatress of the Law and of Grace, Seal of the Old and New Testaments, clear fulfillment of the whole of prophecy, of the truth of Scriptures inspired by God, the living and most pure book of God and the Word in which, without voice or writing, the Writer Himself, God and Word, is everyday read."

Saint Gregory Palamas (+1359) thought that "all divinely inspired Scripture was written because of the Virgin who brought forth God incarnate."

Early Prophecies

Saint John of Damascus (c.676-c.750) interprets the burning bush [Ex. 3:1-8] as an image of the virgin birth when he chants:

"Plainly foreshadowed by the burning bush that was not consumed, a hallowed womb has borne the Word. God is mingled with the form of mortal men, and so looses the unhappy womb of Eve from the bitter curse of old" [Gen. 3:16].

And,

"That which was revealed to Moses in the bush, we see accomplished here in strange manner. The Virgin bore Fire within her, yet was not consumed, when she gave birth to the Benefactor Who brings us light."


Saint Andrew of Crete also chants elsewhere that:

"As You are one of the Trinity, You were seen become flesh, not changing Your essence, O Lord. Neither did You burn the incorrupt womb of her that bore You, since You are wholly God and Fire."

The burning bush was traditionally interpreted as a type of the Virgin. Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-394) is insistent on the virginitas in partu. From the image of the burning bush seen by Moses in Sinai, "we also learn the mystery of the Virgin: the light of divinity, which through birth shone from her into human life, did not whither the flower of her virginity, just as the burning bush was not consumed."

Saint Ildephonsus (607-667), Archbishop of Toledo, wrote that, "The Holy Spirit heated, inflamed, and melted Mary with love, as fire does iron, so that the flame of the Holy Spirit was seen and nothing was felt by the fire of the love of God."

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (c.816-886), borrowing from the book of Numbers [24:19] chants:

"Now is Christ born of Jacob, so Barlaam said. And He shall rule over nations, and His Kingdom shall be exalted in grace and shall remain perpetually."

"That You might fill all things with Your glory, You have come and bowed the heavens [Ps. 17:9] till they touched the earth. For as rain upon the fleece [Judg. 6:36-38], have You descended into a virgin womb, from which You now come forth to be born in two natures, O God-Man."

The poet and brother of St. John of Damascus, St. Cosmas, Bishop of Maiouma, writes:

"As dew upon the fleece have You descended into the womb of the Virgin, O Christ, and as drops of rain that fall upon the earth. Ethiopia and Tarshish and the isles of Arabia, the kings of Saba, of the Medes, and all the earth, fell down before You, O Saviour."

Saint Romanos in the Matins Service writes:

"Bethlehem has opened Eden: come, let us behold. We have found joy in this hidden place: come, and let us take possession of the paradise that is within the cave. There the unwatered Root has appeared and flowers forth forgiveness; there is found the undug Well, when David of old yearned to drink [2 Kings 23:15]. There the Virgin has borne a babe, and quenched the thirst of Adam and David to cease straightway. Therefore, let us hasten to this place where now a young child is born, the pre-eternal God."

Part 2

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Saint Philaret the Merciful

St. Philaret the Merciful (Feast Day - December 1)

Righteous Philaret the Merciful, son of George and Anna, was raised in piety and the fear of God. He lived during the eighth century in the village of Amneia in the Paphlagonian district of Asia Minor. His wife, Theoseba, was from a rich and illustrious family, and they had three children: a son John, and daughters Hypatia and Evanthia.

Philaret was a rich and illustrious dignitary, but he did not hoard his wealth. Knowing that many people suffered from poverty, he remembered the words of the Savior about the dread Last Judgment and about "these least ones" (Mt. 25:40); the the Apostle Paul's reminder that we will take nothing with us from this world (1 Tim 6:7); and the assertion of King David that the righteous would not be forsaken (Ps 36/37:25). Philaret, whose name means "lover of virtue," was famed for his love for the poor.

One day Ishmaelites [Arabs] attacked Paphlagonia, devastating the land and plundering the estate of Philaret. There remained only two oxen, a donkey, a cow with her calf, some beehives, and the house. But he also shared them with the poor. His wife reproached him for being heartless and unconcerned for his own family. Mildly, yet firmly he endured the reproaches of his wife and the jeers of his children. "I have hidden away riches and treasure," he told his family, "so much that it would be enough for you to feed and clothe yourselves, even if you lived a hundred years without working."

The saint's gifts always brought good to the recipient. Whoever received anything from him found that the gift would multiply, and that person would become rich. Knowing this, a certain man came to St Philaret asking for a calf so that he could start a herd. The cow missed its calf and began to bellow. Theoseba said to her husband, "You have no pity on us, you merciless man, but don't you feel sorry for the cow? You have separated her from her calf." The saint praised his wife, and agreed that it was not right to separate the cow and the calf. Therefore, he called the poor man to whom he had given the calf and told him to take the cow as well.

That year there was a famine, so St Philaret took the donkey and went to borrow six bushels of wheat from a friend of his. When he returned home, a poor man asked him for a little wheat, so he told his wife to give the man a bushel. Theoseba said, "First you must give a bushel to each of us in the family, then you can give away the rest as you choose." Philaretos then gave the man two bushels of wheat. Theoseba said sarcastically, "Give him half the load so you can share it." The saint measured out a third bushel and gave it to the man. Then Theoseba said, "Why don't you give him the bag, too, so he can carry it?" He gave him the bag. The exasperated wife said, "Just to spite me, why not give him all the wheat." St Philaret did so.

Now the man was unable to lift the six bushels of wheat, so Theoseba told her husband to give him the donkey so he could carry the wheat home. Blessing his wife, Philaret gave the donkey to the man, who went home rejoicing. Theoseba and the children wept because they were hungry.

The Lord rewarded Philaret for his generosity: when the last measure of wheat was given away, a old friend sent him forty bushels. Theoseba kept most of the wheat for herself and the children, and the saint gave away his share to the poor and had nothing left. When his wife and children were eating, he would go to them and they gave him some food. Theoseba grumbled saying, "How long are you going to keep that treasure of yours hidden? Take it out so we can buy food with it."

During this time the Byzantine empress Irene (797-802) was seeking a bride for her son, the future emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitos (780-797). Therefore, emissaries were sent throughout all the Empire to find a suitable girl, and the envoys came to Amneia.

When Philaret and Theoseba learned that these most illustrious guests were to visit their house, Philaret was very happy, but Theoseba was sad, for they did not have enough food. But Philaret told his wife to light the fire and to decorate their home. Their neighbors, knowing that imperial envoys were expected, brought everything required for a rich feast.

The envoys were impressed by the saint's daughters and granddaughters. Seeing their beauty, their deportment, their clothing, and their admirable qualities, the envoys agreed that Philaret' granddaughter, Maria was exactly what they were looking for. This Maria exceeded all her rivals in quality and modesty and indeed became Constantine's wife, and the emperor rewarded Philaret.

Thus fame and riches returned to Philaret. But just as before, this holy lover of the poor generously distributed alms and provided a feast for the poor. He and his family served them at the meal. Everyone was astonished at his humility and said: "This is a man of God, a true disciple of Christ."

He ordered a servant to take three bags and fill one with gold, one with silver, and one with copper coins. When a beggar approached, Philaret ordered his servant to bring forth one of the bags, whichever God's providence would ordain. Then he would reach into the bag and give to each person, as much as God willed.

St Philaret refused to wear fine clothes, nor would he accept any imperial rank. He said it was enough for him to be called the grandfather of the Empress. The saint reached ninety years of age and knew his end was approaching. He went to the Rodolpheia ("The Judgment") monastery in Constantinople. He gave some gold to the Abbess and asked her to allow him to be buried there, saying that he would depart this life in ten days.

He returned home and became ill. On the tenth day he summoned his family, he exhorted them to imitate his love for the poor if they desired salvation. Then he fell asleep in the Lord. He died in the year 792 and was buried in the Rodolpheia Judgment Monastery in Constantinople.

The appearance of a miracle after his death confirmed the sainthood of Righteous Philaret. As they bore the body of the saint to the cemetery, a certain man, possessed by the devil, followed the funeral procession and tried to overturn the coffin. When they reached the grave, the devil threw the man down on the ground and went out of him. Many other miracles and healings also took place at the grave of the saint.

After the death of the righteous Philaret, his wife Theoseba worked at restoring monasteries and churches devastated during a barbarian invasion.

St. Philaret the Almsgiver and His Difficult Wife

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Virtue is like a thirst. When a man begins to drink of it, he becomes more thirsty and seeks to drink of it all the more. He who begins to exercise the virtue of compassion knows no measure and acknowledges no limit. St. Philaret was no less generous when he was impoverished than when he was wealthy. When his granddaughter became empress, he became a rich man once again, but no less generous. One day, he told his wife and children to prepare the best feast that they could and said: "Let us invite our King and Lord, with all His noblemen, to come to the feast.'' Everyone thought that the old man was thinking of inviting to dinner his son-in-law, the emperor, and they all worked as hard as they could and prepared the feast. Meanwhile, Philaret went around the streets and gathered all the needy, the beggars, the blind, the outcasts, the lame and the infirm, and brought them to the feast. Placing them at the table, he ordered his wife and sons to serve at the table. After the feast was completed, he put a gold coin in the hand of each guest and dismissed them. Then everyone understood that by "the King'' he meant the Lord Christ Himself, and by "the noblemen'' he meant beggars and those in need. He also said that one need not look at the money that one gives to beggars, but rather one should mix up the money in one's pocket and give only what the hand removes from the pocket. The hand will draw out whatever God's providence ordains.

Hymn To St. Philaret

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

To the merciful one, God shows mercy;
He never ceases to show mercy.
He hears the prayers of the merciful;
He gives gifts a hundredfold.

Philaret the Merciful
Placed himself wholly in God's hands.
By his compassion, he amazed the world;
He was faithful to God, even in suffering.

Philaret did not compete
For honor or precedence.
We use this age to purchase
The Eternal Kingdom and blessedness.

The Lord spoke a wondrous word:
"Trade until I return!
When the time is right,
I will repay you with great riches."

When Philaret became impoverished
Because of almsgiving beyond measure,
Because of truth and goodness -
God visited him from on high:

Visited him and bestowed mercy,
Bestowed mercy and rewarded him,
Just as once upon the faithful Job,
He bestowed mercy and a reward.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
From the inner wealth of a divine faith, thou didst deal thy riches to the needy; and thy works of compassion have glorified Christ, the Bestower of mercy, O Philaret; for thy whole life was adorned with a love like His. Intercede for us, O Almsgiver, that He richly grant great mercy and compassion unto us, the poor.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
In all temptations, thou hadst Job's courageous manliness, and in thy mercy thou didst give thy riches to the poor, being truly a living fountain of almsgiving. By the holy way of life that thou hast shown to us, thou dost also gladden all that cry to thee with love: Rejoice, O Philaret, faithful servant of Christ our God.

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A Wonderful Experience in the Life of Saint Ananias the Persian

St. Ananias (or Minas) the Persian (Feast Day - December 1)

St. Ananias lived in Arvila of Persia. He was arrested for his faith in Christ and endured vicious tortures. As he was about to commend his soul to the Lord, he said the following: "I see a ladder which extends to the heavens and youth with radiant faces standing on it saying to me, 'Come with us. Come and we will bring you to a city full of light and ineffable rejoicing.'" As soon as the holy martyr said these words, he surrendered his soul to the Lord.

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On Ignorance and Hard Heartedness

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"The gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:17-18).

What is vanity, my brethren? All that is seen outside God, cut off from God and done without the fear of God. What is vanity of the mind, my brethren? To live and interpret life, not by God's law but rather by one's own passing thoughts and desires. Whence, my brethren, does this evil come to men? From hardness of heart and from inner ignorance. What does hardness of heart mean, brethren? It means a heart empty of love for God and fear of God, and filled with lustfulness and fear of everything for the body's sake. Brethren, what is born of hardness of heart? Ignorance-complete ignorance of divine things, divine ways and divine laws; a heart completely dulled to spiritual life and spiritual thought. What is the final consequence, brethren, of hardness of heart and ignorance of divine truth? A darkened understanding and alienation from the Living God. Darkened understanding occurs when the mind of man becomes as darkened as the body, and the light that is in man becomes darkness. Oh, such a darkness! A darkened understanding is a darkened mind. A darkened mind knows the meaning of nothing, or denies the meaning of everything. In such a condition, a man is alienated from the life of God, and he withers and dies like a body part cut off from the body. Such are the pagans, such are the godless, and such are those of little faith or false Christians. But even dry wood, when it is watered with the life-creating water of Christ, comes to life and bursts forth in greenery. Even the dried-up pagan world was raised up and brought to life by Christ the Lord. How much more so would it be for repentant Christian sinners!

Let us look at ourselves, my brethren. Let us do so every day. Let us ask ourselves every day whether we have become darkened and alienated from the life of God because of our vanity. Soon there will be death, the end and judgment. The dry wood will be cast into the unquenchable fire.

O Lord Jesus, our Mind and our Life, help us to think with Thee, and to live with Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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Homily on the Holy Apostle Andrew

by Saint John Chrysostom

Strong is the net used by the apostles to fish, wondrous the memory of Andrew, and marvelous the commemoration of the net he employed to catch the nations and to lead them to faith in Christ! The seine of those deathless mortals, the apostles, can never be torn by forgetfulness, nor can time destroy their fishing tackle, made not by the art of man but by the grace of God. The fishermen themselves have departed from us, yet neither their gear nor the sweep-net with which they ensnared the world have fallen into decay. They cast and pull in their net invisibly, but the net is clearly seen to be full. They do not make use of a rod that time decays, nor do they let down into the water flaxen cord, which rots with time. No hook that rusts away have they fashioned; no bait have they prepared for a hook with which to catch fish. They do not sit upon a rock washed by waters, nor in a ship that may be sunk by a tempest do they sail. Indeed, it is not fish, by nature irrational, that they catch. Astonishing are the methods of which they make use; new and previously unseen their gear. With them, preaching replaces the rod; their recollections of Christ, the fishing-line; the might of grace, the hook; miracles, bait; and the heavens, from which they cast their line, the rock at the water's edge. Their ship is the holy altar; instead of fish, their catch is kings. They do not spread a net but the Gospel. Their work is guided by divine grace, not by the rules of the fishing trade. They are not helmsmen of ships on the sea but men's guides in life; and the seine, the sweep-net they always employ, is the Cross.

Who has ever seen fisherman from the dead catch living men like fish? O, great is the power of the Crucified One! Wondrous is the beauty of the divine! Mighty are the deeds of the Apostles! Nothing in this life is as great and lofty as the grace given them!

The history of mankind has seen much that is marvelous and surpasses understanding; it has seen spilt blood cry, murder call out as though with a tongue, nature divided and turned against itself in jealousy, brother slay a brother born of the same womb, and the door of death opened by rancor. It has seen Noah's ark remain afloat while the whole world was submerged by the flood and the human race destroyed. It has seen an old man, because of his faith, arm himself against his own son, the offspring of his loins, and take him to sacrifice, although the son was not put to death. It has seen a blessing stolen and God the Creator wrestle with His servant. It has seen envy arise between brethren and slavery lead to dominion over a kingdom. A throne it has seen prepared by a dream and those who betrayed their brother compelled by famine to return to him. It has seen a rod work miracles and a bush covered with flames as if with dew. It has seen Moses the lawgiver give commands to nature. It has seen water made hard as a rock, the bottom of the sea laid bare, a path suddenly opened, and a pillar of cloud by day and one of fire by night serve as guides for a host of people. It has beheld a rod blossom, although the rod was not planted in the earth, and seen manna given as bread from heaven. It has seen the sun halted in its course by a man's prayers and a prophet conceived through the supplications of a barren woman. It has seen a handful of meal made greater than the contents of a granary and a cruse of oil steam forth more abundantly than a spring. It has seen a chariot ascend through the air, carrying away a prophet, and the bones of the dead become a life-giving potion. The history of mankind has seen many great and marvelous things, but all of them pass away and are extinguished like a lamb put out at the rising of the sun. Never has there been anything or anyone like the apostles.

As servants of God the Word, they touched the Incarnate One, Who as God has no form. They followed after Him Who is everywhere present and reclined with Him Who cannot be contained in any place. They heard the voice of Him Who created the world by a word, and caught the world with their tongues as if with nets. Their travels took them to the ends of the earth. Error they rooted up like thistles, and they levelled heathen places of sacrifices like thorns cut down to the ground. They utterly destroyed idols as if they were wild beasts, and drove off demons as though they were wolves. They assembled their flock, the Church, and gathered in the Orthodox like a crop of wheat. But heresies they cast away like tares, while they caused Judaism to whither up like grass and destroyed paganism as if by fire, reducing it to ashes. The Cross was the plough with which they cultivated human nature, and they sowed on that ground the seed of the word of God.

Their deeds shone like the stars; therefore the Lord said of them, "You are the light of the world" (Matt. 5). The eastern horizon is for the Christian man the Lord, born of a Virgin; morning, Him Who gave an example to all by being baptized. The light of the sun is the grace of Christ crucified; its rays the wondrous tongues of fire that appeared at Pentecost. Morning is the age to come; midday, the time when the Lord hung on the Cross. The western horizon is the grave; evening, death, which quickly passes away at the rising of the sun, the resurrection of the dead. "Ye are", it is said, "the light of the world." Let us gaze upon these stars and marvel at their brilliance!

When Andrew, whom we commemorate today, found the Lord of all, he cried to his brother Peter, "We have found the Messiah!" (Jn. 1) O brotherly love that surpasses measure! O good reversal of nature's order! Andrew was born after Peter, but it was he who lead Peter to the Gospel, catching him by the word, "We have found the Messiah!" Joyfully did he exclaim these words:

"We have found a treasure!" Andrew cried. "Flee, O Peter, the poverty of circumcision; strip yourself of the ragged cloak of the Law, and cast off the yoke of its written ordinances. Count all things temporal as of little importance. Regard your present life as a dream, and flee Bethsaida, the wretched dwelling of outcasts. Forsake your nets, the gear of impoverished men; your boat, refuge from deluge; fishing, an occupation for times of flood; fish, gluttony's merchandise; the people of the Jews, a nation ever in revolt against God; and Caiaphas, the father of a rebellious nation. 'We have found the Messiah' Whom the prophets foretold and Whose coming the Law heralded like a trumpet. We have found the treasure hidden in the Law. Flee, O Peter, the famine of the written statutes! 'We have found the Messiah', foreshadowed in ancient wonders, Whom Micah beheld sitting upon a throne of glory, Whom Isaiah saw surrounded by seraphim, Whom Ezekiel saw amid the cherubim, Whom Daniel beheld sitting upon the clouds, Whom Nebuchadnezzar saw in the furnace, Whom Abraham received in his tent, Whom Jacob would not release until he had received his blessing, Whose back parts Moses beheld as he stood upon a rock. We have found Him Who was begotten before time and appeared in the last times. Great is this treasure, which can never be exhausted! The riches thereof are not subject to the laws of nature; they exist eternally although they are newly revealed. 'We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.'"

Many were they whom God anointed, but all were subject to death. Abraham He anointed, but he moulders in the grave; Isaac He also anointed, but his bones lie in a sepulchre. Jacob He anointed, but he was mortal, and Moses as well, whose body lies in a place known to no one. David was also anointed, but like the others he was death's prey. All alike were captives of death. Only Christ is by nature God. Yet in His compassion He became man, leaving sealed the virginal womb from which he appeared and making of fisherman springs of healing; for His are dominion and the kingdom, and unto Him, together with His blameless and consubstantial Father and the Holy Spirit, are due glory and worship, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.


This homily by Chrysostom is to be found in St. Symeon Metaphrastes' "Lives of the Saints".

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