Drama In The Serbian Church

There has been much drama going on in the Serbian Church regarding the case of fugitive archimandrite Simeon Vilovski (who is hiding in Greece) and events in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren. The Holy Synod of the Church in Serbia issued the following statement on 8 March 2010 that explains the situation:

Archimandrite Simeon Vilovski (born January 11, 1963) has found himself in the focus of a serious church and financial scandal related to the embezzlement of cash funds intended for assistance to the poor and the restoration of churches in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren (Kosovo). This cleric is also accused of canonical offenses(1). As hegumen of the monastery of St. Stefan (Banjska) and the secretary to His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raška and Prizren, Fr. Simeon is accused by the Church and police authorities for the misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of euros, which he used for his personal benefit, for the rental of office space in Serbia and an apartment in Thessaloniki, as well as for other illegal and anti-canonical activities.

On May 19, 2006 the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church kindly requested His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raška and Prizren to undertake canonical measures in the diocesan ecclesiastical court against protosyngel Simeon and to dismiss him from all administrative church duties in his Diocese. This decision was made on the basis of a detailed investigation conducted by a Special Commission of the Holy Assembly of Bishops, which was appointed by Patriarch Pavle of blessed repose to investigate financial irregularities in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren.

Bishop Artemije also refused to carry out a decision by the Holy Assembly of Bishops to accept and to put into liturgical use churches and parish homes that were destroyed in previous years by Albanians, and that had been renewed and rebuilt in accordance with the decisions of the Holy Assembly of Bishops and the Synod by the International Expert Commission with the participation of Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Raška and Prizren, who was appointed by the Holy Assembly of Bishops. Bishop Artemije also refused to return to his see in Prizren and to serve Liturgy in the Orthodox Cathedral in Prizren and other churches, despite repeated requests to do so by the faithful.

Despite the Holy Assembly of Bishops, His Grace Bishop Artemije failed to carry out this decision and firmly protected his secretary Simeon (still claiming that all the testimony against him was libelous). The Holy Assembly of Bishops repeated this same decision in November 2008 and May 2009, again kindly requesting His Grace Bishop Artemije to undertake measures against Fr. Simeon Vilovski and his associates. The Holy Synod tried again to implement this decision by the Holy Assembly of Bishops by the next annual convocation of the Assembly in 2010. Despite many efforts His Grace Bishop Artemije failed to resolve and clear up the questionable financial activities in his Diocese; furthermore, in the media he openly challenged the decision of the Holy Assembly of Bishops regarding the reconstruction of destroyed churches in Kosovo and other decisions. Instead of bringing his cleric before the diocesan ecclesiastical court, Bishop Artemije elevated him to the office of archimandrite and made him his deputy, officially making him the most powerful person in his Diocese. In the meantime, Fr. Simeon severely abused that position.

After the election of the new Serbian Patriarch, His Beatitude Patriarch Irinej, in January 2010, the Holy Synod of Bishops again dealt with this issue, having previously received several complaints from monks and nuns of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren in connection with the situation in the Diocese. After His Grace Bishop Artemije’s decision not to appear at the session of the Holy Synod of Bishops on February 4, 2010, although he had previously been invited to it by the Patriarch himself, the Holy Synod of Bishops sent two of its members, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Coastlands and His Grace Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, to visit Bishop Artemije in Gračanica Monastery, together with the Financial Commission of the Holy Synod of Bishops, which was scheduled to continue the task it began in 2006. Bishop Artemije resolutely refused to cooperate with the representatives of the Synod and issued a public statement in which he accused none other than the Patriarch and Synod of working under political pressure from foreign embassies.

Finally, Bishop Artemije was invited again to appear before His Beatitude the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of Bishops on February 11, 2010 in Belgrade in order to discuss a solution to the resulting situation. Bishop Artemije came to the session while a group of his followers and supporters protested in front of the Patriarchate. Since His Grace Bishop Artemije continued to maintain that he did not want to carry out the decisions of the Holy Assembly of Bishops and no agreement was reached, he was placed on temporary leave from administering his Diocese, until the conclusion of canonical proceedings initiated by the Holy Synod of Bishops. The Holy Synod of Bishops has appointed His Grace Bishop Atanasije (Jevtić), the former Bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, temporary administrator of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren.(2)

Meanwhile, archimandrite Simeon, who fled from Kosovo “like a thief in the night”, according to police and customs authorities crossed into FYR Macedonia in a vehicle with FYROM license plates, and then entered Greece in a vehicle with Belgrade license plates. In Greece he has bank accounts since in recent years he paid more than 600,000 U.S. dollars through the National Bank of Greece to a U.S. citizen of Greek origin, Mr. James Jatras. Jatras was supposed to “lobby” for the Serbs, although his activities have not brought any benefits.

An even bigger surprise came when the administrator of the Diocese, Bishop Atanasije, discovered documents according to which archimandrite Simeon at the beginning of January 2010 was accepted into the clerical union of Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus. Neither the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church nor the Synod of the Church of Greece was informed about this event. However, it is indicative that archimandrite Simeon CONTINUED TO PERFORM all church duties in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren after his canonical discharge for the Metropolitanate Piraeus, which represents a serious violation of church canons. There is written evidence that Fr. Simeon used the official seal of the Diocese and organized official meetings with the clergy of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren although he was, in fact, a cleric of the Church of Greece. From this we can deduce that during one period he belonged to both the Serbian and the Greek Church. This whole case remains extremely unclear.

The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs has already issued a warrant for Simeon Vilovski based on the official report of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is not known where the fugitive Vilovski is presently hiding but it is not unreasonable to wonder why, if he is innocent, he would not return to Serbia and vindicate himself. In any case, his present location remains unknown. It seems that he has joined the Life-Giving Spring Monastery in the village of P. Kokkinia, which belongs to the Metropolitanate of Piraeus, but he could just as well be located in Thessaloniki.

Based on all that has been said, His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus is also a victim of deception because he certainly could not have known that archimandrite Simeon, whom he accepted as a cleric in his Metropolitanate, has been twice condemned by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church and that there is presently an international warrant out for his arrest. Fr. Simeon's closest associate, Predrag Subotički, who was responsible for financial matters in the Diocese and served as the head of the Diocesan Building Commission, has already been arrested by Serbian police in Belgrade and is in custody, since together with Simeon he inflicted huge material and financial damage to the Diocese, as well as to Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Metohija.

Events in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren have attracted great attention from Serbian media because Kosovo and Metohija is the most painful wound of the Serbian people. If it is proven, and there is already much evidence and testimony to that effect, that archimandrite Simeon with Subotički committed serious crimes, this can have serious consequences for His Grace Bishop Artemije, who persistently refused to carry out the decisions of the Assembly and correct financial matters in his Diocese. The decisive measures undertaken by the new Patriarch and the Holy Synod of Bishops, which is comprised of Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Coastlands, Bishop Irinej of Bačka, Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, and Bishop Fotije of Dalmatia are considered to be a highly accountable process whose aim is the preservation of the moral and spiritual authority of the Church instead of sweeping the problem “under the carpet”.

A few days ago on Serbian state television, Bishop Irinej of Bačka explained the above-mentioned efforts of the Holy Synod of Bishops to help Bishop Artemije to alleviate his problems and to send Simeon Vilovski before the ecclesiastical court. He also said that many people in Serbia and abroad, who feel solidarity with the suffering Orthodox Christians in Kosovo, should know that the Church is acting openly and responsibly against abuses in the use of financial contributions by a group of irresponsible clerics and their accomplices.

The final resolution of this problem is expected at the annual convocation of the Holy Assembly of Bishops at the end of April, when the situation in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren and the case of His Grace Bishop Artemije will be discussed. Many expect that a dignified withdrawal from the position of Bishop of Raška and Prizren would be the most responsible action of His Grace Bishop Artemije. Meanwhile, the police of Serbia and Greece are searching for Vilovski, who is expected to be brought to justice soon.

From the office of the Information Service of the
Holy Synod of Bishops

In Belgrade, March 8, 2010

Footnotes:

(1) One of the canonical violations of hieromonk Simeon is that as a student at the Theological Faculty of Thessaloniki in 1992 he served in the chapel of St. Sava on the Chilandar metohion-chapel in Thessaloniki and during the Liturgy mentioned the name of Bishop Artemije instead of mentioning the Ecumenical Patriarch. The Protosyngel of the Metropolitanate of Thessaloniki arrived and removed the Antimension (Fr. Simeon used the Antimension of Bishop Artemije on the canonical territory of another Orthodox Bishop /Transl.) and brought the Antimension of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Bishop Artemije did not punish Fr. Simeon for this canonical violation! The second canonical violation occurred on the feast of St. Nicholas in 2009 in the monastery of Gračanica. Fr. Simeon had donned his vestments but when he saw Bishop Artemije and Auxilliary Bishop Teodosije taking the time to serve together the Liturgy, he told Bishop Artemije he did not want to concelebrate with Bishop Teodosije. He then removed his vestments and left the church, and Bishop Artemije did not sanction this act of “brotherly love”, even though according to Apostolic Canons 8 and 9 he should have been defrocked!

(2) According to His Grace Bishop Irinej of Bačka, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church has decided to initiate preliminary proceedings to determine the canonical responsibility of His Grace Bishop Atanasije of Raška and Prizren (SOC Constitution, article 70, paragraphs 20 and 36) with the obligation that he cooperate during the court process and that he be placed on temporary leave from administering the Diocese of Raška and Prizren until the conclusion of the proceedings and judgment, i.e. until the next annual meeting of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The dramatic events leading up to the happenings in this statement and following this statement can be read here, here and here.

More can be read in the following articles leading up to these events:

Serbian Police Investigate Bishop's Associates (16 February 2010)

Serbia: Orthodox Church Shocked By Corruption Claims (5 March 2010)

A few days after the statement of March 8th, Simeon Vilovski was arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece on March 11. More can be read here.

To read about the struggle for Church unity in Kosovo as a result of this scandal, see this article titled "Kosovo: A Battle For Souls".

With the dismissal of Bishop Artemije, two monasteries who supported him began a rebellion and threatened to abandon their monasteries in June. Read more here.

The office of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren and Kosovo and Prizren-Gracanica, issued the following statement on 3 June 2010 regarding the return to status of layman of Simeon Vilovski. It also outlines his many violations against canonical order.

On 15 June 2010 Bishop Atanasije Jevtic gave an interview for Romfea.gr regarding the various issues involving the Serbian Church, including that of Bishop Artemije and Simeon Vilovski. It can be read here. Vilovski responded and a debate ensued between them until 14 July 2010. The debate can read here, here, here, here, and here.

On 13 July 2010, Greece's Supreme Court rejected Serbia's request for the extradition of Simeon Vilovski. Read more here. Vilovski's lawyer, Branislav Tapuskovic, said on Tuesday (July 13th) that his client has been released. Upon his release, Simeon made the following statement here.

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Saint Nikolai Velimirovich and Mahatma Gandhi

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE PERSON OF GANDHI THE INDIAN?

A Letter of St. Nikolai Velimirovich to British Noble "Charles B."

As a man of faith, you are troubled by the thought — what will Providence do with Gandhi? And what is the meaning of the appearance of this strange person among the statesmen and politicians of our time?

A warning from God. That is surely the meaning of the leader of the great Indian nation. Through that person, Providence is showing politicians and the statesmen of the world, even Christian ones, that there are other methods in politics than skill, wiliness and violence. Gandhi’s political method is very simple and obvious: he does not require anything except the man who cries out and the God Who hearkens. Against weapons, ammunition and army, Gandhi places FASTING; against skill, wiliness and violence, PRAYER; and against political quarrel, SILENCE. How puny and pathetic that looks in the eyes of modern men, right? In modern political textbooks, these three methods are not even mentioned in footnotes. Fasting, prayer and silence! There is hardly a statesman in Europe or America who would not ironically see these three secrets of the Indian statesmen as three dry twigs pointed on the battlefield against a heap of steel, lead, fire and poison. However, Gandhi succeeds with these three “spells” of his; he succeeds to the astonishment of the whole world. And whether they want to or not, political lawmakers in England and other countries will have to add a chapter into their textbooks: “Fasting, Prayer and Silence as Powerful Weapons in Politics.” Imagine, would it not be to the fortune of all mankind if these methods of the unbaptized Gandhi replaced the methods of the baptized Machiavelli in political science?

But it is not the Indian’s method in itself that is such a surprise to the world, as it is the person using the method. The method is Christian, as old as the Christian faith, and yet new in this day and age. The example of fasting, prayer and silence was shown by Christ to His Disciples. They handed it down to the Church, along with their whole example, and the Church hands it to the faithful from generation to generation until this day. Fasting is a sacrifice, silence is inward examination of oneself, prayer is crying out to God. Those are the three sources of great spiritual power which make man victorious in battle and excellent in life. Is there a man who cannot arm himself with these weapons? And which crude force in this world can defeat these weapons? Of course, these three things do not include all of the Christian faith, but are only a part of its rules, its supernatural mysteries. Sadly, in our time, among Christians, many of these principles are disregarded, and many wonder-working mysteries are forgotten. People have started thinking that one wins only by using steel, that the hailing clouds are dispersed only by cannons, that diseases are cured only by pills, and that everything in the world can be explained simply through electricity. Spiritual and moral energies are looked upon almost as working magic. I think that this is the reason why ever-active Providence has chosen Gandhi, an unbaptized man, to serve as a warning to the baptized, especially those baptized people who pile up one misfortune on another upon themselves and their peoples by using ruthless and harsh means. The Gospel also tells us that Providence sometimes uses such warnings for the good of the people. Your Grace will immediately realize that I am alluding to the Roman captain from Capernaum (Matt. ch. 8). On the one hand, you see the Elders of Israel who, as chosen monotheists of the time, boasted of their faith, meanwhile rejecting Christ, and, on the other hand, you see the despised Roman pagan who came to Christ with great faith and humility, asking Him to heal his servant. And when Jesus heard it, He was astonished and said to those who followed Him, “Truly I say to you, not even in Israel have I found faith like this.” The Christian world is the new, baptized Israel. Listen! Is Christ not telling the same words today to the consciences of the Christian Elders by pointing to today’s captain of India?

Peace and health from the Lord to you.

Source: Missionary Letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich: Letters 1-100, trans. Hierodeacon Serafim (Baltic), Vol. VI in A Treasury of Serbian Orthodox Spirituality (Grayslake, IL: New Gracanica Monastery, 2008), pp. 171-173.

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The Trials of Faith

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7).

Brethren, our faith is tried more often than is the reed rocked by the winds. Trials are like the winds: a weak faith they will uproot and a strong faith will be strengthened even more. Trials are also like the flame in which straw is burned and gold is purified.

Man's intellectual pursuits and suppositions also try our faith. These are very strong and bitter winds. But we can overcome them if we are willing to adhere to the words of God and if, in opposition to those intellectual pursuits, we are able to emphasize the teachings of the Faith of Christ.

Our faith is further tried by fear and shame: fear of men who persecute the Faith and shame of men who arrogantly despise the Faith. These also are strong winds which we must resist if we wish to remain alive. How will we resist them? By the fear of God which should always be greater in our soul than the fear of men and of shame before the apostles, saints and martyrs who were not ashamed of their faith before emperors, princes and sages of this world.

Our faith is further tried by suffering and misery. This is the fire in which our faith either has to be burned like straw or to be tempered as pure gold. We will resist these trials if we would but remember Christ crucified on the Cross for us and so many thousands of martyrs for the Faith who, in their patience, conquered all and emerged from the flames as gold and who for centuries glow among the angels and among men.

Our faith is also tried by death, the death of our relatives and friends and the death of mankind in general. This is the bitter fire in which the faith of many have been burned. Is death the end of everything? It is not, but rather believe that it is the beginning of everything; it is the beginning of a new and just life. Believe in the Resurrection of Christ, believe in life beyond the grave and believe in the general resurrection and the Dreadful Judgment.

O Good Lord, strengthen the faith in us and have mercy on us. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

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Arming Ourselves Against Temptations

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Christians must arm themselves against the abominations of this world. They must be armed against every attack and against all temptations, so that every evil rebounds from them. Armor is not made in a day, nor in two days but is diligently and laboriously wielded by long-lasting exercise. Of what value is all our virtue if we succumb to the first abomination?

Speaking of this, Saint Gregory of Nyssa cites an example with a monkey in Alexandria. He says: "An animal trainer in Alexandria taught a monkey to skillfully impersonate a female dancer on stage. The spectators at the theatre praised the monkey who was dressed as a female dancer and danced to the beat of the music. But while the viewers were occupied observing such a novel spectacle, a comedian wanted to show everyone that a monkey is nothing more than a monkey. While they all shouted and applauded at the skill of the monkey, the comedian tossed sweets on the stage, sweets that monkeys particularly like. As soon as the monkey saw the sweets, he forgot the dance, the applause, the expensive clothing and jumped with his paws for the sweets but as his dress interfered, he began to tear it apart with his nails attempting to remove it. Instead of praise and amazement, laughter commenced among the viewers." For through the torn mask of the "dancer," a monkey was revealed.

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Saint Mark the Deaf

St. Mark the Deaf (Feast Day - January 2)

We know very little of Saint Mark the Deaf (some calendars have him as Mark the Deaf Mute) other than what is written in the Synaxarion probably from the 13th century on his feast day of January 2nd:

"Saint Mark the Deaf was an ascetic that lived a righteous life and died in peace."

The following stanza is written as well:

"Mark did not hear an earthly word, and before he left the earth, his earthly ears were extracted."

In Rethymno, Crete there exists the only church dedicated to Saint Mark the Deaf not only in all of Greece, but in the entire world. It is located on the grounds of the Holy Monastery of Saint George Arsaniou. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited this chapel in 2003 and served here a Divine Liturgy, praising the fact that the Divine Liturgy was done in sign language.

Though Orthodoxy has many deaf saints, Saint Mark the Deaf has become the patron saint of the deaf. Among other saints who were deaf, there is St. Cadoc (Cadfan) Llankarvansky (+580), St. Drogo (Drew) (+12th cent.), St. Meriadoc (Meredith) (7th cent.), and St Owen Ruensky (Eugene) (+684). Other Orthodox churches in Greece and throughout the world also have services in sign language as well, especially in Russia. Among them is Simonov Monastery in Moscow.

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Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos on Nikos Kazantzakis

The final resting place of Nikos Kazantzakis (1883 - 1957)

Question: Some say that Kazantzakis was religious. That he had spiritual concerns and inquiries...

Answer: And what of of that? What resulted? Do you know what he himself wanted written on his grave? "I have ceased to hope, I have ceased to fear, I am free!" And of course, it was written. Go to the cemeteries and read what is written on the graves of faithful people: "I await the resurrection of the dead" or "The dead are raised and have arisen from the tombs" or "Christ has arisen from the dead, first among those who sleep", and other such things.

Do you know what the last words of Kazantzakis were? "I'm thirsty". Fr. Theoklitos Dionysiatis has written very brilliantly in one of his writings: "Perhaps before his soul departed he tasted of the torturous flames of the furnace of fire like the rich man, and he wanted someone to refresh his tongue."

Read also:

The Ascetic Makarios and Nikos Kazantzakis

Nikos Kazantzakis : The Last Temptation Of Christ : Always Thirsty

Kazantzakis: Prophet of Non-Hope

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"Salt" Featuring Angelina Jolie Uses OCA Cathedral For Orphanage Setting

In the movie SALT, Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt - a 20-year veteran of the CIA with a husband and a dull suburban life.

When she's accused of being a Russian sleeper trained to be a superspy, she fights for her life going from blond to brunette to escape detection.

SALT was filmed in New York, Washington D.C. and on the Volga River in Russia.

The location for the Russian orphanage in the movie was the OCA Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection in New York (59 East Second Street). Filming took place in May of 2009 at the Cathedral and the film is due for release in July. See photos from the shoot here.

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral was first converted to a chapel in 1867 by the New York Mission Society, catering to immigrants with services in German, Hungarian, Italian and Russian. It was designed by renowned architect Josiah Cleveland Cady, who would later think up plans for the original Metropolitan Opera House.

The property was purchased by the Orthodox Church of America in 1943. It now has a religious school, a library on Orthodox Christian texts and regular liturgical services.

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A Cave - Monastery Discovered In S.W. Ukraine

July 14, 2010
Romfea.gr

A Cave - Monastery of the eleventh century was discovered today in Moukesavo of southwestern Ukraine.

According to information, this monastery was founded by two monks, who came here with the blessing of Saint Anthony of the Kiev Caves.

Archaeologists in the next few days will clear the entrance to the Cave, and then migrate within which as stated to be full of labarynths.

Information also indicates that within the Cave there might be monks buried.

Finally, representatives of the Ukrainian Church heard the happy news, and stressed that there they will build a new monastery.

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Karagiozi Not Turkish, Greek Ministry Says

Karagöz Not Turkish, Greek Ministry Says

July 15, 2010
Hurriyet Daily News

A debate between Turkey and Greece is growing in the wake of a UNESCO decision to declare shadow puppet theater a part of Turkish cultural heritage.

Greece is against the decision and claims that the characters of Hacivat and Karagöz are not a Turkish tradition, the daily Radikal recently reported.

Even Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has become involved in the debate over the legendary characters.

After UNESCO’s decision became effective last September, it raised eyebrows in Greece, prompting Teti Hatzinikolaou, head of the Greek Cultural Ministry department, to write that “Karagöz is a Greek cultural figure.”

Greece is set to press its claim to the style of theater, the Foreign Ministry in Athens said Wednesday.

The developments drew the attention of the country’s Foreign Ministry and the Greek Culture Ministry, while Pavlos Gerulanos, Greece’s culture minister, sought to find more information regarding the UNESCO decision.

Several Greek newspapers have demanded a greater debate between Turkey and Greece on the matter.

When asked to comment on the incident, Papandreou smiled and said: “It is better for both countries to have their own Karagöz.”

"The UNESCO convention on intangible cultural heritage enables neighboring countries to access the same commodity," foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras told a news briefing.

"Greece has tabled a statement that the same practice exists in our country and discussion ... regarding this issue will take place in Nairobi in October," he said, adding that the “Karagiozis” shadow theater, named after the main character, is an "inseparable" part of Greek culture.

Karagöz – Turkish for the Greek Karagiozis, meaning "black-eyed" – was a hunchbacked trickster who tried to make a living by hoodwinking and generally avoided all manner of honest work.

The setting is loosely placed during the occupation of present-day Greece by the Ottoman Empire from the mid-15th century to the early 19th century.

UNESCO last year placed Karagöz on its list of intangible cultural elements, associating it with Turkey where the character was originally born.

“Karagiozis” is also a common byword for “fool” in Greek.

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On Hospitality and Gratitude

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Hospitality is respected in other faiths but Christianity emphasized hospitality as an obligation and responsibility. On the other hand, gratitude for hospitality is no less an obligation and responsibility for Christians. He who learns to be grateful to men for hospitality will know how to be grateful even to God for hospitality. For what are we here on earth except as guests of God? What are angels in heaven except as guests of God?

The story is told about Emperor Philip of Macedonia, how he severely punished one of his courtiers for ingratitude. The emperor sent his courtier overseas to fulfill a task for him. The courtier accomplished this task and returned by boat. A tempest destroyed the boat and the courtier found himself in the waves. Fortunately, it was not too far from the shore. A fisherman saw the man drowning, hurried to his assistance with his small boat and brought him ashore. After he recovered and rested, the courtier returned to the emperor and related the misfortunate incident about the tempest on the sea. The emperor wishing to reward the courtier asked him what does he wish the emperor to give him? The courtier mentioned that fisherman and said to the emperor that he would like most of all if he would grant him the property along the sea belonging to the fisherman. The emperor granted the courtier his wish. When the courtier settled on the estate of his greatest benefactor [the fisherman], then the fisherman in great despair went to the emperor, related all and complained. He said that he saved the life of the courtier and now he ousted him from his home. Upon hearing this, the emperor became furious with the ungrateful courtier and ordered that he be branded on his forehead with the words: "Ungrateful Guest."

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The Life and Martyrdom of Sts. Kyrikos and Julitta, His Mother

Holy Martyrs Julitta and Kyrikos (Feast Day - July 15)

St. Julitta flourished during the terrible and tempestuous times of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305), that fearful persecutor of Christians. She came from Iconium in Lycaonia, Asia Minor, and was one of the most pious and faithful of Christians. After the death of her husband at a very young age, she dedicated herself to bringing up her infant son, whom she Baptized with the name Kyrikos.

She taught him up to the age of three, with exceeding care and diligence, but particularly by her example of faith in, and love for, our Lord Jesus Christ, which she expressed in prayer, a holy and virtuous life, partaking of the Holy Mysteries, and the confession of His Holy Name.

When the victims of the persecution against Christians multiplied, St. Julitta took her little and much-loved Kyrikos and sought refuge in Seleucia, Cilicia. But there, too, the flame of persecution raged. Thus, the Saint fled to Tarsus, the birthplace of St. Paul, the Apostle of the Nations.


There, the governor of the city, Alexander by name, a ferocious and bestial man, learned of the Saint and summoned her to defend herself. Seeing the love which she nurtured for her little, Grace-filled Angel, Kyrikos, he attempted to conquer her Faith by threatening her and her child with death. But the Saint remained steadfast and undaunted, and was ready to offer herself as a living and blameless sacrifice, together with her young son, rather than deny the true Faith.

So, the governor angrily snatched little Kyrikos from his mother’s arms and began to wheedle, caress, and kiss him, in order to sway his mother and to attract the boy to his side. However, our Lord, Who grants wisdom and enlightenment to infants, bestowed, through the Holy Spirit, “a mouth and wisdom” (St. Luke 21:15) upon Kyrikos, who was small in age but great in confession.

The Divinely-illumined infant began to invoke the Name of Christ with a stammering voice and to cry: “I am a Christian! ...Let me go to my mother!” Indeed, in order to escape from the tyrant, he began to strike him and kick him in the stomach, saying clearly and persistently: “I love Christ!”

Alexander the Governor, unable to endure the blows of young Kyrikos and, in particular, the defeat and the disgrace occasioned by the child’s confession, blew up in rage and with ferocity and inhumanity threw the infant down the steps of the tribunal, kicking him with all his might. The blessed infant received a mortal blow to his head and surrendered his holy and innocent little soul to Christ the Master. In this way, he was counted worthy to receive with glory the crown of confession and suffering.


At this sight, the thrice-blessed mother of the Child-Martyr, overcoming nature by her faith in Christ and giving thanks to God, said to the tyrant: “Even as you crushed the head of my child, so will your false religion be crushed, you harsh and pitiless ruler.”

After experiencing fearsome tortures, and yet not denying our sweetest Jesus, St. Julitta, the mother and Martyr, was beheaded in the year 304, receiving the crown of martyrdom, that she might rejoice with her three-year-old lamb, St. Kyrikos, and be glorified together with him in Heaven by the Angels and on earth by men.


Our Holy Orthodox Church celebrates their memory on July 15.

The Life, Confession, and Martyrdom of Sts. Kerykos and Julitta are truly a powerful reproach for Christians of our age and a constant reminder of our duty and responsibility to emulate them, since our Faith is founded on the blood of such exemplary persons, who sacrificed even their very lives for the love of our Savior.

May our Lord Jesus Christ grant Orthodox Christians the Grace to confess His Holy Name and to put His saving commandments into practice for their eternal salvation. Amen!

Source


The relics of Sts Kyrikos and Julitta were uncovered during the reign of St Constantine the Great (May 21). A monastery was built near Constantinople in honor of these holy martyrs, and a church was built not far from Jerusalem. The relics of Saints Kyriakos and Julitta, even today, are miracle working. Part of the relics of these saints is to be found in Ochrid in the hospital chapel of the Holy Birth-giver of God.

In the 6th century the Acts of Kyrikos and Julitta were rejected in a list of apocryphal documents by the pseudo-Gelasius, called as such since the list was erroneously attributed to Pope Saint Gelasius I.


Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Blessed Julitta, Christ God's rational ewe-lamb, with holy Kyrikos, her three-year-old offspring, stood at the judgment seat and with authority and great boldness they proclaimed the true Faith of the Christians. In no wise were they afraid of the threats of the tyrants; and now in Heaven, wearing precious crowns, they both rejoice as they stand before Christ our God.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
As the Martyr of Christ God, the chaste Julitta, in her arms bare Kyrikos, she cried out in the stadium with manful courage and boundless joy: Thou art the strength of the Martyrs, O Christ my God.

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The Impact of Christianity Upon Kievan Russia: A Protestant Observation

by Ellen Myers

There are special, blessed moments of joy in the study of history. They occur when we meet in the distant past, unexpectedly and in awe, a people and a spirit to which we find ourselves related in fundamental kinship and faith. As a Christian believer in the Bible as God's inerrant self-revelation, and hence in biblical creation, I found such kinship and common faith with the people of Kievan Russia (eleventh and twelfth century A.D.) within their first generations after conversion to Christ (ca. 988 A.D.).

I am greatly drawn, for example, to Kievan church architecture. These clusters of whitewashed or wooden buildings with their narrow window slits, their curved roofs and their helmet-shaped domes embody for me the earth-bound, homely, humble and awkward, yet also "vertical," other-worldly, joyful and reverent communion of man with the Triune God of the Bible which we call Christian worship. The warmth, variety, "irregularity" so to call it, and vitality of the personhood of our God, and also of each uniquely created human being and uniquely created national personality (a recurring theme in Russian literature to our own day) is irrepressibly evident. For example, Kiev's Hagia Sophia cathedral, built 1036-46,

"appears to rise like some great natural growth... the Kievan Hagia Sophia's accord with its setting is the earliest example of the irresistible effect which the Russian environment and Russian taste exercised over the foreign architects and artists who found employment there... even the fully formed artists produced from the start works which... differ completely from everything that these artists had created in their native lands before going to Russia[1]."

The multitude of churches built in Kiev within a few decades after the country's conversion (Thietmar of Merseburg who visited Kiev in 1018 A.D. said their number ran to almost four hundred)[2] shows the eagerness of princes and people "not just to profess the faith but to testify in deeds their devotion to the living God... not for decorative effect, but for Christian witness[3]." Yet the "decorative effect"—the splendor and beauty of church worship—is everywhere sought after, from cathedral to the Russian peasant's icon corner in his poor izba (peasant hut). This splendor and beauty actually was the decisive factor in prince Vladimir's, and hence Kievan Russia's, adoption of Byzantine Christianity in the late 980s. We went on to Greece," Vladimir's envoys sent out to examine various religions told him, "and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty... We know only that God dwells there among men... "[4]

God dwelling among men—here, I believe, we see the fundamental faith and reality of Christian blessedness motivating Kievan Russia. The emphasis in communal worship lay on making God's person and Real presence visible and touchable. "The same desire to see spiritual truth in tangible form"[5] is embodied in Kievan Russia's icons or paintings of Christ, His blessed mother, and the saints. Protestant Christians rightly fear and proscribe the idolatry incipient in man-made images of holy things and human "saints." Yet among a people converted but recently from serving pagan "nature gods," as were eleventh-century Kievans, their Christian art including icons probably did an indispensable service of Christian nurture. We must remember that "there were no complete versions of the Bible, let alone independent theological syntheses, produced in early Russia."[6] Some early Kievan art nurtures and even converts human hearts and minds in our own time. What Christian, what student of the Bible can look at the early twelfth-century icon of the Virgin of Vladimir and not be touched by Mary's tenderness toward her Holy Child Jesus? Is not the lesson at hand —that we, too, should thus tenderly care for Jesus conceived and growing in our hearts after we have been visited by the Holy Ghost and overshadowed by the power of the Highest (Luke 1:35)?

Tenderness is one prominent strand of Kievan Russian Christianity; another such strand is kenoticism, or humility. We already encounter it in Russia's first canonized saints, the princes Boris and Gleb, who refused to take up arms against their elder brother Sviatopolk and were put to death for their non-resistance in 1015. This was "the first instance in Eastern and Western medieval ecclesiastic tradition of the imitation of Christ as a humble martyr dying for the sins of men."[7] This humility is also an outstanding trait in the lives of St. Antonios, the founder, and St. Theodosios, the first abbot, of the Crypt Monastery, founded near Kiev in the eleventh century. Monk Nestor, Theodosius' biographer, tells us repeatedly how Theodosius spoke and acted "with humility." A monastic novice was called a "poslushnik" (obedient listener),[8] a reminder that humility was to be his greatest virtue[9].

The people of Kiev, after having newly come to Christ and having been inspired by the vision of God dwelling among men to worship Him in splendor and humility in "right praise" ("pravoslavie"—the Russian word for orthodoxy), also excelled in civilization and education. As a matter of fact they were further advanced in these two respects than the Western European countries of their time. The ruling princes of Kiev intermarried with the ruling houses of Western Europe[10]. After the English king Harold Godwinson was killed in the battle of Hastings in 1066, his family took refuge at the court of Kiev. Prince Vladimir took the children of the best families, and sent them to schools for instruction in book learning shortly after his conversion. We are told that by the time of Vladimir's son Yaroslav (1019-1054) there were already numerous schools, hospitals, and libraries. Despite the physical hardships of long, deadly cold winters, immense wild forests, and the rigors of subduing the northern land in an attempt to wrest a living from it, the people loved this hard and seemingly inhospitable land as their "mother." In their closeness to "mother earth" or to the Volga River as their "native mother," Kievan as well as modern Russians maintain man's ties to all God's creation so often mentioned in the Bible. These ties are expressly acknowledged in the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church from the very earliest recorded times at Kiev, as shown, for instance, in the beautiful Sermon on the First Sunday After Easter by Bishop Cyril of Turov[11]. We also find awareness of these ties in Kievan Russian epics and heroic tales. An example is the conversation of prince Igor with the Donets River in The Lay of Igor's Campaign[12], written about Prince Igor's unfortunate campaign against the heathen Kumans in 1185 A.D. We find this awareness in the Ode on the Downfall of the Russian Land, written between 1237 and 1245 and lamenting the conquest of Russia by the Mongols. Its opening lines are not about battles or "human events," but rather about the land itself:

"O Russian land, brightest of the bright,
most beautifully adorned,
thou art marvelous to us, with thy many beauties.
Marvellous are thy numerous lakes,
thy rivers and venerated springs,
steep mountains, high hills,
oak forests, beautiful fields,
many beasts and countless birds[13]."

Only after this eloquent praise of the land itself and its plant and animal inhabitants does the thirteenth-century author speak of the

"great cities, wonderful villages, and monastery gardens,
honorable boyars and countless lords,
Christian churches and stern princes.
Thou, Russian land, art rich in wealth
and in the Orthodox Christian Faith[14]."

Kievan Russia was eventually invaded and conquered by the Tatars under the heirs of Ghengis Khan in 1237-40. There had been earlier raids upon Kievan territory in the south by various Mongol tribes such as the Pechenegs and the Kumans (or Polovtsians). But the disunity among Kievan Russian princes after the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125 A.D. was perhaps the deepest contributory cause for Kievan Russia's shortness of existence. Frequent warnings against this disunity occur in the chronicles, epics and stories of the time, and we may suppose that the people writing these warnings did what they could. It was not enough.

Seen across many centuries, Kievan Russia seems like a lost paradise 'where the people were one integrated whole with their land, their rivers, their animals - wild animals almost as much as tame ones - and their God Who dwelled among them as Creator, Sustainer and Lord.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Tamara Talbot Rice, A Concise History op Russian Art (Praeger. New York 1963. Fourth Printing 1974) pp 18- 19.

[2] Ibid. p 26

[3] James H Billington, The Icon and the Axe (Random House New York First-Vintage Books Edition. September 1970) p. 11.

[4] Serge A Zenkovsky, Medieval Russia s Epics, Chronicles, and Tales (E. P Dutton. New York 1963. Second Edition 1974). p. 67

[5] Billington. op cit . p 9

[6] Ibid. p. 7

[7] Zenkovsky. op cit . p 37.

[8] Billington. op cit . p 8.

[9] Humility towards unjust and godless oppression has been the unbiblical reverse of godly humility.

[10] Zenkovsky. op cit . p 5.

[11] Zenkovsky op c~t . pp. 90-92

[12] Ibid pp 169-190: cited passage is on p. 188

[13] Ibid p 196

[14] Ibid . p 197

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700 Children Baptized in Georgia

Children are baptized during a mass baptism ceremony in the town of Mtskheta outside Tbilisi, July 13, 2010. About 700 children were baptized by the Georgian Orthodox church during the 12th mass baptism ceremony led by Patriarch Ilia II. Georgia had a big declining birth rate until Patriarch Iliya said he would personally bless each baby, so now the birthrate is increasing and they are getting blessings and baptisms from the Patriarch! (Read: Church Leader Sparks Georgian Baby Boom)

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Recovering the Body of Christ

by Scott Cairns
July 10, 2010
Huffington Post

I have just returned from five weeks in Greece, where, with my colleagues from the University of Missouri, I led a group of 19 graduate and undergraduate students on a "study abroad" venture in Athens and on the unspoiled island of Serifos. We spent our days reading and writing, strenuously ingesting Greek life in general, and Greek literary life in particular.

Students worked on modern Greek in the mornings and collaborated in writing workshops -- poetry, fiction, travel writing, or playwriting --in the afternoons. Our program (MU Summer Seminars in Greece) takes a group every year, so if any of that sounds interesting to you, you should plan to join us in June 2011, when Pam Houston will lead our fiction workshop, Christopher Bakken will lead our travel writing/food writing workshop, Aliki Barnstone will lead a translation workshop, and I'll lead the poetry group.

In any case, I've been making my way to Greece for many years, and this past trip was my eleventh. In a surprising way, however, as satisfying as this trip was, it feels oddly incomplete in retrospect. I'm supposing that this is because each of my previous ten visits to Greece included pilgrimages of varying lengths, from five days to four weeks, among the monks of Mount Athos, a unique region of northern Greece known also as Agion Oros, "the Holy Mountain."

Summer teaching duties here in Missouri didn't leave me any time for my customary journey to the monasteries this year. In fact, I was obliged to return to the States on the Monday after our Greece program ended, and taught an early afternoon class on Tuesday. I won't let that schedule crunch happen again, for it feels very strange to have been in Greece for weeks without at least touching base with the fathers on the Holy Mountain.

In any case, I continue to think of my visits there as pilgrimages, expeditions into something of a new world, even if the world of Mount Athos may seem to be the odd vestige of a very old world. As I say, I have journeyed to that amazing enclave 10 times to date; I hope to make that pilgrimage a recurrent practice.

Initially, I journeyed to the Holy Mountain for guidance toward what is traditionally called interior prayer, or the prayer of the heart. That is to say, so I might better learn to pray, and -- not to put too fine nor too grand a point on it -- to do so ceaselessly.

While I may have picked up a thing or two about the practice of prayer during my time with the monks and their mountain, I learned something else as well; I like to think of it as a bonus.

I learned, from firsthand encounter with contemporary ascetics, a little bit about affliction. And I learned an additional bit about its unexpected benefits.

Moreover, I realized -- experienced, even -- at long last, that "the Body of Christ" is a good deal more than a figure of speech; it is an appalling truth and mystery, uniting us beyond our knowing with one another, and uniting us with an ever greater mystery, the perichoresis ("circling dance") of the Holy Trinity Who is our One God.

I do not expect to comprehend, much less ever to explain, the particular mystery of, as I come to speak of it, the One Holy Essence whose mystery is expressed in relational, interpersonal terms, but I do hope to share something glimpsed among the struggling monks on their holy mountain, something gleaned from their ongoing written tradition, and something I have labored to acquire as my own.

I have spoken the words "the Body of Christ" for decades without thinking much about what those words demand. Lately, I have seen how our greater awareness of and our intentional performance as the mystical Body of Christ might assist in our apprehension of suffering's purpose, as well as its end.

St. Simeon the New Theologian, writing in the tenth century, offers his own first-hand experience of one amazing aspect -- one face, we might say -- of our neglected mystery when he writes of Christ:

"He was suddenly completely there, united with me in an ineffable manner, joined to me in an unspeakable way and immersed in me without mixing as the fire melds as one with the iron, and the light with the crystal. And He made me as though I were all fire. And He showed me myself as light and I became that which before me I saw and I had contemplated only from afar. I do not know how to express to you the paradox of this manner. For I was unable to know and I still now do not know how He entered, how He united Himself with me."

Through the mystery of the God's hidden agency, we are united with Christ, and, according to Saint Simeon, we are united with him quite literally; this is not, it would appear, a mere intellectual solidarity, nor is it merely an agreeable affiliation. As Saint Paul writes, mystically we "put on Christ," adopting His holiness as He adopts our humanity.

This is astonishing, this is appalling, though these are words that many of us have no trouble affirming.

From what I have gathered over the years, we generally have so little trouble affirming it that we seldom bother even to think of it, much less to consider its vertiginous implications. As oblivious as fatted cattle munching a numbing cud, we are likely to squander an inestimable gift, unawares.

We are, in no uncertain terms, called to be like Christ, and if we will choose to allow it, we will grow into His holy likeness, increasingly and forever. The fact that His holiness is unending and inexhaustible means that each of us has an exhilarating and endless journey ahead.

Even so -- and more to the point of the difficult moment -- we often neglect how, if this delicious mystery should apply to our own beloved persons, it necessarily must apply to other persons as well, which is why, as I indicated in an earlier post, we must understand every failure as "an important failure," every occasion of human suffering as our own.

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12th Century Orthodox Church Unearthed in S. Turkey

900-year-old Byzantine Church Unearthed in South Turkey

July 14, 2010
Xinhua

A 900-year-old Byzantine church has been unearthed in south Turkey, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday.

Professor Engin Akyurek from Istanbul University's Art History Department said that this well-preserved Byzantine church had been found 6 meters below ground level at the Myra ancient city located in Demre town of the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

Akyurek said the 5-meter wide and 10-meter high temple's dome had been partially destroyed; however, tiles at its roof were in good condition.

"The church most probably belongs to 12th century AD, but we will be able to determine its exact period once we enter the building," Akyurek said.

Akyurek added that all Byzantine period buildings that had managed to survive until today had either gone through a restoration process or their roofs had been changed; however, the Byzantine church unearthed at Myra had maintained its original structure.

Myra was a leading city of the Lycian Union and surpassed Xanthos in early Byzantine times to become the capital city of Lycia. Its remains are situated about 1.5 km north of today's Demre, on the Kas-Finike road.

The date of Myra's foundation is unknown. There is no literary mention of it before the 1st century BC, when it is said to be one of the six leading cities of the Lycian Union (the other five were Xanthos, Tlos, Pinara, Patara and Olympos).

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A Greek Pilgrim Visits St. Anthony's Monastery in Arizona

Nikolaos Tsapakis

This past summer, due to the fact that my son John received the degree of Doctor of Civil Engineering at the University of Akron in Ohio of the USA, I had the opportunity and joy to visit with my wife the United States and Canada from June 18, 2009 until August 18, 2009.

Along with this, as I desired much to do so, I visited some Greek Orthodox monasteries as a pilgrim, which were founded by Elder Fr. Ephraim, who is 83 years old these days, the former abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou on the Holy Mountain.

First I visited the Monastery of Saint Anthony which he established first in Arizona in the town of Florence, between the cities of Phoenix and Tuscon, within the desert, in which this ever-venerable and beloved throughout the world Elder Ephraim lives.

As a visiting pilgrim I was amazed and marveled at his divine works, but in particular their deep spiritual life and the numerous miracles they accomplish.

His perpetual smiling face, his child-like purity, his radiant eyes, radiate and strike one with love, boundless goodness and holiness!


His good reputation has spread throughout all of America and Canada and everybody travels to him for confession, to receive advice, and to tell them their problems so that they will be released of them. He is another Paisios and Porphyrios!

This Monastery of Saint Anthony and Saint Nektarios is found in the middle of the Arizona desert with temperatures which can reach 40-45 degrees celcius in the summer, where only cacti can survive among the different species, which are being preserved and protected as a state tree.

Within this desert there now stands this wondrous Monastery of Saint Antony, a virtual oasis which shades, cools, refreshes, relaxes, decorates and fragrances the surrounding region with its 2,000 species of flowers and trees, but is first and foremost a SPIRITUAL OASIS with Elder Ephraim to refresh and bring peace, calm, rest, and healing to the sick, broken, and suffering hearts of our fellow-men.

Everyday there is a line of people which anxiously waits to see him, to talk with him, and to receive his blessing and a prayer.


The desert has truly transformed into a "Hospital" for the suffering hearts of our fellow-men and he leads them to the Divine and to salvation.

In 1995 Elder Ephraim miraculously began the foundation and building of the Monastery of Saint Anthony, despite the uninhabitable environment, with no water, no roads and electricity, and especially with the presence of wild animals of prey and poisonous snakes. Many wondered and told the Elder what he was doing there.

The place where the monastery was founded in the middle of the wild and inhospitable desert, however, was revealed from on high in a miraculous manner by Saint Anthony.

In truth, many people of the area would hear bells ringing every evening at that place, which was confirmed by the Elder, though there is no reasonable explanation for something like that to happen in the area.

Furthermore, in a miraculous manner, St. Anthony, the teacher of the desert, showed him the spot where there was precious water in the desert at a depth of 980 meters and now produces about 300 liters of drinkable water per second.

With this large amount of water they planted 3,000 olive trees, vine gardens, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, fruit-bearing trees, figs, palm trees, a greenhouse with all the vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, pumpkins, etc., pine trees, cypress trees, and many other multi-colored flowers which altogether are fragrant throughout the area. Everything is of course irrigated twice a day during the summer months, due to the heat.

The monastery is now run with 45 monks, who work hard and tirelessly taking care of the gardens, the thousands of trees, and the multitude of visitors with hospitality, and the abbot is Fr. Paisios who came from Mount Athos.


The monks are of various nationalities and races who have received our Orthodoxy, they were baptized Christians, and now serve the Church with zeal. They are from different parts of America, with one of African descent and a Japanese monk. Out in the desert there are wild animals like snakes, vipers, deer, lions, hares, partridge, and squirrels.

At the beginning of the building activities the vipers and other snakes and animals presented a great danger to the workers, to clean the area and build the churches and plant the gardens and flowers, but Fr. Ephraim in a miraculous manner dispersed them from the area of the monastery and in this way they continued their wondrous work.

The monastery has 2,000 stremma [a ¼ acre or 1,000 square meters is 1 stremma] and is visited by many pilgrims daily, where they can be accommodated in separate building complexes for women and for men, with very clean and comfortable rooms.

The monks follow and apply the Byzantine traditions, sacred services, vigils, prayers and life with the horos of the Holy Mountain, naturally in the Greek language.

The Monastery of Saint Antony is a coenobium with five churches: Sts. Anthony and Nektarios and St. Nicholas which are built of stone and are exquisite, and St. Demetrios, St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Russian style and St. George which amaze the visitors with their architecture.


Also, near the monastery, up on a hill, there is the very beautiful Church of the Prophet Elijah, of the same type found in Santorini with blue and white colors, which oversees the desert with a wonderful view.

Many sick and suffering people run to Elder Ephraim, who with the help of the Elder, their faith and the grace of God, are healed. People receive courage, peace, calm and hope in God and a joy that is indescribable. Indeed, many contemporary miracles occur!

There are innumerable stories of sick people becoming perfectly well and are grateful to the Elder and take him to be their spiritual father, and he advises them and leads them along the heavenly road of salvation and theosis.

Furthermore, Fr. Ephraim has founded 19 operating monasteries which he oversees and guides, 17 of which are in the United States and 2 are in Canada, with the goal of establishing 20 like on the Holy Mountain.

He has also begun to establish an old age home which will very soon take in many needy and poor elderly.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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The Perennial Teacher of our Orthodox Faith, Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite

St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite (Feast Day - July 14)

On the Occasion of the Bicentennial of His Blessed Repose

by Bishop Klemes of Gardikion

Exactly two hundred years ago, at dawn on July 14, 1809 (Old Style), a truly multi-faceted diamond of Grace, the great and never-silent Teacher of Orthodoxy and the Greek Nation, Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, reposed in the Lord on the Holy Mountain, at the age of some sixty years.

A Grace-endowed teacher, who benefited and continues to benefit monastics and laypeople in both word and deed, the Saint avails us of the essential wisdom of the Holy Fathers.

Every teacher is first a pupil. Thus our Saint, who was born on Naxos in 1749 (his original name being Nicholas Kallibourtzes), was educated at a school on his native island and subsequently at the Evangelike School in Smyrna. Owing to his astounding acumen, love of learning, diligence, and boundless memory, within a short time the classical education of that era became his inviolable possession.

At the age of twenty-six, he was secretary to the Bishop of his island, with a brilliant future in the Church marked out for him. Yet, it was precisely then that he began to receive instruction in the true philosophy according to Christ. He became acquainted with the Athonite Fathers Gregory, Niphon, and Arsenios, who had taken refuge on Naxos, and through them he came into direct contact with the sacred activity of wakefulness (νῆψις) and unceasing prayer. His heart, athirst for God, was burning with the love of God. Thus, he sought refuge in Hydra with the Kollyvades Saint Macarios of Corinth and Elder Sylvester, who had been exiled from the Holy Mountain, so that he might drink of the Living Water. They initiated him into the meaning of authentic ecclesiastical Tradition and the true Hesychastic and Eucharistic life.

The future teacher could no longer be held back. He withdrew in 1775 to Holy Athos, the Garden of the Panagia, in order to combine—initially at the Dionysiou Monastery—cultivation of the inner man through ascesis with communion in the Holy Spirit through the Church’s cycle of worship.

After only a few years, now as the Monk Nikodemos and still under instruction, the Saint began to teach others through writing. At the urging of Saint Macarios of Corinth, he edited the celebrated and classic works of Orthodox spirituality, the Philokalia, the Evergetinos, and Concerning Frequent Communion of the Immaculate Mysteries of Christ.

Although the Divine teacher became distinguished as a writer while still very young, he had, at the same time, an ardent desire to be taught by God. He was aware, from all that he had read and all that he had been taught, that such instruction could not be attained save through true obedience and mental prayer. Although he had tasted of these, he yearned for perfection. For this reason, when he learned that the Russian Starets, Saint Paissy (Velichkovsky), had a distinguished reputation in Moldavia as an unerring Elder to thousands of monks and a consummate teacher of mental prayer, he hastened with unrestrained zeal to meet him, so that he, too, might be numbered among the Elder’s elect Synodeia and might enjoy the wisdom of his spiritual experience, a wisdom informed by the Philokalia.

However, after encountering obstacles on this journey, he returned to his life of ascesis, study, and writing on the Holy Mountain. By means of his prodigious literary oeuvre, which encompasses at least a hundred well-known works, he engaged in hermeneutics, theology, hagiography, and hymnography, codified the Sacred Canons, refuted heresy—especially that of the Latins—guided, admonished, and taught.

This blessed man became a magnet for clergy and laity, and yet he was disquieted, as he was impeded thereby both from writing and from mental prayer. Concerning this blessed and divinizing activity, he taught that which he himself put into practice:

"Therefore, my brother Christian, when you withdraw your mind from all the things of this world—I mean pleasures, glory, and money—and bring it into your heart, and when, after finding there what is called the inward speech in the heart, you utter therewith this single-phrased prayer with fervent faith, hope and love—that is, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me’—holding your breath a little; then you attain to the guarding of the mind. For that warmth, which is engendered by frequent repetition of the Holy Name of Jesus, scourges and mows down the demons like a two-edged sword and does not allow them to put their unseemly thoughts into your mind. Hence, St. John of the Ladder said: ‘Scourge your enemies with the Name of Jesus’."1

In Saint Nikodemos, love for God functioned at all times in a harmonious and inseparable combination with love for the edification of his brother Christians—not only his contemporaries, but also those of future generations—through his precious writings.

Love, however, is put to the test. According to the Saints, Our Lord shows clearly, by the very structure of His Beatitudes, that when we attain to the perfection of virtue (see the first seven Beatitudes: Matthew 5:3-9), harsh external persecutions, reproaches, and temptations unfailingly follow as a test (see the final two Beatitudes: Matthew 5:10-11).

Since the Saint was a genuine Hesychast, who lived and breathed Christ, he could not but yearn to be united with the Lord unceasingly in the Divine Eucharist. Consequently, he could not but strive with all of his might to suggest what is fitting, in general, for the plenitude of the Church and be solicitous to kindle the love of Christians for the Divine Mysteries. He wisely teaches that:

"Although Confession and satisfaction [the fulfillment of a rule (kanonas) given by a spiritual Father or Confessor—Trans.] can forgive sins, nonetheless Holy Communion is necessary for the remission of sins. Just as one first extracts the maggots from a malodorous wound, then cuts off the rotten parts, and subsequently applies ointment to heal it, since, if he leaves it, it reverts to its former state, so the same thing happens with sin: Confession extracts the maggots, satisfaction cuts off the rotten parts, and subsequently Divine Communion acts as an ointment and heals the wound of sin. For, if he does not receive Divine Communion, the wretched sinner reverts to his original state, and ‘the last state of that man is worse than the first.’"2

Likewise, he teaches that:

"If someone deprives us for just one day of eating bodily foods, we become upset and impatient and it strikes us as being a great evil; but if we deprive ourselves of the spiritual and heavenly fare of the Divine Mysteries once, or twice, or for whole months, we do not consider it a bad thing. O the great lack of discrimination which today’s Christians make between bodily and spiritual things! For they embrace the former wholeheartedly, but for the latter they have no desire whatsoever."3

However, the ignorance, lack of education, evil habits, and also the animus of many who were opposed to the aforementioned Divinely-wise words of the Saint became the occasion for a great deal of harassment, slander, and persecution for him. Nonetheless, the Holy Nikodemos, forgiving, enduring, and praying, did not give way. On the contrary, he defended himself through his outstanding Confession of Faith — a confession of truth — thereby curbing the censorious attitude of his accusers.

After suffering further tribulations from false brethren, and also from illnesses, Saint Nikodemos reposed in the Lord with the beloved Bridegroom Christ on his lips, in his breath, in his mind, in his heart, and in the whole of his sanctified and Christified being. He continues to instruct and chasten us, in order to make us partakers of Christ’s Heavenly Glory and Kingdom. Let us study him, heed him, and obey him. Amen.

Phyle, Attica
Monday, July 14/27, 2009
Commemoration of St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Notes:

1 Heortodromion [Commentary on the Great Feasts] (Venice: 1836), p. 19.

2 Concerning Frequent Communion of the Immaculate Mysteries of Christ, translated in Hieromonk Patapios and Archbishop Chrysostomos, Manna from Athos: The Issue of Frequent Communion on the Holy Mountain in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 125-126.

3 Ibid., p. 131.

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