The Zoodochos Pege (Life-Giving Spring) at Baloukli

The Theotokos of Zoodochos Pege (Feast Day - Bright Friday)

One of the most famous shrines of Constantinople, the Zoodochos Pege, is located outside the land walls to the west of the city, at the site now known as Balikli. Two versions of a very old tradition provide information on the origins of this ancient shrine.

According to the first, related by the historian Procopius, Justinian (527-565), while hunting in a beautiful verdant part of the land with many trees and much water, had the vision of a small chapel with a large crowd of people and a priest in front of a spring. "It is the spring of miracles", he was told, whereupon the Emperor built a monastery at the site using surplus materials from the church of Hagia Sophia. Cedrenus records that the monastery was built in 560.

The second version, narrated by the chronicler Nicephoros Callistos, says that the Emperor Leo I (457-474), when still a simple soldier, met at the Golden Gate a blind man who asked him for a drink of water. As he looked around for water, a voice directed him to the spring and enjoined him to build a church on the site when he would become emperor. Callistos describes this great church in detail ("Description of the Holy Church of the Pege Erected by Leo", P.G. Migne, vol. 147, 73-77), but the description agrees more with the church built by Justinian. It is historically confirmed that Zenon, Hegumen "of the house of the most holy and glorious Virgin Mary and Mother of God at Pege", participated in the Council of Constantinople, convened by the Patriarch Menas (536-552) in 536.

A chronological list of the most important events associated with the Zoodochos Pege is not without interest:

626 Invasion of the Avars. The Byzantines save the shrine of the hagiasma (spring of holy water).

790 Pseudo-Codinus mentions that the Empress Irene repaired the church after serious damages caused by an earthquake.

869 Nicephoros Callistos records that after another earthquake the church was repaired a new by Basil I the Macedonian (867-886).

924 During a Bulgar campaign, Tsar Simeon burned the church. It was, however, restored immediately, for it is in this church that the marriage of Peter, son and successor of Simeon, to Maria Lecapena, granddaughter of Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus, was celebrated in 927.

966 The description of an official ceremony on Ascension Day, in the presence of the Emperor Nicephoros II Phocas (963-969) and of the whole court, has come down to us. The procession sailed to the Golden Gate and from there rode to the shrine, while the crowd cheered and offered flowers and crosses. The Patriarch met and embraced the Emperor, and they entered the church together. The Emperor attended the Liturgy from a platform set up in the sanctuary, and the feast ended with the Emperor inviting the Patriarch to an official banquet.

1078 The monastery of the Pege is considered a place of banishment and it is here that George Monomachus is isolated.

1084 Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) confined to the monastery the philosopher John Italus (a supporter of Neo-Platonism) to put an end to the unrest caused by his teachings.

1204-1261 The shrine of the Pege is in the possession of the Latins.

1328 Young Andronicus III Palaeologus (1328-1341) uses the monastery as a base of operations to forge his way into Constantinople.

1330 At the town of Didymotichus, the moribund Emperor Andronicus III is given to drink water from the shrine of the Pege and recovers.

1341 A priest of the Pege, by the name of George, is witness to a notarial deed.

1347 The daughter of John Cantacuzenus, Helena, is presented wearing full imperial regalia to her future husband, John V Palaeologus (1341-1391), in the precinct of the shrine. According to an old custom, when a future empress reached the Capital by land, her meeting with the emperor took place at the Monastery of the Zoodochos Pege.

1422 During the siege of Constantinople by Murad II, the Sultan used the church as his living-quarters.

1547 Petrus Gyllius notes in 1547 that the church no longer exists, but ailing people continued to visit the spring of holy water.

1727 Nicodemus Metropolitan of Derkon built a small church and revived worship. The Armenians claimed participation in the shrine but long tradition and firmans issued by the Sultans recognized it as property of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

1833 With the Sultan's permission the Patriarch Constantius I (1830-1834) built the present-day church, consecrated in 1835 on Bright Friday.

The feastday of the Zoodochos Pege is celebrated on Friday of Bright Week. Today, in addition to the large church, the compound includes the underground shrine of the Zoodochos Pege with the holy spring and the fish.

Nicephoros Callistos writing in the 14th century about the hagiasma quotes from various sources a total of 63 miracles, of which 15 in his own time. According to Callistos's description, the church was of rectangular plan, with entrances at each of the four sides. Part of the church was built underground and two marble stairways, with 25 steps each, led down to the holy spring. The richly decorated church had a gilded ceiling, fine wall paintings and icons. Of the wall paintings, Callistos mentions the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, and the Appearance of Christ to the Holy Women, the Ascension and Pentecost. He also refers to two icons depicting miracles, probably with scenes from the main subject of the Zoodochos Pege.

The chronicler gives even the names of the painters: Ignatius and the hieromonk Gabriel. Near the church three parecclesia were erected honouring St. Eustratius, St. Anne and the Theotokos.

A number of epigrams express awe, veneration and enthusiasm for the hagiasma and the miracles associated with it. Preserved to our day are six by Manuel Philes, another six by the Magister Ignatius, one by John Mauropous and others.

The icon of Zoodochos Pege: Zoodochos Pege (i.e. Life-giving Fount) is an epithet of the Holy Virgin and Her representation as Zoodochos Pege is related to the sacred spring. It soon became very popular and this type of icon spread throughout the Orthodox world, particularly in places where a spring was believed to be hagiasma.

In the 9th century, Joseph the Hymnographer gave for the first time the title "Zoodochos Pege" to a hymn for the Mother of God.

A marble fountain, from which water flows, occupies the centre of the icon. Above, the Theotokos is holding Christ who makes the sign of blessing. Two angels hovering over Her head carry a scroll inscribed with the verse: «Hail! That you bear. Hail! That you are». Around the fountain the emperor and many ailing people are shown, in a variety of postures, being sprinkled with Holy Water. According to the tradition, a small pond with fish is painted to the side. Actually, it is the fish that have given its present name to the locality, for Balikli in Turkish means "a place with fish".

The Zoodochos Pege type of icon is found in many variations in all the Orthodox regions. Miniatures, mosaics, icons, woodcuts, copperplates have been in great demand these last centuries.

The north arch of the esonarthex of St. Saviour in Chora, one of the monasteries nearest to the shrine of the Pege, has preserved the upper part of a composition snowing the Virgin-Zoodochos Pege and Christ.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
As a life-giving fount, thou didst conceive the Dew that is transcendent in essence, O Virgin Maid, and thou hast welled forth for our sakes the nectar of joy eternal, which doth pour forth from thy fount with the water that springeth up unto everlasting life in unending and mighty streams; wherein, taking delight, we all cry out: Rejoice, O thou Spring of life for all men.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
O Lady graced by God, you reward me by letting gush forth, beyond reason, the ever-flowing waters of your grace from your perpetual Spring. I entreat you, who bore the Logos, in a manner beyond comprehension, to refresh me in your grace that I may cry out, "Hail redemptive waters."

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St. Anthony's Orthodox Monastery in Arizona

In the summer of 1995 six monks arrived in the southern Arizona desert to establish St. Anthony's Monastery, carrying with them the sacred, millenial heritage of the Holy Mountain, Athos.

Elder Ephraim, a disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast, having restored and repopulated four Mt. Athos monasteries and having established several mens and womens monastic communities throughout Greece and North America, transferred six Athonite monks to the Sonoran Desert to start a new monastery.

The monastery, which covers over 100 acres, is dedicated to St. Anthony the Great, the father of monasticism, the renowned 3rd century anchorite. There are chapels dedicated to Saints Seraphim of Sarov, Demetrios of Thessalonica, John the Baptist, George the Great Martyr, Nicholas the Wonderworker, and Panteleimon the Healer. The main church is dedicated to Saints Anthony and Nectarios the Wonderworker.

The monastery follows the coenobitic rule of monastic life: a brotherhood of monks and novices holding all things in common follow a daily schedule of prayer and work under obedience to the abbot, their spiritual father. There are over 40 monks there today.

Visit the Monastery website here: www.stanthonysmonastery.org

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Were We Born To Believe?

Rationalists such as Philip Pullman underestimate mankind's built-in hunger for the sacred, argues Matthew Taylor.

By Matthew Taylor
08 Apr 2010
Telegraph.co.uk

Philip Pullman's new novel The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is opening another chapter in the often acrimonious debate between religious believers and atheists. This is not, of course, a new argument, but it is one that was given new life by the religious justifications offered by the September 11 terrorists, and there is little sign of it abating.

Although Pullman's attack is more on organised Christianity than faith, the aim of other strident atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens or Daniel Dennett, is to use the hammer of science and rationality to break the chains of religious superstition. Indeed, since the Ancient World, intellectuals have predicted that faith would wither away in the face of expanding human knowledge. But the prediction was wrong. Demographic trends suggest that the proportion of the world's population who follow a major religion will rise to about 80 per cent over the coming decades. Even in countries with low religious observance – such as Britain – there has been no decline in the number who say they believe in God.

The resilience of religion has been a spur to scientists interested in understanding the evolutionary, developmental and neurological basis of faith. Among evolutionists, the big debate is between those who argue that religious belief has helped human beings prosper as a species, and those who see faith merely as a by-product of other aspects of our development.

The evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson is perhaps the most prominent advocate of the adaptationist view, arguing that religious belief helped make groups of early humans comparatively more cohesive, more co-operative and more fraternal, and thus better able to fight off less organised foes. And as human needs changed, so did the content of religious belief. In close-knit tribal cultures, there are many gods residing in nature, but in modern mass societies, where it is harder to enforce social norms, a single all-seeing God helps keep us on the straight and narrow.

Adaptationist accounts are far from universally accepted. Richard Dawkins describes the group selection theory that underlies Sloan Wilson's account as "sheer, wanton, head-in-bag perversity". But whatever is happening at the group level, there is something about the way individual human beings develop that makes us susceptible to religious belief.

Clues to this lie in the study of child development. It appears, for example, that at a particular age – usually around 10 – children become fascinated by big questions about life, death and the origins of the universe. At earlier ages, as children begin to apply language to the world around them, they seem to ask questions for which religion has answers.

We appear, for example, to be natural creationists. A child's account of nature relies on what developmental psychologists call "immature teleology". This is the idea that something exists because of the function it provides for the child: the river is there so I can swim in it, the tree so I can climb it. If something has a purpose, it must have been created for that reason.

The attraction of religious explanations to young minds doesn't explain their persistence into adulthood. Grown-ups don't believe in fairies. But while we may rid ourselves of childhood myths, our susceptibility to belief in the supernatural persists. This goes beyond not walking under ladders. In one experiment, married couples were offered a hundred dollars if – after having an exact replica made of their wedding ring – they would keep one, not knowing if it was the original. Most declined.

Similarly, we would rather wear a dirty item of clothing with no past than a laundered item we are told belonged to a mass murderer. Yet this requires us to believe not only that evil infects clothing, but that it is contagious. On a more everyday scale, nine out of 10 of us say we know when someone is looking at us from behind, but such a faculty would require supernatural powers.

As well as supernatural tendencies, a sense of the sacred is also alive and well among those of no religion. The anthropologist Scott Atran has studied the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The sacred beliefs he finds – about land, nationhood or political principle – are characterised by what might be termed anti-instrumentalism; if we are offered money or other material gain to give up these beliefs, we tend to adhere to them even more strongly. Thus, our beliefs are qualitatively different from the kinds of rational, tradeable preferences that would be accounted for in economics or game theory.

For many reasons, and in many ways, human beings are made to believe. Even if Pullman's powerful novel encourages some to abandon organised Christianity, it is likely that their hunger for the sacred will soon find some other expression.

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Do Angels and Demons Exist: Contemporary Perspectives

Robert Lawrence Kuhn
April 8, 2010
Science and Religion Today

Two-thirds of all Americans believe not only that angels and demons exist, but also that they are “active in the world.” Skeptics are dumbfounded by such “archaic nonsense.”

To believe in nonphysical beings—souls or spirits without bodies or brains—in today’s world may seem, well, delusional. But there are serious scholars who take angels and demons seriously. Why?

Certainly, nonphysical beings would challenge the scientific worldview that only the physical is real. Certainly, angels and demons, in one form or another, populate most of the world’s religions. But do angels and demons really exist?

J.P. Moreland, a Christian philosopher, defends angels and demons without hesitation or embarrassment. “I don’t believe they exist,” he tells me. “I know they exist—and there are two reasons. First, I’m convinced Christianity is true, so angels and demons being real is a system-dependent belief. Second, there are just too many credible, intelligent people who’ve had encounters with angels and demons to dismiss it. … I myself had an encounter with three angels.”

I put my skepticism to Moreland: “I’m not disputing your first-person account—I certainly believe you believe it—but I have to tell you, I am not moved one nanometer in my belief. If these angels are real, sent by God, why don’t such encounters happen more often?”

“They do,” Moreland responds.

After we agree to disagree—arguing with Moreland is, for me, revelatory and great fun—I ask about the purpose of angels.

“They are persons, they have lives, they’re involved in this world, they interact with God,” he says. “It is actually the case that children have guardian angels. This isn’t make-believe. This is real, and angels do protect children. Now, there is evil in this world, and so it’s not 100 percent.”

Not 100 percent? “It seems they’re doing an awful job,” I shoot back.

“But that’s based on your assumption of what [children suffering] would be like if angels weren’t on the job,” Moreland answers. “You don’t know that.”

“Look at Africa,” I say. “What are those guardian angels doing? Why don’t they feed those people instead of just watching them?”

“You don’t know what Africa would be like if [angels] weren’t involved,” he responds.
“I can’t imagine it worse in some cases,” I say.

“Then you need to go to Africa and talk to Africans,” says Moreland, “because they will tell you that they have seen angels and that they have helped them tremendously.”

“If Africans had more food, they wouldn’t see so many angels.”

A good sport as well as a sophisticated apologist, Moreland laughs and says, “Now that’s ad hominem argument and you know it.”

He was right: I did know it. So I move on: “Is there a finite number of angels?” I ask.

“Yes,” says Moreland.

“About how many?” I inquire attentively.

“I have absolutely no idea,” he answers.

“More than 100?” I persist.

“Yes,” he says.

“Less than a trillion?” I press.

Another “yes” from Moreland.

Surprised by the specificity, I’m momentarily speechless. In this business, setting boundaries between 100 and 1 trillion I’d call progress.

Moreland is both fun and smart (neither makes him right, of course). If he harbors doubts, I couldn’t find them.

Normally, I’d now go to a skeptic. But I already know what one would say. I prefer to explore the thinking behind such beliefs: how believers explain angels and demons.
Religious convictions are so strong. Does it help to get the biblical basis for belief in angels and demons?

Early Christian scholar James Tabor, author of The Jesus Dynasty, says that in his translation of the entire Hebrew Bible (called “The Original Bible” project), he will not use the word “angel” once. “It’s the Hebrew word ‘malach,’” he says, “which means messenger. And even though in some cases they are spiritual entities from God, the word ‘angel’ is misleading. The same word is also used for human messengers of King David. It’s the same word! So in the Hebrew Bible, ‘malach’ doesn’t have that ‘angel’ connotation of winged creatures benevolently watching over us.”

He goes on: “‘Demon’ doesn’t occur at all in the Hebrew Bible. Never. There’s one story about beings in the heavenly court with God, and one of them says, ‘Let me be a lying spirit in the mouth of this prophet.’ Almost like, let me go play this trick. But he’s not a demon in any traditional sense. So although the ancient Hebrews believed in entities beyond this world, it wasn’t thickly populated so that evil would be explained by these ‘demons.’”

What happened, he explains, was that “in later periods, in the Hellenistic world, you get this sense of pessimism, which may correlate with the rise of angels and demons. Why is there war, disease, injustice, suffering? There has to be more of an explanation than just fate, they reasoned. And I think it was very convenient for people to imagine that if there’s sickness, it’s because there are demons. It’s this attempt to explain the world with all of its troubles in some transcendent way, to explain why there’s such evil. There’s a bit of that in the Hebrew Bible, but when you open the New Testament, you’re suddenly in that world where much of Jesus’ activities involve casting out demons and healing the sick.”

Tabor concludes that “the demon-populated world, thick as flies, causing every evil, with Satan at the helm, with myriads of demons, is a comparatively late development and probably tells us very little about the cosmos as it really is.”

To get a Catholic perspective, I ask University of Notre Dame philosopher Thomas Flint. “It seems to me to be perfectly plausible to believe that angels and demons exist,” Flint begins, “though perhaps not with all of the cultural trappings—the wings and long robes.”

Flint defines an angel as “simply a finite nonphysical person who has, so to speak, decided for God to obey God. And a demon is simply a nonphysical finite person who has decided against God to rebel against God.” To Flint, angels and demons are “free spiritual beings who have something akin to a human soul, but not a physical body connected with it.” And, he adds, “it seems entirely reasonable to believe that God would create such beings.” One reason, he says, is that “there seems to be a large distance between us and God,” with “lots of possibilities for different kinds of beings for God to create [to fill the gap]. If anything, it would be very surprising if God had not created anything lower than himself but higher than us.”

Flint’s rational account of angels and demons feels so at odds with both objective science and tabloid foolishness. To me, in a way, that commends it. But it’s a mistake to assume that the existence of nonphysical beings depends on religious interpretations.

Dean Radin, a leading researcher in extrasensory perception, has special ideas about angels and demons. “I view them as a projection of the unconscious,” he says. “You don’t need to go too far into the ESP world to appreciate why people persist in believing in such things. There is some kind of intersubjective reality, a reality that we create between ourselves and others by sharing thoughts and feelings.”

This is more than personal psychology. “It’s a natural extension of the idea that you’re not locked inside your head,” Radin says. “The moment that you make the leap of faith that our intentions, to some degree, can affect the world around us and what other people think, then you might create a shared mental space which can appear as if it were an angel or demon. It will seem just as real as a hard table would seem real, but it’s different in type.”

Radin uses the example of ghosts and haunting (where, he stresses, psychological explanations can be ruled out). “People go to places and they experience weird things,” he says. “Sometimes, they actually see characters of some types. Assuming these reports are real, where did those ‘characters’ come from? Perhaps many years of people all paying close attention to a given space will change it in some way so that when somebody new comes along, in that vicinity, maybe that person can resonate in some way with all of these intentions going back into the past.”

Radin calls it “place memory,” a literal physical change of some new kind in a specific location caused by multiple interactions with multiple minds. “At an informational level, the physical substrate, like the granite wall of a castle, for example, physically changes in some way,” he speculates. “And it stores information. So when somebody comes into the vicinity of that information, they pick it up.”
As a scientist, Radin prefers this kind of explanation to that of spiritual beings and nonphysical realms. “I’m thinking more or less from a physicalist, scientific perspective,” he says.

“What’s the alternative?” I ask.

“That there really is something there,” he says. “From a spiritual perspective, there may be some kind of actual entity which has gotten stuck there.”

Instead, Radin favors “something like a collective unconscious, which would have aspects of telepathy [mind-to-mind communication] and psychokinesis [mind over matter].” He calls this “large ESP,” and his conjecture is that what we traditionally call “angels and demons” may not be the creations of some God, but rather the manifestations of ESP.

Could our collective consciousness really bring such strange stuff into existence? This is more bizarre—and more entertaining—than I’d realized.

But I’ve had about enough mysticism: I relent; I need a skeptic. I ask law professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong how we deal with various kinds of spirits.

“We deal with them the same way we deal with fairies and gnomes in the garden,” he says. “There’s just no reason to believe in any kind of nonphysical creature. Stories about angels and demons are inconsistent: They’re nonphysical but they have wings!”

He continues: “Can you prove that they don’t exist? Of course not.” (It’s impossible to “prove” this kind of negative.)

So what’s left for the rational skeptic?

“Just make the argument that there is simply no good reason whatsoever to believe in angels or demons,” he says. “You might as well believe in Linus’ Great Pumpkin in the famous Peanuts cartoon.”

Among his physical, psychological, and cultural explanations of why a false belief in angels and demons would arise in many disparate human cultures, Sinnott-Armstrong blames people’s proclivity to use demons as scapegoats. The psychological analysis is that because people do not want to believe that evil is perpetrated by themselves, their family, and their friends, they conjure up (fictitious) demons that (supposedly) lead humans astray. With demons as causative agents in the world, people can feel better about themselves.

As I see it, a starting fact is that, yes indeed, most human beings believe in angels and demons. Across diverse cultures, nonphysical beings, in great numbers and variety, fly freely in collective myth and individual imaginations. How to explain such robust, broad-based belief?

It depends on your worldview.

Naturalists reject the reality of all such claims, citing personal illusion, mass delusion, and “cultural viruses”—called “memes”—as underlying causes.

Though not prevalent in the Hebrew Bible, angels and demons feature prominently in Christian doctrine—real beings, created by God as part of God’s grand master plan.

The radical alternative, advocated by some ESP researchers, is that angels and demons are manifestations of the paranormal.

Surely, angels and demons help us understand the human psyche, whether or not they are more.

Who’d have thought that angels and demons could “wing” us closer to truth.

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The Quackery of Deepak Chopra

Chopra Blames Own Meditation for Baja Quake

April 5, 2010
AOL News
Katie Drummond

The U.S. Geological Survey is blaming day-to-day seismological changes for Sunday's 7.2 earthquake along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Deepak Chopra, the famed alternative-medicine practitioner and transcendental meditation guru, is pretty sure he knows what really happened.

"Had a powerful meditation just now -- caused an earthquake in Southern California," Chopra wrote to his nearly 179,000 Twitter followers shortly after the quake.

And then, to clarify: "Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake," he tweeted. "Sorry about that."

Chopra might want to apologize directly to those in California, who haven't suffered significant infrastructure damage but are still bracing for more temblors, and to those in Mexico, where two are dead, hundreds are injured and thousands are still without power.

Transcendental meditation (TM) was largely popularized by Chopra, who's been dubbed "McMeditation" for the multimillion-dollar profits he's earned off books, DVDs and his Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, Calif. -- where a six-day mind-body wellness program runs around $2,500.

According to Chopra, at the crux of the meditation practice is "the field of possibilities, creativity, correlation ... where intention actualizes its own fulfillment."

Let's hope he's wrong about that, or the guru might have some explaining to do about what exactly his meditation session Sunday was hoping to actualize.

An hour after Chopra's Twitter confession, he vowed to one Twitter user, @WhiteMoon7, "Won't do it again -- promise."

But even the guru himself must not know his own strength. Since the promise, dozens of aftershocks have rattled the U.S.-Mexico border.

All the while, Chopra's staying safely above the reach of the ongoing quakes. According to his Twitter feed, the guru boarded a plane from California to Denver earlier this morning.

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Pascha at Vatopaidi Monastery

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179 Newly-Revealed Martyrs of Ntaou Penteli

The 179 Holy Martyrs of Ntaou Penteli Monastery (Feast Day - Bright Tuesday)

The horrifying account of the martyrdom of the 179 holy martyrs of Pantokratoros Monastery in Ntaou Penteli was recorded soon after the event of 1680 by Cyril Degleri, abbot of Penteli Monastery. He and others record how Algerian pirates (some say they were Turkish or Albanian-Turkish pirates) docked their ship at the nearby port of Rafina during Holy Week of 1680. After failing in its raid of the fortified Ntaou Penteli Monastery in search of its treasures, under mysterious circumstances a servant of the monastery decided to betray the fathers and told the pirates of an access point otherwise unknown to outsiders (and recently discovered by archaeologists).

On Pascha, during the midnight service, after the final "Christ is Risen!" was joyfully chanted by the fathers following the Divine Liturgy, the pirates stormed into the katholikon and began the gruesome slaughter. 179 monks and hieromonks, including the abbot, were massacred by the pirates. The pirates took their treasure and escaped back to Rafina, after having set fire to the monastery.

Two escaped martyrdom however. One was a hieromonk and the other was a novice. They were not at the monastery that tragic evening, as they travelled to neighboring Nea Makri to serve the Paschal Divine Liturgy at a metochion of Pantokratoros Monastery where there were monks that kept the animals and farms of the monastery in Herotsakouli. They returned to Ntaou Penteli on Pascha Sunday evening only to find two dead monks at the entrance and their monastery burned down, save for the katholikon (which survives till today). When they entered the katholikon, they saw dozens of the fathers in a pool of blood. Some had been severely beaten, while others were cut in pieces.

On Bright Monday morning the heiromonk and the novice set out to seek help in burying the martyred monks from the neighboring fathers of Penteli Monastery, otherwise known as Dormition of the Theotokos Monastery. On the way they had a view of the port of Rafina and saw the pirates leaving. When the fathers of Penteli Monastery heard of the massacre, they went to Pantokratoros Monastery in Ntaou Penteli and helped bury all the bodies after a Bright Week funeral service was performed.

The names of the holy martyrs and the location of their burial were lost to history...until 1963.

About the Monastery

Pantokratoros Monastery was built before the tenth century over the ruins of older churches and before that an ancient Greek temple. It is of the same architecture as Armenian and Georgian monasteries. It was named Ntaou after the ancient Greek epigram "Tao" found at the monastery. The founder was Nikos the Kamatiros and before the Ottoman occupation probably had over 600 monks. In its history it endured fires, as well as capture by the Franks and the Turks. It is in the district of Ntaou to the east of Mount Penteli. Mount Penteli, or Mount Amomon, was surrounded by many monasteries. This is why it was called the Mountain of the Pure because it was filled with monastics (Amomon means "pure"). Pantokratoros Monastery became a metochion of Penteli Monastery which was further up the mountain after its destruction in 1680. In 1692 Penteli Monastery was recognized by Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril as stavropegial along with the Holy Monastery of Ntaou Penteli and the Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas Kalision, which means that the monasteries were now directly under the Ecumenical Patriarch and not the local bishop (today they are once again independent).

From 1680 until 1963 Pantokratoros Monastery in Ntaou Penteli was deserted, except for one monk to take care of the grounds. In 1963, 283 years after the massacre, eleven nuns from Saint Patapios Monastery in Loutraki came with the blessing of Archbishop Chrysostomos of Athens to Ntaou Penteli to revive it. It was still a metochion of Penteli at the time. The abbot of Penteli, Theoklitos, had cells built for the nuns and gave them land to farm by which to live. On March 18, 1971 under imperial edict (there was a King in Greece at the time) the metochion became autonomous from Penteli and became a coenobium once again. The monastery today looks very different from what it did in 1963, as it expanded for the needs of the nuns and has been beautified.

One of the most interesting features of the katholikon of Ntaou Penteli Monastery is that this one church has a total of eight altars. This indicates that Pantokratoros Monastery was one of the rare akoimiton monasteries of the Roman Empire, that is, it was a monastery in which there was continuous prayer twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Akoimiton means "unsleeping". The only reason a church would need eight altars is because canonically the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist cannot be performed more than once on the same day by the same priest on the same altar. With eight altars eight Divine Liturgies can take place in one day with eight different priests.

The Discovery of the 179 Martyrs

The location of the bodies of the 179 martyrs remained unknown and lost to time when the nuns arrived in 1963. All the records indicated that the martyrs were buried by the monks of Penteli Monastery, but not where they buried them nor do they give the names of the monks. The nuns tried looking for the burial spot, but came out empty handed. What was completely unknown to them however was that the murdered monks were buried inside the monastery and not outside as they had assumed. In September of 1963 work on the monastery began. The nuns prayed for forty days that a discovery of the relics would be made. In the afternoon of the fortieth day the discovery was made.

The first 65 bodies were discovered by the abbess (Styliani) and nuns inside the katholikon when workers were working on the floor tiles replacing them with new ones. It was then that they noticed a beautiful fragrance not only in the katholikon but throughout the monastery. The abbess, understanding this to be a miracle of the martyrs, then requested that an excavation be done first of all in front of the Royal Doors of the katholikon in the solea. Doing so, they discovered an entire body incorrupt. They determined that this must have been the abbot at the time of the slaughter. Excavating the rest of the floor, they discovered the other 64 bodies. Upon completion, the Archbishop of Athens, Chrysostmos, was notified. He arrived at the monastery and confirmed everything. Till this day the relics of the martyred fathers continue to give off a beautiful fragrance and they flow with myrrh. When one venerates their relics, one can confirm this in person.

All 179 bodies of the martyrs were not found however. 114 remained missing. Certain pilgrims, such as Elder Iakovos Tsalikes and Metropolitan Antonios of Sisani, would see lights as if from oil lamps where the graves of the martyrs are today. But Elder Porphyrios told the current abbess, also named Styliani, that the nuns "walk on top of the graves of other saints". With this advice an excavation was done in 1990 around the perimeters of the katholikon, and in truth many more relics were found. These relics were placed in a larnax within the katholikon, as well as within another chapel built next to it.

The 179 martyrs were not officially proclaimed saints right away. However, because of the many miracles performed by these newly-revealed martyrs after the translation of their relics, Archbishop Seraphim of Athens requested of the Ecumenical Patriarchate an official canonization. The Ecumenical Patriarchate accepted the canonization in 1992 and established Bright Tuesday as their feast day, the day they were buried by the fathers of Penteli Monastery.

We still do not know the names of these 179 martyrs. This is because the pirates burned the monastery to the ground as well as all the old records of the monastery. However, because of certain dreams of the faithful, a number of names are acknowledged. They receive these revelations accompanied with the healing done on them, whether it be cancer, disease, sickness, or whatever else. For example, one father who appears and works miracles is named Mark.

The Monastery Today

Today the monastery is populated with over 30 nuns. They survive mainly through their work in ecclesiastical embroidery and garment making, as well as Byzantine iconography. Other nuns do the farm work to sustain themselves with. Inside the monastery is also a reputable school of Byzantine music. All but a few nuns are highly educated beyond merely a high school education. They have taken in orphans and supported their education, poor girls they have helped marry, children with psychiatric issues they have helped, and whoever visits the monastery is generously given hospitality.

Recently a new church was built at the monastery exclusively dedicated to the 179 newly-revealed martyrs. It was built with the offerings of the faithful and took a little over six years to build.

Miracles

A certain priest named Fr. Seraphim had great reverence for the holy martyrs of Ntaou Penteli. A few years ago he began to suffer from severe headaches and travelled to Thessaloniki in order to have it checked. X-Rays revealed he had a tumor on his brain. The doctor advised him of the seriousness of the situation and the necessity for an immediate surgery. Sorrowfully he telephoned the abbess of Ntaou Penteli, and she advised him to first come to the monastery and venerate the holy relics before the surgery. Indeed he went, venerated the holy relics, and prayed for their help. The abbess then gave him a very small particle from the holy relics, which he was very moved by, and he had it put in a silver box and placed on the Holy Altar of his parish. The next day when he entered the church to conduct the Divine Liturgy, he noticed that surrounding the silver box containing the relic was a circle of something like oil. With great faith he took a piece of cotton, soaked it in the oil-like substance, and made the sign of the cross with it to his head. Following the Divine Liturgy Fr. Seraphim telephoned the monastery and informed the abbess of the miracle, and eventually sent a photograph showing the oil-like substance which came from the reliquary. Because of his great faith Fr. Seraphim put off going back to the doctor for six months, all the while praying for healing. He finally went back and received an X-Ray. To the astonishment of all, the tumor was completely gone.

Απολυτίκιον: Ήχος δ΄. Ο καθαρώτατος ναός του Σωτήρος.
Ως του Κυρίου αγιόλεκτοι άρνες, εξορμημένοι εκ χωρών διαφόρων, τη ποίμνη συνεδράμετε του Παντοκράτορος, όθεν θανατούμενοι απηνεία βαρβάρων, χαίροντες εξήλθετε εις ουράνιον μάνδραν, καθάπερ όσιοι και μάρτυρες Χριστού εκδυσωπούντες υπέρ των ψυχών υμών.

Apolytikion in Tone 4
As spotless lambs of the Savior, dashing out of various nations, the flock gathers together at Pantokratoros. Having been put to death by the rage of the barbarians, rejoicing you enter into heavenly pastures. Therefore holy martyrs of Christ, interceed on behalf of our souls.

For an excellent 45 minute documentary on the 179 holy newly-revealed martyrs as well as life at Ntaou Penteli Monastery, see here.

Ntaou Penteli in 1960

Ntaou Penteli in 1963

Ntaou Penteli Monastery today

Entrance to Monastery

Groundplan of Katholikon

Holy Water

Entrance to Katholikon

Katholikon of the Monastery

Archbishop Hieronymos in 2009

Old Trapeza of the Monastery

Foundation Stone of the Monastery
"Tao" epigram

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Holy Archangels Monastery in Texas

Holy Archangels Greek Orthodox Monastery is located in the beautiful hill country of Central Texas, between Austin and San Antonio. It was established in 1996 by Elder Ephraim, of St. Anthony's Monastery, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver. The land and the monastery's buildings are of great beauty. The Katholikon is in the basilica style, much like St.Katherine's on Mount Sinai. The carved wood work of the iconostasis, the stasidia, as well as the other lovely architectural qualities such as the wonderful iconography and stone work, make it a place of breathtaking beauty, calling to mind the heavenly character of this holy place. Apparitions of the Holy Archangels, and recently of the Blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast, have even more strongly confirmed this as a truly "otherworldly" place of pilgrimage.

Read also: State Official Finds Peace at Central Texas Monastery

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Fighting Words From Turkish Prime Minister

Fighting Words: Shut Up About Armenians or We'll Hurt Them Again

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's latest sinister threat.

By Christopher Hitchens
April 5, 2010
Slate

April is the cruelest month for the people of Armenia, who every year at this season have to suffer a continuing tragedy and a humiliation. The tragedy is that of commemorating the huge number of their ancestors who were exterminated by the Ottoman Muslim caliphate in a campaign of state-planned mass murder that began in April 1915. The humiliation is of hearing, year after year, that the Turkish authorities simply deny that these appalling events ever occurred or that the killings constituted "genocide."

In a technical and pedantic sense, the word genocide does not, in fact, apply, since it only entered our vocabulary in 1943. (It was coined by a scholar named Raphael Lemkin, who for rather self-evident reasons in that even more awful year wanted a legal term for the intersection between racism and bloodlust and saw Armenia as the precedent for what was then happening in Poland.) I still rather prefer the phrase used by America's then-ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau. Reporting to Washington about what his consular agents were telling him of the foul doings in the Ottoman provinces of Harput and Van in particular, he employed the striking words "race extermination." (See the imperishable book The Slaughterhouse Province for some of the cold diplomatic dispatches of that period.) Terrible enough in itself, Morgenthau's expression did not quite comprehend the later erasure of all traces of Armenian life, from the destruction of their churches and libraries and institutes to the crude altering of official Turkish maps and schoolbooks to deny that there had ever been an Armenia in the first place.

This year, the House foreign affairs committee in Washington and the parliament of Sweden joined the growing number of political bodies that have decided to call the slaughter by its right name. I quote now from a statement in response by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current prime minister of Turkey and the leader of its Islamist party:

"In my country there are 170,000 Armenians. Seventy thousand of them are citizens. We tolerate 100,000 more. So, what am I going to do tomorrow? If necessary I will tell the 100,000: OK, time to go back to your country. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country."

This extraordinary threat was not made at some stupid rally in a fly-blown town. It was uttered in England, on March 17, on the Turkish-language service of the BBC. Just to be clear, then, about the view of Turkey's chief statesman: If democratic assemblies dare to mention the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the 20th century, I will personally complete that cleansing in the 21st!

Where to begin? Turkish "guest workers" are to be found in great numbers all through the European Union, membership of which is a declared Turkish objective. How would the world respond if a European prime minister called for the mass deportation of all Turks? Yet Erdogan's xenophobic demagoguery attracted precisely no condemnation from Washington or Brussels. He probably overestimated the number of "tolerated" economic refugees from neighboring and former Soviet Armenia, but is it not interesting that he keeps a count in his head? And a count of the tiny number of surviving Turkish Armenians as well?

The outburst strengthens the already strong case for considering Erdogan to be somewhat personally unhinged. In Davos in January 2009, he stormed out of a panel discussion with the head of the Arab League and with Israeli President Shimon Peres, having gone purple and grabbed the arm of the moderator who tried to calm him. On that occasion, he yelled that Israelis in Gaza knew too well "how to kill"—which might be true but which seems to betray at best an envy on his part. Turkish nationalists have also told me that he was out of control because he disliked the fact that the moderator—David Ignatius of the Washington Post—is himself of Armenian descent. A short while later, at a NATO summit in Turkey, Erdogan went into another tantrum at the idea that former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark would be chosen as the next head of the alliance. In this case, it was cartoons published on Danish soil that frayed Erdogan's evidently fragile composure.

In Turkey itself, the continuing denial has abysmal cultural and political consequences. The country's best-known novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was dragged before a court in 2005 for acknowledging Turkey's role in the destruction of Armenia. Had he not been the winner of a Nobel Prize, it might have gone very hard for him, as it has for prominent and brave intellectuals like Murat Belge. Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink, also prosecuted under a state law forbidding discussion of the past, was shot down in the street by an assassin who was later photographed in the company of beaming, compliant policemen.

The original crime, in other words, defeats all efforts to cover it up. And the denial necessitates continuing secondary crimes. In 1955, a government-sponsored pogrom in Istanbul burned out most of the city's remaining Armenians, along with thousands of Jews and Greeks and other infidels. The state-codified concept of mandatory Turkishness has been used to negate the rights and obliterate the language of the country's enormous Kurdish population and to create an armed colony of settlers and occupiers on the soil of Cyprus, a democratic member of the European Union.

So it is not just a disaster for Turkey that it has a prime minister who suffers from morbid disorders of the personality. Under these conditions, his great country can never hope to be an acceptable member of Europe or a reliable member of NATO. And history is cunning: The dead of Armenia will never cease to cry out. Nor, on their behalf should we cease to do so. Let Turkey's unstable leader foam all he wants when other parliaments and congresses discuss Armenia and seek the truth about it. The grotesque fact remains that the one parliament that should be debating the question—the Turkish parliament—is forbidden by its own law to do so. While this remains the case, we shall do it for them, and without any apology, until they produce the one that is forthcoming from them.

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Srebrenitsa Massacre: Genocide of Muslims or Serbs?

April 1, 2010
Pravda.ru

Serbian Skupshtina criticized massacre of Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenitsa in 1995. 127 out of 173 members voted for the document.

The events that took place in this Bosnian town are considered one of the most horrifying episodes of Bosnia and Herzegovina war. In the beginning of July, soldiers of the army of Bosnian Serbs broke into the city populated by Muslims and protected by the UN peacemaking forces. Nearly the entire male population of the town was eliminated.

The Hague tribunal blames the ex-leader of Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic for the crimes against the humanity and believes the massacre in Srebrenitsa to be one of the most significant episodes.

Yet, the supporters of this position often ignore the affairs that preceded those tragic events. In 1992, by the beginning of the war, Serbs accounted for more than a quarter of the town population. Yet, Muslim troops occupied the town killing Serbs and forcing the rest of them flee.

In 1993, military initiative changed hands. Bosnian Serbs won back the villages next to Srebrenitsa and surrounded the town. The town, populated by then primarily by Muslims, was taken under the UN shelter. Muslim troops took advantage of it and kept attacking Serbian positions. This made Serbian leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic make a decision to attack the town.

In the West, the events in Srebrenitsa have been called the genocide of the Muslims for a long time. However, Serbia, remembering the event before the tragedy of 1995, did not think so. The local community demanded that the world aknowledges the crimes committed by Muslims against the Serbs.

Pro-western President Boris Tadic who took office in 2004 came to Bosnia five years ago and criticized the actions of his compatriots. Muslim leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina took advantage of the situation and demanded that Serbia compensates them for the genocide in Srebrenitsa. In 2007 the Hague tribunal accepted the fact but denied compensation.

At the same time, Serbia did not accept any official document assessing those events. President Tadic spent several years trying to talk Skupshtina members into accepting a resolution criticizing genocide of Muslims in Srebrenitsa. A few days ago, the resolution was drafted. Yet, there was no unanimous vote, and the parliament was turmoiled.

The draft resolution was introduced by Tadic’s supporters from the coalition “For a European Serbia” who represented the majority. The document did mention genocide. The authors indicated that the EU has been trying to get this condemnation for a long time. It is one of the stipulations if Serbia wants to join the EU and make peace with its Balkan neighbors.

The partners of pro-presidential forces from the Socialist party once chaired by Slobodan Milosevic, who died in the Hague prison, were ready to support the document. The only significant condition was that the document could not contain the word “genocide.”They justified it with the fact that the biggest losses in the wars accompanying the collapse of Yugoslavia were incurred by the Serbs.

The leaders of pro-western Liberal-Democratic party, on the contrary, called for even sterner wording to brand the crimes, end with the shameful past and satisfy the demands of the EU.

Nationalistic forces refused to vote for the resolution. Serbian radical party believes that all facts concerning Srebrenitsa were still not revealed. The party representatives believe that the international community has to recognize genocide of Serbs, Jews and gypsies committed during World War II by the Nazi accomplices, Croats and Muslims.

As a result, there was a compromise. Parliamentarians acknowledged the crimes committed by their compatriots against Muslims. Yet, there was no mentioning of “genocide” in the document. Additionally, Skupshtina called the world community to acknowledge the crimes committed by Muslims and others against Serbs.

Now it is up to the world community. As of now, the Hague Tribunal has not criticized any high ranking Muslim, Croat or Kosovo Albanian who gave orders to wipe out the Serbs. Before, the judges could say that Serbia does not officially recognize its crimes. Now this excuse is absolutely ungrounded.

Read also here, here and here.

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With What Kind of Body Will The Dead Rise?

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"But someone may say, `How are the dead raised?' 'With what kind of body will they come back?'" (1 Corinthians 15:35).

The Apostle Paul knows in advance the objections which the unbelievers will make concerning the resurrection from the dead and, in advance, he rejects them. Even today, the non-believers who have not seen with the physical eyes the miracle of the resurrection in nature, much less the spiritual resurrection, ask: "How will the dead be raised?" "You fool!" continues the apostle, "What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies" (1 Corinthians 15:36). Until the seed dies in the ground, the plant will not grow, in other words, something totally different than the seed will sprout up. The non-believers see through their eyes and do not see, but further ask: "How will a dead man resurrect?" How? In the same way that Christ resurrected. He lowered Himself lifeless in the tomb and rose alive. Even nature manifests the resurrection from the dead; but stronger than nature, it is manifested by the resurrected Lord. In order to make it easier for us to believe and to hope - to believe in the resurrection in general and to have hope in our own resurrection, He Himself resurrected from the grave and prior to that resurrecting Lazarus who lay in the grave for four days, the son of the widow of Nain and the daughter of Jarius.

The non-believers ask: "With what kind of body will the dead rise?" In that kind of body which God wills. With God there are many kinds of bodies. The Apostle Paul divides all bodies into two groups: into earthly bodies and into heavenly bodies. Therefore, they who have died in earthly bodies will be clothed with heavenly bodies: the incorruptible will replace the corruptible, the immortal will replace the mortal, the beautiful will replace the ugly. In this heavenly body man will also recognize himself and others around him as man recognizes himself or even when he is clothed in beggar's rags or even when he is clothed in royal purple.

Lord, All-plentious, do not hand us over to eternal corruption but, as royal sons, clothe us in the garment of immortality. Amen.

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St Justin Popovich of Chelije in Serbia (+1979)

St. Justin Popovich (Feast Day - April 7)

He was born on the Feast of the Annunciation 1894, in Vranje, South Serbia, to a family whose seven previous generations had been headed by priests (Popovich means "family or son of a priest" in Serbian). He began reading the scriptures at a young age, and as an adult carried a New Testament with him, reading three chapters every day. He studied at the Seminary of St Sava in Belgrade while St Nikolai Velimirovich (March 18) was on the faculty. In 1914, Blagoje (as he was called before his tonsure) completed the nine-year seminary program. He desired to become a monk, but postponed entry into the monastic ranks due to the outbreak of war and the poor health of his parents. He spent the war caring for his parents and serving as a student nurse.

In 1915 he was tonsured a monk under the name Justin, after St Justin the Philosopher. Shortly thereafter he traveled to Petrograd to study at the seminary; there he acquired a deep, first-hand knowledge of the Russian ascetical tradition and a lifelong love of Russian spirituality, especially that of the common people.

He then attended Oxford University from 1916 to 1919, writing a doctoral dissertation which was rejected. After a brief return to Belgrade, he entered the Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Athens. As in Russia, he used his time there not merely to study but to drink in the Orthodox spirituality of the Greek people.

He was ordained to the diaconate while in Greece, then to the priesthood after returning to Belgrade in 1922. He wept 'as a newborn babe' throughout his ordination service. One of his first labors as a priest was to translate the Divine Liturgy into modern Serbian. During this period he came to know Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky (later first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad) and St John Maximovich, both of whom were living in Serbia as exiles from the Russian Revolution.
 

Father Justin's preaching, writing and spiritual counsel became known throughout his country. In 1931 he was sent to Czechoslovakia to help in reorganizing the Church there (then under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Church), which was greatly tried and weakened by Uniatism. Realizing the people's crying need a clear exposition of the Faith in their own language, he began in 1932 his three-volume Dogmas of the Orthodox Church. The first volume was so well-received that Fr Justin was made Professor of Dogmatics at the Seminary of St Sava, where he remained, completing the Dogmas and several other books, until the end of World War II. The new atheistic Communist regime then banned him from the university system, and Fr Justin lived from that time on in various Serbian monasteries.
 
In 1948 he entered Chelije Monastery, where he remained until his repose in 1979. He became Archimandrite and spiritual head of the Monastery. It was during this period that he emerged as a great light of Orthodoxy: pious believers from all parts of Yugoslavia, from Greece, and from all over the world traveled to Chelije to hear the holy Justin's preaching and seek his counsel.
 
Saint Justin reposed in peace in 1979 at the age of 85, on the Feast of the Annunciation — the date of his birth (March 25 OC; April 7 NC). Since his repose, many miracles have been witnessed at his grave: healings, flashes of unearthly light from his tomb, and conversions of unbelievers by his prayers. His many writings are increasingly recognized as a fount of pure Orthodox teaching in the midst of our dark time.

Apolytikion
As Orthodox sweetness and divine nectar, Venerable Father thou dost flow into the hearts of believers as a wealth: by thy life and teachings thou didst reveal thyself to be a living book of the Spirit, most wise Justin; therefore pray to Christ the Word that the Word may dwell in those who honor thee.

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Monastery of St. Savvas th New in Kalymnos

St. Savvas the New of Kalymnos (Feast Day - April 7)

He was born in Thrace to a poor family. Early in life he desired to become a monk and, failing to get his parents' consent, left secretly for Mt Athos. After several years there, he traveled to Palestine, where he entered the Monastery of St George the Chozebite. In 1903 he was ordained to the priesthood. From 1907–1916 he lived in severe asceticism as a hermit on the banks of the Jordan. After living in several monasteries in Greece, he served with St Nektarios of Aegina for the last year of the Saint's life (he reposed in 1920). After six more years on Aegina, Fr Savvas moved to the island of Kalymnos, where he spent the remainder of his life. He lived in quietness and asceticism, acquiring a reputation throughout the island as a confessor and spiritual father. He slept only a few hours each night, and gave away any money that came to him the same day, since he believed that it was wrong for a monk to have money in his cell after nightfall.

Saint Savvas reposed on the Old Calendar feast of the Annunciation in 1948. Innumerable miracles and healings have been wrought through his intercession. A striking example occurred in 1957: A group of young islanders were talking about the Saint, and one of them, who doubted his sanctity, said 'If this lamp breaks I'll believe.' At that moment the lamp shattered spontaneously.

The following account is from Mother Nectaria McLees' Evlogeite! A Pilgrim's Guide to Greece:

His last words of counsel to his nuns were, "...love... is the bond of perfection," and to the abbess he said, "Love, love, love (Agapa, agapa, agapa)." Then he clapped his hands six times, saying "The Lord, the Lord, the Lord..."

In 1957 his relics were uncovered in the presence of Metropolitan Isidoros of Kalymnos, who described them as "the bones being perfectly joined, and the vestments intact." When the sepulchre was opened a divine and otherworldly fragrance covered the area, even to the outskirts of town far below. In 1961, an iconographer of the Skete of Kapsokalyvia on Mount Athos painted an icon of St. Savvas at Abbess Philothei's request. The icon arrived by ferry, and as it was being transferred from the post office to the customs house where the nuns would pick it up, the convent bell began ringing by itself and continued until the icon was brought to the monastery.'

Source

Apolytikion
Let us faithful praise Holy Savvas, the glory and protector of Kalymnos, and peer of the Holy Ascetics of old; for he has been glorified resplendently as a servant of Christ, with the gift of working miracles, and he bestows upon all God's grace and mercy.

Kontakion
Today the island of the Kalymnians celebrates your holy memory with a rejoicing heart; for it possesses as truly God-given wealth, your sacred body that has been glorified by God, O Father Savvas, approaching which they receive health of both soul and body.

Megalynarion
Rejoice thou new star of the Church, the offspring of Thrace and the beauty of Kalymnos, O God-inspired Savvas, fellow citizens of angels and equal of all the saints.

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An Ode To Monasticism

"Angels are a light for monks and the monastic life is a light for all men." - St. John Climacus

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Georgian Convicts Swap Cells For Monastery

BBC
April 5, 2010

Tbilisi, Georgia - Well-behaved prisoners in Georgia are being offered the chance to spend time in a monastery to serve out their sentences, as part of a plan to reduce prison overcrowding, Tom Esslemont reports from Tbilisi.

It is not hard to spot Tariel Maizeradze in the crowded chapel.

He wears a flowing red robe, while the others, the monks, sport black cassocks and neat hats.

The main difference, though, is that Tariel is not a fully-fledged monk, but a prisoner now serving out his sentence at the Father Ambrosi Khelaia monastery near Tbilisi.

Having spent four years behind bars and barbed wire, he is now allowed to roam the calm surroundings of a pine forest on the outskirts of the city, as one of the first candidates in a government-led rehabilitation programme.

A devout Orthodox Christian, he shows me around the monastery, explaining his daily ritual.

"I start every day in prayer. Then I feed the chickens and sheep. During the afternoon I usually sit together with the other monks and we discuss our faith. At 2130 we rest."

He says he also takes part in Bible study, bee-keeping, gardening and playing with the monks' pet bear.

He has swapped his prison cell for the relative comfort of the monastery and is allowed to receive frequent visitors.

His former fellow prisoners, he says, became jealous when they heard he was being moved.

"They wanted to come and spend time with the monks as well. This is a better place for me. I suppose God had something to do with my coming here."

Tariel, 50, was sentenced in 2006 to seven years for minor offences he had committed while working as a policeman.

The head of the monastery, Father Saba, insists he is ready to accept anyone prepared to ask for forgiveness - even murderers.

"With the support of God we are able to welcome criminals who are eager to become better people and confess their sins," he said.

'Religious discrimination'

Although the scheme is being organised by the Georgian government, the initiative came from the Georgian Orthodox Church - the country's most prominent and powerful religious institution, one directly funded by the government.

However, critics of the scheme say it is too exclusive of other religions and lacks a clear organisational structure.

Levan Ramishvili, chairman of the Liberty Institute think tank, says "it is [currently] done in a discriminatory manner because the state only co-operates with the Orthodox Church.

"In our prisons we have people from various faiths and they would probably prefer to serve out their sentence somewhere else and not in [an] Orthodox monastery."

The authorities say they are not ruling out working with other religious communities.

However the priority, they say, is to find ways to rehabilitate some of Georgia's 22,000 prisoners, many of whom are minor offenders like Tariel Maizeradze.

In recent years, human rights activists have said Georgia's prisoners are kept in unsanitary conditions.

In its 2008 report, the US state department said the country's prisons and pre-trial detention centres failed to match international standards.

Poor standards

Tato Kelbakiani, assistant head of Georgia's penitentiary department, told the BBC that he was aware of the scale of the problem and that jails needed reform.

He said it was the government's intention to "release people into monasteries, but also into other schemes as well".

He also suggested that violent criminals may one day be introduced into monasteries.

"People on life sentences might also become eligible for the scheme after they have served a minimum of 20 years," he said.

For his part, Tariel Maizeradze is enjoying his comparative freedom. He even says he would consider spending more than his allotted three years at the monastery.

"I am at peace here. I don't think I'll ever become a fully-fledged monk, but I know I never want to be a policeman again either - that's for sure."

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Divine Love Surpasses Knowledge

"It is better to be a simpleton and to approach God with love than to be a know-it-all and, at the same time, be an enemy of God." These are the words of the priest-martyr, St. Ireneaus of Lyon. The truth of these words have been confirmed at all times and is also confirmed in our time. One thing must be added to this, namely, that the lovers of God are not simpletons because they know God well enough that they are able to love Him. Of all human knowledge, this knowledge is more important and greater. To this must be added that the enemies of God cannot be more knowledgeable, even though they consider themselves as such, because their knowledge is unavoidably chaotic, for it does not have a source and does not have order. For the source and order of all knowledge is God. Some of the saints, such as Paul the Simple, did not know how to read or write yet with the strength of their spirit and divine love surpassed the entire world. Whosoever approaches God with love, that person is not capable of crime. Knowledge without love toward God is motivated by the spirit of criminality and war. St. Euthymius the Great taught: "Have love; for what salt is to food, love is to every virtue." Every virtue is tasteless and cold if it is not seasoned and warmed by divine love.

- St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Prologue

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World Council of Churches: The KGB Connection

By Mark D. Tooley
March 31, 2010
FrontPage

During the 1970’s and 1980’s the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC), to which hundreds of Protestant and Orthodox communions belonged, routinely espoused pro-Soviet and anti-Western stances. It even funded Marxist guerrilla groups. Critics assumed that the WCC was simply naively captive to Liberation Theology, which tried to exchange salvation for class warfare and revolution.

But a new book by a Bulgarian author reveals that the KGB and its Bulgarian intelligence affiliate exploited the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for direct influence on the WCC and the Conference of European Churches. In “Between Faith and Compromise,” Bulgarian historian Momchil Metodiev chronicles how the Soviets and their Bulgarian proxies employed the Bulgarian Orthodox and WCC to promote Soviet strategic goals globally.

“Participation of the Bulgarian church in ecumenical organizations was not inspired by the idea of interdenominational dialogue and co-operation,” Metodiev reported amid his book’s release this month. ”If, in popular perceptions, state security is classified as a state within the state, then the ecumenical activity [conducted by Soviet bloc representatives] could be classified as a church within the Church,” wrote Metodiev, who has researched Bulgarian communist archives for the Cold War International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson Institute in Washington, D.C.

According to Metodiev, Bulgarian intelligence had already identified the WCC as an “object of penetration” even before the Bulgarian and other East Bloc churches joined the WCC in 1961. He also explains in his book how East bloc intelligence services and communist committees on church affairs collaborated to influence ecumenical groups like the WCC. Metodiev writes that during the 1970’s, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad, at the KGB’s behest, led this collaboration, while Bulgarian Metropolitan Pankratii of Stara Zagora did his part in Bulgaria. Nikodim, who unsurprisingly worked closely with the Soviet-front, Prague-based Christian Peace Conference, became a WCC president in 1975 after browbeating Third World delegates with threats of a Soviet-aid cut-off to their countries if they did not cooperate.

East Bloc intelligence services, working through East Bloc churches belonging to the WCC, helped to ensure that the WCC focused its critique on the United States and its allies, while deflecting any attempted interest in human rights abuses in the East Bloc. Metodiev says a rare exception was the WCC’s debate at its 1975 Assembly in Nairobi, when some delegates tried to address Soviet repression of religion. At that gathering, a Swiss delegate named Jacques Rossel proposed this brief stance: “The WCC is concerned about the infringement of religious freedom, especially in the Soviet Union. The General Assembly respectfully asks the government of the USSR to abide by Article 7 of the Helsinki Final Act.”

Even such a mild proposed criticism ignited a firestorm of controversy within the reliably far-left WCC and failed to get the required two thirds votes from WCC delegates. A satire appeared in the WCC exhibition hall spoofing the conference theme of “Christ Liberates and Unites” by opining: “Christ has liberated Jacques Rossel to make a motion, he united the East European delegates – but will he divide the WCC movement?”

Amid all this ruffling of normally calm pro-Soviet feathers inside the WCC, the delegates approved a new compromise resolution the next day that nonchalantly noted having “spent considerable time debating the alleged non-observance of religious freedom in the USSR” and concluded that “churches in the different parts of Europe live and work under greatly differing conditions.” Even this non-criticism of the Soviets was too much for the Russian Orthodox delegates, who abstained in protest over the discomfiting “atmosphere” the discussion had unpleasantly enflamed. After that 1975 episode, the WCC would largely avoid any attempt at even tacitly admitting to any lack of religious freedom in the East Bloc.

Metodiev’s book addresses the 1975 incident and also reveals that Soviet and Bulgarian intelligence ensured the selection of Bulgaria’s Todor Sabev as the WCC deputy general secretary.

Sabev was a seminary professor in Sofia, Bulgaria and founded the Institute for Church History and Archives of the Bulgarian Patriarchate for the Bulgarian church. He became almost immediately involved with the WCC after the Bulgarians joined, serving on the WCC’s Central and Executive Committees in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In 1979 he became the WCC deputy general secretary, focusing on WCC ties to Orthodox Churches and Roman Catholics until he retired in 1993. “A devoted friend and colleague, he gained the trust and confidence of all those he has worked with,” recalled then WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia when Sabev died in 2008. “He will be remembered for his kindness and openness, his readiness to serve all at all moments and under all circumstances. Because of his personality combining moral authority and human warmth, he played the role of bridge-builder between the East and the West, between Orthodox and other member churches of the WCC, between the fellowship of member churches and the Roman Catholic Church.” Of course, Kobia did not mention Sabev’s long service as an agent of East European communism.

In a report by Ecumenical News International (ENI), a WCC official tried to minimize the revelations without explicitly denying them. “These allegations are not new,” insisted Martin Robra, a WCC program director. “Even during the years of the Cold War, it was known that church representatives coming from communist countries had the obligation to report about their activities abroad to their country’s authorities.” Of course, during the Cold War, the WCC never acknowledged this situation and preferred to pretend that East Bloc churches were free agents no more manipulated by their governments than were Western churches. “WCC proceedings and policies were, as they are today, public. There were no real ’secrets’ to be disclosed,” Robra claimed to ENI. “It was far more important to nurture relationships between the churches across the ‘Iron Curtain’ that divided the nations and to support them as much as possible.”

Only after the collapse of East Bloc communism did some WCC officials sheepishly admit they should have said a bit more about religious oppression under communism. But they also disingenuously claimed that their cooperation with East Bloc churches and even East Bloc governments had opened doors that facilitated the Cold War’s peaceful conclusion. “The stances taken by the WCC in favor of justice and peace did not follow any KGB script, but the Gospel of Christ, the prince of peace whom we meet among the most vulnerable and suffering people,” Robra assured ENI.

Books like Metodiev’s, based on research in communist archives, increasingly are confirming that the WCC and other religious groups did follow the KGB’s script during much of the Cold War. The question is, as the WCC continues his far-left advocacy, whose script does it follow now?

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