The Relics of Saint Euphemia the Great Martyr

The Miracle of Saint Euphemia at the Synod of Chalcedon (Feast Day - July 11)

St. Euphemia, whose relics are in the middle reliquary, was born in Chalcedon (present-day Kadköy), the daughter of devout parents, Philophron and Theodosiani. She was tortured during the persecutions of Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the late third century.

The Saint played a major role in inspiring the Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. During that council (451), St. Euphemia worked a miracle that determined the final doctrinal definition. The 630 Fathers, who gathered for this council in Chalcedon, were deliberating about the two natures of Christ. Eutyches and Dioscoros claimed that Christ possessed only a single nature. To test this teaching, the Holy Fathers inscribed the differing opinions on two separate decrees, which they placed inside the reliquary of St. Euphemia. When the reliquary was later opened, the decree of the heretics had fallen to the feet of the Saint, while the Orthodox doctrine rested in her hands. The Orthodox Church celebrates this miracle on July 11. The repose of St. Euphemia is commemorated on September 16.

According to her biography, the relics of St. Euphemia adorned many churches of Constantinople prior to its conquest in the fifteenth century. Thereafter, the relics were successively relocated to each of the Patriarchal churches. The icon of St. Euphemia records scenes from the life, martyrdom, and miraculous interventions of the Saint.

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The palace of Antiochos was originally an early fifth-century secular building, and it seems to have been transformed into a church by the first half of the seventh century, when the body of St. Euphemia was enshrined there. The church, which came to be regarded as the martyrion of the saint after her body was enshrined there, was restored and redecorated more than once. The building was a domed hexafoil in plan, richly decorated, and boasting at various periods mosaics and frescoes.

The body of the martyr Euphemia was brought to the church for safety from her native Chalcedon across the Bosporus when that city was in danger of sack by the Persians, probably in 626, and thereafter became a very popular relic in the Byzantine capital, for the body still exuded blood. The body of St. Euphemia doubtless also developed an important cult because of the tradition that her body had chosen the declaration of faith of the Orthodox party at the Council of Chalcedon. The Council of Chalcedon was of course held in the martyrion of the martyr in Chalcedon, not in her Constantinopolitan martyrion, as the Russian Anonymous variant has it. The popularity of the relic caused it to be among the first casualties of Iconoclasm, and, coffin and all, it was thrown into the sea. Miraculously rescued by faithful iconodules on the island of Lemnos, the body of St. Euphemia was restored to her church at the hippodrome in the last years of the eighth century. The history of this relic is unclear after its reentombment in the church. By the late twelfth century it is located outside the city walls, and the church at the hippodrome claims only lesser relics of the Chalcedonian martyr, including her head and her empty tomb. After the Latin conquest of Constantinople, "relics" and the jewel-encrusted arm of St. Euphemia are reported in Germany, but there is no mention of the saint's head or body in the West. These relics must have somehow escaped the Latins and remained in Constantinople, the head at the church near the hippodrome (if we are to accept the testimony of the Russian Anonymous), and the body outside the city.

From Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, by George P. Majeska (Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, 1984) pp. 259-260.



See also:
Saint Euphemia's Conversation With Elder Paisios
More on the Relation Between Elder Paisios and Saint Euphemia

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
O Euphemia, Christ's comely virgin, thou didst fill the Orthodox with gladness and didst cover with shame all the heretics; for at the holy Fourth Council in Chalcedon, thou didst confirm what the Fathers decreed aright. O all-glorious Great Martyr, do thou entreat Christ God that His great mercy may be granted unto us.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
You made fervent effort in your struggles of trial, in your struggles of faith for Christ your bridegroom. But even now, intercede with the Theotokos that the heresies and insolence of enemies be trod beneath the feet of our rulers, O All Praised, who received and kept the Decree of the 630 God-bearing Fathers.

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Cape Maleas: The Small Holy Mountain

Wikipedia: Cape Maleas

Cape Maleas is famous for its Byzantine churches and monasteries - Cape Maleas is often referred to as the "Small Holy Mountain" (Mount Athos being the largest!). Many monasteries were built in the area of Cape Maleas in the 12th century. In the 14th century the area devolved under the dominion of the Mistras area. On the Cape itself is the Chapel of Saint George, built right into the cliff's face. A few meters away lies the Monastery of Saint Irene perched on a terrace overlooking the sea. Post Byzantine buildings include Saint George Katzilieris, Saint Marina, Prophet Elias, and Saint Dimitrios. Cape Maleas hosts one of the largest lighthouses in the Mediterranean (Built since 1860).

This hardly accessible headland is frequently battered by strong winds and has claimed many shipwrecks that haunt its depths. There is a road which leads to the lighthouse. It is a difficult dirt road of approximately 20 kilometres, with the last kilometres increasingly dangerous as the path veneers precariously along the cliff edge. For enthusiastic walkers, there are paths which simplify its access. At the tope of the headland lies a Venetian fortress (altitude 600 meters).

Cape Maleas was by the ancients accounted the most dangerous point in the circumnavigation of the Peloponnesian peninusula, hence the proverbial expression: "After doubling Cape Maleas, forget your country."

See also: Saint Thomas of Mount Maleon in Peloponnesos

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On Change of Fortune and Loss of Security

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

A change of fortune strikes the hardest when it strikes unexpectedly. But, he who expects the stroke and guards himself against it beforehand, should he then be surprised?

King Charlemagne the Great ordered his sons to learn a trade and his daughters to learn to spin wool in order to be able to earn a living should their fate change.

The famous and renown Belisarius, a great general and a great conqueror, was slandered by the envious before the king and on the basis of these slanders was blinded and his estate taken away from him. The blind Belisarius sat before the gates of Rome and begged for alms saying to passers-by: "Give alms to Belisarius whom fortune raised on high but was toppled by envy and deprived of his sight!"

The righteous Job says: "Is not a man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of a hireling?" (Job 7:1). Therefore, one must be as a watchful guard and prepared for all that may happen. What is there that cannot happen to a man? And yet, in every suffering one must have hope in God. On the dunghill in all his festering sores, the Righteous Job cried out: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!" (Job 13:15).

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Essential Differences Between 'East' and 'West'

DIFFERENCES IN THE RELIGIOUS THINKING BETWEEN THE EAST AND THE WEST

by Father Archimandrite Raphael Karelin

The English poet Kipling began his poem with the words: "Oh, the West is West, and the East is East, and they will never move from their places, until heaven and earth appear at God's Last Judgement". Here by East and West we must not understand the parts of the world, which are divided geographically by the Ural and Caucasian Mountains. Rather, by East one must understand to be that extensive region, which was occupied by the eastern part of the Roman Empire, and then by Byzantium and the countries of the Near East (here it is possible to include both Egypt and Ethiopia), and by the West the Western European powers and generally all countries of West European culture.

The Holy Fathers metaphorically said: "Light began to shine from the East"; the East symbolically represented Paradise, Eden, a country of eternal Divine Light. The West is young in a cultural-historical sense. The West is young. The East is old. The West is active. The East is contemplative. The West is all into emotions, all in motion, all very dynamic. However, the East is deep into itself; it appears that it does not want to remove its sight from the treasures which it possesses. The West is impulsive, is into searching, is into daring. The East keeps what it has. The West daydreams and fantasizes. The East searches everywhere for eternal ideas under what is visibly covered. The West dresses its saints in snowy garments, crowns their heads with wreaths of roses, but the East sees holiness equally both under rags and under gold. It sanctifies neither the rags of the poor, nor the monk's simple shirt, nor the rich dress of the tsars - it's as though it does not see the external.

The West sends regiments of crusaders to liberate Christ's Tomb. The East sends monks into the deserts of Egypt and dwellings of Mt. Athos. The West bares the sword against the enemies of the faith. The East provides spiritual warriors for the invisible fight with the demons. The West, in order to suppress evil, creates such institutions as the Inquisition, and the East – great philosophical systems.

The peak of western theology – is Blessed Augustine, a brilliant poet and thinker; but he is thoroughly psychology oriented. Eastern theologians: Saints Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa – are mystical. Augustine, his school brilliantly showed man in his fall and agony of searching, and the Eastern theologians showed man in his transfiguration. The West, by the mouths of its saints, sang a majestic hymn to God; the East, in a mystical silence, contemplated about God. The West was reaching out to the azure skies, and the East searched so as to meet God in the depths of the heart.

Western ascetics tried to imitate Christ outwardly; the Eastern ones considered that there is only one way to imitate Christ – by acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit: man, having acquired the Holy Spirit, only by grace, invisibly, becomes comparable to Christ. Western ascetics with songs on their lips went to Golgotha; the Easterners made life itself a Golgotha, invisible to the world.

Some of the western ascetics imagined Christ so vividly, that they identified themselves with Him; on their hands and soles of their feet wounds appeared, from which ran blood. Stigmata was revered by Catholics as a sign of holiness. But the holy ascetics of the East tried to see only one thing – the sea of their sins and considered a terrible pride to compare oneself with Christ.


The West resembled the young soldier, who bared his sword, the East – the old man, whitened with the gray hair of wisdom. The West wanted to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth, to build a paradise on earth by earthly means. The East always paid tribute – to Caesar what is Caesar's – and prepared the way to the Kingdom of Heaven in man's heart, the passage not into the earthly Kingdom, but the eternal one.

For the West the battle with evil was the earth, this temporary life with all its events and troubles, while for the East it was the human heart, which it saw as being deeper than the entire visible world.

The West is active, but all its activity is turned externally. The East turned the dynamics of the spirit into itself. Western civilization is like a wide wave of light, but scattered light, light that is refracted through earthly prisms of different colors. But the East is the concentration of light at one point, and this is why this light has the special quality (energy, strength) to be converted into a flame. The West loved the earth, and in heaven he saw the earthly (earth). The East loved heaven and in the earthly (earth) he saw the symbols of heaven; in the temporary he searched for the signs of the eternal.

Already the third bishop of Rome – Saint Clement, the successor of the holy apostle Peter, compared the Church with the army and called Christians to strict discipline, so that this army would be victorious. But in the East the Fathers said: "Conquer yourself – this is the highest of all victories". The ascetic teaching of the Eastern Fathers is a strategy of this spiritual fight (struggle) – fight with demons, with one's own passions. For the army to be victorious it is necessary to have centralized control, a strong authority is required and unconditional subordination, this is why the West created the Church structure, similar to a monarchy. For the fight with the age-old enemy of humanity the East searched for another force – this is the force of humility, in which the true power of the spirit is manifested.

The West is oriented to external might: by external means it created various organizations, affected influence on culture, everywhere it looked for allies – in the world of arts, in literature, in politics, in society. But the East said: "True good can be created only with God's grace" and therefore it always rejected questionable allies; outwardly it seemed poorer, more helpless, weaker than the West; however, it did not look for power nor might of the world, but it searched for Christ, Who conquered this world.

The asceticism of the West fills the souls of ascetics with enthusiasm and with admiration, the asceticism of the East – with repentance. The West, in the beauty of the world, desires to contemplate God's beauty. For the East God is Unutterable, Unknowable and Inexpressible. God, for the East, is not like anybody or anything from His creation – He is an eternal secret. The Western ascetic wants to embrace God, and the Eastern pleads only for one thing – the forgiveness of sins; searching in prayer for any kind of exalted states – this for him is already a sinful effort.

The Western ascetic sees the light, which descends upon him from the outside (this is the vision of Francis of Assisi and others), and the Eastern sees Light, which lights up his heart from the inside; and as such he quivers, before God's favor, as unworthy of it.

Western ascetics, demonstrating repentance, walked in cities in groups, entire societies, which were called "repentants" (or "penitents"); on streets and squares they removed their clothing and, in the presence of enormous multitude of people, would strike (flog) themselves with ropes and belts until they bled, and the ecstatic crowd glorified them as great saints of God, heroes of the faith. The Eastern – in the silence of the deserts offered repentance, invisible to the world; once one of the great Egyptian Fathers loudly sighed in church during prayers, but immediately he caught himself and, after turning himself to the nearby monks, said: "Forgive me, brothers, I am not yet a monk" – because repentance, as all virtues, must be secret.

For the West the main thing is works (deeds). The works, for him, are of value: just as the good deed and so also the sin have a specific, clear structure (form) and a value. For the East the main thing is the spiritual state, and works are only its manifestation. Therefore, for the East even a small deed can be great, if it proceeds from a pure heart, and a great podvig (spiritual exploit or struggle) is negligible, if it is not dedicated to God or done by unworthy means. The morals of western ascetics are based on "the principle of quantity": who, outwardly, made more good deeds; the morals of the East are based on the purity of the heart, known only to the One God.

The West attempted to realize the idea of God's Kingdom on earth, but with the methods of government: incentives, sanctions, intrigues and the like, transferred into the Church, profaned the purpose itself. "The end justifies the means" – this unwritten Jesuit motto with the greatest clarity and assuredness expressed the mood of those who are truly ready to build an "earthly paradise" by any means, at any price. However, the Eastern Church taught: a pure purpose, pure methods, a pure subject, this is how it was formulated by St. Dionysius.

The West says: "Love and do deeds of self-sacrifice" and the East, first of all, cleanses the heart with the fear of God in the struggle with the passions, for the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit. In the East there is only one monastic rule, one idea: the monk renounces the world and becomes a person who prays for it; the monk is like a star that rose from the earth to the heavens – he is far from everybody and shines for all.

Western monks serve people and society. During many years, Hospitalers* took care of travelers and the monks of the order of Francis, "Franciscans", and educated children. The Jesuits were involved in politics, instruction of youth and similar works.

Once, Catholic monks were asked whether they read ascetic literature. They were surprised and answered that such books were used only by professors and the teachers of history, and that their duty is to obey the father superior. The studying of the Jesus Prayer and of spiritual contemplation, in the West, are almost non-existent. Culture, science, society itself are constantly undergoing a change; that is why the face of Western Christianity is constantly changing: there rules the principle of modernism, there the ecclesiological teaching about evolution is accepted, new dogmas are born and new revelations are expected.

* A member of a religious order known as the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, that originated in the early 11th century in a hospital built in Jerusalem to care for the crusaders and pilgrims.

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The Plane That Almost Crashed: A Passenger Recounts

This is a true account of events as described by a passenger aboard a plane, returning from the Holy Land on the 29th August 2003:

We had a magnificent time. The previous day we had celebrated the Dormition of our Lady at her church where her resting place is, since this feast is celebrated in Jerusalem on the 28th August, that is, 13 days later than the date celebrated in Greece. We lived through a unique experience. Late in the afternoon we packed our bags and took part in the all-night vigil at the Holy Sepulcher. Soon afterwards we boarded the bus which was waiting for us just outside the old city.

The weather was good and the sky clear and starlit. When we eventually boarded the plane - if I remember correctly it was a twin engine Airbus - I noticed that its lights were twinkling all the time. I thought that some wire was not making contact properly, and I sat deeply into my seat. When we took off the problem was less noticeable. I was sitting with my mother on the left side of the aircraft, in front of the wing.

Twenty minutes later we heard a loud noise and the aircraft started trembling and leaning on one side and then the other. The pilot told us in Hebrew and then in English to remain seated and fasten our seatbelts. The stewardesses did the same. In the beginning we did not pay much attention to this, until I turned and saw one of the engines on fire. Pieces of burning metal were strewn in the air. After a reassuring preamble I showed it to my mother and my other friends. We tensed somewhat, but we didn’t show our concern. As I have learned afterwards, some of us started praying with the Jesus Prayer ['Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me'].

A few minutes later the pilot confirmed that we had lost the left engine and that he was going to try to land at Eleftherios Venizelos airport in Athens, using the other engine.

Less than twenty minutes later we heard a similar, less loud noise and felt the same strong vibrations, mixed with turbulence. Some people, sitting on the right hand side shouted: "The engine is on fire!"

The atmosphere in the plane which up to then was mostly calm changed into panic. The aircraft was losing altitude quickly. I remembered that the noise which I was hearing, like a whistle, resembled whistle bombs make when falling. The stewardesses, who had started offering refreshments, secured the trolleys and ran to their seats, fastened their seatbelts and put their heads on their knees.

Several people with heart problems and some elderly were taking pills two at a time. Spouses were publicly confessing when and where they had committed adultery and were asking for forgiveness. Grandfathers and grandmothers were asking for forgiveness from their grandchildren because they had not included them in their will, and grandchildren were apologizing for past inappropriate behavior. They were all receiving forgiveness. Friends were revealing that they had lied and calumniated against each other.

The plane started leaning on one side and we realized that the pilot was trying to turn back to either Tel Aviv, or Cyprus.

One priest stood up and said: “Do not be frightened, my brothers, let us pray. God will not abandon us”. The other priests put on their epetrachili [priest stole] and started reading prayers, some others were reciting the Jesus Prayer and the rest divided themselves into two groups and started reading the Supplication to the Panagia (Paraklisi tis Panagias) and the Salutations to our Lady (Hairetismoi) on the left and the right hand side of the cabin. We placed our hopes in our Lord and felt a lot better.

Non-Christian passengers, a lot more scared than us, thought we had been singing and believed we had gone crazy.

This soothing attitude was suddenly broken by the voice of the captain: “As you have already realized we have lost the second engine a while ago, we have emptied our fuel tanks, and we will try to return to Ben Gurion airport but...” He suddenly stopped. We froze... It is one thing to imagine something awful is about to happen and another thing to have it officially confirmed! After the initial uncomfortable moments we continued our prayers from where we had left off. I was surprised that people, who seemed not to believe, had started praying feverishly.

I started to behave rationally, to the point of being accused of insensitivity. Hoping to console those who had been crying, I explained calmly: “We will all die one day. This cannot be changed. What is important therefore? How many years we will live and how we will live them. We all want to live for many years, but if God has decided otherwise, this cannot be changed. Besides, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves and that we have not done. Therefore, let’s accept that today we will be called to account for our lives. What therefore is left for us to do? To honestly pray and ask sincerely for the forgiveness of our sins. But we must also place our hope in God. Why? Because, His infinite love for us would not permit something to happen to the detriment of our souls. That means that if He decides to take our souls today, He will take us at the best moment of our lives. Most of us have confessed and took Holy Communion yesterday; therefore, we are ready as much as we will ever be. Think about what would have happened had we not been ready? Those of us who visited the Holy Land did not do it as tourists but as worshippers. Do you think the Lord and our Lady, for whom we had made this trip, will abandon us?"

Turbulence was continuing again quite strongly. We were flying low; I could distinguish the islands and the far away terrain. Then suddenly, the same priest who had pressed us to pray got up and said in a loud voice, full of conviction and with tears in his eyes:

“My children, please believe me. I can see our Lady, huge, standing in front of us, holding the plane by the belly!!!. We will be saved! We will be saved!" And weeping he said: “Let us pray to thank her!”

Then all the passengers took heart and started chanting the Paraklisi, louder and happier this time. Even the stewardesses realized that something good was happening and they were consoled, looking amazed at us.

Soon, we could see clearly the buildings in Tel Aviv, since we had already been flying very low. The runway was covered in white foam and many ambulances were already standing by. No other plane was in sight. They had obviously given us priority to land. We seemed to descend very quickly compared with other times.

When the plane touched down it miraculously stopped after 50 meters, without anyone of us moving from his place even by a centimeter. Even in a car, when one breaks suddenly, the passengers move forward. Nothing like this happened. The plane did not stop according to the law of physics, but as if it was placed softly on the ground!
We all started praising the Lord and our Lady. Only the stewardesses had began having panic attacks.

After a while we got off the plane, accompanied by police, doctors and nurses, and went to the waiting rooms. We had been offered refreshments and the officers were trying to comfort some people. Our mouths were dry, but none of us cared! We were alive, thanks to our Lord’s providence, and we were feeling very thankful for this.

In the days that followed, I continued to be thankful. I was seeing everything as God’s creation; I would love it and admire it. I had stopped being angry and immersing myself in superficial things. I was trying to respond to God’s love by behaving with leniency, without judgment and helping others, as much as I could.

Unfortunately a week later, I returned to my daily routine. I am embarrassed to say but I could not preserve inside me the same unique feelings of serenity, prayer, love, gratitude.

(I have decided to write about this true experience at the instigation of a dear friend, as a show of gratitude to our Lord, and as an effort to spiritually support my brothers who maybe wavering. Please forgive the personal note of the account. I merely wished to describe my feelings and the events exactly as we had lived through them. Thank you for your understanding.)

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Translated by: Olga Konaris Kokkinos
Edited by: John Sanidopoulos

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Questioning the Question

by Hank Hanegraaff

In Proverbs 26 Solomon tells us that we are not to answer a fool according to his folly, or we’ll make fools of ourselves. On the other hand, Solomon continues, answer a fool according to his folly, or the fool will think he is wise in his own eyes (vv.4–5)—he’ll think he has uncovered some wisdom. We often find this sort of thing with questions that are raised in order to denigrate the notion of an eternal Being, an Intelligent Designer, or an uncaused first Cause.

One of those questions is “Can God create a rock so heavy that he can’t move it?” That question is a classic straw man that has most Christians looking like the proverbial deer in the headlights. At best, the question challenges God’s omnipotence; at worst, it undermines His existence.

At the very outset, however, we should recognize a problem with the premise of the question. While it is true that God can do anything that is consistent with His nature, it’s absurd to suggest that He can do just anything. God can’t lie (Hebrews 6:18). God can’t be tempted (James 1:13). God can’t cease to exist (Psalm 102:25–27).

Furthermore, just as it is impossible to make a one-sided triangle, so it is impossible to make rocks too heavy to be moved. What an all powerful God can create, He can obviously move. Put another way, not even an omnipotent God can do the logically impossible.

A wide variety of similar questions are raised to undermine the Christian view of God. Therefore, it’s crucial that we learn to question the question, rather than simply assume that a question is valid.

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Turkey: Christians in Danger

July 8, 2010
John F. Cullinan
National Review

Bishop Luigi Padovese, stabbed to death last month, is the latest victim of Turkey’s growing hostility to Christians

For all the attention Turkey has gotten lately, very few Americans are aware that the Roman Catholic bishop serving as apostolic vicar of Anatolia was stabbed to death and decapitated last month by an assailant shouting, “Allahu Akbar! I have killed the great Satan!”

There are fewer than 60 Catholic priests in all of Turkey, and yet Bishop Luigi Padovese was the fifth of them to be shot or stabbed in the last four years, starting with the murder of Fr. Andrea Santoro in 2006, also by an assailant shouting, “Allahu Akbar!” (An Armenian journalist and three Protestants working at a Christian publishing house — one of them German, the other two Turkish converts — were also killed during this period.)

What’s going on? Why has traditionally secularist Turkey, with its minuscule Christian community (less than 0.2 percent of the population), lately become nearly as dangerous for Christians as neighboring Iraq? And why has this disturbing pattern of events so far escaped notice in the West?

In a nutshell, all these violent acts reflect a popular culture increasingly shaped by Turkish media accounts deliberately promoting hatred of Christians and Jews.

As it happens, Bishop Padovese was murdered on the same day (June 3) that the Wall Street Journal published an eye-opening report on how Turkey’s press and film industry have increasingly blurred the distinction between fact and fantasy, especially since the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) took power in 2002.

“To follow Turkish discourse in recent years has been to follow a national decline into madness.” That’s how Robert L. Pollock, editorial-features editor of the Journal, summed up the trajectory of the daily fare that shapes Turks’ attitudes toward the outside world — and toward non-Muslims in their midst. Indeed, much of what passes for fact in Turkish public discourse would be comical if not for the deadly consequences.

Take, for instance, the wildly popular 2006 film Valley of the Wolves, later serialized for television. An earlier Journal piece summing up the plot as “a cross between American Psycho in uniform and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion” hardly does it justice. The plot turns on blood-crazed American soldiers committing war crimes for fun and profit in Iraq. These include the harvesting of body parts from murdered Iraqi civilians on an industrial scale (overseen by a Jewish doctor, of course) for shipment in crates clearly labeled New York and Tel Aviv.

Valley of the Wolves is the most expensive and most commercially successful Turkish feature film ever. Worse yet, it comes with the endorsement of leading AKP figures, such as the speaker of the parliament (“absolutely magnificent”) and the mayor of Istanbul (“a great screenplay”). Mr. Pollock’s judgment? “It is no exaggeration to say that such anti-Semitic fare had not been played to mass audiences in Europe since the Third Reich.”

Unfortunately, this film — with its poisonous blood libel against Christians and Jews — falls well within what is now mainstream Turkish public discourse.

Consider only some of the wilder rumors given credence by the Turkish press — for example, how the United States intends to colonize the Middle East because of an impending asteroid strike on North America, or how the 2004 Asian tsunami was really caused by secret U.S. nuclear testing. The latter claim was so prevalent in the Turkish media that the U.S. ambassador at the time, Eric Edelman, actually organized a conference call with Turkish journalists to refute the calumny.

This is the overall context in which incendiary published accusations are made that Catholic priests, sometimes identified by name, are engaging in proselytism — that is, seeking to convert Muslims, often with cash payments. I happen to know just how implausible these claims are, based on my own experience as a Catholic seminarian living and working in the Middle East a decade ago. I found that pastors of the historic Middle Eastern churches almost always go out of their way to discourage prospective converts, rightly fearing agents provocateurs from the security services or Islamist groups. In the rare case where a conversion does occur, the person is generally baptized outside his home country, in a place where apostasy is not criminalized or barred by powerful social norms, such as preservation of family honor.

What local Christian clergy actually do is to tend shrinking flocks without seeking to add to their numbers. (These little congregations increasingly include migrants like the Filipina nurses and domestic workers who are ubiquitous throughout the Middle East.) Some also provide public goods such as education and health care for Muslims and Christians alike on a non-sectarian basis. Others serve the pastoral needs of pilgrims visiting places (like Turkey) where Christianity once flourished. Nearly all see themselves as silent witnesses for Gospel values in places where prudence now bars the Gospel’s open proclamation.

There are vanishingly few Christians and Jews in Turkey. So the numbers of non-Muslims in the country cannot begin to explain the mounting popular hostility — not simply toward Americans, Europeans, and Israelis, but toward Christians and Jews as such. Turkey’s population (roughly 77 million) is more than 99.8 percent Muslim, with its tiny Jewish and Christian populations (perhaps 25,000 and 150,000, respectively) looking like a rounding error. Yet more than two-thirds of all Turks (68 percent) expressed a negative view of Christians in the 2009 Pew Global Attitudes Survey, as opposed to the results in nearby Muslim-majority states with much larger Christian minorities, like Jordan (44 percent negative) and Egypt (49 percent). Hostility toward Jews, moreover, has spiked recently, with those self-identified as “very unfavorable” jumping from 32 percent in 2004 to 73 percent in 2009.

The short answer to the question why Christians keep getting attacked in Turkey is that ideas have consequences, with bad ones often leading to deadly consequences. In the current issue of Commentary, Michael Rubin offers a masterly step-by-step analysis of the way in which Turkey’s current Islamist rulers have systematically undermined and dismantled Atatürk’s secular legacy and have put in place an embryonic Islamist state. Ideas once expressed on the fringes of Turkish society have now become mainstream and respectable.

It is precisely this darkening climate of public opinion that provides the essential context for the spate of attacks against Catholic priests. Here it’s worth noting that, historically, Catholics were not regarded as enemies of modern Turkey in the way that Greeks and Armenians were. The Holy See was one of the first states to exchange ambassadors with the newly formed Turkish Republic in 1923; and one of its first ambassadors (from 1933 to 1944), still fondly remembered, was Angelo Roncalli, better known today as Blessed John XXIII.

So too is it a fact that Catholic clergy serving in trouble spots like Turkey have sometimes (though not always) enjoyed a certain immunity from violence or arbitrary arrest. That’s because the Vatican is widely perceived as a powerful entity that can command diplomatic and media attention (especially as compared to Christian evangelicals, who lack similar institutional support). That several Catholic priests have now been attacked in Turkey is a troubling new development that may reflect political Islam’s implacable hostility toward Pope Benedict XVI. Recall that what angered Islamists most about Benedict’s 2006 Regensburg lecture was not an injudicious quotation from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. It was Benedict’s observation that while reason without faith leads to nihilism (Europe’s problem), faith without reason leads to fanaticism and violence (Islam’s problem).

But it’s also a fact that the killing of Catholic clerics in Muslim-majority states tends nowadays in the West to be passed over in silence or treated as business as usual. Imagine for a moment what would happen if — God forbid! — a very senior, foreign-born Muslim cleric were murdered in the U.S. in circumstances amounting to a hate crime. It is not difficult to imagine the likely aftermath: wall-to-wall media coverage, repeated international condemnations, and multiple presidential apologies.

In the case of Bishop Padovese, one close observer makes explicit the connection between pervasive media vilification and violence against Catholic clergy. Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, whose Asia News broke the story of the true facts surrounding the bishop’s murder, maintains that “there’s a campaign against Christian priests in Turkey. The government says it’s not true, the Turks say they don’t believe it, but it’s quite enough to watch television or read the newspapers to realize that indeed it is true.”

These facts — and their necessary implications — are a long way from the Islam-is-a-religion-of-peace happy talk peddled by both the Bush and Obama administrations. Little wonder that there’s practically no understanding in the U.S. that Turkey’s beleaguered religious minorities — and their co-religionists elsewhere in the region — serve as canaries in the coal mine, bellwethers for major policy shifts that our foreign-policy establishment is slow to grasp. Or indeed that the plight of these minorities mirrors, at least roughly, the state of U.S. interests and ideals in the region.

It wasn’t always the case that Americans paid no attention to the plight of Middle Eastern Christians. In the wake of World War I, the New York Times could safely assume a lively interest (and some Biblical literacy) among readers when editorializing in 1922 about the mass expulsion of ethnic Greek Christians from the new Turkish state: “Is this to be the end of the Christian minorities in Asia Minor — that land where, 13 centuries and more before the Turk came to rule, Paul had journeyed as a missionary through its length and breadth, and where the first ‘seven churches that are in Asia’ stood, to which the messages written in the Book of Revelation were sent?”

But that was then; and this is now.

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Teen Trends: Vampire Bites and Wolf Tails

Twilight Effect? Teens Biting Each Other



Teen Werewolves of San Antonio, Texas

See also: Vampires Reach Cult Religion Status

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Archbishop Kyprianos and the 9th of July 1821

by Kostis Kokkinofta

Towards the end of the 1810s, Archbishop Kyprianos, clerics and other notables on Cyprus were initiated into the Philiki Etaireia. However, the multiple difficulties faced by Cyprus because of its distance from the main areas of the forthcoming uprising of Greeks against Ottoman rule and, particularly, the island's proximity to Egypt and Syria, with their large Muslim populations and concentrations of Ottoman soldiers, would have exposed Cyprus to bloody reprisals and therefore the island was excluded from the initial plans for the revolution.

Despite the fact that on Cyprus there was no armed uprising in 1821, the local Ottoman authorities took measures that aimed to eradicate the island's clerical and civilian leadership and to induce fear among the general population. The events that followed were the most tragic that befell Hellenism in Cyprus during the Ottoman occupation.

The church's leaders, headed by Archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus and three bishops, Meletios of Kition, Chrysanthos of Paphos and Lavrentios of Kyrenia, as well as a large number of leading citizens, were executed and their properties confiscated.

'When in 1822, I was in Larnaca,' wrote the Swedish traveller Jacob Bergren, 'the Greek population of the island had been reduced to such an extent that many of the large villages were completely uninhabited. The Turkish soldiers brought death wherever they passed… The Virgin was dressed everywhere in black, many houses were abandoned and splattered in blood.'

The most distinguished figure of these terrible events was Archbishop Kyprianos, who acted as a responsible, patriotic leader and spiritual father, trying to strike a balance between supporting, on the one hand, the revolution in Greece while, on the other, attempting to protect the local population. His role was particularly tragic since he knew that he could not avoid martyrdom.

The last moments of Archbishop Kyprianos' life are described by the English traveller John Carne, who visited him shortly before his execution. As Carne notes, when he asked the Archbishop why he did not do more to save himself when he realised the political situation on the island was tense and his life in danger, the Archbishop replied that he had decided to provide whatever protection he could to the local Christians and he had determined, if necessary, to die alongside them.

Years later, Vassilis Michailides, in his poem, The 9th July 1821, attached great meaning to Kyprianos' decision to remain with his flock, having him say to the good-hearted Turk Kioroglou, who was urging him to flee the island: 'I'm not leaving Kioroglou, because if I leave, my leaving will bring death to the Romans (Greeks) here'. ('Δεν φεύκω, Kιόρογλου, γιατί, αν φύω, ο φευκός μου/εν να γενή θανατικόν εις τους Pωμιούς του τόπου').

According to Carne, Kyprianos went to his death displaying unusual courage and unique dignity. With his sacrifice, he honoured Romiosini, asserted his Greek identity and justified his Christian faith. Modestly, humbly, with dignity and no self-pity, he went serenely to his death and immortality.

Joseph Woolf, a Protestant of Jewish origin, who arrived in Nicosia a few days after the tragic events of 9 July, relays eyewitness accounts that a proposal was made to Kyprianos just before his execution that he could save himself if he renounced Christianity and became a Muslim. As Woolf notes, the Archbishop rejected the proposal without a second thought and went to his death repeating the phrases: 'Lord have mercy on me, Christ have mercy on me.'

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Read more here, here, here, here, here and here.

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The Home and Garden of Saint Michael Paknanas

New Martyr Michael Paknanas the Gardner of Athens (Feast Day - June 30 and July 9)

For the life of New Martyr Michael Paknanas the Gardner (1754 - July 9, 1771), read here.

The house of Saint Michael Paknanas was near the Acropolis in Athens in Vlassarou, which today is known as Ancient Agora. This photo was taken in 1935 and is from the American School of Classical Education in Athens.


The only chapel dedicated to St. Michael is within the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Neos Kosmos, Athens. According to tradition, this is where the gardens of St. Michael were. They celebrate his feast day on July 9th.


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

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Icon of the Mother of God of Cyprus

Mother of God of Cyprus (Feast Day - July 9)

The Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Panachrana type. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant in Her arms. On either side of Her is an angel.

The prototype of this holy icon manifested itself in the year 392 on the island of Cyprus at the tomb of Righteous Lazarus, the friend of Christ (October 17), and is kept there in a monastery. renowned copies of the Cyprus Icon are at the Moscow's Dormition Cathedral, and in the Nikolo-Golutvin church in the village of Stromyn, Moscow diocese (Commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy).

During the week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the Greek Synaxarion has an account of an icon which is probably the Cyprus Icon. On the island of Cyprus a certain Arab was passing by a church dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. In order to display his hatred for Christianity, the man shot an arrow at an icon of the Mother of God which hung by the gate. The arrow struck the Virgin's knee, from which blood began to flow. Overcome with fear, the Arab spurred his horse and rode for home, but was struck dead before he could get there. In this way, he was punished for his impiety.

Other days commemorating the Cyprus Icon are the Day of the Holy Spirit, and April 20. Some copies of the Cyprus Icon have additional names such as "Cleansing," "Knife," and "Hawk." The Cyprus Icon called "Hawk" was so named because of the way it was discovered. One day, the Christian ruler of Cyprus was hunting with his trained hawk. The hawk became tangled in a thicket while diving after another bird, and the ruler ordered the thicket to be cut away so that the hawk could be rescued. His servants rescued the hawk and also discovered an icon of the Mother of God in the thicket. The ruler later built a monastery on the site. The "Cleansing" Cyprus Icon was in another monastery on Cyprus, and was famous for healing many people with diseases of the eyes. The "Stromyn" Cyprus Icon became famous in 1841. An eighteen-year-old girl from Stromyn, a village not far from Moscow, was close to death from an illness. In a dream she saw the Cyprus Icon standing over the entrance to the church, and a voice came from the icon: "Take me into your home and have the priest serve a Molieben with the Blessing of Water, and you will be cured." The sick girl was brought to the church and finally located the icon after a long search. The girl obeyed the command of the Most Holy Theotokos, and after the Molieben she felt strong enough to carry the icon back to the church herself. Shortly thereafter, she was completely healed. The "Stromyn" Cyprus Icon continued to work miracles of healing, which the rector of the church reported to the holy Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (November 19).

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The Holy Ascetics Patermuthius and Copres

The Holy Ascetics Patermuthius and Copres (feast Day - July 9)

There was a priest called Copres who had a cell in that same desert, a holy man about eighty years old, who had done many great deeds, encouraging the weary and healing the sick, driving out demons and doing many miracles, some of which he did while we were there. In greeting us he embraced us, and after the usual prayer washed our feet, after which he asked us for news of the world. We would rather that he would tell us of his own doings, and asked him about the deeds and worthiness through which the Lord had bestowed upon him such graces. But he demurred, and began to make a comparison between his own life and those who had gone before him, saying that they were far more illustrious than himself, being barely able to follow their example. "There is nothing marvellous about me," he said, "in comparison with the holy fathers."

[Regarding Abba Patermuthius, Abba Copres related the following:]

"Before us there was this splendid man, our Father Mutius by name. He was the first monk in this place and was the first to teach the way of salvation to all of us in this desert. He was a pagan (gentilis) at first, a most notorious thief and tomb robber, a connoisseur of every kind of wickedness. His saving moment happened in this way:

"He went one night to the house of a certain consecrated virgin in order to burgle it. He climbed up on to the roof, equipped with a well known type of tool-kit, trying to find a method or an opening by which he could break in. The operation proved too difficult for him, and he spent the greater part of the night on the roof to no avail. Frustrated by the failure of many attempts he felt weary and fell asleep and saw in a vision someone standing by him dressed like a king, who said: 'Desist from all these crimes, and from the spilling of blood. Turn all your efforts towards religious purposes instead of shameful theft, and join the angelic host of heaven. From now on live with virtue in mind, and I will make you the principal leader of this host.'

"He listened to what was being said to him with a great feeling of joy, and was then shown a great army of monks, of which he was bidden to be the leader. As he awoke he saw the virgin standing there, demanding to know who and whence he was and what he was doing there. Like somebody out of his mind all he could say was: 'Please take me to a church.' She realised that some divine operation was working in her, and she took him to the church and introduced him to the priests. He prostrated himself in front of them and begged to be made a Christian and do penance. The priests knew this man to be the instigator of all kinds of wickednesses and wondered if he were really genuine. But he persisted, and convinced them he really meant what he was asking for. They warned him that if that was what he wanted he would have to leave off from his former way of life. He was baptised, and begged to be given some precepts by which he might begin to walk along the way to salvation. they gave him the first three verses of Psalm 1 [Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the waterside, that bringeth forth his fruit in due season, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper] They told him that if he diligently took these verses to heart it would be enough to lead him into the way of salvation and to a growth in holiness (scientia pietatis). He stayed with them for three days and then went off to the desert where he stayed for a long time, persevering day and night in prayers and tears, living off roots and herbs.

"He went back to the church where the priests realised how the three verses of Psalm 1 which they had given him had affected his speech, his actions and his whole way of life. The priests marvelled at how such a sudden conversion could have led him immediately into such a strict self-discipline. They gave him further instruction in the holy Scriptures, and suggested that he stay with them permanently. So as not to appear disobedient he lived out a week with them but then returned to the desert, where he spent the next seven years very abstemiously, receiving such a fulness of grace from the Lord, that he was able to learn almost the whole of Scripture by heart. He took bread only on Sundays, and this was given to him by divine providence. For after he came away from his prayers he would find bread there which no human hand had brought. When he had given thanks and consumed it he found that it was sufficient to see him through to the next Sunday.

"A long time afterwards he came back from the desert and encouraged many people to follow his example, among whom was a young man who wanted to be his disciple. After giving him the monastic habit, that is, the sleeveless tunic, the hood and the goatskin cloak, he began to instruct him in the other principles of monastic life, especially the duty of taking care to bury Christians who had died. And when that disciple had observed the care with which he clothed the dead in burial garments, he said: 'I hope that when I am dead, master, you will prepare and bury me like that.'

"'I will indeed, my son, and I shall keep on clothing you until you say "enough"'.

"Not long after this the young man died and this promise was fulfilled. For having clothed him in several garments he said in the presence of all those there: 'Is this sufficient for your burial, my son, or should we add some more?' Everybody then heard the voice of the dead boy, even though his jaw had been tied up and his face covered, saying: 'Enough, father. You have fulfilled your promise'. Those present were astonished, and wondered exceedingly about such a miraculous deed. But once the boy was buried, he made no attempt to boast about it but went straight back to his hermitage.

"On another occasion he left his hermitage to visit the brothers whom he had established. It was revealed to him that one of them was in extremis and like to die. It was already getting towards evening, so he was hurrying in order to see him. But the place where the sick man lived was still a long way off and he did not want to get to the place after dark. He called to mind the saying of the Lord: 'Walk while you have the light lest the darkness overtake you' (John 12.35) and 'He who walks in the light does not stumble' (John 11.10). And as he saw the sun beginning to set he said to it: 'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ stay still for a while until I arrive at my destination.' And although it had partially begun to sink it stopped, and stood still until he had arrived. This was obvious to all those who were waiting there. As they stood and watched the sunset being delayed they wondered what sort of an omen it could be for them that the sun should delay its setting for such a long time. So when they saw Father-Mutius coming out of the desert they asked him what sort of a portent was signified by the sun. He replied: 'Have you forgotten the word of our Lord and Saviour: "If you have faith as much as a grain of mustard seed you will do greater things than these"?' (Matthew 17.20). And when they realised that the sun had stood still because of his faith they feared greatly, and many of them joined his band of disciples and began to follow him.

"He went into the house of the brother who had been the reason for his hasty journey and found him already dead. He prayed, went to the bed, embraced him and said: 'What would you rather, brother, to depart and be with Christ or remain in the flesh?'

His life came back to him, he sat up and said: 'Why are you calling me back, father? It is better for me to depart and be with Christ. I do not need to remain in the flesh any longer.'

'Sleep then in peace, my son,' he replied, 'and pray for me.' And immediately he lay back on the bed and fell asleep. Those present were astounded. 'Truly this is a man of God,' they said. He then clothed the young man appropriately according to his custom and kept vigil the whole night with psalms and hymns before giving him decent burial.

"There was another brother whom he visited in bed sick, and he could see that this brother felt himself to be condemned by his own conscience and was frightened of dying. 'Why are you unprepared for death, my son?' he asked. 'It is laziness, as far as I can see, that your conscience is accusing you of.'

"The brother then begged him: 'Please, father, intercede for me to God that I may be allowed a little more time in which to amend my life.'

"He replied: 'You are asking for more time now, when you have come to the end of your life? What were you doing for all the rest of the time in your life? Weren't you able to cure your own wounds? Haven't you been adding even more wrongdoings right up till now?' The brother continued to implore him, until the old man said: 'As long as you don't add any more sins to the ones you have already committed, we will pray to God for you. For he is good and long-suffering and will allow you a little more time in this life to enable you to make up for all your failings.' He then prayed to God and when he had finished he said: 'See, the Lord has given you three years more in which you can apply yourself to doing penance.' And stretching out his hand he raised him up from the bed. Without any delay he followed him back to the desert. Three years later the old man summoned him back to the place where he had raised him up, so that everyone could be enlightened by [the example of] his way of life, asserting before God that rather than being a mere human being, he was now more like a man turned angel. He called an assembly of brothers and set him in the midst of them. Using him as an example he then discoursed to the brothers the whole night through on the subject of his conversion and the fruits which penitence brings forth. As he was preaching, the brother began first to look a little drowsy and then suddenly fell asleep for good. He prayed over him, did everything necessary for his burial according to his custom, and hastily went back to his hermitage.

"He frequently walked across the vast river Nile, with the water coming only up to his knees.

"On another occasion he came in to the brothers through closed doors when they were gathered together in an upper room, and would often be transported in a moment of time to somewhere else, however far away it might be.

"It is said that at the time of his first conversion when he was in the desert, after fasting for a week a man came to him out of the desert bringing with him bread and water, begging him to accept it for it had been sent to him from heaven.

"Once a demon came to him and showed him a great treasure hidden in the earth which had once belonged to Pharaoh. 'Take your treasure with you to perdition in the middle of the earth', he replied. The Lord did all these things and many more through him. But there were many other fathers as well of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11.38), performing heavenly signs and marvels. Why should you be surprised if it is only very small things that we small people can do, such as caring for the blind and the lame, which any doctor can do by means of his art?"

As Copres was telling us these things one of our brothers was evidently sceptical about what was being told us and got so bored with it all that he fell asleep. In a deep slumber he saw in a vision Copres holding a book written in golden letters, from which he seemed to be reading what he was telling us. Beside him was someone of most venerable gray-haired appearance who severely rebuked him, saying: "Why aren't you listening intently to what is being said, instead of falling asleep in disbelief?" Greatly troubled he woke up, and quietly told us in Latin what he had seen.

While all this was going on we also noticed a peasant coming to Copres' door carrying a bowl full of sand, patiently waiting until Copres had finished talking to us. Having seen him, we asked Copres what the peasant wanted, standing there with a bowl of sand in his hand. "I really shouldn't tell you," he said, "for fear that we should be seen to boast about God's work in us and so lose the due reward of our labour. However, for your edification and benefit, bearing in mind that you have come such a long way to visit us, I cannot let myself hide from you the works of God which he has deigned to do among us.

"All the cultivated land round here was very sterile and unfruitful. But the seed still had to be sown, even though it only returned twofold. Maggots were appearing on the stalks of the new shoots, which consumed the grains as they grew upwards. Now the peasants in that place had been pagans, but since we had taught them to believe in God and to become Christians, they came to us as newly made Christians asking that we should pray to God for their crops. We told them that we would indeed pray, but that God required from them a faith that would deserve such prayer. So they filled the fold of their robes with sand that we ourselves had walked on and brought it to us begging that we would bless it in the name of the Lord. I said to them: 'Be it unto you according to your faith.' They took the sand away with them and mixed it with the seed they were sowing and scattered it over the fields. The crop which resulted was greater than anything which the land of Egypt had ever previously been able to produce. From then on the custom arose of them coming to us twice a year with the same request.

"I won't leave you ignorant either about something else which the Lord for the glory of his name did through me. I had gone down to the city once and found there a Manichaean teacher subverting the people with whom I began a dispute. But he was a very crafty individual, and I was not able to convince him by words, so, fearing that the people would come to some harm if he seemed to win the argument, I said so that the people could hear me; 'Make a big fire in the centre of the square and let us both walk into the midst of the flames, and if there should be one of us that is not burned in it, let the faith of that one be believed to be the true one.' The people were pleased with what I said and immediately set a big fire going. I took him and began to drag him towards the fire, but he said: 'No, not like this. Each one of us should go in separately, and since this is your idea you should go in first.' Committing myself in the name of Christ I walked into the midst of the flames, which began to part here and there and move away from me almost entirely. I stayed in the midst of that fire nearly half an hour and in the name of the Lord hardly came to any harm at all. The watching people shouted out with great approval and blessed God, saying: 'God is wonderful in his saints!' (Psalm 68.35) [AV: O God thou art terrible out of thy holy places]. Then they began to goad the Manichaean into going into the fire, which he was very reluctant to do and tried to get away. Whereupon the crowd seized him and threw him into the fire. The flames immediately licked round him and delivered him up again half burned and still on fire. The people reviled him and threw him out of the city. shouting: 'Let the deceiver burn alive'. But me they took with them to the church, blessing the Lord.

"On another occasion I was passing by a temple where I saw the pagans offering sacrifices, and I said to them: 'You are people endowed with reason. Why are you offering up these dumb and insensible images? Are you not even more insensible than what you are offering up?' And because of what I had said the Lord opened up their minds and they stopped being governed by error and followed me, believing in our God and Saviour.

"I used to have a little garden near my cell where I used to grow vegetables in order to entertain any visiting brothers. One night a pagan came in and stole some vegetables. He took them home and began to cook them on the fire, but after three hours over a steadily burning flame they would neither get hot, nor soften up nor get warm to the slightest degree, remaining as fresh as they were before. The water just would not get the slightest bit warm. This made him realise in himself that he was a thief, and he snatched the vegetables off the fire and brought them back to us, where he prostrated himself at our feet and begged that he might find forgiveness for his sins and become a Christian, which indeed was brought to pass.

"And it so happened that on that very same day a number of brothers came to us as guests. The vegetables therefore were already most opportunely prepared for them. We gave thanks to God for his wonders, having a twofold cause for rejoicing: the salvation of a human being and gifts from God besides."

Source: Historia Monachorum, Chapter 9

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Saint Prokopios the Great Martyr

St. Prokopios (Procopius) the Great Martyr (Feast Day - July 8)

When the Roman Emperor Diocletian launched the last and most ruthless of the ten Roman persecutions against Christians, his first victim in Palestine was a young man named Prokopios (Procopius). Eusebius of Ceasaria was alive at the time. The Christian author, who became bishop of Caesarea and wrote the most famous history of the early church, left the following account concerning this martyr:

The first of all the martyrs who appeared in Palestine was named Procopius. In truth he was a godly man, for even before his confession he had given up his life to great endurance: and from the time that he was a little boy had been of pure habits, and of strict morals: and by the vigor of his mind he had so brought his body into subjection, that, even before his death, his soul seemed to dwell in a body completely mortified, and he had so strengthened his soul by the word of God that his body also was sustained by the power of God. His food was bread only, and his drink water; and he took nothing else besides these two. Occasionally he took food every second day only, and sometimes every third day; oftentimes too he passed a whole week without food.

But he never ceased day nor night from the study of the word of God: and at the same time he was careful as to his manners and modesty of conduct, so that he edified by his meekness and piety all those of his own standing. And while his chief application was devoted to divine subjects, he was acquainted also in no slight degree with natural science. His family was from Baishan; and he ministered in the orders of the Church in three things: First, he had been a Reader; and in the second order he translated from Greek into Aramaic; and in the last, which is even more excellent than the preceding, he opposed the powers of the evil one, and the devils trembled before him.

Now it happened that he was sent from Baishan to our city Caesarea, together with his brother confessors. And at the very moment that he passed the gates of the city they brought him before the Governor: and immediately upon his first entrance the judge, whose name was Flavianus, said to him: 'It is necessary that thou shouldest sacrifice to the gods': but he replied with a loud voice, 'There is no God but one only, the Maker and Creator of all things.'

And when the judge felt himself smitten by the blow of the martyr's words, he furnished himself with arms of another kind against the doctrine of truth, and, abandoning his former order, commanded him to sacrifice to the emperors, who were four in number; but the holy martyr of God laughed still more at this saying, and repeated the words of the greatest of poets of the Greeks [Homer], which he said that 'the rule of many is not good: let there be one ruler and one sovereign.'

And on account of his answer, which was insulting to the emperors, he, though alive in his conduct, was delivered over to death, and forthwith the head of this blessed man was struck off, and an easy transit afforded him along the way to heaven. And this took place on the seventh day of the month Heziran, in the first year of the persecution in our days. This confessor was the first who was consummated in our city Caesarea.

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

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Devoutly aflame with godly zeal for Christ thy Lord, and armed with the strength and power of the precious Cross, thou didst cast down headlong thy foes' exalted pride, O Prokopios, exalting Christ's holy Church, advancing in faith and shedding light on us.

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Is Psychology Adding Scientific Knowledge?

Psychologists have a knack for proving the obvious. It leads to a question, though: do we really need their help?

1. Broken relationships are bad: A press release on PhysOrg about a study at the University of Queensland reported that “Separation has an enormous impact on both men and women.”

2. Rudeness at work is bad: According to Science Daily researchers at University of Aberdeen have demonstrated that rudeness at work leads to mistakes on the job. Then came the sermon: “People concerned with patient safety should note that civility between workers may have more benefits than just a harmonious atmosphere.”

3. TV and video game addiction is bad: We have three Iowa State researchers to thank for informing us that too much TV and gaming leads to attention problems in children. Science Daily said, “Parents looking to get their kid’s attention -- or keeping them focused at home and in the classroom -- should try to limit their television viewing and video game play.”

4. Bullies have poor social skills: Better keep an eye on those kids with poor social skills. They might become bullies – or victims. It would seem they would have to be one or the other, but this piece of wisdom was furnished by the American Psychological Association and published by Science Daily.

5. Healthy mind makes a healthy body: Researchers at the University of South Florida have proved that “A Healthy Mind Makes a Healthy Body in Teens,” reported Science Daily. They found this out scientifically by asking 401 teens about their subjective feelings of well-being and physical health. “Overall, perceived good physical health was strongly linked to life satisfaction and feeling excited, strong and proud,” the psychologists announced as “findings.”

6. Out-of-wedlock birth leads to crime: Believe it or not, science has found a link between children born outside families and crime. Sure enough, Clemson scientists, reported PhysOrg, took the obvious to new levels: “While a number of previous studies have found that unmarried fertility is associated with unfavorable childhood outcomes, our analysis is one of the first to measure the long-run effect on crime when these children reach adulthood.”

7. Need to psych out jailbirds: PhysOrg wrote about “Revised standards for psychology services in jails, prisons, correctional facilities and agencies.” Nothing was stated in the document about the thriving counseling services of Prison Fellowship and the many other churches and religious organizations that routinely minister to inmates, often with phenomenal success.

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Famous Russian Explorer: Deacon Fyodor Konyukhov

Fyodor Konyukhov to be Ordained as Deacon

Fyodor Konyukhov Ordained as Deacon

Fyodor Konyukhov, the world famous traveller and explorer - ordained as deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Explorer Becomes Orthodox Priest

Boat-shaped Church for Globe-trotting Deacon

Fr. Feodor Konyukhov to Ride Camels in Ethiopia

Deacon Feodor Konyukhov Faces a Barrage of Requests to Bless or Consecrate Equipment

A Famous Deacon-traveller Urges Not to Pollute Seas With Poly

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15 Things You Didn't Know About the Human Body

Sadly however, your body doesn't really make a loud BUZZ noise if someone sticks a pair of tweezers into any open orifice. That would be cool, though...

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Monastery of Saint Silouan the Athonite in Saint-Mars-de-Locquenay, France

Saint-Mars-de-Locquenay is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western France.

The Monastery was founded in 1990 by Fr. Symeon with the blessing of Elder Sophrony, disciple of Saint Silouan.

Archimandrite Symeon Cossec and Sister Theodora are interviewed. Video is in French with Greek subtitles.

See official website of the Monastery here.


About Saint Silouan the Athonite

St. Silouan, was born in 1866, of devout parents who came from the village of Sovsk in the Tambov region. His name 'in the world' was Simeon Ivanovich Antonov. At the age of twenty-seven he received the prayers of St. John of Kronstadt and went to Mt. Athos where he became a monk at the Russian monastery St. Panteleimon. He received from the Holy Theotokos the gift of unceasing prayer, and was given the vision our Lord Jesus Christ, in glory, in the church of the holy Prophet Elijah adjoining the mill of the monastery. After the withdrawal of that first grace, he was oppressed by profound grief and great temptations for fifteen years, after which he received from Christ the teaching, "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not". He reposed on September 24, 1938.

He left behind his writings which were edited by his disciple and pupil, the Archimandrite Sophrony. Fr. Sophrony has written a complete life of the Saint along with the record of St. Silouan's teachings in the book St. Silouan the Athonite.

Archimandrite Sophrony's book provides valuable insights into the experiences and teachings of St. Silouan; especially the phrase "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not."

Troparion for St. Silouan
By prayer thou didst receive Christ for thy teacher in the way of humility, and the Spirit bore witness to salvation in thy heart. Wherefore all peoples called unto hope, rejoice in this day of thy memorial, O sacred Father Silouan. Pray unto Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.

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Interview With Serbian Patriarch Pavle

The following interview took place at the Serbian Patriarchate in 1996. It is in Serbian with Greek subtitles.

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Spinalonga: The Island of Lepers

The island of Spinalonga (official name: Kalidon) is located at the eastern section of Crete, in Lasithi prefecture, near the town of Elounda. The name of the island, Spinalonga, is Venetian, meaning "long thorn", and has roots in the period of Venetian occupation.

From 1903 to 1957 it is notable for being one of the last active leper colonies in Europe. The last inhabitant, an Orthodox priest, left the island in 1962. This was to maintain the religious tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church, in which a buried person has to be commemorated 40 days, 6 months, 1, 3 and 5 years after their death. Other leper colonies that have survived Spinalonga include Tichilesti in Eastern Romania, Fontilles in Spain and Talsi in Latvia. As of 2002, few lazarettos remain in Europe.

There were two entrances to Spinalonga, one being the lepers' entrance, a tunnel known as Dante's Gate. This was so named because the patients did not know what was going to happen to them once they arrived. However, once on the island they received food, water, medical attention and social security payments. Previously, such amenities had been unavailable to Crete's leprosy patients, as they mostly lived in the area's caves, away from civilization.

The book "Spinalonga,the isle of the Damned" by Victor Zorbas - a local expert on the island - is in editing and will be published in a new, more expand version. It relates the true story of the leper colony and compares other leper colonies in the world with the island. Because the author met with the last governor of the colony,it also contains many exclusive photos and stories of the German occupation.

The book "The Island" by Victoria Hislop is set in Spinalonga and shares the fictional story of a family's ties to the leper colony.

Read more about Spinalonga here.

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Biblical Inerrancy, Grape Juice and the New Covenant

Read: Welch's Grape Juice, Worldly Wisdom, and Wine

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Fr. Seraphim, the Hermit of the French Island of Porquerolles

The video is a French news report of TF1 (video with Greek subtitles here). It is about Fr. Seraphim, who has lived as a hermit at the Fort of Porquerolles for over 15 years and is over 80 years old. The hermitage is a dependency of Saint-Antoine-le-Grand Monastery, featured in the documentary To Talandon, which in turn is a dependency of Simonopetra Monastery on Mount Athos. Fr. Seraphim was previously a monk at Simonopetra.

According to one news report from 2001:

"Père Seraphim, a 70-year-old monk from Mount Athos, is almost single-handedly transforming the Fort de la Repentance into a monastery. A Father Christmas lookalike, with flowing white beard, paint-splattered robes and an infectious giggle, he walked me through graffiti-covered vaulted halls which one day will house monks' cells. The chapel is already completed, its olive wood screen intricately carved by Seraphim himself - a riot of peacocks and flowers, angels and saints.

"Locals love this monk. 'He's bringing spirituality to the island and yet he is so jolly, so human,' says Katrine. 'Last summer, we watched the eclipse with him, and he got so drunk on Champagne that he fell off his stool backwards. His skirts went right over his head.'"

Fort de la Repentance

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