Saint Phanourios the Great Martyr and Newly-Revealed of Rhodes

St. Phanourios the Newly-Revealed Great Martyr of Rhodes (Feast Day - August 27)

An Overview of the Life and Veneration of Saint Phanourios

by Fr. George Poulos

The flexibility of the Orthodox Church in its selection of saints is made evident in the canonization of a saint about whom next to nothing is known.

What little there is remains shrouded in mystery, all of which makes this particular saint the most unique, certainly, in the annals of Christendom. His name is known, at least, but even if it were not, the same reverence could be accorded him because, like the unknown soldier at whose grave a wreath is placed annually, he lies in honored glory “known but to God.”

This saint’s name, however, is known. It happens to be Phanourios, which, though it may not be a household word, is much better remembered by the faithful of Orthodoxy and the Eastern sector of Christianity than a good many more obscure saints whose biographies have been written in detail and who fill mere pages in Church literature than the mysterious Phanourios.

Phanourios has been revered as a saint (his feast day has been celebrated for more than 500 years) considerably longer than the lesser saints, and his name invoked in prayer quite possibly as often as some of the major saints. This is all the more remarkable when it is considered that it is not known when or where he was born, what he did in his lifetime, in what manner he served the Lord, or what he did for his fellowman. But there is mute testimony that he died the death of a martyr after having been horribly tortured, and in addition to mystery there is a aura of divine manifestation in the man whom nobody knows.

A fortuitous discovery by nomadic pagans, not Christians, brought to light this unheralded saint when a roving band of Arabs, who had pillaged the island of Rhodes, uncovered amid the ruins of an ancient church a group of icons, among other artifacts. All of the icons were in a state of decay or near ruin with the exception of one, which appeared as new and as fresh as though it had been painted the day before. This icon was discarded by the Arabs, who failed to attach any importance to it. At a safe distance a group of monks hiding in the rubble observed this phenomenon and waited patiently until the Arabs had left the scene, whereupon they rushed to reclaim this fantastic image in its remarkable state of preservation.

They beheld a clearly outlined face of a saint with the name inscribed in what appeared to be fresh lettering that spelled out “Phanourios” and on closer examination fell on their knees at what they saw. Drawn about the saint were twelve distinct frames in each of which Phanourios was shown enduring a cruel form of torture in a realism that suggested the artist must have been witness to the atrocity. They rushed back to see if any of the other icons were in as perfect a state, but although they were all of the same basic design, size, and shape, all of them were quite ancient and quite indistinct. After careful scrutiny it was finally concluded that this icon of Phanourios had, indeed, been one of a group that had been exhumed after untold centuries and that its freshness was a divine manifestation of the complete saintliness of this man about whom they were now determined to learn more.

But years of research, scanning the archives of centuries and questioning the leading authorities of the day, yielded nothing, and no more was known about Phanourios than the day on which his icon was snatched from the ruins of that ancient Greek church. The torture scenes of the icon provided no clues, and examination of which showed Phanourios being stoned, on the rack, being slashed, behind bars, standing before a judge, tied to a frame, being burned with candles, tied to a post, thrown to wild animals, crushed by a boulder, holding hot coals, and a demon hovering against a background of flames. All of these horrors conveyed that Phanourios was an apparently indestructible instrument of God and that in itself was sufficient evidenced of his sainthood.

Archbishop Milos of Rhodes concluded that the unblemished icon itself was testimony enough to prove that Phanourios was a man of divine grace, and he petitioned the Patriarch to convene a synod which would officially proclaim Phanourios a saint, after which there was erected in the saint’s memory a cathedral which enshrined the holy icon.

Phanourios, lost for centuries in the ruins of a church, became the patron saint of things lost. To this day his name is invoked when prayers are asked for the recovery of lost items. He is commemorated on August 27th, the day his icon was found.

Source

The Folk Cult of St Phanourios in Greece and Cyprus, and Its Relationship With the International Tale Type 804

Abstract

This paper discusses, from a historical perspective, the basic elements of the folk cult of St Phanourios in Greece and Cyprus - namely, the custom of preparing phanouropita (literally, "St Phanourios pie"), which is connected with the belief that one can find something lost or obtain good luck in general - and the oral narratives associated with St Phanourios and his mother, which seem to constitute the Greek adaptation of the international folktale type 804. The investigation is based on recently collected material as well as the manuscript collections of the public folklore archives.

Read the entire study here.

Who Really Is St. Phanourios?

Is St. Phanourios really St. George, and is his identification a misreading of the inscription of the icon, such as was that of St. Salsa of Typasa and St. Philomena? It could be that the word "phanourios" is just a surname of St. George that expresses a certain quality or story, much like as was done to the ancient Greek gods or the Virgin Mary. In my opinion, this just adds to the fascinating mystery that we should all celebrate, though no definite opinion can really be sure either way. More can be read in the study above, and also here.

In his 1948 book Αγιος Φανούριος, Ezekiel Velanidiotis writes of a conflict between the Holy Synod of Greece and certain pious faithful in Pagkrati, Athens in 1947. Metropolitan Methodios of Syros decided to dedicate a chapel to St. Phanourios. In response to this, the Holy Synod decided to issue an encyclical that St. Phanourios does not exist and that houses of worship should not be dedicated to him. As a result of this encyclical, Metropolitan Meletios of Messinia changed his mind about dedicating a chapel at the Holy Monastery of Velanidias (of the Oak) to St. Phanourios and instead dedicated it to St. George. However, in Pagkrati the people insisted in honoring the memory of St. Phanourios and hence his memory is still honored there today.

How about the relics of St. Phanourios in Cyprus?

It seems like this folk custom, not authorized by the Church, is in reality the bones of the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus. Read more here.

The Church of St. Phanourios in Rhodes

The Life and Miracles of Saint Phanourios From The Great Synaxaristes

"Phanourios bestoweth light upon all the faithful,
even though he long lay in the darkness of the earth."

From whence Phanourios, the splendid athlete of the Lord and invincible marty, came, and of what parentage he was, and even in what age he lived and under the reign of which emperors he waged his struggle and fought his fight, we have been unable to ascertain, for the account of his life has been lost owing to the vicissitudes of time, as many other things also have been lost or become obscure or unclear. This only do we know, that when the Hagarenes (Muslims) ruled the renowned island of Rhodes, having conquered it because of our sins, he that became ruler of the island wished to rebuild the ramparts of the city that past sieges had ravaged. On the outskirts of the fortress were several ruined dwellings that had been abandoned by reason of their association with the old fortress, which was located a furlong to the south. From these ruins the Hagarenes were wont to gather stones for their construction.

It so happened that, while excavating and reinforcing that place, they discovered a most beautiful church, which was partly buried in ruins. Excavating as far as the floor of the temple, they found many holy icons, all decayed and crumbling, yet the icon of the holy Phanourios was whole and entire; indeed, it seemed as though it had been painted but that very day. And when this all-venerable temple was uncovered, together with its sacred icons, the hierarch of that place, Nilus by name, a man of great sanctity and learning, came and read the inscription of the icon, which said, "The Holy Phanourios."

The saint was depicted upon the icon as follows: He was shown as a young man, arrayed as a soldier, holding a cross in his right hand, and at the upper part of the cross there was a lighted taper. Round about the perimeter of the icon were twelve scenes from the holy one's martyrdom, which showed the saint being examined before the magistrate; then in the midst of soldiers, who were beating him about the mouth and head with stones; then stretched out upon the ground while the soldiers flogged him; then, stripped naked while they rent his flesh with iron hooks; then incarcerated in a dungeon; and again standing before the tyrant's tribunal; then being burned with candles; then bound to a rack; then cast amidst wild beasts; then crushed with a great rock; then standing before idols holding burning coals in his hands, whilst a demon nearby wept and lamented; and finally he is shown standing erect in the midst of a fiery furnace, his hands, as it were, uplifted towards Heaven.

From these twelve scenes depicted upon the icon, the holy hierarch perceived that the saint was a martyr. Then straightway that good and pious man sent deputations to the rulers of that place, asking that they consign to him that temple for restoration, but this they declined to do. Therefore, the hierarch traveled to Constantinople alone and there obtained a decree empowering him to rebuild the church; thus it was restored to that state in which it can be seen even to this day, outside the city. And is has become the source of many miracles, of which I shall relate one for the profit of many, that all who love and venerate the saint may rejoice.

At that time the isle of Crete had no Orthodox hierarch, but a Latin bishop, for it was ruled then by the Venetians, who had shrewdly refused to permit an Orthodox hierarch to be consecrated whenever one died. This they did with evil intent, thinking that with time they could thus convert the Orthodox to the papist dogmas. If Orthodox men wished to obtain ordination, they had to go to Cythera. It came to pass that there went forth from Crete three deacons, traveling to Cythera to be ordained priests by the hierarch there; and when this had been accomplished, and they were returning to their own country, the Hagarenes captured them at sea and brought them to Rhodes, where they were sold as slaves to other Hagarenes. The newly-consecrated priests lamented their misfortune day and night.

But in Rhodes, they heard tell of the great wonders wrought by the Great Martyr Phanourios, and straightway they made fervent supplication to the saint, beseeching him with tears to deliver them from their bitter bondage. And this they did each separately, without knowing ought of what the others were doing, for they had each been sold to a different master. Now, in accordance with the providence of God, however, they were all three permitted by their masters to go and worship at the temple of the saint, and, guided by God, they came all together and fell down before the sacred icon of the saint, watering the ground with the streams of their tears, entreating him to deliver them out of the hands of the Hagarenes. Then they departed, somewhat consoled, each to his own master, hoping that they would obtain mercy, which in fact did come to pass; for the holy one had compassion upon their tears and hearkened unto their supplication. That night he appeared to the Hagarenes who were the masters of the captive priests, and commanded them to permit the servants of God to go and worship in his temple lest he bring dreadful destruction upon them. But the Hagarenes, thinking the matter sorcery, loaded them with chains and made their torments more onerous.

Then the Great Martyr Phanourios went to them that night and brought them forth from their bonds, and encouraged them, saying that the following day he would, by all means, free them. He then appeared to the Hagarenes and, reproaching them with severity, said: "If by tomorrow ye have not set your servants at liberty, ye shall behold the power of God!" Thus saying, the holy one vanished. And, O, the wonder! As many as inhabited those houses all arose blind and paralyzed, tormented with the most dreadful pangs, the least with the greatest. But, though bedridden, with the help of their kinfolk they considered what to do, and finally decided to send for the captives. And when the three wretched priests were come, they inquired of them if they were able to heal them; and they answered, "We shall beseech God. Let His will be done."

But the saint appeared again to the Hagarenes on the third night and said to them: "If ye do not send to my house letters of manumission for the priests, ye shall have neither the health, nor the light [of sight] which ye desire." And when they had again conferred with their kinfolk and friends, each one composed a letter of emancipation for his own slave, which were left before the icon of the saint. And O, the wonder! Even before the messengers sent to the temple returned, those, who before were blind and paralyzed, were healed; and marveling they set the priests free and dispatched them to their homelands amicably. The priests, though, had a copy of the icon of St. Phanourios painted and took it with them to their own country, and each year the memory of the holy one is piously celebrated amongst them. By the prayers of the martyr may Christ God have mercy upon us. Amen!

Source: Orthodox Life, Vol. 32, No. 4 (July-August 1982). Translated by George Lardas from the Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church (in Greek), 4th Ed. (Athens, 1974), Vol. VIII, pp. 470-474.

About Prayers to the Saint and for His Mother

There is a tradition concerning him and his mother, who was a harlot and great sinner. His love for his mother caused him to pray for her incessantly. At the time of his martyric death by stoning, he could not even then forget his mother, and with the boldness that is peculiar to athletes of Christ, prayed: "For the sake of these my sufferings, Lord, help all those who will pray to Thee for the salvation of Phanourios' sinful mother".

St. Phanourios in turn prays for the salvation and enlightenment of heterodox relatives and friends.

Many to this day pray for his mother, and have her listed in their personal diptychs used for commemorations in the Divine Liturgy as "The Mother of St Phanourios" since her name is not known.

On the day of the Saint, there is a tradition that the faithful bake a special bread, and according to some accounts, give it to the poor as alms in the name of his mother, and others, share it with at least seven other people.

The Saint of Lost Things

St Phanourios' name gives a hint about another tradition concerinign the Saint. "Phanourios" comes from the Greek word, φανερώνω "phanerono", meaning "I reveal". He is know to help people find lost things. Some have therefore also referred to him as the "Saint of lost and found"!

This is not just an idle story repeated without basis, as the editor of this piece has experienced incidents himself, and know many people who have also been helped by St Phanourios to find lost items. After the lost item is found, one should bake a Phanouropita, (basically a loaf of sweet bread) in memory of St. Phanourios' mother, and give to the poor, as above.

If the bread is first brought to church to be blessed, a Litya blessing service with a prayer specially composed for the Saint may be used.

Φανουρόπιτα - Phanouropita: St. Phanourios' Bread

The following recipes are supplied by the kindness of Presvytera Anna Lardas, who posted them to a mailing list some time ago.

The fasting bread (with oil for those days that a a little less strict) actually tastes very good, and whose preparation makes an excellent father-daughter "special time" that the whole family benefits from. In other words, the recipe is quite easy and forgiving, and kitchens can always be cleaned.

Easy St. Phanourios Bread Fasting (with oil)

Preheat oven to 350.
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups orange juice
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. baking soda
4 cups flour
Mix oil and sugar, and beat until it's a creamy yellow. This may take a long time.

Put the baking soda IN the orange juice, and stir until dissolved. [NB: this can be spectacularly dramatic if you use a two cup measuring cup with two cups of o.j. in it. (Please don't ask how I found out.) It might be easier to hold a two cup measuring cup OVER the bowl full of oil and sugar and pour in *one* cup of o.j., mix in 1/2 tsp. baking soda, watch the fireworks, pour it into the bowl, and again mix *one* cup of o.j. with 1/2 tsp. baking soda, stir and pour again. If you don't dissolve the baking soda completely, you get lumps of it in the cake. So, stir well.]

Add the flour, then the raisins and nuts.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 9"x13" pan and bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes (or until a clean toothpick dipped in the cake emerges clean.)

I use a bundt pan instead of one 9" x 13", and my kids prefer this with chocolate chips in the place of the raisins and nuts. It doesn't really need a frosting, but if you wanted to drizzle a stiff glaze made out of, say, powdered sugar and lemon juice and a little water over it, that would be okay, too.

If you wanted to put spices in the batter, I'd go with a tiny amount (1/4 tsp. or less) of ground cloves.

Modified from a recipe in Greek Traditions and Customs in America, by Marilyn Rouvelas

Fancy St. Phanourios Bread (Phanouropita - Φανουρόπιτα)
Not even close to fasting!

This recipe originally came from a cookbook for a Greek parish in Chicago, but I've tampered with it, mostly by editorializing.

Doubles well; the recipe given is for one loaf pan worth, but Doubled it makes a bundt pan's worth.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, combine:

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup brandy
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups golden raisins
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for exactly ten minutes -- any longer, and you'll have a good caramelized smelling door stop instead of a cake.

Set pot in cold water to cool mixture completely.

Sift into cooled syrup:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
Beat vigorously for eight to ten minutes (Takes muscles! We use a wooden spoon for this) or until batter is smooth and bubbly.

Stir in: 2 Tablespoons grated orange peel

Turn into well greased 7" fluted pan or 8" loaf pan.

Sprinkle with 1/2 sesame seeds (optional; skip if you like).

Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle with 1/4 cup brandy and cool cake in pan.

Bring to church to have blessed, and then share with parishioners or the poor.

Smells amazingly wonderful while cooking.

Source

The Twelve Scenes on the Icon of St. Phanourios

1. The Saint is present in front of the Roman magistrate, standing and looking like he is boldly testifying and defending his Christian faith.


2. Here the soldiers are intervening and striking Phanourios’ head and the mouth with stones to force him to succumb and deny the Lord.


3. The soldiers have thus far become enraged by the persistence of Phanourios, throwing him to the ground and beating him mercilessly with sticks and clubs to break his steadfast resistance.


4. Phanourios is in jail and is being tortured in a most abominable way. He appears totally naked and the surrounding soldiers are tearing his flesh with sharp metal instruments. The Saint is silently enduring his frightful martyrdom.


5. Phanourios is back in jail praying to God to strengthen him to the end of his tortures.


6. The Saint is again brought before the Roman magistrate to give a defense for his position. By the peaceful expression on his face it appears that neither the tortures he suffered nor the future threats of the tyrant can shake his faith, and thus being undeterred he is waiting for further tortures.


7. The torturers of Phanourios with rage and cruelty are burning his naked body with lit torches, thus showing his insuperable sacrifice for the Crucified One. The Saint wins again with his indomitable will and fortitude for the Lord.


8. Here his savage torturers are making use of mechanical means to achieve the worse of his tortures. They have tied the Saint on a press which crushes his bones when rotated. He is suffering without grumbling, but on his beautiful face there is an inexpressible exultation since he is suffering for the sake of the Lord.


9. Phanourios is cast into a pit to become prey to wild beasts and his torturers are watching from above to witness his end. The beasts, however, are totally docile through the grace of God and silently surround him like lambs to enjoy his magnificent company.


10. The torturers were not satisfied by the latest result so they removed him from the hole and are crushing him under a huge rock, convinced that they will finish him off. However, even this time they do not succeed.


11. The scene presents the Saint in front of an altar, where the torturers are urging him to sacrifice, placing burning coal in his hands. Phanourios also passes this test victoriously and a devil in the form of a dragon is shown flying in the air and crying over its failure.


12. The last scene is the end of his martyrdom, with Phanourios being cast into a large furnace standing on a stool and surrounded by flames and smoke. The Saint seems to be praying intently to God, without complaining or grumbling, and thus unwavering and without giving in, he flew to heaven, full of contentment for all the tortures he had suffered for the sake of the Lord.

Source

Apolytikion in Tone Four
A heavenly song of praise is chanted radiantly upon the earth; the company of angels now joyfully celebrateth an earthly festival, and from on high with hymns they praise thy contests, and from below the Church doth proclaim the heavenly glory which thou hast found by thy labors and struggles, O glorious Phanourios.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
From a vile captivity, thou didst deliver the Lord's priests, and, O godly-minded one, didst break their bonds by divine might; thou didst bravely shame the tyrants' audacious madness, giving joy unto the Angels, O thou Great Martyr. O Phanourios most glorious, we all revere thee as a true warrior of God.

Megalynarion
To those who embrace your sacred icon with faith and asking your assistance, Martyr, heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom, Fanourios, to all your entreaties provide.

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Monk Moses the Athonite: ”Scandal” For Me Is The Non-Unity of Holy Mount Athos

Monk Moses, the well known intellectual, has given an interview to the 24-hour ecclesiastical news agency “Romfea.gr”. We have visited his cell at Saint Panteleimon Skete of the Holy Mount Athos.

Elder Moses, speaking to the Director of “Romfea.gr”, Mr. Emilios Poligenis, gives substantial answers on issues which refer to the Holy Mountain, the professor Christos Yiannaras, the Vatopaidi case and the Abbot Ephraim, the financial crisis and the Patriarch’s Liturgy at Panagia of Soumela Monastery. The interview went on as follows:

EP: Father Moses, it is a great pleasure to be with you today here at God’s guarded garden of our Panagia. You have been a monk for more than 35 years; please tell us about the Holy Mount Athos of yesterday and today.

MM: Dear Mr. Poligenis, I am also pleased to have your acquaintance as a visitor of our humble Cell of Saint John Chrysostomos at Saint Panteleimon Skete, as well as for your honest love for the Church and for the impartiality of the news agency “Romfea.gr”, which you have been successfully directing for the last three years. The Holy Mount Athos is truly guarded by God, sheltered by the Mother of God; it is an incubator of saints and a fragrant garden of our Lady as well as being walked by saints. This month we have been fervently chanting Paraklisis daily in Her name and we are passionately expecting the much honored feast of her dormition and her ascension to heaven.

Our Panagia is the most beloved female person by all monks at the Holy Mountain. We have sixty miracle performing icons, the Katholica, the Kyriaka, the chapels, Protaton, her Holy Belt of the Virgin Mary. All of these speak of Her in a place inaccessible to women.

It has been 36 years since I have passed through the gate of the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra and 25 years since I have resided at the cell of Saint John Chrysostomos. I truly believe than only 36 days have passed since then! I do not really think that the Holy Mount Athos has changed at all during this time. The monastic order has been continuing for more than a thousand years. This is very crucial to the lives of monks, who devote several hours a day to the Divine Liturgy. Prayer is their main job and this seasons their lives with fragrance.

The fact that some roads have been built and that some cars appear, this is of a minor importance. But on the other hand, one must be very careful to show respect for the place and the environment. Some old passageways have been destroyed and this was wrong.

Technical advancements need to be used properly and with discretion. I do not think that to replace the oil lamp with an electric one will do away with tradition. Some people come to the Holy Mountain only once in their life having a romantic idea about it and they think that it is a petrified museum without life, movement and continuation. They become harsh critics and they only have criticism and hand out instructions. However, if they are to move about, they demand a descent vehicle, they are bothered by dust and they want a comfortable stay as if they are staying at a hotel. I believe that if the Holy Mountain has been altered it is only externally and not internally. Important restoration works have taken place in the last few years which have been most necessary in order to continue the thousand year legacy of monastic life, based on ancient, sacred rules which conserve the monastic constitution, the life of devotion and quietude.

EP: Can one find inside the Holy Mountain people of the spiritual stature of elders Paisios, Porphyrios, Joseph and others?

MM: I received a phone call one evening from a certain woman. “Father Moses” she said, “now that Elder Paisios passed away who took his place?” I said: “It is your spiritual father”. “Do you know him?” “No” “Then why do you say this?” “Listen my lady, sainthood is not transferable but achievable. Unless the person struggles with patience, sainthood cannot be conveyed.” “Thank you”.

She probably didn’t like my reply. People today are forever looking for quick and easy solutions. The ‘fast food’ of secular life has been passed on to the spiritual life. Even the devout are not willing to delay and exhaust themselves at all. They want immediate solutions to their problems. That’s why they are looking for virtuous elders to solve their problems immediately. They do not want to persevere in prayer, to humble themselves, to show patience.

If they cannot find such elders, they create them. The worst thing is to believe that you are a saint. The biggest problem today is phony sainthood. May the Lord save us from such phony saints. At the Holy Mountain there is a saying: “It is easy to delude yourself. The difficult thing is to be rescued from delusion”.

Blessed and virtuous Elder Paisios was saying: “He who believes that he is well, is the worst of all since he will never go to the doctor”. The search of virtuous elders may today take unreasonable scale and the elder is seen as a guru, or a magician or a medium. Both sides must be especially careful. Some people are loading on the elders their personal opinions, beliefs or fantasies on doomsday prophecies, on demons, on antichrist, on wars, and on the wishful return of castles in Anatolia. We have been blessed many times to kiss the hand of the blessed elders Porphyrios the Kafsokalivitis (+1991), of Paisios the Agioritis (+1994), of some spiritual children of Elder Joseph the Spileotis (+1959) and many others.

There are certainly today in the Holy Mountain and elsewhere devout elders like the above, whom their worshippers call ‘saints’. As long as the Church exists, the Divine Liturgy will take place and saints will be born. The Holy Spirit does not delay, does not sleep and does not stop inspiring. However, sainthood loves anonymity, secrecy and the lack of honors. Sainthood does not possess an illuminating label, roadmaps, road callers, strong search lights and advertising. He, who announces that he is a saint, stops being one. We are in the process of publishing a large Gerontikon of the Holy Mountain with five hundred virtuous personalities of the 20th century.

The Holy Mountain was called ‘Holy’ because of the holiness of its monks. The Athonite oil candle of sainthood has never been blown out. It is kept lit up to this day, consoling many people.


EP: Last month, the Prime Minister Mr. Papandreou, has set up a committee of politicians to protect the Holy Mountain. What is your opinion on this?

MM: As we have said, the Holy Mountain is being protected by our Panagia. But it also needs the protection of the State. However, I do not know what reason they are giving for the existence of this committee, its purpose and aims. The problems that the Holy Mountain is facing are best known to the monks. Various governments have assisted in various ways occasionally. But I am afraid that they have not so far understood the history, the value, the importance and the contribution of the Holy Mountain. During the last crisis not a single politician raised his voice to say: “Gentlemen, Greece has the Acropolis and the Holy Mountain. Please respect their sanctity. Do not de-sanctify everything. Do not use the Holy Mountain for political gains”. I wish that the committee will not act unilaterally but that it will cooperate with the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain for the Mountain’s benefit. Everyone’s wish is that it is successful and that it substantially helps to meet the needs of the Holy Mountain.

However, at the same time the Prime Minister set up this committee, the government rejected the Holy Community’s request to benefit from the program “Society of Information”, which dealt with the electronic storage of the Byzantine relics of the Holy Mountain. Isn’t this a tragic irony?

EP: Yes, it a tragic and great irony without doubt. We wish that this decision is rescinded soon. Geronda, is there any cooperation between the monasteries? If there is, is it substantial or only for the record?

MM: I believe that there is cooperation, especially with regards to the decision taken during the meetings of the Holy Community. The decisions are of course taken by the majority. We are talking about the oldest democracy in the world, which is constantly at work for more than the last ten centuries.

EP: Perhaps this cooperation will become even more substantial for the common good.

MM: The amicable cohabitation for more than a thousand years of people from many places has a lot to say in a divided and combating world.

EP: Last April you have written a caustic letter against the views expressed by professor Yiannaras, which seemed very popular. What was the reason for writing it?

MM: The reason was obvious. Mr. Yiannaras is a well known professor who has written many papers. However, I believe he should be more careful on the things he writes about. Of course he has the right to express his own opinion and judgment, but it does him no good to insult the numerous brotherhoods of the Holy Mountain, using expressions fit for the alleyways. I believe and wish that he repented for what he has written hastily and carelessly.

EP: Is there a “scandal” in the Vatopaidi case, Father Moses? Already the minister of Defense, Mr. Venizelos, and the leader of the opposition, Mr. Samaras, have said that there is no Vatopaidi “scandal”.

MM: For two whole years the mass media have been trying daily to convince people about the existence of the great Vatopaidi ‘scandal’. Of course many people have been swayed. There was a nasty climate. Some people have risen in the ranks, some won votes, promotions, etc. The investigation has so far not found dirty money, illegal actions or embezzlement. It is difficult for anyone during this furor to express a different opinion since he will be accused that he has been bribed.

For two whole years, a Holy Mountain monastery with over a hundred and ten monks, with long history and contribution to society, has been stoned, insulted, ridiculed, assaulted and very few people managed to defend it, even though no illegality has ever been proven. For me a scandal constitutes the non-unity of the Holy Mountain. No one ever said that one must support an illegal act, or that one should not testify to the appropriate authorities. But it is totally another thing for some monks to publically condemn their brothers.


EP: What is your opinion of Abbot Ephraim?

MM: Abbot Ephraim has become the most slandered person in the last few decades. No one has ever been attacked so much. This was done as if he was a war criminal or a drug dealer, or a trafficker of persons. His faith, his lack of anger, his patience and his forgiveness are virtues which reveal an internal strength which should tell a lot to his persecutors. I am not familiar with a lot of details of the case but the stance of the Abbot makes me have a positive view on him. On the contrary, the attitude adopted by his persecutors, even that of priests, makes me sad. I do not wish to make people tired by saying many things. I wish and pray that the whole truth will prevail and that there will be no room for empathy or prejudice. If mistakes have been made, then they should be corrected. But it is another thing to condemn someone before the verdict. Justice will no doubt carry out its difficult task in an impartial and free manner.

EP: During the last few months, Greece is going through some difficult times because of the financial crisis, so much so that people sometimes lack even necessities. Where are we heading? Is there a hope?

MM: It is true that there is a serious financial crisis going on and that some of our brothers are having a difficult time. But it is worth noting that the recent Greek way of life exhibits serious cracks. The only vision of the modern Greek was how to make money, to gorge oneself, to spend, to abuse and to have a good time. He worships money, hedonism, self love and ambition. Both old and young, worship at the altars of money, of the body and of ambition. Their only aim is how to please themselves, to live well and to look after oneself exclusively. Comfort brought boredom. The West is warning us that we have gotten worn out of being rested. The only things which are worth something for the modern Greek is money, buildings, land and cars. Materialism has won. Frugality was seen as misery, simplicity as silliness, poverty as a curse, self control as foolishness. Deception is regarded as intelligence, lies as wisdom, adultery as vigor, honesty as frivolity. This crisis is our judge. The crisis is not just financial but mostly spiritual. In any case, we must never lose heart, lose our hope, become lazy and or sit around lamenting our misfortunes. Let us do what we can and quite possibly something sweet will come out from the hardship. We may at some point feel that we have not come to this earth to buy a new luxury car, nor is it worth living for something like this and neither did God bring us on this earth for this purpose only.

EP: Finally Father Moses, I would like you to comment on the historic Divine Liturgy held at Panagia (Mother of God) of Soumela Monastery.

MM: The Holy Liturgy officiated by the Patriarch at the incredible Monastery of Panagia Soumela, after 88 years of desolation, was a moving and a greatly significant historic event. It did not just bring joy to the People of Pontus but also to the Greeks everywhere. This monastery with its more than a thousand year spiritual, cultural and educational contribution, regained some of its old splendor. It constitutes the pride of the Pontus area. The Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Bartholomew, was justifiably deeply moved and spoke directly to the hearts of the worshippers. I am certain this liturgy will become an important milestone of his calling. The presence of the Metropolitan of Drama, Mr. Paul, whose origins were from Pontus, as well as his words and his poems brought tears to the eyes of numerous people. The Panagia of Soumela, the Athonite Panagia, the Greek Panagia, Panagia of the whole of the universe, may she always mediate for us. We all need her mediation. The humble, pure, silent, modest Ever-Virgin, may she inspire everyone and shelter her beloved Athonite garden without fail. I thank you Mr. Poligenis for the chance you have given me and please forgive the pain which my honesty may have caused and the austerity I may have shown because I have not been able to be two-faced in order to balance the imbalance of that which is diversified. May our Panagia strengthen you in your task of impartial reporting.

EP: Geronda (Elder), I thank you for the interview. I would also like to thank Fr. Chrysostomos for his Abraham-like hospitality.



Source: Romfea.gr

Translated by: Olga Konnari-Kokkinou
Edited by: John Sanidopoulos

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The Primacy of Rome and the Apostle Paul

by Father Vasileios A. Georgopoulos

It is well known that even during the lifetime of the Holy Apostle Paul, certain persons attempted to cast doubt on the existence, equality, and fullness of his Apostolic dignity. The existence, fullness, and equality of his Apostolic authority is demonstrated and defended by St. Paul par excellence in II Corinthians 10-12 and Galatians 1:11-2:21.[1]

In these texts, he stirringly states and describes how he understands his Apostolic dignity and, at the same time, defends the fullness and equality of his Apostolic dignity and authority. He emphasizes, with absolute serenity of conscience: “For I suppose I am not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles.”[2]

However, this doubt as to the fullness and equality of the Holy Apostle Paul’s Apostolic authority and standing was repeated in a disdainful manner, contrary to Holy Scripture and historical truth, by three Popes. The sole purpose and motive of these Popes was their desire to impose, through procrustean methods, the non-existent primacy of authority that the Bishops of Rome claimed for themselves.

The most glaring instance of this is the decree of Pope Innocent X, “Sancti Officii,” dated January 24, 1647.[3] Through this decree, he anathematized as heretical any Christian who would believe, and propagate the idea, that the Apostle Paul possessed personal Apostolic standing and authority. He also stipulated that every believer, under pain of posthumous punishment, was obligated to believe and confess that, throughout his life, from the moment of his conversion to Christ, the Apostle Paul was under the monarchical authority of St. Peter — an absolute authority inherited by the Bishops of Rome.

In this regard, Innocent X was not original in such unprecedented and blasphemous ideas. Similar ideas had previously been expressed by two other Popes:

John XXII, in his bull “Licet iuxta doctrinam,” of October 23, 1327,[4] and Clement VI, in his epistle “Super quibusdam” to the Catholicos of the Armenians, dated September 29, 1351.[5]

It is a distressing fact that, while St. Paul characterized his detractors as “false apostles, deceitful workers,”[6] centuries later three Roman Pontiffs, in the name of an historically, Scripturally, and theologically non-existent primacy of authority, preferred to align themselves not with the Holy Apostle, but with these same detractors.

The truth, however, is different. It is expressed by St. Paul himself when he states: “Paul, an Apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ....”[7] For this reason, St. John Chrysostomos, his greatest emulator, admirer, and interpreter throughout the centuries, will exclaim with wonderment: “I do not know what to say; for, whatever I say, it does not do justice to Paul’s worth.”[8] At least as a minimal token of apology, today’s Bishop of Rome ought to ask forgiveness for the views of his predecessors, as he has done in other cases.

The most unerring witness for the defense of the great Apostle of the Nations is his own consciousness that he is “not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles.”[9] This confession of his is also the conscience of the Church regarding his Apostolic dignity and authority, which were equal and complete, and were bestowed upon him by the Lord.

Notes:

1 Horst Dietrich Preuss and Klaus Berger, Bibelkunde des Alten und Neuen Testaments, 4th ed. (Wiesbaden: 1991), Vol. II, pp. 387-389, 392-393.

2 II Corinthians 11:5

3 See Charles du Plessis d’Argentré, Collectio judiciorum de novis erroribus qui ab initio duodecimi sæculi post Incarnationem Verbi, usque ad annum 1713 in Ecclesia proscripti sunt et notati (Paris: 1775), Vol. III.2, p. 248.

4 du Plessis d’Argentré, Collectio judiciorum, Vol. I.1, p. 305, 365. Cf. Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Fontes Juris Germanici, ed. R. Scholz (Hanover: 1932), pp. 327-329, 340-346, 528-565.

5 Cesare Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici denuo excusi et ad nostra usque tempora perducti, ed. Augustin Theiner (Paris: Barri-Ducis, 1864), Vol. XXV, pp. 502ff.

6 II Corinthians 11:13.

7 Galatians 1:1.

8 St. John Chrysostomos, “Homily XXV on Acts,” §1, Patrologia Græca, Vol. LX, col. 192.

9 See note 3.

Source: Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἀλήθεια, No. 476 (October 16, 1999), p. 7; reprinted in Archimandrite Cyprian and Archimandrite Glykerios Agiokyprianitai, Ὁ Παποκεντρικὸς Οἰκουμενισμὸς—Ἀνησυχητικὲς Ἐξελίξεις (Papocentric Ecumenism: Disquieting Developments), Vol. VIII in Series B, Συμβολὴ στὴν Ἀντι-οικουμενιστικὴ Θεολογία (Athens: Hiera Synodos ton Enistamenon, 2002), pp. 125-127.

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Russian Sees Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia

“The Ark of the Covenant was taken out and it was shown to me. An Ethiopian operator was at the scene and filmed the event.”

by Mikhail Aristov
August 26, 2010
Brown Condor

The famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov has become the first European to see with his own eyes the legendary Ark of the Covenant that preserved the tablets received by Moses on Mount Sinai.

This is the holiest relic of Coptic Christianity. It has never been shown to any non-consecrated person. Most likely, this may be the reason that led to many theories about the place where it is being preserved. At a chapel in the ancient capital of Ethiopia, Aksum (Axum), the Ethiopian priests showed the Ark of the Covenant to Fyodor Konyukhov who has recently been ordained deacon by the Russian Orthodox Church, and is preparing for an African expedition with the blessings of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Kyrill. Sharing his impression Fyodor Konyukhov has this to say.

“I did not expect it, but the Ethiopians showed me the Ark of the Covenant,” says Fyodor Konyukhov. “It was four O’ clock, and I was with priests at the service. I was standing near the keeper of the relic and I looked into his eyes. I have never seen such a person. Light was emitting from his eyes. He could not talk to me, because priests do not talk during Lent. The Ark of the Covenant was taken out and it was shown to me. An Ethiopian operator was at the scene and filmed the event,” Fyodor Konyukhov said.

Fyodor Konyukhov has made six solo expeditions around the world aboard a yacht, climbed all the highest peaks, including Mount Everest, travelled to the North and South Poles, and sailed around the Antarctic. He plans to launch an expedition to the African deserts. He is now preparing for this. He is in Moscow from Addis Ababa for only two days, but decided to share his impression with our listeners.

The Russian traveler has agreed with the Ethiopian authorities on the construction of a Russian Orthodox chapel in Addis Ababa. It will be St. George chapel, says Fyodor Konyukhov.

“We met with the builders and Ethiopian workers. Our embassy helped us. I hope to install a cross at the site before I leave for the expedition in February,” Fyodor Konyukhov said.

An expedition to the hot African desert will start on February 20th and will run for 35 days. We will use camels during the expedition, says Fyodor Konyukhov.

“Our group will consist of seven people, two herdsmen, two guards, one translator, a cook and me. I am the only one from Russia and I wish to have a Russian operator to cover the expedition,” Fyodor Konyukhov.

The famous traveler arrived in Ethiopia in response to a request by its government that hopes he can lay interesting and comfortable routs for tourists. In short, we will be able to see interesting places in the country in the near future.

Meanwhile, a cupola for the St. George chapel is being made in Sofrino near Moscow. Fyodor Konyukhov will shortly leave for Africa to prepare for the expedition.

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An Orthodox Perspective On Science and Religion

by St. Luke Archbishop of Simferopol the Surgeon (1877-1961)

"When we examine contemporary science as developed by scientists such as Lamark and Darwin, we see the antithesis and I would say the complete disagreement that exists between science and religion, on topics that concern the more basic problems of existence and knowledge. For this, an enlightened mind cannot accept at the same time both one and the other and must chose between religion and science."

A well known German Zoologist, Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), who was a good follower of Darwin, wrote these words some 65 years ago, in his book, “The Riddle of the Universe” that was very successful and as it seemed, had proved that faith is absurd. So says Haeckel that every enlightened man must choose between science and religion and should follow either one or the other. He considered it necessary that such men should deny religion because a logical man cannot deny science.

Truly, is this necessary? No, not at all, for we know that many and great scientists were at the same time great believers. For example, such was the Polish astronomer Copernicus who laid the foundation of all contemporary astronomy. Copernicus was not only a believer but was also a cleric. Another great scientist, Newton, whenever he mentioned the word God, he removed his hat. He was a great believer. A great bacteriologist of our time and almost a contemporary, Pasteur, who laid the basis of contemporary bacteriology, he would start every scientific work with a prayer to God. Some 10 years ago a great scientist passed away, who was our countryman, physiologist Pavlov, who was the creator of the new physiology of the brain. He too was a great believer. Would Haeckel therefore dare say that these men did not have an enlightened mind because they believed in God?

So what happens now? Why even today there are some scientists, professors at Universities, whom I personally know and are great believers. Why don’t all the scientists deny religion but only those who think the same as Haeckel? Because these people believe only in the material and deny the spiritual world, they do not believe in the life after death, they do not accept the immortality of the soul and of course they do not accept the resurrection of the dead. They say that science is capable of everything, that there is no secret in nature that science cannot discover. What can we answer to these?

We shall respond to them this way. You are totally right. We cannot limit the human mind that searches nature. We know that today, science knows only a part of the things we have of nature. We also understand that the possibilities of science are great. In this they are right and we don’t doubt it. What then do we doubt? Why don’t we deny religion like them and consider it contrary to scientific knowledge?

Just because we believe wholeheartedly that there is a spiritual world. We are certain that apart from the material world there is an infinite and incomparably superior spiritual world. We believe in the existence of spiritual beings that have higher intellects than us humans. We believe wholeheartedly that above this spiritual and material world there is the Great and Almighty God.

What we doubt is the right of science to research with its methods the spiritual world, because the spiritual world cannot be researched with the methods used to research the material world. Such methods are totally inappropriate to research the spiritual world.

How do we know that there is a spiritual world? Who told us that it exists? If we are asked by people who do not believe in Divine revelation, we shall answer them thus: “Our heart told us”. For there are two ways for one to know something, the first is that which is spoken by Haeckel, which is used by science to learn of the material world. There is however another way that is unknown to science, and does not wish to know it. It is the knowledge through the heart. Our heart is not only the central organ of the circulation system, it is an organ with which we know the other world and receive the highest knowledge. It is the organ that gives us the capability to communicate with God and the world above. Only in this we disagree with science.

Praising the great successes and achievements of science, we do not doubt at all its great importance and we do not confine scientific knowledge. We only tell the scientists: “You do not have the capability with your methods to research the spiritual world, we however can with our heart."

There are many unexplainable phenomena which concern the spiritual world that are real (as are some type of material phenomena). There are therefore phenomena that science will never be able to explain because it does not use the appropriate methods.

Let science explain how the prophecies appeared on the coming of the Messiah, which were all fulfilled. Could science tell us how the great prophet Isaiah, some 700 years before the birth of Christ, foretold the most important events in His life and for which he was named the evangelist of the Old Testament? Could science explain the far sighted grace possessed by the saints and to tell us with which physical methods the saints inherited this grace and how they could understand the heart and read the thoughts of a person they had just met for the first time? They would see a person for the first time and they will call him by his name. Without waiting for the visitor to ask, they would answer on what troubled him.

If they can, let them explain it to us. Let them explain with what method the saints foretold the great historical events which were accurately fulfilled as they were prophesied. Let them explain the visitation from the other world and the appearance of the dead to the living.

They shall never explain it to us because they are too far from the basis of religion - from faith. If you read the books of the scientists who try to reconstruct religion, you will see how superficially they look at things. They do not understand the essence of religion yet they criticize it. Their criticism does not touch the essence of faith, since they are unable to understand the types, the expressions of religious feeling. The essence of religion they do not understand. Why not? Because the Lord Jesus Christ says: “No one can come to me unless My Father who sent Me draws him to Me"(John 6:44).

So it is necessary that we be drawn by the Heavenly Father, it is necessary that the grace of the Holy Spirit enlighten our heart and our mind. To dwell in our heart and mind through this enlightenment, the Holy Spirit and the ones who were found worthy to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, those in whose heart lives Christ and His Father, know the essence of faith. The others outside the faith cannot understand anything.

Let us hear the criticism against Haeckel from a French philosopher Emile Boutroux (1845-1921). So says Boutroux: "The criticisms of Haeckel concern much more the ways, than the essence, which (the ways) he observes with such a materialistic and narrow view, that they cannot be accepted by religious people. Thus the criticism of religion by Haeckel is not referred to, not even in one of the principles that constitutes religion."

This is therefore our opinion regarding Haeckel’s book “The Riddle of the Universe” which up to today is considered the “Bible” for all those who criticize religion, which they deny and find contrary to science. Do you see how poor and tasteless arguments they use? Don’t become scandalized when you hear what they say about religion, since they themselves cannot understand its essence. You people, who may not have much of a relationship with science and do not know much about philosophy, remember always the most basic beginning, which was well known by the early Christians. They were considered poor, the person who knew all the sciences, yet he knew not God. On the other hand, they considered blessed the person who knew God, even if he knew absolutely nothing about worldly things.

Guard this truth like the best treasure of the heart, walk straight without looking right or left. Let us not bother with what we hear against religion, losing our bearings. Let us hold on to our faith which is the eternal indisputable truth. Amen.

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The Freedom of the Fathers and the Enslavement of Fanaticism

The following is from an interview with Bishop Atanasije (Jevtic), a disciple of St. Justin Popovich, translated from the Russian to Serbian and published in a Serbian monastery periodical in 2002 (here, in Serbian).

Below is a part of his answer to the question, “Our Church warns us about that which is called the personal tax number, which you refer to as the social number, etc. We know the Greeks had similar issues (Identification Card).”

If we look at it realistically, can the Church avoid the required laws and norms of mass registration? I believe that it’s not our issue. In Greece there are a few who said that this was the number of the Antichrist – 666, and that everyone will be sealed with it. Which means that this is the seal of the Antichrist which will be on us. However, I think this is nonsense. Would the demons offend us in such a way – through computers, numbers? This is too primitive. However, a worse thing can occur – the more deeper and mightier we begin losing the feeling, we are opening the door wider for the demons. He can act more deeper within us....

We have to be cautious, we have to be careful, with open eyes we must look at the world and be realistic regarding all things. If they begin to control me tomorrow, I won’t be able to run away to Sweden or some other country, so what? They can bring in an international police system, according to the Schengen Agreement they can control our coming in and going out, they can say for example that the Russian Patriarch is dangerous and order him to go back.

In Greece the question has been posed whether to put the word “Orthodox” on passports. The Church got three million signatures that they would receive on passports the seal of an Orthodox confession, and the state ignored them. And see, this is half of the population who has a right to vote! There were people there who were paid from abroad, to show that Greeks are non-Orthodox.

Many people in Orthodoxy have a tendency to easily make schism within themselves. But they don’t care about the fact that this is the way the spirit of sobornost is lost, that the Holy Spirit does not descend on a divided people. He descends on all, but it’s impossible to divide the Holy Spirit, and it’s impossible to “privatize” Him. On Mount Athos there are zealots. They wrote on the [Esphigmenou] monastery: “Orthodoxy or death!” Why this? They even bought gasoline so that if someone were to come and force them out they could burn down the monastery. These are fanatics – this isn’t faith. But they are the few and this is not a characteristic of Athos. There are many holy fathers on Athos, there are people who live a true spiritual life, a living faith.

It’s impossible to simplify life in such a way so that everything would be problemless and without offenses. “Woe to the world because of offenses,” said the Savior (Matt 18:7) and it is like this throughout history. But we musn’t be afraid of offenses, “for offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!”, as well as him who supports it, offending others. There is always a great responsibility for this, however, we should never impose our measure, that someone determine themselves as a measure, a canon.

I remember being told how the abbesses in Petersburg were angry at Metropolitan Nikodim. And nothing, Nikodim was how he always was. He is not the measure of the Church, just as now I am not the measure, or someone else. Christ is the measure for the Church. We musn’t be afraid but we must be on guard that our souls not be offended – in this is the problem! I am not against zealots. God is my witness. And those diplomats who deal with Church politics, or even world [politics], and people in general of great importance, they forget that their zeal as Christians is also necessary. The body of the Church was always defended by its faithful, however, at the head of the faithful were always their pastors. The pastors are the priests, bishops, where the church’s most important organization is.

The canons of the Church are also a holy thing. However, if oikonomia (economy) has been designated, if something needs to be done out of necessity, even if the canon is violated, this is exclusively for the salvation of man and not merely that the canon be violated... See what has happened to the Greeks, those who respect the Old Calendar, poor unfortunates – they wanted to preserve the old style at all costs but then a great evil occurred – they’ve already been divided into five groups. It’s not good that the old style was changed but there are no dogmas about the calendar... Fr. Justin, my spiritual father, was such a man who was ready to die for every word of the canons, but even at that time, that at least one soul be saved, a canon needed to be sacrificed... This is the freedom of the Fathers.

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The Deliverance of Moscow From the Tartars in 1395 AD

The Deliverance of Moscow From the Tartars in 1395 AD by the Vladimir Mother of God (Feast Day - August 26)

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Occasionally one hears an ungodly word even among Christians: here, even God cannot help!

There is no danger in which God cannot help nor are there any enemies who could conquer by their own power without God's permission.

Do not ask how God will destroy the powerful army of our enemies; that is easier for God then it is for you to inhale or exhale air.

Read how God, by one apparition, terrified the Syrian army, so the army dispersed and Israel was saved: "For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, 'Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the king of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us'" (2 Kings 7:6).

Read how Jerusalem was saved from the powerful army of Babylon without any effort of King Hezekiah except his cry and prayer before God: "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred four-score and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses" (2 Kings 19:35).

But God did not perform such miracles only in ancient times but He performs them every time when the faithful pray to Him. Thus, in the year 1395 A.D., the Tartar King Tamburlaine [Tamerlane] surrounded Moscow with his countless soldiers. The Russians brought the miracle-working icon of the Most-holy Theotokos from the town of Vladimir to Moscow and all the people with tears began to pray to the Most-Holy and Pure One. Suddenly, for no visible reason, the army of Tartars began to withdraw hurriedly and to flee. What happened? Tamburlaine had a vision in a dream: clouds of saints moving beneath the heavens and in their midst, the Holy Birth-giver of God as Queen and, further still, countless hosts of angels. The Theotokos sharply threatened Tamburlaine and ordered him to leave immediately from the land of the Russians and the saints waved their staffs at the emperor. Terrified by this dream, Tamburlaine as soon as it dawned, ordered a retreat and flight.

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Mega Dendron: The Village of St. Kosmas Aitolos

Kosmas, who was baptized Kostas Dimitriou, was born in a mountain village named Mega Dendron (Great Tree), a municipal district of Thermo, in 1714 to pious parents who hailed from Epiros but had moved to the province of Aitolia, where they worked as weavers. Kosmas remained and worked with his parents until the age of twenty. He had received little or no formal education during this time, although his brother Chrysanthos had given him the rudiments of an education when he was much younger and it is said he attended a Secret School at the Holy Monastery of Saint Paraskeve in Mandra where he was taught by Fr. Prokopios Giannelos.

Unhappy with his life and with his inability to understand the Gospel which he loved to hear in church, Kosmas decided to leave his village and his parents to receive an education.

Once, feeling the need to introduce himself to his audience, Kosmas said:

"My false, earthly, and fruitless homeland is the province of Arta, in the district of Apokouro. My father, my mother, my family are pious Orthodox Christians. However, I too am, my brethren, a sinful man, worse than anyone. But I'm a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified.... Leaving my homeland fifty years ago, I traveled to many places... and especially to Constantinople. I stayed the longest on the Holy Mountain, seventeen years, where I wept over my sins. Among the countless gifts which my Lord has granted me, he made me worthy to acquire a little Greek learning and I became a monk."

When one travels to his native village of Mega Dendron today, there is the beautiful and progressive Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration in which is kept a relic of a foot of St. Kosmas. One can also visit the home in which St. Kosmas was raised as well as the grave of his parents. There is also a monastery dedicated to St. Kosmas.

Mega Dendron was also the village St. Evgenios of Aitolia (Aug. 6) who was born in 1595 or 1596.

Below are photos of the relic, the house and the graves of the parents of St. Kosmas. More photos can be seen here and here.

The receiving of the relic of St. Kosmas by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Mega Dendron

The entrance to the house of St. Kosmas

The spot where the house of St. Kosmas was located

The grave of the parents of St. Kosmas

Statue of St. Kosmas in the yard of the house

The Museum of St. Kosmas Aitolos

The Museum of St. Kosmas Aitolos

Inside the museum of St. Kosmas

The prophecies of St. Kosmas inside the museum

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Alexandros Papadiamandis: The Spiritual Dimension of His Work

The following comes from the blog Translating Alexandros Papadiamantis by Irene Voulgaris, who endeavors to make the works of this great literary figure more widely available in the English language through her site. Below is an excellent introduction to Papadiamandis translated by Irene by the renowned theologian, Monk Moses the Athonite.

By Monk Moses the Athonite

After expressing my warmest thanks to those who kindly invited my lowliness to this vesperal memorial anniversary, I will proceed to my subject, as I do not like wasting time with long introductions.

160 years have gone by since the birth of Alexandros Papadiamantis and 100 since his passing away. Despite the passing of so many decades, his memory remains alive. People have always been writing about him. There are not so many references for any other of our literary men. We will try, in the short time available, to show the religiosity, the Orthodox Christian spirituality, of Alexandros Papadiamantis which is undoubtedly spontaneous and sincere and warm.

Papadiamantis studied literature but he is a theologian, because a theologian is not a person who has a degree in theology, but the one who truly prays, according to blessed Neilos the Ascetic. A theologian is essentially a faithful person who lives an authentic Christian life, a friend of God, a partaker of God, a saint, the redeemed and saved. Inside our Orthodoxy nobody is ever saved individually; he is saved when he shares his life with other people, helping them to be saved in various ways. Papadiamantis’s God is the Creator of the universe, the Creator of man, the Almighty, Divine Providence, the caring Father. He believes in God’s will, in Divine Providence, in Divine Grace, in Divine reward and just judgment.

According to Papadiamantis, man’s relationship with God is one of obedience, of keeping His commandments, of ministering to Him in the person of every neighbor with self-sacrifice. Man’s relationships are shattered by sin. Papadiamantis’s works are full of sinners. Prodigals, godless, blasphemous and ambitious people, thieves, usurers, gluttons, drunkards, unjust, envious and even sacrilegious people, hypocrites, people committing suicide as well as killers roam through his novels and his short stories. Nevertheless, we end up sympathizing with all these sinful heroes of his as we identify our own sinful person in them, but also because they usually repent for their actions. Papadiamantis knows how easily human nature falls into temptations and sins. But he also knows the cure in the Church by sincere repentance and confession. For Papadiamantis the Church is, as he writes: “the caring mother and the source of every consolation.”

Papapiamantis firmly believes that it is not easy for the modern Greeks not to believe. Inside the Church, the innate religious feeling and sentiment is strengthened. The Greek has to strive too hard if he is not to have any faith at all. However, Papadiamantis justifies the alienation of the people as it is a result of the breakdown of the bond of love with the Greek Orthodox tradition, a fact that deteriorated because of the loss of trust caused by scandals that broke out in the clergy. For Papadiamantis, tradition is, as he says, “to live according to God’s law”. He, eventually, admits: “I am a genuine child of the Christian Orthodox Church, as it is represented by its bishops”. In another case, however, he is not hindered from criticizing them strictly for their various provocative actions.

Papadiamantis does not believe in an ideological Greek Christian nebula. He firmly believes that Hellenism needs Christianity badly. He considers mimicking and xenomania - “gawping to foreign habits”- that is, the introduction of the western lifestyle to our home country, dangerous for Greek society. Thus, it is with deep pain that he observes the deterioration of morals, the weakening of the Orthodox Christian faith of the people, the counterfeiting of the rich and beautiful Greek language. He regrets the fact that “Illiteracy is already openly preached, as is the unavailingness of writing or speaking in the right way”, so that “nearly the whole language has become an illegitimate and false construct.”

He writes that the Greeks follow “Christian worship without faith and honest conscience”. The lack of morals, the deterioration of morals, the immorality, the hate for our neighbours has begun to prevail all over our land. What would the wonderful Papadiamantis say today, a hundred years later?

The solution to the problem, according to Papadiamantis, is to repent and to return to the fair and genuine ecclesiastical tradition. More specifically, he stresses: “Proper defense of our home country would be the conscientious functioning of the institutions, national education, honest administration, the eradication of foreign materialism and of the mimicking which have corrupted the spirit and have degenerated the nation, and the prevention of bankruptcy”. His words, my dear brothers, as you very well understand, have significant validity even today.

Papadiamantis thinks that the problem is aggravated by the unwillingness of church leaders to take action. He does not want the Church to do business or to stage plays. There is only one solution according to him: the conscientious return to the saint-sustaining experience of the Church and its life. Inside the holy and saving Church which explains the right faith, the human being is born again, is transformed, and is armed with the armor of light and of grace against sins of every kind, and meets once again the living God of mercy and compassion. The great choice depends upon the human being. In Papadiamantis’s rich work his suffering figures usually reach redemption through sincere repentance and then they live a new life. Not always, however. Some of them remain in the dark because they make a bad use of their freedom.

Our important prose writer from Skiathos often describes nature “with love”, but he is not a conceited ecologist, or a nature-worshipping dreamer. By referring to the beauty of nature and describing it elaborately, he proceeds towards its Creator and glorifies Him for His perfect wisdom. He has written about these kind of people in one of his short stories: “Little, involuntary pagans who after so many centuries still keep worshipping nature unconsciously.” He is certainly grieved when the beauty of the natural environment is destroyed, and writes with a sorrowful heart: “The infamous spirit has invaded the works of God”.

By studying Papadiamantis’s work as a whole, we note that not only did he know to write, to describe, to give an account of the morals of the time, to criticize and to offer solutions, but he, himself, was also endowed with integrity, had chosen to lead a life of piety, of virtue and of honest work and virtuous chatter, a life with a course, a target, a discourse and value. Early on in his life, he had realized the vanity of the mundane and he was not afraid of death, for his faith was warm. He chose to live a simple, spartan, secluded life, quietly, peacefully and calmly. He did not become conceited, he chose to stand by the humble and the despised and he introduced them marvelously into his work.

Papadiamantis’s work preserves the pure piety of the people. The priests in his work are simple, poor, and even naive at times, but they feel with all their existence the mystery of the living God, the genuine Orthodox Christian way of living and liturgical tradition, even when they cannot express it. Being fully aware of their sinful nature, they never cease praying for mercy, life, peace and salvation for their flock, whom Christ Himself entrusted to them. They do not attempt “liturgical renewals”, for they are satisfied with the food offered by the existing genuine tradition, glorifying the Most High continuously and invoking His ineffable mercy.

Papadiamantis declared his faith strongly and undeniably in his characteristic way: “For as long as I live and breathe and have my logic, I will never cease singing hymns of worship to my Christ”. Sin pains him, the babylonianism of Athens grieves him, the gossip of his island about the ones led astray by sin tires him; however, he does not give up struggling, hoping, trusting God, presenting some of his heroes as saints. The childless Seraino of “Karahmeti’s Wedding”, the simple shepherd in “Poor Saint”, the glorious new martyr in “The Widow of the New Martyr” and others.

We must not forget that Papadiamantis is the son of a devout priest, who is a follower of the genuine renewal Athonite movement of the solemn Kollyvades. He is brought up with divine liturgies, sacred books, holy icons, inviolable Church traditions, with the nice customs and the excellent morals. He studied the fragrant biographies of the saints, the patristic and neptic texts, the amazing "Philokalia", the songs of the services. He was a reader and a chanter of the Church. All this knowledge made him go to Mount Athos in order to become a monk. However, after staying for less than a year at the Hermitage of the Annunciation of the Monastery of Xenophontos, he returned to the world, always feeling deep respect towards monastic life, especially the Athonite.

His ecclesiastical ethos make him feel no anger or fanaticism against the sinful heroes of his works, and all his fellow human beings in general. He hopes in repentance, he believes in God’s love, he considers that offering alms is preferable to justice. He loves focusing on repentance, not as a professional preacher but as a compassionate brother. Sympathy towards weak fellow human beings characterizes the real Christian, the evangelical man.

So Papadiamantis grew up with Byzantine psalmodies, pure candles and Athonite incense. Throughout his life, he remained attached to the Church. He believed in God strongly, he believed in the intercession of the saints and of the Holy Virgin, he believed in their miracles. His good cousin, A. Moraitidis, tells us that when once Papadiamantis became well after a strong toothache, he wrote a whole service for Saint Antypas who is the patron of all those who suffer a toothache, to thank him. Papadiamantis was not a dreamer of the past, but an admirer of the truth which upheld generations upon generations, so that they created marvelous cultural works and an inspired upright way of living.

Papadiamantis is evidently not a saint with a saint’s halo. But he is a fighter. He is not unsocial, miserable, isolated, inhibited, disadvantaged and torn. He is a voluntary monk in the world, without property, gracious, poor, simple, spartan, single, modest, humble. He is not a lover of the flesh but a naturally tempted man. He loved wine but he was not a drunkard. Once, a monk went to a spiritual father at one of the Holy Mountain’s hermitages to confess his sins. He found the father drunk and dizzy. He was scandalised and told him that he had come in vain to confess his sins to a father who is a drunkard. Then, to his astonishment, the spiritual father said: “Yes, you have come three times to confess but you did not confess that sin!” Let us not be too critical or condemn everyone in haste. It would be better if we were strict with ourselves and lenient with others.

Paul Nirvanas calls Papadiamantis “a monk in the world” (κοσμοκαλόγερο), describes him walking with his head bent and his hands folded behind his back, sitting at secluded cafes with simple people, a lover of peace and quiet, badly dressed, with the edges of his sleeves always worn out, and when he was offered 150 drachmas for one of his works he said that 100 drachmas were enough. He presents him cranky, strange and afraid of the world. However, the blessed aged monk and scholar Theokletos Dionysiatis in his book about Papadiamantis presents a different thesis, with which we agree. He writes:

“If we study deeply his way of living, we will discover characteristics of monastic practice and virtue and a tendency to overcome what most people consider good. Besides, what does his untidy look signify, and also his tendency to avoid being with many people, his voluntary poverty and his ascetic living conditions, given the fact that he had the means to improve them, - '100 drachmas are enough for me' - , his vigils and his chanting, his ecclesiastical morals, his sensitivity for matters of ecclesiastical tradition, his alms from his visibly poor means, his humility, his holiness and his other virtues, if not reflections of the monastic way of living?”

Papadiamantis should be for the Greeks what the great Dostoyevsky is for the Slavs. He is a prophet of our race. He writes “Μη θρησκευτικά, προς Θεού!".

The Greek nation is not Byzantine, do you understand? Today’s Greeks are directly descended from the ancients. Then they became civilized and made progress. They kept pace with other nations… An Englishman, or a German, or a Frenchman can be cosmopolitan, or anarchist, or godless, or whatever. He has fulfilled his patriotic duty; he has built a great homeland. He is now free to profess, thanks to his luxuries, his lack of faith and his pessimism. But a Graeculus of today who wants to publicly display the fact that he is godless or cosmopolitan looks likes a dwarf who is trying to stand on his toes and is stretching his body to gain height, to look like a giant himself as well.” This is why he says “most of the stories written by me… are rather religious”. The inspired Papadiamantis knows what he is doing. With his work he is honored as a pedagogue of Orthodox Christian Hellenism. Once, feeling pain and holy indignation, he wrote while he was in Athens: “Here Mammon is truly deified; it would be a thousand times more preferable if the ancient poetic idolatry existed instead. Nevertheless, now the dominant religion is the filthiest and the most brutal Materialism. Christianity is only as a pretext a religion.” What would he say today?

He hated riches and loved poverty. From what few things he had, he gave alms in secret. He wrote what he himself had lived: “One must remain in the position where he was at the beginning, however humble, however poor it seems to be; the honest worthlessness is forever a lot more preferable to hollow and flamboyant luxury and to enjoyable life.” He lived and died poor, modest and humble. He passed away in his beautiful island a hundred years and a month ago at the dawn of 01/03/1911, after he received Holy Communion, chanting and crying.

Today, most of our literary figures, our intelligentsia, our journalists delight in doing a lot of things which they should not be doing; several deride and vilify Papadiamantis. He spoils their schemes. Graeculism, godlessness, nihilism, corruption, love of money, love of flesh and ambition prevail and they do not want to be disturbed by powerful and pure voices such as Papadiamantis’s, whose life and work judges them.

Sleep sir, Alexandre, in the arms of your island quietly. You fulfilled your duty both as an Orthodox Christian and as a Greek. Your life and your work light the darkness. Darkened, trapped, betrayed, allured by foreign sirens, Greece which you loved so much, is ailing. Prisoned in the bitter deadlocks of individualism, materialism and godlessness, it mopes and pines. May the pages of your works and the example of your life become windows of freedom for the return to a graciously simple living that will be genuinely humble, truly repented, truly Christian.

Alexandros Papadiamantis had always been attached to the Church. He was never tired or burdened of this relationship. He was a true Christian. He was a faithful servant of the Lord. He was the one who heard from St Anastasia “Go away, incurable one; pain will be your life…” Only a genuine Christian after hearing this could write: “I felt a wild joy because the saint had not listened to my prayer.” Papadiamantis is not merely a romantic nostalgic person of a bygone nice picturesqueness which no longer exists, but he was nostalgic of a substantial, true and well-timed Christian living which is worth living to its utmost, my dear brothers. Thank you very much for coming and for your attention.

Translated by Irene Voulgaris
Edited by John Sanidopoulos

Acknowledgement: We are grateful to Gerontas Moses for giving us his permission and his blessing to publish the translation of his talk.

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The Church and Relics of the Apostle Titus in Heraklion, Crete

The Holy Apostle Titus (Feast Day - August 25)

The pedestrian-only 25th of August Street in Heraklion is directly opposite the Old Harbour and extends to Lion Square. 25th of August Street may have been first cut by the Arabs in the 9th or 10th century. It has always been the main thoroughfare of Heraklion, linking the town centre to the harbour. During the Venetian period (13th-17th century) it was called the Ruga Maistra (Main Street), while in Ottoman times it was known as Vezir Tsarsi (Vizier's Market) after the Vezir Mosque. The street takes its name from a massacre of 'ethno-martyrs' which occurred in 1898 on the feast of St. Titus. This involved the killing of many Cretans and, crucially, 17 British soldiers and the British Consul Lysimachos Kalokairinos, by the Turks, finally forcing the ‘Great Powers' (Britain, France and Russia) to recognize Crete's struggle. These events led eventually to the declaration of a Cretan State and, finally, unification with Greece in 1913. Old and modern buildings compete for space now on the street named to commemorate the 25th of August.

Walking up the short hill, passing the shops and tourist offices, we reach St. Titus' Cathedral, an impressive sight. Saint Titus, a fellow traveller of Saint Paul, preached the gospel in Crete during Roman rule and was martyred in Gortyn, where a 7th Century basilica stands in his memory. Titus was one of the Seventy Apostles and was born in Crete and educated in Greek philosophy and poetry. St. Titus today is the patron saint of Heraklion and all Crete. His church in Heraklion was built in 961, when Emperor Nikephoros Phokas drove the Arabs from Crete, bringing the island back under the wing of the powerful Roman Empire, and it first served as the city's cathedral. During Venetian rule, it housed the seat of the Catholic archbishop and was renovated in 1466, only to be ruined in a fire in 1544. During the Turkish Occupation it served as a mosque and was called Vizier Tzami, when a minaret was added. The present-day structure is the result of further renovations by architect Athanasios Moussis, who also designed the Orthodox cathedral of Saint Minas and the barracks in Eleftherias Square, after its almost entire destruction by a strong earthquake in 1856, and later work which followed in 1922 after the Muslims left Heraklion in the exchange and during which time the minaret was removed. The skull of St Titus was transferred here from Venice in 1966 and has since been kept in the church.

The first church dedicated to St. Titus was that in the old capital Gortyn, which also housed the metropolitan see of the island until its destruction by earthquake and the Arab transfer of the capital from Gortyn to Chandax (Heraklion) in 828 AD. The skull of St Titus, the miraculous icon of Panagia Mesopanditissa and other sacred relics from Gortyn were moved to the new church when it was built in the tenth century. At the fall of Heraklion to the Turks all relics were removed to Venice in the Basilika of Saint Mark, where they still remain today. The single exception is the skull of St Titus, which was returned to Heraklion in 1966 and is now kept in a silver reliquary in the church.

The skull of the saint was returned to Crete following a series of negotiations with the representatives of the western church which lasted from 1957 to 1966. On the morning of May 15, 1966 hundreds of devout Christians gathered at the port of Heraklion to honour the arrival of the holy relics. It was an extraordinary experience for all Christians. The Church celebrated the event with a stately joint liturgy at the Cathedral. The memorable Archbishop of Crete, Evgenios (pictured), eulogised the saint's skull as a "much honored treasure". Since then the relics have been a blessing for the Church of Crete.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
O Holy Apostle Titus, intercede to our merciful God, that He may grant our souls forgiveness of sins.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
O yoke-mate of Paul, together with him, thou didst preach the tidings to us of saving grace bestowed of God, O Apostle Titus, blest and elect revealer of mysteries; for which cause we cry out to thee: Cease not to entreat Christ God for all of us.

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