Elder Daniel Katounakiotis: Stories of Apocalyptic and Demonic Delusions

Endowed with uncommon intelligence and thirsting for learning, Elder Daniel (+1929) had devoured the patristic books and plundered the treasures of the Spirit. Many monks who had fallen into various delusions through ignorance or a spirit of pride were saved by the intervention of Elder Daniel. Like his namesake, the Prophet Daniel, he in truth possessed "an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting dreams ... and dissolving doubts" (Daniel 5:12).

Deluded Demos, For Whom Demons Danced

A good Christian of simple faith named Demos, a builder by profession, lived in Stika of Northern Epirus. One night he dreamt that in a certain place there was a church buried in the earth. Rousing his compatriots, therefore, they brought shovels and pickaxes and began the excavation. The church was brought to light. Full of satisfaction, Demos took pride in his success and pleasure in everyone's wonder; and when the cunning thought whispered to him, "Now, Demos, you are an important man, you have been chosen by God...," he accepted it without disputation.

A while later he was exercising his trade as builder on the Holy Mountain, working on a certain construction project of Vatopaidi Monastery.

In Vatopaidi St. Evdokimos is very much revered. Nothing has been preserved about his life, but in 1840, by God's providence, his relics were miraculously revealed in the cemetery of the Monastery. Demos displayed great devotion to him, and began to believe that the Saint also regarded him with particular favor. Since the tradition said nothing about his extraction, Demos imagined that he had come from Albania.

"The Saint is an Albanian, like myself," he began to declare.

"But how do you know?"

"An Albanian he is. Don't you see that his head is flat? Besides, one night I was begging him on my prayer-rope to tell me his fatherland, and he appeared to me as though he were alive. 'I am an Albanian, from Stika; we are even relatives...' he said."

The fathers suspected that he had been deceived by a demon.

"When he appears to you again, make the sign of the Cross," they told him. "If it is the work of the evil one, he will disappear immediately."

It was too late, however. The demon had conquered Demos' heart and would not readily leave.

It happened that a bishop was on Athos, Alexander of Rodostolos. He was informed of Demos' strange case, and his opinion was asked. He met with him and came to the conclusion that the visions came from God.

"Since Demos takes delight in the prayer-rope and the Cross, the revelations were from God."

Demos grew very proud that even a bishop had confirmed the authenticity of his visions. Later he wrote a massive volume full of supernatural mysteries, revelations, prophecies of war, the coming of St. Constantine, signs and monsters...all such things are found there.*

"But all these stories can't be from God! This is all confusion and raving," the fathers said among themselves. "Why don't we ask Elder Daniel? He can solve the problem for us."

They therefore took Demos' manuscript and set out for Katounakia.

As soon as Elder Daniel had read the first pages, he understood the truth. "The demons are dancing here!" he said.

He drafted a text on this subject, with passages from the lives of Saints and patristic writings, and sent it to Vatopaidi. There was no longer the slightest doubt about the delusion. When Demos was told of the answer, however, he went into a frenzy.

"Oreh, oreh, Despotis to'peh, oreh Prift!!!"

That is - since a bishop accepted the visions as coming from God, how dare Elder Daniel deny it!

Elder Daniel was not content with a mere diagnosis, but his love moved him to pray for Demos, with the result that the revelations ceased. At a later time the fathers managed to bring Demos to Katounakia and Elder Daniel welcomed him with love. When he began to demonstrate that the supposed vision of St. Evdokimos was of demonic origin, however, Demos could not endure the light of the truth. Flying upright, he cried out wrathfully:

"Oreh, oreh, Despotis to'peh, oreh, oreh Prift...!"

Nevertheless, he was forced by the facts to admit the truth, because once the devil was exposed he never appeared again. All the fathers were convinced as to the delusion, and even Bishop Alexander sent congratulations to Elder Daniel.

Truly, as the Apostle Paul said, the devil "transforms himself into an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14), and woe to him who is taken in by the outward radiance.

"A sinner can easily repent, but it is difficult for one in delusion, unless the demon is exposed. As soon as he is uncovered, he is unable to escape," Elder Daniel often said.

The Teacher From Kerkyra Who Worked Demonic Miracles

Among those saved from delusion by the Elder's help was also a teacher from Kerkyra, who claimed to have a close collaboration with St. Spyridon. This man had mixed Christianity with Spiritualism, and he believed he could perform marvellous miracles. All of society had been debating about him; and the hospitals and physicians knew him well.

The evil spirit had been appearing to this man in the form of St. Spyridon. He urged him to hold a lighted candle in his hand during prayer, and to not blow it out when it burned down and scorched his hand, because if he bore it patiently he would be as the martyrs. And he told him not to receive Communion in church, but to lick the matter that ran from his burnt hand, for this would be of equal value with Holy Communion. One can understand what terrible burns and scars disfigured his hands.

During excursions with his disciples, he would say a prayer with the result that he would summon or disperse clouds, and bring rain. The disciples received no profit, however, because after the prayer and the "miracles" he would speak only nonsense.

This man, whose hands were rendered useless by the burns, asked somebody to save him. He went to Katounakia, where Elder Daniel told him that the miracles of God differed from the devil's miracles; and he delivered him from the dominion of Satan.

The Apocalyptic Delusions of Fr. Antipas

The Elder also released from delusion a monk from the Monastery of Patmos, named Fr. Antipas, who for three years had been seeing what he thought to be the Lord Himself. He claimed that the Lord had been dictating to him the interpretation of the Apocalypse [Book of Revelation] in order to have it published.

According to this monk, various significant prophecies of the Apocalypse had been fulfilled by the events of the Second World War. For example, the activity of the two prophets of whom the 11th chapter of the Apocalypse speaks, covers, according to the Prophet Daniel, 1290 days - which are the number of days between May of 1941 and October of 1944. Also, the number of Antichrist, 666, of which the 13th chapter speaks, he saw in the name of Hitler, based on the Latin alphabet. (A corresponds with 100, B with 101, C with 102, etc.) Thus, H=107, I=108, T=119, L=111, E=104, R=117. The total is 666.

Elder Daniel convinced him to burn his Interpretations.

He also healed a man from Kalavrita, who with the help of the demons knew the Gospels by heart and could walk through fire without being burnt; and also a monk of the Russian Monastery who made 3000 prostrations a day.

* This book was unfortunately translated into English and became popular in "underground" circles among the Greek Orthodox of America. I personally acquired this book many years ago in my own parish where a box full of copies were held.

Extracted from Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos by Archimandrite Cherubim. Subtitles and footnote are mine.

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Aesop's Fable: The Thief and the Innkeeper

A THIEF hired a room in a tavern and stayed a while in the hope of stealing something which should enable him to pay his reckoning. When he had waited some days in vain, he saw the Innkeeper dressed in a new and handsome coat and sitting before his door. The Thief sat down beside him and talked with him. As the conversation began to flag, the Thief yawned terribly and atthe same time howled like a wolf. The Innkeeper said, "Why do you howl so fearfully?' "I will tell you," said the Thief, "but first let me ask you to hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces. I know not, sir, when I got this habit of yawning, nor whether these attacks of howling were inflicted on me as a judgment for my crimes, or for any other cause; but this I do know, that when I yawn for the third time, I actually turn into a wolf and attack men." With this speech he commenced a second fit of yawning and again howled like a wolf, as he had at first. The Innkeeper, hearing his tale and believing what he said, became greatly alarmed and, rising from his seat, attempted to run away. The Thief laid hold of his coat and entreated him to stop, saying, "Pray wait, sir, and hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces in my fury, when I turn into a wolf." At the same moment he yawned the third time and set up a terrible howl. The Innkeeper, frightened lest he should be attacked, left his new coat in the Thief's hand and ran as fast as he could into the inn for safety. The Thief made off with the coat and did not return again to the inn.

Every tale is not to be believed.

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The Origins of the Illuminati Myth and the Protocols (1 of 5)

THE ORIGINS OF THE ILLUMINIST MYTH: THE FABRICATION OF THE "PROTOCOLS OF THE LEARNED ELDERS OF ZION"

By S.R. Shearer

THE ORIGINS OF THE ILLUMINATI MYTH: THE ABBE BARRUEL

Illuminati enthusiasts and devotees like to paint the myth as extending back into the misty past, but that simply is not the case. The Illuminati Myth did not exist as literature prior to the French Revolution - and even then only as disjointed pieces, not as a consistent whole. Not until 1905 did the myth explode on the world as a coherent body of literature. What anti-Semitic writings that did exist prior to 1797 had nothing to do with the Jews as participants in a revolutionary world-conspiracy aimed at the destruction of Christianity; it was largely confined to religious themes with only the most indirect political overtones. Clearly, the anti-Semitic literature which existed prior to 1797 tied the Jews to the death of Christ, and on that basis they were persecuted; it also pictured them as "moneylenders," and occasionally it linked them to the practice of witchcraft; but it never portrayed them as revolutionaries bent on the conquest of the world. On the contrary, Jews were painted as weaklings and cowards; a people hardly worth even the most indirect kind of political attention - and for that reason, most European armies excluded Jews from military service well into the nineteenth century.

The first disjointed pieces of the Illuminati Myth can be traced back to the French Revolution, specifically to the French cleric, the Abbe Barruel. [Please see Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide (New York: Harper and Row)] As early as 1797, nine years after the revolution, Barruel, in his five-volume Memoire pour servir a l’histoire du Jacobinisme, argued that the French Revolution represented the culmination of an age-old conspiracy of the most secret of secret societies. Down through the centuries this secret society had purportedly poisoned a number of monarchs; and in the eighteenth century it had captured the Order of Freemasons. In 1763, the conspiracy supposedly created a secret literary academy consisting of Voltaire, Turgot, Condorcet, Diderot, d’Alembert and other luminaries of the "French Enlightenment." This group of men ostensibly met regularly in the house of Baron d’Holbach and through its publications had undermined all morality and true religion in France. From 1776 onward, Barruel maintained, Condorcet and the Abbe Sieyes had built up a vast revolutionary organization of half a million Frenchmen who were the "Jacobins" of the French Revolution. But the heart of the conspiracy - the real leadership of the revolution - was supposed to rest in a Bavarian group known as the Illuminati under the headship of a certain Adam Weishaupt. To this handful of Germans, all the Freemasons and Jacobins of France owed blind allegiance - or so Barruel thought.

THE STUPIDITY OF IT ALL

It is beyond belief that thoughtful men could possibly accept such drivel! To those possessing even a modicum of knowledge concerning the "Enlightenment" and the French Revolution, such a tale represents absurdity and factual inaccuracy on such a vast scale that it hardly merits attention, let alone serious refutation.

Diderot, Voltaire, Holbach and the other founders of the "Enlightenment" - whose writings in large part produced not only the French Revolution, but the American Revolution as well - were anything but "lovers of the Jews." Voltaire, perhaps the leading figure of the French Enlightenment, was often heard to say that all men were worthy of freedom and the benefits of the Enlightenment except the Jews!! Why? - because "... the Jews were not of the same species as the rest of mankind!" This is hardly a statement which could reasonably be attributed to the supposed leader of the Jewish Conspiracy in France. Indeed, in it one can hear the demonic footsteps of the coming Holocaust echoing up through the corridors of history to lodge themselves finally in the hellish darkness of Hitler's Germany. Similar statements are easily attributable to many of the other leaders of the Enlightenment. But then such facts have never dissuaded anti-Semites before, and they could hardly be thought able to do so today.

To the men and women of the Enlightenment, Western Civilization had taken a wrong turn when it had embraced Judeo-Christianity. To "Enlightenment Man," history had begun with the flowering of Greek civilization in the sunny hills and islands of the Aegian - not the "backwaters" of Judea and Samaria - and had reached its zenith under Imperial Rome and the Emperor Marcus Aurelius - not the "secondary and relatively unimportant kingdom of David and Solomon."

The Ancient World of Greece and Rome had detested the Jews and their concept of "One God." Cicero and maintained, "They (i.e., the Jews) are - all of them - born with a raging fanaticism in their hearts, just as the Bretons and the Germans are born with blond hair. I would not be the least surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race."

Voltaire's charge against the Jews - his hatred of them - had nothing to do with the Medieval and Catholic concept that they were the "killers of Christ." Voltaire refused to have recourse to the anti-Jewish position of the "Christian Civilization" that he himself had abandoned. Indeed, Voltaire was as much anti-Christian as he was anti-Semitic; to Voltaire, Christianity was merely an extension of Judaism, a view of Christianity which he had adopted from the Graeco-Roman Civilization he admired so much. Voltaire had instead recast his hatred of the Jews in the anti-Semitism of the Ancient World; he had cloaked his anti-Semitism in the ideas of Tacitus and Horace who had hated the Jews with a hatred older and much more obscene than anything conjured up by the Medieval Church - the pagan anti-Semitism of Greece and Rome.

The fact is, Voltaire's hatred of the Jews went far beyond the more "mundane" anti-Semitism of the church of his day, and there are scholars who argue with considerable persuasiveness that Voltaire's anti-Semitism was of a far more murderous kind than that found in the official church doctrine of his time. He had acquired his hatred of the Jews from the very same people who had supposedly taught him the value of freedom and the worth of man (i.e., the pagans of Greece and Rome). Moreover, it is probably not too much to say that his hatred went further even than the hatred of Cicero, Tacitus, and Horace in as much as he viewed Judaism (and Judaism's daughter, Christianity) of having poisoned the civilization he loved so well. This feeling of contempt and disgust for Judaism and Christianity was the view of the mainstream of the Enlightenment. Montesquieu, Locke, Gibbon, Hume, Rosseau, Mirabaud, Holbach, Voltaire, etc., were all to one degree or another anti-Semitic. The charge that these men were participants in some great Jewish world-conspiracy is so fraudulent and absurd that it hardly bears consideration, let alone rebuttal. It would be akin to seriously arguing with someone who insisted that two plus two equalled three. About all one could do is to shake his head and walk away.

THE FREEMASONS AND THE ILLUMINATI

As for the obscure German group known as the "Illuminati" - it was anything but a sinister group of men bent on a world-conspiracy. It was in fact nothing more than a cluster of "armchair intellectuals" more at home in their comfortable gatherings than in the streets inciting rebellion; they were more like an over-aged "athletic club" whose members could talk a good game, but nothing else. Moreover, they were anything but the leaders of the French Enlightenment, they were rather its timid followers. Indeed, they derived their name - "the Illuminati" (meaning the "enlightened ones") - from the fact that they were followers of the French Enlightenment, not its leaders. Finally, the Illuminati and the other followers of the Enlightenment were not Freemasons at all, but rather their rivals.

The Freemasons were the sworn enemies of the French Enlightenment and were (insofar as the French were concerned) originally Catholic and Monarchists who fought against the Revolution. Indeed, King Louis XVI and his brothers were all Freemasons. Rather than profiting from the Revolution, the Freemasons suffered greatly from its excesses under the Terror which the Revolution unleashed. The Freemasons were hunted down mercilessly and guillotined by the hundreds by the Jacobins. Furthermore, the charge that the Illuminati involved itself in witchcraft is so absurd that it fairly boggles the mind; these men were men who prided themselves on being men of science and rationalism; they everywhere denounced the "medieval" concept of witchcraft as being superstitious. Finally, the thought that half a million Frenchmen would ever under any circumstances "blindly" follow a small group of Germans (Bavarians) is so ridiculous that it is dizzying in its stupidity.

Continued...Part Two

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Saint Malachias of Lindos the New Martyr

Righteous Martyr Malachias of Lindos (Feast Day - September 29)

Malachias (Malachi) was born in the early 16th century in the village of Lindos on the beautiful island of Rhodes to a pious Orthodox Christian family. His father George was a priest and his mother's name was Christina. One day the 22 year old Malachias traveled to the various Christian shrines on pilgrimage in Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt and finally came to Jerusalem. At Jerusalem he joined the brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre to be near the Tomb of the Lord and the Church of the Resurrection.

The devil, seeing no way of bringing this young soldier for Christ to ruin, inspired one day a Hagarene (Muslim) to slander Malachias in the marketplace. Walking by Malachias the Hagarene struck him and there he accused him of insulting the prophet Muhammad.

The Muslim authorities before whom Malachias was brought pressured him to convert to Islam and save his life, but Malachias refused. He said: "I will not venerate a man who is corrupt, totally unclean, and dead, nor will I deny Christ my God. May the sun nor the moon ever see such a thing. I will never worship the devil, nor submit to the words of a tyrant and apostate of God. I am a servant of Christ." Showing great courage and faithfulness to the Orthodox Christian faith, this enraged the Muslims even more.

They proceeded to beat him savagely and to pierce his ankles through. They went on to pass thin ropes through his pierced ankles which were then attached to horses. Attached to these horses with a rope through his ankles the torturers proceeded to whip them to make them run as fast as possible. Enduring this brutality, Malachias continued to refuse to deny Christ with courage.

After this and many other tortures, including neither giving him food or water in prison, Malachias was lead outside the city to the execution site where he was impaled with a metal-tipped stake pounded through his body. Malachias was subsequently lifted up and placed over a fire and was thus roasted alive, uttering his final words: "Lord, into Your hands I commend my spirit".

Malachias, the son of a priest, gave his life for the love of Jesus Christ in the city of Jerusalem on September 29th sometime between the years 1537 and 1580.

After the horrible martyrdom of Saint Malachias, the local Christians and Patriarch Germanos offered a large sum of money to the Muslim authorities to take the body of the Saint for burial. They took him to a cemetery for foreigners and buried him there. Patriarch Germanos proclaimed that his memory would henceforth be remembered on September 29th and be celebrated in the Church of Saint James the Brother of our Lord annually.

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Saint Onuphrius of the St. David Gareji Monastery

Saint Onuphrius of the St. David Gareji Monastery (Feast Day - September 29)

Saint Onuphrius of Gareji (Otar Machutadze in the world) lived and labored in the 18th century. He was a Kartlian aristocrat famed for his wealth, hospitality, and charity.

Longing for the ascetic life, Otar wore a hair shirt under his distinguished raiment and unceasingly prayed to God for the strength to lead the monastic life. He revealed his will to his wife: “I thirst to turn from this world and draw nearer to Christ,” he said. “Therefore, I beg your forgiveness for all my transgressions, both voluntary and involuntary.”

His faithful wife consented and permitted him to go in peace. Otar traveled with his two eldest sons to Tbilisi, blessed them, and bade them farewell for the last time. Then he set off for the David-Gareji Monastery, which at that time was led by the kindhearted superior Archimandrite Herman.

Archimandrite Herman received Otar with great joy, and after a short time he tonsured him a monk with the name Onuphrius.

Blessed Onuphrius was a peaceful, humble and obedient man and a tireless ascetic. He would keep vigil through the night, and after the morning prayers he would go down to the ravine and continue to chant psalms, shedding tears over his past transgressions. He ate just one meal a day of bread and water, after the hour of Vespers. Once the Dagestanis attacked the David-Gareji Monastery, plundered the church, and took captive several monks including Onuphrius, the priests Maxime and Ioakime, and four deacons. Onuphrius was the oldest among them. The unbelievers planned to stab him to death, but the Lord protected him from their evil scheme.

According to the will of the All-mercifulGod, Onuphrius was freed and returned to the monastery.

The brotherhood was impoverished after the invasion, so Archimandrite Herman sent St. Onuphrius on a mission to solicit alms. It was difficult for St. Onuphrius to depart from the monastery, but he unquestioningly obeyed the will of his superior: the former aristocrat began to walk from door to door, begging for charity. At Tskhinvali in Samachablo St. Onuphrius attracted the attention of a crowd of people leading a young, demon-possessed man. The saint approached them and discovered that they were bringing the young man to a fortuneteller for help.

With love and great boldness St. Onuphrius addressed the crowd, saying, “My children, such behavior is not fitting for Christian believers. Bring the young man to me!”

The young man’s mother fell on her knees before him, begging for help, but St. Onuphrius raised her up and proclaimed: “I have come bearing earth from the grave of St. David of Gareji. This will help your son!” He dissolved a pinch of the earth in water and gave it to the young man to drink, and he was immediately healed.

St. Onuphrius took with him his youngest son, John, and returned to the monastery with a great quantity of provisions.

Once a certain Arab with a wounded eye came to the monastery seeking help. St. Onuphrius washed his eye in water from the holy spring of David-Gareji, and he was immediately healed.

Later St. Onuphrius desired to be tonsured into the great schema. The superior was hesitant, and told Onuphrius to remain for twenty or thirty days at the grave of St. David praying and supplicating God to reveal His will. The saint remained there in prayer, and after thirty days God revealed to the abbot that Fr. Onuphrius was truly worthy of this honor. Then Schemamonk Onuphrius gave a vow of silence and began to sleep on a tattered mat. Under his clothing he wore a heavy chain, and he left his cell only to attend the divine services.

Soon Blessed Onuphrius became so exhausted that he was no longer able to stand. The brothers begged him to lie on a bed and rest his head on a pillow, but the blessed Onuphrius opened his mouth for the first time since taking the vow of silence and said, “I vow to end my days on this mat.”

St. Onuphrius endured his infirmities with thanksgiving and repeated the Jesus Prayer incessantly. When people came to receive his blessing, he would welcome them, saying, “Let me kiss the edge of your garments and wash your feet with my tears!”

Sensing that the end of his days was approaching, St. Onuphrius partook of the Holy Gifts and, eighteen days later, on the Feast of Theophany, fell asleep in the Lord.

St. Onuphrius was buried on the south side of the grave of St. David of Gareji, near the altar window.

Source

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On Amassing Wealth For Old Age While Neglecting the Wealth of Grace

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

In ignorance, many people labor more to avoid suffering in old age and terminal illness than to avoid the torments of hell in the life after old age and death.

Such was the case of an unmarried and avaricious man who, from year to year, and with ever greater passion, amassed for himself unnecessary wealth. When asked why he strove so much to pile up excess wealth he replied: "I am gathering it for my old age. This wealth will heal and feed me in old age and sickness."

And indeed, his foreboding came true. In old age, a grave and long-lasting illness befell him. He distributed his accumulated wealth to physicians so they would heal him, and to servants so they would care for him and feed him. His wealth was soon spent, and the illness continued. The physicians and servants abandoned him, and he fell into despair. His neighbors brought him bread until his death, and he was buried at the expense of the community. He had used his wealth for that which he had intended it.

God had even done for him according to the man's will. God had sent him the illness that he had, in a sense, desired, and for which he had prepared great wealth. Nevertheless, all his wealth was unable to alleviate his sufferings in this world - so with what would he be able to alleviate his sufferings in the other world? Nothing, if he took with him neither faith, nor hope, nor charitable deeds, nor prayers, nor repentance!

Someone saw a departed man in the great glory of Paradise, and asked him how he had become worthy of that glory. The man replied: "In my earthly life I was the hireling of an evil-doer who never paid me. But I endured all and served him to the end, with hope in God." Then the onlooker saw another man in even greater glory, and when he asked him, that one replied: "I was a leper, and to the very end I offered gratitude to God for that." But no one saw in the glory of Paradise the man who had amassed money for illness in old age.

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Diamanda Galas On Greek Orthodox Atheists

One of the most intense and disturbing (mainly in a positive way), performers of Avante Garde Jazz and Blues (if you can categorize her as such an artist), in the past few decades is Diamanda Galas. A San Diego native of immigrant Greek parents, she often speaks about the role of her culture in her music as well as religion. In 2005 I had the opportunity to see her perform live Defixiones, Will and Testament, an 80-minute memorial tribute to the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian victims of the Turkish genocides from 1914-1923, in New York City. Her voice penetrates the soul like few others are able to, and one of the most memorable and emotional scenes of the concert was when she was surrounded as if by fire and while burning alive she screamed "I was born a Roman and I will die a Roman" in the Greek language, in imitation of the many martyrs of the Asia Minor Catastrophy.

Despite this, Diamanda is not a devout Greek Orthodox by any means, but she made an interesting comment in an interesting interview that I thought is worthy of reflection and speaks much unfortunate truth about many Greeks as well as other Orthodox cultures. She was asked the following and responded in turn:

H.D.: You use a lot of religious imagery in your music. Did you come from a religious household?

Diamanda: Absolutely not. I come from an agnostic family, but at the same time, it’s Greek Orthodox, so there’s a combination of that. A lot of Greeks would agree with me when I say to be a Greek Orthodox atheist is to have the certainty of the Devil with no hope in God. And I’ve said that to a lot of Greeks in Greece, and they just laugh and say, “That’s it! Right on the money, Diamanda.”

Read the rest of the interview here.

Her official site can be viewed here.

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False Rumors of Apocalytpic Visions and Elder Paisios

On various Greek blogs it is being reported that Elder Paisios the Athonite has recently predicted that Greece will be in war in three months. This was first reported in late August when a certain monk from Mount Athos was reportedly in a hospital in Thessaloniki, and released this information he heard from other monks on Mount Athos.

Basically the monk said that Elder Paisios was walking outside the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos two weeks prior. There he met three young monks who approached the Elder and went to receive his blessing, but as they moved forward to do this the Elder pulled back and said: "Go to your Elder and tell him to buy large barrels of oil and flour because in three months from now we will have war in Greece and the people will be in hunger. Tell your Elder to inform the other monasteries about this."

The report which mentions this (see here) goes on to say that in the past week from when this was reported monks were seen at the Super Markets of Thessaloniki gathering oil and flour. He also mentions that this may be due to a recent prophecy of St. Kosmas Aitolos which may have been fulfilled with the recent Patriarchal Liturgy at Panagia Soumela in Trebizond (see here).

A few days ago, however, the new brotherhood of Esphigmenou Monastery officially addressed this issue and reported that it is a false rumor and it should not be taken seriously by Orthodox Christians. They wrote the following:

"NEVER did the holy Elder advise to gather foods! If I had stored foods all those in a time of hunger will kill me! If I don't have anything, then I will survive with some grass. Elder Paisios, a genuine voice of the monastic spirit, would have given his life in order for others to live! BE CAREFUL! Some are preaching catastrophies! Let us not do them a favor! The Elder would say that God shockingly loves Greece! These days we have the Holy Administration, and we have had no monk come forward to tell of this event, in accordance with the command of the Holy Elder Paisios. Neither the Holy Administration nor the Holy Community of Mount Athos has received knowledge of these events." (Source)

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The Feast Day of St. Isaac the Syrian on September 28th

St. Isaac the Syrian (Feast Day - January 28 and September 28)

In the Greek Orthodox calendar there is no official feast day of St. Isaac the Syrian. Traditionally, however, he has been celebrated on January 28th together with the other great Syriac father of the Church, St. Ephraim the Syrian. The Slavic Churches celebrate St. Isaac officially on January 28th.

Not too many years ago Elder Paisios (+1993) sought to change this fact due to his great veneration for St. Isaac. He commissioned a Service to be written in his honor and chose to celebrate his feast on September 28th. The Service was written by the eminent hymnographer Fr. Gerasimos Mikragiannanites (+ 2002). Today the feast of St. Isaac is celebrated on Mount Athos on September 28th.

Furthermore, the first church dedicated to St. Isaac was built on Mount Athos, in the cell of a monk of the brotherhood of Elder Paisios in Kapsalis.

Elder Paisios, who would read the Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac beneath the icon of the Saint, would say of St. Isaac: "If anyone went to a psychiatric hospital and read to the patients Abba Isaac, all those who believed in God would get well, because they would recognize the deeper meaning of life."

He also said:

"First you must read the Gerontikon, Philotheos History, and Evergetinos. All these books are practical not theoretical. Their simple patristic spirit and holiness will help you remove secular logic from your mind. Next, you should read Abba Isaac, and this way you will not see him as a philosopher, but as a man illumined by God."

It should also be noted that before the establishment of September 28th as the feast of St. Isaac by Elder Paisios, when he heard rumors that scholars accused St. Isaac of being a Nestorian, he prayed about this situation. Through divine revelation it was revealed to him that in fact St. Isaac was Orthodox and he wrote in his Menaion for January 28th the following words after the description of the feast of St. Ephraim the Syrian: "...and Isaac the Great Hesychast and much unjustly accused."

Below is the text of the Service in honor of St. Isaac commissioned by Elder Paisios. It is distributed by the Kalyva of the Resurrection of Christ in Kapsala on Mount Athos, where lived Fr. Isaac of Lebanon, a spiritual child of Elder Paisios. His ascetical tradition is maintained by Fr. Euthymios and his brotherhood.

isaak syrian

Read also: Ὁ Ἀββᾶς Ἰσαάκ ὁ Σύρος, στό στόχαστρο τοῦ Οἰκουμενισμοῦ (pdf)

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Holy Martyr Wenceslas the Prince of the Czechs

St. Wenceslas the Prince of the Czechs (Feast Day - September 28)

Thanks to the popular carol, "Good King Wenceslas," we have traditionally come to associate this saintly monarch with Nativity; the 19th century English verses relate an incident which took place "on the feast of Stephen," celebrated by the Church on December 27. If the incident is legendary, the hero most certainly is not. Outside of his native Czechoslovakia, however, few know the true story of this young Orthodox royal martyr, whose statue today dominates one of the principal squares in his nation's capital.

During the missionary journeys of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Czech Prince Borivoy and his wife Ludmilla were converted. But their baptism was by no means followed by that of their subjects. Many powerful Czechs were opposed to the introduction of Christianity, as it threatened the privileges and powers of their own idolatrous religion.

The son of Borivby and Ludmilla, Prince Vratislav, married a nominally Christian woman, Drahomira, the daughter of a pagan tribal chief, who held tenaciously to the ancient beliefs. Their first son Vaclavor, as we know him, Wenceslas, [in Russian, Vyacheslav] was born near Prague in 907, and his father began his rule of Czechia in 915. Four daughters and another son, Boleslas, were also born to them.

When Wenceslas was thirteen, his father was killed in a battle. Drahomira took advantage of the confusion and religious animosity to garner the support of the powerful pagan nobility while Wenceslas awaited his majority. During that time, Grandmother Ludmilla arranged to bring up the boy; carefully she formed in his heart the love of Christ and His holy Church with the help of her priest, himself a disciple of St. Methodius. After Vratislav's death those same nobles encouraged Drahomira's jealousy of St. Ludmilla by sly suggestions. "Just look at what this interfering woman has accomplished: your own son is now better fit for a monastery than a throne," Between them they conceived and executed a plan to eliminate the Grandmother's gentle influence. They had her strangled [commemorated as a martyr by the Church on Sapt. 16].

Feeling herself now exempt from all Christian duty, the mother reclaimed her son, including him in her idolatrous ceremonies. Secretly, however, Wenceslas continued to celebrate his Christian faith in private services, receiving the Holy Mysteries in the deep of night. His own crops of wheat and wine were contributed for their preparation. Soon, God saw fit to bring the goodness of the young Prince to light, at the same time rewarding Drahomira in kind for her evil accomplishment. Murder, even by a regent., was severely punishable, and an uprising deposed and banished her. Gaining the throne shortly at the age of eighteen, Wenceslas recalled his mother to the castle, heeding the commandment to honor one's father and mother.

His was a well-formed soul and he cherished the peace and safety of his subjects sacrificially: once, to stop continuous murderous raids by his most pernicious enemy, he volunteered to meet him in hand-to-hand combat and let the outcome be the end of the dispute. Ever steadfast in the Faith, he was zealous in good deeds--clothing the naked, giving shelter to pilgrims, and buying freedom for those sold into slavery. His generous love extended to rich and poor alike. To encourage the Christians he undertook the planning and building of churches and was dauntless in his opposition of the nobles who oppressed them. The troubles between the Christian Prince and his pagan nobility were soon to erupt again in earnest.

In addition to his Holy Faith, the nobles resented his friendship with King Henry I, "the Fowler," of Germany. Prince Wenceslas preferred to be ruled by the "suzerainty of the empire", believing King Henry to be the rightful heir of Charlemagne, than to see his country crushed by the Germans if he rejected their rule. King Henry in turn admired the Czech Prince's devotion to the Church, offering to give whatever he might have of interest to the Prince. Wenceslas requested. a relic of St. Vitus. Upon receiving it he built a church (now a cathedral) to shelter. The Bohemian nationalists :were irritated by this friendship, and chafed at the influence of clergy in their Prince's counsels.

Although Wenceslas was reconciled to his mother, his younger brother Boleslas now began to be troublesome. Having grown up with his mother rather than St. Ludmilla, Boleslas had been more strongly influenced by pagan ideas. Now he fell easy prey to the evil suggestions of the same rebels among the nobility as had encouraged Drahomira to murder her mother-in-law. This wicked band used the occasion of the birth of Wenceslas' first son to stir up jealousy in Boleslas, hissing that should he not act quickly he would lose forever his opportunity for succession to the throne. Some say that the fire of this jealousy was fueled by the lie that Wenceslas was already plotting the murder of Boleslas. In any case, the band of Judases made haste to rise up against their lord.

Knowing the religious fervor of his brother, Boleslas invited him to the feast of Ss. Cosmas and Damlan. Though warned of danger, Wenceslas put his trust in God and went, as his custom was, to the church dedicated to the feast at hand--the castle chapel of Boleslas.

After Liturgy the Prince prepared to return home. But his scheming brother dissuaded him: "Why leave, brother? Let us join my knights for a hearty drink!" Still trusting in God, Wenceslas joined the men and stayed the day. At some point he was probably told of his brother's intent. But either he did not believe the wickedness of it or he determined to rest in the will of God. That night as he slept, the shameless brother and his band of infidels charted their course. When bells for matins awoke him, Wencelas gave thanks for his life and health and started for church. Boleslas caught up with him at the gate and they exchanged a few words. Then Boleslas drew his sword. "What has gotten into you, my brother?" cried Wenceslas. One of the henchmen wounded his right arm, and the near-martyr ran for the church. There on the Steps of the holy refuge he was beaten to death by two others; then a fourth pierced his side. Strangely, his blood did not yet sink into the ground. A priest covered his body with a cloth, and his mother was told. One can only faintly imagine the chaotic mixture of grief, terror and remorse that assailed Drahomira then. She ran, crying, to the body of her first-born, gathered him to her, and took him to the priest's house to wash and dress for burial. Then, fearing the duplicity of her younger son, She ran away to Croatia.

Three days after the murder, the blood of the holy martyr gathered itself together and stood above his body in the church in full view of many of the faithful. After his burial, many of his grateful subjects, feeling themselves orphaned, went to his grave to pray. Sources agree that miracles soon began in answer to these prayers, although they differ on the reason for Boleslas's decision to move the body to the church containing the relics of St. Vitus: some say the murderer feared reprisals from the faithful and hoped to hide the miracles behind St. Vitus's name; but others say that he repented of the killing of his Prince and brother, and moved the body to honor St. Wenceslas.

In any event, St. Wenceslas was embraced by the hearts of his subjects as their Patron, and his grave became a popular and fruitful place of pilgrimage. Of the many miracles wrought before the Saint's tomb, we cannot pass over the following:

A certain pagan, who was imprisoned, made a promise to the Lord, saying: “if the Lord helps me for the sake of the good deeds of blessed Wenceslas, I will believe in Christ and give my son into His service.” Straightway all of his shackles fell from him. Again and again the guards fastened him down, and again as before his shackles fell from him. Thus he was released and, fulfilling his vow, he studied and was baptized in the Faith, and lived for many more years.

There was in the city a poor woman who was blind and crippled. She went into the church, fell on the ground before the grave of blessed Wenceslas, and prayed until she regained her sight and the use of her arms.

In the Frankish territory there was a certain lame man. He saw in a dream a man dressed in white who woke him, saying: “Rise and go to the city of Prague to the church of St. Vitus; there you will regain your health.” When he ignored this, the same man again came to him in a dream and said: “Why did you not carry out my order?” The lame man answered: “I am going, Lord,” and he got up and went limping to some merchants and paid them to take him on their cart to the above-mentioned church. There he began to pray and fell on the ground before all present; and by God’s grace his knees, ankles, and feet were healed. He rose and gave thanks to God and blessed Wenceslas, for the sake of whose good deeds it pleased the Lord God to help him.

Through the tender-hearted prayers of St. Wenceslas, this young father of many, O Christ our God, release us from our shackles of sin, heal our souls , and save us!

Source: Compiled by Agafia Prince using material from a 10th-century Slavonic manuscript translated by Antonia and Kyril Janda.

Reflection By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Vatslav (Wenceslas) was the grandson of St. Ludmilla. As king, he labored in the Faith like the great ascetics, and strengthened the Orthodox Faith among his people. He was strict in ensuring that no innocent person suffer in the courts. In his zeal for the Christian Faith and in his love for his fellow man, St. Vatslav purchased pagan children who were being sold as slaves, and immediately baptized them and raised them as Christians. He translated the Gospel of St. John into the Czech language, and transported the relics of St. Vitus and St. Ludmilla to Prague. His brother Boleslav invited him to be his guest, and then killed him in his court. Immediately after this, Boleslav brought in German priests and had the services celebrated in Latin. St. Vatslav suffered in the year 935 and his relics repose in Prague.

A faithful and God-fearing ruler is a true blessing for all people. King Vatslav of the Czechs was such a ruler. His zeal for the sanctity of the Faith and his steadfastness remind us of the ancient ascetics. During the day he devoted himself to the affairs of the state, and at night to prayer. In winter, he often walked barefoot to the church for Matins with his old servant Podivoi. He often prepared and baked prosphora himself, especially when he desired to receive Holy Communion. Because of his care for the Faith, many churches were built, in which daily services to God were celebrated. He especially concerned himself with the poor and needy. He was a lover of peace, yet also a great and fearless hero. When the neighboring Prince Radislav attacked the Czech lands, Vatslav sent him a letter asking why he was waging war. The proud Radislav replied that he wanted Vatslav to cede all the Czech lands, and his throne, to him. Vatslav promptly amassed a large army and confronted his enemy. Yet, pondering on the two powerful armies, he mourned that so many men would die, and sent a message to Radislav: "The quarrel is between you and me; you desire to rule the land of the Czechs and I will not yield. Agree to resolve this matter with a duel between the two of us. Why shed so much blood in a battle between two armies?" Prince Radislav agreed to this duel, and was defeated by Vatslav. On his knees, he begged him for forgiveness.


HYMN OF PRAISE: The Holy Martyr Vatslav, King of the Czechs

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

From a wicked mother, good fruit was born:
St. Vatslav, who pleased God.
His wicked mother gave him only a body,
But his grandmother-light and faith and hope.
The glorious grandmother, pious Ludmilla,
Nurtured Vatslav's soul.
As a white lily, Vatslav grew,
And adorned himself with innocence.
As the king reigned, the people rejoiced,
And with their king they honored God.
Yet the adversary of man never sleeps or dozes,
Laying sinful snares for every soul,
And he incited Boleslav against Vatslav.
"For what, my brother, do you want my head?"
Vatslav asked, but was still beheaded!
But the evildoer did not escape God.
The soul of St. Vatslav went
Before the Most-high God, the Just,
The One he had always adored,
And with Ludmilla, Vatslav now prays
For his people, that they be strengthened in faith.
St. Vatslav, beautiful as an angel!

Read also:

Good King Wenceslas: LIFE & THE CAROL

Wikipedia: St. Vitus Cathedral

St Wenceslas Chapel

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Moscow Patriarchate: No Breakthrough's In Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue

September 28, 2010
Interfax

The Moscow Patriarchate has denied media reports claiming that a breakthrough has been accomplished in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue at a meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue in Vienna last week.

"Contrary to media reports, no 'breakthroughs' were accomplished. The entire meeting was devoted to the role of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium. The Coordinating Committee had drafted a report, which was discussed in Cyprus last year. The raw copy of this document was leaked to the media and was published," Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Department of External Church Relations, said in a statement.

"It was thought that the discussion of this document would be finished in Vienna," he said.

"But this did not happen and much time was spent on a discussion of the status of this text. The Orthodox participants had been arguing from the start that the 'Cretan document' (updated later in Cyprus - I.F.) cannot be officially published on behalf of the commission, or signed by its members. In our opinion, this document is in need of thorough editing. But even after editing, it may only have the status of a 'working' document. i.e., the status of 'instrument laboris' which can be used to prepare subsequent documents. But by itself it cannot have any official status," he said.

Metropolitan Hilarion said that the document drafted in Crete is of "purely historical character," which, while elaborating on the role of the Bishop of Rome, almost does not mention bishops of other local churches in the first millennium, which creates a wrong understanding of how powers were distributed in the ancient Church, he said.

In addition to this, the document carries no clear assertion that the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium did not extend to the East. Metropolitan Hilarion said that these blank spaces would hopefully be filled in the edited text.

Following a long-lasting discussion, the commission agreed that the draft needs to be edited and that the decision on its final status will be announced at the next plenary meeting, in about two years. A new document, which will look at the same problem from a theologian point of view, is expected to be drafted by the same time.

It is clear for the Orthodox participants that the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome only extended to the West in the first millennium, Metropolitan Hilarion said. In the East, the territories were divided between the four Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antiochia and Jerusalem.

The Bishop of Rome "had no direct jurisdiction over the East," even though in individual instances Eastern hierarchs would turn to him as an arbiter in theological disputes, he said.

"These instances were not systematic and cannot in any way suggest that the Bishop of Rome was seen in the East as the possessor of supreme authority over the Universal Church," the Metropolitan said.

The Catholic side will hopefully accept this position at subsequent sessions - a position which is being confirmed by numerous historical evidence.

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Atheists, Agnostics Most Knowledgeable About Religion, Survey Says

Mitchell Landsberg
September 27, 2010
Los Angeles Times

If you want to know about God, you might want to talk to an atheist.

Heresy? Perhaps. But a survey that measured Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists and agnostics knew more, on average, than followers of most major faiths. In fact, the gaps in knowledge among some of the faithful may give new meaning to the term "blind faith."

A majority of Protestants, for instance, couldn't identify Martin Luther as the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, according to the survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Four in 10 Catholics misunderstood the meaning of their church's central ritual, incorrectly saying that the bread and wine used in Holy Communion are intended to merely symbolize the body and blood of Christ, not actually become them.

Atheists and agnostics -- those who believe there is no God or who aren't sure -- were more likely to answer the survey's questions correctly. Jews and Mormons ranked just below them in the survey's measurement of religious knowledge -- so close as to be statistically tied.

So why would an atheist know more about religion than a Christian?

American atheists and agnostics tend to be people who grew up in a religious tradition and consciously gave it up, often after a great deal of reflection and study, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum.

"These are people who thought a lot about religion," he said. "They're not indifferent. They care about it."

Atheists and agnostics also tend to be relatively well educated, and the survey found, not surprisingly, that the most knowledgeable people were also the best educated. However, it said that atheists and agnostics also outperformed believers who had a similar level of education.

The groups at the top of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey were followed, in order, by white evangelical Protestants, white Catholics, white mainline Protestants, people who were unaffiliated with any faith (but not atheist or agnostic), black Protestants and Latino Catholics.

Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were included in the survey, but their numbers were too small to be broken out as statistically significant groups.

Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University and author of "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- And Doesn't," served as an advisor on the survey. "I think in general the survey confirms what I argued in the book, which is that we know almost nothing about our own religions and even less about the religions of other people," he said.

He said he found it significant that Mormons, who are not considered Christians by many fundamentalists, showed greater knowledge of the Bible than evangelical Christians.

The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister from Leawood, Kan., and the author of "When Christians Get it Wrong," said the survey's results may reflect a reluctance by many people to dig deeply into their own beliefs and especially into those of others.

"I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it's already accepted to be true, they don't examine other people's faiths. … That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith," he said.

The Pew survey was not without its bright spots for the devout. Eight in 10 people surveyed knew that Mother Teresa was Catholic. Seven in 10 knew that, according to the Bible, Moses led the exodus from Egypt and that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

The question that elicited the most correct responses concerned whether public school teachers are allowed to lead their classes in prayer. Eighty-nine percent of the respondents correctly said no. However, 67% also said that such teachers are not permitted to read from the Bible as an example of literature, something the law clearly allows.

For comparison purposes, the survey also asked some questions about general knowledge, which yielded the scariest finding: 4% of Americans believe that Stephen King, not Herman Melville, wrote "Moby Dick."

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Saint Akylina the New Martyr of Thessaloniki

St. Akylina the New Martyr of Thessaloniki (Feast Day - September 27)

Akylina, the holy New Martyr of Christ was from Thessalonica, from the village of Zagliveri situated in the Ardameri Diocese. She was the offspring of a pious mother. Her martyrdom took place from the following set of circumstances.

One day the Saint’s father quarreled and wrestled with a Turkish neighbour (since both Christians and Turks lived side by side in this place). By the Evil One’s collaboration he struck and slew the Hagarene. Whereupon he was arrested by the local authorities, who led him to the pasha of Thessalonica to have him condemned. Now he was terrified of death and sought acquittal, so he offered to become a Muslim. (Alas, his fall!) Therefore, they did not execute him. At that time Akylina was an infant nursing on her mother’s milk. After the passage of some time, the Turks enjoined her father that he must have his daughter become a Muslim. He told them:

"Do not be concerned about my daughter. She is under my authority and I will convert her when I want."

However, Akylina’s mother remained anchored in the Faith of Christ and never ceased every hour to exhort her child to stand firmly in the Faith of Christ and not to ever deny Jesus Christ.

When the maiden reached 18 years of age, the Turks once again spoke with her father concerning the conversion. At this point he summoned Akylina and said:

“My child, other Turks have approached me daily on the matter of your accepting Mohammedanism. Therefore, either now or a little later, you will become a Muslim, only make the decision in a day or two, so the Muslims will not harass me.”

Yet the Saint, who was ignited and enflamed with the love of Christ, with great courage declared:

“Perhaps you think that I have the same little faith as yourself to deny my Maker and Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ Who submitted to the cross and death for our sake? I refuse. I am prepared to undergo the woeful torment, even death, for the love of Christ.”

By these superb and admirable statements she was not the daughter of the thrice-miserable father, but truly the daughter of Christ the Heavenly King!

Observing the Saint’s unswerving belief, the father went before the Turks and divulged to them:

“I am unable to induce my daughter to change her beliefs; you do with her whatever you will."

Upon hearing this they went into a flurry, and immediately dispatched men of the court to apprehend the Martyr. Seeing them approaching, the Saint’s blessed mother took hold of Akylina, and gave her this final instruction:

“Lo, my most beloved child and my sweetest daughter, Akylina. Behold, fruit of my womb, the hour has arrived of which I have warned you. Therefore, my girl, attend and obey my admonition. Display courage in the torments which you will face and do not renounce Christ.”

Likewise, Akylina replied:

“Have no fear, my mother, for I have this intention. The All-kind God will be my help. Pray for me.”

Thus, they bid each other farewell with tears.

The servant of the judge bound the Saint and led her to the tribunal. The compassionate mother followed after her beloved daughter to the place of condemnation, since motherly feelings could not conceive of being separated from her dear child. However those that had taken her intocustody, locked her outside the courtyard. Akylina was taken inside into the presence of the judge, who in a coarse manner blurted out to her:

“Eh! You, become a Muslim.”

The Saint exclaimed:

“No, I will not become one. Never will I forsake my belief and my Master Christ!”

Hearing this, the judge became incensed. Therefore he commanded that the Saint be undressed and be left wearing only her chemise. Then they tied Akylina to a column and two servants beat her with rods for many hours. Notwithstanding, the Martyr underwent this torture bravely.

Afterwards the judge and other Turks had the Martyr brought forward again before them. They began to flatter Akylina and promise her expensive gifts if she would renounce the faith. But the bride of Christ possessed in her heart love towards her sublime Bridegroom Christ and would not even consider their offers. Furthermore, since he was extremely wealthy, he brazenly proposed to her:

“Akylina, become a Muslim and I will make you my son’s bride.”

Christ’s Martyr replied with an immense daring:

“You and your son go to perdition.”

With these words the judge’s wrath was kindled. They tied her again as before and flogged her for many hours. When they unfettered her for a third examination, the judge asked her:

“Hapless one, are you not embarrassed to be beaten naked in front of so many men?”

He said this because from the countless blows her slip was in shreds and she was exposed. The judge continued:

“Either you become a Muslim or have your bones shattered before all.”

In refutation she declared:

“And what attraction does your faith have for me to deny my Christ, or what miracle of your religion shall I believe, since you have filthy and indecent lives?”

O fearless testimony! A noble reply worthy of heavenly praise, not from a gentle and delicate young girl, but from a valiant giant!

All within earshot were disgraced, essentially by the brilliancy of her truthful speech. They were at a loss at how to deal with her. In their rage they scourged the Saint mercilessly a third time, leaving her as dead. The earth was reddened by her blood and her flesh fell in pieces to the ground. Next they untied the Martyr and had her carried by a Christian who was present to her mother’s home. Whereupon the mother embraced her daughter who was breathing her last, and asked:

“My child, what have you done?”

As she came to herself slightly, the Martyr exerted much effort to answer, and opening her eyes, beheld her mother:

“O my mother, what else could I do except that which you instructed me? Behold, according to your command I have preserved my confession of faith inviolate.”

Akylina’s mother raised her arms and eyes towards heaven and glorified God. After conversing with her mother, the Martyr surrended her soul into the hands of God on September 27, 1764 and received the martyr’s crown.

St. Akylina’s most venerable and sacred relics straightaway emitted a marvelous fragrance so divine that all the streets which they traversed with her martyric relics for burial were filled with scent. At night a heavenly light descended upon and illuminated Akylina’s tomb like a shining star. All the Christians who observed this phenomena praised God, to Whom is due glory and power unto endless ages. Amen.

Source: This Life was written by St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite and was translated in New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke, Translated by Leonidas J. Papadopoulos, Georgia Lizardos & others St Nectarios Press, Seattle, Washington 1985.

The Shrine and Relics of Saint Akylina

Today no one knows where the holy relics of St. Akylina rest. The Turks took her remains and buried them in the Muslim cemetery to inflate their ego by claiming her as their own despite their failed attempts at converting her. But as it says above: "At night a heavenly light descended upon and illuminated Akylina’s tomb like a shining star." When the Christians saw this they took her body and buried it in a secret place. According to tradition, the three men who had the courage to do this were named Tsoplas, Kalimeris and Bouklas, and they promised each other that they would never reveal the location of the remains of St. Akylina so that they never fall into the hands of the Turks again. And despite the fact that there is large church dedicated to the Saint in that area, her relics still remain secretly hidden, until the Saint decides to reveal herself for the great blessing of the faithful.

Since 1957 the memory of St. Akylina is celebrated on September 27th, the day of her martyrdom. Before that her feast was on April 24th. The reason for the transfer of the date of the feast has to do with the decision of the locals of the village of Zagliverion who wanted to combine their two primary feasts, that of St. Akylina and St. George (Apr. 23) - to whom their central church was dedicated -, at the same time. The transfer was made in 1957, but firmly established after 1984 when a large church in St. Akylina's honor was built in the village.

A Service in honor of St. Akylina was discovered in the Church of St. George in 1969. This book was authored by the monk Polycarpos A. Giakoudis of Pantokratoras and contains the Vespers, Matins, Liturgy and Life in honor of the Saint. In September of 1969 the hymnographer Elder Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis wrote a Service in St. Akylina's honor and since then it has been chanted. In 1980 a Salutation and Lamentation Service were added.

The first icon depiction of the Saint dates back to 1858 by Hierodeacon Hierotheos of the Holy Monastery of Loggavardas (Longovarda). The icon depicts all the New Martyrs under the Turkish yoke, and St. Akylina is one of them. Also in the Church of St. George are the three oldest icons of St. Akylina. The first dates to 1903 and depicts the Saint whole-bodied with scenes of her life on her left and right, and Christ blesses her from above. The second is also whole-bodied and has the following dedication: "Polycarpou Athanasiou Giakoudi Zagliverinon Pantocratorino of Mount Athos on 1 September 1904", that is, it was dedicated from the monk who first composed a Service in her honor. The third icon is by Panagioti Anagnostou from 1913 and St. Akylina is depicted with St. Kyranna. All three icons are Athonite in origin.

The home of St. Akylina as well as the site of her martyrdom still exist till this day and can be visited, though they are run down. The feast of St. Akylina is known by the locals as Akylineia.

Ἀπολυτίκιον Ἦχος πλ. α’. Τὸν συνάναρχον Λόγον.
Ἀκυλίναν τὴν θείαν ἀνευφημήσωμεν, οἴα θεόφρονα κόρην καὶ Ἀθληφόρον Χριστοῦ, τὴ ἀγάπη γὰρ αὐτοῦ πίστει ἠνδρίσατο, καὶ καθεῖλε τὸν ἐχθρόν, δι' ἀγώνων ἱερῶν καὶ δόξης τυχοῦσα θείας Χριστῷ τῷ Λόγῳ πρεσβεύει, ἐλεηθήναι τᾶς ψυχᾶς ἠμῶν.

Ἕτερον Ἀπολυτίκιον Ήχος πλ. α'. Τον συνάναρχον Λόγον
Ζαγκλιβέριον χαίρει εν τη αθλήσει σου, η σε βλαστήσασα κώμη ως άνθος εύοσμον, Ακυλίνα του Χριστού καλλιπάρθενε· συ γαρ ενήθλησας στερρώς, και εδέξω εκ Θεού το στέφος της αφθαρσίας, εκδυσωπούσα απαύστως, ελεηθήναι τας ψυχάς ημών.

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The Protocols Hoax

By Gordon Stein

Some hoaxes are harmless and can be considered for their humor alone. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion hoax (hereafter called the Protocols) is another matter altogether. This hoax had serious, even deadly consequences. Lives were lost as a result because of this hoax, although it is impossible to estimate how many.

The Protocols have a tangled and mysterious history. Many scholars have worked to untangle this history, but the greatest credit goes to Norman Cohn, author of Warrant for Genocide. Other major contributions were made by Herman Bernstein and Philip Graves, each of whom identified one of the two novels that were major sources for the Protocols.

While not all the steps by which the Protocols arrived in final form are known, it appears that production started in Russia in about 1895. However, The true origin of the Protocols lies in Paris, 1864. In that year, a political satirist named Maurice Joly published his book. Although the book was actually published in Brussels, its title page said it was published in Geneva. Joly's book, Dialogue aux Enfer entre Montesquieu et Machiavel (A Dialog in Hell Between Montesquieu and Machiavelli), openly criticized Emperor Napoleon III -- which, at the time, was criminal. The author put the emperor's words into the mouth of political philosophers Machiavelli and Montesquieu, using the latter to present the case for liberalism. The book was smuggled into France, but was seized at the border. Joly was arrested and tried. On April 25,1865, he was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment. The book was banned and copies confiscated, making it a rare work. This rarity has helped hide the fact that large sections of the imagined dialog have been lifted and grafted on to the work that became the Protocols. [My wife, who speaks French, has personally verified this. -Birdman]

In Berlin, during 1868, Hermann Goedsche, a minor official in the German Postal Service, who wrote under the pseudonym of Sir John Retcliffe, published a novel called Biarritz. The novel contained a chapter called "In the Jewish Cemetery in Prague." In this chapter, he tells of a secret nocturnal meeting held in the cemetery during the Feast of Tabernacles. There the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel gather to meet with the Devil. The leaders report on their activities during the century that has elapsed since their last meeting. The reports assert that the Jews are making great progress towards taking over the world, since they have accomplished such things as putting all the princes and governments of Europe into their debt by means of the stock exchange. They discuss a scheme for getting all land in the hands of Jews, and outline plans to undermine the Christian Church. A plea to gain control of the press is presented, as well as schemes to obtain high governmental positions. They renew their oath and agree to meet again in 100 years. Although Biarritz is fiction, this chapter summarizes many of the fears that anti-semites have exhibited for hundreds of years.

Another Protocols conspirator, Pyotr Rachkovsky, was the head of the foreign branch of the Russian secret police from 1884 to 1902. The Okhrana (secret police) had its overseas headquarters in Paris. Rachkovsky organized the overseas operations in Paris, Switzerland, London, and Berlin. He also spearheaded the transformation of the two fictional works by Joly and Goedsche into the Protocols. In 1887, he planted a forged letter in the French press, claiming that the majority of the terrorists then active in France were Jews. In 1892, Rachkovsky published a book in Paris entitled Anarchie el Nihilisme, telling how the French Revolution made the Jew "the absolute master of the situation in Europe, governing by discreet means both monarchies and republics." The one remaining goal of the Jews was domination of Russia, the book claimed, and this was being planned. The book urged the creation of a Franco-Russian league to combat the power of the Jews. In 1902, Rachkovsky tried to create such a league, but failed.' In 1905, he created the Union of the Russian People, that would later help circulate the Protocols and conduct other anti-Jewish activities.

In 1902, Rachkovsky was involved in a court intrigue in St. Petersburg with Sergey Nilus. Nilus was a former landowner, who had lost his entire fortune while living in France. He wandered in Russia from monastery to monastery. In 1900, Nilus published a book explaining how he had been converted from an atheist to an Orthodox Christian. The book was called The Great in the Small.

At this point, it is speculated that Rachkovsky sent Nilus a manuscript version of the Protocols. They may have planned to use it in a continuation of their St. Petersburg court intrigue. In 1905 Nilus published a second edition of The Great in the Small, containing an addendum of the Protocols. Nilus apparently believed a worldwide Jewish conspiracy was taking place, but the materials comprising the "documentation" of that conspiracy, namely the manuscript of the Protocols, was evidently supplied to him by Rachkovsky. Evidence also suggests that copies of the Protocols in manuscript or in mimeograph were circulating in Russia in the late 1890s, although no copies seem to have survived. Whether Rachkovsky was also the source of these copies is unknown.

Author Norman Conn feels "practically certain" that the Protocols were fabricated sometime between 1894 and 1899 in Paris. That would correspond with the time of the Dreyfus Affair, when a Jewish army captain was accused of treason in an anti-semitic incident. The copy of Joly's book in the Bibliotheque Nationale bears markings that indicate that it was the copy used to lend information to the Protocols. The fabrication was undoubtedly done by a Russian.

Once Nilus' version of the Protocols was published in 1905, the work took on a life of its own. The Protocols were widely circulated in right-wing circles in Russia. Tsar Nicholas II read and accepted the Protocols as genuine. An investigation later showed that the work was fraudulent, however, and Nicholas ordered that they no longer be used for anti-Semitic propaganda. When the Tsar was overthrown in the Russian Revolution, the situation changed, and the Protocols were widely read by the "White" army that lost to the "Red" army during the revolution. The losers blamed the revolution on the Jews and used the Protocols as the document explaining their motivation. Thus was started the myth of the Jewish-Communist conspiracy that helped fuel the German campaign of anti-Semitism.

Translations of the Protocols began to circulate in Europe around 1919. Publication in Germany began in 1920, although the earliest title page is dated 1919. The first edition was called Die Geheimnisse der Weisen von Zion (The Mystery of the Sages of Zion). Sales quickly reached 120,000 copies. The assassination of German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau in 1922 was motivated by the idea that Rathenau, a Jew, was one of the "Elders of Zion."

An English translation, entitled The Jewish Peril, was published in 1920 by Eyre & Spottiswoode, publishers of the Authorised Version of the Bible and Anglican Prayer Book. Most reviewers accepted the work as authentic, although the newspapers published letters from readers to the contrary. In America, the work was also published in 1920. Henry Ford's newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, published a long series of articles in 1920, justifying the authenticity of the Protocols. These were republished as a book, The International Jew. Hitler later had copies of this book translated and circulated throughout Germany.

Back in Germany, the German National People's Party (DNVP) used racist propaganda -- including the Protocols -- in its election campaigns beginning in 1920. The "Jewish World Conspiracy" was allegedly due to an inborn destructiveness in all Jews, who were conspiring to destroy the "Aryan," or Germanic race. A combination of the "volkisch-racist" (nationalist) tradition in Germany and the Protocols produced an inflammatory combination that reinforced the kind of attitudes that led to the Holocaust. Alfred Rosenberg, propagandist of Nazi anti-Semitism, was apparently influenced by the Protocols when writing his Myth of the Twentieth Century, which became known as the source-book of Nazism. Hitler's explanation of the great economic inflation of 1923 was that "According to the Protocols of Zion the peoples are to be reduced to submission by hunger. The second revolution under the Star of David is the aim of the Jews in our time."

Therefore, what started out as a hoax, probably for Russian political reasons, became perhaps a key piece in the genocide of the Jews. The Protocols are still in print, and still being issued as genuine documents in some places. This was certainly the most deadly hoax ever conceived.

Sources:

Bernstein, Herman. The Truth About "The Protocols of Zion"; A Complete Exposure. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1971.

Cohn, Norman R. C. Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.

Graves, Philip. The Truth About "The Protocols": A
Literary Forgery. London: Times Publishing Co., 1921.

Gwyer, John. Portraits of Mean Men: A Short History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. London: Cobden-Sanderson, 1938.

[Nilus, Sergey, ed.] The Protocols and World Revolution, Including a Translation and Analysis of the "Protocols of the Meetings of the Zionist Men of Wisdom". Boston: Small, Maynard & Co, 1920.

Wolf, Lucien. The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs, or The Truth About the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion. New York: Macmillan, 1921.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Hoaxes

Read also:

The 'Protocols of Zion' in Orthodoxy and Its Unfortunate Distribution

The 'Protocols': A Forgery of Plagiarized Fiction

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British Library Posts Greek Manuscripts to Web

Raphael G. Satter
September 27, 2010
Associated Press

One of the world's most important caches of Greek manuscripts is going online, part of a growing number of ancient documents to hit the Web in recent years.

The British Library said Monday that it was making more than a quarter of its 1,000 volume-strong collection of handwritten Greek texts available online free of charge, something curators there hope will be a boon to historians, biblical scholars and students of classical Greece alike.

Although the manuscripts — highlights of which include a famous collection of Aesopic fables discovered on Mount Athos in 1842 — have long been available to scholars who made the trip to the British Library's reading rooms, curator Scot McKendrick said their posting to the web was opening antiquity to the entire world.

McKendrick said that London could be an expensive place to spend time poring over the Greek texts' tiny, faded script or picking through hundreds of pages of parchment.

"Not every scholar can afford to come here weeks and months on end," he said. The big attraction of browsing the texts online "is the ability to do it at your own desk whenever you wish to do it — and do it for free as well."

Although millions of books have been made available online in recent years — notably through Google Books' mass scanning program — ancient texts have taken much longer to emerge from the archives.

They don't suffer from the copyright issues complicating efforts to post contemporary works to the Web, but their fragility makes them tough to handle. They have to be carefully cracked open and photographed one page at a time, a process the British Library said typically costs about 1 pound ($1.50) per page.

The library has moved aggressively to put large swathes of its collection online, from 19th-century newspapers to the jewels of its collection — The Lindisfarne Gospels, a selection of Leonardo da Vinci's sketches and the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest surviving complete copy of the Christian Bible.

The library's Greek manuscript project was funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which supports Greek-related initiatives in arts and culture.

Another batch of about 250 documents are due to be published online in 2012.

The British Library: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation: http://www.snf.org

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An Appointment With An Angel at Hagia Sophia

In Istanbul, Christopher Howse views an angel unseen for 160 years.

Christopher Howse
September 26, 2010
Telegraph.co.uk

I’ve just seen the face of an angel that no one had set eyes on for 160 years. I travelled 1,500 miles, saw the angel and then came home. It was worth it.

The angel – a seraph, most likely, since it has six wings – is depicted in mosaic high on the wall of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The position is incomparable, for this church dedicated to Holy Wisdom by the Emperor Justinian nearly 1,500 years ago leaves an exhilarating impression of vast space enclosed by walls that let in streams of light.

Above a nave 100ft wide, the central dome is high enough to accommodate the Tower of Pisa. Where the square of supporting piers meets the hemisphere of the dome there are curving triangular surfaces known to architects as pendentives. Filling these, in each of the four corners, were four images of seraphim.

When the basilica (by then a mosque) was restored in the late 1840s, the faces of the seraphim were covered with golden plaques, out of Islamic sensitivity about graven images.

Hagia Sophia has been a museum since 1934, and in the most recent restorations, after 16 years of scaffolding, in time for Istanbul’s role as a European capital of culture, 2010, one of the faces has been revealed.

The face itself is about three feet across, though from the floor of the building it is almost lost in the feathery wings that frame it.

Curiously it reminded me of medieval versions of the face of the moon (often depicted in the sky next to the crucified Christ). It has a serene air. Once, it would have drawn the worshipper’s eye toward the centre of the high dome above, where Christ the Pantocrator reigned in mosaic.

The present image of the seraph must date from the mid 14th century, after the mending of damage to the dome from the earthquake of 1344. The glory of the golden mosaics, which by then had already covered the walls and domes for centuries, was expressed by the 10th-century emissaries to Byzantium of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, who exclaimed: “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty.”

That glory is not entirely departed, for the firmament remains on which the shining tesserae were set. The effect of such mosaic vaults is visible in miniature at the church of St Saviour in Chora (now a museum) near the western city walls.

St Saviour’s narrative mosaics recall those in St Mark’s, Venice, and the church also boasts an astonishingly vigorous mural of the risen Christ pulling Adam and Eve by the wrists out of their graves. At St Saviour too, an angel cloaked in wings stands at the gates where St Peter leads the righteous into heaven.

In Hagia Sophia some details bring home its antiquity. A piece of graffiti cut in runes on a marble balustrade of the southern gallery records the name of Halfdan, no doubt a member of the Varangian Guard that undertook to serve the Emperor in days before England had been conquered by the Normans.

At this upper level too, the most beautiful mosaics survive, such as the Deesis (the Greek convention of Christ enthroned with supplicating saints), where the tranquil face of Christ and the bowed heads of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist gaze from a background of gold.

The older glowing tesserae are cubes of glass backed by gold leaf or colour. Some abstract patterned mosaics to be seen here date from the sixth century, and exploratory patches of more have been uncovered under some of the arches.

I was lucky enough to travel to Istanbul with the help of the Turkish Tourism Office and to stay in the peaceful comfort of the Four Seasons hotel in the Sultanahmet district, just next to Hagia Sophia. But it is perfectly easy to catch a plane to Istanbul and potter about the city under your own steam. There is plenty to see apart from Hagia Sophia, but what can equal it?

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The Three Realities: Death, the Soul, and God the Judge

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

All our riches, glory and honor are as a brief repast that ends at death. No one takes a single crumb of this meal into the other world. Blessed is the one who understands that the soul is his only possession that is not diminished by anything, not even by death. Such a one thinks only of three realities: death, the soul, and God the Judge.

Abba Evagrius teaches: "Hold your approaching death and the Judgment constantly in your mind, and you will preserve your soul from sin."

All our bodily cares in this life are like cares about a meal which must soon be cut short.

St. Isaiah the Solitary says: "Have death before your eyes every day: think constantly about how you will separate from the body, how you will pass through the region of the powers of darkness who will meet you in the air, and how you will present yourself before God. Prepare yourself for the Dread Day of answering to the Judgment of God, as though you already behold it now."

One day, John, a rich merchant, came to St. Sabbatius of Solovki (Sept. 27) and brought him many alms. Sabbatius did not accept any of it, but rather told the donor to distribute all of it to the needy. John became very sad at this, and the saint, in order to comfort him and make everything clear to him said: "John, my son, stay here and rest until tomorrow, and then you will see the grace of God." John obeyed. The next day, John entered the cell of Sabbatius and saw the elder in final repose, and sensed a wonderful fragrance in the cell.

He who foresees the end of his life does not think of worldly goods.

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"That They All May Be One" Patristically Explained

Unfortunately this is a passage of Scripture misapplied in the contemporary Ecumenical Movement as a call for divided Christians to come together, when in fact it is clearly a prayer of our Lord that the disciples of Jesus may be united in their existing unity through their glorification by the Holy Spirit. As Fr. John Romanides writes: "That John 17 can be applied to Churches which have not the slightest understanding of glorification (theosis) and how to arrive at this cure in this life is very interesting, to say the least... In John 17 Christ prays for the cure of the glorification of His disciples and their disciples, not for divided Churches, indeed not for traditions which have not the slightest idea of what the cure of glorification is." St. Cyril of Alexandria confirms this when he says in the words of Christ: "This favour and glory then, He says, given unto Me, O Father, by Thee, that is, the glory of being One with Thee, I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are One."

By St. Nikolai Velimirovish

"That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee" (John 17:21).

Brethren, God's mercy is great. When a righteous man feels it, he weeps; but when a sinner feels it, he is ashamed.

By the mercy of God, we are cleansed, illumined, saved, adopted and united with God Himself. However, no one should construe that, by this unity with God, we become of the same Essence with God and equal to God. We will never be of one Essence with God, nor equal to God, in the way in which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are of one Essence and equal in being.

"That they all may be one" the Savior says to His Father on behalf of His disciples, "as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee", and here He is thinking of the unity of love and not of the unity of nature. From love flows mutual obedience, mutual help, mutual mercy, meekness, humility, goodness, good will and sacrifice.

And when the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), He does not mean that men can be equal to God, but means to show them the supreme example of perfection in every good thing. For many teachers of men have pointed to examples of perfection in some thing or some person, but not in God. Often enough, they have taught men evil, and pointed to it as an example of perfection. That is why the Lord teaches men to take the Heavenly Father as an example of every perfection, and to labor and strive for that true perfection, and not some other.

By the grace of God, we are all adopted of God and become one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). However, we do not become gods; we do not become equal with the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Do not forget that it is said in the Scriptures: "The heavens are not clean in His sight" (Job 15:15). The majestic powers of the heavens are not even equal to Him, so what then of man? However, by the grace of God, and because of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, the faithful are raised up into unity with God, in love and spirit. Therefore, let us make an effort to do the will of God, that we in truth may be raised up to such majestic heights.

O Lord Jesus Christ our God, Who art the God of every mercy and goodness; uphold us in Thy mercy to the end, and be not angry with us, but rather forgive us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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