Elder Paisios: "The Two Extremes Always Weary Mother Church"

The two extremes always weary Mother Church, as well as those who hold to them, because the two extremes as a rule stab one another. In other words, it is as if the one extreme is held by a possessed man who is spiritually insolent (and feels contempt for everything), and the other extreme is held by a madman who is childishly zealous with narrow-mindedness. God forbid — these two ends could strike at one another continually and “an end to it all” no one will find.

Those who will be able to bend these two extremes and make them unite, will be crowned by Christ with two imperishable crowns.

We should neither create problems in the Church nor magnify the minor human disorders that occur, so as not to create greater evil and the wicked one rejoice.

He who is irritated about a minor disorder and abruptly rushes to ostensibly correct it (with vehemence and petulance) resembles the light-headed sacristan who sees a candle dripping and abruptly dashes to fix it, stumbling over people and candlesticks, and thus causing an even greater disorder during the Divine Service.

Unfortunately, in our day, there are many who weary Mother Church. Among these, those who are educated have grasped the dogma with their mind and not with the spirit of the Holy Fathers. Others, who are unlearned, have grasped the dogma with their teeth, which explains why they grate their teeth when discussing ecclesiastical themes. Hence it is that they cause more serious harm to the Church than the enemies of our Orthodoxy.

This excerpt is from “Elder Paisios of Mount Athos: Epistles” p. 135.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Georges Vasilievich Florovsky: Philosopher of the Orthodox World (6 of 8)

Continued from Part Five

The culminating ecumenical event for Fr. Florovsky was the Second Assembly of the WCC in Evanston, Illinois, in August 15–31, 1954. The relatively small group of thirty Orthodox delegates played a key role in this Assembly. The theme was: “To stay together is not enough; we must go forward.” To do this the Orthodox witness stood out in stark contrast to other prevailing opinions. Again Florovsky spoke for Orthodox Christianity: “No Christian can ignore the fact of Christian division... the greatest achievement of the modern Ecumenical Movement is in the courage to acknowledge that there is a major disagreement. The very sting of the Christian tragedy is in the fact that, in the concrete setting of history, many divisions have been imposed, as it were, precisely by the loyalty to Christ and by sincere zeal for true faith.” Florovsky went on, again, to urge the Assembly that the distant goal of visible unity could be reached through a conscious practice by the churches of “ecumenism in time.” This, of course, as noted, meant a critical analysis of any false hopes based upon the here and now of our troubled and distorted world. A true basis for human hope must be an eschatological hope, an ultimate hope that will be sought in the Church of God — the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of the New Testament and the Creed of the early undivided Church — serving as the pillar and ground of truth. The Orthodox declaration was forthright: “The return of the communions to the faith of the ancient, united, and indivisible Church of the seven Ecumenical Councils shall alone produce the desired reunion of all separated Christians.” Such stern statements by the Orthodox made it clear that the way ahead was indeed long and hard. As a sign that the ecumenical community intended at least to consider with seriousness the approach to unity being proposed by the Orthodox, the Central Committee of the WCC endorsed the initiative of Florovsky and others to take up the study of “Tradition and Traditions,” a theme that is addressed so richly and fully in so many of Florovky’s extensive corpus of writings.

Once again Georges Florovsky emerged, this time from Evanston, as a truly international religious figure. He stood at the peak of his public career. Although judged by some to be controversial, he was universally recognized as a major twentieth-century theologian and the most profound thinker and articulate spokesman for the Orthodox Church at that time.

When in the Fall of 1954, Fr. Florovsky was asked by the episcopal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in America to lay down the deanship of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, for reasons of inner policy and administration, Archbishop Michael, of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, a close friend of Florovsky from their earlier meetings in London, invited him to be Professor of Patristics and Dogmatic Theology at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. Shortly after that appointment, Florovsky was also appointed Lecturer in Eastern Church History at the Harvard University Divinity School. In addition to these new appointments, Florovsky continued for another year to teach a lecture course at Columbia University and a seminar course at Union Theological School as a commuting professor. The Florovskys moved to Cambridge in the Summer of 1956. In time Florovsky’s teaching at Harvard was extended to the Slavic Department of the University, where his broad knowledge of Russian intellectual history and literature was shared with his many graduate students.

During his years in New England, Florovsky, as always before, carried a heavy academic course load of teaching, but he also extended himself in a pastoral way to all the Orthodox of the area, especially the youth. His intense involvement with the Ecumenical Movement also remained unabated. As a member of the Central Committee of the WCC, the Executive Committee, and the Commission on Faith and Order, he continued to travel, to attend meetings, and to be engaged in encounters and dialogues dealing with fundamental theological issues, which were always at the forefront of his interests, and which would in time invariably appear in some written form.

Florovsky observed with regret that after Evanston the WCC began gradually to shift from concern for the state of the Church to a concern for the state of the world and its manifold social problems. He, of course, believed that the primary purpose of the Ecumenical Movement was the rapprochement among the churches and the restoration of Christian unity. Consequently, he found this shift of interest and focus from overcoming the divisions within Christendom to resolving the material and social problems of the modern world very troubling. While completely acknowledging the urgency of these problems and the global need for their resolution, Florovsky believed that the WCC itself could not produce any distinctively Christian statement on social issues that would bring about the essential Christian unity that was missing from Christendom. While the humanistic social work undertaken by the WCC is certainly praiseworthy in itself, Florovsky argued that it is not really ecumenical in the strict sense because it does not contribute to the essential restoration of Christian unity.

From his particular theological perspective Florovsky considered Amsterdam in 1948 and Evanston in 1954 to be “ecumenical events,” while New Delhi in 1961 and Uppsala in 1968 were not ecumenical events because they had forgotten about the Church. While the New Delhi Assembly in 1961 marked the point when the Orthodox churches of Eastern Europe joined the WCC, and the Orthodox could now voice their theological and historical concerns with sufficient numbers, the shift toward social issues had already taken place. As a veteran delegate to Uppsala, Florovsky was impressed by the spiritual dynamism of the newly founded churches of the African states, but was disappointed by the virtual avoidance of the fundamental theological issues that had been the primary preoccupation throughout his life. In fact, he observed, the interest of the leadership had shifted to social problems to such an extent that the Assembly of Uppsala had no distinctive religious or Christian character.

Decisions were now being made in the WCC by men who were disinterested in dogma and theological definitions, and who were not deeply informed about the history of the Church, her Tradition and Christian culture. Those who were so informed and who would bring in difficulties by raising problems of history and theology would be edged out to the side. The interest had definitely shifted by the time of the New Delhi Assembly and the churches were now trying to find what they have in common and forgetting the “rest.” They did not realize that “the rest” is exactly what comprises the individuality of the traditions and denominations. To forget these for the sake of unity is to achieve a superficial, an unreal, and certainly not a lasting unity. The new leaders of the WCC were no longer interested in doctrines and dogmas and could not understand that these theological truths have an existential dimension. Instead of theology and doctrine guiding their actions, they preferred the humanitarian schemes and the practical actions of social accomplishment to improve the state of the world, but not necessarily the actual state of the Church. The spirit of secularism had penetrated into the Ecumenical Movement as well.

Continued...Part Seven

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Grandchildren of the Apostle Jude and Relatives of the Lord

by Eusebius of Ceasarea (Church History, Bk. 3, Ch. 20)

Of the family of the Lord there were still living the grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord's brother according to the flesh.

Information was given that they belonged to the family of David, and they were brought to the Emperor Domitian (51-96 AD) by the Evocatus. For Domitian feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it. And he asked them if they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were. Then he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii, half of which belonged to each of them.

And this property did not consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes and supported themselves by their own labor.

Then they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own labor.

And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works.

Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution of the Church.

But when they were released they ruled the churches because they were witnesses and were also relatives of the Lord. And peace being established, they lived until the time of Trajan. These things are related by Hegesippus.

Tertullian also has mentioned Domitian in the following words: "Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero's cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished."

But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days, voted that Domitian's honors should be cancelled, and that those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them.

It was at this time that the apostle John returned from his banishment in the island and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Relics of Saint Paisios the Great

St. Paisios the Great (Feast Day - June 19)

Saint Paisios the Great was born in Egypt about the year 300 and was consecrated to God as a monk at a young age. He together with Saint John the Short (Nov. 9) was trained in the ascetical life in Scete by the great Abba Pambo (July 18). He practiced extreme fasting and vigil beyond the limits of human strength, and received many revelations of mysteries. The Saviour often appeared to him; once He appeared to him with two Angels, as He had to Abraham, and allowed him to wash His immaculate feet. When he was asked which virtue was the highest of all, he would answer, "That which is done in secret."

Saint Paisios the Great is known as Saint Pishoy or Bishoy by the Coptic Church. Having passed away in the early fifth century, Saint Isidore of Pelusium had his relics along with those of Saint Paul of Tammah, a companion of Saint Paisios, transferred to the Monastery of Saint Pishoy at Deir El Barsha, which still exists today near Mallawi. On December 13, 841 AD, the Coptic Pope Joseph I and moved the body of Saint Pishoy as well as that of Saint Paul of Tammah to the Monastery of Saint Pishoy in the wilderness of Scetes. It is said that they first attempted to move the body of Saint Pishoy only, but when they carried it to the boat on the Nile, the boat would not move until they brought in the body of Saint Paul of Tammah as well. Today, the two bodies lie in the main church of the Coptic Monastery of Saint Pishoy in the Nitrian Desert.

The Monastery of Saint Pishoy at Scetes, Egypt, is the most famous Coptic monastery named after Saint Pishoy. It is the most eastern monastery among the four current monasteries of the Nitrian Desert. Today, the Monastery of Saint Pishoy contains the relics of Saint Pishoy, Saint Paul of Tammah, as well as the relics of other saints. Eyewitnesses recount that the body of Saint Pishoy remains in incorruption until the present day.

On the feast of Saint Pishoy's departure on July 15 (according to the Copts) of each year, the Coptic Pope leads the celebrations in honor of the great Saint and to join the monks of the monastery in their joy for the feast. Thousands of visitors come over a period of 10 days (July 5-15) to join in the celebration and to receive the blessing and intercession of the great Saint.

Read more here.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Have Scientists Found Proof That Ghosts Exist?

by Danny Penman
News Monaster

Professor David Fontana took a deep breath and opened a side-door into the mechanic’s workshop. He peeked inside but could see virtually nothing through the murky gloom.

“Well, here goes,” he mumbled as he stepped into the workshop.

An icy chill rippled slowly down his spine. He looked up, momentarily startled by what he saw. A small piece of engine casing appeared to be levitating a few feet in front of his nose. It tilted slightly to the side and then flew directly towards him. He ducked aside as it whizzed past his head and smashed into the wall behind him.

“There you are,” said John Matthews, the workshop owner, “He’s welcoming you.”

As their eyes adjusted to the gloom, it was obvious that Pete, as the poltergeist had been affectionately dubbed, had been up to his tricks again. The floor was littered with stones and small coins. The normally well-organised shelves had been piled high with randomly selected engine parts, boxes of stationery, and bits of paper. A child’s teddy bear lay in the corner.

“Watch this,” said John as he gently threw a small stone into a corner. Moments later, the stone came flying back at him. It hadn’t bounced, it seemed to disappear into the wall and then re-materialise in mid-air as it flew back at them.

“And this,” said John as he tossed a penny into the corner. A two pence piece came flying back.

Over the following two years, the poltergeist was exhaustively investigated by Professor David Fontana, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He became convinced that the so-called ‘Cardiff Poltergeist Case’ was a genuine haunting.

Unlike most hauntings, which seem to involve angry or malevolent spirits, Pete was playful and only occasionally mischievous. In fact, everyone involved in the case became convinced that Pete was the ghost of a seven-year-old child who had been killed by a car near to the haunted workshop.

The family grew so fond of Pete that they adopted him as a part of their family and refused to have him exorcised or chased away by psychic mediums.

“There was no malice in him at all,” says Professor Fontana. “The family felt privileged to be in his presence. They saw him as evidence of an afterlife. He changed their whole outlook on life.

“It was most definitely not a hoax.”

It is fashionable in certain circles to dismiss hauntings such as the Cardiff Poltergeist Case as either pranks or delusions. But new scientific research to be published in the respected Journal of the Society for Psychical Research suggests that at least some hauntings may be genuine.

These startling conclusions have been drawn by Dr Barrie Colvin, a scientist who has spent the past five years analysing the knocks, raps and bangs produced by poltergeists. Dr Colvin used some of the most advanced acoustic technology available to ‘fingerprint’ the ghostly sounds. He has discovered that they are fundamentally different to the normal sounds produced by people, animals, or indeed anything in our physical world. They are, for the want of a better term, ‘ghostly’.

“The sounds produced by ‘ghosts’ during hauntings are paranormal,” says Dr Colvin. “Their acoustic waveforms are completely different. I can’t find a conventional explanation for my results at all. Nor can any of the other scientists who’ve reviewed my work. To be honest, we’re all completely stumped. We did not expect to find these results.”

“I do not believe in life after death. I believe that most things labeled as ‘paranormal’ are simply delusions, hoaxes or the result of drunkenness or drug-taking. Having said that, my results show that at least one part of the paranormal, which relates to the noises produced by ghosts and poltergeists, appears to be true. They are most definitely not human or natural.”

When Dr Colvin’s results are published later this month, they are expected to re-ignite the debate over the origins of ghosts and poltergeists. Some researchers claim that ghosts are either spirits of the dead or result from the violent release of pent-up psychic energy, usually by adolescent girls.

Many more researchers, of course, say that ghosts and poltergeists do not exist. They are either hoaxes perpetrated by attention seekers or simply spooky stories that become exaggerated with every re-telling.

Professor Chris French, a parapsychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London, and editor of The Skeptic magazine, says he has yet to hear of a single convincing haunting.

“Just because we cannot explain these phenomena does not mean that ghosts are the souls of the dead or even that something paranormal is occurring,” says Professor French.

“It’s very difficult to investigate hauntings in a scientific manner. They often rely on eyewitness testimony, which can be unreliable. They also tend to be investigated by people with an agenda. They want to see ghosts in action - or at least something paranormal - so that’s what they tend to see. When you add all these factors together, you have to be sceptical. I certainly wouldn’t bet my house on the existence of ghosts or poltergeists. But then again, I might be wrong.”

Professor French points to famous hoaxes such as the Amityville Horror to dispute not only the Cardiff case, but hauntings in general. So does this mean that poltergeists are pure hokum? It seems unlikely.

To my mind, Professor French’s arguments are entirely reasonable and logical but there are simply too many recorded poltergeist cases for all of them to be dismissed out of hand. A great many have been investigated by diligent researchers and the results suggest that ghosts may indeed be a real phenomena.

A good example is the Enfield Poltergeist, a haunting every bit as perplexing as the Cardiff case investigated by Professor Fontana in the mid-1990s. The Enfield Poltergeist turned the lives of Peggy Hodgson and her four children upside down. It first manifested as a mysterious invisible force that began by hurling toys, plates and cutlery around their home. Books and pictures would inexplicably fly across the room. Objects miraculously appeared and disappeared before the eyes of terrified onlookers. Strange knocking sounds were heard inside walls. And on several occasions, Peggy’s 12-year-old daughter Janet appeared to be ‘possessed’ by the poltergeist.

The strange events were exhaustively investigated by the respected paranormal researchers Guy Lyon Playfair and Maurice Grosse and was documented in the book This House is Haunted. And perhaps uniquely, the extraordinary events were witnessed by police officers and a BBC journalist.

On one occasion, a sitting room chair was seen to levitate off the carpet and move slowly across the room.

"It came off the floor nearly half an inch,” said WPC Carolyn Heeps, one of the Metropolitan Police officers sent to investigate the haunting. “I saw it slide off to the right about four feet before it came to rest.”

Guy Lyon Playfair and Maurice Grosse spent 14 months investigating the case before coming to the conclusion that a genuine poltergeist was haunting the family home. They themselves witnessed a range of inexplicable phenomena such as boxes flying across rooms, ornaments floating in mid-air, and books mysteriously appearing and disappearing. All told, hundreds of different phenomena were witnessed by over 30 people.

Of course, if there were only a handful of cases like the Enfield and Cardiff hauntings, sceptics could dismiss them as aberrations. But ghosts may be more common than previously thought.

Two years ago, Alan Murdie, at the behest of the Society of Psychical Research, began an exhaustive census of hauntings reported across the UK. He discovered that around 260 new hauntings are reported in Britain each year. This is in addition to the thousands of ghosts witnessed in traditionally haunted locations such as castles and dungeons. Around half of these newly reported ghosts involved violent and persistent poltergeists. In 43 percent of cases, a ghostly apparition was seen by observers.

It is no doubt possible to dismiss many of these cases as mere bunkum. But what of those witnessed by staunchly level-headed observers? Anwar Rashid’s experience at Clifton Hall, Nottinghamshire, is a case in point. Mr. Rashid, a millionaire businessman, bought the 52 room hall in 2006 as a family home. But they had barely moved in when they began to hear mysterious voices whispering inside the walls of their ancient house.

“There was a knock on the wall,” he said. “We heard a voice asking, ‘Hello, is anyone there?’ We were like the family in Nicole Kidman’s film The Others.”

“Two minutes later we heard the man's voice again. I got up to have a look but the doors were locked and the windows were closed.'

During the eight months that the family lived at Clifton Hall, Mr. Rashid said they were haunted by mysterious figures and found unexplained blood stains on bedclothes.

“I fell for its beauty,” said Mr. Rashid. “But behind the facade it is haunted. The ghosts didn't want us to be there and we could not fight them because we couldn't see them."

It eventually came to light that tunnels in the grounds had been used by Satanists and, according to legend, a woman dressed in white committed suicide by jumping from an upstairs window. At that point, Mr. Rashid decided to flee the property with his family and hand they keys back to the bank.

Nor were Mr. Rashid’s experiences at Clifton Hall unique. Darren Brookes, whose firm Sovereign Security guarded the hall for five years, said some of his staff “refused point-blank” to work there. They reported sightings such as a monk walking through the grounds and a ghostly woman stalking through the graveyard. On other occasions, security guards saw chairs moving as if they were being rocked by an invisible hand.

“I've often put officers who know absolutely nothing about the house in there - and after a night on duty they have quit,” said Mr. Brookes.

For me, these cases are not just anecdotes, they bear a striking resemblance to a poltergeist that haunted my mother when she was a teenager working at Belvoir Castle in Rutland. Soon after starting work at the castle, a poltergeist – who spoke only French – attached itself to her. On one occasion she was walking down one of the long corridors when all of the ornaments on a cabinet mysteriously levitated into the air and smashed themselves on the opposite wall. From then on, the poltergeist made her life a terrifying ordeal.

Crockery would unexpectedly fly from shelves and footsteps would follow her along corridors. And on occasion, ghostly voice could be heard cursing in French from an empty room. She left the castle the following morning.

Not all ghosts are evil and malevolent, as the Cardiff case shows. Many appear to be confused souls condemned to walk the earth as a form of purgatory. Others want to help the living. Hospitals up and down the land are testaments to this. Many have stories of resident ghosts, usually of doctors or nurses who periodically return to help the sick and dying.

A good example is the ghost that patrolled the corridors of the now defunct Mothers Hospital in Hackney, east London. Here, drowsy nurses complained of feeling a startling tap on the shoulder. According to legend, a nurse who was bottle-feeding a newborn baby dozed off and slumped forward in her sleep, smothering the baby. In a fit of remorse, she killed herself and was condemned to walk the wards, tapping young nurses on the shoulder to keep them awake.

These cases, and the thousands like them, are leading some researchers to conclude that ghosts really are the souls of the dead. To test this theory, Dr Colvin will soon start recording and fingerprinting the sounds ostensibly made by spirits during séances using state-of-the-art equipment.

If these sounds also prove to be unearthly, then it will provide even stronger evidence that ghosts and spirits really do exist. And if these ‘spirits’ should then prove capable of answering questions and acting with intelligence, then his work may finally prove that they really are the souls of the dead.

“I genuinely do not know what we’ll discover,” says Dr Colvin. “We’re in uncharted waters. That’s the beauty of science.”

Read also:

The Haunted: The debate about whether ghosts exist will never be settled, but for paranormal investigator John Warfield, it's all about the search for proof

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Tradition the Protestants Deny

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The monks once inquired of Paisios the Great: "Father, speak to us a word of salvation and how, according to God, we should live?" The elder replied to them: "Go and keep the commandments of God and preserve the traditions of the Fathers."

The tradition of the Fathers is the experience of the saints in the spiritual field, the enormous experience of nearly two-thousand years, the experience of many hundreds and thousands of holy men and women. What a very rich depository of wisdom! What kind of an immense mass of proofs of every truth of Holy Scripture! All of that wealth, all of that wisdom, all of those proofs, all of this experience the Protestants have rejected! O madness inexpressible! O, the poverty of beggars!

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Holy Martyrs Leontius, Hypatius, and Theodulus

Holy Martyrs Leontius, Hypatius, and Theodulus (Feast Day - June 18)

The Holy Martyrs Leontius, Hypatius, and Theodulus were Roman soldiers. The holy Martyr Leontius, a Greek by origin "of great physical stature, powerful, strong and brave in battles", served as a military-chief in the imperial army in the Phoenician city of Tripoli during the reign of Vespasian (70-79)*. Leontius was distinguished for his bravery and good sense, and the people of Tripoli held him in deep respect because of his virtue.

The emperor appointed the Roman senator Hadrian as governor of the Phoenician district, with full powers to hunt out Christians, and in case of their refusal to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods, to give them over to torture and death. And on his way to Phoenicia Hadrian received a report that St Leontius had turned many away from worshipping the pagan gods. The governor sent the tribune Hypatius with a detachment of soldiers to Tripoli so as to find and arrest the Christian Leontius. Along the way the tribune Hypatius fell seriously ill, and being near death, he saw in a dream an angel, which said: "If you wish to be healed, you and your soldiers should say three times: 'God of Leontius, help me.'"

Opening his eyes Hypatius beheld the angel and said: "I was sent to arrest Leontius, how is it that I should appeal to his God?" At this moment the angel became invisible. Hypatius told his dream to the soldiers, among whom was his friend Theodulus, and all of them together asked for help from the God Whom St Leontius confessed. Hypatius was immediately healed to the great joy of his soldiers, but only Theodulus sat aside, pondering the miracle. His soul was filled with love for God, and he told Hypatius to proceed twice as quickly as the other soldiers to the city in search of St Leontius.

Upon their arrival in the city, a stranger met them and invited them to his house, where he lavishly hosted the travellers. Learning that their hospitable host was St Leontius, they fell on their knees and asked him to enlighten them with faith in the True God. When he expounded his faith in Christ to them, their hearts burned with love for Christ and, at that moment, a bright cloud descended upon Hypatius and Theodulus and dew from a cloud descended upon them. That was the Holy Spirit of God Himself baptizing these converted souls and St. Leontius, at that moment, spoke these words: "In the name of the All-holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

The remaining soldiers in search of their commander arrived in Tripoli, where the governor Hadrian had also arrived. Learning what had happened, he ordered Sts Leontius, Hypatius, and Theodulus to be brought to him. After threatening them with torture and death, he demanded that they renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to the Roman gods.

All the martyrs firmly confessed their faith in Christ. St Hypatius was put under a column and raked with iron claws, and St Theodulus was mercilessly beaten with rods. Seeing the steadfastness of the saints, they beheaded them with an axe. And after torture, they sent St Leontius to prison. In the morning he came before the governor. Hadrian tried to entice the holy martyr with honors and rewards, and accomplishing nothing, he gave him over to new tortures. His entire body was covered with wounds but he diligently prayed to God not to abandon him. In the midst of the cruelest torments, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, encouraged and comforted him. The holy martyr was then suspended head downwards from a pillar with a heavy stone about his neck, but nothing could make him renounce Christ. The governor gave orders to beat the sufferer with rods until he died. The death of the holy martyrs occurred between 70-79.

The accusation against St Leontius, and his sufferings and death are recorded on tin tablets prepared by the court scribe [commentarisius] Notarius. These tablets were placed at the grave of the holy martyr.

Following the martyrdom of St Leontius, the soldiers then threw his body outside the city, but Christians reverently gave it burial near Tripoli. Leontius was buried in the yard of a woman by the name of Joanna who had given money to the soldiers to take the body. She was the wife of a great nobleman and prominent army commander named Maurus. She had wrapped the body in expensive cloth and also made a icon of him and she hung a lighted lamp before it.

It happened that Emperor Diocletian became angry with Maurus and shut him up in prison in the city of Antioch. She became sad, and prayed to God, interceding with His saint Leontius, to save her husband from prison. God accepted her prayers. St. Leontius appeared to her husband in prison and told him, "Do not grieve or be sorrowful, for you shall be delivered tomorrow, and you shall eat with the Emperor at his table, and you shall return safely to your house." The Saint, then, went to the Emperor, and woke him up. When the Emperor saw the Saint, he became terrified. The Saint told the Emperor, "I have come to you, O Emperor, to order the release of the army commander. Honor him, and let him go to his house, lest you be destroyed." The Emperor, who was trembling, replied saying, "Whatever you command me, O my lord, I will do." The next morning, the Emperor brought the commander out of prison, honored him, and dined with him at his own table. The Emperor told him about the horseman that appeared to him, then dismissed him to return to his home town.

When he arrived in Tripoli, his home town, he told his wife and his family what had happened to him. His wife told him, "The good that happened to you was through the blessings of St. Leontius." Then she uncovered the body of the Saint, and he took the blessing of the Saint. When he saw his face in the icon, he realized that he was the one that had appeared to him in prison.

After the perishing of Diocletian, they built a church in his name, and relocated the body to it with great veneration. Many miracles occurred and were attributed to him.

Many other churches were dedicated to him. A cathedral at Bosra, Syria was consecrated to him, SS. Sergius and Baccus in 513. He was formerly the patron saint of Syria.

Severus of Antioch, after studying law in Alexandria and Beirut, was converted from paganism and baptized at martyr Leontius' shrine in Tripoli in 488. In a homily on St Leontius delivered in 513 or 514 which recounts his life and various miracles which occurred at his famous shrine, Severus writes of his own experience that is valuable in knowing the importance of this shrine to the conversion of local pagans:

"And I know many of the young men who devoted themselves to Roman law in that turbulent city, that is Beirut, and they went off to his city (i.e. Tripoli) to pray, and speedily left their vain education and way of life, and purified their minds of Hellenic myths. They were changed for the better and were converted from those (myths) to a life full of wisdom and to conversation with the blessed monks. And I was one of them. For I was still at that time in that city. I heard of many miracles and cures that the blessed martyr made. My heart was moved in me, or rather philanthropic God moved my rational faculty that I should run to the Martyrion of St Leontius and pray. So I went out from the city of Beirut, I and a friend of mine who was a scholastikos, and we went to the martyr's holy place and prayed. Moreover, I prayed separately because I was still a pagan. I prayed thus: 'St Leontius, holy martyr, pray to your God on my behalf that He would save me from the cult of the Hellenes and from the customs of my fathers.' That night a great mystery was revealed to me of which I am not worthy and of which I dare not speak. And so the God of all, Christ Jesus, converted me from the seduction of the Hellenes through the prayers of the martyr St Leontius and called me to the morally pure life of monasticism" (Laudatio 4.1-6).

* More likely this occurred during the reign of Maximian or Diocletian. Different narratives give different names to the emperors and judges and slight differences in the story. The association with Vespasian may have its origin to the foundation of a church of Saint Leontius at Daphne in 507, following the destruction of a synagogue. For Daphne received its theater under Vespasian, and the cult of Leontius must have replaced an older cult. See more here.

HYMN OF PRAISE: SAINT LEONTIUS

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Leontius, the heart of a lion,
A lion's heart and name,
Of his God, he was not ashamed
But, before all, confessed Christ,
The Savior of the world, Christ the God.
Youth, strength and commandership scorned
For the sake of the truth of the Crucified Christ
And [Who] from death, resurrected gloriously.
Flattered, hosted, glorified and favored with gifts,
He, his God did not deny,
Flogged, spat upon, scraped and crucified,
He, his God, did not deny,
But, the greater the torment and ridicule
The flame of faith greater and brighter.
The Roman Empire and all the powers of Hades
Against him had turned,
But he knew that alone, he was not.
For, beside him, stood Christ.
A pillar of stone, amidst the angry reeds,
A pillar of fire among the slaves of darkness.
By his faith, he amazed the people,
To live eternally, his life he gave.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
Girded with divine strength you triumphed in your contest, O Leontius, the Savior’s trophybearer. You sprang into the contest like a lion, and destroyed the enemy’s might. O glorious martyr, entreat Christ our God to grant us his great mercy!

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Martyrs Leontius, Hypatius, and Theodulus, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received the prize of the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since they possessed Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by their prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
Thou didst wholly put to shame the tyrants' wicked opinions and didst mightily rebuke the Greeks' ungodly religion; with the doctrines of true rev'rence, thou madest shine forth godly knowledge for all men, O wise Leontius, thou most godly-minded Martyr; wherefore with longing we keep thy mem'ry today.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Empirical Observations of the Holy Mysteries

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

A scientist examines natural phenomenon with great attention and we, with greater attention, should examine the phenomenons and the actions of the grace of God.

Behold, what one of the great spiritual fathers' witnesses about the act of Holy Communion. Father John of Kronstadt writes: "I am amazed at the greatness and the life-giving power of divine Communion. An elderly woman, who was spitting blood and was so completely exhausted from not being able to eat anything, began to recover the day that she received Communion from me. A young girl close to death began to recover, eat, drink and speak after Communion whereas, before that, she was unconscious, in convulsions and did not eat or drink anything."

O, if every priest, with the attention of a scientist and with the love of a prayerful man, did observe and follow the actions of the Grace of Holy Communion similar to Father John!

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Eldress Sophia, the Ascetic of the Panagia

Sophia Saoulidi, the "ascetic of the Panagia", was born of Amanatiou and Maria Saoulidi in a village of Trebizond in Pontus of Asia Minor in 1883. She was also married there years later in 1907 to Jordan Hortokoridou, but after seven years her husband disappeared (likely not of his own will) in 1914 and she was left with a newborn son who soon thereafter died. These tragedies helped shape her piety and repentant spirit, making her rely solely upon God. Her asceticism began in Pontus on a mountain away from her relatives. It was there that one day Saint George appeared to her and warned her to notify the villagers of a coming persecution and to flee, and in this way she saved the village.

Her soul breathed Christ and the Panagia with her simple and humble love. "One is the Lord and one is the Lady", she would say of Christ and the Panagia, "the rest of us are all siblings."

She was a teacher of the simple, especially of women, and every word that came from her lips was spoken with humility and love. As with many "fools for Christ" of the past, the proud and the educated didn't recognize her worth as much as those who possessed simple and humble hearts.

She came to Greece in 1919 as an exile. The name of the ship that carried her was Saint Nicholas, so when they arrived in Greece the Panagia appeared to her and said: "Come to my house." Sophia asked: "Where are you and where is your house?" The Panagia responded: "I am in Kleisoura." Therefore she went and settled at the Monastery of the Birth of the Theotokos in Kleisoura of Kastoria when she was 44 years old. There the abbot of the Monastery was Gregorios Magdalis, an Athonite of great virtue. Sophia learned much from him and always spoke his name with the highest respect.

By the command of the Panagia, Sophia lived within the fireplace of the Monastery in the kitchen, which was also used to cook the food. She would sleep there two hours a night and the rest of the night pray on her knees. In the winter it was especially cold there, while during the rain water would drip on her. At times she would light a little fire, but this did not help much. At the window she would always have a candle lit before the fresco of the Panagia. This is where she ate and spent her time, and when visitors came to see her she would say their names before they even introduced themselves to her. People came from Thessaloniki and the surrounding areas, even as far as from Athens, just to see her. She would tell people their names and their family problems without being told beforehand. Among those who came was Fr. Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, who later became Metropolitan, and he would say: "You have a great treasure up there".

She dressed poorly and had a blanket with holes. Her sandals had holes also. Visitors would see how she suffered in the cold and humidity and give her clothes, but she would take them with one hand and give them away to the poor with the other. She also always wore a black scarf, and since her days in Pontus never bathed. Her fasting was constant and only allowed herself oil on the weekends. She cared little for what she ate, eating only to survive, and cared less about cleanliness so that she would even eat food without washing them. And despite the germs and the worms, she always remained healthy.

Visitors would often give her money, which she would hide anywhere she could. And when someone had need, she would go and give the money immediately.

She saw many scandalous things done by priests and lay people, but never criticized anyone. "Cover things, so that God will cover you", she would say.

Her popularity arose rapidly, so that people came not only from all over Greece, but even places like France and Israel to see her. Some villagers made fun of her however, calling her "Crazy-Sophia". To many she looked like Saint Mary of Egypt, as thin as a bone and all dried up. Within however she contained the same beauty of Saint Mary.

Wondrous Events

Her love for God and humanity was powerful and she had impressive experiences with the Panagia and various Saints.

As the ship carried the passengers from Asia Minor to Greece in 1919 a storm hit that put the passengers at great risk. Eventually the storm ceased and everyone survived, but the captain said after making the sign of the cross: "You must have a righteous person among you that saved you", and everyone looked at Sophia who was standing at the corner of the ship the entire journey praying. This incident actually exists on videotape, where she herself recounts what happened:

"The waves were filled with angels and the Panagia appeared, saying, 'Humanity will be lost, because they are very sinful.' And I said: 'Panagia, let me be lost because I am a sinner, so let the world be saved.'"

In 1967 Sophia became very sick and was in great pain. Her stomach had open sores that smelled. She took the pain courageously, saying: "The Panagia will come to take away my pain. She promised me." Some Athenians have her on videotape explaining what happened soon thereafter:

"The Panagia came with the Archangel Gabriel and Saint George, as well as other Saints. The Archangel said: 'We will cut you now'. I said: 'I am a sinner, I must confess, receive communion, then you can cut me'. 'You will not die', he said, 'we are doing a surgery on you', and he cut me open."

As with many Saints, she had a special relationship with wild animals, especially with bears in the forest, but also with snakes and birds.

New and Old Calendar

From the time when the Ecclesiastical Calendar changed in Greece, Sophia would keep the fasts of both the Old and New Calendar so as not to be an offense to anyone.

Unfortunately there is a tendency among Old Calendarists to distort facts and consider her one of their own, but this does not conform to reality as she was always in communion with the Church.

Spiritual Sayings

"The fear of God makes a person wise. What is the fear of God? Not that one should be afraid of God, but to be afraid to sadden someone, to harm someone, to do them no wrong, and to not make accusations. This is wisdom. After all this, God will illumine you as to what to do in your life."

"Look for and find the poor and gather them and help them. This is what God wants, and not to go to church as if to pray."

"Almsgiving should be in secret, for God alone to know."

"Oh, if you only knew what happened to the Lord on Wednesday and Friday, you would put nothing in your mouth. Neither bread, nor oil. Do not break the fast of Wednesday and Friday."

"The angels speak every day. God sends the angels to see if people are repenting."

"The Panagia weeps, she weeps every day. She says to her Son: 'My Son and my God, grant the world wisdom, forgive the world.'"

"Let the mouth become basil and a rose."

Views Of Her Sainthood

In 2009 the Metropolis of Kastoria organized the discussion of the topic "The Saints Honored In Kastoria". Much was discussed of the Eldress' life, and Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria gave his own opinion which reflected the opinions of those in the local church of Kastoria, that she was a saint, that hymns had been written and an icon painted of her, and the necessary official requirements for Glorification would be submitted to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Holy Monastery of Kleisouras

The Monastery of the Birth of the Theotokos is 35 kilometers from Kastoria and 70 kilometers from Florina. It was founded around 1314 by the Hieromonk Neophytos of Kleisoura and once again established in 1813 by Hieromonk Isaiah Pista of Kleisoura who came from Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos after a vision of the Panagia.

During the Liberation War of Macedonia the Monastery gave hospitality to many of the Macedonian fighters, among whom was Pavlos Melas. When the Turks burned down the neighboring village of Variko in 1903 the residents fled to this Monastery for safety. Until 1993 the Monastery was not an organized coenobitic community, and it was during these years that Eldress Sophia lived here in asceticism from the time she left Pontus until she died in her old age. Since 1993 the Monastery serves as a female coenobitic convent and has an aim to "resurrect" it as a center of worship in Western Macedonia.

Eldress Sophia fell asleep in the Lord on May 6, 1974 and was buried on the grounds of the Monastery. She was well-known in Western Macedonia, and many who knew her come to pray at her tomb. Her relics are kept in the Monastery, and upon request to the nuns can be venerated by the faithful.

The current abbess is Anisia Egglezou and the Monastery has six nuns and one novice. The address is Κλεισούρα, Τ.Κ. 52054 and the telephone number is 24670 - 94330.


Απολυτίκιο. Ήχος γ΄. Την ωραιότητα.
Σοφίας γέγονας, μήτερ αοίδημε, Σοφία, σέμνωμα, της Θεομήτορος, εν τη Μονή ασκητικώς τον βίον σου διελθούσα,όθεν και απείληφας των καμάτων σου έπαινον, κατατραυματίσασσα των δαιμόνων τας φάλαγγας, και πρέσβειρα Χριστώ παρεστώσα, μη επιλάθου των πόθω τιμώντων σε.

Απολυτίκιον. Ήχος δ΄.
Η αμνάς Σου, Ιησού, Σοφία κράζει γοερώς Σε, Νυμφίε μου, ποθώ, και καρτερώ ασκητικώς εν τη Μονή της Θεόπαιδος και μητρός Σου, και πάσχω δια Σε πόνους και σκώμματα και δέχομαι πληγάς εκ του αλάστορος, αλλά θαρρούσα προσμένω εν τη δεήσει και προσευχή και τοις δάκρυσιν. Όθεν την μνήμην αυτής τελούντες χάριν πλουσίαν δεχόμεθα.

Κοντάκιον. Ήχ. δ΄. Επεφάνης σήμερον.
Της σοφίας γέγονας της Θεϊκής και εν φόβω παμφαές θησαύρισμα, μήτερ Σοφία, μητρικώς τοις σοις ικέταις, μακρόθυμε, πάσι πλουσίας προσφέρουσα χάριτας.

Μεγαλυνάρια.
Σοφισθείσα, μήτερ, πνευματικώς όλον σου τον βίον εν τελεία υπομονή διήλθες, Σοφία, και νυν του σου νυφμίου το κάλλος εποπτεύεις εν ταις παστάσιν αυτού.

Φιλοστόργως, μήτερ, διηνεκώς ύμνεις την Παρθένον ταις παννύχοις σου προσευχαίς, όθεν τοις εν πίστει προστρέχουσι προς ταύτην προσφέρεις τας αιτήσεις, Σοφία, πάντοτε.

See more here and here. Translation by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Saint Botolph: Patron Saint of Two Boston's

Saint Botolph (Feast Day - June 17th)

Reposted from June 17, 2009

Having been born and raised in Boston, there was once a time when I was about twenty years old that I lost my appreciation for this great city. In hindsight I look at that feeling as just an inner need to escape the enclosed environment I was living in and take in a new experience, both physically and intellectually. I was in college at the time and had no chance of physical escape, so I realized I had to make an intellectual transformation of how I perceived Boston. My solution in accomplishing this was to devour Boston that entire summer like a tourist and take in its amazing history through things like books, tours, and excursions. That experience and intellectual broadening has transformed my thinking and to this day I sincerely love Boston and after all my travels think it is the best city of the United States.

Among my many discoveries at that time, and one of the most interesting, happened at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline when I came across an icon of Saint Botolph for sale that was painted by the monks of the same monastery. I had never heard of Saint Botolph before so it struck my curiosity as to who this was and noticed they also distributed small icon prints with the image of Saint Botolph in front and on the back was his life story. This is what it said:

"Saint Botolph was born in England around 610. In his youth he became a monk in Gaul. By 654 he had returned to England and founded the Monastery of Ikanhoe in East Anglia. Thereafter, the place came to be called "Botolphston" (from either "Botolph's stone" or "Botolph's town"), which was later contracted to "Boston". Having led many in the way of salvation, and renowned for his sanctity and miracles, Saint Botolph reposed around the year 680. He was greatly revered by his Christian countrymen in antiquity, and is commemorated to this day in the name of two cities, both the original Boston in the Lincolnshire fens (about 100 miles north of London), and likewise its namesake in the New World, in Massachusetts. The feast of St. Botolph is celebrated June 17."

I was just about drop-jawed when I found out that the city I was born and raised in was named after an Orthodox Saint, and even more pleased the monks had written hymns for Saint Botolph as well (link below). This was information they certainly did not teach me in school. This was a discovery that literally transformed how I viewed Boston and prompted me to do further research.

One day soon after this discovery while driving through Boston along Massachusetts Avenue I noticed that the street running parallel to Huntington Avenue was named St. Botolph Street. Though there is no church dedicated to Saint Botolph on this street, I did discover later on, besides the fact there is an apartment complex named after Saint Botolph, that on Huntington Avenue itself there is a YMCA with an Anglican chapel inside dedicated to Saint Botolph. Besides this there are few other mentions of Saint Botolph in the city of Boston (there is a club named after him and the house of the president of the Jesuit Boston College is also named after the Saint). Noteworthy is the fact that pieces of the Gothic window tracery of Lincolnshire’s Church of St. Botolph are incorporated into the structure of Trinity Church in Boston’s Copley Square.

One thing I was pleased to discover however was that the Orthodox are slowly laying claim to their Saint in the hopes of sanctifying their city in the New World, as is traditionally done in the more Orthodox countries of the East. Besides the awareness Holy Transfiguration Monastery is promoting through their icon of Saint Botolph, there is also a Russian Orthodox Church Abroad parish in Roslindale named after Holy Epiphany that depicts an icon of Saint Botolph (painted by parishioner Zoya Shcheglov) on its south wall facing towards the city in full stature and giving blessing to the city that bears his name. Unfortunately there is no Orthodox church or chapel dedicated to Saint Botolph in Boston as of yet, but there is an Antiochian Orthodox Church dedicated to Saint Botolph in London.

The meeting between Winthrop and Blackstone and the naming of Boston

In my research regarding the figure of Saint Boltoph and the relationship between the two Boston's, this is what I discovered.

The Rev. William Blackstone was the first settler of the area that would come to be known as Boston. He was an Anglican priest who fled England due to his disagreements with the Church of England and joined the Gorges expedition to the New World in 1623. After most from the expedition returned home, Blackstone decided to live as a recluse in the heavily forested area of what we know today as Boston Common and Beacon Hill in 1625. He is said to have had the largest library in the colonies at that time and just wanted to live alone with his books, his cattle, and his gardens.

In 1629 Puritans arrived in Salem but then travelled to nearby Charlestown from a place in England called Boston in Lincolnshire. The area that Blackstone lived in was originally called Shawmut by the local Indians and Trimountaine by the colonists due to the fact that the area consisted of three hills (this is how Tremont Street got its name). In 1630 Blackstone invited the Puritans to make their settlement across the Charles River on the Shawmut Peninsula with him since they had problems with clean water in Charlestown. On September 17, 1630 their new settlement was renamed Boston with the proclamation of John Winthrop, "that Trimountaine shall be called Boston", after their hometown in England and was designated the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

John Winthrop

These Puritans were an intolerant group in their zeal to have a pure church in the New World. When they settled in Boston they granted Blackstone 50 acres of his own land. However they looked upon him with suspicion since he was an ordained minister of the Church of England and the Puritans feared he would try to establish the Church of England in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritan court thus ordered his house be burned. This display of intolerance forced Blackstone to move 35 miles south and settle in Cumberland, Rhode Island. They also had Anne Hutchinson exiled to Rhode Island in 1638 as well for similar intolerance.

John Winthrop was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and he is famous for delivering his famous sermon titled "A Model of Christian Charity" in 1630 while still aboard the ship Arbella. This sermon contained the famous phrase "city upon a hill" when Winthrop warned the settlers that they were being watched by the world and needed to be an example of pure Christian conduct. It was his hope to build a model Christian community in the Massachusettss Bay Colony free from the corruption of the Church of England and thus be an example to the Protestants in Europe and reform the Church of England which had corrupted itself with Catholic practices.

Soon after the Puritan settlement in Boston, it became the largest and most influential city in the New World till the mid-18th century. America's first public school, Boston Latin, was founded in 1635 and its first college, Harvard, was established a year later. Boston Latin was modeled after Boston Grammar School in Lincolnshire.

Rev. John Cotton eventually came to Boston with his family in 1633 to serve as the "Teacher" in what is now the old First Church in Boston’s Back Bay. During the remaining 19 years of his life, Cotton was the “senior statesman” of the church as it quickly spread with the Massachusetts colony along the shores of northern New England. He served as an arbiter of theologi­cal controversy and largely defined the characteristics of what became New England Congregationalism. He was also the grandfather of Cotton Mather who would play an important role in the Salem Witch Trials. John Cotton is an under-recognized figure in history. It was he who lit the flame that motivated the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and more than any other single individual defined the society that became New England.

Rev. John Cotton

Back in England John Cotton had served in Boston as the vicar of Saint Botolph's Church from which many of the Puritan settlers had also come and knew of this charismatic minister. He had served at Saint Botolph's from 1612 and was widely regarded as the preeminent Puritan theologian in all of England. Cotton would draw large crowds to Saint Botolph's from throughout all of England to hear him deliver one of his legendary three-hour sermons. In fact, the pulpit raised in the church for John Cotton in 1612 is still in use today. When Archbishop Laud chastised Cotton for serving the sacrament to people standing instead of kneeling, Cotton replied there was no room for people to kneel. He was so popular that people from throughout England moved to Saint Botolph's town just to hear him preach. Soon the influence of the Puritans and Seperatists reached the ear of the King and an effort was made to silence them.

It was during this time that the Puritans decided to move to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to practice their faith freely. With the financial backing of the Earl of Lincoln and the wealthy families of Saint Botolph's parish, in the spring of 1630 a flotilla of seven ships was ready to take the first wave of 1,000 emi­grants to a new colony in the New World. Members of Saint Botolph’s church were prominent among those who set sail for Massachusetts Bay in April 1630, under their chosen leader John Winthrop on the Arbella, named for the daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, who was aboard with her husband. Their pastor, John Cotton, preached a farewell sermon just a few days before the small convoy sailed from Yarmouth. It is said that about 10% of the first settlers in Boston, Massachusetts came from Boston, England.

Saint Botolph's Church in Lincolnshire along with the Boston Stump

Over the years, the old and new Bostons have kept in touch. St. Botolph’s Church was restored in the mid-1800's and again between 1929-33, both times with significant help from the people of Boston, Massachusetts. As it happens, the town offers unique hospitality for Americans as a result. In 1999 the Partnership of the Historic Bostons was formed to re-establish the relationship between Boston, Massachusetts, and its mother town in England, with committees on both sides of the Atlantic working to keep the connections alive. Every year in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston Charter Day celebrates the anniversary of Boston’s naming and creation as a political entity on September 7, 1630. Events are coordinated by the Partnership (www.historicbostons.com).

Saint Botolph's Church began its construction in 1309 and completed in 1390. The church tower, famously known as Boston's Stump or The Stump, was erected in 1425 and took another 90 years to complete. It is the highest tower of any parish church in England at 272 feet built to navigate ships six miles away. It is of this tower with its beacon and its bells that we hear in Jean Ingelow's touching poem, "High Tide On the Coast of Lincoln­shire." Its construction was based on the calendar: 365 steps up the tower for days of the year, 12 stained glass windows for months of the year, 4 large main doors for the seasons, and 7 columns on the chancel roof for days of the week. Today, Boston in Lincolnshire is a bustling market town of 36,000 and throughout the year of 2009 it is celebrating the 700th anniversary of Saint Botolph's Church with many festivities throughout the year.

The people of Lincolnshire modeled many things in new Boston based on old Boston. On March 4, 1634 the Court of Assistants in new Boston, remembering the Stump of Saint Botolph's Church, passed the following resolution: "It is ordered that there shall be forth with a beacon set on the Centry hill at Boston to give notice to the Country of any danger, and that there shall be a ward of one person kept there from the first of April to the last of September; and that upon the discovery of any danger the beacon shall be fired, an alarm given, as also messengers presently sent by that town where the danger is discovered to all other towns within this jurisdiction." This helps us to understand the significance of the light at Boston's Old North Church in today's North End that sparked the Revolutionary War and signaled the famous ride of Paul Revere.

Nathaniel Hawthorne travelled to old Boston in Lincolnshire. He hints that the winding streets of new Boston can be attributed to old St. Botolph's town: "Its crooked streets and narrow lanes reminded me much of Hanover Street, Ann Street, and other portions of our American Boston. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the local habits and recollections of the first settlers may have had some influence on the physical character of the streets and houses in the New England metropolis; at any rate here is a similar intricacy of bewildering lanes and a number of old peaked and projecting storied dwellings, such as I used to see there in my boyish days. It is singular what a home feeling and sense of kindred I derived from this hereditary connection and fancied physiognomical resemblance between the old town and its well-grown daughter."

The relationship between old Boston and new Boston is beautifully expressed by New England poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Boston”:

St. Botolph’s Town! Hither across the plains
And fens of Lincolnshire, in garb austere,
There came a Saxon monk, and founded here
A Priory, pillaged by marauding Danes,
So that thereof no vestige now remains;
Only a name, that, spoken loud and clear,
And echoed in another hemisphere,
Survives the sculptured walls and painted panes.

St. Botolph’s Town! Far over leagues of land
And leagues of sea looks forth its noble tower,
And far around the chiming bells are heard;
So may that sacred name forever stand
A landmark, and a symbol of the power,
That lies concentred in a single word.

The Puritans who named their “city on a hill” Boston likely had no intention of naming the city after a canonized saint, merely naming it after where many of them came from. And while June 17th is a holiday in new Boston, it is not for Saint Botolph but for the battle fought on Bunker Hill on that day in 1775. Coincidentally, the feast day of Saint Patrick, Boston’s other patron saint due to its many Irish immigrants, is also a public holiday but that is due to Evacuation Day and not the saint's day.

Besides the information about Saint Botolph provided by Holy Transfirguration Monastery above, little is known about Saint Botolph. Here are some other facts that we do know:

- He was born into a Christian Saxon family in the early seventh century. Botolph and his brother Adolph were educated by Saint Fursey in Cnobersburg Monastery, located at Burgh Castle near Great Yarmouth.

- When Mercian forces invaded the region, Botolph and Adolph went to Europe and became Benedictine monks in Belgian Gaul. Botolph returned to England in 647 to found a monastery in East Anglia based on the Benedictine Rule. He is credited for first bringing Benedictine monasticim to England. His brother Adolph, also commemorated on June 17th, remained in Germany or Holland and became a bishop.

- On his return, Botolph approached the little known King of the southern Angles, Ethelmund, whose sisters he had known in Germany that were also monastics. The King offered Botolph part of the royal estate upon which to build a monastery. Botolph however had specifically asked for land not already in anyone’s possession so that his gain would not be another person’s loss. Instead he settled for a desolate, barren island, reported to be haunted by demons. We are told that he received threats and horrible apparitions by these marsh-demons and overcame them through prayer, fasting and erecting a large Cross. Thus, land haunted by demons became holy ground.

- With the support of Saint Syre, Saint Aubierge, and their brother, King Anna of East Anglia (who may be the same King Ethelmund), Botolph founded the Monastery of Ikanhoe (Ox-island), which according to the Saxon Chronicle, was established in 654 AD as a Benedictine abbey.

- The site was surrounded by water and endless work was needed to make this austere place viable. But Botolph attracted enough brother monks and hermits and soon, through their hard work and faith, the monastery grew. The monks built several structures, turned large areas of marsh and scrub into productive grazing and farm land, and dispelled the local people's fear of demons.

- No one knows for sure today where Ikanhoe was - the two modern contenders are Iken in Suffolk and Boston in Lincolnshire. For many years local historians believed that the developing area around the monastery came to be called Botolph's Town, then Botolphston, with the name finally contracted to Boston. However, more recent research suggests that the actual spot may be the village of Iken, near Snape in east Suffolk which, centuries ago, was almost encircled by the River Alde. The church there is also dedicated to St. Botolph.

Iken, which may be the true site of Ikenhoe

The village of Iken

- During his time at the monastary, Botolph also worked as a travelling missionary through the rough, bandit-plagued areas of East Anglia, Kent and Sussex. He was known for many wonders and healings and displayed a gift of prophecy. His biographer, the English monk and musician, Folcard, writing in the 11th century, describes him as "distinguished for his sweetness of disposition and affability." Even the prominent Anglo-Saxon monastic, St. Ceolfrid, who later brought to Rome the Codex Amiatinus, a manuscript of the oldest Vulgate text of the Bible, came to Ikenhoe to spend time with this man.

- It is believed he died after a long painful illness while being carried to chapel for a compline service on 17 June 680 – the date his feast is commemorated. He was buried there at Ikanhoe. He was known to be "a man of remarkable life and learning, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit." His relics were later found incorrupt, and giving off a sweet fragrance.

- Botolph is supposed to have been buried at his foundation of Ikanhoe. In 970 King Edgar gave permission for his relics to be transferred to Burgh, near Woodbridge where they remained for some 50 years before being transferred, on the instructions of Cnut, to their own tomb at the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. His relics were later translated (with those of his brother Adolph) to Thorney Abbey, although his head was transferred to Ely and other portions to Westminster Abbey and other houses. December 1 is the Feast of the Translation of his relics.

- Burgh is an ancient site, a hill top iron age settlement with signs of later Roman occupation. We know that in 970 the relics of Saint Botolph were housed in a chapel here and that he had a reputation for casting out demons. Burgh was known at that time as also being haunted by marsh-demons. There seems to be evidence that the hill in Beowulf, which was written in Suffolk in the 7th century, where Grendl was supposed to have lived, was this one. Was the story based on an older folk memory? The neighboring village is called Grundisburgh, consonant with the demon Grendl.

Burgh church from the air looking northeast. The church overlooks the haunted marshes. It is thought that Saint Botolph's relics were brought here so the locals could overcome their fear of the demons inhabited in the marshes.

- Many churches between Yorkshire and Sussex are dedicated to Saint Botolph, with a heavy concentration in East Anglia. It is said there are 71 churches in total. They bear witness to his untiring missionary work which strengthened the Benedictine movement for many centuries after his lifetime.

- Because he is considered the patron saint of travellers, four City of London churches, near gates in the City walls, were dedicated to him - St Botolph Billingsgate (destroyed in the Great Fire and never rebuilt), St Botolph Aldersgate, St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate (where the poet Keats was baptized) and St Botolph's Aldgate. This is attributed to providing places for incoming travellers to give thanks to him for safe arrival and for outgoing travellers to pray to him for a safe journey, and/or to relics of him coming through these four gates when King Edgar moved them from Iken to Westminster Abbey.

- Since old Boston in Lincolnshire had originally been haunted by demons which were exorcised by Saint Botolph, this also became the model for Puritans in new Boston as well that unfortunately went too far in purifying the Massachusetts Bay Colony with their heresy and witch trials that resulted in many executions.

For hymns in English to Saint Botolph written by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, see here.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone
Neither the desolation of the fens, nor the depth of thy humility could hide the light of thy virtues, whereby thou becamest a lamp unto the faithful, O Botolph our righteous Father. Wherefore, we entreat thee: do thou also enlighten us who venerate thy blessed memory.

Kontakion in the First Tone
The glory of the just, the protector of Boston, the man of mighty prayer, our belov'd Father Botolph, entreateth the Saviour that He show mercy to all of us. Let us honour him with thankful praise, O ye faithful; let us imitate his conversation and virtues, that God hear his prayers for us.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael

Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael (Feast Day - June 17)

The Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael, brothers by birth, were descended from an illustrious Persian family. Their father was a pagan, but their mother was a Christian, who baptized the children and raised them with firm faith in Christ the Savior.

When they reached adulthood, the brothers entered military service. Speaking on behalf of the Persian emperor Alamundar, they were his emissaries in concluding a peace treaty with the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). Julian received them with due honor and showed them his favor. But when the brothers refused to take part in a pagan sacrifice, Julian became angry. He annulled the treaty and incarcerated the ambassadors of a foreign country like common criminals.

At the interrogation he told them that if they scorned the gods he worshipped, it would be impossible to reach any peace or accord between the two sides. The holy brothers answered that they were sent as emissaries of their emperor on matters of state, and not to argue about "gods." Seeing their firmness of faith, the emperor ordered the brothers to be tortured.

They beat the holy martyrs, then nailed their hands and feet to trees. Later, they drove iron spikes into their heads, and wedged sharp splinters under their fingernails and toenails. During the entire time of torturing they prayed to God with thanksgiving for their tortures: "O sweet Jesus these torments are sweet for the sake of Your love!" An angel of God appeared to them, comforted them and removed every pain from them.

Finally, the holy martyrs were beheaded. Julian ordered their bodies to be burned, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The ground opened up and the bodies of the holy martyrs disappeared into the abyss. After two days of fervent prayer by the Christians, the earth returned the bodies of the holy brothers, from which a sweet fragrance issued forth. Many pagans, witnessing the miracle, came to believe in Christ and were baptized.

Christians reverently buried the bodies of the holy martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael in the year 362. Since that time the relics of the holy passion-bearers have been glorified with miracles.

When he heard about the murder of his emissaries, and that Julian was marching against him with a vast army, the Persian emperor Alamundar mustered his army and started off toward the border of his domain. The Persians vanquished the Greeks in a great battle, and Julian the Apostate was killed by the holy Great Martyr Mercurius (November 24).

Thirty years later the pious emperor Theodosius the Great (+ 397) built at Constantinople a church in honor of the holy martyrs, and St Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (May 12), then still a hieromonk, wrote a Canon in memory and in praise of the holy brothers.

Source

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since they possessed Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by their prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Pierced through in your hearts with faith in Christ, O blessed ones, ye drank of His cup with faith, and ye hurled to the ground all the impudence of the Persians and their vaunting idolatry; and ye intercede for us all, ye equal in number to the Trinity.

HYMN OF PRAISE: THE HOLY MARTYRS MANUEL, SABEL AND ISHMAEL

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Of a Christian mother and a pagan father
Three blood brothers, wonderful peacemakers:
Manuel, Sabel and young Ishmael
Dead for Christ's sake, to earthly delight
To serve peace, voluntarily set out,
To unite in peace, the Persian and Greeks.
But Julian the cursed, servant of the devil,
Began to dispute with the three brothers about the Faith,
And offered the brothers, in Christ baptized,
To embrace his faith impure.
To the crowned beast, the brothers then replied:
"To change our faith, for that reason we did not come,
But, peace to make, O emperor of the Greeks,
In the Son of God, we have faith.
The worse for the better can still be given
But better for worse, only the insane one can exchange."
The enraged emperor, in him, Hades burns,
In bitter torments, the three brothers slew.
But God the All-seeing, Who, the value of all knows
Against the evil emperor turned with anger;
Julian, the evil one, weak before God,
A shameful death died, everyone laughed,
Everyone laughed, who knew his pride
And through him, the weakness of injustice acknowledged.

Reflection of St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The adversaries of Christ, through their efforts against Christ, always achieved the opposite results. Instead of stopping the river of Christianity, they have widened it, deepened it and made it louder. Instead of drying Christianity up they have, so to speak, caused a flood throughout the entire world. Where one martyr fell, a company of Christians was created; where shame was committed, glory sprouted; where it was said the end of Christianity, there was the beginning of luxuriant crops. In spite of all international considerations and customs, Julian the Apostate, because of his insane idolatrous fanaticism, killed the Persian emissaries for peace; Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael. What did Julian accomplish by this? He multiplied the number of Christians, increased the number of martyrs and hastened his own end and the end of paganism. Directly and unwillingly, the apostate helped in the spreading and deepening of Christianity, not only by his evil persecution but also by his inadvertent statements. Thus in discussions with Christians, Julian stated: "Christ did nothing in His life that would merit glory, except if that is counted as a great deed, that He healed the lame, the blind and expelled demons!" O wretched Julian! As if the opening of the eyes of only one blind man by the powerful word alone was not a greater deed, than the subjugation of ten kingdoms! How valuable is it, that Julian, as the greatest traitor of Christ after Judas, recognized the miracles of Christ.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Patriarch Kirill Is Most Respected Person In Russia

Russians Trust Patriarch Kirill The Most – poll

Moscow, 17 June 2010, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia heads the rating of people most trusted in Russia made up by the Synovate international research company.

The majority of participants in the poll held in various regions of Russia chose the Patriarch when answering the question "Whom do you respect more?" the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported on Thursday.

The second place in the rating was given to observer Vladimir Pozner, while the third one was shared by film director Nikita Mikhalkov, pediatrician Leonid Roshal and anchors Leonid Parfenov and Tina Kandelaki.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Non-Existent 'Scandal' of Vatopaidi Monastery

by Emilios Polygenis

There are many indications that political intrigue and other dark purposes are behind the fact that the so-called ‘Vatopaidi scandal’ is kept open. They slander Orthodoxy, the Holy Mountain and even Greece for their own means.

There are many people who still have questions about some issues:

Where are the bribes? Where are the offshore companies that Vatopaidi is supposed to own? Where are the so-called ‘political monies’?

They say it is a crime!!! But normally we pin point the crime and then we find the criminals. Oddly the exact opposite happened here. We found the ‘criminals’ and now they are seeking to find if there was a crime committed!!!

Two years have already passed since the case of Vatopaidi Monastery began; we have already had five committees find fictional elements in favor of Vatopaidi, but bribes and black monies are nonexistent. Now they are focusing on ponds and large lakes. They think they can feed us with the grass, which perhaps grow on the shores of the ponds and the large lakes. You know what I mean!

What have the experts at the investigation committee said so far and why have these been shoved under the carpet?

Have any bribes been given?

Speaking before the Investigation Committee, Mr. Panagiotis Mantouvalos, who is a member of the Committee for the Prevention of the Legalization of Illegal Funds and head of the Fifth Subcommittee for Special Investigations in the Attiki region, was asked whether the investigation had concluded and that there is indeed the possibility that Vatopaidi had actually handed out bribes. He said: “There is no such find”.

Offshore Companies of the Monastery

Truthfully, where are the so called offshore companies that Vatopaidi is supposed to own? Asked about these famous offshore companies, Mr. Mantouvalos clarifies that the companies which Vatopaidi owned are not offshore but Cypriot companies. “They are not offshore”, he said. But we must clarify here, that the Monastery did not own a share in these companies.

Then Mr. Mantouvalos declared that all monies administered by the Monastery are clean. “By studying the facts of this report, I declare that the origin of the monies is known”. And "if the monies are directed towards private companies owned by individuals, with whom the Monastery is indirectly involved, there is no prohibition in this”.

Therefore, there are neither offshore companies owned nor “black monies” trafficked by this Athonite Monastery. By the way, the Monastery is and has been under the scrutiny of all the other Athonite Monasteries for every case even before this broke out. All the faithful and the whole of Church has recognized that this Brotherhood has a long history and spiritual tradition, and so it will remain. It simply shows this is a persecution which is not unknown in Tradition and by the Fathers of the Church.

It must be mentioned that according to the finds of the investigation committee, neither Abbot Ephraim, nor Monk Arsenios, have any personal bank accounts.

Let’s also not forget what the Abbot of Vatopaidi has publicly told the TV program ”Fakelloi” presented by Mr. Papahelas: “If you find one single Euro in my pocket or in any bank account, I will personally lock myself up in a prison cell for the rest of my life”.

Monk Arsenios had also stressed to the investigation committee: “If you find even a single Euro in my personal account since I became a monk on Mount Athos, I will honestly find my way to a prison cell tomorrow morning”.

Political Monies!

Some political parties are still shoving under the carpet the so called “political monies” issue! While all know the truth and talk about it among themselves, they still keep this issue open.

How could they suppose that what they do among themselves and between various companies is done by Athonite Monasteries? The odd thing is that most of them have visited Vatopaidi and Mount Athos and are acquainted with the genuineness of the Brotherhood and they probably recognize that all these scenarios which have been woven around Vatopaidi go well beyond fantasy.

Someone from the investigation committee has said: “The important thing is to find the final recipient. What we are interested in is to find if any politician is involved”. Here are the possibilities!

One MP is seeking to find out whether any Anthonite Monastery is dealing with political monies. But Mr. Mantouvalos puts him in his place: “We know who the final recipient is. This is what makes the difference. If these monies had been illegal, 'black monies', and have derived from an illegal activity by the Monastery and did not derive from a loan, then it would have been blocked. However, the origin of the monies is known. It comes from a loan… There is no illegal activity found in this case”.

The specialists have decided that there is nothing reprehensible, nothing illegal, no bribes, and no offshore companies; it is "a voice crying in the wilderness".

One wonders then that just because it serves them to keep the case open for their personal reasons, how they dream up infinite scenarios and weave myths for a nonexistent case…!

Source: Romfea.gr

Tweet

Share on Tumblr