Podcast: The Sectarian Mindset

January 22, 2011

Ancient Faith Radio

Length: 23:43

In this informative and balanced podcast, Dr. Peter Bouteneff uses the occasion of the recent controversial comments of Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus to address conspiracy theories and the sectarian mindset, which are very much alive within Orthodoxy.

The website of yours truly was also graciously plugged towards the end.

The entire podcast can be heard here.

Some posts referenced in this podcast and which, among many others, addresses this topic, are the following:

Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus Spreading Conspiracy Theories Based on the "Protocols"

A Statement of Clarification By Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus

Metr. Ignatios: "Racism and Anti-Semitism Does Not Reflect the Faith of the Church"

Dora Bakoyannis: "The Statements of Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus Are Unacceptable"

Bishop Demetrios Responds To Rabbi David Rosen

Elder Porphyrios: "We Ought Not To Fear the Antichrist Or 666"

A Question Regarding the So-Called "Prophecies" of Holy Elders

God Allows Even Holy Elders To Have Blind Spots

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

The Freedom of the Fathers and the Enslavement of Fanaticism

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A Miracle of Saint Xenia the Fool In France

The Conversion of a French Man to Orthodoxy

By Maria Biniary

WE follow with an account by a resident of France, who was benefited by the Saint in our days.

A French dentist with a private clinic in Paris was injured in a car accident and had to stay in hospital for a few days.

Roman Catholic by creed, but indifferent to the faith, he watched as the patient next to him, a Russian émigré, would pray in the evenings in the ward, and would laugh behind his back.

Since the Russian’s lengthy prayers were repeated for as many days as he remained there, the dentist saw fit to make fun of the praying man, and he joked around with those from the other rooms.

After that first evening of making fun with the others, it was impossible for him to fall sleep.

Suddenly, the door to the ward opened and a woman appeared, wearing men’s clothing and holding a cane in her hand.

She was heading towards his bed. He was startled. Unknown facial features. A sweet, strange face.

“What do you want, lady? I don’t have any change. Who let you in here?”

“I came to tell you,” she said to him, as she lifted her cane, “to stop ridiculing Yuri, who is praying, because you will remain here a long time yet, and will seek his prayers....”

And indeed. Over the following days, he was diagnosed with serious cardiac insufficiency and remained three months in the hospital.

Yuri visited him at one point, and when the Frenchman revealed his vision to him, he began to tell him about St. Xenia and Orthodoxy.

Today, the Frenchman is an active member of the French Orthodox community and Baptized his newborn baby girl with the name Xenia last December, in honor of the Saint and in memory of his miraculous conversion.

Source: Xριστιανική, No. 515 (829) (9 January 1997), p. 8.

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Saint Philon the Wonderworker of Karpasia, Cyprus

St. Philon of Karpasia (Feast Day - January 24)

Saint Philon (Philonas) is the first bishop of Karpasia (Karpas or Kalpasios) and the saint who converted the people of Karpasia to Christianity in the fourth century. Information on the life and work of Saint Philon is limited. From historical sources it is indicated that he was born shortly before 350 AD and that he was ordained bishop of Karpasia in 401. From the synaxarion of St. Epiphanios of Salamis (May 12) we learn that he was a deacon from Rome. The sister of Emperors Arkadios in the east (395-408) and Honorius in the west (393-423) had fallen ill. She heared that God worked healings through St. Epiphanios, therefore she dispatched Philon to Cyprus to bring her healing.

When Philon came to Cyprus he was ordained bishop of Karpasia by St. Epiphanios. In the early Byzantine period, Karpasia belonged ecclesiasticaly to the Bishopric of Salamis. However, by the end of the fourth century it was organized into an episcopal district which had its seat in the ancient city of Karpasia and having as its first bishop Saint Philon. Saint Philon died and was buried in Karpasia. He was probably buried in the church, which tradition attributes to him. The surviving church of Saint Philon is located about 3 km from Rizokarpaso and was built on the ruins of an older church destroyed by Arab pirates. According to the Souda, St. Philon wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch and the Song of Songs.

Prayer of Saint Philon

According to the synaxarion of St. Philon, the following moving prayer is attributed to him, no doubt as a prayer for the people of his jurisdiction who were immersed in paganism:

Lord Jesus Christ my God, Who for the salvation of humanity came down to earth and put on the flesh of your servants, and suffered many temptations from the world, and You were crucified, buried and rose again, saving humanity. By Your economy do so again now, that these deluded people may be saved, who were deluded by the devil.

The Church of Saint Philon

In the centre of Dipkarpaz, if you leave the road that takes you along the southern coast of the Karpaz to Apostolos Andreas Monastery, and take the northern coast road instead, you will end up at Agios Philon.

The church here was built in the tenth century, on top of much earlier ruins dating from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, possibly a fifth century basilica, and is virtually all that remains of the ancient Phoenician port of Karpasia. Founded by King Pygmalion of Cyprus, it was a flourishing trading port, half way between Salamis and Anatolia. It was, however, abandoned in 802, after Arab raiders burnt and sacked it and its inhabitants moved inland, founding Dipkarpaz. (This is a fate seen time and time again when we look at the coastal villages of the time.)

The church comprises a three-part apsis and a courtyard surrounded with columns. There are colourful mosaics on the floor. Traces of the old harbor wall can still be seen off shore, but the majority of the village is now under sand dunes to the west of the church.

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'The Exorcist Files': Why This Is A Really Bad Idea

Stephen Wagner
January 14 2011
About.com

The Exorcist Files is going to result in a lot of self-proclaimed demonologists and exorcists, who may do more harm than good The Discovery Channel recently announced a new TV show called The Exorcist Files, which it plans on premiering sometime in the Spring of 2011. This is a really bad idea for a number of reasons.

I suspect it won't be bad for the Discovery Channel. The topics of exorcisms and demonology are rather hot right now, with several movies recently produced on the subjects, so show ratings will probably be quite good. And, of course, this being television, that's all the show's producers really care about. Everything imaginable is fodder for TV's insatiable appetite for spectacle, whether it's appropriate or offensive or not (in fact, the more inappropriate or offensive the subject, the better it is as far as the medium is concerned), so why not people allegedly suffering from demonic possession?

Granted, I have not yet seen the show, so I cannot comment on the specifics of its presentation, but according to an article based on promotion materials, "the series will recreate stories of 'real life' haunting and demonic possession, based on cases investigated by the Catholic Church."

While I do not advocate that the show should be censored, I do think it is going to have adverse effects. Here is what I predict will happen as a result of this show:

A MULTITUDE OF "EXORCISTS" AND "DEMONOLOGISTS"

The arrival of Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel several years ago, and its subsequent popularity, resulted in the organization of many hundreds of ghost hunting groups all over the country, and even abroad. They all wanted to be like Jason and Grant.

Likewise, with the airing of The Exorcist Files, we can expect a surge in the number of self-proclaimed "exorcists," "demonologists," and "demon hunters." (In fact, I would not be surprised if the success of The Exorcist Files generated similarly themed shows on other cable networks; expect one called DemonHunters.) They will want to emulate the exorcists on the show.

Why this is a bad thing: Most of these self-proclaimed demonologists won't know what the hell they're doing. They're going to be entering people's homes, telling them that their houses are infested with demons, telling them that they are possessed (in the worst cases, that their children are possessed), and that they can drive out these devils.

This will give permission for every dummy out there to go into these private homes with crosses around their necks, vials of holy water, old Bibles and copies of the exorcism rite and say that they are representing God's power to defeat the Devil. And people will let them because, well, it's done on TV, so this must be the thing to do.

THIS IS NOT LIKE GHOST HUNTING

Ghost hunting groups, with few exceptions, do no harm. They generally investigate haunted places such as asylums, old hotels, abandoned hospitals, and the like that have reputations for being haunted. Although they may occasionally investigate a private home upon invitation, this is not their usual practice. And when they do take on a private home, they are investigating the house - the building - not the individuals who live there.

Exorcism, by definition, is personal. The exorcist is dealing with individuals who believe they are possessed by an evil spirit. And the demonologist performing an exorcism rite on them can be, to the individuals, confirmation that they are possessed. This has all kinds of potential for harm.

Think about it. The idea that you - your identity, your personality, your soul, if you will - is possessed or compromised by an evil spiritual force is horrifying. It can affect a person on a deep psychological level, especially if he or she is a fervent believer. And to have an untrained, unqualified person come in and perform an exorcism could be disastrous. And make no mistake, it's going to happen. These would-be demonologists are going to see it on TV, perhaps read a few articles or books, and then think they are qualified to take on this business.

Whether demons are real or not is irrelevant. The people involved believe them to be real. There could be any number of reasons why a person might exhibit behavior that believers attribute to demonic possession, from schizophrenia to sexual abuse to teenage acting out. These are matters for medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and trained therapists - not a person who has watched a TV show and read a book or two, no matter how well-meaning.

And if the person is truly possessed by an evil spirit, then that's all the more reason not to have an unqualified person sticking his or her nose into it. (This raises the questions: Who is qualified for such a task and how do they become qualified? Yes, the Catholic Church has training for its exorcists, but beyond that, I don't know.)

CHILDREN EXPLOITED

I have stated this before on this website and I will state it again because I feel quite strongly about it. This alleged possession business can be especially harmful for children. To tell an impressionable child that he or she is possessed by an evil demon - without knowing that to be true with 100 percent certainty (and there is no 100 percent certainty of such knowledge) - is at best irresponsible and at worst abusive. The potential for psychological damage - especially if the child is already psychologically compromised - is high.

NO LONGER PRIVATE

The Catholic Church has been conducting exorcisms for centuries, and until recently the practice has been kept pretty quiet. And for good reason: it is an intensely private matter. The Church also conducts a thorough investigation before resorting to an exorcism, including medical and psychological examinations of various kinds. It is only when these tests are exhausted that the Church grants permission for an exorcism. It is a last resort, and the case must be convincing and severe.

Do you think such care will be taken in the hands of TV-educated demonologists? I doubt it.

(Note: Originally, the PR for the show The Exorcism Files stated that it was being produced with the cooperation of the Vatican. The Vatican has denied this. A Fox News article states: "According to multiple Vatican officials, the Church had no official involvement with the series and the Vatican does not even have a group of exorcists.")

The Catholics aren't the only denomination to perform exorcisms, of course. There are several Christian fundamentalist groups that conduct public "deliverances," and the ones I have seen (on TV of all places!) are farcical sideshows that have little to do with spirituality and everything to do with entertainment value.

And now we'll have a TV show devoted to the ritual. That's not surprising, I suppose, in our current culture in which anything and everything - no matter how personal or sacred - is reduced to an entertainment in the form of a cable television show.

PEOPLE ARE FOLLOWERS

How can I predict there will be a springing up of home-grown demonologists as a result of this show? Because people are followers, especially of stuff they see on TV and in the movies. We live in a cult-of-celebrity culture (how else to explain Paris Hilton and Snooki?). We worship fame, no matter how notorious, and we want to be like the people we see on the screen.

We certainly would not have the vast number of ghost hunting groups out there if it weren't for Ghost Hunters and the other ghost investigation shows. This has actually not been a bad thing, for the most part. Most ghost hunting groups conduct themselves with professionalism and respect for their clients, and they have contributed to the study of the ghost phenomenon in the form of innovative technology and the collection of anomalous data, including EVP, photos and video.

A better model for how wrong-headed this follower mentality can be in this field is the current obsession over vampires and werewolves, thanks to the Twilight books and films, their copycats, and the various TV shows. Take a look at this comment thread for my article "Are Vampires Real?" There you'll see a long list of commenters - mostly young teens, presumably - who have mistaken fiction for reality and believe that vampires and werewolves are real. Several even claim that they are vampires or werewolves... or want to be. Their comments are actually a sad commentary on their own lives and the state of a vacuous American culture.

But this obsession, too, is harmless for the vast majority. It will pass along with their youth and naiveté. I dread, however, the negativity and harm that might result in the wake of an exorcism fad.

COMPOUNDING THE PROBLEM: MORE SHOWS

As I've said above, if this show is a success, you can expect more of the same... and worse:

•The Women Exorcists
•Possessed Kids
•Cruise Ship Exorcisms
•Ralph Nebbish, Neighborhood Demonologist
•Exorcisms of the Stars
•Law & Order: The Demon Squad
•Charlie's Angels... and Demons
•Priests 'n' Pitchforks
•Hell's Kitchen - Literally
•Demon Autopsy
•... create your own show.

Read also: Priests: Hollywood Depiction of Exorcism Not Far From Reality

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The Life of Saint Xenia the Fool of St. Petersburg

St. Xenia the Fool of St. Petersburg (Feast Day - January 24)

The only record of "vital statistics" which has been left us concerning Blessed Xenia is the epitaph on her gravestone:

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. HERE RESTS THE BODY OF THE SERVANT OF GOD, XENIA GRIGORIEVNA, WIFE OF THE IMPERIAL CHORISTER, COLONEL ANDREI THEODOROVICH PETROV. WIDOWED AT THE AGE OF 26, A PILGRIM FOR 45 YEARS, SHE LIVED A TOTAL OF 71 YEARS. SHE WAS KNOWN BY THE NAME ANDREI THEODOROVICH. MAY WHOEVER KNEW ME PRAY FOR MY SOUL THAT HIS OWN MAY BE SAVED. AMEN.

Who wrote it, no one knows, but this is all we know about the early life of Blessed Xenia: only that she lived during the reigns of the Empresses Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II and that she was married to the imperial chorister, Col. Andrei Theodorovich Petrov. From this latter fact we may assume that she was of the lesser nobility.

Presumably, in her early years, she led an ordinary, though comfortable life, performing no services that merited recording or recognition. It would seem that she was happily married and completely devoted to her husband who was, perhaps, a bit worldly. He was still young and in good health when he died suddenly one night at a drinking party.

The unexpected death of her beloved husband completely shattered Xenia Grigorievna and her personal world. She was twenty-six years old, childless and her husband to whom she was passionately devoted had suddenly died without the benefit of the Holy Mysteries. The distraught widow looked around herself, at all her possessions, at her inane little world and suddenly began to realize the vanity and transitory nature of all earthly joys and treasures. She came to realize that there is true value only in heavenly treasures and real joy in Christ.

To the utter amazement of her friends and relatives, Xenia Grigorievna began to give away literally all that she possessed. Her money and personal belongings she gave to the poor and she even gave away her house to her dear friend Paraskeva Antonova.

Finally, her relatives decided that she had taken complete leave of her senses and they petitioned the trustees of her late husband’s estate to prevent Xenia from disposing of her wealth, on the grounds that she was mentally unbalanced due to her husband’s death. The trustees called Xenia in and, after a long and careful examination, ruled that she was perfectly sound of mind and had every right to dispose of her property as she pleased.

People preoccupied with worldly matters would naturally assume that anyone who gave away his wealth must be insane. They were incapable of seeing that Xenia had undergone a complete rebirth; she was changed from a worldly woman into a spiritual being. Having realized that there can be no true happiness on earth and that worldly possessions are only a hindrance to the attaining of true joy in God,

Having, therefore, relieved herself of all such hindrances, Xenia suddenly vanished from St. Petersburg for eight years. It is said that during these years she lived at some hermitage with a sisterhood of holy ascetics, learning about prayer and the spiritual life from an elder. It was during this time that she was called to the highest feat of spiritual perfection, that of being a fool for Christ’s sake. To this end, she returned to St. Petersburg, clothed herself in one of her late husband’s old uniforms and linens and thereafter refused to respond the name of Xenia Grigorievna, answering instead only to the name of her late husband, Andrei Feodorovich. It was as if she, in her deep devotion to her husband, had hoped in some way to take upon herself the burden of his unrepented sins and of his unfortunate demise without the Holy Mysteries. Sorrowing for her own sins and for his, she left her home and began her long pilgrimage of wandering through the streets of the poorer district of St. Petersburg known as the Petersburg Borough (Peterburgskaya Storona). She was most often to be found in the vicinity of the parish of Saint Matthias where the poorest people lived in shabby huts.

At first, the people of the Borough thought that this strangely dressed, scarcely shod woman was merely a simple minded beggar, and evil people, especially the street urchins, would often persecute and laugh at her. With complete meekness, however, she kept before her the image of the guiltless Great Sufferer, Christ Jesus, who, without a murmur, heard all accusations, bore all persecutions, suffered terrible torture and crucifixion. Because of His example, the Blessed One strove to bear her hardships meekly and in silence, forgiving offenses in accordance with the last earthly prayer of Jesus, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Only once did the people of the Petersburg Borough see her in anger. The street boys, seeing the ragged old woman, began as usual to laugh at and torment her. The Blessed One ordinarily bore all this without murmur. On this occasion, however, the boys did not content themselves with verbal abuse, but seeing that she did not take notice of their mocking, they began to throw mud and rocks at her. At last they exhausted even the patience of Blessed Xenia and she flew at them, waving her cane in the air. The residents of the Borough were so startled at seeing the Blessed One in such anger that they took immediate steps to prevent any further offenses toward her. As our Lord Jesus Christ had said, "A candle is not bought to be hidden under a basket... but to be placed on a candle stand."

So it was with God pleasing Xenia. Gradually, people began to realize that Xenia was no mere beggar but someone much more. They began to invite her into their homes and offer her warm clothing for the severe Petersburg winters as well as alms. She would never accept the clothing and took only the small copper pennies, which were called the king on horseback because there was a horseman (actually, St.George) struck on them.

She would distribute these copper pennies to the poor, at times, apparently, with some prophecy. On one such occasion Xenia met a devout woman on the street. Handing her a five kopeck coin, she said, "Take this five piece, here is the king on horseback; it will be extinguished." The woman accepted the copper five piece and went on her way pondering the meaning of the Blessed One’s words. No sooner had she entered the street where she lived than she saw that her house was on fire. Running toward her home, she arrived just as the flames were being quenched. Then she realized that the Blessed One had been foretelling this with her strange words.

On one occasion Paraskeva Antonova was sitting in the home which the Blessed One had given her, when Xenia arrived for a visit. Entering the house, she looked irritably at Antonova and said, "Here you are sitting and sewing buttons and you don’t know that God has given you a son! Go at once to the Smolensk Cemetery!" Antonova, knowing Xenia to be truly saintly and knowing that no idle word came from her lips, did not even question this strange command but believed at once that something extraordinary was about to happen and she immediately hurried to the Smolensk Cemetery.

On one of the streets of Vasiliev Island near the cemetery, Antonova saw a large crowd of people. Being curious, she approached the crowd to see what was taking place. It seems that a coachman had knocked down a pregnant woman who then give birth to a child right there on the street and died immediately afterwards. Filled with compassion for the child, Antonova took it to her own home. All the efforts of the St. Petersburg police to discover the identity of the mother or locate the father or relatives of the tiny orphan proved in vain and so the child remained with Paraskeva Antonova. She provided him with a good upbringing and a sound education, loving him as her own son. Eventually the boy became an eminent functionary and lovingly cared for his foster mother in her old age. He also revered, with sincere piety, the memory of the Servant of God, Xenia who had shown much kindness to his foster mother and who had taken such a hand in his own fate.

Among the friends of Blessed Xenia there was a widow, Mrs. Golubev, and her seventeen-year- old daughter who was noted for her beauty. Xenia like this girl very much because of her meek, quiet character and her kind heart. Once Xenia came to visit them and the girl began to make coffee. "My beauty," said Xenia, turning to the girl, "here you are making coffee and your husband is burying his wife in Okhta. Run there quickly!"

The girl was shocked. "My what?! I don’t have a husband... and burying his wife!". "Go!" Xenia answered sternly, not liking any kind of objection. The Golubevs, knowing well that the Blessed One never said anything without a reason, immediately obeyed her command and set out for Okhta. Here they saw that a funeral procession was headed for the cemetery and they joined in with the crowd of mourners. A young woman, the wife of a doctor, had died in childbirth and was being buried.

The Liturgy was celebrated, then the funeral service, after which the Golubevs followed as the coffin was carried to the grave. The funeral had ended and the people began to leave; however, they chanced upon the sobbing young widower who, at the sight of the grave mound over the remains of his beloved wife, lost consciousness and fell to the ground near the Golubevs. Both mother and daughter strove to bring him back to consciousness and to comfort him. They became acquainted and, eventually, the young Golubeva became the wife of the doctor.

God’s gift of clairvoyance does not always deliver good news. Sometimes it is used to hint at the approaching illness or death of someone in order that they might prepare themselves for their fate. Such was the case when the God pleasing ascetic arrived to other guests in the Krapivin home at the time and they all stood and greeted the Blessed One warmly. Xenia conversed with them for a while and then rose to leave, thanking the hostess for her hospitality. As she was departing, however, she turned to Krapivina saying: "Here is green krapiva (nettle) but soon it will be wilted."

Whether or not Mrs. Krapivina understood these words is not known for certain, but other guests did not attach any special significance to them. Much to everyone’s amazement, though, Mrs. Krapivina, who was still young and in good health, suddenly became ill and died. Only then did the guests understand that the words, "Here is green krapiva (nettle) but soon it will be wilted," foretold the death of Mrs. Krapivin. Seeing in Xenia this gift of clairvoyance and her meek and humble way of life, people began to realize that she was a true fool for Christ’s sake. Many residents of the Borough were sincerely happy to receive her in their homes and it was noticed that some sort of blessed peace and happiness always settled over any home that received her with sincerity. Mothers found that if the Blessed One fondled or rocked an ill child in its cradle, the child would always become well. So parents would hurry to Blessed Xenia with their children whenever she approached, convinced that if she blessed them, or even patted them on the head, they would remain healthy.

People gradually began to accept her strange behavior as some sort of sign from God and often, her behavior would be strange indeed. Two days before the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, in 1761, for example, Blessed Xenia ran anxiously along the cold and snow filled streets of the Petersburg Borough, loudly crying out: "Bake bliny (pancakes), bake bliny, soon all of Russia will be baking bliny!" As usual, no one could figure out the meaning of these strange words of the Blessed One, but on the day of the Feast, the Empress Elisabeth Petrovna reposed suddenly. When the terrible news spread through the city, it became clear to all that the Servant of God had been foretelling the death of the Empress.

Occasionally, Xenia would drop in to visit some friend or acquaintance, converse for a while, and then suddenly fall silent, as if listening to something. All at once, she would leap up and leave quickly. If the hostess asked why she was leaving and where she was going, the Blessed One would only wave her stick in the air and say, "I must hurry, I am needed there."

She possessed absolutely nothing except the rags on her back and often, upon arriving at the home of a friend, she would cheerfully announce, "Here is all of me." For a long time no one knew where the Blessed One spent her nights. The residents of the Borough were not the only ones to wonder about this, for the local police were also curious about the matter. Upon investigating they discovered that the elderly little woman spent her nights in an open field, praying and making prostrations in all four directions, and she did this no matter what the season or weather. It was a miracle of God that the Blessed One survived the severe St. Petersburg winters in this way. It happened at times that her nights would be spent in some other task. On one occasion in 1794, toward the end of Xenia’s long life, a new church was being built in the Smolensk Cemetery. Workers began to notice that, during the night, someone would haul mounds of brick to the top of the building where they were needed. The workers were amazed by this and resolved to find out who this tireless worker could be. By posting a watchman they were able to discover that it was the Servant of God, Xenia.

"It was necessary," says one writer, "for her to possess either some super human power or to carry within herself such a strong spiritual fire, such a deep, undoubting faith with which the impossible becomes possible. When one considers God’s great saints, however, who performed such wondrous miracles by their faith, wonders incomprehensible to the human mind, we cannot consider the Blessed One’s ascetic feats as unprecedented or impossible for a person in the flesh. Xenia truly bore that faith with which all things are possible. While still living in her body, her soul always soared above this world, dwelling in a living, direct communion with God."

The Blessed One was always ready to help anyone in anyway possible. During the day she would wander about the streets, her face reflecting her internal spirit of meekness, humility and kindness by its warm, friendly glow. At night, in all seasons, she would go into a field and enter into conversation with God Himself. Finally the time came when Xenia was no longer to be found in the streets of the Petersburg Borough nor in the field; her radiant face shone no more amidst the rude shacks of the St. Matthias parish. God called His servant to rest from all her struggles and took her to Himself. Xenia was one of those candles which God lights on earth from time to time in order to light up the path of salvation for the faithful, as the Savior Himself had said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Which is in Heaven" and "If, therefore, your entire body is full of light, no part of it being in darkness, then the whole of it shall be full of radiance as when the bright shining of a candle gives off its light."

Source

For more see: Saint Xenia the Fool for Christ of St. Petersburg

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Having renounced the vanity of the earthly world, thou didst take up the cross of a homeless life of wandering; thou didst not fear grief, privation, nor the mockery of men, and didst know the love of Christ. Now taking sweet delight of this love in heaven, O Xenia, the blessed and divinely wise, pray for the salvation of our souls.

Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
In you, O mother, was carefully preserved what is according to the image. For you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh for it passes away, but to care instead for the soul since it is immortal. Therefore, O Blessed Xenia, your spirit rejoices with the Angels.

Kontakion in Plagal of the Third Tone
Having loved the poverty of Christ, you are now being satisfied at the Immortal Banquet. By the humility of the Cross, you received the power of God. Having acquired the gift of miraculous help, O Blessed Xenia, beseech Christ God, that by repentance we may be delivered from every evil thing.

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Iconographer Fr. Kallinikos Stavrovounitis Has Reposed

Loukas A. Panagiotou
January 24, 2011
Romfea.gr

The monk Kallinikos Stavrovounitis, who is considered one of the foremost iconographers in pan-Orthodoxy, left this world last night (January 23, 2011), full of days.

The iconographer monk Kallinikos was born in 1920 in the town of Athienou of Larnaca, Cyprus. At 20 years of age he entered the monastic life at the Holy Monastery of Stavrovouni and in 1946 departed for Mount Athos, where he was apprenticed under Fr. Ioannikios Mavropoulo from whom he was initiated into the art of iconography.

Participating in the freedom struggle of Cyprus (1955-59), he was captured by the British, and was tortured and imprisoned. Even in prison he did not stop his iconography.

After his release he went to Athens and took lessons from Photi Kontoglou, getting the relevant certification for Byzantine Iconography.

Aiming to obtain more knowledge, he visited various places such as Mystras, Mount Athos, Meteora, Veria (Beroia), Thessaloniki, and Mount Sinai.

He investigated more than any other younger iconographer the technique of fresco and movable icons.

In discussions with iconographers and Byzantinists, with chemists and geologists, he studied and experimented with lime, straw, flax, cellulose, egg and colors.

At the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai, he studied the encaustic technique and was able to learn the secrets of hot wax painting.

His works have been exhibited in various exhibitions both in Cyprus and abroad, including: Athens, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Kiel, Berlin, Paris, London and Lausanne.

It should be noted that, at the initiative of Father Kallinikos and a donation of a large number of icons, the Kallinikeio Municipal Museum was founded and operates in his birthplace, Athienou.

Father Kallinikos was active in the art of iconography for more than fifty years, handing down to us the tradition of our ecclesiastical iconography, depositing his experience and knowledge, and gave with his work a new impetus to the technique of icon painting.

The funeral service for Father Kallinikos will be celebrated tomorrow at 3 pm in the Holy Church of the Panagia in the community of Athienou.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Last Words of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece

Shortly before his death on 28 January 2008, the late Archbishop Christodoulos of blessed memory wrote down his last words to his flock. It stirs up much emotion, yet possesses a Christian tone of joyful sorrow as he gives his flock his last exhortation and places all his hopes in the mercy of God.

BEFORE I CLOSE MY EYES...

By Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece

My brethren, do not forget me when you sing to the Lord, but remember my desire and love and beseech God, that the Lord would grant me to rest among the righteous.

When these lines are read I will not be found in this life. My hope is that I will be found in the mercy of the Lord.

I have no other surety except hope in the Lord. Nothing remains for me but the supplication that the Lord show leniency in His judgment and to forgive me.

I loved my Savior with whatever strength was in my soul. He Who searches the hearts and insides knows. Many times Satan pushed me to actions and plans and to make decisions that I fear embittered my Lord, Who entrusted me with many talents.

Perhaps I imitated the recipient of the five talents? Perhaps I worked towards His glory or maybe I did things for my glory and visibility?

This I could not distinguish and I leave the world in fear that I did not accomplish to always tell the difference.

I worked towards my purpose with all the strength I had and with the help of God I accomplished much. As many times as I was successful, I felt great satisfaction.

Perhaps my labors had this purpose? And therefore what my Lord said will be fulfilled, that those who are satisfied with one of their good works, that these have already received their reward?

The only thing that consoles me and illumines me is that the mercy and love of God is infinitely greater than all sins, and prayer is the way of salvation and true joy.

Because of this I beg you with all the strength of my voice, my brethren and children, do not forget me in your prayers. Do a cross for me with your heart. Light a candle for my soul.

In my life, I inevitably embittered many of my brethren, whether rightly or wrongly - of what importance is the distinction? Governance is against those responsible with its correct exercise, oftentimes as a terrible bite. My children, the stamp of governance has many thorns.

I kneel before all those I judged - voluntarily or involuntarily - and I plead with them to forgive me from the bottom of their heart, that I may find mercy and rest for my soul before the Just Judge.

From the depths of my soul I forgive all those who may have judged me. This is the life of mankind - hopes, dreams, aspirations and efforts, and so many other treatments for earthly life, which do not allow us to understand in depth that we are sojourners in this earthly life.

As St. Gregory the Theologian said: "We are a fleeting dream, a phantasm that cannot be grasped, the flight of a bird passing over the sky, a ship which leaves no trace upon the sea."

Before I shut my eyes, and as long as I have all my senses, to all I leave my blessing from the depths of my heart.

And to those as the Metropolitan of Dimitriados whom I shepherded and taught for 24 whole years, and to my beloved sheepfold in Athens whom I shepherded for 10 years, and towards all the Greeks inside and outside the borders of Greece.

I was your father my beloved children, lead by faith that I was responsible for you. To you, therefore, I extend my final blessing.

You know that I gave you all my love. My soul thirsted for your salvation. My deep faith that I pray to the Lord for you, was the only source from which I drew my strength.

I wanted with whatever strength my poor soul had, to sweeten your pain, to boost your morale, to convince you that only if your heartbeat is in rhythm with God's holy will, only then will a smile of genuine joy never leave your lips, as much as can be found in this world.

Do not seek happiness elsewhere, because then you will toil in vain, and you will not find it. Do not ever forget the words of the Lord: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given you."

Always illumine your thinking and the way of your life with the holy will of God. This will warm your hearts to always be filled with love towards God and towards your brethren and fellow-man, and it will give you the sweetest strength to feel the pain of others as if your own and their joys as if it were your joy.

In this way you will find yourselves in the plan of salvation. Then your names will be written in the eternal books of heaven. In this way only will the fullness of joy, true joy, be able to exist in this world, and it will flood your hearts.

The same Lord assured us, when His 70 disciples returned with great joy, saying: "Lord, even the demons are subdued in Your name."

And He informed them with His comforting words: "Do not rejoice in this, that the demons are subdued, rather rejoice that your names are written in the Heavens."

Who then is able to doubt this? And something more. To all He gave the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, without any of them being able to impede one's way.

You know how many people Satan finds and uses as his instruments in order to obstruct the path of salvation of those who want to be saved. He perverts their thoughts, makes their hearts poress and blinds their light, so that they are unable to see the good, and they use the most unfair and harsh inhumane means to stand in the way of salvation.

All these, as they are similar to snakes and scorpions, are crushed with the help of God. May God not allow any of you, my beloved children, to reach such a level.

To all of you I pray that Divine Grace protects and covers you.

My beloved children and my brethren, do not distance yourselves from the path of God. Love God and "prefer nothing but His love". Flood your hearts with Christ and Greece.

My beloved children and my brethren, do not ever view Greece with indifference or sadness. The Lord is our Father and gave us Greece as our home. All of humanity are His children, and none is superior to another by virtue of his homeland.

Let us learn to view as a gift of the Lord every country, together with their traditions and languages. Us Greeks have especially received an inheritance to be bearers and teachers of a great culture, honored throughout the world.

Let us, therefore, live in a way that glorifies the sacred, honors the ancestors, keeps language as an expression of spirit and not simply as a means of communication.

Let us have gratitude in our hearts toward those who gave us our country. Especially us, as followers of the Lord, let us always have in mind that the Christian is not sanctified by his environment but sanctifies it.

My children, never do evil to your fellow-man. Scatter everywhere works of love. Whoever seeks need from you and you are able to sweeten their pain, do not deny them.

Do not look to see if they are a kin or a stranger, known or unknown, of the same nation or a foreigner, of the same faith or a heterodox, of the same religion or a heathen, friend or enemy. Whoever has need, from your love they are your neighbor.

Do not be absent from your religious duties. As often as you are infected with sin, whatever sin, small or great, immediately rush to be purified by the great mystery of Divine and Sacred Confession and be united with God through the receiving of Holy Communion.

Always keep your soul ready, since at any time the Lord may call you to be found worthy of the heavenly Kingdom.

I especially address at this moment you, my fellow workers, from the first to the last, from the oldest to the newest, from the greatest to the smallest.

My beloved children, clergy and laity, I will no longer be near you. My love and prayers however will always remain with you. Do not forsake the holy work of enlightening the people, especially you my brother bishops, priests and deacons in Athens, in Volos and everywhere in Greece.

When you go to our churches and preach the word of God, you will refresh my soul in heaven also. Do not deprive me of this refreshing. Remain faithful associates around my successor Archbishop, whoever it is, and give him your boundless respect, your love and your loyalty.

He will love you as much as I loved you and will uphold with you our Church, in order to accomplish its sacred purpose.

And now my beloved children and my friends: "Behold, I sleep in the midst of all silent and speechless. My mouth has ceased. My tongue is stopped and my lips are immovable. My hands are folded and my legs intertwined, my face is changed, my vision has erased. I do not understand the mourners, for my hearing does not receive the cries of the sad. My nose does not smell the fragrance of the incense. True love never dies, therefore I entreat all of my known and cherished friends, pray for me that on the day of judgment, I may find mercy before that fearful judgment seat."

DO NOT FORGET ME IN YOUR PRAYERS.


Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Saint Dionysios of Mount Olympus

St. Dionysios of Mount Olympus (Feast Day - January 23)

Saint Dionysios of Olympus was born into a family of poor parents in the village of Platina. When he was an infant, the Cross shone over his crib. Fond of prayer and reading spiritual books from his youth, St Dionysios decided to become a monk after the death of his parents. With this aim he went to Meteora, and then to Mount Athos. There he lived with a pious Elder, the priest Seraphim, and under his guidance he began to lead an ascetic life, keeping a strict fast. During Passion Week he went into the forest, and ate only chestnuts. Soon he was ordained deacon, and then priest.

The exalted life of St Dionysius became known, and many monks came to hear his edifying words. He also guided many lawless people onto the path of salvation, among whom was a robber who intended to rob the saint's cell, but was moved to repentance by the Elder's kind and wise words.

The brethren of Philotheou Monastery lost their abbot and asked St Dionysios to be their head. However, he did not receive enough votes, and dissensions arose. Valuing peace and love most of all, St Dionysios withdrew and went to Verria (Berea). Later, he fled to Mount Olympus in order to avoid being consecrated as a bishop.

Here those zealous for monasticism began to flock to him. Dionysios built cells for them and also a church and they spent their time in fasting and prayer. Having attained the spiritual heights, he worked many miracles. Often, through the prayers of the saint, the Lord punished iniquitous people who oppressed the monks of Olympus or broke the commandments of Christ. The holdings of a Turk who had expelled the monks and wrecked their monastery were destroyed by severe drought and by hail. The cattle of a herdsman who had oppressed the monastery were stricken with disease and sickness; because of her impudence, a maiden from one of the villages was subjected to an assault of the devil. They all received healing and deliverance from misfortune through the prayers of St Dionysios, after being led to penitence by his lack of malice.

The saint compiled a Rule for monastic life, and was an example of monastic activity. He built a church on Olympus dedicated to the Prophet Elias. He left the brethren his final testament about the monastic life based on the Rule of the Holy Mountain.

St Dionysios died in the sixteenth century at an advanced age, and was buried on Olympus, in the church portico of the monastery he founded.

Source

See also: The Holy Monastery of Saint Dionysios of Mount Olympus

Apolytikion in the First Tone
Thou didst prove to be a citizen of the desert, an angel in the flesh, and a wonderworker, O Dionysios, our God-bearing Father. By fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst obtain heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of them that have recourse to thee with faith. Glory to Him that hath given thee strength. Glory to Him that hath crowned thee. Glory to Him that worketh healings for all through thee.

Cave of St. Dionysios

Old Monastery of St. Dionysios on Mount Olympus

Right hand of St. Dionysios

Repose of St. Dionysios

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A Statistic To Give Orthodox Christians Hope

By Mother Nectaria McLees

In Greece today there are 1000 working monasteries, that is, monasteries where there are monks and nuns, and another 150-200 waiting to be restored. The Athenian who told me this had himself compiled a book giving a one-paragraph description of every monastery in Greece, detailing the name, address, number of monastics, listing miraculous icons and relics, and giving road directions. His "address list" came to over four hundred pages. Greek monastic life is definitely alive, and the young people who are coming to the monasteries are eager to throw off the secular modernism that is creeping into all traditionally Orthodox countries. They come with the enthusiasm of the first monks who fled decaying Rome for the deserts.

As a note of interest, Russia in 1917, with almost 90 million people, had 1025 working monasteries. Greece today, with a population of 10 million, has 1000, and that after almost 500 years under the Turks, World War II's devastating occupation by the Italians and Germans, and a bloody civil war that almost destroyed the country. To be just, Russian monasteries often had hundreds of monks or nuns, as opposed to the much smaller numbers in Greece, and the Russian figure does not include the many unofficial sketes that existed before the Russian Revolution. Nevertheless, contemporary Greece, a country one-third the size of California, and in the midst of a headlong rush to catch up with the lamentable worldly sophistication of Europe, continues to support a thousand active monasteries with many young novices. That is a statistic to give any Orthodox Christian hope!

From Evlogeite! A Pilgrim's Guide To Greece, pp. 15-16.

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The Woman Who Felt Abandoned By God

One of the holy fathers said:

When I was in Alexandria, I went into a martyr's shrine to pray, and I saw a Christ-loving woman wearing (it seemed) widow's weeds. She had some [serving] boys and girls with her. This is how she spoke, firmly grasping the railing of the holy martyr's tomb: "You have abandoned me, Lord, have mercy upon me, Master, lover of humanity!" Such were her cries and tears that I broke off from my prayers and paid attention to her, mightily affected by her cries and tears. I supposed it likely that, being a widow, she was being oppressed by somebody.

Since I was acquainted with the deputy prefect, I waited until she had finished her prayer then, summoning one of her youths, I said: "Call your mistress for me." When she approached I told her what I supposed [to be her condition]. Again she dissolved into tears, saying: "Oh, Father, do you not know what my [trouble] is? God has abandoned me and not visited me. Today it is three years that I have not been ill, nor a child of mine nor a servant nor anybody else of my house, and I suppose that God has turned away from me because of my sin: that is why I am weeping, that God would visit me according to His mercy, and that quickly." I was amazed at her philosophical soul and, having prayed for her, I went my way, glorifying God.

From The Spiritual Meadow by St. John Moschos, Cictercian Publications, 1992, p. 201.

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Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos: "Finis Grecia!"

- Elder, it has been increasingly argued, that because of the difficulty of the Greek language, students spend too much time and effort to learn it, while they could be learning English and other knowledge more important for survival in our time.

- If we forsake and remove the Greek language, we cut off every bridge to our past. We detach ourselves from our roots. In a few decades we will appear as nomadic people, which gained statehood and national identity in the salvific year of 1976! The history of three thousand years of Hellenism, Classical and Byzantine, and of Christianity, will be struck out with one stroke of the pen. Imagine our society after twenty or thirty years, when the children of today will be the leaders of society. They will not even be able to read Paparrigopoulos.

All writings until today written will be for pulping. Ah, what greater national calamity can happen than this? The Asia Minor Catastrophe? It is small compared to this. The Cypriot? It also is small. This is because after two or three generations we will appear completely cut off from our past. Our past will be like a sealed cabinet, and no one will be able to open it even if they approach it; writings of three thousand years will be inaccessible. This is inconceivably worse!

They took from us Asia Minor. A national tragedy! Hellenism however, glory to God, remained. I would say that it peaked in 1940-41. A part of Cyprus became occupied. We suffer deeply. Injustice drowns us. However Hellenism has not been lost. Hellenism leans towards disappearing with what we are doing now. In this crucible, called the E.U., in this medley of nations, after a while we will assimilate completely. After a while they will introduce phonetic spelling. And the next step will be the Latin alphabet. At which time, as they said in Zallogo, the saying will apply: "Instead of fountains, you have mountains, people of Rachoula." Finis Grecia!

From the book Χριστώ τω Θεώ παραθώμεθα, έκδ. Ι. Ησυχ. Κεχαριτωμένης Τροιζήνος, 2003, σ. 149-150.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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St. Theodosius the Coenobiarch: "Behold, the Grave Is Ready!"

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The Orthodox Church possesses an inexhaustible treasure in proofs of life after death. One of the numerous proofs is cited here: one example, which, at the same time, witnesses that the souls of men live after physical death and that voluntary obedience leads to blessed eternity.

When St. Theodosius the Great [the Coenobiarch] founded a monastery, he had only seven monks in the beginning. In order to confirm these monks in remembrance of death, he ordered them to dig out a grave. When the grave was finished, Theodosius stood above the grave surrounded by the seven monks, and said, "Behold my children the grave is ready! Are there any among you who is ready for death, in order to be buried in this grave?" One of them, Basil by name and a priest by rank, fell to his knees and sought a blessing from Theodosius to die. Theodosius ordered that a memorial service for the soul be held for Basil: the third, the ninth and the fortieth day as is the custom for the deceased. When the fortieth day memorial service was completed, Basil completely healthy, laid down and died. He was buried in the new grave. On the fortieth day after his burial, Basil appeared among the brethren in church one morning and chanted with them. In the beginning, only Theodosius saw him and he prayed to God that He open the eyes of the others. The entire brotherhood looked and saw Basil among them. One brother, Letius, out of joy spread his arms and wanted to embrace Basil, but he vanished and Letius heard Basil's voice saying; "Save yourselves, fathers and brothers, save yourselves."

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Religious Women More Successful In Love Than Big City Girls

Olga Gumanova
January 20, 2011
Pravda.ru

Religious women in strict clothes would be laughed at and used as a subject for countless jokes during the beginning of the 1990s. Their secular friends and colleagues did not even want to believe that young women wearing long skirts and handkerchiefs could arrange their private lives successfully. However, as experience shows, girls in handkerchiefs enjoy special demand.

The TV series and two motion pictures Sex and the City has earned global popularity for one simple reason. The lives of its main characters are very similar to the fates of millions of lonely woman all over the world. They are successful, attractive and stylish, but single. How can one explain the paradox?

It seems that those women, who do not use cosmetics, wear plain clothes, cover their heads with kerchiefs and follow religious rules, are no competition to fashionable and liberated women when it comes to love affairs. Real life proves the opposite, though. Religious women get married one after another and celebrate the joy of motherhood. The prototypes of Sex and the City women keep meeting each other in restaurants and cafes to sip cocktails and complain to each other of their failures in relationships with men.

If you ask a big city woman why she broke up with her boyfriend, the answer will in most cases be typical: he is not tidy, he scatters his socks all over the place and he is very inaccurate when he eats. As a rule, they expect too much from their men (the level of income, the social status, the intellectual development) or they want to have romantic relationships (exciting and memorable dates, poems written in their honor and other surprises that testify to high feelings).

Maybe, such oppositely directed demands mean that a successful city woman does not need a serious relationship with a man, that she does not need a marriage. A religious woman does not face such a choice: she chooses marriage and family. If she does not choose family, she chooses solitude and becomes a nun.

"Modern women do not want to get married, they do not want to have children, - Ivan, a 30-year-old man said. - I broke up with my first common law wife because she only liked to have fun, she was not interested in having a family. I met my wife in a group of volunteers, who helped orphans. There were people of different beliefs among the volunteers, but the group was organized by Orthodox believers. My wife turned out to be a religious person, she shares a patriarchal point of view about family and she dreams to have children," the man said.

Men become attracted to religious women because they create personality cult in their families. An emancipated woman perceives her husband just as a partner, whom she can compete with. A religious woman sees her husband as the head of her family. A man is a ruler in traditional families.

"She serves him dinner and she bows to him, she is completely crazy," other woman often say about religious females.

Religious families have so much to celebrate. There are so many religious holidays which families celebrate altogether. What do secular families celebrate? Just Christmas and New Year with their stupid salads and dull TV shows.

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Consensus Science Can Be A Fickle Friend

Recently, historian of medicine Michael Flannery, author of World of Life, remarked on the lack of informational value when we hear that 99% of the scientific community believes something controversial, therefore it should be accepted by all:

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), the New England divine, actually proposed a germ theory of medicine when 99.9% of the medical community disagreed with him. Conversely, Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) proposed a “phlogiston” theory to explain combustion (burning) and rusting that nearly every scientist of the day (including Joseph Priestly [1733-1804]), hailed.

More recently, when Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929) suggested that pellagra was a nutritional deficiency disease he was dismissed because the Thompson-McFadden Commission had “proven” pellagra to be infectious. History is replete with such examples.

In fact, I would suggest that history indicates that consensus per se merely confirms periods of stability within the scientific community NOT necessarily validity of the concepts around which that consensus has formed.

Science is not entirely cumulative. Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) told us this before Kuhn. “The philosophy of nature,” he wrote in 1959, “evolved by occasional leaps and bounds alternating with delusional pursuits, culs-de sac, regressions, periods of blindness, and amnesia. . . . The mad clockwork of epicycles was kept going for two thousand years; and Europe knew less geometry in the fifteenth century than in Archimedes’ time.” The invocation of consensus in matters of science can be a very fickle friend.

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Convert From Protestantism Embraces the Theotokos

The following inspirational testimonial was written by a friend of mine who recently converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism, and is featured here exclusively in the hopes of inspiring all to embrace the Theotokos, with or without hesitation.

I was raised Southern Baptist and even graduated from one of their seminaries. I had been taught to view Christianity, well specifically the elements that were not mentioned in the Bible, as examples of the paganization of Christianity. I viewed everything through the von Harnackian prism whereby Christianity becoming Hellenized was a contemptible thing. I read eloquent portrayals of Byzantine life, where they viewed the prayers of the Saints in heaven as a mirror of the Byzantine emperor's court. Because a person needed a person on the "inside" to make things happen with the emperor. Little did I understand that those who died in Christ are alive. These greatest in the kingdom are servants to all.

I was chrismated into the Orthodox Church a year and two months ago after a year long catechumenate. Devotion to the Theotokos and prayer to the saints were the two hurdles I struggled with the longest. But after two years of saying my daily prayers in front of my icon corner, each day invoking the prayers of the Theotokos and all the saints, I have never found myself worshiping anything or anyone other than the Holy Trinity.

I have noticed over the last month, devotion to the Theotokos has become part of my Orthodox experience. My parish priest gave me a Christmas card that had an icon of the Theotokos on it. I taped it on the wall by my front door, and often kiss it as I am leaving or coming, as I hang my keys by it. When I kiss the Theotokos' hand, I feel grateful for the Incarnate Word that destroyed death and corruption. With that kiss I feel connected to all the Saints, past, present and future who live because of Jesus Christ's victory over death.

Also, I have been agonizing about a certain decision in my life. After praying to the Theotokos I have seen some things developing. I have noticed when a certain prayer request is dear to my heart, I find myself turning to the Theotokos with it, knowing the love she has for people.

Sometimes I still feel my former Protestantism creeping up in my mind saying "you are no different than a pagan praying to Aphrodite". But ultimately, it is a great comfort that the Theotokos and the Saints intercede for sinful me.

- Anonymous

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Saint Maximos the Greek of Vatopaidi

St. Maximos the Greek (Feast Day - January 21)

An Indomitable Herald of Patristic Tradition

by Archimandrite Ephraim,
Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi

During its historic past, the spiritual activity of the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi [one of the twenty monasteries on the Holy Mountain of Athos—Trans.] has proved to be twofold. On the one hand, the monastery has lived in hesychia (silence, stillness) and freedom from cares, which are the preconditions for deification; and, on the other hand, it has sent forth its deified and sanctified children as missionaries, so that they might offer a good witness to the Orthodox Athonite Tradition for the strengthening of the people of God—something not extraneous to the life of the Church throughout the ages. We can say that the monastery became very distinguished in this field, such that it undertook missionary work not only within Greece, but also in other Orthodox nations.

St. Maximos of Vatopaidi—better known as St. Maximos the Greek—was one of the most learned monks of his time, distinguishing himself as a theologian, philosopher, author, and poet during the first half of the sixteenth century, and became known as the “enlightener and reformer of the Russian nation.”

He was born in the city of Arta [northwestern Greece] in 1470 to a wealthy, illustrious, and pious family, and was named Michael Triboles. His parents gave him his basic education at the schools of Arta and Kerkyra (Corfu). At twenty years of age, he went to Italy, where he pursued higher studies for some fifteen years at the universities of Venice, Padua, Ferrara, Florence, and Milan. One of the more distinguished biographers of St. Maximos, E. Golubinsky, maintains that, had the Saint ultimately remained in Italy, he would have become one of the most eminent university professors of his age.

St. Maximos, however, gave himself over to an intense search for an authentic way of Christian life, having seen for himself the nakedness of humankind bereft of God’s Grace while living in Italy, where Renaissance humanism was then flourishing. At the same time, moralism had turned the world to the senseless passions of hypocrisy, avarice, inhumanity, and dissoluteness. Thus, upon hearing about the monastic republic of the Holy Mountain and yearning to achieve the highest human calling—that of deification—and having discerned the vanity of every earthly glory and wisdom, he decided to dedicate his life to the Lord as a monk in this glorious cradle of Eastern Orthodox Tradition, eventually settling in the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi.

His departure for the Holy Mountain

At the Monastery of Vatopaidi, he lived in asceticism for approximately ten years. He exercised himself in the basic virtues of obedience and abstinence, thereby essentially avoiding all human passions, since he cut off his every will, desire, greed, and pride. His insatiable yearning for the acquisition of virtues and his enviable diligence in exercising himself therein rendered him a vessel of the loftiest virtues of humility, nonacquisitiveness, and love. By means, again, of these virtues, he constantly sacrificed himself for his fellow ascetics and fellow men. Simultaneously, he united his soul with God through unceasing prayer, becoming an abode of the Holy Spirit.

The monastery’s rich library also nourished the Saint spiritually; he found great delight in studying its books. From the library’s rare manuscripts, he garnered the wisdom of his predecessors in the Orthodox monastic tradition. At the same time, the example of the monastery’s other learned Fathers became a luminous guiding light in the Angelic, monastic life.

The monastery’s Fathers soon discerned the cultivation of his soul, so rich in virtues and spiritual gifts. They thus entrusted him with necessary work outside of the monastery, which the holy Father used as opportunities to strengthen our suffering Orthodox people, who were assailed by illiteracy, the bonds of the Turkish Yoke, and the heresies of the West.

In 1515, Grand Prince Vasily Ivanovich [of Russia] asked the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Protos of the Holy Mountain for an experienced, learned, and virtuous monk, who could translate Church texts into the Slavonic language and correct erroneous translations and copies of Holy Scriptures and Patristic texts.

Monk Sabbas of Vatopaidi was initially chosen, but he refused on account of his advanced age. The lot thus fell to the eminent Monk Maximos.

His mission in Russia

St. Maximos left the Holy Mountain in 1516. Representing the Russian people, Metropolitan Varlaam of Moscow and Grand Prince Vasily Ivanovich welcomed the Athonite monk and those with him.

Unfortunately, at that time the Russian nation was being scourged by new ideologies, which had slipped even into Orthodox ecclesiastical books, perhaps not fortuitously.

St. Maximos began his work of writing, translating, correcting, and exegesis. At the same time, his genuine Orthodox way of life soon came to attract the Grand Prince and the Metropolitan, as well as the Russian people and numerous eminent and distinguished people, who recognized in him a sagacious monk with the ability to resolve, by the power of God and his wise teachings and counsels, the multifarious problems pertaining to people of all social classes and walks of life. Thus, he began his advisory work chiefly before the Russian ruler and the Metropolitan, who directed matters relating to the State and the Church, respectively.

We should also note that St. Maximos was the first to initiate the Russian people into ancient Greek philosophy and literature, thanks to his many years of profound studies at Western universities. Moreover, he was the first to introduce the art of printing into Russia, owing to his close ties with the renowned Italian typographer and savant, Aldus Manutius.

Generally speaking, St. Maximos the Enlightener and Equal-to -the-Apostles acted resourcefully and wisely, taking care to educate a multitude of people, who subsequently continued his colossal work of enlightening Russia in Orthodox Christianity, for the salvation of the people and the glory and joy of the Church of Christ.

These cultural activities of the Saint underscore his manifold acts of beneficence, showing him forth not only as a missionary worker, but also as a civilizer of the Russian people, who at that time were in a state of illiteracy and ignorance.

St. Maximos’ missionary activities lasted eight years. He bore a heavy cross, however, with his work on behalf of the Faith; or rather, the Devil, the enemy of the truth, attempted to destroy St. Maximos’ work, though the Evil One ultimately failed in this regard, since the “grain of wheat fell on good ground and sprang up, and bore fruit a hundredfold” (cf. St. Luke 8:8).

Conflict with the political and ecclesiastical leadership

More specifically, owing to irregularities on the part of certain political and ecclesiastical figures—due, in large part, to ignorance—the Athonite Father was compelled to expostulate with and censure certain individuals, on the basis of the principles of the Gospel and in accordance with the ecclesiastical capacity afforded him by the Russian Church and the country’s royalty.

Unfortunately, however, not only did things not improve, but St. Maximos was now additionally confronted with the enmity of those he had censured, among them the Grand Prince and the new Metropolitan of Russia, Daniel, who disregarded the Saint’s sincere concern for their salvation and for the right direction of the Russian Church.

Thenceforth the Saint was to bear a heavy cross of imprisonments and tribulations unto death. Precisely these tribulations perfected St. Maximos spiritually, however, such that today the equal-to-the-apostles, confessor, martyr, and ascetic is regarded as one of the foremost illustrious children of the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi, and of our Orthodox Church in general. It is he who, by Divine calling, accumulated all of the charisms; and all of the aforementioned appellations befit him to such an extent that not one of them can be deemed an exaggeration.

St. Maximos censured representatives of the Church for living in a manner unbecoming to the clergy and monasticism, as well as for inappropriate behavior towards the people. At the same time, he also reprimanded political representatives for similar matters, just as St. John the Forerunner—who was put to death in prison for censuring the King for committing adultery—had done. Thus, St. Maximos became a confessor by upholding moral standards with strictness and by rebuking those who did not live morally, regardless of their office or rank.

He did not become conceited by the honors shown to him by the Grand Prince, nor by the fact that he was the foremost royal counsellor and ate with the Grand Prince at the same table for eight whole years, as if he were himself a prince. None of these things made him forget that he was a monk—and an Athonite monk at that—who had been called by Divine behest to correct the morals of the Russian people. Nor did he take into account that he would lose favor with the Grand Prince and representatives of the Church, along with the honors they showed him, by censuring them.

His imprisonment

He was condemned, as an alleged heretic, to life imprisonment in fetters and deprived of partaking of the Holy Mysteries. Placed in solitary confinement, he was forbidden to have any communication with the faithful. He suffered all of these things, as we said above, because he had censured his accusers for immoral behavior, using Christian morals as his basis. Likewise, he was prohibited from carrying on correspondence or reading books. The final prohibition was a martyrdom in itself for the learned monk-philosopher, since his spiritual nourishment and delight were derived from the study and writing of books.

Metropolitan Daniel, who was primarily responsible for St. Maximos’ ordeals, placed in his prison cell two cruel and inhuman guards, who tormented him without mercy for six continuous years. As St. Maximos later wrote to Metropolitan Makarios of Moscow: “Imprisoned, I was kept in bonds, dying from the cold, smoke, and hunger.”

His biographer, Kurbsky, writes that:

"He suffered much from the burdensome bonds and the long confinement in a frightful prison, ...being exceedingly beleaguered and mercilessly tortured, both physically and mentally, by intolerable ordeals for six years in iron fetters. ...As a result of these tortures, St. Maximos would often fall completely unconscious, almost to the point of death. At one point, wishing to alleviate his affliction, he wrote a Canon to the Holy Spirit on the prison wall with a piece of charcoal, since he was not permitted paper on which to write. Under these conditions, he never grumbled or condemned anyone! At the end of his earthly life, St. Maximos would write a letter in which he prayed with regard to Metropolitan Daniel, who was the primary cause of his myriads of tortures: ‘May God not lay this sin to his charge’!"

During his first imprisonment in the Monastery of Volokolamsk, and, following that, during his second transfer to the Monastery of Otroch, he was confined to a damp and dark, subterranean prison, deprived of light and heating, and of every human consolation to which even the vilest of malefactors is entitled.

Who is capable of describing his martyrdom, and especially his deprivation of the Divine Eucharist? Only one who has come to know the love of our sweetest Jesus could describe such a martyrdom.

Despite the Saint’s protests over this harsh and unjust epitimion (penance), and despite his pleas at least to be permitted to partake of the Divine Mysteries—saying, with deep pain: “I ask that you vouchsafe me to partake of the All-Immaculate and Live-giving Mysteries of Christ, which I have been denied for seventeen years now. ...Grant me, I beseech you, this favor..., save this lost soul....” “...I seek mercy and benevolence....” “...I ask for mercy; show me mercy, that you might also be vouchsafed the same Grace”—unfortunately, the clergy of iniquity did not pay him heed. They confined him without permitting him Holy Communion for eighteen full years.

Moreover, as we said above, his martyrdom was heightened by the tremendous pain caused by being enchained for six years at the prison of Volokolamsk, and then again during the first eight years of confinement in the prison of the Monastery of Otroch. In total, he spent fourteen years in iron bonds (1525-1539), and was imprisoned for a total of twenty-six years.

Dealing with his tribulations

Saint Maximos suffered all of his ordeals with patience and without resentment. Never did he reproach those who had caused him to undergo such great sufferings, nor did he ever depart from the bounds of spiritual nobility and meekness. This he achieved through humility. Emulating other holy Fathers, while protesting against his condemnation as a heretic and a blasphemer, he nevertheless accepted his trials as if they had been permitted by God on account of his sins.

Thus, he wrote to Metropolitan Daniel: “But I tell you in this regard that you have [unjustly] condemned me for heresy and prohibited me from partaking of the Divine Mysteries. As for my other many and innumerable sins, I am not able to open my mouth. I must not despair, however, but rather hope in God’s immeasurable mercy....” And elsewhere: “The Just Judge, Who desires that all men be saved, Who has permitted me to undergo these afflictions on account of my many great sins, and not for heresy or blasphemy...”

The Saint’s patience was also due to Divine strengthening, in accordance with the Psalm: “According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have given gladness to my soul.”

The consolations of the Holy Spirit were such that not only they equiponderated the Saint’s sorrows, his pains from the tortures, and his tears, but additionally they caused Divine love to overflow in his heart, becoming his “bread day and night.”

The venerable Father was also vouchsafed a vision of a Holy Angel, who descended into the prison and offered him the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus. Following this miracle and his Divine vision and succor, in Divine exaltation he composed and wrote with charcoal on the prison wall the aforementioned Ode to the Holy Spirit, which begins: “O, the manna by which Thou once didst feed Israel in the desert...,” followed by “with Thy Bodiless Ministers, I also chant to Thee...” which imply the vision of the Angel who transmitted to him the Body and Blood of our Lord.

As for the further Divine succor granted to him, who could know or tell of it? God guided him, through this hard path, towards perfection. We also see this from the exhortation by the Holy Angel, who appeared to him and said: “Maximos, be patient in these sufferings, that you might escape the sufferings of eternal chastisement.”

Thus, St. Maximos, by Divine revelation, became completely aware that he was fulfilling the Will of God when he was forlorn and reckoned an abomination by all, a stranger in a foreign land. In a state of extreme humility of spirit, he put into his heart that he was the lowest person on earth, humbled with Divine knowledge that the Lord had permitted his sufferings; for through the path of extreme humility He wished to guide him to spiritual perfection.

Living in seclusion and silence, he prayed unceasingly, with wordless groanings of the heart, noetically calling from the depths of his heart upon the Name of his sweetest Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Thus, through his martyrdom and through bearing the Cross of the Lord with knowledge, the Saint became perfected in Christ, completely dispassionate, a pleasant psaltery and sonorous cittern of the Holy Spirit, and a dwelling-place of the Holy Trinity!

St. Maximos was among the few monastic Saints who conducted their spiritual struggles devoid of a guide and human solidarity— without a spiritual Father or Elder to comfort and strengthen him as he bore his cross, and even without the solidarity of like-minded brothers, according to the saying: “A brother helped by a brother is as a strong and fortified city.”

He was faced with “external battles,” “imprisoned, kept in bonds, dying from the cold, smoke, and hunger,” but also with “internal fears,” lest he repine against God over the multitude of his tribulations or transgress God’s commandments by becoming angry with those who had done him injustice, revile them, or bear them resentment.

At the same time, a whole mob of other passions raged against him. The battle was gigantic, and the conditions under which the Saint struggled were not only incomprehensible, but even inconceivable to us. He conquered, however, with the alliance of the Lord, Who loved him and Who had given Himself over unto death for the sake of all.

His sentence is mitigated

Saint Maximos saved the entire Russian Church from prejudices, superstitions, and heretical beliefs that held sway at that time in Russia.

While imprisoned in the Monastery of Otroch (1531-1551), he was given relative freedom of communication by Metropolitan Akaky of Tver (following a sign from God), so that this light might not remain “under a bushel” (cf. St. Matthew 5:15).

Thus, while bound in chains for years in a dark, damp, subterranean prison, he tirelessly continued to write, translating sacred texts into Slavonic and composing, among many other things, anti-heretical works, for the sake of protecting and enlightening the Russian people. In addition, with fatherly affection, he once again began preaching, comforting the Christians who hastened to his prison cell to hear his advice and seek his prayers.

Several years after the imprisonment of Metropolitan Daniel, Metropolitan Makary of All Russia released the Saint from his unjust punishment of excommunication, which had lasted eighteen years (1525-1543).

From time to time, he would fervently beseech to be liberated, so as to return to his beloved monastery on Mt. Athos, but never received a response. When Tsar Ivan the Terrible ascended the royal throne, the Greek monk repeated his appeal, but again without positive results. Likewise, Patriarch Dionysios of Constantinople (in 1545), Patriarch Germanos of Jerusalem, the Patriarch of Alexandria (on September 4, 1545), and the Monastery of Vatopaidi all sent requests to the Tsar to release St. Maximos.

In one of his own letters to the Tsar, St. Maximos wrote:

"Please deign, by the Name of the Lord, to show mercy to me, the wretch. Grant me to see the Holy Mountain, where prayer is sent up for the whole world. Restore me to the holy Fathers and to my brethren, who pray on your behalf. Yield in a Christian manner to their entreaties and tears. Do not wish to appear disobedient to the OEcumenical Patriarch, who is entreating you on my behalf."

And elsewhere:

"Judge for yourself, I beg you, if I am worthy of hatred for all that I rightly corrected, and if I was justly slandered by certain ones as a heretic and denied communion with the faithful and of the Divine Gifts for so many years.... If, then, I speak rightly and credibly, show me, the wretch, your goodness and mercy, as a pious and unbiased judge, and acquit me of the unjust slanders and these ordeals, which I have been suffering for many years now.... Grant me, I implore your reverence, to return to the Holy Mountain, where I toiled in many and various ways both spiritually and bodily in hope of salvation, that I might lay down my bones there in peace."

And elsewhere:

"Return me, most devout Tsar, to the venerable monastery of the Theotokos of Vatopaidi. Spiritually gladden its holy monks, your servants and fervent intercessors. Do not desire to grieve them."

It is worth noting that in each of his letters the Saint pleaded to be returned to the Holy Mountain, repeating the phrase: “that I might lay down my bones there in peace."

Yet his martyrdom continued. His return was deemed dangerous by the Tsar and Church leaders of the time, since the Saint knew all of the negative aspects of the political and ecclesiastical life of Russia, and they were afraid that he would hold them up to public opinion and reveal the ill will they had shown him.

His Sentence Is Lifted

In 1551, the new Tsar, examining the entire affair with his dignitaries, who insisted on the Saint’s vindication, ordered that he be moved to the renowned Lavra of St. Sergey, thereby ending his sentence of imprisonment, which had lasted twenty-six consecutive years, without, however, permitting him to return to his homeland and his monastery of repentance, for the aforementioned reasons.

St. Maximos, by now elderly and exhausted from the manifold hardships of his life imprisonment, gave over his soul to the hands of our Lord, to be relieved of his toils and pains, on January 21, 1556, the day on which the Church commemorates his Patron Saint, Maximos the Confessor. On this day as well, his brothers at the Monastery of Vatopaidi had the custom of celebrating the Feast of the Panagia Paramythia (“of Consolation”).

He was around eighty-six years old when he reposed in 1556, and had served the Russian Church and its pious faithful until his last breath for a total of thirty-eight years, twenty-six of which he had spent in prison.

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople proclaimed the sanctity of Maximos the Greek in 1988. Following that, during the celebration that same year of the millennium of Orthodoxy [in Russia] in Moscow, he was glorified by the Russian Church. The Translation of his Relics took place on June 21, 1996 (Old Style), in the Church of the Holy Lavra of St. Sergey, where St. Maximos lived during the last five years of his life.

A portion of his Relics were handed over to the Monastery of Vatopaidi, the monastery of his repentance, on July 8, 1997 (Old Style), in the Church of the Panagia of Kazan by Patriarch Alexey of Moscow and All Russia. The celebration of the Translation of his Relics to the Monastery of Vatopaidi took place on July 14, 1997 (Old Style).

* * *

The example of St. Maximos should give us courage. The discipline of the Lord through ordeals did not destroy him; rather, with faith, prayer, and virtue, he drew upon Divine strength and remained patient throughout indescribable temptations. We recount the lives of the Saints in order to follow their examples, to gain strength, and to approach God with orthopraxia, by Church attendance, confession, and partaking of the Divine Mysteries. Every one of us will bear, according to his strength, the Cross of his Resurrection. Knowledge of the path towards our Divine Transfiguration is necessary, and in particular for the Greek nation, which led so many other nations to knowledge of God by means of its wise Saints, who are equals to the Apostles.

We pray that our All-Good Triune God, who “worketh hitherto,” might ever send forth worthy and holy workers, like the great and tireless Saint Maximos, to His vineyard, for the salvation of all. We also pray that God, through the intercessions of this our holy Father, grant His Grace for the preservation of unity of Faith and bonds of love in our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ.

Source: Pemptousia, No. 20 (April-July 2006), pp. 114-121.

A specimen of the handwriting of St. Maximos, from Codex 198, leaf 579, Holy Monastery of Docheiariou.


The Holy Lavra of St. Sergey, where St. Maximos lived during the last five years of his life. The arrow marks the Church of the Holy Spirit, where his reliquary is kept.


The Holy Icon of the Panagia, given by Grand Prince Vasily Ivanovich to the delegation of Vatopaidian monks who accompanied St. Maximos to Russia in 1517.


Relic of St. Maximos the Greek

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