The Silence of a Monastic Confounds Philosophers

Some philosophers once visited an elder, and after he had offered a prayer he remained silent, braiding cord and paying no attention to them.

They besought him, saying: "Say something to us, father", but he held his peace. They said to him: "This is what we came for: to hear you say something and to benefit from it."

The elder said to them: "You spend your money to learn how to speak. I left the world to learn how to keep silent."

They were filled with amazement on hearing this and went their way edified.

From the "Supplimentary Tales" of The Spiritual Meadow by St. John Moschos.

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The Christmas Tree and Orthodox Tradition

By Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos

I suspect that the custom of decorating a tree at Christmas time is not simply a custom which came to us from the West and which we should replace with other more Orthodox customs. To be sure, I have not gone into the history of the Christmas tree and where it originated, but I think that it is connected with the Christmas feast and its true meaning.



First, it is not unrelated to the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah:
 "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" (Is. 11:1). St. Cosmas the Poet had this prophecy in mind when he wrote of Christ as the blossom which rose up out of the Virgin stem from the stump of Jesse. The root is Jesse, David’s father, the rod is King David, the flower which came from the root and the rod is the Theotokos. And the fruit which came forth from the flower of the Panagia is Christ. Holy Scripture presents this wonderfully. Thus the Christmas tree can remind us of the genealogical tree of Christ as Man, the love of God, but also the successive purifications of the Forefathers of Christ. At the top is the star which is the God-Man (Theanthropos) Christ.



Then, the Christmas tree reminds us of the tree of knowledge as well as the tree of life, but especially the latter. It underlines clearly the truth that Christ is the tree of life and that we cannot live or fulfill the purpose of our existence unless we taste of this tree, "the producer of life". Christmas cannot be conceived without Holy Communion. And of course as for Holy Communion it is not possible to partake of deification in Christ without having conquered the devil when we found ourselves faced with temptation relative to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where our freedom is tried. 

We rejoice and celebrate, because "the Tree of Life blossomed from the Virgin in the cave".


Excerpt from the book titled The Feasts of the Lord: An Introduction to the 12 Feasts and Orthodox Christology, 1993.

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Synaxarion of Hieromartyr Philoumenos of Jacob's Well

Synaxarion For Saint Philoumenos the New Hieromartyr (November 29)

On this day, we celebrate the Holy Glorious New Hieromartyr Philoumenos the Cypriot, of the surname Chasapes, who preserved the Holy Pilgrimage of the Well of Jacob reverently and faithfully, and baptized seventy Jewish souls, and whose head was split seventy times with an axe by a fanatical Jew and was perfected in martyrdom, in the year 1979. His holy body was uncovered and found incorrupt and fragrant, and is kept now and ever unharmed in the Holy City.

Apolytikion in the First Tone
The offspring of Orountas, and from the root of Cyprus, and new Hieromartyr of the divine Well of Jacob, O faithful let us honor Philoumenos as a defender of our faith, and as an eternal soldier of Christ’s truth, we fervently cry out: glory to Christ Who glorified you, glory to Him Who kept you incorrupt, glory to Him who revealed you as our benefactor towards heaven.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
Vanquisher of demons, dispeller of the powers of darkness, by thy meekness thou hast inherited the earth and reignest in the Heavens; intercede, therefore, with our Merciful God, that our souls may be saved.

See also:

Saint Philoumenos the New Hieromartyr of Jacob's Well (+1979)

Official Glorification of Hieromartyr Philoumenos of Jacob's Well

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Athens Mosque Plan Faces New Hurdles

Far-right groups threaten to stop construction of mosque, while Zaha Hadid denies she offered to design it.

Helena Smith
November 28, 2010
Guardian.co.uk

A controversial bid to build a mosque in Athens has assumed new, more dramatic proportions amid threats by the far-right to stop its construction and a denial by the renowned Anglo-Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid, that she is involved in its design.

Tensions have soared in the only EU capital where Muslims are still forced to pray in underground basement flats and garages in the absence of a proper place of worship.

Two weeks after a neo-fascist party won its first-ever seat on Athens council in local elections – highlighting growing Greek hostility over the country's rising immigrant population –opposition to the decades-old project has grown.

London-based Hadid, whose ultra-modern creations include Rome's Maxxi: Museum of 21st century Arts, took the unusual step of refuting local media reports that she had offered to design the state-funded mosque for free.

"The practice has not been approached by the authorities in Greece nor by any other institution regarding a mosque in Athens," her office said in a statement.

"Recent reports referring to Zaha Hadid Architects' involvement in the project are unfounded."

The rebuttal is the latest twist in a saga that dates back to the 1930's over whether the predominantly Christian Orthodox state should officially cater to followers of Islam.

Not since the Ottomans evacuated Athens in 1832, nearly 400 years after they marched into the city, has a mosque operated within its confines. The legacy of such rule has meant that outside Greece's Muslim-dominated province of Thrace, Nicosia in Cyprus is the only city in the Hellenic world where the muezzin can still be heard.

Arguments over locale and funding have added to the row. In the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympic games, an offer by the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to finance a mosque near Athens international airport was vociferously opposed by the Greek Orthodox church on the grounds that the sight of a minaret and dome might make visitors wonder where they had landed in an Islamic state.

A law passed in 2006 by the previous conservative administration foreseeing the construction of a Muslim place of worship on a former naval site near the city centre foundered after locals put up a stiff fight.

Today, resistance has been fuelled by the country's dire fiscal straits. With unprecedented government cutbacks and economic austerity, many Greeks have asked whether it is appropriate to allocate funds for a mosque.

"Why should we spend money to build a mosque?" Maria Kontou, a pensioner, was quoted as saying in the English-language Athens Plus. "Did we ever get help to build Greek Orthodox churches abroad?"

But as a gateway to the EU of illegal immigrants, Greece's Muslim population is also growing. At nearly half a million, the community stepped up pressure on the ruling Socialists to resolve the dispute earlier this month by staging mass public prayer sessions across Athens to mark the Eid al-Adha festival.

The open-air services triggered clashes between police and protesters from the extreme-right nationalist Chrysi Avgi party, who at one site pelted worshippers with eggs, deluged them with offensive leaflets and screamed obscenities.

Attempting to allay tensions, George Papandreou's government has announced that it will convene an international competition to design the mosque in the coming months.

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Video: The Monastery of St. Gerasimos of the Jordan

The documentary below features life inside the Monastery of Saint Gerasimos of the Jordan which is in the desert near the Jordan River where Christ was baptized by John the Forerunner. It features the elder of the monastery, Chrysostomos, who has made this deserted area into an oasis. Near the monastery one can also see, according to tradition, either the cave of St. Mary of Egypt or St. Photini. The relics of St. Gerasimos have not been found, but Fr. Chrysostomos has uncovered many graves of monks outside the monastery among which he believes will be found his relics.

The Chapel of the Flight Into Egypt inside the monastery is the traditional location where the Theotokos, St. Joseph and the infant Jesus stopped on their way to Egypt. According to tradition, while the Holy Family stayed overnight in this cave, a thief warned other thieves to not bother them. After the Theotokos bathed the infant Jesus, the wife of the thief washed her sick child with the same water. Immediately the child became well. It is said that the child who was healed grew up to be the thief crucified next to Jesus who was first to enter Paradise.

Outside the monastery is also buried a nun by the name of Christodouli who lived in a room inside the monastery and died at the age of 104. She loved animals very much, especialy cats, dogs and goats. He holiness is revealed at her burial, when she was taken from the church inside the monastery to where she is buried. The few people in attendance testify that at her burial her grave was surrounded by cats and dogs and on the walls were many birds. These were the animals she fed from her own little food.

The monastery has three places where pilgrims can stay to be refreshed for many days. Because of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in recent years few people visit. Fr. Chrysostomos does whatever he can to help the Orthodox and Muslims who live nearby in Jericho financially.

Related posts:

St. Gerasimos of Jordan Monastery (Documentary)

Recent Miracles of St. Gerasimos of Jordan

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Saint Nicholas Basdanis the New Martyr of Metsovo

St. Nicholas Basdanis (Feast Day - May 17 and November 28)

Metsovo on the borders of Epiros and Thessaly was the birth place of St. Nicholas the New Martyr, often known as "St Nicholas the Vlach". The Pindos Mountain range in Central Greece has long been home to the Vlachs, a mainly Romanian speaking minority who have always lived at peace with their Greek speaking neighbors. Staunchly Orthodox, only a few Vlachs converted to Islam during the long centuries of Ottoman domination. At one point of his life this St Nicholas joined that small community of Vlach Muslims.

The Basdanis family were one of the poorer families of Metsovo, a prosperous town on an important trade route across the Pindos Mountains. By reputation they were devout and hard working Orthodox Christians, it is likely that they spoke Greek and the local Vlach dialect. At a young age Nicholas was sent to Trikala to work, here he was employed by a baker in a mainly Muslim area. Quite naturally, he made many friends amongst the Muslim community of Trikala -- people of his own age and others who frequented the well known bakery.

Certain influential and well educated Turks took an interest in this bright young man; they helped him in many ways and over a period of time they persuaded Nicholas that it was to his advantage to become a Muslim. Flattered by their attention and dazzled by the prospect of becoming associated with the elite of the ruling community he finally converted to Islam. It is recorded that the Saint was immediately struck by remorse and that he secretly left for Metsovo, his home town. Here he reverted to Christianity and took up a life of striking repentance and prayer.

Nicholas was warmly welcomed back by his family and relatives but, being very poor, they were unable to support him for very long. He soon came out of hiding and found a job that also involved him transporting pine woodtorches to Trikala. On one such journey he was inevitably recognized by a Turkish barber, an old acquaintance, who noticed that Nicholas was no longer dressed as a Muslim. This man threatened to denounce him to the authorities unless Nicholas agreed to bring him a certain quantity of pine wood torches once a year. Nicholas, knowing that the penalty for apostasy from Islam was death, left all the merchandise that he had brought to sell for his employers in Trikala with the barber and agreed to come back a year later with more.

Back in Metsovo the Saint had time to think things over. He consulted his spiritual director and after many discussions they agreed that he neither should nor could give in to blackmail. Nicholas himself was convinced that he was now prepared to make public his reversion to Christianity and face the consequences. After much prayer and discussions with the monks of the Meteora Monasteries, his spiritual director also agreed and gave the Saint his blessing.

On the appointed day Nicholas returned to Trikala to meet the Turkish barber. He refused to hand over any pine wood and invited the barber to turn him in to the authorities. Outraged, the barber dragged him before the Muslim judges. Nicholas fearlessly spoke out before the judges and the many Turks who soon gathered about. In the face of promises and threats he insisted that he had been born a Christian and so desired to die one too.

Nicholas was beaten by the mob and thrown into the castle dungeons. Here he was tortured and starved but steadfastly refused to give in. Eventually the authorities decreed that he should be burnt in the central square of Trikala. The sentence was carried out on May 17, 1617. The Saint died, praying in the flames before the assembled citizens of Trikala.

A certain potter bribed the Turkish guards for a portion of the Saint's relics. The New Martyr was soon famous across the region and numerous miracles were attributed to his intercessions. The healing properties of the few surviving relics ensured a steady flow of pilgrims from all parts of Epiros and Thessaly. These are now shared between the Varlaam Monastery of Meteora, the Eleousa Monastery on an island in Lake Ioannina and the Monastery of the Dormition in Metsovo.

The people of the Pindos Mountains revere the Saint as their special patron. In his home town, Metsovo, a church was dedicated to him in 1800 and another was erected on the site of the family home in 1959. Others can be found in the Trikala region, at Tyrnavo and as far away as Artemis in Attica. Nicholas Carcase published the Life and Office of the Saint in Venice in 1767.

The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate formally canonized Nicholas Basdanis as a saint of the Universal Church on November 28, 1988. He is commemorated on this date and on that of his martyrdom - May 17.

Source

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Saint Antonie the Anchorite of Iezeru – Vâlcea

St. Antonie the Anchorite, otherwise known as St. Anthony the Hesychast (Feast Day - November 23)

By Hieromonk Ioanichie Bălan

There are numerous Romanian hermits with a saintly life who lived throughout the centuries in the old forests and the hidden caves in the depth of the Carpathian Mountains. But, by the Lord’s grace, most of them remained unknown, loving more the peace and the life of a foreigner for the love of Christ, who sacrificed Himself on the cross for the redemption of man.

One of the great hermits of the Carpathians was the Righteous Antonie (Anthony) of Iezeru – Vâlcea Skete, called "Saint Antonie the Anchorite" by the locals. This righteous father is the most renowned hermit of Oltenia from the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the next. His name and his deeds remind us of Saint Daniil (Daniel) the Anchorite from Stephan the Great’s Putna Monastery in the 15th century.

The Righteous Antonie the Anchorite was born in one of the villages near the Carpathians of Vâlcea County. During his childhood he lived in purity. He had a great love for the monastic life and he often went visiting the numerous monasteries and sketes from that place, as well as the hermits who were searching for peace in the mountains. Then, following the advice of the igoumen of Iezerul - Vâlcea Skete, he took up the cross of Christ, becoming a monk in this far from the world skete. Here lived a few hermits who loved living in peace, prayer and fasting, who raised the young monk Antonie in his spiritual life by accustoming him to silence, fasts, night vigils, humbleness and especially incessant prayer.

After a few years the zealous hermit, advancing in spiritual life and having a great love for Christ, wanted to follow the hermits from long ago and retreat in the mountains to live in peace, to perfect his prayer and holy life. So he often visited the righteous that lived in the depth of the forests and requested their advice and blessing. Then, through a lot of prayer, fasting and all night vigils, and by running to the help of the Theotokos, the protector of Iezeru Skete, he received the blessing to retreat to live as a hermit, like many other monks wanted.

So, in 1690, the Righteous Antonie climbed a few miles to the mountain where the skete is. There he searched a cave for a small church and a cell. After a lot of searching and prayer, he found a small cave under a rock and started living in it. This was his cell, prayer corner, room and safe house for his body tired through fasting and metania [repentance]. But his soul didn’t rest completely because there wasn’t any church nearby, where he could raise day and night his heart and hands in prayer. Then he prayed to the Theotokos and started digging a small church in the rock. And he worked alone for three years only with a chisel and a hammer. Then he added an iconostasis, icons and other things needed, and when it was ready, the Righteous Antonie called the Bishop of Râmnic, Ilarion (Hilarion), to bless it. In this small church dug in rock, the blessed elder prayed to God day and night for the rest of his life, together with the angels in Heaven.

But who can say anything about his ascetic life, the three days long or even longer fasts, the all night vigils, the struggles with the unseen enemies who can’t stand the humbleness and the labors of the saints, the fiery prayer and the unstopping tears that spring from the heart? He never slept for more than two or three hours at night and he didn’t eat anything else than old bread soaked in water and salt with a few vegetables that he grew in his small garden. Then he was repeating incessantly “The Jesus Prayer” from his heart and he was reading the Psalter, with a lot of tears of humility.

For his many deeds, the Righteous Antonie has received from God the gifts of foreseeing and of healing human sufferings. Anyone who came to his cave and asked for a word of advice and prayer received the fulfillment of his request. The Elder also had a few disciples in Iezeru Skete who came to him on holidays and brought to him his needed things. One of them was Father Nicolae Ierei, the one who knew the best the life of the Righteous Antonie. He is the one who buried the Elder after his repose and wrote his life.

By 1700, Iezeru Skete, built by King Mircea the Shepherd (1553), was deteriorated and the church deserted. From 1700 to 1705, at the urge of the Righteous Antonie the Anchorite, the bishop of Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Ilarion, together with the villagers of Cheia rebuilt the church out of stone, as well as the cells. We can read on the church’s inscription: “This holy church, where it is celebrated on the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, was first built by the late king Mircea with his queen Chiajna, in 7061 (1553 AD), and after some time, because of carelessness, was deteriorated. And then it was rebuilt by the God-loving kir Ilarion, bishop, being helped by Antonie the schema monk…”.

Tradition says that this great anchorite contributed himself to the rebuilding of the church and the cells of Iezeru as he was from this skete and very zealous at rebuilding the house of the Lord, the one incessantly glorified by both men and angels. But not only then, but also many times the Righteous Antonie climbed down from his cave to Iezeru Skete, especially during the great holidays, to participate in the Divine Liturgy and take communion of the Flesh and Blood of Christ. Then, after he ate together with the brothers from the skete and gave useful spiritual counsels to his disciples, he climbed to his hidden cave in the mountains, in the depth of the forests. But he didn’t have disciples only in monasteries, but also people from the villages and cities, hearing about the holiness of his life, came to Iezeru Skete and to the cave to receive counsel and a prayer of blessing.

The name of the Righteous Antonie became known also over the Carpathians, even in the northern part of Transylvania, from where the believers came down the valleys of Jiu or Olt rivers to ask the Saint to pray for them or at least touch his clothes. One of these disciples was "the humble hieromonk kir Nicolae, son of Nicolae from Teiuş”, who came regularly to the cave of the Righteous Antonie. Upon hearing about this famous hermit, he left Transylvania and became a monk at Iezeru Skete, becoming the Saint’s closest disciple. At the Saint’s advice, he was ordained as a priest and spiritual father of the skete by bishop Ilarion of Râmnicu - Vâlcea and he sometimes celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the cave of the Righteous Antonie.

After 28 years of harsh acetic life as a hermit, the Righteous Antonie the Anchorite, pleasing the Lord, gave his soul into His hands, some time before 1714. His disciple, "the spiritual father Nicolae Ierei”, took care of the Saint during his last few days, giving him communion. Then, being wept over by his disciples – hermit monks and believers from everywhere -, he was buried by the igoumen of Iezeru Skete and all the monks near the door of the small church dug in the rock by hand, near the cave, where he still is.

Many years later his disciples – or even believers from the villages around – were climbing Iezeru Mountain with kollyva, oil and candles in their hands and, after they were praying in the small church, they were making metanias [prostrations] and weeping at the tomb where the relics of the Righteous Antonie lie, whom they honored as a saint. Then they were holding a memorial service, lighting hundreds of candles and vigil lamps, were crossing themselves in the cave of Saint Antonie, where the good soldier of Christ lived for 28 years, suffering great temptations from the devils, and then they were climbing down the mountain, each one to his home, asking the help and prayers of their spiritual father. This tradition was kept until our times in those places, especially in Iezeru Skete, which he helped building.

Several years after the departure of the Righteous Antonie the Anchorite, his disciple, "Nicolae Ierei, the spiritual father”, wrote his life, as he was the one who knew it the best, in which he writes, among other things: "…(Schema Monk Antonie,) wanting to live alone, so he can fight against the artful one, and leaving the monastery and trying in deserted places and searching for a place to pray, by the Lord’s grace, he found this cave…”.

Today we can still see the righteous’ cell, called "The Cave of Saint Antonie” by the locals, as well as the little stone church, deserted. Near the door of this small church is the tomb of the Righteous Antonie the Anchorite with the forgotten relics of a Romanian saint who prays before the Holy Trinity for us all.

Source: The Patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Romanian saints and defenders of the Law of our forefathers, E.I.B.M.B.O.R., Bucharest, 1987, p. 496-499. "The Righteous Antonie the Anchorite of Iezeru-Vâlcea".

Additional Notes: According to the nuns at the skete, he was a merchant of Vlach origin, born in Ioanina. He was married and had a son who became a priest. At 64 years old, he became a monk at Saracinesti Monastery, a few kilommeters away from Iezeru Skete. He wanted to go to Mount Athos, but bishop Ilarion sent him to rebuild Iezeru Skete. In 1690 the saint retreated in a small cave a few kilometers away from Iezeru, where he eventually was buried. Before he died he told his disciple Nicolae that they will stay in the skete as long as his relics are buried in the cave. In the 19th century, Saint Calinic of Cernica (April 11) wanted to search for the holy relics, but the night before he came, the rock collapsed and most of the tomb was covered. Saint Calinic realised it was the will of Saint Antonie to remain there so he gave up searching for the holy relics. Just recently, a part of his holy relics were uncovered and placed in the church of Iezeru Skete.

Saint Antonie of Iezeru was officially canonized in 1992. The article above by Elder Ioanichie Balan was written in 1987. He is commemorated on November 23rd.

Everything translated by Marius Nitu

The cave of St. Antonie

The church built by St. Antonie

The Akathist of Saint Antonie of Iezeru:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5355bLaePD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_A7_CRNvwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfSazdcJXF0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AijlwRD1Y

Iezeru Skete:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmhSlLXNQAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhXNFAi9MGY

The Cave of Saint Antonie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_irKqDBX-1E

Video made after the holy relics were brought to Bucharest for a week in September 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqg8mx_v0Ac

Another life of Saint Anthony the Hesychast can be read here.

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Orthodox Fundamentalism, Conspiracies and Harry Potter

The Harry Potter Phenomenon and Orthodox Reactions

Bishop Auxentios of Photiki

The Orthodox Church, contrary to certain well-meaning but misguided efforts by the Faithful and some clergymen to prove other wise, is not opposed to science, progress, or human intellectual development. Even a cursory survey of the writings of the Church Fathers--from St. Basil the Great to St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite, to cite two notable examples--and those of our finest theologians lucidly demonstrates that the fear of secular knowledge, of the West, of science, and of secular intellectual trends is unknown to the Orthodox Church. St. Basil the Great instructs us to benefit from what is good even in pagan writers, while St. Nicodemos adapted more than one spiritual source of Western provenance to Orthodox usage. And the late and renowned Photios Kontoglou, a conservative and decidedly traditional Orthodox thinker, benefited from the writings of classical Greek philosophy and without reluctance fathomed the depths of such Western thinkers as Blaise Pascal. Anti-Western, anti-intellectual thinking is not part of the Patristic consensus, except as the Fathers approach the dogmatic deviations of Western Christianity. We must keep these notions in mind, as we confront technologies, ideologies, social thought, and intellectual trends formed in a changing world and in a secular context that some times challenges the immutable truths which shape our thinking and lives as Orthodox Christians.

Unfortunately, there has developed in the Orthodox world, of late, a kind of conspiratorial sensitivity to anything new or anything which we do not readily understand, partly reinforced by the exploitation of certain personal opinions in Church literature that, however piously put forth by unquestionably holy individuals, are often not part of the consensus of the Fathers. Bar codes, computers, globalization, and humanistic thinking seem to create a spectre of ominous doom and apocalyptic darkness in the minds of many, today. Preoccupied by the bizarre and irrational bugaboos of unsophisticated American Protestant fundamentalists, some Orthodox writers in Greece and Eastern Europe have even translated and disseminated works of purely Protestant provenance--often based on questionable, if not wholly false, "scientific claims" by individuals whose credentials in the domain of science are either exaggerated or dubious--, touting as authoritative voices from the West works and ideas that are dismissed by thinking Americans as crank fluff. Propped up by naive ethnocentrism or xenophobic tendencies (the fear of Jewish conspiracies, Masonic plots, Vatican intrigue, etc.), a growing--and sometimes ugly and irrational--anti-Americanism and disdain for the West, as well as an apocalyptic frenzy of an almost hysterical sort, this kind of conspiratorial thinking has gained such ascendency in a large part of the traditional Orthodox world, that one is hard-pressed to focus the attention of the Faithful on the real and menacing threats that pose such a danger to the Orthodox Church: a degradation in spiritual life; social, political, and unprecedented moral decline in the Orthodox world; religious syncretism and the erosion of our Orthodox identity in the superficies of an ecumenism which, instead of spawning religious toleration and mutual understanding, has divided the Orthodox Church into warring factions; and, of course, a deviation from the sobriety of the ecclesiastical ethos so long preserved and protected by the Church Fathers.

I do not, of course, deny that modern technology and intellectual trends can take a wrong turn, and even deliberately so. All things in science can be used and applied in a good or evil way. Thus, the same nuclear science that has led to the healing of disease and new sources of energy also once produced the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But whatever the potential for abuse may be, when we look at science from the perspective of its prudent and positive application, we must admit that computers, bar codes, televisions, modern advances in medicine, and technology in general have improved our lives in immeasurable ways. Indeed, to ignore the issue of the correct application of science and to imagine that all technological progress is malicious and that the Antichrist (an evil which has tempted and tortured mankind since the Fall) can be reduced to naive numerology, searching for the "Mark of the Beast" (which the Fathers of the Church more often than not left shrouded in mystery) in the simple number "666" and in hidden and clandestine form in bar codes, bars of soap, identity cards, phone cards, credit cards or any modern device--this is to reduce Orthodoxy to the level of sectarian pursuits and to let the psychological weaknesses of insecure believers sully the lofty and sublime teachings of the Church. It is the intellectual counterpart of placing a clove of garlic on an Icon, in order to "frighten away" vampires or the evil spirits that latex paints, a product of modern technology, might attract.

Vigilance against evil and the spirit of Antichrist is not achieved in external and irrational fear and a constant search for plots, secret signs, and hidden meanings and symbols; it is to be found in internal watchfulness, in which Christ Himself guides us to "true wisdom," as St. Nilos the Ascetic (a fifth-century Saint and disciple of St. John Chrysostomos) tells us. We must seek "in Christ" a sagacious spirit, prudence, discretion, deliberation, an understanding of the difference between good and evil science and technology (evaluated on how their products and theories are used and applied), and insight into the subtlety with which evil attacks the world. A crude, irrational fear of progress and the forces of evil, disallowing for positive progress through the rational application of science and technology, does not prepare us to encounter and combat the wiles of fallen human nature and the clever deceptions of the Evil One; rather, it clouds our vision, distracts us from the true nature of evil, and makes us theological dullards.

It is also true that globalization and the marring of natural distinctions between peoples can lead to the nightmare of universal social and political conformity and the diminution of individual rights. Humanistic thinking, by the same token, can so distort human nature and man's dependence on God, that human beings, drunk with arrogance and self-reliance, run headlong into disaster and reject both the role of God in society and His indispensability in positive human achievement. However, mutual understanding, common human goals, and universalism, when placed in perspective and protected from abuse, can serve the most sacred of Christian goals. [1] If we properly direct and form the alms and goals of globalization and humanism, bringing them into conformity with Christian thought and meeting the challenges which they pose to correct Christian apology, we can enlist them in our efforts to transform the world and save it from the very evils of phyletism, ethnocentricity and ethnic strife, selfishness, provincialism, war, and terror that global visionaries and humanists themselves would strive to confront but which, lacking transformation in Christ, they are not only unable to conquer, but often, with the best of intentions, turn into more hideous evils. In embracing universalism and humanism in a Christian context, we are carrying out the mandate of the Gospel, which calls us to see all men as our brothers and to transcend the selfishness of family, country, and kin; to focus on our Heavenly homeland and not the fleeting world of today; and to spread the message of Christianity across the whole globe, embracing others in unconditional love, which is the true mark of Christianity and the true Christian.

Finally, I cannot deny that the Orthodox Church has suffered from the plots, assaults, and intrigues of hostile forces--sufferings often misunderstood or ignored by unfair and myopic Western historians and writers. If anti-Semitism has sadly and shamefully marred the Christian witness (both in the East and West) from early Christianity to modern days, there have also been reprehensible instances of anti-Christian violence among less-enlightened Jews (a fact to which more militant Zionism attests in our very days). Similarly, though the Orthodox are surely not without their faults in the mistreatment of Roman Catholics, the Fourth Crusade and the Uniate movement leave a huge and indelible black mark against the Vatican in its abuse of Orthodox believers. There is also no doubt that many organizations (such as the Masons) which are today--while incompatible with Orthodoxy, on account of their doctrines of religious syncretism and their maintenance of quasi-religious rituals of highly questionable origin--largely benign social clubs and benevolent societies (in America, at least) were once deeply involved in activities inimical to, and frequently a direct threat against, the Orthodox Church, its ethos, and its activities. But to maintain, on the basis of often fanciful, deliberately-forged, and inane evidence that the historical rivals of Christianity are engaged in a relentless desire and immense common conspiracy to corrupt, harm, and denigrate the Orthodox Church in our days is to make a mockery of our Faith.

With regard to the West and America specifically, neither the Western world nor America can claim to have treated the Orthodox world fairly at all times. Western European and American policy in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Cyprus, and the Near East, the traditional centers of Orthodox Christianity, has not been without faults. American policy, for instance, has often been misguided and not always marked by pure motivations free of economic and political self-interest. But it is a great leap from these observations to an assumption that the West is some how the enemy of Orthodoxy, thereby aligning the attitudes of traditional Orthodox populations with those of militant Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists, who witlessly call America the "Great Satan" and who have, ironically enough, inflicted their violence to some extent on almost every Orthodox land (indeed, the same kind of Islamic imperialists who, more than half a millennium ago, reached the gates of Vienna in Western Europe itself). America has its oil interests, as any objective observer will admit. Its Mid-East policy is not, in the opinion of many, a very balanced or prudent one. However, the same country that can be accused of these foibles in policy and aims also helped rebuild Europe after World War II. It gives hundreds of millions of dollars to the Moslem neighbors of Israel, has--whatever its policy towards oil--suffered at the hands of Islamic terrorism at the same time that it has tried to overthrow tyrannical regimes in the Moslem world (albeit some that it unwisely supported in the past), and cannot be faulted for its admission of past wrongs, such as racism and social inequities, which it has tried to address and to correct. To vilify the West for its faults, without acknowledging its good points, simply reinforces a provincialism in the Orthodox world that is unfair, unjustified, counter-productive, and even ungrateful, given that the West and America have made gargantuan efforts to aid the emerging countries of Eastern Europe. The resulting xenophobia once more obfuscates the spiritual splendor of the traditional Orthodox world and impedes the inimitable spiritual force of Orthodoxy in a century which was meant in every way to be its own.

Into the intellectual, ecclesiastical, and cultural atmosphere which I have described--an Orthodoxy turned in on itself, beset by superstitious and silly provincialism and fundamentalistic preoccupations borrowed from outside sources, and possessed by a fear of technological progress and of intellectual trends that it views with xenophobic suspicion or in a spirit of anti-intellectual simplism--the advent of a series of children's books, the Harry Potter series, written by a thirty-seven-year-old single mother from Scotland, J.K. Rowling, has prompted an outcry of fear in Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, and in some Orthodox circles in Romania that has Westerners looking on in astonishment. In Western Europe and the United States, a few fundamentalistic groups have also condemned the Harry Potter series (now numbering five volumes) as a nefarious plot to poison Christian children with the evils of black magic. These stirrings in the West, however, have simply been dismissed as the typical anti-intellectual inanities of unthinking individuals. Unfortunately, this kind of ridicule has also been expressed by those Westerners who have studied the reactions to the Harry Potter series in Orthodox countries, since the rationale for the opposition in these countries seems to be precisely that of the fundamentalists in the West (from which that rationale is, in fact, borrowed).

Typical of these Orthodox reactions to the Harry Potter books are several volumes published recently in Greece (see, for example, "Nai e OCHI sto Chari Poter" [Yes or NO to Harry Potter?], by loannes Meliones [Athens: The Panhellenic Parents' Union, 2002]; or Mathemata Magias kai Satanismou apo ton Chari Poter [Lessons in Magic and Satanism from Harry Potter], by K.G. Papademetrakopoulos [Kantza: Photodotes, 2002]). In Greece, as in Bulgaria, Russia, and Romania, the Harry Potter phenomenon (dubbed "charipoteromania," or "Harry Potter-mania" in Greece) is clearly seen, at some level, through the jaundiced eyes of xenophobia and a certain fear of what is "global." Almost every critical article or book on the Harry Potter series in these countries emphasizes that these books are "foreign," that they have been sold in many millions of copies in several hundred countries, that the series has been translated into almost fifty languages, and that it has won many literary prizes. Indeed, such statistics would normally constitute impressive accolades; but instead, as a young Romanian student of theology wrote to Archbishop Chrysostomos earlier this year, "...for the Orthodox world the popularness [sic] of these books is [a] sign of the coming end of the world, brought about by the transformation of our children into magicians by 'practitioners' of magic from [the] foreign lands of Antichrist and above all of them--forgive me--America." [2] It is often pointed out that the Harry Potter books, purportedly by the author's own admission, contain genuine "magical incantations," that they constitute an attempt to make a distinction between "black" and "white" magic (and thus in essence advocate magic), and that they are, as Mr. Meliones (vide supra) observes, "an irresistible [akatamacheto] weapon of the New Age of Aquarius in the proselytization of our children." [3]

Despite these ill-founded xenophobic and perhaps hyperbolically fearful elements in their writings, I do not for a moment doubt the sincerity of many of those who have joined the crusade in Orthodox countries against the Harry Potter phenomenon. (Indeed, even the American fundamentalist Protestants whom they mimic, however naive and unfounded many of their accusations and fears, are not generally individuals of ill intention.) Mr. Meliones, for example, is certainly to be commended for his care for the welfare of Greek children and his desire to protect and preserve the better things of Greek culture and an Orthodox outlook on life which, though it is obviously and rapidly disappearing, has nonetheless been essential to that country's survival as a Christian nation. Undoubtedly, the majority of Harry Potter critics in Bulgaria, Russia, and Romania are motivated, in their efforts, by similarly sincere goals. However, these goals, prompted in part by a sense of hysteria--expressed in the frenzied apocalyptic tones of Protestant fundamentalism--and insufficiently filtered through the prism of Patristic sobriety and reflection, degrade into hyperbole and a kind of black-and-white approach to literature: an approach which is both intellectually dangerous and misleading. For example, as we shall see subsequently, while one may, however presumptuously, argue that the Harry Potter books provide lessons in "magic," to argue (as do many Protestant fundamentalists in the U.S., as well) that they teach "Satanism," as Mr. Papademetrakopoulos (vide supra) does, is to push the proverbial envelope past speculation and presumption to speciousness.

The misleading nature of the hyperbole employed in these popular fundamentalistic condemnations of the Harry Potter books, both in the West and in Orthodox countries, is very well addressed in a recent book by John Granger (a Reader in one of our parish Churches here in the United States), The Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning, Genius, and Popularity of Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter Novels (Port Hadlock, WA: Zossima Press, 2002). Quite rightly, Dave Kopel, in a review of this book in the widely-read, conservative American political magazine, The National Review, says that Mr. Granger:

"...demonstrates the absurdity of the claim that Harry Potter is anti-Christian. And even if you've never worried about charges brought by misguided fundamentalists, The Hidden Key will substantially augment your understanding of what's really at stake in Harry's adventures." [4]

Mr. Granger is, indeed, at his best when forming his arguments against American fundamentalists of the "Evangelical right" and their citations of evidence for occult, anti-Christian, and Satanic teachings in the Harry Potter books. These arguments are especially pertinent to what I have said about such claims by Orthodox writers. Among the various fundamentalist commentaries on the series that he scrutinizes is Richard Abanes' Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick (Camp Hill, PA: Horizon Books, 2001), a book which is a veritable encyclopedia of fundamentalistic interpretations of the Harry Potter books and one from which almost all of the Potter critics, including Orthodox writers abroad, have drawn. Noting that, in his "close reading," "nothing escapes Mr. Abanes' microscopic examination of the books in his search for what is wrong with them--except, of course, their larger meaning," [5] Granger contends that Abanes:

"..reads the Bible as a Muslim reads the Koran: as an ideological guide and work of jurisprudence, rather than the voice of tradition understandable within that tradition. Ms. Rowling as a traditional and orthodox Christian is of an incomprehensible world view to Mr. Abanes. It is [thus] difficult to read his book after the first few pages, because it descends into a diatribe and harangue." [6]

In his more expansive treatment of Abanes' grasp of the images of good and evil in the Potter books, Mr. Granger admits that, while Abanes' "concerns about careless spirituality and the dangers of the occult are real ones," his preoccupation with these concerns "blind him to all and everything good in Harry Potter." [7] He goes on to give us an example of this blind fundamentalistic approach:

"Take...his charge of moral ambiguity. At first blush this seems a stretch. Harry Potter is a good guy and Voldemort the bad guy and there seems little common ground for confusion or ambiguity. To Mr. Abanes, however, because the 'white' hats are a little gray, not lily white, and the 'black hats' are not inhumanly evil without any redeeming virtues, the picture of right and wrong has been clouded. Let's hear him explain it [:]

Rowling downplays Harry's other moral issues by elevating two virtuous characteristics above all others: bravery and courage. As she herself has stated, 'If the characters are brave and courageous, that is rewarded.' What Rowling seemingly fails to realize, however, is that even in her own books 'evil' characters are brave and courageous, too. ...The only difference between them [the good and evil characters--B.A.] rests in the rules that they choose to break, the lies they choose to tell and the goals they choose to pursue. (Abanes, Magick, p. l36)" [8]

This example tells us much about the "careless" scholarship of the fundamentalists, who, in their search for what is evil and for every threat lurking behind what is not within their domain of thought and Weltanschauung, lose objectivity; they find what they want to find at all costs. It is tragic that this weakness in approach is also all-too-characteristic of most Orthodox critics of Harry Potter, who once again--their occasional anti-Western bias notwithstanding--have adopted and mimicked the style of their Western counterparts in the world of Protestant fundamentalism, thereby also inheriting their mentors' foibles.

In view of what I have said about the intellectual, cultural, and religious climate in which the more negative Orthodox views of the Harry Potter series of books have been formed, there are a few general points which can help us as thinking, rational Orthodox Christians to answer precisely the question that one of the Greek critics of Harry Potter whom I have cited laconically poses for us: "'Yes' or 'No' to Harry Potter?" In enumerating these points, it behooves me, as an incidental note, to point out that fundamentalists have a proclivity towards the sensational, often predicting calamity and the end of the world with something akin to excitement and glee. In fact, "Harry Potter-mania" will doubtlessly fade in the public memory almost as quickly as it appeared; and, despite the popularity of the series, there is some evidence that book critics and apocalyptic soothsayers, alike, have already gone on to more fertile fields of late. Nonetheless, the insight provided by the points that I would like to make about the Harry Potter phenomenon certainly generalizes to, and helps us to understand, the task which I set forth at the outset of my essay; that is, the confrontation of technologies, ideologies, social thought, and intellectual trends formed in a changing world and in secular contexts that sometimes challenge the immutable truths which shape our thinking and lives as Orthodox Christians.

In approaching the Harry Potter books, the fundamentalists, both Orthodox and heterodox, have fallen to a classical logical fallacy--post hoc, ergo propter hoc--in literary form; i.e., maintaining that, because the magical imagery used in the Harry Potter books corresponds, in modern times, to the nomenclature and artifacts embraced by ancient alchemy and magic, it follows that the former have their conceptual roots in alchemy and magic and, by extension, advocate the latter. Between the past and the present, many years have passed; and science, as well as individuals educated in the arts and sciences, would seriously challenge the idea that the incantations of alchemists and ancient and medieval witches are efficacious and to be taken seriously. There is, of course, a sure case to be made against the deliberate invocation of evil through such devices, since evil manifests itself where evil is conjured up. However, the power of magic and wizardry lies not in words and incantations (a primitive belief), but in the evil which empowers them; and, to be sure, such empowerment rests on the intentions and goals of those who purposely invoke evil. The use of historically accurate alchemical and magical imagery and language by an author wishing to create a world of magical fantasy to capture the imagination of children--this is a pursuit as innocent and as old as Greek mythology, Aesop's fables, and the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm, which present--in a world of magical fantasy replete with witches, pagan gods, and talking animals--lessons in enduring values, examples of the triumph of virtue over evil, the tragic hubris of false gods marred by human passions, and the power of purity and innocence over the intentions of the wicked.

Ms. Rowling is not a Satanist, as I have pointed out, but a believer in Christ. (I will not address, here, the fundamentalist and parochial view that, because her Christian confession may not be that of an Orthodox Christian, she is not a believer and is therefore a miscreant, if not a Satanist, by default. I leave it to the fundamentalists to argue that issue out in the quagmire of their religious bigotry.) Suffice it to say that she says of herself in a passage quoted by Reader John Granger from Michael Nelson: "I believe in God, not magic.' ... 'If I talk too freely about that,' she told a Canadian reporter, 'I think the intelligent reader--whether ten [years old] or sixty--will be able to guess what is coming in the [next] books." [9] And what is coming? Images of death, resurrection, and the triumph of good over evil. Hardly the stuff of Satanism! In fact, Mr. Granger places Rowling in the tradition of those literary figures, such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, whose writings, as Kopel comments, may "never mention Christianity overtly," but "aim 'to baptize' the imagination of the reader" and lead that reader to struggle "for the right, no matter how powerful the forces of evil may be." [10] And, indeed, Rowling has openly admitted that she is a great fan of Lewis and Tolkien, who both use magical imagery and the fantastic world of fairies and talking animals to convey, in their celebrated literary genre, distinctly and indisputably Christian ideas and values--a powerful apology for Christian teachings in Western literature that has never been associated with black magic or Satanism, except by intellectual troglodytes of the darkest ilk.

The Harry Potter books, then, were not written to portray some esoteric struggle between "black" and "white" magic, are not meant to teach lessons in magic incantations, and have nothing to do with Satanism. The religious "right" from which our Orthodox fundamentalists have adopted such notions is made up of the very same individuals who, here in America, characterize the Orthodox veneration of Icons as "idol worship" and who mistake the traditional dress of Orthodox clergymen as "the black robes of Satanists." Such individuals are as ignorant of the tenets and history of Orthodoxy as they are of the history of alchemy (which, in fact, played an important role in the development of chemical science), its distinction from wizardry and witchcraft, and the difference between the complex historical development of these latter two phenomena and overt Satanism or devil-worship. They also display an appalling nescience of literature, the classical analogies, similes, and tropes used in literary expression, and the principles of developmental psychology which explain why the world of magic and fantasy can innocently focus children's attention on moral lessons and help form their Christian consciences, without furtively leading them into some realm of the "dark sciences of Satanism." Failing to understand literature at anything but a parochial level, both Protestant fundamentalists and their Orthodox followers have failed to see the profound Christian symbolism in the Harry Potter books, as well as their value in teaching fundamental Christian values to children.

A cursory reading of Mr. Granger' s book avers all that I have said about the positive intent and value of these books. Although it may be a stretch to deduce this from his assertion that "Harry Potter" pronounced with a Cockney accent is a key to the Christian core of the series (i.e., that Harry is "heir" to the Potter, or "Creator," and thus a Christ image), and though his attempt to establish Harry's [spiritual] "royalty" by associating him with "Harry Hotspur (the Prince of Wales)" represents an uncharacteristic gaffe in his many and accurate literary allusions (an error, incidentally, which Mr. Kopel cites without apparent notice in his review of The Hidden Key to Harry Potter [11]), Granger lays open the Christian content of the series with skill and in a persuasive manner. The evil antagonists in the series, Draco (the serpent) and Malfoy (a man of evil faith), for example, emerge in contrast to the virtuous antagonists, such as Harry's parents, James (the brother of Christ) and Lily (the Easter flower). [12] Granger also identifies many of the myriad symbols of Christ in the Harry Potter books (Chapter 8), themes of transformation and transfiguration (Chapter 6), and issues such as prejudice, freedom of will (choice), temptation and selfishness, each centered on the force of moral choice and consequent spiritual growth. One leaves his book with a firm conviction that the fundamentalist critics of the series, whom he objectively and charitably exposes for their total lack of understanding of Harry Potter and his fantastic adventures, have missed the spiritual forest for the sake of their fixation on the magical imagery of the literary trees. In so doing, he highlights, again, the unfortunate religious myopia of our Orthodox fundamentalists, who, despite their well-intentioned zeal, have reduced the open, intelligent, and expansive intellectual view advocated by the Church Fathers to a kind of literalistic religious myopia which little serves Orthodoxy, its witness, or, in the final analysis, our youth.

I am not, in making the observations that I have made--observations perhaps painful for our Orthodox brethren who have unwittingly succumbed to fundamentalism--, arguing that there are not, perhaps, better ways to teach Christian values than through literature that employs magical imagery and which reaches out to the youthful love of fantasy. I am saying, however, that such a literary tradition, to which J.K. Rowling clearly belongs, is not evil, Satanic, or harmful, even if it is not of Orthodox provenance. It is also my conviction that, if we set aside the xenophobia, subtle religious bigotry, and anti-Western phyletism that have led Orthodox fundamentalists to a blindness about the good things of the Western and heterodox world, we can certainly accommodate literary traditions such as those represented by Lewis, Tolkien, and, indeed, Rowling. Supplemented with readings in the lives of the Orthodox Saints, inspiring spiritual literature from Orthodox writers, and the moral fables of the pre-Christian world of Greek classicism (which are also foundational texts for the instruction of children in the Western world), works like the Harry Potter series can serve to instruct our children in a harmless way.

Let me further say that there is nothing negative about a series of books that introduces children to reading. I dare say that children who have heretofore never touched a book--children largely bereft of instruction in moral choice, the confrontation between good and evil, and the presence of Christian symbolism in the secular world and the realm of fantasy--have found in the Harry Potter books a wonderful and challenging new world. They have opened their minds, embraced learning, and found a path which, however secular it may be (and I would maintain that Rowling's writings are not really secular), will one day lead them to open the writings of the Fathers and explore their Orthodox Faith. All of us know, whether we wish to admit it or not, that our Church is suffering from a plethora of unread "experts" and a dearth of those who, in the traditional spirit of seeking and reaching out, have been humbly formed in the spirit of the Fathers, which rests not in social and intellectual paranoia, but in a vision of what is universal, expansive, overwhelming and as rich and exhilarating, in its Christian essence, as fantasy and magical imagery are to children. If we, as serious scholars of the spiritual life, must eschew fantasy and the imagination, as the Fathers teach us, our first encounters with the guides who lead us to a mature spiritual foundation begin with the formation of our immature minds in those things of the world that appeal to us and which teach us, in shadows and imperfect images, the values and moral precepts that eventually lead us to an encounter with the Perfect Image.

I am thoroughly convinced that the Fathers would never have endorsed the pedestrian and provincial anti-intellectualism of today's Orthodox fundamentalists. It is a discredit to the Fathers for us to imagine so. Therefore, while I do not doubt, as I have said, the sincerity of Orthodox critics of the Harry Potter series and other such readings, I would remind them that, in their fundamentalistic fury, they are bowing to such human passions as ethnocentrism, crude religious intolerance, and attitudes inimical to the Patristic witness. How, indeed, can we attract our children to their Orthodox Faith, which we hold to be the criterion of Christianity, if we denigrate and fear, with narrow-mindedness and foggy thinking of foreign provenance, that which we have not even tried to study or grasp? The negative reactions to the Harry Potter phenomenon that we see today are, in essence, neither truly Orthodox nor expressed in the spirit of catholicity which is the core of Orthodox Christianity.

Notes

1. Our failure, as Orthodox Christians, to understand the universal dimensions of our earthly mission has led us, as I argued above, into the ills of phyletism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and even Christian exclusivism (perhaps the most striking of all oxymorons). I will make my point vividly with the following anecdote: Several years ago, an Orthodox clergyman--an active ecumenist and a well-known theologian and representative of one of the so-called "official" Orthodox Churches (an appellation that has become popular among Orthodox and which, from a psychological standpoint alone, should cause alarm and misgivings immediately)--told a group of Greek students that the spread of Orthodoxy in the "Western world" was creating a diluted faith, bereft of the "blood cells" of "pure" [i.e., ethnic--B.A.] Orthodox believers." If this observation has any merit, it convicts "pure" or "official" Orthodoxy (which represents the majority of Faithful in the West) of irresponsibility in its missionary efforts. However, of greater concern is the solution which this clergyman proposed to this problem: A concentrated effort to increase the number of Orthodox in the homeland through large families; the maintenance of "pure Greek Orthodox blood lines"; and a conscious effort to "avoid the efforts of the 'Masonic-Jewish' forces of globalization and humanistic atheism in the West" (non-Western Israel was the designated chief culprit in this plot) to "extinguish the zeal of true believers." What this says about the sincerity of the Orthodox ecumenists (who have drawn their putative "official status" from the ecumenical movement itself) is one thing. What it says about opposition to globalization and universalism, when we contrast it to the following words of our Lord Himself, is quite another: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit..." (St. Matthew 28:19).

2. A.M., Bucharest, Romania, to Archbishop Chrysostomos, April 27, 2003 (electronic transmission); document in author's hands. It is perhaps worth emphasizing that the author of the Harry Potter series is, of course, not an American. However, a Greek-Canadian critic of Rowling, observing that the author hails from Scotland (Skotia, in Greek), ends one of her articles with the triumphant exclamation: "Ti allo theleis" [What more do you want?"]. (See "O Harry Potter kai ta Magia" ["Harry Potter and Witchcraft"], Salpigga Sophias [Trumpet of Wisdom], No. 17 [March 2003], p. 35). I should note for those who have no Greek, that "Skotia sounds like the Greek word for darkness, "skotos", though the former word is differently spelled and derives not from the Greek word for "darkness" but the Latin for "Scotland": "Scotia."

3. Quoted in Hagios Kyprianos (St. Cyprian), No. 313 (March-April 2003), p. 224 (inside back cover).

4. "Deconstructing Rowling," The National Review, June 30, 2003.

5. The Hidden Key to Harry Potter, Appendix B, p. 354.

6. Ibid., pp. 354-355. Note that Mr. Granger describes Rowling as an "orthodox Christian," using the adjective "orthodox" in the lower case and in its alternative English form; that is, describing her as a "conformist" to the doctrines of her Presbyterian confession.

7. Ibid., p. 74.

8. Ibid., pp. 74-75.

9. Ibid., p. iv.

10. Kopel, "Deconstructing Rowling," op. cit.

11. See "Deconstructing Rowling," op. cit.

12. The Hidden Key to Harry Potter, op. cit., p. 252.

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XX, No. 3 (2003), pp. 14-26. See also "The Alchemist's Tale: Harry Potter & the Alchemical Tradition in English Literature", by John Granger. Mr. Granger may be reached at wow@olympus.net.

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Synaxis of the Achaean Saints

The Sunday before the feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew is dedicated to the Saints who shined with holiness in the land of Achaea. Among these Saints are the following:

1. Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (November 30), who was martyred in Patras in 62 AD.

2. Holy Apostle Luke the Evangelist (October 18), who preached in Achaea and according to tradition wrote Acts of the Apostles there.

3. Holy Apostle Herodian (November 10 and March 28) , one of the seventy and bishop of Patras.

4. Holy Apostle Sosipater (April 29), one of the seventy and was born in Achaea.

5. Holy Martyr Myron (August 17), who served as a priest in Achaea.

6. St. Artemios the Great Martyr (October 20)

7. St. Ascholios (or Acholios), Bishop of Thessaloniki (January 23)

8. St. Paul, Abbot of the Rhaithou martyrs (January 14)

9. St. Athanasios, Bishop of Methoni (December 10)

10. St. Joseph the Hymnographer (April 3)

11. St. Elias Sikelaiotis (August 17)

12. St. Elias Spilaiotis and Arsenios (September 11)

13. St. Daniel of the Castle in Patras (June 23)

14. Holy Martyr Olympia (May 11)

15. St. Savvas of Vatopaidi (June 15)

16. St. Zachariah the New Martyr (January 20)

17. St. Joachim Notenon (July 3)

18. Righteous Martyr Paul (May 22)

19. Sts. Anastasia, Christodoulos and those New Martyrs with them (Tuesday of Bright Week)

And many others...

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The Holy Martyr Stephen the New

St. Stephen the New (Feast Day - November 28)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

As at one time Hannah, the mother of Samuel, prayed to God to give her a son; so did Anna, the mother of Stephen. Praying thus in the Church of Blachernae before the icon of the Most-holy Theotokos, a light sleep overcame her, and she saw the Most-holy Virgin as radiant as the sun, and heard a voice from the icon: "Woman, depart in peace. In accordance with your prayer, you have a son in your womb."

Anna indeed conceived and gave birth to a son, the holy Stephen. At sixteen, Stephen received the monastic tonsure on Mount Auxentius near Constantinople, from the elder John who also taught him divine wisdom and asceticism. When John entered into rest in the Lord, Stephen remained on the mountain in a life of strict asceticism, taking upon himself labor upon labor. His holiness attracted many disciples to him.

When Emperor Constantine Copronymus was persecuting icons more ferociously than his foul father, Leo the Isaurian, Stephen showed himself a zealous defender of the veneration of holy icons. The demented emperor accepted various obscene slanders against Stephen and personally plotted intrigues to break Stephen and get him out of the way. Stephen was banished to the island of Proconnesus, then taken to Constantinople, chained and cast into prison, where he was met by 342 monks, brought from all over and imprisoned for their veneration of the icons. There, in prison, they carried out the whole church typikon as in a monastery.

Then the wicked emperor condemned Stephen to death. The saint foresaw his death forty days in advance, and asked forgiveness of the brethren. The emperor's servants dragged him from prison and, beating and pulling him, dragged him through the streets of Constantinople calling upon all those loyal to the emperor to stone this "enemy of the emperor". One of the heretics struck the saint on the head with a piece of wood, and the saint gave up his soul. As St. Stephen the Protomartyr suffered at the hands of the Jews, so this Stephen suffered at the hands of the iconoclastic heretics.

This glorious soldier of Christ suffered in the year 767 at the age of fifty-three, and was crowned with unfading glory.

Reflection

Reading the examples of perseverance in the Faith and generosity of the saints of God, we also become persevering in the Faith and generous. When Copronymus's men urged St. Stephen to reject the veneration of icons to please the iconoclastic emperor, Stephen extended his hand, clenched his fist and said: "If I had in myself only a fist full of blood, I would shed it for the icon of Christ."

HYMN OF PRAISE: The Venerable Martyr Stephen the New

Of the same name as the first Stephen,
Stephen the New gave his life in battle, too.
The proud heretical emperor, coarse power incarnate,
Was armed to the teeth with earthly weapons.
Stephen's weapon was power not of a physical source,
A spiritual weapon, heavenly truth.
The emperor had soldiers, defenders of falsehood,
While Stephen was set at ease by the invisible God.
Serene as heaven, Stephen awaited torture,
Death and eternal life beyond this age.
While in his rage, the emperor roared
And signed the order for death and torment for the righteous man.
Stephen was not dismayed, though beaten and pressed,
Bound as he was by spirit and prayer to the heavens.
The emperor, stronger than the saint's body, crushed his body;
Yet the saint was stronger in spirit, and finished in victory.
O Saint Stephen, spiritual knight,
Help us avoid the nets of the devil,
And to venerate the holy icons with honor,
And that we might always follow your wondrous example.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Trained on the mountain in ascetical labours, with the whole armour of the Cross thou didst vanquish the spiritual arrays of unseen enemies; and when thou hadst stripped thyself with great courage for contest, thou didst slay Copronymus with the sword of the true Faith. For both these things hast thou been crowned by God, O righteous Martyr, blest Stephen of great renown.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
With songs and hymns, O ye feast-lovers, let us all extol the godly Stephen, that great lover of the Trinity, for he honoured with his whole heart the comely image of the Master, of His Mother, and of all the Saints. Now with one accord, with longing, and with joy of heart, let us cry to him: Rejoice, O Father most glorious.

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The Fate of the Sixth Son of Roman Emperor Maurice

Emperor Maurice was murdered on November 27 (some say November 23), 602 at the order of Phocas, his successor. It is said that the deposed emperor was forced to watch his six sons executed before his eyes, before he was beheaded himself. Empress Constantina and her three daughters were spared and sent to a monastery.

Maurice's marriage produced ten known children:

- Miriam/Maria (b. ca 582), married to Khosrau II and had issue.
- Theodosius (4 August 583 – 27 November 602). According to John of Ephesus, he was the first heir born to a reigning emperor since the reign of Theodosius II (408–450). He was appointed Caesar in 587 and co-emperor on 26 March 590.
- Tiberius (d. 27 November 602).
- Petrus (d. 27 November 602).
- Paulus (d. 27 November 602).
- Justin (d. 27 November 602).
- Justinian (d. 27 November 602).
- Anastasia (d. circa 605).
- Theoctista (d. circa 605).
- Cleopatra (d. circa 605).

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich (Prologue: November 28)

Emperor Maurice had six sons of which the sixth and youngest was not yet weaned. For this youngest son, the emperor kept a special wet-nurse at court who fed it. A terrible fate came upon Emperor Maurice: Phocas ousted him from the throne and condemned him to death together with all of his six sons. Before Maurice's eyes, his sons were slain, one after the other.

When the wet-nurse had to hand over the emperor's sixth son to be slain, she genuinely felt sorrow over the fate of the unfortunate emperor and his children, and in a moment, decided to save the life of at least one of the emperor's sons. So, when they sought the emperor's son from her breast, she gave them her own young son and he was beheaded. Finally, the Emperor Maurice was beheaded.

The emperor's youngest son grew up believing his wet-nurse to be his mother. However, when the wet-nurse revealed the secret to him, he became very serious, then resolutely left the world and withdrew to Mount Sinai, where he was tonsured a monk and dedicated himself to God. He did this to requite that innocent young child who was put to death in his place.

By St. Anastasios of Sinai (Concerning the Holy Fathers of Mount Sinai: Ch. 29)

Abba George the Gademite, a venerable man of the old fathers shared what he had seen when he was younger. He said: "A certain brother arrived here to live in detachment, not entrusting to anyone either his homeland nor his name. He was formed in such piety and silence that except in need he did not speak quickly with a man, neither a small word nor great. Having done in two years his work, he departed directly to the Lord, being buried in the tomb of the fathers. The next day another of the fathers died. Opening the tomb to bury him they did not find the body of the brother they had just buried, he being transferred by God to the land of the living.

After this we were curious and someone said that he was the son of the Emperor Maurice who was saved by his nurse when the children of Maurice were slaughtered in the hippodrome by Phoca the tyrant. In the general tumult she took the child and switching them gave her own child to be killed in the place of the emperor’s. When he became a man the nurse told him the thing. And he said he would go and offer himself to God for the sake of the one who was slaughtered for him.

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Metropolitan Dionysios of Corinth on the Greek Citizen's Card

November 27, 2010
Romfea.gr

The Greek State has promised the Church of Greece that it will take into account its view regarding the Citizen's Card, which is due to be implemented on 11 January 2011. The Church of Greece has expressed its concerns that the implementation of the Citizen's Card may violate personal freedoms and rights of citizens.

Metropolitan Dionysios of Corinth has also expressed his views on the issue. He said: "The Metropolis cannot have another position on this issue from that of the Holy Synod. The Citizen's Card has no relationship with religious issues as it is the management of personal data. It is well-known that certain Fathers speak of an Antichrist, and according to these great religious men, he will bear the emblem of 666. Many, because this number is used, intentionally or not I don't know, relate this personal data to the Antichrist. Christ came that we may have freedom of thought, movement and life. That which binds our freedom cannot be tolerated."

Further he asked: "Since the Citizen's Card was coming, why was there chaos with the new identification card years ago? The Church is concerned, not acutely, but with prudence and wisdom, without being in a hurry to draw people to the streets to react. They said they would take into account the position of the Church. If they keep their word, we have nothing to fear."

See also: The Greek "Citizen Card" and the Orthodox Response

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Video: Orthodoxy and Nationalism

For more on this topic by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, see:

On Contemporary Narrow Mindedness in Orthodoxy

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Manasija Monastery in Serbia to be Included in World Heritage List

November 18, 2010
Blic

Serbian Minister of culture Nebojsa Bradic is expected to meet these days at the UNESCO Principal Office in Paris with Irina Bokova, the President to discuss including of the Manasija Monastery in the list of World heritage. The endowment of Despot Stefan Lazarevic has been in the preliminary list of objects for registration as the World heritage since last summer.

The monastery is under reconstruction. Until so far nine of total eleven towers have been reconstructed as well as has the conservation of frescoes and the holly door. The whole interior of the monastery is practically under reconstruction as well as the residential cells for the sisterhood.

It shall certainly take another two or three years for the works to be completed to make the monastery look as it had at the beginning of the 15th century when it was built.

Construction of the Manasija Monastery lasted eleven years and it belongs to Serbian medieval architecture. It is completely unique building and there is no similar one in the whole Byzantine Empire. The fortress was both a monastery and a fortification.

ID of Manasija Monastery
•Fundament placed in 1407
•Construction completed in 1418
•Founder Despot Stefan Lazarevic
•The most famous fresco: the one of the founder
•Destroyed and renewed several times
•Renewal of towers began 10 years ago
•Monument of special significance
•In preliminary list of world heritage since last summer

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Saint Theodosios the Hesychast of Trnovo, Bulgaria

St. Theodosios the Hesychast (Feast Day - November 27)

Towards the end of the thirteenth century, in the region of Trnovo in Bulgaria, a great Saint was born—one who is rather unknown in our country: St. Theodosios the Hesychast.

From his youth he was most pious and devout, and at a young age dedicated himself to God, choosing the holy monastic life in a monastery near Vidin. At his tonsure he was named Theodosios. He was adorned with many virtues, but chiefly with holy humility, the foundation of all the others.

After the repose of his Spiritual Father, he began searching for a new guide to the godly way of life, aflame with desire for silence and prayer.

Then, in 1331, he heard of the arrival in Bulgaria of the renowned St. Gregory of Sinai, who, along with his disciples, brought the hesychastic tradition from Sinai, Crete, and the Holy Mountain—which he had left, owing to barbarian incursions—to Bulgaria. From there, hesychasm spread and gave rise to a significant spiritual blossoming throughout the Balkans in general, and later in Russia.

St. Theodosios hastened to unite himself with the newly arrived Byzantine Hesychasts, to whom he submitted himself with utmost humility, learning through experience the mystery of the knowledge of God (θεογνωσίας) and reaping the sweet fruits of watchfulness (νήψεως) and prayer of the heart.

Turkish invaders, however, began to make threatening appearances in this region of Paroria, as it was called, at the boundaries between the Roman Empire and Bulgaria. The Hesychasts were forced to seek aid and protection from the Bulgarian King, John Alexander (1331-1371). This was granted through the intercessions of St. Theodosios, whom the king knew and admired. Thus, the king readily placed the monks under his protection and, for their sakes, built four monasteries with defensive towers.

When St. Gregory of Sinai reposed in the Lord in 1346, the multinational brotherhood of monks requested St. Theodosios to assume the Abbacy. The Saint declined and departed with certain other brothers (among them the great Greek-Bulgarian Saint, St. Romilos, whom our Church commemorates on 18 September) for the Holy Mountain.

But there, too, their hesychastic sojourn was of short duration because the barbaric invaders obliged them to move yet again. St. Theodosios first went to Thessalonica, then to the Skete of the Venerable Forerunner in Veria, and later to Constantinople. Finally, the Saint returned to his homeland and between 1348 and 1350 built a monastery on Mt. Kilifarevo, near Trnovo, with generous aid and subsidy from the king.

At that time, St. Theodosios had a vision of a mountain covered with sundry flowers and a great variety of wondrous trees with diverse and beautiful fruit. A radiant man was ordered to pick the fruit. The Saint understood that the vision revealed the future glory of the place and that that wilderness would be filled with monks who would bear a rich crop of virtues for the Heavenly Cultivator.


And, indeed, for at least half a century the Monastery of St. Theodosios was distinguished as a beacon of faith and virtue and as a center of spiritual renewal. Fifty or so disciples gathered around the Saint—illustrious men adorned with virtues and talents and with godly and worldly wisdom, so that the Monastery of Kilifarevo would justly be characterized as the “University of Medieval Bulgaria”!

The monastery was founded on the spiritual precepts of St. Gregory of Sinai. Obedience, charity, good administration and management, the cultivation of silence and noetic prayer predominated. A great emphasis was also placed, however, on culture and education: the copying of manuscripts, the translation of Patristic texts into Slavonic, calligraphy, the teaching of the liturgical arts, etc.

Among the renowned disciples of St. Theodosios was St. Evthymios, who later became Patriarch of Trnovo (1375-1393). His memory is honored by the Bulgarian Church on 20 January. At the Monastery of Kilifarevo, Evthymios was deemed worthy of a wondrous experience, which revealed the sanctity of his Spiritual Father and teacher St. Theodosios:

Once, he went for his customary evening visit to the cell of his Abba. But despite the fact that he recited the usual prayer [“Through the prayers of the Holy Fathers...”—Trans.] and knocked repeatedly at the door, there was no answer. Then from a window he saw a marvelous and otherworldly sight: St. Theodosios was at prayer in his cell with his hands and eyes raised to heaven, bathed from head to foot in a heavenly flame, which made him radiant, but without consuming him! He was all Light, all Heavenly Fire! Evthymios withdrew in trembling, glorifying God.

The next day, Evthymios found the Saint sitting outside his cell shedding bitter tears. He anxiously asked him the reason for his mourning, and the Saint revealed that God had made known to him the impending Turkish invasion of the region and the destruction of his monastery. The grievous events which followed soon after confirmed the clairvoyance of the Saint. At the end of the fourteenth century, the Turks destroyed the Monastery of Kilifarevo. It was rebuilt in 1596, only to undergo further destruction and to be built anew in 1718 and then later on again, in the nineteenth century. It exists to this day, but bereft of its original glory and grandeur.


It is also worth mentioning that in the era of St. Theodosios, in the fourteenth century, a great struggle was waged for the purity of the Faith. A particularly dangerous heresy—one widely diffused throughout the region—was that of Bogomils. It consisted of a Slavic version of the combination of previous heresies: those of Manichæan Paulicianism and Messalianism. This frightful, twofold heresy, with its anti-social character, totally rejected the Church (the Hierarchy, the Mysteries, and the veneration of Saints) and the structure of society (marriage, political and legislative authority and organization, etc).

The Bulgarian Church decisively battled against the heresy of the Bogomils in the Synods of 1350 and 1359. St. Theodosios was present at these Synods, and by the power of the Holy Spirit and of his oratory, he refuted the untenable doctrines of the heretics, which were condemned.

The Saint, despite his infirmities and his age, went to Constantinople together with four of his faithful disciples, including Evthymios, in order to meet and converse with his old and beloved confrere and co-ascetic Callistos—who had also been a disciple of St. Gregory of Sinai and was now Patriarch of Constantinople—, for his spiritual benefit.

Interestingly enough, the Holy Patriarch Callistos I was also the biographer of St. Theodosios, though his lengthy Life of the Saint has been preserved to our day only in a Slavonic translation.

The Holy Patriarch Callistos granted the Saint a cell in the Monastery of St. Mamas. There, Saint Theodosios had a presentiment of his end. He partook of the Immaculate Mysteries, and the entire room was filled with a fragrance! On seeing the “army of the Heavenly King” coming to meet him, he gave up his holy soul to our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom he had been such a faithful and exemplary servant. This took place on 27 November 1363. The Saint was buried in an honorable manner, as befits a Saint, and Angelic hymnody was heard at his gravesite. He has been interceding ever since for the peace of the world, the good estate of the holy Churches of God, and the salvation of us all!

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