Saint Sozon the Martyr of Cilicia and Patron of Limnos

St. Sozon the Martyr of Cilicia (Feast Day - September 7)

Sozon was born in Lyconia. He was a shepherd and kept all of God's laws, instructing his peers and friends in his pious Faith. In a vision he was shown that he would suffer martyrdom for Christ. This was in the time of Maximian, magistrate of Cilicia, who perpetrated a terrible persecution of Christians in the nearby city of Pompeiopolis. In that city there was a certain golden idol which the pagans worshiped. Sozon left his flock, went to the city, entered the pagan temple and broke the arm off the golden idol. He crumbled it into bits and distributed it to the poor. There was a great uproar because of this, and the pagans sought out the guilty one. So that no one else would suffer for his deed, Sozon went to the magistrate and declared himself to be a Christian and the perpetrator of that act. His torturers first beat him, then suspended him from a tree and scraped his body with iron combs. When he was nearly dead, they cast him into a fire, where St. Sozon gave up his holy soul to God. He suffered in about the year 304. St. Sozon's relics were miracle-working, and a church in his name was built over them.

Source: St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Prologue

Saint Sozon, the Patron of Limnos

Through Roman times the island of Limnos (or Lemnos) had as its protector Saint Alexander, whose relics rested there up until 1308. This is mentioned in a codex at the Patriarchate of Alexandria. In 1308 pirates stole these holy relics and sold them to Venetians. Since then the mention of Saint Alexander as the patron of Limnos gradually weakened.

This was followed by many tragic events on the island: pirate raids, battles between imperial families for its control, the intrusion of the Franks, the Venetian conquest, the fall of Constantinople, and finally the Ottoman occupation of the island in 1479. Because of these events and changes, old habits gradually became forgotten.

In the mid-eighteenth century the island began to recover from its poverty and illiteracy. Limnian sailors and merchants would come into contact with Europeans, Russians and Egyptians. With their newly acquired wealth they began to rebuild many of their old humble and ruined churches in the villages. Limnian captains would sail to Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, the ports of the Aegean islands and the Black Sea. On their way to the Dardanelles they would look upon their island from afar. There they would sea a small chapel from afar on the south coast of Limnos that would give them strength and courage to continue their battle with the sea. This was the Church of Saint Sozon, located near the village Fisini (Physsini).

The sailors would look upon Saint Sozon as their savior, because at one time he saved certain castaways when he turned his cloak into a boat. When they would light their candles in the church, they would cross themselves and say a prayer that they would return unharmed to their island. When they were in danger or threatened by a storm, they would pray "Saint Sozon, save us!" Then they would present their offerings: one person an icon, another a liturgy, whatever one was able to do.

At the same time, the residents of Limnos began to pray to Saint Sozon, even making vows to him that their loved ones would return to the island safe. In this way, for Limnian seamen and their families, Saint Sozon became a patron saint, and every year on September 7th they would go to the chapel of the Saint and honor his memory. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Saint Sozon was seen by all on Limnos to be their patron saint.

In a list of official holidays celebrated on the island of Limnos in 1887 there is no mention of Saint Sozon. The earliest written testimony to the celebration of Saint Sozon as patron of the island is in 1906. In this year the Limnos Brotherhood of Alexandria decided on September 7th to host a feast of the patron saint of Limnos Sozon with a Great Vespers on the evening prior to the feast and a Divine Liturgy with an artoklasia on the day of the feast. Therefore, the exact date of the establishment of Saint Sozon as the patron of Limnos is to be found between 1887 and 1906.

Until today, Limnians of the diaspora in Australia, Canada, the USA and South Africa still uphold the old tradition to gather and celebrate the feast of Saint Sozon. The celebration of the Saint is a link they have with their homeland and remind them of their childhood years on the island.

The Chapel of Saint Sozon on Limnos

The Chapel of Saint Sozon stands in the small village of Skandali, on the south-eastern tip of Limnos from medieval times. In old maps this area was known as Cogito, which is a distortion of the name "ston Agiosoznta" (στον Αγιοσώζ’ντα). The name Cogito was first reported by the Italian scholar Porcacchi in 1572. Therefore, the Chapel of Saint Sozon existed at least since the early sixteenth century. Previously in this position there was also a small fortress, which in 1572 was already in ruins. In today's church the oldest evidence comes from some icons of the nineteenth century.

Recently, the cells of the church were restored by the brothers Stenou. Today the church is deserted but on its feast day, the 7th of September, it is the place where a big festival takes place.

According to local tradition the church was built in this area at the suggestion of Saint Sozon himself in a miraculous way. The area where the church is always had holy water that was fresh and at sea level. A resident of the nearby village of Fisini had found an old icon of Saint Sozon close to the church. She brought the icon with her to the village, but when morning came the icon had disappeared and was found again at the place of the holy water.

This happened many times until the Saint appeared to a pious shepherd and revealed to him the spot where he desired a church to be built in his honor to house his holy icon. Specifically he told the shepherd to start off in the morning his normal routine and he will guide him. He did as he was told, and when morning came it was still dark outside. However when he came to the designated spot, behind him it was still dark, but in front of him it was like day. As he walked the darkness remained behind him but the light guided him to the exact spot. It was here that the shepherd built the church which stands today.

The miraculous manner in which this church was established became known throughout all of Limnos and the residents began to celebrate a three-day festival in honor of Saint Sozon. The evening before residents from every town and village would gather around the church, and they would receive hospitality from the residents of the nearby village of Fisini. Eventually cells were built around the church to house all the pilgrims who came for the feast. After Great Vespers all would celebrate the feast with violins and lyres. Following the Divine Liturgy in the morning a procession with the holy icon took place, then the festivities would continue till the next morning. The next day the families with their animals would depart for their villages. This feast continues till today.

Source

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

Kontakion in the Second Tone
As we come together on this day, let us acclaim with a great voice Sozon, the true and God-bearing Martyr, the approved athlete of godliness, the divine initiate of grace, the most bountiful bestower of healings; for he intercedeth with God for us all.

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Saint Sozon the Martyr of Cyprus

Saint Sozon is a local Saint of Paphos and a martyr of the Church of Cyprus, but he is unkown to biographers of Saints' lives and for this reason he has no synaxary. However, he is mentioned by the Cypriot Medieval chronicler Leontios Macheras.

According to Leontios Machairas, when the Saracens came to Cyprus during the 7th century AD, they burned the icon of the Virgin Mary at the Monastery (probably the near by monastery of Panagia Chrysorroiatissa or Agia Moni Monastery) and the image of the Virgin Mary was, printed by miracle on the flat stone surface there, and this image existed until the time of Macheras in the 14th century. Saint Sozon was a young shepherd from Plakountoudin, a medieval settlement near the village of Asprogia in Paphos. The young shepherd was persecuted by the Saracens, and during the chase he broke his milk container and the print of the spilled milk remained on the rocks where it fell. Saint Sozon fled to a cave where he hid along with other boys and when the Saracens reached them, they set fire to the cave and burned them.

The cave is located near the village of Asprogia in the Paphos district and is called "The Cave of Saint Sozon". The cave is very large, but today there is nothing inside it since it has ceased to be a place of worship. It is said that in the old days there was water running from the cave which stemmed from its mouth and was considered to be holy water. According to tradition, the holy water of Saint Sozon cures hives. However, today there is no evidence of water there. There is water running from a much smaller cave located in the riverbed, below the large cavern. Also in the old days the faithful used to hang clothes on the wild bushes near the cave in order to be cured. In the area where the Saint became a martyr, opposite the cave and over the river, a church was built to his name in later years where the remains of the Martyr were kept and which were considered miraculous. The ruins of the church of Saint Sozon in Asprogia are still to be seen there. Holy remains of the Saint are kept in the Monastery of Machairas and the Monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa.

The memory of Saint Sozon is celebrated on the 7th of September.

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On the Passion of Anger

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Victory over anger is one of the greatest victories of a soldier of Christ. We generally become angry either at those we wish to turn back from sin, or at those who slander us. However, in doing so we forget that anger is a mortal sin, and in desiring the salvation of others we lose our own, according to the words of St. Macarius. Anger against our enemies is usually tied to another evil impulse, the desire for revenge.

St. Eupsychius so overcame the passion of anger in himself, that before his death, he gave one portion of his great estate to the poor and another portion to his slanderers, because of whom he was being tortured and slain. He considered his slanderers as his benefactors.

St. John Chrysostom writes: "Let us clip the wings of anger, and evil will not rise high. Anger is an evil sickness that can destroy our souls... Anger is a terrible fire which devours everything... If an angry man could see himself at the moment of his anger, he would need no other counsel not to become angry, because there is nothing more unpleasant than an angry face."

Abba Ammon confessed of himself: "I spent fourteen years in Scetis, praying to God day and night, to give me victory over anger."

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"Is Intelligent Design Viable?" William Lane Craig vs. Francisco Ayala

Jonathan M.
September 7, 2010
Evolution News and Views

Late last year, the eminent Christian philosopher and proponent of intelligent design, William Lane Craig, crossed swords in debate with the avid apologist for Darwinian evolution, Francisco Ayala, of the Biologos Foundation. The debate was chaired by philosopher of physics Bradley Monton of the University of Colorado, an ID sympathizer, though a convinced atheist himself. Monton is the author of the book, Seeking God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design. A fascinating ID the Future interview with Professor Monton can be downloaded here.

Following Dr. Ayala's opening statement, Dr. Craig commenced his presentation by carefully setting out the definition of ID as the study of legitimate design inferences. Craig stipulated that, were Ayala to attempt to refute the inference to design with respect to biological systems, he would need to do one of two things. Either Ayala would need to directly challenge the legitimacy of the explanatory filter (presumably by demonstrating that it incorporates false positives) or demonstrate that the systems featured in biology do not meet the criteria of the explanatory filter. Setting aside the discussions pertaining to the tenability of universal common ancestry, Craig set about to argue that Ayala's attempts to disqualify ID on scientific grounds were doomed because he had failed to demonstrate, in his published work, that the dual forces of random mutation and natural selection, are causally sufficient to account for macroevolution. He also argued that Ayala's more numerous attempts to disqualify ID on theological grounds are completely irrelevant to the process of drawing a design inference from biological phenomena, because none of the arguments for ID aspire to show that the designer possesses the qualities of omnibenevolence or omnipotence. After all, Craig argued, a design inference is still warranted with respect to a medieval torture rack, regardless of the malevolent purposes of the system's design. Questions pertaining to the nature of the designer are for natural theology, not for the scientific research program of ID. This is what distinguishes the modern concept of ID from the Watchmaker argument of William Paley's Natural Theology.
Amazingly, Dr. Ayala completely avoided the arguments that had been presented and instead opted to construct his case against ID on theological grounds. This approach had a taint of irony, as the theologian attempted to focus the debate on science, while the scientist attempted to focus the debate on theology. Ayala's few scientific points, such as the claim that Behe used the eye as an example of an irreducibly complex system, significantly misconstrued the position of proponents of ID.

Craig responded to all of Ayala's arguments during the rebuttal period, and also ventured down the theological rabbit trail into which Ayala had invited him. Craig thus took time to explore the theological problem of evil for the existence of God. He also called Ayala out on his misconstrual of Michael Behe's book, Darwin's Black Box, in which he argues that the biochemistry of vision -- not the anatomical structure of the eye -- is irreducibly complex.

In short, the debate winded up being quite one-sided, with Ayala essentially ignoring the central elements of Craig's presentation. Ayala would bring up items related to theology, categorized by Craig as irrelevant, and the few scientific remarks he did make were chiefly concerned with the proposition of common ancestry or with the limited explicative powers of natural selection, also categorized by Craig as beside the point.

The debate can be viewed in full on youtube. Here's the first clip:

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Greek Orthodox Help the Needy in Fiji

Greek Orthodox Heed Christ's Calling

Serafina Silaitoga
September 07, 2010
Fiji Times Online

THE Greek Orthodox Church has set aside $0.5 million for projects for the poor and the lonely, as they fulfill Christ's call to love one another.

The church has bought land in the Western Division to build an orphanage and an old people's home.

The church's Archbishop of New Zealand and the Pacific, Archbishop Amphilochios, was in Fiji last week to finalise these plans.

As part of his visit, Archbishop Amphilochios visited church members in the north to finalise plans for a new church building and a piece of land in Labasa.

Archbishop Amphilochios told the Fiji Times the orphanage would be built in Lautoka and the old people's home in Nadi.

"We are fulfilling our mission that Christ gave and that is to go out into the world and preach the good news and baptise everyone in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit," he said.

"The Orthodox church reaches out to the community and helps everyone, especially the poor people who need a home and need to be taken care of."

Archbishop Amphilochios said the project for the two houses would be costly but the church had a responsibility to look after the needy in the community.

"The church came into Fiji four years ago but has been active over the past two years and we are here to stay and help the people of Fiji," he said yesterday.

"Our mission is to help meet people's needs and lead them to know Jesus, which is important of all.

"During my stay here in Fiji, I have met with people who need homes and need to be taken care of and I was touched by that.

"So the church will look into this and open up an orphanage and an old people's home for our loved ones," Archbishop Amphilochios said.

The church has its base at Sabeto in Nadi.

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The Burial of Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis (Video)

Below is video of the burial of Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis three days after his death. Some say a miracle takes place at about the two minute mark when Fr. Justin, the Chancellor of the Metropolis of Florina, lifts the softened arm of Metropolitan Augoustinos and has him do the sign of the Cross. The softness of the body of the Metropolitan was first noticed by an Athonite monk when he saw a child lift the arm of the Metropolitan. According to Fr. Nektarios Moulatsiotis, all were astonished and with "open mouths" when they saw this, since they see in this a sign of holiness.

I don't know enough about dead bodies to confirm if this is really a miracle, since from my knowledge rigor mortis begins to reverse itself usually on the third day after death and the dead body does become tender and softened. Despite this however, the Metropolitan is a holy man and if it is God's will to confirm this to the people in the future then it will happen.

See also:

Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis Has Reposed

Thousands Attend Funeral of Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis


Orthodox Tube

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Holy Panormitis Monastery of the Archangel Michael in Symi

The Archangel Michael Monastery of Panormitis

The monastery is located on the south end of Symi, situated on the sea front of the tiny village of Panormitis. It is a closed in cove with a small sandy beach, protected by a narrow inlet that opens out into a wide harbour. The mountainous backdrop is covered with pine trees which give the area an ambiance of solitude.

The monastery is a large 18th-century Venetian styled building with the highest baroque bell tower in the world. The facade of the main structure is white and it stretches along the coast on either side of the main gateway. In excellent condition, the Italians constructed these two rows of buildings after World War II. These buildings now contain holiday flats that can be rented by tourists visiting the monastery and also contain a bakery among other things.

Once inside the monastery main gate, visitors are welcomed by an inner courtyard, decorated with exotic trees and plants, and paved with 'hokhlakia'. The church dedicated to the Panormiti is on the left and inside contains the 2-metre high, silver-leafed, wall icon of the Panormiti. The entire church interior is covered with iconography (of particular interest is the 'fall of the angels' mural at the back of the church) and is decorated with very elaborate chandeliers.

The exact historical date of the construction of this church remains unknown but some suggest that it was built around 450 AD over the site of an ancient temple dedicated to the pagan god Apollo. It is known for certainty that the existing church underwent a major renovation in the 18th century to bring it to the standard that is in existence today.

The monastery has two museums. One houses ecclesiastical art, and is rich in exhibits like pontificals, silver icons, Russian epitaphs and ecclesiastical utensils, ship model offerings brought to Panormitis from far away by the sea, and one of folk art with important objects of the folk culture of the island, relevant to fishing, agriculture and shepherding. There is also a library with Byzantine manuscripts and editions of ecclesiastical, historical and philological content, as well as a gallery with paintings of the landscape of the monastery and its two chapels. There is also memorial to a former abbot, two monks and two teachers, who in 1944, were executed for running a spy radio for the British commandoes.

The monastery receives heaps of day-trippers from Rhodes, so if you really want to enjoy it in peace and quiet it is best to wait until they have gone. The monastery's dorm-house can host up to 500 people. The only way to get to the monastery is via a ferry or excursion boat. If you are already on the island, there is a road that exists between the monastery and the town of Symi. This can take over six hours to walk or an hour using a local bus service or rented scooter.

Panormitis Icon

In the church is the famous icon of the Archangel Michael Panormitis, who is not only considered the island's patron saint but also the guardian of sailors in the entire Dodecanese area.

One story is that this icon appeared miraculously and, on several occasions, was removed only to reappear mysteriously in this same location. The church was then built over the location, which, other sources suggest, was also a temple to Apollo.


Folklore and tradition

According to legend, if you ask a favour from Archangel Michael, you must promise to give something in return.

The tradition of the broom offering

The locals of the Dodecanese are known to offer a traditional broom. Church tradition has passed down that monks from the monastery would hear the Saint sweeping his monastery at night with this broom offerings. Local tradition has passed down that many would be visited by the Archangel in their sleep who would ask them for the brooms.

Fulfil your promise ... or else ...

The Archangel Michael is famous in the Dodecanese for his righteous nature. If you have made an offering to him and do not fulfull it, he will make it clear through various miracles that he is not pleased - until you complete your promise. One famous miracle that occurs often and to this day, is the miracle of the Archangel preventing the boats from leaving the dock. This has become such a regular occurance, that the Captains of the boat will announce over the PA to the passengers that someone on the boat has forgotten a promise to the Taxiarchi (Archangel). Once this promise is fulfilled, then and only then does the boat's engines work.

Message in a bottle

Another item of interest is the bottles with prayers inside. The origin's of this tradition are owed to the Greek sailors, who would cast these into the sea and would end up, mysteriously, on the shoreline of the monastery. Today, many believers still practise this tradition. If you visit the museum these messages have been kept for anyone to read.

As a result of these traditions, the inside of the church is decorated with an array of gifts given by the devout pilgrims. There have been so many of these gifts that a lot of them can be viewed in the museum and include model ships made from gold and silver. The monastery is also filled with wonderful paintings, carvings and icons depicting various saints.

Other churches of Archangel Michael in Symi

If visiting the island of Symi for this monastery, it is also worthwhile visiting the Monastery of Roukounioti, also dedicated to the Archangel Michael and the Monastery of Kokkimidis. The Monastery of Roukounioti has remarkable murals dating from the 14th century. The Monastery of Kokkimidis, on the other hand, is a old Byzantine monastery renovated in 1697.

Other monasteries of interest include the Monastery of Sotiros and of Stavros Polemou which are on the west coast of the island. Most of the churches on this island are dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

Source


Panormitis Monastery (From the Official Metropolis Website)

Introduction

The Monastery reports to the recently (in July 2004) founded Holy Metropolis of Symi, who is under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Metropolis consists of Symi, where its premises are cited to be the islands of Telos, Chalki, Kastellorizo.

A conservancy (council) consisting of the Prime, the Maire, and the citizens, is at the head of the administration of the Metropolis.

The conservancy meets once a month. The members of the council vote and their decisions are to be approved by the Bishop so as to become legal.

The Monastery is not a public entity. It legally has a permanent staff of 35 persons (blue and white collars).

There is a manager of the technical works, supervising the works of infrastructure, and the reservation of the building.

There are also several specialists working here, such as a carpenter, a driver technicians, builders, a gardener, scaffies, chambermaids, cooks, etc.

The administration offices are situated within the Monastery premises. The administration is exercised by a Secretary Officer, a warehouse man, a financial manager, under the supervision of the abbot.

In the monastery, there is a nursery home where 20 over-aged natives can find professional health care and warm shelter. In this unit, skilled health workers specialized in this kind of care, are working on a 24 hour basis.

The foundation premises

The new building of the foundation has been built in the most high standards offering 20 bedrooms, a comfortable living room and a fully equipped cooking preparation department.

Next to these quarters, the Monastery has recently paid for the building of a new church.

In this chapel - where the Evangelists Mark and Matthew are honored - the guests of the Foundation can find spiritual comfort.

Around the Panormitis Monastery, there are rooms to rent to the visitors, in extremely low prices. Many pilgrims choose to enjoy the landscape and the spirituality of the orthodoxy.

A visitor may have access to the Monastery either from the island of Rhodes or by the port of Symi island.

Buses or private cars and taxis can cross the mainland of the island along from the port up to the Monastery.

Similarly, many boats sail from Rhodes island every day at 09.00pm (during summer). The visitor can take breakfast or lunch, in the restaurant, the traditional wood oven and the café of the monastery.

The foundation of Panormitis supports the social life of the natives in many ways.

35 natives work for its nursery home and it supports financially many destitues as well.

The foundation also sponsors many organizations and gives many scholarships to students. On the name day of the angels, on November 8th, every year, the Monastery honors the Holy angels of the sky.

Thousands of pilgrimers come here to celebrate together the Archangel Michael.

After the holy liturgy, the icon of the Archangel Michael is carried around the Monastery (it is a tradition in Greece).

The Monastery gives a reception open to any pilgrims arriving that day - according to the port authorities, the arrivals of the name day rise to the enormous number of 7000.


HISTORICAL REVIEW

Since the early times of Christianity, according to various written sources and particularly to Paul’s Epistle to Collossians, the heresy of angel worship was in its prime in Phrygia of Asia Minor (region opposite to Symi Island).

It was believed, then, that men were not fair enough to contact with God.

This conception influenced the inhabitants of the Aegean Sea and thus, new centers of worship were created in Symi. These were specially inclined to angel worship in parallel to the godliness of the locals. These centers survive even when this heresy gave its place to Orthodoxy.

In sum, there are nine monasteries devoted to the Archangel Michael (equal in number to the nine sections of angels).

The biggest monastery is that of Panormitis lying in the southern edge of the island. It was built in the inmost part of the pittoresque cove of Panormos. The monastery is named after this ‘panormos’ (where all the currents are hushed).

According to a local legend, the church had been built soon after a lady named “Maria from Protenio” - who was a pious native - found an icon of St Michael.

That lady donated her own house for the church to be built. The temple of our times was built in the 18th century - in 1783 - as engraved on an epigraph of marble found on an outer wall.

The temple is a basilika with two inner cross cupolas fully painted. The painting of sacred icons was carried out by native painters (Neophytos and Kyriakos Karakostis) in 1792.

The excellent frame work scran is a brilliant product of fine skill chancel and patience of a great artist named Drakos Tolidouros coming from Kos Island. This started its construction in the same year with the church but was not fulfilled until fifteen years later.

The sparkling icon of St Michael in natural size surprises the visitor as it inspects the Katholikon (the inner church).

The silver cover all wrought in relief gives further brilliance and splendor to the luminous figure of the Archangel. It was made by a silversmith named Ioannis Peloponisios in 1794, on the local community’s expenses.

This was proved by an iambic epigraph saved on the surface of the sword on the right hand of the archangel. St Michael is portrayed dynamic and as a vanquisher. A sweetness is imprinted on his divine face.

A dead human body is lying under his feet. The Archangel is pictured carrying on his left hand a baby - symbolizing the soul of that dead man. This is a reminder of his role as a soul-carrier angel. In the course of history the Monastery took action on national protests and showed noticeable charity.

The monks living here, for the sake of the Orthodox faith, were contended under difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, they also took part in the revolutions of the nation. The scholar abbot of the monastery Nicandros Filadelphos being a prominent member of the Filiki Etaireia contributed to the Greek Revolution of 1821.

During the Greek Revolution of 1821 many military ships from Hydra island sought for help at the Monastery. The soldiers payed back that help, building a reception room in the court of the Monastery. They named that room “Hydraeko” after Hydra island, the country of those soldiers.

In this very place, the second congress of the citizens of the Dodecanese took place in 1919. Then, the natives came to the resolution of unification with the rest of the other Greek territories.

During the World War 2 the Monastery became the center of the intelligence service of the Alliance, as in its premises a wireless was operating.

The abbot Chrysanthos Maroulakis, together with a Greek wireless operator named Floros Lambros were arrested and executed by the Germans in February 1944. At the Monastery’s expenses a bronze monument has been built as a memorial.

The foundation contributed enormously to the education of the youngsters of the island, founding the school of St Marina and the High School of Panormitis in 1922 (by the abbot Makarios Barvas).

In its museums the visitor can see a rich collection of heirlooms. They are placed in order as manuscripts decorated with colorful additions, portable icons, valuable sacred articles, gold–knitted vestments, silver buckles and numerous valuable ex- votos.

The big gold–knitted epigraph is worth noticing: it was made in Russia in 1852 of red velvet. In the center the body of Jesus is knitted in relief, and is surrounded by His mother, by angels and the Myrrhbearers.

The knitting style is fine and artificial. It is narrating the divine sweetness of Christ. The rest of the people express depressed pain, gentleness and peace.

The epitaphion is surrounded by the apolytikion “The noble Joseph …” in gold-knitting as well. This is a present of the Russian consul in Constantinople Zachary Zacharov to the abbot of that time. The latter had been one of the consul’s educators during his service in Constantinople.

In the first room of the same museum, numerous ships are exhibited. Most of them sailed here in the bay of the monastery.

Many bottles and boxes to the archangel protector Michael are also exhibited in the same museum. In the museum of folklore, we can see a collection of sea antiquities, the old cellar, the traditional houseware of Symi, the first cuisine of the monastery, agricultural utensils, weights and measures of the 19th century, the room and the loom, etc. In another place all the personal items of the executed Abbot Chrysanthos are kept.

The library comprises 6000 volumes on various subjects as theology, philosophy, math, medicine, literature etc. In our gallery many paintings are exhibited: all of them represent the monastery or the island.

The Great Trapeza (Dining room) is situated in the yard. It is really big and has been decorated recently with large size icons of the Twelve Feasts “Dodecaeorton”. Concerts of Byzantine music take place in this room where 3000 people can sit and dine.

On the name day of the angels they do so, indeed. In the same place, there is a little chapel devoted to St John the Forerunner, that was renewed in 1987. The other chapel of the monastery next to katholikon, is devoted to the Annunciation of Virgin Mary.

The foundation also sponsors many organizations and gives scholarships to students.

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Documentary on the Life of Elder Porphyrios in His Own Words (Video)

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Bishop Nikolay of Bulgaria Condemns the Displaying of One's Sexuality in Public

September 6, 2010
Novinite

The bishop of Bulgaria's Plovdiv, Nikolay, has presented orders for "defending" Christian values to a controversial mayor and a notorious prosecutor, who were recently involved with anti-gay policies.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church bishop Nikolay, who is known for his hardline stance on religion issues, has given the highest order of the Plovdiv Bishopric, "Holy Apostle Hermas", to the Mayor of the city of Pazarzhik Todor Popov and the Pazardzhik Prosecutor Stefan Yanev.

He praised them for their contribution to "standing up for Christian values, defending Orthodox Christian morality and spirituality, the sanctity of marriage, family, and statehood."

About a month ago, the local authorities in Pazardzhik stirred a controversy after coming up with an order banning the displays of one's sexuality in public, a measure which was directed at homosexuals. The ordinance came about a month after Bulgaria's third ever gay pride parade in Sofia that rallied several hundred people in June.

When a gay rights organization appealed the ordinance before the local Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Yanev upheld the Pazardzhik municipal ordinance in an official decision filled with extensive deliberations on human sexuality, “natural law,” and “propriety”, and essentially determining that public display of one's sexual orientation constitutes “debauchery.” Yanev's decision was subsequently overruled by the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office in Sofia.

The Plovdiv bishop originally announced his intention to award Popov and Yanev on August 20, 2010. On Monday, September 6, he presented the awards after serving in the largest cathedral in Pazardzhik, which falls within his diocese. The chair of the Pazardzik city council, Georgi Yordanov, also got an award – an honorary certificate from the Plovdiv Bishopric.

"There is something called public morality. Society is not obliged to watch how somebody is sticking into its eyes their own travesty, and to watch how somebody is destroying the souls of our children, and pours poison into the very idea about the sanctity of the bond between a man and a woman that forms a family. The task of the Orthodox Church assigned by our God Jesus Christ himself, is to protect the moral and ethical principles of scripture. The job of the church is to condemn the devil when he tries to destroy this holy order," declared bishop Nikolay upon bestowing the medals.

He reminded that in June the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church denounced the Sofia Pride gay parade.

"The Holy Synod is resisting decisively any public and shameful demonstration of sodomic sin that destroyes the traditional foundations and values of the Bulgarian people and brings enticement into the views of our children and youth," he said praising Mayor Popov and Prosecutor Yanev as an example for Orthodox Christians.


The recent ban on public displays of homosexuality in Bulgaria's Pazarzhik was revoked with an intervention of the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office in Sofia shortly after it was issued.

The scandalous ban in Pazardzhik at first was upheld by the local prosecutor Stefan Yanev who backed his decision with extensive deliberations on human sexuality, “natural law,” and “propriety”, and essentially described public displays of one's sexual orientation as debauchery.

The Pazardzhik prosecutor consistently upholds that heterosexuals should be not allowed to demonstrate their sexual orientation either, but subtly classifies other orientations as "unnatural."

He compares homosexuality, bisexuality, and heterosexuality with pedophilia, zoophilia, gerontophilia, necrophilia, and fetishism, as he considers all of those forms of sexual orientation.

Yanev issued his decision after Bulgarian gay rights activists appealed against a ban on gay parades introduced by the local authorities in Pazardzhik.

The Supreme Prosecutor's Office, however, believes that the local ordinance banning displays of sexuality, which was upheld by the prosecutor, is illegal and contrary to national and international legal norms.

"Yanev's ignorance is his own problem but it also turns into the problem of 120,000 people living the Pazardzhik Municipality when he uses it to interpret rules and legislation that he apparently did not even read," said an activist of the Bulgarian organization "LGBT in Action."

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Anniversary of Istanbul Pogrom (September 6-7, 1955)

Recent history recalls that during the night of Sept. 6 and into the early morning hours of Sept. 7 enraged mobs descended into the Istanbul neighborhoods where most of the ancient metropolis' ethnic Greeks lived, worked and owned property. The tragic developments that occurred in those fateful hours came to be known as the "Septemvriana" or "Evenings of September" pogrom.

As it turned out, the orchestrated attack on the centuries-old Greek presence in what is now known as Istanbul -- then the glorious Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire for a millennium -- came a day after a stick of dynamite exploded in the garden of the Turkish consulate of Thessaloniki, a building historically linked with the founder of modern-day Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Several windows of the consulate were broken in what would quickly be uncovered as a staged provocation by Turkey's ruling DP party and its 1950s-era "deep state": the man who placed the stick of dynamite in the courtyard was a Turkish doorman at the consulate, Hasan Mehmetoglu, on orders of a young ethnic Turk college student then studying law at the University of Thessaloniki, Oktay Engin.

The long-planned provocation was timed to coincide with the delicate trilateral talks in London on the fate of Cyprus.

A few broken windows in Thessaloniki led to the ethnic Greek community's "Kristallnacht" in Istanbul 650 kilometers away, as angry mobs of young, mostly working-class, men recruited from the provinces rampaged through the Bosporus metropolis, wrecking everything Greek or Orthodox Christian in their wake, although Armenian and Jewish property were not spared either.

The death toll reached 30, with hundreds injured and thousands of buildings -- shops, residences, cafes, restaurants, factories, clinics, hotels, pharmacies, churches, schools, community centers and even cemeteries -- looted and destroyed.

The Septemvriana pogrom was literally the "beginning of the end" of Hellenism in the ancient metropolis.

Source

Read also:

Wikiphantis: Istandbul Pogram

Turkish Film Takes Serious Look at Anti-Greek Riots in Istanbul on Sept. 6-7, 1955

Discovering the Greek Side of İstanbul

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Saint Basil On Human Trafficking

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Christianity has uprooted many barbaric customs from the society of man. But some of those customs - praiseworthy from the pagan point of view, but shameful from the Christian point of view - are, even to the present day, like hidden corruption oozing from a supposedly healed wound. One of these customs is the unlawful kidnapping of maidens.

St. Basil wrote powerfully to one of his priests, after one such incident: "Do all in your power to find and rescue this maiden. Then, return her to her parents and excommunicate the perpetrator. Also suspend those who abetted him - including their entire households - from participation in Services for three years. Likewise, suspend everyone in the village to which the maiden was taken, where she was hidden or perhaps kept by force - so that all will know that a kidnapper should be driven away from them like a serpent or some other wild beast or common enemy, and that the abused should be protected."

Read more on Human Trafficking here and here.

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With Five Million Words, Greek Is the World's Richest Language

The Greek language is the richest in the world with 5 million words and 70 million word types, according to the 1990 Guinness Book of Records, while the English language has only 490,000 words. It also underlined the meaning of the alphabet in a language as the letters symbolize specific qualities. English has over 50,000 words in its lexicon which are derived from the Greek language, especially in the sciences and medicine.

The Greek language also has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script, and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Coptic, and many other writing systems.

More can be read here.

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Russia's First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva On Faith

06 September 2010
Interfax

The President of Russia's spouse Svetlana Medvedeva believes religious values can become a solid base for each person's life.

"Faith gives our life a solid, inviolable foundation. A believer knows that God loves him or her. This knowledge strengthens spiritual potential, helps us to live and overcome obstacles. And what is most important is it helps us to realize your responsibility before neighboring people, awakens the desire to create and give kindness and love," Medvedeva was quoted as saying by the Foma (Thomas) magazine in September.

The first lady believes it is a mission of each Christian and she fulfills this mission the best she can by participating in social work and charities.

Medvedeva spoke for the introduction of religious education in schools and noted that the majority of European countries had such a course in a certain form, thus "in this regard we aren't introducing anything new, but are just returning to the practice accepted all over Europe, as we fell out of it for well-known historical reasons."

According to the president's spouse "our civilization can't be imagined without religion," thus it would be "strange to speak of moral education in schools without basing it on the religious experience traditional for our country."

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'Will the World Return To Religion?': Clarence Darrow versus G.K. Chesterton in 1931 (Video)

This is a dramatic recreation of a debate between G.K. Chesterton and Clarence Darrow which took place in New York City on January 18, 1931 on the topic "Will the World Return To Religion?".

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G. K. Chesterton: The Tyranny Of Bad Journalism

The amazing decision of the Government to employ methods quite alien to England, and rather belonging to the police of the Continent, probably arises from the appearance of papers which are lucid and fighting, like the papers of the Continent. The business may be put in many ways. But one way of putting it is simply to say that a monopoly of bad journalism is resisting the possibility of good journalism. Journalism is not the same thing as literature; but there is good and bad journalism, as there is good and bad literature, as there is good and bad football. For the last twenty years or so the plutocrats who govern England have allowed the English nothing but bad journalism. Very bad journalism, simply considered as journalism.

It always takes a considerable time to see the simple and central fact about anything. All sorts of things have been said about the modern Press, especially the Yellow Press; that it is Jingo or Philistine or sensational or wrongly inquisitive or vulgar or indecent or trivial; but none of these have anything really to do with the point.

The point about the Press is that it is not what it is called. It is not the "popular Press." It is not the public Press. It is not an organ of public opinion. It is a conspiracy of a very few millionaires, all sufficiently similar in type to agree on the limits of what this great nation (to which we belong) may know about itself and its friends and enemies. The ring is not quite complete; there are old-fashioned and honest papers: but it is sufficiently near to completion to produce on the ordinary purchaser of news the practical effects of a corner and a monopoly. He receives all his political information and all his political marching orders from what is by this time a sort of half-conscious secret society, with very few members, but a great deal of money.

This enormous and essential fact is concealed for us by a number of legends that have passed into common speech. There is the notion that the Press is flashy or trivial because it is popular. In other words, an attempt is made to discredit democracy by representing journalism as the natural literature of democracy. All this is cold rubbish. The democracy has no more to do with the papers than it has with the peerages. The millionaire newspapers are vulgar and silly because the millionaires are vulgar and silly. It is the proprietor, not the editor, not the sub-editor, least of all the reader, who is pleased with this monotonous prairie of printed words. The same slander on democracy can be noticed in the case of advertisements. There is many a tender old Tory imagination that vaguely feels that our streets would be hung with escutcheons and tapestries, if only the profane vulgar had not hung them with advertisements of Sapolio and Sunlight Soap. But advertisement does not come from the unlettered many. It comes from the refined few. Did you ever hear of a mob rising to placard the Town Hall with proclamations in favour of Sapolio? Did you ever see a poor, ragged man laboriously drawing and painting a picture on the wall in favour of Sunlight Soap--simply as a labour of love? It is nonsense; those who hang our public walls with ugly pictures are the same select few who hang their private walls with exquisite and expensive pictures. The vulgarisation of modern life has come from the governing class; from the highly educated class. Most of the people who have posters in Camberwell have peerages at Westminster. But the strongest instance of all is that which has been unbroken until lately, and still largely prevails; the ghastly monotony of the Press.

Then comes that other legend; the notion that men like the masters of the Newspaper Trusts "give the people what they want." Why, it is the whole aim and definition of a Trust that it gives the people what it chooses. In the old days, when Parliaments were free in England, it was discovered that one courtier was allowed to sell all the silk, and another to sell all the sweet wine. A member of the House of Commons humorously asked who was allowed to sell all the bread. I really tremble to think what that sarcastic legislator would have said if he had been put off with the modern nonsense about "gauging the public taste." Suppose the first courtier had said that, by his shrewd, self-made sense, he had detected that people had a vague desire for silk; and even a deep, dim human desire to pay so much a yard for it! Suppose the second courtier said that he had, by his own rugged intellect, discovered a general desire for wine: and that people bought his wine at his price--when they could buy no other! Suppose a third courtier had jumped up and said that people always bought his bread when they could get none anywhere else.

Well, that is a perfect parallel. "After bread, the need of the people is knowledge," said Danton. Knowledge is now a monopoly, and comes through to the citizens in thin and selected streams, exactly as bread might come through to a besieged city. Men must wish to know what is happening, whoever has the privilege of telling them. They must listen to the messenger, even if he is a liar. They must listen to the liar, even if he is a bore. The official journalist for some time past has been both a bore and a liar; but it was impossible until lately to neglect his sheets of news altogether. Lately the capitalist Press really has begun to be neglected; because its bad journalism was overpowering and appalling. Lately we have really begun to find out that capitalism cannot write, just as it cannot fight, or pray, or marry, or make a joke, or do any other stricken human thing. But this discovery has been quite recent. The capitalist newspaper was never actually unread until it was actually unreadable.

If you retain the servile superstition that the Press, as run by the capitalists, is popular (in any sense except that in which dirty water in a desert is popular), consider the case of the solemn articles in praise of the men who own newspapers--men of the type of Cadbury or Harmsworth, men of the type of the small club of millionaires. Did you ever hear a plain man in a tramcar or train talking about Carnegie's bright genial smile or Rothschild's simple, easy hospitality? Did you ever hear an ordinary citizen ask what was the opinion of Sir Joseph Lyons about the hopes and fears of this, our native land? These few small-minded men publish, papers to praise themselves. You could no more get an intelligent poor man to praise a millionaire's soul, except for hire, than you could get him to sell a millionaire's soap, except for hire. And I repeat that, though there are other aspects of the matter of the new plutocratic raid, one of the most important is mere journalistic jealousy. The Yellow Press is bad journalism: and wishes to stop the appearance of good journalism.

There is no average member of the public who would not prefer to have Lloyd George discussed as what he is, a Welshman of genius and ideals, strangely fascinated by bad fashion and bad finance, rather than discussed as what neither he nor anyone else ever was, a perfect democrat or an utterly detestable demagogue. There is no reader of a daily paper who would not feel more concern--and more respect--for Sir Rufus Isaacs as a man who has been a stockbroker, than as a man who happens to be Attorney-General. There is no man in the street who is not more interested in Lloyd George's investments than in his Land Campaign. There is no man in the street who could not understand (and like) Rufus Isaacs as a Jew better than he can possibly like him as a British statesman. There is no sane journalist alive who would say that the official account of Marconis would be better "copy" than the true account that such papers as this have dragged out. We have committed one crime against the newspaper proprietor which he will never forgive. We point out that his papers are dull. And we propose to print some papers that are interesting.

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Elder Paisios, What Will Happen To Good-Hearted People That Do Not Believe?

You think they don't believe? But let's say they don't believe. When they were young, didn't their mother bring them to church for Communion? But even if they weren't brought for Communion, weren't they Baptized, weren't they Chrismated? Weren't they born of Orthodox and Baptized mothers? Well, those people who have good-heartedness, you will see, the Good God will work it out for them in some way, either with trials or with sicknesses or with burdens or with an earthquake or with lightning or with cataclysm or with a single word, etc., and in the end He will bring them to Paradise.

Also, many times a Saint or an Angel will appear to such a person, even though they are not worthy of such a great blessing. However Christ can do this, after first using all other means. But frequently what happens to such people? The Devil goes and deceives them, and many, poor things, are deluded, since the Devil begins to say to them: "Ah, I showed you such a great miracle because you can save the world." And the unfortunate does not say: "My God, how can I thank You? I was not worthy for such grace." Instead of feeling crushed, they receive the thoughts which the Devil brings and they become full of pride. Then the Devil goes to them again and shows them "television", showing them Angels and Saints and saying: "You will save the universe". If this person recovers again, the Good God will help them.

Overall we must not forget that we all have an inheritance from God, which is why all people deep inside possess good-heartedness. The Devil however disfigures. Some have maintained this good-heartedness despite not living near the Church. Well, God will work things out for them. For this reason, when you see a person having gone astray and lives a sinful life, but is pained in their soul - they see a sick person and their hearts are stirred, a poor person and they help them - from this you should understand that God will not forsake them, but will help them. And when you see a person far from God and hardened, without compassion, etc., then you must pray day and night for God to "move towards" their heart, in order to repent.

The judgments of God are vast. One thing I know: whoever lives a worldly life because they could not help it but were dragged and pushed into evil, though they had good intentions, God will be moved by them and will help them. He will use different ways for them to find their path. He will not forsake them. Even at the hour of death He will grant them to be found in a good condition.

Source: ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚΗ ΑΦΥΠΝΙΣΗ: ΓΕΡΟΝΤΟΣ ΠΑΪΣΙΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΙ Β΄

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Holy Mount Athos Will Never Perish...

September 5, 2010
Romfea.gr

Byzantium may have perished and did not survive as a state. Nevertheless, it survives spiritually as a genuine way of life and as a culture.

I would dare say that Byzantium lives on spiritually within the Holy Mount Athos! Our Lady’s garden exhibits resilience beyond time, as well as a unique way of life and a reviving vigor.

The last two years a manic attack has been launched against the Athonite community in relation to the case of the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi. A lot of ink has been spent and a lot of brainstorming has taken place during this period against the Monastery and its Abbot Ephraim. In the end, it only served the vital interests and intentions of some people.

There is only one thing that the incitement of such an alleged scandal cannot do: to harm the spirituality of the allegedly involved parties. On the contrary, it tests their virtue.

The attacks launched by the enemy have started bouncing back to them. As our popular wisdom has it: he who digs the other’s grave, falls in it himself.

The Holy Mount Athos pays for the Vatopedi case

An Athens newspaper wrote a few days ago that the Holy Mount Athos is still paying a price for Abbot Ephraim's involvement with the politicians. It cited the government’s rejection of a request by the Holy Community to participate in the European program “Community of Information” and the grant of 20 million Euros, for the electronic classification of the Mountain’s relics.

Let us not kid ourselves. This decision had nothing to do with any Elder Ephraim, but rather the clandestine intervention by those Hagiorites who move by sheer hate, lasting for many years. They release fabricated facts against the Monastery and its Abbot, creating, thus, a negative feeling.

Let us repeat it one more time. Some incredible stories have been woven around the Vatopaidi case, which truly surpass normal imagination.

Elder Moses the Athonite, speaking a few days ago to Romfea.gr had stressed: “For the last two years the media have been trying to convince people about the existence of a so-called Vatopaidi scandal.”

“During this furor it was difficult for anyone to express a different opinion since he would be accused that he has been bribed. For two whole years, a Holy Mountain Monastery with over a hundred and ten monks, with a 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”, he said.

In any case, it is becoming more obvious every day that there is no such scandal, no bribe has ever been given and no suspicious deed has ever been undertaken by the Monastery. The case has been investigated thoroughly by the courts. They did not find any illegal act whatsoever or a conspiracy being committed. This case is simply being preserved for various other reasons.

The Monastery continues its activities which please God

Even though Vatopaidi Monastery has been accused like no other, it continues its activities which please God. The one hundred and ten of its monks continue to struggle to save their souls and are daily serving dozens of visitors, always exhibiting a smile on their faces.

Some time ago, some dark powers have targeted the Holy Mount Athos, because it constitutes one of the highest pillars of Orthodoxy. Let us use a phrase used by an ascetic of our Lady’s garden: “My children, the Holy Mountain will never perish. Thousands of arrows have been targeting it for many years because some people are not pleased with its spiritual revival”.

As for the attacks launched against Abbot Ephraim, let us simply have recourse to the Old Testament and read the story of Joseph, who had been sold by his elder brothers as a slave....

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A Greek Orthodox Parish Overcomes Division in the 1920's

This is an excerpt from the July 2010 issue of the Orthodox Observer in the Parish Profile for St. Vasilios Church in Peabody, Massachusetts which was founded in 1905. I found it particularly interesting on what divided the community into two separate communities and what brought them together. Issues that should not divide a parish in fact did, and what brought them together was a patient dialogue that resulted in mutual understanding and seeing past the peripherals for the greater good.

Politics in the 1920's damaged the community. The U.S. government instituted a quota system severely limiting the number of southern Europeans who could come to America, which stopped the community's growth, and the Royalist-Venizelist conflict in Greece split the parish into two camps, as it did many Greek American communities.

Two other factors that caused serious divisions were the decision in 1920 of Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios and the Holy Synod to abolish the Gregorian calendar, and the introduction of pews. For some, this violated the traditional practice of continuously standing and was seen as an effort to "protestantize" the Church.

The larger group sided with the monarchists and opposed the New Calendar and pews.

By March 26, the parish split apart. The new group took the name Holy Transfiguration and held services at a local Episcopal church.

The Great Depression brought hardship to all Greek families and the communities faced the prospect of collapse and dissolution. But three men saved the situation and reunited the factions:

Fr. George Economides, a Halki graduate and pastor of the breakaway Holy Transfiguration, the parish President Theodore Fotopoulos, and St. Vasilios' President Nicholas Batsinelas met secretly over several months and eventually persuaded the warring factions to attend a series of meetings in September and October 1930. The St. Vasilios pastor refused to attend.

Reunification came on October 28, 1930 but many years of healing followed.

World War II brought community members together and also resulted in 16 members of St. Vasilios falling in battle, which represented 22.5 percent of all casualties from Peabody.

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3 Ancient Icons and Relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh Stolen in Moscow

September 5, 2010
The Western Star

A Russian news agency is reporting that three ancient icons, one of which contained relics of Russia's most venerated saint, have been stolen.

RIA Novosti said Sunday that clerics at the St. Trinity church in a Moscow suburb discovered the theft after a service Saturday.

It said one of the icons contained fragments of relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

The 14th-century Orthodox monk helped consolidate the Russian church in the time of Mongol rule and was later canonized as Moscow's patron saint.

Theft of icons from poorly guarded churches has become widespread since tens of thousands of churches reopened in Russia following the Soviet collapse.

The Russian Orthodox Church counts two-thirds of Russia's population of 142 million as members.

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On the Necessity To Be Born Again (Spiritually Reborn)

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

Thus the Lord Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and Nicodemus asked in amazement: "How can this be?" That is, how can a man be born again?

Even to this day, many ask: "How can a sensual man become a spiritual man?" "How can a sinner become a righteous one?" "How can the grace of God enter a man and replace his sensual thoughts and will?" "How can the Holy Spirit illuminate the heart of man?" "How can water be changed into wine?"

We know that when the Spirit of God descended upon the apostles, they became different men - new men, reborn men. We also know, from thousands of examples, how men of sensual thoughts and sensual life became spiritual men, regenerated men. Therefore, we know that it happened then and happens now, by the action of the grace of God the Holy Spirit.

It is not necessary for us to ask how this happens. It is enough for us to know that it does happen, and to strive that it happen in us, for the grace of the Spirit is given to everyone who seeks it and prepares himself to be able to receive it.

There is no more difficult task than to explain spiritual things to men who think and judge only sensually. St. John Chrysostom says: "A soul which is given over to passions cannot achieve anything great and noble, for it suffers from a grievous blindness, like that of eyes darkened by the flow of pus."

Usually the most sensual men inquire about the greatest divine mysteries. They do not inquire about that in order to know how they can be saved, but rather to confuse the faithful and to ridicule the Faith, and to justify their own sinful and passionate life. Unable to raise themselves to the first rung of the heavenly ladder, they fantasize about the last rung. Brethren, when such as these inquire about the profoundest mysteries of the regeneration of the soul and the Kingdom of Heaven, ask them, first of all, to fulfill the ten basic commandments of God. If they do this, then their souls will be opened to the understanding of the Divine Mysteries, inasmuch as that understanding is necessary for the cleansing of their sins and passions, and for eternal salvation.

O Lord Jesus Christ, our Most-gracious and All-wise Teacher, help us to understand with our minds, and embrace with our hearts, as much of Thy wisdom as is necessary for our salvation. Help us to keep ourselves from undue curiosity. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).

Brethren, these words are not the words of a prophet or an apostle, but are the words of the Lord Himself, uttered with His most pure mouth. As there is power and salvation in every one of the Lord's words, so is there power and salvation in these. That is why it is necessary to study these words with fear and great care and apply them in our lives.

By these words the Lord emphasizes the precedence of the spirit over the flesh. And, as the flesh is born of the body, so the spirit must be born of the Spirit. The birth of our spirit is of the Spirit of God, according to the grace of God and not according to nature. It is the new birth that the Lord described to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus did not understand these words of Christ, just as, even today, he whose flesh is stronger than his spirit does not understand them. Men whose flesh has overcome their spirit think and judge everything according to the body. Men whose spirit has overcome their body think and judge everything according to the spirit. All those who think and judge according to the body make their spirits fleshly, while all who think and judge spiritually make their bodies spiritual.

Just like someone exchanging gold for paper money, the former convert that which is immortal into that which is mortal. The latter are like someone exchanging paper money for pure gold - for they do not destroy that which is immortal, but convert that which is mortal into that which is immortal. The Jews interpreted the Law and the Prophets according to the flesh, and that is why they did not understand the Lord Jesus, but crucified the Lord of Glory. Those who were enlightened by the grace of the Spirit of God interpreted both the Law and the Prophets spiritually, and understood our Lord Jesus Christ. And through Him, they understood not only the Law and the Prophets, but all of created nature as well, and all of their life on earth.

Brethren, although the body is necessarily born of the flesh, it would be unnatural for the spirit also to be born of the flesh. Let our spirit be born of the Spirit of God and then we will be natural, both in body and in spirit. This is that higher and sinless nature that Adam had in Paradise before he sinned. It is not possible or necessary for our body to be born again of the flesh. It is possible and necessary, and never too late, for our spirit to be born again of the Spirit of God.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, help us, that before death we may become reborn of the Spirit of God, and that our spirits, in truth, be born of the Spirit. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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America’s History of Fear

Nicholas D. Kristof
September 4, 2010
The New York Times

A radio interviewer asked me the other day if I thought bigotry was the only reason why someone might oppose the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan. No, I don’t. Most of the opponents aren’t bigots but well-meaning worriers — and during earlier waves of intolerance in American history, it was just the same.

Screeds against Catholics from the 19th century sounded just like the invective today against the Not-at-Ground-Zero Mosque. The starting point isn’t hatred but fear: an alarm among patriots that newcomers don’t share their values, don’t believe in democracy, and may harm innocent Americans.

Followers of these movements against Irish, Germans, Italians, Chinese and other immigrants were mostly decent, well-meaning people trying to protect their country. But they were manipulated by demagogues playing upon their fears — the 19th- and 20th-century equivalents of Glenn Beck.

Most Americans stayed on the sidelines during these spasms of bigotry, and only a small number of hoodlums killed or tormented Catholics, Mormons or others. But the assaults were possible because so many middle-of-the-road Americans were ambivalent.

Suspicion of outsiders, of people who behave or worship differently, may be an ingrained element of the human condition, a survival instinct from our cave-man days. But we should also recognize that historically this distrust has led us to burn witches, intern Japanese-Americans, and turn away Jewish refugees from the Holocaust.

Perhaps the closest parallel to today’s hysteria about Islam is the 19th-century fear spread by the Know Nothing movement about “the Catholic menace.” One book warned that Catholicism was “the primary source” of all of America’s misfortunes, and there were whispering campaigns that presidents including Martin Van Buren and William McKinley were secretly working with the pope. Does that sound familiar?

Critics warned that the pope was plotting to snatch the Mississippi Valley and secretly conspiring to overthrow American democracy. “Rome looks with wistful eye to domination of this broad land, a magnificent seat for a sovereign pontiff,” one writer cautioned.

Historically, unreal suspicions were sometimes rooted in genuine and significant differences. Many new Catholic immigrants lacked experience in democracy. Mormons were engaged in polygamy. And today some extremist Muslims do plot to blow up planes, and Islam has real problems to work out about the rights of women. The pattern has been for demagogues to take real abuses and exaggerate them, portraying, for example, the most venal wing of the Catholic Church as representative of all Catholicism — just as fundamentalist Wahabis today are caricatured as more representative of Islam than the incomparably more numerous moderate Muslims of Indonesia (who have elected a woman as president before Americans have).

In the 19th century, fears were stoked by books written by people who supposedly had “escaped” Catholicism. These books luridly recounted orgies between priests and nuns, girls kidnapped and held in secret dungeons, and networks of tunnels at convents to allow priests to rape nuns. One woman claiming to have been a priest’s sex slave wrote a “memoir” asserting that Catholics killed boys and ground them into sausage for sale.

These kinds of stories inflamed a mob of patriots in 1834 to attack an Ursuline convent outside Boston and burn it down.

Similar suspicions have targeted just about every other kind of immigrant. During World War I, rumors spread that German-Americans were poisoning food, and Theodore Roosevelt warned that “Germanized socialists” were “more mischievous than bubonic plague.”

Anti-Semitic screeds regularly warned that Jews were plotting to destroy the United States in one way or another. A 1940 survey found that 17 percent of Americans considered Jews to be a “menace to America.”

Chinese in America were denounced, persecuted and lynched, while the head of a United States government commission publicly urged in 1945 "the extermination of the Japanese in toto." Most shamefully, anti-Asian racism led to the internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.

All that is part of America’s heritage, and typically as each group has assimilated, it has participated in the torment of newer arrivals — as in Father Charles Coughlin’s ferociously anti-Semitic radio broadcasts in the 1930s. Today’s recrudescence is the lies about President Obama’s faith, and the fear-mongering about the proposed Islamic center.

But we have a more glorious tradition intertwined in American history as well, one of tolerance, amity and religious freedom. Each time, this has ultimately prevailed over the Know Nothing impulse.

Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home.

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St. Nektarios: The Pure of Heart See God Everywhere

by St. Nektarios of Aegina

It is evident that unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for the guileless and pure heart everywhere discovers God, everywhere discerns Him, and always unhesitatingly believes in His existence.

When the man of pure heart looks at the World of Nature, that is, at the sky, the earth, and the sea and at all things in them, and observes the systems constituting them, the infinite multitude of stars of heaven, the innumerable multitudes of birds and quadrupeds and every kind of animal of the earth, the variety of plants on it, the abundance of fish in the sea, he is immediately amazed and exclaims with the Prophet David: "How great are Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom Thou made them all."

Such a man, impelled by his pure heart, discovers God also in the World of Grace of the Church, from which the evil man is far removed. The man of pure heart believes in the Church, admires her spiritual system, discovers God in the Mysteries, in the heights of the theology, in the light of the Divine revelations, in the truths of the teachings, in the commandments of the Law, in the achievements of the Saints, in every good deed, in every perfect gift, and in general in the whole of the creation.

Justly then did the Lord say in His Beatitudes of those possessing purity of the heart: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

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The Unburnt Bush Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos

The Unburnt Bush Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is based on the miracle witnessed by Moses in the Old Testament. In Chapter 3 of Exodus God calls Moses on Mt. Horeb from the midst of a bush which "was burning, yet it was not consumed" (Ex. 3:2). Moses is informed that he will lead the Hebrews out of their slavery in Egypt, and then God tells him His name, "I am Who am" (Ex. 3:14).

The Church has always regarded the Unburnt Bush on Horeb as a type of the Most Holy Theotokos giving birth to the Savior Christ, while remaining a Virgin. This imagery is to be found in the Church's hymnography (for example, the Dogmatikon at Saturday Vespers in Tone 2), and also in iconography.

One of the earliest depictions of the Mother of God as the Unburnt Bush shows her holding her divine Son in the midst of a burning bush. Moses is shown to one side, removing his sandals, for that place was holy (Ex. 3:5).

Most icons now depict the bush in a symbolic fashion. There are two overlapping diamonds: one red (representing the fire), the other green (representing the bush), forming an eight pointed star. The Theotokos is shown in the center.

In the four corners of the green diamond are the symbols of the four Evangelists: a man (St Matthew), a lion (St Mark), an ox (St Luke), and an eagle (St John). These symbols are derived from Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7. Archangels are depicted in the four corners of the red diamond.


The design of the icon has become more complex over time. Now we can see archangels, Moses and the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), Isaiah and the seraphim with the burning coal (Is. 6:7), Ezekiel and the gate through which only the Lord may enter (Ez. 44:2), and Jacob with the ladder (Gen. 28:12). The Theotokos is shown holding Jacob's ladder which leads from earth to heaven. Sometimes the Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) is shown in the center of the icon's lower border.

There is an old story about a fire which was consuming several wooden buildings. In the midst of the fire an old woman stood in front of her house holding an icon of the "Unburnt Bush." A witness happened to see her there, and marveled at her faith. The next day he returned to the spot and was astonished to see the old woman's home completely unscathed by the fire, while all the other houses around it were destroyed. This may explain why the Mother of God, through her Icon of the Unburnt Bush, is regarded as the protector of homes from fire.

It is believed that the earliest icons of the Unburnt Bush originated at St Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai. It is celebrated on September 4 together with the Prophet Moses.

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84 Martyred Children with Babylas at Nicomedia

Holy Martyr Babylas and the 84 Children Martyrs (Feast Day - September 4)

These 84 children suffered in Nicomedia with the Martyr Babylas during the reign of the emperor Maximian (284-305).

St Babylas was denounced for instructing children in Christian piety. He was brought before the emperor, and tortured. After being pelted with stones, he was clapped in irons and they took him to prison.

Then the saint 's young disciples were brought before the emperor. Neither flattery nor promise of gifts were able to alter their Christian convictions. Two of them, Ammonias and Donatus, firmly declared, "We are Christians, and we will not offer sacrifice to deaf and dumb devils."

The emperor flew into a rage over the unexpected and firm rebuke from the children. At first, he ordered them to be whipped, and later to be put to death by beheading, together with their teacher. On the way to execution, the holy Martyr Babylas quoted Isaiah, "Behold, I and the children which God has given me" (Isaiah 8:18). With spiritual rejoicing, first St Babylas, and then his 84 disciples, received the crown of martyrdom.

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The Demons Fear the Relics of Saint Babylas

St. Babylas the Martyr of Antioch (Feast Day - September 4)

Saint Babylas was the twelfth Bishop of Antioch, being the successor of Zebinus (or Zebinas); he was beheaded during the reign of Decius, in the year 250, and at his own request was buried in the chains with which he was bound.

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

A saint's power after his death is often many times greater than in life. "That is why God left us the relics of the saints," says St. John Chrysostom in his unsurpassable homily on St. Babylas.

St. Babylas was buried in the city of Antioch. At that time, Emperor Gallus - the brother of Julian the Apostate - was reigning together with Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great. Inspired by piety, Gallus translated the relics of St. Babylas to the outskirts of Daphne and built a small church, placing the relics of the martyr in it. There was a famous temple of Apollo in Daphne, built on the spot where, according to a pagan legend, a virgin had turned into a laurel tree in order to be saved from the `"god" Apollo, who was pursuing her out of unrestrained fleshly passion for her. There stood the idol of Apollo, which allegedly could foretell anyone's future. But, as the relics of Babylas now rested in the vicinity of the temple, the demon from the idol fell silent and ceased making prophesies.

Later, when Emperor Julian the Apostate set out on his catastrophic war with the Persians, he visited the temple of Apollo and consulted the idol about the outcome of his impending war. The idol responded with trepidation that it could not render a clear response "because of the dead" buried in its proximity. Of course, that pertained to Babylas, the presence of whose body had silenced the demon. Julian ordered that the relics of Babylas be transported back to Antioch. However, as soon as the relics of the martyr were removed, fire fell from heaven and consumed the temple of Apollo, destroying it forever. Julian set out against the Persians and his blasphemous life came to a horrible end.

Such was the power of Christ's martyr after death: he silenced the demon, brought down fire from heaven, destroyed the idolatrous temple, and punished the apostate emperor with a dishonorable death.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
As a sharer of the ways and a successor to the throne of the Apostles, O inspired of God, thou foundest discipline to be a means of ascent to divine vision. Wherefore, having rightly divided the word of truth, thou didst also contest for the Faith even unto blood, O Hieromartyr Babylas. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
In thy heart, O Babylas, thou sacred Martyr, thou didst set the mighty works of faith and keptest them secure; hence, thou didst not fear the tyrant's rage. Keep us as well, O good servant of Christ our God.

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