St. Maximus the Confessor: 18 Spiritual Interpretations of the Transfiguration (1)

That The Saints Are Not Introduced into The Mysteries Like Us

But going back to what has already been contemplated, let us turn our attention according to our means to the rest of the meaning of the Transfiguration, so that the excellence of the Saints in everything and their genuine separation from the flesh and matter may be seen. And let us note that they do not contemplate either creation or Scripture like us in a material or lowly way. They do not acquire the blessed knowledge of God only by sense and appearances and forms, using letters and syllables, which lead to mistakes and bafflement over the judgment of the truth, but solely by the mind [nous], rendered most pure and released from all material mists. Since therefore we want to judge reverently and see clearly and intelligibly the meanings of those things perceived by the senses, we must look carefully to the inerrant knowledge concerning God and divine things and rightly proceed along the straight path.

Further Contemplation of the Transfiguration Containing Eighteen Spiritual Interpretations

A. Therefore it was said above that through the luminous brightness that shone from the face of the Lord on the mount, the thrice-blessed apostles were secretly led in an ineffable and unknowable manner to the power and glory of God which is completely incomprehensible to every being, for they learnt that the light that appeared to their senses is a symbol of what is hidden and beyond any manifestation. For as the ray of the light that came to pass here overwhelmed the strength of the eyes and remained beyond their grasp, so also their God transcends all the power and strength of the mind and leaves no kind of trace for the mind to experience. The white garments teach, in a divinely fitting way, at one and the same time both the magnificence that lies in creatures proportionately to the logoi according to which they have come into being and the mysterious revelation found in the understanding of the words of Holy Scripture, so that the written power in the Spirit and the wisdom and knowledge manifested together in creatures are displayed together for the knowledge of God, and through them again he is proportionately manifested. Through Moses and Elijah, who were with Him on either side, they are taught many various conceptions which are put forward as figures of mysteries: through true contemplation of them they found ways of knowing. It is this that must now be examined.

1. And first they received through Moses and Elijah the most reverent notion about how the legal and the prophetic word had always to be present with God the Word, as they are and proclaim from Him and concerning Him and they are established around Him.

2. Then they are taught through them about wisdom and kindness dwelling with Him. It is in accordance with wisdom that the word is declaratory of things made and prohibitory of things not made, and of this Moses is the type, for we believe the grace of law-giving to belong to wisdom. And it is in accordance with kindness that the word invites and causes to return to the divine life those who have slipped away from it, and of this Elijah is the type, through himself manifesting the complete prophetic gift. For the conversion through love for humankind of those who have erred is a characteristic of divine kindness, and the heralds of this we know as the prophets.

Continued Part Two

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Saint Eustathios Plakidas: Movie

The movie is in Greek, but if you read the life of St. Eustathios and his family, it can be better understood. Read here: Great Martyr Eustathios Plakidas With His Wife and Children

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An Exchange of Insults Over Relics of John the Baptist

Bulgaria’s Diaspora Minister and renowned historian Bozhidar Dimitrov has entered into an exchange of insults with perhaps the most famous Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov over the recent discovery of the relics of St. John the Baptist in Sozopol.

The fight broke out over Dimitrov’s statement from Tuesday published in a Sofia daily newspaper in which he slammed certain archaeologists for being envious of Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov, the man who found the relics of St. John the Baptist, and for criticizing Popkonstantinov and Dimitrov himself for celebrating the discovery before carrying out the proper tests.

“Why, damn it, why, where is all this envy coming from?! This is what I cannot find an explanation with this fucking people, with these fucking colleagues,” the Diaspora Minister and a former Director of the Bulgarian National History Museum, said when expressing his indignation that some of the Bulgarian archaeologists had declared the triumph over the relics of St. John the Baptist premature.

Read the rest below:

August 6, 2010 - Bulgarian Minister Exchanges Insults with Top Archaeologist over St. John the Baptist Relics

August 8, 2010 - Bulgarian Archaeologists Dumbfounded by Minister's Statement over St. John Relics

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Archaeologists Find Evidence of St. Peter's Prison

June, 25 2010
Telegraph

Archaeologists have discovered evidence to support the theory that St Peter was imprisoned in an underground dungeon by the Emperor Nero before being crucified.

The Mamertine Prison, a dingy complex of cells which now lies beneath a Renaissance church, has long been venerated as the place where the apostle was shackled before he was killed on the spot on which the Vatican now stands.

It been a place of Christian worship since medieval times, but after months of excavations, Italian archaeologists have found frescoes and other evidence which indicate that it was associated with St Peter as early as the 7th century.

Dr Patrizia Fortini, of Rome's department of archaeology for Rome, said: "It was converted from being a prison into a focus of cult-like worship of St Peter by the 7th century at the latest, maybe earlier.

"It was a very rapid transformation. We think that by the 8th century, it was being used as a church. It would have been wonderful to find a document with his [St Peter's] name on it, but of course that was always going to be extremely unlikely."

St Peter and St Paul are said to have been incarcerated in the jail by the Emperor Nero.

The two apostles are said to have caused an underground spring to miraculously rise up from the ground so that they could baptise their guards and their fellow prisoners.

Peter was then crucified, upside down, in AD64. He was buried on a low hill on which, 250 years later, the Emperor Constantine built the first Basilica of St Peter.

The hellish prison in which the founder of the Roman Church supposedly spent his final days consisted of two levels of cells, one on top of each other.

The lower cell could only be reached through a hole in its roof and was purportedly where the Romans imprisoned their most formidable enemies, including a Gaulish chieftain, Vercingetorix, who had fought against Caesar in 52BC.

Some prisoners starved to death and their bodies were tossed into the Cloaca Maxima, the city's main sewer.

In the 17th century a church St Joseph of the Carpenters was built over the Mamertine Prison and it still stands today, overlooking the ruins of the Roman Forum.

Its exterior bears the words "The Prison of the Apostolic Saints Peter and Paul" and a marble carving of the two bearded martyrs peering glumly through prison bars.

When Charles Dickens visited the site in the 19th century he described "the dread and gloom of the ponderous, obdurate old prison".

Hanging on the walls he found "rusty daggers, knives, pistols, clubs, divers instruments of violence and murder brought here fresh from use".

Historians have long believed the dungeon was built in the 5th century BC, under Servius Tullius, one of the kings of Rome before it became a republic.


Conversion: Ancient Prison Went From Pagan To Sacred Christian Site

July, 31 2010
Catholic News Service

Tradition holds that St. Peter was jailed in Rome's maximum security Mamertine Prison before he was crucified upside down and buried on the hill where St. Peter's Basilica was later built.

And now after recent excavations in Rome's oldest prison, archaeologists say they have uncovered evidence that, while not providing direct proof, does support that belief.

The prison, which lies beneath the Church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters facing the Roman Forum, was closed for the past year as experts dug up old floors and picked away plaster.

They found and restored a 14th-century fresco of Jesus with his arm around a smiling St. Peter and an 11th-century fresco of Jesus with the oldest known image of the Campidoglio, Rome's city hall, behind him.

Patrizia Fortini from the city of Rome's department of archaeological heritage led the excavation and restoration project. She told journalists July 27 they found proof that the site had been a place for venerating St. Peter by the seventh century, lending support to historical accounts that he had been incarcerated there.

The prison has two levels: the upper chamber called the "Carcer" and the lower chamber called the "Tullianum," which was built in the sixth century B.C.

In the Tullianum, Fortini said, they found "traces of a basin that must have been where water was collected -- water which, according to tradition, sprang forth after St. Peter pounded on the stone floor."

Tradition holds that after he miraculously made the water gush forth, he converted and baptized his two prison guards as well as 47 others while he was imprisoned there.

Near the basin, archaeologists found a trough which, centuries later, the faithful may have used to sprinkle themselves with water, she said.

The stone walls had been painted, she said, but time and humidity took their toll.

There is only one small fresco left in a dark corner under the stairs. The ninth-century image, discovered in 2000, shows the outline of the hand of God emerging from a white cloud as he points down toward Earth.

A portion of the marble column, which tradition says Sts. Peter and Paul were chained to, stands next to a simple altar.

One of the most interesting finds, Fortini said, was discovering what the Tullianum had been used for in pre-Christian, pagan Rome.

Experts removed old brick and wooden floors, digging down to the original stone floor.

Scholars had believed the domed prison was a cistern or a monumentalized fountain of sorts. Instead, Fortini said it had been "an ancient place of worship" specifically devoted to a water divinity such as "a nymph of underground water."

They found ancient remnants of votive offerings to the deity, things such as small burned animal bones and floral or vegetable matter dating from between the fifth and third centuries B.C.

From the ancient pagan Romans to early Christians, "this place was always venerated. It never lost its sacredness," Fortini said.

It may seem odd, however, that the ancient Romans took a sacred pagan spot for venerating the life-giving and healing powers of water and turned it into a dungeon.

Fortini said the underground water spring also conjured up many negative and dangerous scenarios. For example, in pagan Rome it was thought the spring provided a direct channel to the netherworld, she said.

Archaeologists found an ancient borehole going 5 feet into the ground. The borehole "put the inhabited world into contact with the underworld and, therefore, there was the possibility of having contact with the beyond somehow," she said.

Enemies of the Roman Empire were thrown into the watery pit of the Tullianium through a hole in the upper chamber of the Carcer. Romans believed the prisoners would then be carried away or just disappear into the netherworld -- a fate worse than death, she said.

The structure was used a prison until the fourth century, when Pope Sylvester I officially made it place of worship and named it "San Pietro in Carcere" (St. Peter in Prison) in 314.

The Church of St. Joseph was built atop the former prison complex in 1598.

The project to study and restore the Mamertine Prison was a cooperative effort of Rome's department of archaeological heritage, the Rome diocesan Committee for Sacred Art and Cultural Heritage and the diocesan-related travel agency, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.

After the Mamertine Prison reopened to the public at the end of June, the Opera Romana incorporated it into a new tour called "Roma Cristiana Experience," which was presented to journalists July 27.

Pilgrims hop on a methane gas-powered minibus leaving St. Peter's Square every 20 minutes and take a scenic route through Rome to the Mamertine Prison for a tour.

The tour is meant to help people deepen their faith and recognize the site's spiritual heritage: its successive conversion from being a sacred pagan spring, to being a dank place of suffering and death, and finally, after St. Peter made the waters pour forth, to becoming a place of renewal and rebirth.


More On Ancient Prison Went From Pagan To Sacred Christian Site

August, 06 2010
The Pilot

Tradition holds that St. Peter was jailed in Rome's maximum security Mamertine Prison before he was crucified upside down and buried on the hill where St. Peter's Basilica was later built.

And now after recent excavations in Rome's oldest prison, archaeologists say they have uncovered evidence that, while not providing direct proof, does support that belief.

The prison, which lies beneath the Church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters facing the Roman Forum, was closed for the past year as experts dug up old floors and picked away plaster.

They found and restored a 14th-century fresco of Jesus with his arm around a smiling St. Peter and an 11th-century fresco of Jesus with the oldest known image of the Campidoglio, Rome's city hall, behind him.

Patrizia Fortini from the city of Rome's department of archaeological heritage led the excavation and restoration project. She told journalists July 27 they found proof that the site had been a place for venerating St. Peter by the seventh century, lending support to historical accounts that he had been incarcerated there.

The prison has two levels: the upper chamber called the "Carcer" and the lower chamber called the "Tullianum," which was built in the sixth century B.C.

In the Tullianum, Fortini said, they found "traces of a basin that must have been where water was collected -- water which, according to tradition, sprang forth after St. Peter pounded on the stone floor."

Tradition holds that after he miraculously made the water gush forth, he converted and baptized his two prison guards as well as 47 others while he was imprisoned there.

Near the basin, archaeologists found a trough which, centuries later, the faithful may have used to sprinkle themselves with water, she said.

The stone walls had been painted, she said, but time and humidity took their toll.

There is only one small fresco left in a dark corner under the stairs. The ninth-century image, discovered in 2000, shows the outline of the hand of God emerging from a white cloud as he points down toward Earth.

A portion of the marble column, which tradition says Sts. Peter and Paul were chained to, stands next to a simple altar.

One of the most interesting finds, Fortini said, was discovering what the Tullianum had been used for in pre-Christian, pagan Rome.

Experts removed old brick and wooden floors, digging down to the original stone floor.

Scholars had believed the domed prison was a cistern or a monumentalized fountain of sorts. Instead, Fortini said it had been "an ancient place of worship" specifically devoted to a water divinity such as "a nymph of underground water."

They found ancient remnants of votive offerings to the deity, things such as small burned animal bones and floral or vegetable matter dating from between the fifth and third centuries B.C.

From the ancient pagan Romans to early Christians, "this place was always venerated. It never lost its sacredness," Fortini said.

It may seem odd, however, that the ancient Romans took a sacred pagan spot for venerating the life-giving and healing powers of water and turned it into a dungeon.

Fortini said the underground water spring also conjured up many negative and dangerous scenarios. For example, in pagan Rome it was thought the spring provided a direct channel to the netherworld, she said.

Archaeologists found an ancient borehole going 5 feet into the ground. The borehole "put the inhabited world into contact with the underworld and, therefore, there was the possibility of having contact with the beyond somehow," she said.

Enemies of the Roman Empire were thrown into the watery pit of the Tullianium through a hole in the upper chamber of the Carcer. Romans believed the prisoners would then be carried away or just disappear into the netherworld -- a fate worse than death, she said.

The structure was used a prison until the fourth century, when Pope Sylvester I officially made it place of worship and named it "San Pietro in Carcere" (St. Peter in Prison) in 314.

The Church of St. Joseph was built atop the former prison complex in 1598.

The project to study and restore the Mamertine Prison was a cooperative effort of Rome's department of archaeological heritage, the Rome diocesan Committee for Sacred Art and Cultural Heritage and the diocesan-related travel agency, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.

After the Mamertine Prison reopened to the public at the end of June, the Opera Romana incorporated it into a new tour called "Roma Cristiana Experience," which was presented to journalists July 27.

Pilgrims hop on a methane gas-powered minibus leaving St. Peter's Square every 20 minutes and take a scenic route through Rome to the Mamertine Prison for a tour.

The tour is meant to help people deepen their faith and recognize the site's spiritual heritage: its successive conversion from being a sacred pagan spring, to being a dank place of suffering and death, and finally, after St. Peter made the waters pour forth, to becoming a place of renewal and rebirth.

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Serbian Church Condemns NATO Shrine Transfer

06 August 2010
Balkan Insight

The Serbian Orthodox Church has said its shrines will be endangered by NATO’s decision to transfer protection of them to Kosovo Police.

The Church said on Friday the decision to entrust the mostly ethnic Albanian police force with the protection of its most sacred sites was a political decision by KFOR, the Alliance’s force in Kosovo, to portray Kosovo internationally as "safe".

In a statement the church said: “The decision by the KFOR command, the German general Markus Bentler, to surrender the protection of the Gracanica monastery to Kosovo police and thus start the process to transfer responsibility for the protection of the most sacred sanctuaries of the SOC to Kosovo Police, will endanger the orthodox sanctuaries in Kosovo and Metohija.”

KFOR announced yesterday that the first site to be transferred to Kosovo Police would be Gracanica monastery, located in a Serb enclave on the outskirts of Pristina.

In a press release, KFOR said that the decision reflected its ‘growing confidence in the capability of the Kosovo Police to perform this important task’.

“More transfers will occur over a period of time, but the timelines for each of the following sites are yet to be determined,” it added.

But the Church, which is among the most hardline actors in the dispute over Kosovo, said that the Serb community did not trust Kosovo Police because of its ‘behaviour so far when it comes to the destruction of Serbian sanctuaries, especially during the March pogrom of 2004’.

The church added: “This shows that the high-level decision of NATO is clearly politically motivated so that the message to the world from the province shows progress of the security situation and hides the bitter truth about the serious violations of human rights and religious freedoms.”

The statement also warned that the Church will be forced to secure its holy places by introducing a stricter regime towards visitors and by putting in place "new walls and barbed wire".

Kosovo is home to a number of significant Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries built during the medieval Kingdom of Serbia, including the Decani monastery and the Patriarchy of Pec, which are among the country’s most popular tourist attractions.

Goran Bogdanovic, the Minister for Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian government, said the decision encouraged unilateral decisons by Pristina.

He said: "[The decision] encourages Pristina to keep making unilateral moves and is an attempt to paint the poor security situation in the southern Serbian province in a much better light before the world."

Protection of churches and shrines was stepped up after the March 2004 riots, which swept Kosovo, leaving many religious buildings torched and vandalised.

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Saint Gregory of Sinai on Intelligence and Knowledge

- Only those who through their purity have become saints are spiritually intelligent in the way that is natural to man in his pre-fallen state. Mere skill in reasoning does not make a person’s intelligence pure, for since the fall our intelligence has been corrupted by evil thoughts. The materialistic and wordy spirit of the wisdom of this world may lead us to speak about ever wider spheres of knowledge, but it renders our thoughts increasingly curde and uncouth. This combination of well-informed talk and crude thought falls far short of real wisdom and contemplation, as well as of undivided and unified knowledge.

- By knowledge of truth understand above all apprehension of truth through grace. Other kinds of knowledge should be regarded as images of intellections or the rationals demonstration of facts.

From The Philokalia, "On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises; on Thoughts, Passions and Virtues, and also on Stillness and Prayer: One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Texts"

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Saint Gregory of Sinai on Humility

Those who seek humility should bear in mind the three following things:

1. That they are the worst of sinners,

2. That they are the most despicable of all creatures since their state is an unnatural one,

3. That they are even more pitiable than the demons, since they are slaves to the demons.

You will also profit if you say this to yourself:

"How do I know what or how many other people’s sins are, or whether they are greater than or equal to my own? In our ignorance you and I, my soul, are worse than all men, we are dust and ashes under their feet."

From The Philokalia

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Saint Theodosios the New and the Healer of Argos

St. Theodosios the New of Argos (Feast Day - August 7)

St. Theodosios the New, the healer, was born in Athens in 862 to pious Christian parents. From an early age he showed fervent faith and was characterized by great love for his fellow men. When he decided to withdraw to the monastic life, he divided his property to those in need and went a short distance outside Athens. But many were those who went to see him and seek his council, which hindered his contemplation. For this reason and to live alone, he fled to Argos in 880.

The cell of St. Theodosios

There he founded a church in the name of St. John the Forerunner after St. John appeared to him, where many went to seek his council. This angered certain priests however, who denounced him to the Archbishop of Argos, St. Peter. St. Theodosios, the patron of Theodosios the New, appeared in a dream of St. Peter, who was at that time in Constantinople in order to see the Ecumenical Patriarch. St. Theodosios asked him to end these conflicts. The Patriarch also asked St. Peter if he had a monk named Theodosios in his region, and after recalling his dream St. Peter was asked by the Patrairch to extend his blessing and reverence to him.

St. Peter went to visit St. Theodosios the New to assess the accusations against him. While he stopped to rest, St. Theodosios, who forsaw that he was coming to visit him, went out ahead to greet St. Peter, offering him burning incense on charcoal which he held in his monastic hat. St. Peter, amazed that St. Theodosios was miraculously not burnt nor was his manastic hat burned, and impressed by his virtue, greeted him with love, and ordained him a deacon and a priest. Eventually a monastery was built around this church and many monks became his disciples.

The fame of St. Theodosios spread throughout the region, and before his death he was granted the gift of foreknowing his death three days before. This allowed him final preparations and gave his final counsels to his spiritual children. St. Theodosios died peacefully in old age around 922 A.D. and St. Peter officiated at his funeral amidst a multitude of clergy and faithful.

His monastery, one of the oldest in Peloponnesos, today has become a famous shrine and his relics work many miracles till this day. Paralytics have been healed, the blind have received their sight, the barren have been granted children, and the sick have had their health restored. His feast day on August 7th is celebrated with great joy in Argos, and he is one of the three great protectors of Argos together with St. Peter mentioned above and St. Anastasios of Nauplios the Neomartyr. Today the Monastery, since 1942, functions as a female convent and as of 2011 has 13 nuns and the abbess. The relics of the Saint were taken by the Latins, but a small portion still resides in the Monastery.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Your clean life, as a God-given gift, you presented to God, and your tomb was showed to be a fount of healings, by abstinence you purified your soul, shining in the world through ascetical pains, therefore O Theodosios, we praise you with hymns.

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Questions About the Transfiguration Answered

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

In the third year of His preaching, the Lord Jesus often spoke to His disciples of His approaching passion but at the same time of His glory following His suffering on the Cross. So that His impending passion would not totally weaken His disciples and that no one would fall away from Him, He, the All-wise, wanted to partially show them His divine glory before His passion. For that reason, He took Peter, James and John with Him and, with them, went out at night to Mt. Tabor and there was transfigured before them: "And His face shone as the sun and His garments became white as snow" (Matthew 17:2). There appeared along side Him, Moses and Elijah, the great Old Testament prophets. And, seeing this, His disciples were amazed. Peter said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here: if You will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah" (Matthew 17:4). While Peter still spoke, Moses and Elijah departed and a bright cloud overshadowed the Lord and His disciples and there came a voice from the cloud saying: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him" (Matthew 17:5). Hearing the voice, the disciples fell to the ground on their faces as though dead and remained that way, lying in fear, until the Lord came near to them and said: "Arise and be not afraid" (Matthew 17:7).

Why did the Lord take only three disciples on Tabor and not all? Because Judas was not worthy to behold the divine glory of the Teacher, Whom he will betray and the Lord did not want to leave him [Judas] alone at the foot of the mountain so that the betrayer would not, by that, justify his betrayal.

Why was our Lord transfigured on a mountain and not in a valley? So as to teach us two virtues: love of labor and godly-thoughts. For, climbing to the heights required labor and height represents the heights of our thoughts, i.e., godly-thoughts.

Why was our Lord transfigured at night? Because, the night rather than the day is more suitable for prayer and godly-thoughts and because the night, by its darkness, conceals all the beauty of the earth and reveals the beauty of the starry heavens.

Why did Moses and Elijah appear? In order to destroy the error of the Jews, as though Christ is one of the prophets; Elijah or Jeremiah or some other that is why He appears as a King above the prophets and that is why Moses and Elijah appear as His servants. Until then, our Lord manifested His divine power many times to the disciples but, on Mt. Tabor, He manifested His divine nature. This vision of His Divinity and the hearing of the heavenly witness about Him as the Son of God, should serve the disciples in the days of the Lord's passion, in strengthening of an unwavering faith in Him and His final victory.

Why did our Lord not manifest His divine glory on Tabor before all the disciples instead of before three of them? First, because He Himself gave the Law through the mouth of Moses: "At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15). Therefore, three witnesses are sufficient. These three witnesses represent three main virtues: Peter Faith, for he was the first to confess his faith in Christ as the Son of God; James Hope, for, with faith in the promise of Christ, he was the first who laid down his life for the Lord, being the first to be slain by the Jews; John Love, for he reclined on the bosom of the Lord and remained beneath the Cross of the Lord until the end. God is not called the God of many but rather the God of the chosen. "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:6). God often valued a faithful man more than an entire nation. Thus, on many occasions, He wanted to destroy the entire Jewish nation, but because of the prayers of righteous Moses, spared that nation to live. God listened more to the faithful Prophet Elijah than to the entire unbelieving kingdom of Ahab. Because of the prayers of one man, God towns and people. Thus, the sinful town of Ustiug was to be destroyed by fire and hail had it not been saved by the prayers of the one and only righteous man in it, St. Procopius, the "fool for Christ" (July 8).

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Saint Or, the Hermit of Thebaid

Saint Or, the Hermit of Thebaid (Feast Day - August 7)*

St. Or in his youth withdrew into the Thebaid desert and struggled in complete solitude for many years, leading the life of a strict hermit. Having advanced in years, St. Or was granted to see an angel, who announced that the Lord had destined him for the salvation of the many people who would seek his guidance.

After this, the monk began to accept everyone who came to him for advice and help. The Lord granted him a gift of reading the Holy Scriptures, despite the fact that the saint since childhood had not been taught reading and writing.

Or attained great perfection through the greatest mortification. When he firmly established himself and attained holiness in solitude, he then gradually established several monasteries and was a superb spiritual leader and teacher of many monks.

The monk never entered the trapeza for food, nor did he eat on the day of partaking of the Holy Mysteries. He often taught the brethren by means of stories about the temptations which might beset a monk living in solitude. But he always told them in such a way that everyone would know that he was speaking of desert-dwellers personally known to him. The saint concealed his own ascetic exploits.

Rufinus, who visited him describes Or in the following way: "In his dress [habit], he resembled an angel of God; a ninety-year old elder with a long beard, as white as snow; externally was very pleasant. His gaze shone with something super human."

Often times, he saw the angels of God. He especially endeavored never to speak an untruth. He had great temptations from the demons but overpowered them all soberly and courageously. He received Holy Communion daily.

On one occasion, one of his disciples reminded him that the Feast of the Resurrection had come and that it should be celebrated. Hearing this, Or came out, raised his hands to heaven and spent three days in prayer without rest. He explained to his disciple: "For the monk, this is the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ: to elevate his mind and to unite it with God."

All the thoughts and deeds of his disciples was revealed to St. Or, and no one dared to lie to him. Having survived well into old age, St. Or founded several monasteries, comprising altogether as many as 1,000 monastics. He died at age 90 in about the year 390.

HYMN OF PRAISE: SAINT OR, HERMIT OF THEBAID

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

To the monks, honor; to the monk's glory,
Head of the monks, Or, the all-wise Abba,
With great labor, with many sighs,
Of a true monk, reached perfection.

Teach us a lesson, they once pleaded to him!
"Never tell a lie, speak the truth.
I know a man, who never swore,
Never lied, never wished evil to another."
Then the elder after his reply, remained silent.

Then holy Sisoes asked of Or:
Tell me father some instruction.
"Live," Or said to him, "as you see me!"
Tell me more clearly, how should I see you.
Everyman, a secret within himself conceals?
Again Or said to him: "Behold, to you I am speaking:
Of all God's things, myself I consider the worse."

Paul, the disciple, Or taught thusly:
"For from every sin you will easily flee
But only from evil conversation, if you flee,
For from this evil, every other sin sprouts
To the soul of a man, evil conversation is death,
Every good seed in the heart, it smothers.
One more thing will I say and let it be enough,
The thoughts of vanity, drive away; insane desires, drive away,
From that which is material, distance yourself,
And son, the spiritual you will attain."

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An Account of the Annual Miracle on Mount Tabor on August 6th

by Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada (OCA)

Some of you will remember Archbishop Nikolai of the Patriarchal Jurisdiction who was bishop in this area a long time ago. When I was visiting him one time, he told me how it was when he was an archimandrite in the Middle East a very long time ago. In those days, he always had to go to Mount Tabor to serve the Liturgy on this feast-day [Feast of the Holy Transfiguration (Aug. 6/19)].

Always on the feast of the Transfiguration (and I didn’t realize it, but I learned this year that it happens on both Old and New calendars), at night-time, at the time of the vigil (which would have been last night for us), there are clouds already gathering around the top of Mount Tabor. (At this time of year in Palestine there are no clouds at all – just sun, sun, sun.) The people go into the church on the top of Mount Tabor, and they are praying in the middle of the night. During this time, this cloud, which is not exactly like ordinary clouds (they say it has a different quality of some sort), comes down on top of the mountain. Archbishop Nikolai says that instead of bringing all their fruit into the church, the people leave it outside. The cloud comes down, and when they come out of the church in the early morning, everything is all wet. The people understand that God, Himself, has blessed their fruit. This happens every year.

I heard from someone who just came back from there (who was there on August 6th on the New Calendar) and it happened then, too. It is happening on both feasts. The Lord doesn’t care too much about the calendar; He cares about us, and reassuring us with His love. He does things like this. It is the same with the Holy Fire in Jerusalem at Pascha that comes every year. He does these things in order to reassure us, to encourage us, to give us strength, and determination to carry on, knowing that He is with us.

Maybe you, and I will never be on Mount Tabor on this feast. However, we know those who have had the blessing to be there, and we know that the words of today’s Gospel are true. What happened then continues to happen now. The Lord is with us. That’s the point. The Lord loves us. He is ready to renew us, and to transform us. Let us do our best to follow the words of St Herman of Alaska, who says to us: “From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all, and do His holy will”, and in so doing, glorify the all-holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Source

[Note: There are three churches of three different denominations on Mount Tabor. It should be noted that this miracle only occurs over the Orthodox church.]

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The Chapel of the Transfiguration on the Peak of Mount Athos

In Greek mythology, Athos was one of the Gigantes. He threw a mountain at Zeus, who knocked it to the ground near Macedonia. The mountain became the holy peak of Mount Athos. On the peak of this mountain was a temple built to Zeus of Athos. Today, near the summit of Mount Athos at around 6,000 feet, there is a chapel dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ.

Each year, before the feast day on August 6th, a party of monks climbs the mountain laden with tools and materials to repair the damage caused by the storms and lightning strikes of the previous winter. The monks then spend the night in the chapel, keeping the vigil of the feast. The next day they return to their monasteries elated, the words of the night office still ringing in their ears:

Thou wast transfigured upon Mount Tabor, O Jesus, and a shining cloud, spread out like a tent, covered the apostles with Thy glory. Whereupon their gaze fell to the ground, for they could not bear to look upon the brightness of the unapproachable glory of Thy face, O Saviour Christ, our God who art without beginning. Do Thou, who then hast shone upon them with Thy light, give light now to our souls.

The emphasis of the canon is on theophany, on the revelation of the divinity of Christ on Mount Tabor and our response to it. It picks out just one strand—though the most important one—of an extremely rich patristic tradition on the Transfiguration. It is the revelation of Christ transfigured that inspires all the ascetics and monks of Mount Athos to imitate Christ and pray for their own transfiguration.

The chapel itself was built during the time of Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III in 1894 and was dedicated in August of 1895. It fits about 20 people with 12 stasidia. On the top of the mountain there is also a big iron cross dated 1897. See also this excerpt from Gerasimos Smyrnakis from p. 408 of his 1902 book ΤΟ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΟΡΟΣ:


Below is the opening sequence of the 1978 movie Escape to Athena with shots of Mount Athos (including the Chapel of the Transfiguration at sunset) and the Island of Rhodes.


Below is a video of pilgrims going to the Great Vespers service on August 14, 2008 on the peak of Mount Athos.


See also a video of the vigil on August 6/18 here.

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Significance of the Lord's Transfiguration

by Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina

Forty days before He was delivered to an ignominious death for our sins, our Lord revealed to three of His disciples the glory of His Divinity.

“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart; and was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light” (Matt. 17:1-2). This was the event to which our Lord was referring when He said, “There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). By this means the faith of the disciples was strengthened and prepared for the trial of our Lord’s approaching passion and death; and they were able to see in it not mere human suffering, but the entirely voluntary passion of the Son of God.

The disciples saw also Moses and Elijah talking with our Lord, and thereby they understood that He was not Himself Elijah or another of the prophets, as some thought, but someone much greater: He Who could call upon the Law and the Prophets to be His witnesses, since He was the fulfillment of both.

The three parables of the feast concern the appearance of God to Moses and Elijah on Mount Sinai, and it is indeed appropriate that the greatest God-seers of the Old Testament should be present at the glorification of the Lord in His New Testament, seeing for the first time His humanity, even as the disciples were seeing for the first time His Divinity.

The Transfiguration, counted by the Church as one of the “Twelve Great Feasts,” had an important place in the Church calendar already in the fourth century, as the homilies and sermons of such great Fathers as Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Ephraim the Syrian, and Saint Cyril of Alexandria attest; its origins go back to the first Christian centuries. In the fourth century also, Saint Helena erected a church on Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration, dedicated to the Feast. Although the event celebrated in the Feast occurred in the month of February, forty days before the Crucifixion, the Feast was early transferred to August because its full glory and joy could not be fittingly celebrated amid the sorrow and repentance of Great Lent. The sixth day of August was chosen as being forty days before the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th), when Christ’s Passion is again remembered.

Orthodox theology sees in the Transfiguration a prefigurement of our Lord’s Resurrection and His Second Coming, and more than this - since every event of the Church calendar has an application to the individual spiritual life - of the transformed state in which Christians shall appear at the end of the world, and in some measure even before then. In the foreshadowing of future glory which is celebrated in this Feast, the Holy Church comforts her children by showing them that after the temporary sorrows and deprivations with which this earthly life is filled, the glory of eternal blessedness will shine forth; and in it even the body of the righteous will participate.

It is a pious Orthodox custom to offer fruits to be blessed at this feast; and this offering of thanksgiving to God contains a spiritual sign, too. Just as fruits ripen and are transformed under the action of the summer sun, so is man called to a spiritual transfiguration through the light of God’s word by means of the Sacraments. Some saints, (for example - Saint Seraphim of Sarov), under the action of this life-giving grace, have shone bodily before men even in life with this same uncreated Light of God’s glory; and that is another sign to us of the heights to which we, as Christians, are called and the state that awaits us - to be transformed in the image of Him Who was transfigured on Mount Tabor.

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Synaxarion for the Feast of the Transfiguration

On the sixth day of this month we commemorate the Divine Transfiguration of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

Verses

Tabor was glorified above every region of the earth,
When it beheld the nature of God shining in glory.
Christ changed His human form on the sixth.

On the sixth day of the month of August, the Holy Church celebrates the commemoration of the Divine Transfiguration of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ with exceeding gladness. This is what took place. Since Christ had discoursed much with His Disciples about dangers and death, and His own Suffering, and about the slaughter of His Disciples, and the former were in the present life and at hand, whereas the good things were a matter of hope, wishing to assure their very sight and to show the kind of glory wherewith He was to come, He brought them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light; and there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him.

He took along those three alone, because they were superior to the rest. For Peter showed his superiority by exceedingly loving Him; but John by being exceedingly beloved of Him; and James because he was able to drink the cup of which the Lord spoke. He brought forward Moses and Elias that He might set aright the incorrect conjectures made about Him by the multitudes. For since some were saying that He was Elias, but others that He was Jeremias, He brought the leading Disciples so that they might see the difference between the servants and the Master; and so that they might learn that He was the One Who had all power both of death and life.

To Him be the glory and the dominion unto the ages. Amen.

Apolytikion in the Grave Tone
You were transfigured on the Mount, Christ God revealing Your glory to Your disciples, insofar as they could comprehend. Illuminate us sinners also with Your everlasting light, through the intercessions of the Theotokos. Giver of light, glory to You.

Kontakion in the Grave Tone
You were transfigured upon the mount, O Christ our God, and Your disciples, in so far as they could bear, beheld Your glory. Thus, when they see You crucified, they may understand Your voluntary passion, and proclaim to the world that You are truly the effulgence of the Father.

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The Incorrupt Relics of St. John the Chozebite (+1960)

St. John Jacob of Chozeba (Feast Day - August 5)

Saint John the Chozebite, the son of Maxim and Catherine Jacob, was born July 23, 1913 in the Horodistea district of Moldavia. He was named for the holy prophet Elias (July 20). In 1914, his father died in the war, and his mother succumbed to a disease, leaving Elias as an orphan. His grandmother Maria raised him until he was eleven. She was a nun, so she was able to educate him in spiritual matters. She died in 1924, so young Elias went to live with other relatives. He had a great love for Christ and His Church, and longed for the monastic life.

He entered Neamts Monastery on August 15, 1933 when he was twenty years old. Here his soul was nourished by the beauty of the services, the experienced spiritual instructors, and the silence of the mountains. The young monk loved prayer, vigils, spiritual reading, and solitude, and soon he surpassed many experienced monks in obedience, humility, and patience. Seeing his great love for spiritual books, the igumen made him the monastery's librarian. Elias gave comfort to many of the brethren by recommending specific books for each one to read. Then he would advise them to read the book carefully, make their confession, and not miss the services if they wanted to find peace.

His spiritual efforts attracted the notice of Archimandrite Valerie Moglan, who recommended that Elias be permitted to receive monastic tonsure. He was tonsured on April 8, 1936 and received the name John. From that time, the young monk intensified his spiritual efforts, conquering the temptations of the demons, and progressing on the path of salvation.

St John made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two other monks in 1936, and they decided to remain there. The monk Damascene fell ill, however, and had to be taken back to Romania by the monk Claudius after eight months.

At first, St John lived in Bethlehem near St Sava's Monastery. Romanian monks had lived at St Sava's since the sixteenth century, and John struggled there for almost ten years. He was made librarian of the monastery, and he fulfilled this obedience for about seven years.

In 1945 St John longed for the peace and solitude of the desert, and so he went to live as a hermit. He was ordained as a priest in 1947, and became abbot of the Romanian Skete of St John the Baptist by the Jordan. Pilgrims often came to him for Confession, Communion, and consolation. In his free time he composed religious poems and hymns.

After five years, he and his disciple went into the desert of Chozeba near Jericho. Here they lived in asceticism for eight years in the cave where, according to tradition, St Anna had prayed.

St John Jacob died on August 5, 1960 at the age of forty-seven and was buried in his cave. On August 8, 1980 his relics were found incorrupt and fragrant. They now rest in the St George the Chozebite Monastery.

In 1968 and 1970, St John's book SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT was published in two volumes, with the blessing of Patriarch Benedict of Jerusalem. St John Jacob was glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992.

Miracles

1. In 1980 a Greek archimandrite from America, who had visited St. John when he was younger and had not now known he was dead, saw the Saint in his dreams. The Saint said: "If you want to see me, come to the cave of St. Anna in the region of Jordan." After a month he went to the Monastery of Saint George of Chozeba. It was at his insistance that the abbot opened the tomb of St. John at the cave, and his relics were discovered to be incorrupt.

2. A priest who helped in the translation of St. John's relics from the cave to the monastery, was informed by the Saint in a dream that someone who took three hairs from him was to return them. It appears that the priest to whom the Saint appeared was the one who took the three hairs.

3. In 1986 a woman from Crete sent to the abbot of the Monastery of Chozeba a golden spoon as a thank offering for a miracle of St. John. The woman had been sick and was unable to move or speak, and everyone was waiting for her to die. St. John appeared to her dressed as a priest holding the Holy Chalice, and said: "I am Saint John of Chozeba." He put the spoon to her mouth and disappeared. From that moment the woman got better.

St. John is #8.

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Relics of John the Baptist Celebrated In Bulgaria

Sliven Bishop Yoanikiy (center left) and Diaspora Minister Bozhidar Dimitrov (middle right) look at the relics of St. John the Baptist before laying them in state in the St. George Church in Sozopol, after they headed the transfer procession. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov offered a special silver sarcophagus for the relics, for which he payed with money of his own. Photo by Dar

Bulgaria, Sozopol in Euphoria over St. John the Baptist Archaeology Find

August 5, 2010
Novinite

The recently discovered relics of St John the Baptist have been laid in state in Bulgaria’s Sozopol after a transfer processing which brought much excitement and euphoria in the Black Sea town.

The relics, which include part of an arm bone, a skull bone, and a tooth, were found in a sealed marble reliquary in the St. John the Forerunner Church on the St. Ivan Island near Sozopol on July 28, 2010, by the team of archaeologists led by Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov.

The procession led by the Bulgarian Orthodox Bishop of Sliven Yoanikiy brought the relics of St. John the Baptist from the St. Ivan Island to the St. George Church in the downtown where they were laid in state.

Thus, the holy relics have been officially transferred from the archaeologists to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Thousands of Bulgarians as well as dozens of buses with foreign tourists – Germans, Russians, Poles, Czechs - having their vacations along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast have immediately arrived on a pilgrimage trips to pay their respects to the relics of St. John the Baptist.

The samples from the reliquary and the bones are still to be tested by specialists have expressed their views that there is no doubt whatsoever that absolutely unique archaeological discovery consists of relics of St. John the Baptist.

The wide-ranging arguments for that start with the fact that the small sarcophagus was found in a “natural architectural environment” - hidden under the major slabstone on the floor of the St. John the Forerunner Church – the oldest church on the St. Ivan Island.

(The island off the Sozopol coast itself is named St. John the Baptist – as Ivan is the Bulgarian/Slavic name for John.)

Experts have pointed out that at the time of the building of the St. Ivan the Forerunner Church – 4th century AD – the tradition was to build in relics of saints in the construction instead of to lay them in state for pilgrims, and there was no intentional falsifications of such holy items.

The greatest argument supporting the thesis that the relics belong to St. John the Baptist is the “clue” found at 1.2 m from the reliquary. It consists of a small box bearing inscriptions that make it clear who and when brought the relics of St. John the Baptist to Sozopol.

The inscriptions make it clear that a man name Thomas, “God’s servant brought a particle of St. John on the 24th.” Even though some of the end letters are missing, the inscription in Greek makes it clear that the date refers to the birthday of St. John the Baptist, June 24. The use of genetive case in the inscription leaves no doubt that the relics belonged to one of the founders of Christianity.

“It is important to understand one thing – this is the first time ever in the world archaeological practice that relics of St. John are found together with an inscription which just literally nails the conclusion and leaves no doubts. There are no speculations here,” said the man who made the unique discovery, archaeologist Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov.

“I think that this is the discovery of the year, not just in the Bulgarian archaeology but also in the European archaeology. It is hard to speak of the symbols of early Christianity but Apolonia (i.e. the Greek name of Sozopol) and the St. Ivan Island were one of the earliest places where Christians settled as they were persecuted by the Roman authorities. Their heritage is connected with the entire Christian history,” explained the Director of the Burgas Regional History Museum Tsonya Drazheva who is also part of the archaeological team that found the relics of St. John.

The relics of St. John the Baptist will lay in state in the St. George Church in Sozopol until the completion of the repairs of the larger St. Cyril and St. Methodius Church nearby.

Once the larger church is completed, the relics of St. John will be transferred there, together with two other holy items already kept in Sozopol – the a piece of the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ donated to the town by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the National History Museum, and relics of St. Andrew, which were donated to the town by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I during his visit to Sozopol last month.

On Wednesday, the Bulgarian government allocated additional BGN 420 000 for completing the renovation of the St. Cyril and St. Methodius Church which will be the home of the holy relics. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov

“As soon as this amazing archaeological discovery was made, I made some research, and found that such finds generate great returns from tourism and pilgrimage. Bulgaria and this region will now enter the world tourism maps as a pilgrimage site. The fact that this is a sea resort provides for an unique combination between cultural and sea tourism,” declared Bulgaria’s Finance Minister Simeon Djankov who participated in the procession carrying the relics together with Diaspora Minister Bozhidar Dimitrov, a Sozopol native.

The procession that transferred the relics of St. John the Baptist to the St. George Church in Sozopol was led by Sliven Bishop Yoanikiy, who carried the small sarcophagus with relics above his head. Bulgaria's Finance Minister Simeon Djankov is in the middle, while the man who discovered the relics, Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov is on the far left. Photo by Finance Ministry

Professor Kazimir Popkonstantinov (left), who found the relics of St. John, together with Finance Minister Simeon Djankov (right), explaining why the origin of the relics is absolutely certain. Photo by BNT

The uninhabited St. Ivan Island (upper left corner) in the Black Sea off the coast of the resort town of Sozopol is the place where the relics of St. John the Baptist were discovered by a team of archaeologists led by Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov. Photo by 4coolpics.com

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The Vow of Jephthah and Human Sacrifice

by Archbishop Lazar Puholo

QUESTION: There is an incident in the Old Testament that bothers me and I actually get upset whenever it comes to mind. In Judges, chapter 11, we read about Jephthah who vowed that if he won a certain battle, he would make a burnt offering to God of whatever he met first as he approached the door of his house. His only daughter came rushing out to meet him when he came home and, according to Scripture, he offered her as a sacrifice. How could that be? God did not allow human sacrifices. Surely, Jephthah would have been stoned by other Jews if he had tried to offer his daughter as a sacrifice. This seems so horrible, yet from the Scripture, it almost seems as if God accepted a human burnt offering. Please answer this, as it is causing me a great deal of confusion.

ANSWER: Perhaps the first thing to do in order to understand this story better is to read Romans 12:1: "...offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and well-pleasing, to God; this is your reasonable offering".

There are some very definite and clear statements in the narrative about Jephthah's daughter that let us know what actually happened. First of all, when the daughter heard of her father's vow, and realized that it was her who must be offered, she asked to be allowed to lament for two months because she would never be married: not because she would be killed, but that she would never marry. Secondly, in Judges 11:39, we read, "And he did to her as he had vowed. AND SHE REMAINED A VIRGIN". It is quite clear then, that she was not literally offered as a burnt sacrifice, but was offered to the temple as a consecrated virgin (what we now call "nuns") to serve in the House of God. We know from many references that virgins served in the temple. It is not at all possible that Jephthah offered his daughter as a slain sacrifice, because God had already absolutely forbidden such a thing and established the strictest punishment for anyone who should attempt to offer a human sacrifice (see, for example, Lev.18:21; 20:2-5; Deut.12:31; 18:10) - especially one of his sons or daughters (Deut.l8:10-12) - but to have offered her to the service of God in the temple was not an uncommon practice. However, in this case, since she was his only child, it was a great sacrifice, for it meant that his family line would die with him, since she would have to remain ever-virgin.

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Should We Always Confess Before Communion?

by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

QUESTION: Must Confession and Communion always be tied together?

AMSWER: No. There is no canonical or patristic justification for tying the two together. Some people believe that you can only have Confession if you are preparing for Holy Communion. Sadly, this attitude tends to make Confession a mechanical act, often void of any deep, heartfelt repentance. One should have Confession regularly, whether or not you are going to receive Holy Communion. Confession is a medicine for the soul and mind, a cleansing and healing process which must be accompanied by contemplation and heartfelt repentance. We do not Confess "as part of preparation for Holy Communion," but to unburden our souls and spirits and seek prayerful help in resolving of spiritual problems. Many priests will confirm that such a Confession made as a required act before Communion is often mechanical and meaningless. Frequently, such a mechanically required Confession might consist in a rote, "I don't really have any sins to confess" or "Just all my daily sins."

Confession is not prescribed in preparation for Holy Communion by any canon of the Church, and I am not personally aware of any patristic injunction making it so. Requiring Confession before every Holy Communion presupposes that you will be communing infrequently -- perhaps no more than four times a year. It must be seen as a custom where it is locally required. Fasting, on the other hand, is clearly required before Holy Communion, and this is something deeply ingrained in the conscience and Tradition of the Church.

Ultimately, though, you will have to observe the requirements set by your own local bishops.

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