The Worthless Gifts of the Deceived

Elder Paisios the Athonite (+ 1994) was asked:

Geronda, why is it that people often resort to deceivers to solve their problems?

Because the devil has worthless gifts to offer and people can acquire them cheaply. What is asked of them doesn't carry a cost, and they can remain comfortable in their passions. Instead of repenting for the sins they commit as human beings, and instead of going to a Spiritual Father to confess, they find some deceived individuals - that is, the devil himself - and ask him to solve their problems. But when they suffer even more, they can't understand that the devil has control over them.

Geronda, how do people come to believe the deceived?

People are confused. So many people claim to be leading the people on the right path, while in fact they are carrying a big bag on their shoulders with the devil hidden inside! But the benevolent God does not allow him to be entirely hidden. Once in a while the devil sticks out a horn or his tail, the people see it and shout in fear, "What is this? A horn? A tail?" But the deceivers answer, "No, of course not! What are you saying? It's an aubergine!" And they say such things to fool the people and to present diabolical things as good and beneficial.

Geronda, how can a person be protected from such deceivers?

This can be done by remaining within the fold of our Church. Of course, if someone should out of ignorance follow some deceiver, God will not abandon him. God will help him recognize his mistake and return to the truth.

From Spiritual Counsels (vol. III): Spiritual Struggle, pp. 250-251.

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The Neptic Spirituality of General Yannis Makriyannis

General Yannis Makriyannis (1797–1864) was a Greek merchant, military officer, politician and author, best known today for his Memoirs. Starting from humble origins, he joined the Greek struggle for independence, achieving the rank of general and leading his men to notable victories. Following Greek independence, he had a tumultuous public career, playing a prominent part in the granting of the first Constitution of the Kingdom of Greece and later being sentenced to death and pardoned.

By Christos Yannaras

General Makiyannis's reputation now overshadows that of his contemporaries. Well known as a War of Independence fighter, he had shown legendary courage against Ibrahim in the Peloponnese and Kutahi on the Athenian Acropolis. He also led the uprising of September 3, 1843, which forced Otto to grant Greece a constitution.

Makriyannis's fame would have rested there if his Memoirs had not come to light fifty years after his death. Without any formal education, he learned to read and write only in later life. He kept a journal recording events he had lived through from the Revolution until 1851, hiding the manuscript in his garden.

In 1907 John Vlachoyannis transcribed and published this manuscript, but the Memoirs attracted only limited attention amongst a narrow circle of intellectuals, chiefly historians. It was only in 1943 that the poet George Seferis aroused more general interest in Makriyannis, through a lecture he gave in Alexandria and Cairo asserting to general astonishment that "Makriyannis is the most important prose writer of modern Greek literature, not the greatest only because we have Papadiamantis."[1] His vigorous reading of extracts supported his analysis.

The Memoirs then went through several editions and were widely read and discussed. An illiterate fighter's popular sensibility elucidated history like a revelation.

As a witness to factional in-fighting, his work became popular with the left, sustaining their interpretation of the War of Independence as a class struggle between peasant soldiers and landowner (or Phanariote) politicians.

Makriyannis's vigorous language has appealed to Marxists, who have dominated the interpretation of his Memoirs. But there is popular piety and genuine faith on every page, unselfishness and a refusal to compromise. In his views on society and the individual he was always faithful to traditional Orthodox practice.[2]

In 1983 a second spiritual testimony of Makriyannis was published. This was his Notebook, recording his personal spiritual experiences and prayers, interspersed with daily events.[3]

This second manuscript could be described as an Orthodox saint's autobiography or Synaxari. The revolutionary fighter, tough garrison commander, opponent of politicians and Ottonian despotism, and famous general who was condemned to death and had spent years in jail, had led a discreet life of asceticism, prayer and charismatic tears, his experience of the vision of God recalling the greatest hesychasts of the neptic tradition. His unselfconsciousness is evident:

I said on Holy Thursday and Good Friday I would on these two days do 3300 prostrations day and night ... I have no other way of thanking God but by my sinful prayer, 1300 prostrations morning and evening and 100 with the prayer-rope, and whatever I can manage before I go to work and when I come home to give thanks, sinner that I am.

Zisimos Lorentzatos says that The Notebook

is permeated by the three characteristics we find in all his writings: sudden light, tears, and the impossibility of describing the indescribable ... Apart from the tears of compunction - which Patriarch Kallistos Xanthopoulos calls a sign of the spirit's participation in noetic prayer and a desire, in the humility of poverty, for ceaselessly flowing tears (On Prayer 31) - and the acknowledged impossibility of setting down what he attempts to describe - "and I cannot represent how the light troubled me and the terror and the tears of my eyes" (258); "how can I, my dear readers, describe this beauty and great light?" (251) - there are indications which enable us, I believe, to be almost certain (naturally, as far as possible) that Makriyannis in the last years of his life not only followed the difficult path of noetic prayer, the "pray without ceasing" - "Today, Friday, I struggled for many hours with sinful tears; on the other days I spend four hours, morning and evening, in prayer, when I go out of the house, and when I return, and when I am about to eat" (252) - but was also granted, it seems, the union which is "the summit of desire" where the eternal light, "if it gazes at itself, it sees light, or if it gazes at that which gives the vision, it sees light there too; and such is the union, where all things are one, so that the one who sees cannot distinguish either the means or the goal or the essence, but only that it is light and that he sees light which resembles nothing created."[4]

Makriyannis's theology in his Memoirs or more especially in The Notebook did not interest progressive Greek intellectuals. When John Vlachoyannis showed the recently discovered manuscript to George Theotokas in 1941, he responded: "This is the work of a madman."[5] And Linos Polites in his preface to The Notebook says: "The religious mania of the aged Makriyannis is offensive to us today."[6] Most reactions were in the same vein. Even psychiatrists were sought to support the view that head wounds that Makriyannis had suffered had brought about a form of paranoia.[7]

Makriyannis's marginalized witness brings hope that the Church's Gospel and its universal Greek embodiment survive and function invisibly like the buried "mustard seed." As Makriyannis said: "It is our fate as Greeks always to be few. From beginning to end, from antiquity to this day, all the beasts fight to devour us but they cannot. They consume us but the leaven remains."[8]

1. I quote Seferis from the second edition of his Essays (Athens: Phexis, 1962), 195.

2. For a brief sketch of the theology of the Memoirs see my 1966 article "O 'Laos Tou Theou' Ston Makriyanni," reprinted in Yannaras (1981) 213-27.

3. Published as Oramata kai Thaumata [Visions and Wonders] by the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (Athens, 1983), in two volumes.

4. Lorentzatos (1984) 124-27. The last citation in the passage is from the Triads of St. Gregory Palamas, which Lorentzatos goes on to compare with Makriyannis's corresponding testimonies.

5. See Theotokas's article in the newspapaper Ta Kathimerina Nea, September 16, 1945.

6. Oramata kai Thaumata 14.

7. In a television program broadcast a few days after the publication of Oramata kai Thaumata.

8. Makriyannis (1907) bk. 1, ch. 8.

From Orthodoxy and the West, pp. 190-192.

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Overcoming Obstacles To Receiving God's Grace

We once asked an elder, "How can a person receive divine grace?"

"One cannot receive divine grace unless he endures all temptations as they come," he replied and then added: "The greatest obstacle that obstructs God's grace is self-love. When God finds one's heart emptied of all desires, He fills it with His grace, which is impossible to describe. It can only be experienced in one's heart. But even a moment's sinful thoughts can make this grace withdraw."

*************

When the athlete of asceticism, the hermit Petros, who la­boured in the cave of St. Peter the Athonite, felt God's grace in his heart, he would exclaim, "The Lord hit me with a javelin of mercy!"

*************

An elder said, "People of today do not have God's grace, and if they sometimes have a little bit of it, they cast it away then the demons stay with them. Bad thoughts ob­struct divine grace. No ascesis is as powerful as good thoughts. Good thoughts come only to those who see eve­rything through cleansed eyes."

*************

A contemporary venerable hesychast would say to me: "Not many people are graced these days. Frequently we remain empty of God's grace. Then through a sorrow or difficulty it comes back to us again."

*************

An elder said, "Many times our prayers are not answered because of us. Other times it is because of someone else and for a different reason. For example, someone asks me to pray for a person who is ill. I pray and let's say I have suffi­cient faith and am not egotistical. Still God does not answer my prayer, because the other person is not humble enough. He may believe that God will help, but his ego stands in the way. We must trust God. We should let Him do whatever He wills. If I pray correctly, I may feel the re­moval of the temptation, and everything will go well. Any time, however, that God allows us to go through a tempta­tion, it is for our own benefit, and we should probably not ask God to deliver us from that difficulty. If the difficulty is caused by the Devil, then God helps us right away. Many times God's will is unknown to us."

*************

An ascetic once was asked: "How is it that many times we don't feel anything when we pray, either in church or pri­vately somewhere else?"

He answered: "There are many possible reasons. Some­times you may feel deep compunction, or you may sense that the Lord has given you a sweet consolation, though not as a result of your own labour. Then, because you did not understand these things, He takes them away until you understand. There is always a purpose to these things.

In any case, do not strive for the gift of tears while pray­ing, or for any other spiritual gift for that matter. The si­lent suffering within a person for some sin done in the past is the best gift. Forced tears in prayer can be dangerous be­cause they can create illusions about one's spiritual state.

Tears give rest. A deep sigh many times could be worth — I am not sure, this is only my thought, and I might be wrong — such a deep sigh might be worth more than a bas­ketful of tears.

We should not ask from God the gift of tears; rather we should ask Him for repentance, over and over again. We need repentance."

From An Athonite Gerontikon

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Priest Blockades Excavation With Nuns To Complete the Divine Liturgy

April 5, 2011

Romfea.gr

A priest made an original move on ​​Sunday, 3 April 2011, by stopping the work of the City in the old center of Bucharest.

Specifically, the priest could not perform the Divine Liturgy, because the noise from the engine of the excavator was too strong.

It should be indicated that the priest asked the crew to stop until he finished the Liturgy, which they firmly rejected.

Then the priest, having no other choice, put five nuns in front of the excavator, so that the workers could not continue their work.

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My Translation of the Patriarchal Decree Against Vassula Ryden

A few days ago I received an anonymous email telling me to correct my translation of the patriarchal decree denouncing Vassula Ryden, which can be read here along with the original Greek below it. The email simply said: "Attached is a more correct translation of the announcement of The Ecumenical Patriarchate... Please post this correct one......" They thus offered me an alternative translation to post which for the most part was similar to mine though certain words were more an interpretation rather than a literal translation.

Of particular interest to this person (or people) was that I correct the two lines which I translated as "rejects from the Mother Church Vasiliki Paraskevis Pentaki" and "who henceforth are not admitted to ecclesiastical communion". Essentially they thought my translation was too strong, and that a more accurate translation would in fact deflate the intensity of the statement. Of the first they wrote in a footnote: "In the original Greek text, the word αποδοκιμάζω means disapproved, not reject." Of the second they wrote: "The Greek word κοινωνίαν does not mean Holy Communion (Eucharist), but communion in the sense of community."

Now I don't consider myself a Greek scholar in any sense, but I do know Greek good enough to be able to translate things. I do make errors and always welcome corrections. For example, after I published my translation of this decree on my blog the day after it was issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a few days later I received an email telling me that I made an error in one word in my translation. It was in the last paragraph where I translated: "We express, lastly, the profound sorrow of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the acts of nine...." The number "nine" was pointed out to me to be a mistranslation of ἐνίων, which is an ancient Greek word thrown into the text and would be better translated as "some". Glad to be corrected in my error, I made the correction.

However, the correction offered to me did not sound reasonable, especially in the context of the decree. There was obviously an agenda at play here by a sympathizer of Vassula. This is the letter with which I responded to the anonymous email:

I think your translation is more interpretation than an exact translation. For example, your translation of λαμπρόν as "glorious" is a mistranslation. "Shining" or "bright" is more accurate. Also, Ὑπό τό πνεῦμα τοῦτο is not "In this light" but rather "In this spirit". There are others, but I hope you see my point.

Your first footnote is a bit too soft compared to the literal translation. I would agree however that the word "denounced" is more accurate and will change this.

Your second footnote is a copy of my translation, where the meaning is both communal and sacramental, as one cannot be separated from the other.

I accept corrections on translations I make as I usually do them very quickly and without an editor, but my approach is to always provide literal translations (especially on official texts) rather than try to interpret the spirit of something which often leads to rewriting a text.

Thank you,

John

I received no response.

This morning I received an email from a woman named Maria Laura Pio who runs the website http://www.infovassula.ch/. She is an ex-follower of Vassula and the website is critical of her teachings and activities primarily from a Roman Catholic perspective. Maria expressed her appreciation for my translation and even had it checked by a Greek friend of hers. She further told me the following: "As was to be expected, and following the same logic used to twist the Vatican documents, Mrs Ryden's association is not only challenging the validity of the decree, but they are also internally circulating a different translation of it." This put everything in better perspective for me.

In the email was included the translation, though it was a bit different from what was sent to me. They in fact took my advice and made the text closer to a literal translation in the parts I mentioned, but they still altered the words and meaning they particularly asked me to change in the footnotes to their text.

It should be noted as well that it seems Vassula is not only denying her denouncement and excommunication, but even the validity of the decree itself. Introducing the text of their translation there is written as an introduction the following:

An announcement has appeared on the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Constantinople) regarding Vassula and True Life in God. A translation is copied at the bottom of this email.

Vassula states that the document is not signed nor does it contain the seal that it comes from the Patriarch himself. Normally the Patriarch signs it and adds his seal with his signature. Nevertheless, Vassula believes that the Patriarch will be aware of the document.

As in the case of the Notification of 1995 from the Vatican, there has been no dialogue between the Patriarchate and Vassula. Vassula invites all who read and love the True Life in God messages to write and complain to Patriarch Bartholomew at the following address:

His All Holiness Bartholomew
Archbishop of Constantinople
Rum Patrikhanesi,
342 20 Fener- Haliç
Istanbul, Turkey

The document however was in fact issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and is posted on their official website. Vassula and her followers are seeking to soften and deny this reality. The reality however is clearly written in the official document which I translated here.

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The Face of Christ Appears In A Church In Kalymnos

Last night, Sunday 3 April 2011, at 9:30 pm, in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Kalymnos, the face of Christ crowned with thorns appeared in the icon of the Virgn Mary on the iconostasis.

Metropolitan Paisios of Leros and Kalymnos was immediately notified of this and came to the church to see for himself. He told the people that God sends these signs in order to draw His people closer to Him.

Thousands of clergy and faithful have come to the church to see this miracle in the middle of Great Lent. It was originally seen by women who were in the church chanting the lamentations to the Virgin Mary. When the image appeared the oil lamp above the icon began to move, though the many others stood still.

Source 1 and 2

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The Fifth Week of Great Lent

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

In the Divine Services for the fifth week of Great Lent the Holy Church continues to call us to an active bearing of the Lenten efforts, appealing: "Through abstinence the faithful have a fortress with God, through others let us youthfully run the holy course". "In fervent faith let us burn up the lustful passions with abstinence, and flee from the icy cold of sin; with the streams of our tears let us quench the eternal flame". "Let us make our own pure fasting, tears, meditation on the divine things, and every other virtue; and let us now offer our Panagia to Christ". The general consolation is encouraging to the bearing of the Lenten effort, and the Holy Church presents us the idea that half of the effort is already accomplished and that its end, Christ's Resurrection, is near. "Having passed the middle point," hymns the Holy Church, "in this dedicated way of fasting, let us go forward joyfully to the part that still remains, anointing our souls with the oil of good deeds. So let us be worthy to venerate the divine Passion of Christ our God, to attain His dread and holy Resurrection". Together with this the Holy Church motivates her children to fervent continuation of bearing the Lenten efforts and reminds them about "the most glorious grace" "the most honorable fast, through which the prophet Elijah found the fiery chariot, and Moses received the Tablets; Daniel was magnified, and Elisha raised the dead, the Children quenched the fire, and all men are reconciled to God", and inspires us that "good fasting feeds our hearts, ripening within us thoughts pleasing to God, and causing the abyss of our passions to dry up, and with the rain of compunction it cleanses those who in faith offer praise to the Almighty", and that "the fasting of the ascetics receives their reward" from God: "Peace and illumination and the healing of our broken souls", "mercy on our souls", "a sweetness that grows not old". Such exhortations strengthening us in the ascetic efforts of fasting, the Holy Church inspires us to pray to the Lord that He grant, "The season of Lent will end peacefully". The intensification at the end of the Lenten expanse of promoting an unrelenting way of life pleasing to God, the Holy Church even during the present week continues to remind us that we have run into sin, similarly to running into robbers, and inspires us to expect mercy from the Lord. In particular Thursday and Saturday of this week are marked with special destination.

Source

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Saint Zosimas of Palestine

Righteous Zosimas of Palestine, also called Zosima, is commemorated as a saint on April 4.

Saint Zosimas was born in the second half of the fifth century, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Younger. He became a monk in a monastery in Palestine at a very young age, gaining a reputation as a great elder and ascetic. At the age of fifty-three, now a hieromonk, he moved to a very strict monastery located in the wilderness close to the Jordan River, where he spent the remainder of his life.

He is best known for his encounter with St. Mary of Egypt (commemorated on April 1). It was the custom of that monastery for all of the brethren to go out into the desert for the forty days of Great Lent, spending the time in fasting and prayer, and not returning until Palm Sunday. While wandering in the desert he met Saint Mary, who told him her life story and asked him to meet her the next year on Holy Thursday on the banks of the Jordan, in order to bring her Holy Communion. He did so, and the third year came to her again in the desert, but he found that she had died and he buried her. St Zosimas is reputed to have lived to be almost one hundred years of age.

All that we know of Zosimas' life comes from the Vita of St. Mary of Egypt, recorded by St. Sophronius, who was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 to 638. This Vita is traditionally read as a part of the Matins of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, on the fifth Thursday of Great Lent.

Apolytikion in the First Tone

Let us the faithful praise Zosimas the offspring of the wilderness, the angel in the flesh and the boast of monastics. With him, let us acclaim holy Mary of Egypt whose life transcended the limits of nature. Together, let us cry to them: Glory to him who strengthened you! Glory to him who sanctified you! Glory to him who through you works healing for all!

Kontakion in the Third Tone

Let us all praise the righteous Zosimas, the boast of monastics, and with him, Mary who in the desert lived the angelic life. Let us cry to them in faith: deliver from harm and corrupting passions, those who celebrate your radiant memory!

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Holy Martyrs Theodoulos and Agathopous

Saints Theodoulos and Agathopous (Feast Day - April 4)

Theodoulos was the younger of these two martyrs. On the other hand Agathopous was old but they both came from Thessalonica. They stood before governor Faustinus because of their faith in Christ. When they were not convinced to deny Christ but instead they stood firm on their faith, they were both thrown to the bottom of the sea and, thus, the blessed men died and received the crown of martyrdom.

Before they died, it had been revealed to them in a vision what was going to happen to them. They dreamt that they went aboard a ship and that they sailed. Then there was a tempest and the ship was torn in two. Whoever was on the ship drowned but they were the only ones who were saved from the tempest and rose up to heaven.

This vision announced what was going to happen to them later on in the sea as well as how they would rise from the sea to heaven. The same thing had enigmatically been made known to St. Theodoulos through a ring, before he was arrested to suffer martyrdom. It seemed to him that somebody put a ring on his hand. This meant that he was engaged to martyrdom (which he finally suffered).

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Bulgarian Church Canonizes Victims of Ottoman Atrocities in 1876

April 3, 2011

Novnite

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has canonized the martyrs of massacres committed against Bulgarian civilians by Ottoman irregulars and troops in the April Uprising of 1876.

Thousands of Bulgarian freedom fighters rebelled against the authorities of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in April 1876 seeking to liberate their nation and create an independent nation state.

The so called April Uprising was crushed with great violence by Ottoman forces but its coverage in the European press – facilitated primarily by American journalist working for British papers Januarius MacGahan – led to an international outrage and a humanitarian intervention in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that liberated the Bulgarian nation-state.

A total of 30,000 Bulgarians, mostly civilians including women, children, and elderly, are estimated to have been slaughtered by the Ottoman forces in April and May 1876.

Between 4000 and 5000 Bulgarians were butchered in the Batak Massacre – in the southern town of Batak – described by MacGahan in a shocking account, while some 700 were slaughtered in the region of Novo Selo, Kravenik, Batoshevo, and Apriltsi – villages in Northern Bulgaria near Lovech.

While thousands of Bulgarians were murdered by the Ottoman Turkish forces, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has canonized the victims of the Batak and Novo Selo massacres in particular as martyrs and defenders of the Christian faith as they sought refuge from the troops dispatched against them in local churches and monasteries.

In the case of the Novo Selo massacre, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church canonized in particular two monks and seven nuns from a local monastery who were tortured and murdered by the Ottoman troops.

Thus, the martyrs of the Batak Massacre will be honored by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on May 17, and the martyrs of Novo Selo – on May 9.

The canonization performed Sunday in the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia by Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim was followed by a street procession honoring the newly proclaimed saints. Patriarch Maxim consecrated specially designed icons of the martyrs authored by icon artists Miroslav Asenov and Vladimir Avramov. The icon of the Holy Martyrs of Batak will be kept to Plovdiv, north of Batak, and the icon of the Holy Martyrs of Novo Selo will be kept in the town of Apriltsi.

This is the first canonization performed by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church since 1963 and the first one ever performed by Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim since he took over in 1971.

"We accept the decision of the Holy Synod and believe that the martyrs of Batak and Novo Selo deserve to be canonized," declared Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The canonization of the martyrs of the 1876 April Uprising was also welcomed and attended by Bulgarian Parliament Chair Tsetska Tsacheva, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, and hundreds of Bulgarians including MPs.

"We are here to pay our respects to the martyrs for the faith and freedom of Bulgaria," Tsacheva declared.

Dozens of residents of the town of Batak also came to Sofia for the canonization.

Read also: Bulgarian Church Canonizes Batak Massacre Victims

On The Massacre Of The Christians In Bulgaria

By Oscar Wilde

Christ, dost thou live indeed? or are thy bones
Still straightened in their rock-hewn sepulcher?
And was thy Rising only dreamed by Her
Whose love of thee for all her sin atones?
For here the air is horrid with men's groans,
The priests who call upon thy name are slain,
Dost thou not hear the bitter wail of pain
From those whose children lie upon the stones?
Come down, O Son of God! incestuous gloom
Curtains the land, and through the starless night
Over thy Cross the Crescent moon I see!
If thou in very truth didst burst the tomb
Come down, O Son of Man! and show thy might,
Lest Mahomet be crowned instead of Thee!

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Oscar Wilde and the Greek New Testament

Oscar Wilde was sometimes called the "apostle of beauty"; he once said "the Greek text of the Gospels was the most beautiful book in the world."[1]

From a young age Wilde showed a remarkable flair for the classics. At the Portora Royal School, where he’d been sent in the autumn of 1864, just before his tenth birthday, he won the classical medal examination with his extempore translations from Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (the tragedy he loved above all others) and the Carpenter Prize for his superior performance on the examination on the Greek New Testament.

A popular anecdote says that in his viva voce examination for Divinity at Oxford, Oscar Wilde was required to translate from the Greek version of the New Testament, which was one of the set books. The passage chosen was from a very difficult passage, Acts 26, which is full of obscure nautical terms relating to St Paul's shipwreck [some say it was from the Passion of Christ]. Wilde began to translate, easily and accurately. The examiners were satisfied, and told him that this was enough. Wilde ignored them and continued to translate. After another attempt the examiners at last succeeded in stopping him, and told him that they were satisfied with his translation. "Oh, do let me go on," said Wilde, "I want to see how it ends."

His interest in the New Testament is shown by the fact that the book he put first on a list of books he requested when imprisoned was a Greek New Testament. It seems the English translation could not satisfy him, for he said: "When one returns to the Greek, it is like going into a garden of lilies out of some narrow and dark house."

1. Peter Levi, The Hill of Kronos (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1981), p.10:

"But I came late to Greece, at the age of thirty-two, in 1963. I had started to learn ancient Greek as a schoolboy, at a school where Greek was hardly taught. All I knew about Greece then was the Elgin Marbles, of which I treasured some sepia-tinted and forbidding postcards, and the fact that Oscar Wilde, who in the summer of my fourteenth birthday had just become my literary idol, said the Greek text of the Gospels was the most beautiful book in the world. So I demanded to learn Greek, and changed schools in consequence. From that time I have never ceased to study the Greek language."

For Further Interests:

Oscar Wilde and Greece

Oscar Wilde as a Classicist

Oscar Wilde's Review of Modern Greek Poetry

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An Image of Death's Relentless Approach

One of my all time favorite movies is the 1922 German Expressionist silent horror film Nosferatu, an early cinematographic take on the Dracula story that includes many haunting images. One of them is a mantelpiece clock that strikes the hours by an automated hammer-wielding skeleton. It's a classic memento mori, a reminder of death's relentless approach and a stimulus to the wisdom that comes with that knowledge. People once decorated their homes with such objects for the purpose of attuning the mind to ultimate questions that we might otherwise treat lightly.

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Saint John Climacus and the "Ladder of Divine Ascent"

By Metropolitan Philaret

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

More than once, brethren, the fact has been mentioned that on each Sunday in the Great Fast (i.e., Lent) there are other commemorations besides that of the Resurrection. Thus, on this day, the Church glorifies the righteous John of the Ladder, one of the greatest ascetics, which the Church, in speaking of them, calls "earthly angels and Heavenly men."

These great ascetics were extraordinary people. They commanded the elements; wild beasts willingly and readily obeyed them. For them, there were no maladies they could not cure. They walked on the waters as on dry land; all the elements of the world were subject to them, because they lived in God and had the power of grace to overcome the laws of terrestrial nature. One such ascetic was St. John of the Ladder.

He was surnamed "of the Ladder" (Climacus) because he wrote an immortal work, the "Ladder of Divine Ascent." In this work, we see how, by means of thirty steps, the Christian gradually ascends from below to the heights of supreme spiritual perfection. We see how one virtue leads to another, as a man rises higher and higher and finally attains to that height where there abides the crown of the virtues, which is called "Christian love."

Saint John wrote his immortal work especially for the monastics, but in the past his "Ladder" was always favorite reading in Russia for anyone zealous to live piously, though he were not a monk. Therein the Saint clearly demonstrates how a man passes from one step to the next.

Remember, Christian soul, that this ascent on high is indispensable for anyone who wishes to save his soul unto eternity.

When we throw a stone up, it ascends until the moment when the propelling force ceases to be effectual. So long as this force acts, the stone travels higher and higher in its ascent, overcoming the force of the earth’s gravity. But when this force is spent and ceases to act, then, as you know, the stone does not remain suspended in the air. Immediately, it begins to fall, and the further it falls the greater the speed of its fall. This, solely according to the physical laws of terrestrial gravity.

So it is also in the spiritual life. As a Christian gradually ascends, the force of spiritual and ascetical labours lifts him on high. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "Strive to enter in through the narrow gate." That is, the Christian ought to be an ascetic. Not only the monastic, but every Christian. He must take pains for his soul and his life. He must direct his life on the Christian path, and purge his soul of all filth and impurity.

Now, if the Christian, who is ascending upon this ladder of spiritual perfection by his struggles and ascetic labours, ceases from this work and ascetic toil, his soul will not remain in its former condition; but, like the stone, it will fall to the earth. More and more quickly will it drop until, finally, if the man does not come to his senses, it will cast him down into the very abyss of Hell.

It is necessary to remember this. People forget that the path of Christianity is indeed an ascetical labour. Last Sunday, we heard how the Lord said: "He that would come after Me, let him take up his cross, deny himself, and follow Me." The Lord said this with the greatest emphasis. Therefore, the Christian must be one who takes up his cross, and his life, likewise, must be an ascetic labour of bearing that cross. Whatever the outward circumstance of his life, be he monk or layman, it is of no consequence. In either case, if he does not force himself to mount upwards, then, of a certainty, he will fall lower and lower.

And in this regard, alas, people have confused thoughts. For example, a clergyman drops by a home during a fast. Cordially and thoughtfully, they offer him fast food (i.e., food prepared according to the rules of the Fast), and say: "For you, fast food, of course!" To this, one of our hierarchs customarily replies: "Yes, I am Orthodox. But who gave you permission not to keep the fasts?" All the fasts of the Church, all the ordinances, are mandatory for every Orthodox person. Speaking of monastics, such ascetics as St. John of the Ladder and those like him fasted much more rigorously than the Church prescribes; but this was a matter of their spiritual ardour, an instance of their personal ascetic labour. This the Church does not require of everyone, because it is not in accord with everyone’s strength. But the Church DOES require of every Orthodox the keeping of those fasts which She has established.

Oftentimes have I quoted the words of Saint Seraphim, and once again shall I mention them. Once there came to him a mother who was concerned about how she might arrange the best possible marriage for her young daughter. When she came to Saint Seraphim for advice, he said to her: "Before all else, ensure that he, whom your daughter chooses as her companion for life, keeps the fasts. If he does not, then he is not a Christian, whatever he may consider himself to be." You see how the greatest saint of the Russian Church, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, a man who, better than we, knew what Orthodoxy is, spoke concerning the fasts?

Let us remember this. Saint John Climacus has described the ladder of spiritual ascent: then let us not forget that each Christian must ascend thereon. The great ascetics ascended like swiftly-flying eagles; we scarcely ascend at all. Nonetheless, let us not forget that, unless we employ our efforts in correcting ourselves and our lives, we shall cease our ascent, and, most assuredly, we shall begin to fall. Amen.

From St. John Climacus, "The Ladder of Divine Ascent," (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), pp. xxxi - xxxiii.

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Hundreds Venerate "the Undefiled Passion" in Kilkis

April 3, 2011

Romfea.gr

"The Undefiled Passion", a unique treasure of the Holy Archangels Monastery in Aigialia, was venerated on March 30th to April 4 by hundreds of faithful in the Holy Metropolis of Polyani and Kilkisios.

The Holy Monastery of St. George on Kilkis Hill in view of the Great Feast of the Resurrection, welcomed "the Undefiled Passion" Wednesday, March 30.

"The Undefiled Passion" is composed of fragments of the True Cross, the Sponge, the Mantle, the Crown of Thorns and the Stone of the All-Holy Sepulchre of our Lord.

So, last Wednesday, Metropolitan Emmanuel with the Brotherhood of the Monastery, the clergy of the town of Kilkis, and pious people, welcomed "the Undefiled Passion" and then conducted the Service of the 9th Hour in the presence of the Regional of Central Macedonia, Panagiotis Psomiades.

There they remained until Friday, after which took place the Small Compline and the Salutations of the Theotokos, with a procession under the escort of the City Philharmonic, contingent soldiers and the Christian crowd moving the relics to the Cathedral of the Holy Transfiguration.

Today, Sunday, April 3, 2011 will be celebrated Matins and the Divine Liturgy officiated by His Eminence Emmanuel of Kilkis, and Monday, April 4 at 11 am they will depart for the Holy Archangels Monastery.

"The Undefiled Passion"

They are the treasure and pride of the Holy Archangels Monastery of Aigialia. They are a gift of Thomas and Demetrios Palaeologos to the founder of the monastery, their nephew, Saint Leontios.

In the post-byzantine box is kept large fragments of the honorable wood, thorns, mantle, and stone from the Holy Sepulchre.

The Christians of the region nourish great devotion to this great treasure of the faith, to which they take refuge when they have problems, epidemics, drought, etc., asking for the transfer of "the Undefiled Passion" to their village, and it has an immediate effect.

Read more here and here about this unique relic.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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The Erroneous Teachings We Follow

By St. Luke of Crimea

We accept only those teachings that nourish our self-love and ego and help us follow our own way, the way of sin. We fight against anything that comes in contrast with our goals, anything that rebukes the futility of our erroneous path. We fight truth because we follow the teachings that we ourselves have created or that we have heard from others; the ones that are in agreement with our desire, to live well in this temporary life.

Whatever is in agreement with our goals and the path that we have chosen we regard as true. We unquestionably accept it and project it as grounds for defending our own convictions and the mistaken teachings we follow, which do not agree with what Christ taught and for which we know deep in our heart are incorrect... May the Lord help us always follow the way of righteousness within Christ's light. Amen.

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Video: Underground Church In the Odessa Catacombs

This video is a documentary of the Odessa Catacombs, more of which can be read here. The part about the underground church begins at the 11 minute mark.

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Synaxarion For the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

FOURTH SUNDAY of LENT

On the same day, the Fourth Sunday of the Fast, we celebrate the memory of our Holy Father John, the author of The Ladder.

Verses

John, who when alive in the flesh was dead,

Liveth eternally, though he appeareth a breathless corpse.

He left a writing, in which he showeth a

Ladder of Ascent, the journey of his own ascent.

Synaxarion

This Father, at the age of sixteen, and being shrewd of mind, offered himself as a most sacred sacrifice to God, after making the ascent to Mount Sinai. He then arose after nineteen years and entered the arena of hesychasm, five semeia away from the place where Saint Kyriakos had struggled in asceticism. He took over a monastery by the name of Thola, where he spent forty years in perpetual yearning, ever ablaze with the fire of Divine love. He would eat everything that was permitted, without reproach, by the monastic profession, but in very small quantities and not to satiety, and in this way, I reckon, he very wisely broke the horn of vanity. But what mind could recount the fountain of his tears? He partook of sleep as much as was necessary to avoid damaging the fabric of his mind by keeping vigil; his way of life consisted of unceasing prayer and unimaginable longing for God. Having lived a God-pleasing life by all these accomplishments and written The Ladder, in which he set forth most beneficial teachings, he reposed worthily in the Lord at the age of eighty, in the year 603 A.D., leaving behind many other writings.

His memory is celebrated on the 30th of March; but it is also celebrated today, perhaps because in monasteries it is customary to read The Ladder from the beginning of the holy Fast.

By his intercessions, O God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

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Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone

With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundredfold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O John, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.

Kontakion in First Tone

As ever-blooming fruits, you offer the teachings of your God-given book, O wise John, most blessed, while sweetening the hearts of all them that heed it with vigilance; for it is a ladder from the earth unto Heaven that confers glory on the souls that ascend it and honor you faithfully.

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The Hymnography of the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

In the Church services for the fourth Sunday the Holy Church offers us a great example of the life of fasting in the person of the Venerable John of the Ladder, who, "having overcome the flesh through fasting" and "by the sweat of his ascetic efforts quenched the fiery arrows of the enemy" and "renewed the strength of souls " and, "ascending to the height of virtues", "received in his soul the divine wealth of the Spirit, undefiled prayer, chastity, modesty, continuous vigil", "was deified through heavenly glory", "was revealed as a physician to those sick through sin" and was the author of The Ladder of Paradise. According to the expression of the Holy Church, how the profoundly granted ascetic life of the Venerable John "gives us a pleasure sweeter than honey", and so his Ladder "brings to us the ever flowering fruits of his teaching, pleasing the heart with vigilant heeding: for souls are rising up the ladder from earth to heaven and abiding in glory". Approving fasting with the example of the Venerable John, the Holy Church offers us a new consolation in the Gospel and Epistle readings of this Sunday. In the first she shows that fasting and prayer defeats the very spiritual enemy of the salvation of man, and predicted this victory in the circumstances of suffering, the death and the resurrection of Christ; and in the second she reminds us of the inalterability of God's will for the salvation of man, in order that we have a firm hope.

Besides the hymns praising the Venerable John, during the fourth week other hymns are chanted, in which the repentant soul resembles the man, who fell into the hands of the thieves, and whom both the priest and the Levite passed by, not offering help. Testing one's conscience the Holy Church inspires the soul to turn to the Lord with prayer: He cleans off the sinful scabs.

Having concentrated in the hymns of the fourth Sunday on the diverse motives for the zealous bearing of the lenten spiritual struggle, the Holy Church at the end of the Matins service with a tender voice appeals to her children: "Come, let us work in the mystical vineyard, making fruits of repentance work in it, let us not labor for food and drink, but through prayer and fasting let us gain virtue. And the Lord of the vineyard, pleased by our labor, will provide the denarii by which He delivers souls from the debt of sins, for He alone is rich in mercy".

Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone

With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundredfold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O John, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.

Kontakion in First Tone

As ever-blooming fruits, you offer the teachings of your God-given book, O wise John, most blessed, while sweetening the hearts of all them that heed it with vigilance; for it is a ladder from the earth unto Heaven that confers glory on the souls that ascend it and honor you faithfully.

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Video: The Holy Skull of Saint Raphael In Rhodes

Metropolitan Iakovos of Mytileni arrived at the Holy Metropolis of Rhodes Friday evening April 1 with the miraculous skull of Saint Raphael the Newly-Revealed. The skull will be brought throughout various places of the island for a blessing and return to Mytileni on April 4th.

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Bulgarian Church Canonizes Batak Massacre Victims

April 2, 2011

Novinite

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church will canonize over Saturday and Sunday those massacred by Ottoman forces in Batak and Novo Selo during the 1876 April Uprising.

A memorial service will be held 18.00 Saturday at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, after which a canonization service will be held at 9.30 Sunday morning, followed by a church procession.

After that act, the victims will become saints of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

During what became infamously known as the Batak Massacre, thousands of Bulgarians, including women and children, were killed by armed Ottoman forces in the wake of the failed 1876 April Uprising that aimed at Bulgaria's liberation from the Empire.

The atrocities drew some serious attention in the West, raising an outcry, and creating some sympathy with the Bulgarian cause.

Read more: Wikipedia: Batak Massacre

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Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen: "The World Will End, But Not Now"

April 1, 2011

Interfax

The Vicar of the Astana and Alma-Ata Diocese Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen urged Orthodox believers to strengthen their faith instead of waiting for the Apocalypses.

"We can't prevent apocalyptic events - we can only save ourselves and help save those people with whom the Lord gives us a chance to communicate with, delivering them from fears, inspiring the spirit of love, peace, kindness," the Bishop said in his interview with Interfax-Religion.

He noted that the New Testament, especially the Revelation of John the Theologian, points out to signs of the end of human history that echo with current events in some countries but "we can say for sure that some prophesies of Revelation have not been completed yet."

"World history, as the Apostle John predicts, will end up with setting one universal political regimen on Earth, the Kingdom of Antichrist, and God will allow him to have power over every tribe and nation, people and race," the bishop said.

The other "important argument" proving that "we don't live in apocalyptic times" is words from Gospel according to Luke, which says that there would be few Christians in the end of human history.

"Seeing how the Russian Orthodox Church is reviving, so many people are coming to newly open churches, you start thinking - perhaps Russia hasn't said its last word in Christian history? And how intensive is spiritual life on Athos! And so many people convert to holy Orthodoxy in the West!" the interviewee of the agency said.

According to him, "the world will come to its end" and Christ says it "absolutely clearly." However, the bishop further said, "it is not an event of the natural order, but supernatural interference of the Almighty Lord in the life of the universe He created."

"Natural human history ends up with complete apostasy, expressed in the triumph of the Antichrist's global state. This triumph of evil and vice will end up with the second glorious coming of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," he said.

Talks about the coming Apocalypse have recently intensified in connection with natural calamities in Japan and instability in Arabian world.

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Silent Movie: "The Flight Into Egypt"

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Historic Monastery In Cyprus Today A Spa Resort

The Monastery of the Holy Unmercenaries (Agioi Anargyri) in Miliou of Paphos is a historic monastery. It was established in 1649 by St. Panaretos who was then Metropolitan of Paphos. It played an important role in the region in the few centuries of its existence. Even throughout the 1980's it operated as a female convent. By 2009 the Monastery was purchased and converted into a spa resort, apparently by permission of the local bishop.

The Monastery prior to becoming a spa resort.

The Monastery today as a spa-resort.

The holy water of the Monastery.

The pools of the spa resort.

The Monastery as it was a few years ago.

The cells of the monastics today.

Read more about the Monastery here.

The spa resort website can be viewed here.

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Early Christian Catacombs Among the Most Popular Sights in Rome

April 1, 2011

Catholic Online

The Early Christian catacombs are among the most popular sights in Rome. Forming an underground maze in the outskirts of the city, the catacombs provide a rare glimpse into the earliest centuries of Christianity. The catacombs are home to some of the earliest examples of Christian art.

The burial custom of most ancient Romans tended to be cremation, with ashes stored in urns. Christian belief in the physical resurrection led the early Christians to bury their dead instead. Burial requires significantly more space and the early Christians did not own much land. The catacombs became a practical and necessary, solution for burial of the faithful.

In addition, the catacombs were an ideal way to strengthen the sense of Christian community and they provided quiet, out-of-the-way places for memorial ceremonies and displaying Christian symbols.

The first large-scale Christian catacombs were excavated in the 2nd century A.D.; all located outside the city walls as Roman law forbade burial within the city limits. The catacombs were also used for memorial services and celebrations of the anniversaries of Christian martyrs.

The catacombs have often been depicted as hiding places for Christian populations during times of persecution -- but there is little evidence for this. It probably only occurred in exceptional cases during the persecutions, when the catacombs were the only safe place to celebrate the Eucharist.

After Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire in 381 A.D. and the cult of relics became an established part of Christian worship, the catacombs became a place of pilgrimage. Within centuries, the saints began to be buried in churches rather than catacombs and the faithful dead joined them in church cemeteries. By the 6th century catacombs were used only for martyrs' memorial services. The Ostrogoths, Vandals and Lombards that sacked Rome also violated the catacombs, taking whatever valuables they could find.

By the 10th century the catacombs were mostly abandoned and they remained forgotten until their discovery in 1578. Antonio Bosio spent decades exploring and researching them for his Roma Sotterranea (1632) and, two centuries later, the archeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi (1822-1894) published the first extensive professional studies about catacombs. In 1956 and 1959 more catacombs were discovered near Rome.

Some of the catacombs are open to the public and they are one of the most popular stops in Rome for tourists and pilgrims alike.

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Historic Monastery of Saint George In Cairo Begins Restoration

Marianna Kourti

March 31, 2011

Greek Reporter

The historic Monastery of Saint George in the old city of Cairo  ̶  also known as “Rotonda” of the East  ̶  has already begun renovations. Yesterday afternoon, the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, his Beatitude Theodoros II, officially received from the Patriarchate the study concerning the renovation of the Africa Christian monument by Mr. George Penelis and by Civil Engineer Mr. Gregory Penelis. During the delivery of the study, Metropolitan Alexios of Carthage, Bishop of Nitria Nikodemos, Bishop Niphon of Babylonos and Greek Ambassador in Egypt Mr. Christodoulos Lazaris were present. Referring to the project of monastery’s renovation, the Patriarch of Alexandria underlined the importance of the monument and mentioned that it was the shelter of the Holy Family in Egypt, which protected them from King Herod. It was also the place where St. George was jailed, while its architecture history started hundreds of years B.C.

Read more on the Monastery here.

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The Fourth Salutations To The Theotokos

Theotokos, O Virgin, you are the fortress for virgins and all who to you run for refuge. For the Maker of heaven and earth, O immaculate Maiden, thus constructed you. He inhabited your womb and instructed all how to address you:

Rejoice, O pillar of the virgin station.

Rejoice, O portal of man’s salvation.

Rejoice, initiator of interior renaissance.

Rejoice, administrator of God’s beneficence.

Rejoice, for you regenerated those who were shamefully conceived.

Rejoice, for you reeducated those whose intellects had been seized.

Rejoice, incapacitator of the deflowerer of sanity.

Rejoice, procreator of the Sower of chastity.

Rejoice, of ungamic union the bridal room.

Rejoice, who unite believers to the Lord as Groom.

Rejoice, O beautiful nursemaid of virgins.

Rejoice, O bridesmaid of souls that are holy.

Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.

Unsuccessful is every hymn that hastens to pay tribute to the multitude of Your tender mercies. For even if we offer You odes in number equal to the sands, O holy King, yet we do nothing worthy of what You have given us who cry to You: Alleluia.

Viewing the holy Virgin, we see a light-bearing lantern that shone upon those who were in darkness. For she lit the immaterial light, and to divine knowledge thus conducts everyone, enlightening the intellect, and honored by such acclamations:

Rejoice, the ray of the intelligible daystar.

Rejoice, the beam of the unwaning luster.

Rejoice, flash of lightning that brightly illumines souls.

Rejoice, who like thunder have stunned our enemies.

Rejoice, for you cause the rising up of the light that brightly glows.

Rejoice, for you cause the gushing up of the stream that mightily flows.

Rejoice, who illustrate the baptismal font’s image.

Rejoice, who eliminate the stain of sin’s stigma.

Rejoice, the laver washing out consciences.

Rejoice, the krater serving what gladdens hearts.

Rejoice, the fragrance of Christ’s aroma.

Rejoice, the life of mystical feasting.

Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.

Wishing to grant remission of ancient obligations, He who cancels the debts of all people came himself as a stranger and dwelt among those who were from His divine grace estranged; and tearing up the bond of sin, He hears from everyone, Alleluia.

Extolling your birthgiving with songs, we all praise you as a live temple, O Theotokos. For the Lord who encompasses all in His hand, having made His abode in your womb, sanctified you and glorified you and taught all people to cry to you:

Rejoice, O tabernacle of God the Logos.

Rejoice, O holier than the holies.

Rejoice, ark that was gilt by the Spirit.

Rejoice, life’s inexhaustible treasure.

Rejoice, exquisite diadem of kings with true beliefs.

Rejoice, reverential pride of profoundly pious priests.

Rejoice, the Church’s unshaken citadel.

Rejoice, the Empire’s fortress that never fell.

Rejoice, through whom rise trophies of victory.

Rejoice, through whom fall enemies utterly.

Rejoice, my bodily health’s restoration.

Rejoice, my soul’s everlasting salvation.

Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.

You, all-laudable Mother who gave birth to the Logos Who is holiest of all who are holy: (thrice; in a low voice by a chanter: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us.”) O accept this offering now, and from calami­ties all deliver everyone, and redeem from the future torments of hell those who cry out with zeal: Alleluia.

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