An Athonite Paschal Miracle in 1935

On the day of Pascha in 1935 the abbot of Saint Paul's Monastery [Mount Athos], Archimandrite Seraphim, and all sixty fathers of the cenobium came out into the courtyard to celebrate the Liturgy of the Resurrection.

In a joyful mood and full of enthusiasm after the "Christ is risen!" was proclaimed, the abbot said to one of the simple fathers, "Elder Thomas, go where the relics of the fathers are kept and tell them that Christ is risen."

"Let it be blessed, Geronda," he replied, and without a second thought quickly went to the crypt where the bones were kept.

"Fathers, I was sent by the abbot to say to you 'Christ is risen!'" he cried out in a loud voice.

Then something awesome happened. The bones creaked and jumped. One skull rose up a metre high and answered Father Thomas' proclamation:

"Indeed He is risen!"

There was dead silence after that. The elder rushed back to tell all that he had seen and heard. For the fathers of the monastery that was truly a unique Pascha, and praising the risen Lord and Master of life, they chanted with joy:

"Angels are praising your Resurrection in heaven, O Lord! Make us who live on earth to praise you with cleansed hearts!"

The ever memorable elder Theodosios, the monastery's late librarian, would often tell the story of this event.

From the Athonite Gerontikon.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Divorce and Selfish Egotism

St. Paul says in Ephesians 4:26:

"The sun should not go down on your anger, and you should not give room to the devil."

----------

Elder Paisios on Divorce:

- Why, Elder, are couples divorcing?

- People divorce, my child, because they are selfish and egotistical; from nothing else. Any other reason comes from the Evil One in order to justify oneself.

----------

Monk Moses the Athonite on Marriage:

Marriage is an arena for exercising humility, mutual leeway and mutual respect, and not the parallel journey of two egotisms despite a lifelong coupling and coexistence. The devil dances for joy whenever there is no forgiveness in human weaknesses and in everyday mistakes.

----------

Elder Dionysios the Athonite on Divorce:

Many families suffer because there is selfish egotism within, which stifles love and throws it away! Couples do not practice patience. The husband does not honor the wife, nor the wife the husband, and they suffer and torture themselves and make their children unhappy. But he/she that you took [in marriage], are they not from the Church? Why do you constantly forget this?

Why? Because they reach the point of divorce. This is the worst. What can I say? People with two and three and four kids dissolve the great Mystery of Marriage. My, my, my! Fearful, fearful! What pain in those poor children, what sorrow, what grief! ... We ensure them with a dark life. Be careful! A mother is one thing, but a second wife or relatives to help them is another. Within each family there must be a Divine Liturgy, since it is a "house church". How can you father, how can you mother, ruin this Mystery? As good and beautiful is another woman, as good and beautiful is another man, she is the wife the Church gave you, he is the husband God gave you in "glory and honor". Forget about everything else. We must have patience. That is our cross. Patience! Ah, Satan constantly works.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Saint Neophytos the Recluse of Cyprus (+ 1219)

St. Neophytos of Cyprus (Feast Day - April 12 and September 28)

By Father Panagiotes Carras

St. Neophytos was born in the year 1134 of pious Orthodox parents who had eight children. His parents, Athanasios and Evdoxia, strove to impart to their children a love for our Lord. Evdoxia upon the death of her husband entered a convent. The family was extremely poor and the Saint had to till the fields with his father and was not able to attend school even for one day. When Saint Neophytos became eighteen years old, his parents, according to the custom of the time, undertook to arrange a marriage for him.

The blessed one, even at that young age, had come to understand the vanity of this world and his soul desired to give itself completely to our Saviour. He secretly departed from his paternal home and sought to find a monastery where his parents would not find him. He reached Mount Koutsoventes where he found a monastery dedicated to Saint John Chrysostom. When the Saint arrived at the monastery, the Fathers were in church and so Saint Neophytos entered. The Fathers were reading the first verse of the Book of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth". These words filled the Saint’s soul with a joy that he had never felt before. In his heart there was kindled the love of the knowledge of the Mysteries of God. He asked God to give him the Grace to understand the words of the Divine Books, for as we said earlier, he was illiterate.

The Holy Neophytos struggled devoutly in the monastery. He was obedient to the rule that he was given and supplemented it with trying to teach himself to read the Service Books of the Church. Cyprus, however, does not cover a great expanse and his parents soon discovered where he was concealed. His parents pleaded with him for many hours to return to their home and Neophytos as an obedient son agreed to follow them. Upon returning he immediately began to speak to them of his fervent desire to follow the angelic life. He appealed to them to grant him their blessing and when his parents saw the fervour of his faith, they acceded to his request. Once again he set out for the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom.

On arriving, he sought out the abbot and begged him to put upon him the holy Schema of the monks. Wherefore, the righteous one was tonsured and was clothed in monastic garments. As soon as the service was completed the blessed one began to weep with joy and to kiss his new robes, all the while fervently praying that the Lord would give him the Grace to keep his garment pure. Saint Neophytos describes the joy that he felt at that moment in the following words: "Never has anyone been so captivated by their wedding clothing as much as I have by the wearing of the monastic garment."

In the monastery, the Saint was given the obedience to work in the vineyards. He remained in this service for five years, praying and studying the word of God night and day. Although unlettered, through the Grace of God he was soon not only able to read, but could recite by heart the Psalms of Prophet David. Here we see a great wonder. We know that Saint Neophytos had never attended a school even for one day and yet our Lord gave him such understanding that his writings can be compared with the works of the great Fathers of the Church. It is estimated that he was the author of many works totaling as much as five thousand pages. Currently scholars at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland are preparing to publish the surviving writings of Saint Neophytos. They expect that the publication will contain about one thousand pages. This great Father wrote interpretations to the Psalms, Song of Songs and the Six-day Creation. Included in his works are many Homilies, Hymns and Odes along with many letters written to the faithful. This is an accomplishment which can only be brought about by the Grace of God.

There are many events in the Saints life that witness to the fact that his gift was God-sent. On one occasion the righteous one was visited by a priest who had a great veneration for Saint Diomedes and requested that the Saint compose a homily on Saint Diomedes so that those who would hear it would be encouraged to emulate the Saint. The man of God, however, did not heed the priest’s request. Earlier he had decided not to write any more because some people inspired by Satan were scandalized by the abundance of the Saints writings. The priest would not leave the site of the cave. After twenty-four hours, Saint Neophytos, not wishing to be unbending, acceded to the priest’s pleas. That very night, Saint Diomedes appeared to the great ascetic and asked him to put his life in writing. When Saint Neophytos awoke he realized that this day was the feast day of Saint Diomedes.

After working obediently in the monastery’s vineyard for five years, he was given a blessing by the abbot to become the monastery’s ecclesiarch in which capacity he served for two years. At this time he asked for a blessing to become a hermit, but the abbot would not give this blessing. Obediently he continued in his position as ecclesiarch and then a year later the abbot approached him and told him that he was free to go and become a desert dweller. His desire was to go to the Holy Lands to live as an ascetic under the guidance of a desert father. Upon reaching the Holy Land he venerated all the holy places around Jerusalem. He then set forth northwards to the mountains of Magdala, Tabor and Jordan. During his six-month stay in the Holy Lands he sought out every cave and crevice in search of one to whom he could place himself under obedience. The fathers of the Palestinian deserts, however, had been driven away by the incursions of the Arabs and later by those of the Crusaders. In vain did the righteous one search for a spiritual guide. One day as he was asking for Gods direction our Lord appeared to him and spoke to him in the following words: "Not in this desert but go to another place where the king will descend and grant you a morsel."

Saint Neophytos returned to the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom until he could determine to which desert our Lord was directing him. He learned that many desert fathers had fled from Palestine and Egypt to Mount Latros in Asia Minor. Once more with the blessing of the abbot he set out in search of the desert which his soul longed for. The Lord God in His wisdom and out of love for the Orthodox people of Cyprus did not allow the blessed one to leave the Island. When the Saint reached the port city of Paphos, he was arrested by the guards of that city who suspected that he was a fugitive. He was bound and cast into prison where he remained for a sufficient length of time. Certain Christians of the city learned of his situation and arranged for his release. Seeing this as a sign from God, he determined not to leave Cyprus.

Not having any particular place in mind he left the city and directed himself toward the highlands. North of Paphos, high on a mountain, he found a desert place with a steep precipice. On closer examination he was able to discern a small cave and immediately the Saint knew that this was the desert which the Lord selected for him. This cave was found on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, June 24th, 1159. He began cleaning and leveling it out, using his own hands or stakes that he found nearby. The site was extremely rugged and it took him about fifteen months to complete his task. On the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross [September 14th] his cave was ready. He dedicated it to the Feast not only because on that day his labours ceased, but more so in order to have the Cross of our Lord always before him. For the Saint, a monk had to be above all a Cross-bearer. He had a great love for the Holy Cross and this can be seen in the many hymns he wrote glorifying the Precious Cross.

Along with preparing a place to sit and lie down he also prepared his tomb inside the cave. Once the tomb was completed he inscribed underneath it the following: "You will gain no more than this, even if you should acquire the whole world." Truly the King descended here and granted His Saint much Grace. One may imagine the suffering and hard­ships of the flesh that Saint Neophytos must have endured in that desert place. These the man of God countered with readings from the Holy Fathers, prayers, prostrations, vigils and standing all night with his hands extended towards our Heavenly Father begging for a morsel of His Grace. Here he would remember that Paradise was lost because of sin and that man was a prince who had lost his inheritance. He would weep and lament for hours, pleading to regain Divine Sonship. He was no longer the Kings son but a stranger in a strange land, a captive in a foreign land. How could he not weep?

Within this cave he vowed to enclose himself giving it the name Enkleistra or Enclosure. He confined himself to physical darkness so that he may receive the Heavenly and Uncreated Light of the Most Holy Trinity. In a vision our Lord revealed to the Saint the time of his departure from this life. Our Lord first told him that he would be taken up to worship the Heavenly Cross in fifty years and then said that it would take place in sixty years. This extension was given so that Saint Neophytos would be able to make the faith of the Cypriot people firmer. The holy one then increased his ascetic struggles vowing not to eat cooked food and to wear chains on his body. Later he com­manded his disciples to bury him with these chains.

His fame spread everywhere and many flocked to him for his prayers and blessing. Those who loved this God-loving man came nearly every day and besought him fervently to become his disciples. After much pleading he consented to accept a few disciples, later commanding that his monastery never exceed eighteen fathers. The holy one avoided the esteem of men, but the all-merciful God, Who cares for the salvation of our souls, ordained that the Saint’s Grace become known to all. In a divine vision Basil, the Bishop of Paphos, was commanded by our Lord to ordain His Saint to the Priesthood. For four years the bishop, who had great love and veneration for Saint Neophytos, pleaded with him to accept ordination from his hands. Finally, in obedience the man of God received the Grace of the Priesthood. He was thirty-six years of age when through Gods Providence he entered the final stage of preparation which would make him the spiritual father of all Cyprus when the Latin cloud would descend upon it.

Every day during the Divine Liturgy he would receive the Sacred Mysteries which would restore the lost sonship. With his few disciples he started the construction of a monastery not too far from his cave. For thirteen years they worked unceasingly to build this future spiritual centre of Cyprus, as if the man of God knew what the Lord had ordained for him. The people of Cyprus were about to go through great temptations, but the Lord would provide them with the means to withstand. The funds for the construction of the monastery were provided by the Emperor of Constantinople himself and many other Byzantine nobles, as a Patriarchal document which survives to this day attests to.

The Saint called the fathers of the monastery the Enkleistoi or the Enclosed Ones. He diligently instructed them not only in the ways of ascetic struggle but also gave much attention to teaching them the Orthodox Faith. Not only did he insure that the monastery had as many writings of the great Fathers as possible, but he zealously endeavoured to acquire the Holy Relics of many Saints for the fathers to venerate and from which they would receive enlightenment.

The monastery was filled with many Holy Icons. Especially noteworthy are the frescoes depicting scenes from the Holy Gospels. It is at this point where we notice how concerned Saint Neophytos was to lead not only his monks but all Christ-loving people closer to our Lord. We observe that the Saint commanded the iconographer to include him in many of the icons. In the icon of the Mystical Supper he places himself next to Judas, in the Washing of the Disciples feet, near Saint Peter, and in the Descent from the Cross he puts himself in the place of Saint Joseph of Arimathea. This was done to set an example of how we should fervently desire to be inseparably united to our Lord.

On May 6th 1191, Richard the Lion-Heart invaded and captured Cyprus on his way to Jerusalem to take part in the Third Crusade. From this day on the people of Cyprus were ruled by non-Orthodox foreigners until 1958. Richard the Lion-Heart sold Cyprus to the monastic order of the Knights Templars, who in turn sold it to the deposed King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, in 1192. The Franks introduced the Feudal system and all Cypriots became serfs. The Orthodox Church was persecuted and all educated people and most bishops were forced to leave. Using similar methods in Southern Italy and in Sicily, the Papacy forced the people to become Roman Catholics.

Saint Neophytos, at fifty-eight years of age, was called on by God to undertake a new struggle as the spiritual guide of all Cyprus. In 1196, under the direction of Pope Celestine III, a Latin Metropolitan along with suffragan bishops were given the spiritual leadership of the people of Cyprus. This was the Papal policy in all the conquered lands where there were Orthodox. Saint Neophytos led the resistance against the latinization of Cyprus without going against his vow to remain in his cave. When it was necessary, he would write general epistles which were sent to the various parishes throughout Cyprus. On Sunday or a Feast day the priest would read the epistle to the people who had come to partake in the Divine Liturgy. The Orthodox Christians would heed the words of the Saint just as if they were coming directly from the mouth of God. The righteous one would instruct the faithful in all the matters that were needed for one to remain in the Faith. His letters would include admonitions against laxity regarding the holy fasts, the significance of the Great Feasts, and exhortations to stand firm in the current struggle against the Latins. On occasion he would also stipulate that an epitimion (penance) should be given for violating the Holy Canons. In one letter when he referred to the Crusaders coming to save Jerusalem, he wrote that it is similar to the wolves coming to chase away the dogs. In another letter he wrote: "Our country now is no better than that of a raging sea, under a great storm and tempest. Nay it is worse than a wild sea. For a calm succeeds the wildness of the sea, but here day by day the tempest increases and its fury knows no end."

Saint Neophytos observed that the growing numbers of the faithful and those who desired to attend to his teaching were depriving him of his cherished solitude. He decided that after forty years in his beloved cave of the Holy Cross he would have to leave and go higher up on the precipice. Placing a ladder on the ledge outside his cave he stood on top of the ladder and excavated a small opening which with time he enlarged so that it would become his new place of habitation. Once the new cave was complete he wished to make a ledge upon which he could walk. As the ledge was nearing completion, Satan, the hater of good, caused a boulder to dislodge and, as it rolled, it took with it the man of God. The Lord, however, wished to glorify His Saint even more and just as the Saint was about to roll off the ledge and fall to his death, the boulder was held back by the hand of God. Underneath the boulder the Saints right hand and part of his robe were caught whereas the rest of him was already over the ledge. The Fathers who were watching helplessly from down below glorified God for His mercy and rushed to dislodge the Saint from the boulder.

This new cave was named New Zion. There, he accustomed himself to living in total silence not even attending the Divine Services except on the Lords Day, on which day he would also instruct his disciples. At other times he would listen to the Divine Services and prayers of the fathers through a hole which was his only contact with the cave below. The Saint struggled in this way for a long time. He foreknew the day of his departure from this world, which he did not hide from his disciples; rather he summoned them and instructed them both verbally and in writing on how they were to continue after his departure. He also ordered that, after the funeral service, they bury him in the tomb which he had prepared and that it should be walled up and an icon painted on the wall because he wished his tomb to remain unknown. He also expressed his desire to be buried in the burial garments which he himself had prepared and with the chains which he always wore. He bade them live in peace and harmony and in a God-pleasing manner to obey the abbot they would elect. After he uttered these things, he prayed for them, gave them his blessing, and gave up his blessed soul into the hands of God.

The man of God reposed on April 12th, 1219 after having given the people of Cyprus the guidance which would assist them in resisting the efforts of the Papists to separate them from the Kingdom of Heaven. He had become a spring of living water that did not dry up after his departure from this world. The sixty years of his struggle in the Enkleistra, just as the Lord had foretold him, had come to an end. The Grace that flowed from that holy cave, however, would not cease. His presence was something the people of Cyprus always felt although for hundreds of years no one knew where his Holy Relic was.

Through the Grace of God its presence was revealed in the following manner. On September 27th, 1750, a certain monk who had thought that he found a hollow space in the wall of the Enkleistra was overcome by temptation and imagined that there was a treasure to be found behind the wall. That night he waited for the fathers to sleep and he went to the Cave of the Holy Cross with a pickaxe and made an opening in the wall. He was then struck down by a Divine hand. When he came to himself, he ran to the abbot to confess his sin. The abbot, realizing the true nature of the treasure that was found, summoned the other fathers and lifted the marble cover and immediately the cave was filled with indescribable fragrance. Since then the 28th of September is also kept as a feast day by our Holy Church.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Video: More On the Miracle In Kalymnos

Kosmos television interviewed witnesses of the miraculous appearance of the face of Christ in Holy Trinity Church of Kalymnos yesterday, 11 April 2011, in the video below.

kalimnos agia triada from NewsKosmos.com on Vimeo.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Muslim Donates Free Fish To Orthodox Church In Rhodes

The Church of Saint Panteleimon in Rhodes annually gives fish out for free to the people before Palm Sunday, a fasting day in which fish is allowed by Orthodox Christians.

Yesterday, 11 April 2011, one ton of fish was distributed for the feast. Since last year four tons was distributed, they will attempt for another catch sometime this week.

The parish priest of St. Panteleimon Church in the interview below for Kosmos television said that the church is there to help the people for 365 days of the year, and thanked the fisherman, a Muslim man, who for the past four years has donated these fish to the parish of St. Panteleimon in anticipation of Palm Sunday.

psaria palia poli from NewsKosmos.com on Vimeo.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

We Have No Lasting City On Earth

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"For here, we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14).

Brethren, where are the great cities of Babylon and Nineveh? Today, only lizards lay in the dust of their towers. Memphis and Thebes, were they not the pride of the pharaohs and the princes of mankind? Today, it is difficult to establish the exact place where these two cities were located.

However, let us leave these cities of stones and bricks. Let us look at the cities of blood, flesh and bones. Men fashion the city of their bodies more slowly and more painstakingly than they fashion fortresses and cathedrals. Men spend about eighty to a hundred years to fashion the cities of their bodies and, in the end, see that their effort is in vain. That which took them decades to fashion with care and constant fear, collapses into the dust of the grave in the twinkling of an eye. Whose bodily city is not toppled over and turned into dust? No ones.

But, let us leave the cities of the body. Let us look at the cities of fortune which men have built from generation to generation. The materials of which these cities were built are: good times, pleasure, property, authority, honor and glory. Where are these cities? As a cob web they spin around man in an instant and as a cob web they break and vanish, making the fortunate more unfortunate than the unfortunate.

Truly, we have no city here that will remain.

This is why we seek the city which is to come. This is the city built of Spirit, Life and Truth. This is the city whose one and only architect is the Lord Jesus Christ. This city is called the Kingdom of Heaven, Eternal Life, the dwelling place of the angels, the haven of saints and refuge of martyrs. In this city, there is no dualism of either good or evil but, everything is a harmony of good. Everything that is built in this city is built to last forever. Every brick in this city remains without end and termination. The bricks are living angels and men. In this city the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne and reigns.

O Resurrected Lord, redeem us from beneath the ruins of time and lead us mercifully into Your eternal city of Heaven. Amen.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Church of Greece Paid 100 Million Euros In Charity For 2010

April 13, 2011

Romfea.gr

Today, Tuesday 12 April 2011, the first meeting for the month of April by the Standing Holy Synod of Greece was held, under the presidency of the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Mr. Ieronymos.

At today's meeting:

The Standing Holy Synod was briefed by the Synodal Commission for Social Welfare and Benefaction that in 2010 it spent more than ninety-six million euro (96,234,510.47 ₠) for the maintenance and operation of institutions for charitable and social purposes.

The Church has a huge social and charitable work that alleviates the suffering and underprivileged of the Greek people, which it undertakes with seven hundred (700) institutions around the Archdiocese of Athens and the Holy Metropolis'.

As examples, in recent years the Church has spent:

- For 2004 the amount of 62,862,240.10 ₠

- For the year 2006 the amount of 90,723,926.13 ₠

- For the year 2007 the amount of 92,605,900 ₠

- For the year 2008 the amount of 92,605,900.75 ₠ and

- For the year 2009 the amount of 92,023,217.75 ₠

Moreover, for the year 2010 the Holy Synod of Greece paid a sum of approximately 600,000 ₠ in Scholarships for a total of 100 Greek students studying abroad and foreign students studying in Greek Universities, and this covers health care in all cases for the students to take the student insurance card from the school.

Continuing the program of subsidy for those with a third child in Thrace, the Church paid for the year 2010 the total amount of 1,086,276 ₠ to 917 families.

In summary, the Church in charity work generally spent in the year 2010 the amount of 100,000,000 ₠.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Muslims Who Venerate Saint George

William Gourlay

April 12, 2011

Eureka Street

On an island known to the Greeks as Prinkipo, Ayshe Özakcam spends six months of the year attending a small stall beside a steep cobbled path. She sells home-grown plums, and apples, which she peels and quarters deftly with a sharp knife, to pilgrims passing en route to the Orthodox Church of Ayios Giorgios (St George) on the summit of the island.

What is intriguing about this is not that Ayshe ekes out a living by selling apples, or that she sits all day in the full glare of the Mediterranean sun, but that she is a Muslim, that the island is off the coast of Istanbul, the great Turkish metropolis, and that the majority of visitors to the Orthodox church are in fact Ayshe's fellow Turks.

Ayshe sees nothing remarkable in this. She doesn't appear to dwell on the faith or motivations of those puffing past her up the hill. When I ask her who the most common visitors are here she can't answer definitively. 'Greek, Turks,' she shrugs. 'Everybody!'

On the day of my visit, in late summer, she may not be far wrong. On the island (called Büyükada by the Turks), I encounter well-healed Istanbul locals, Turkish matriarchs in headscarves and dour gabardines, a black-garbed Greek widow, and a gaggle of Iranian tourists who offer around pistachios.

But the busiest day of the year is St George's Day, April 23, when Turks come by the thousands, taking advantage of the fact that the date coincides with a national public holiday, Independence Day. Crowding onto ferries in Istanbul, they arrive on Büyükada early in the morning, Muslim pilgrims en route to a Greek Orthodox church to ask favours of St George.

'The path to the monastery is packed with bodies,' recalls long-term Turkish resident and journalist Pat Yale of her visit on St George's Day last year. A festive air reigns. At the base of the hill pilgrims buy charms and trinkets designated for whatever they may be praying for: health, love, marriage, children. 'People unspool cotton along the lower slopes,' says Pat, 'and some hand out cubes of sugar.'

These are Muslim customs; cotton threads in white, red or green signify wishes for peace, love or money; the sharing of sugar and sweets is characteristic of Turkish hospitality and communal gaiety.

At the top of the hill pilgrims bustle forward to be allowed into the church in small groups where, with hands upturned in an attitude of prayer, they pass slowly before Greek icons and place handwritten entreaties to St George in a wish box. Outside again they form an orderly queue to be blessed by an Orthodox priest and then proceed on their way.

But aren't the Greeks and Turks mortal enemies? Isn't their mutual antagonism prima facie evidence of the 'clash of civilisations', the incompatibility of Muslim and Christian cultures? On the face of this, perhaps not. No one is sure when the Muslim practice of venerating St George began, but it is well documented.

In the early 1900s, Edith Durham encountered Albanian Sufis who observed St George's feast day. In his much-lauded travelogue, From the Holy Mountain, William Dalrymple tells of Palestinian Muslims crowding into a musty Church of St George near Jerusalem. These are just a few of countless instances of Muslim-Christian symbiosis throughout the Balkans and the Levant.

After enjoying one of Ayshe's tart apples, I continue up the path towards the church, enjoying sweeping views of the Sea of Marmara and the Asian and European shores of Istanbul. Along the route, remnant cotton threads linger on the trunks of scrubby oak and pine trees, and votive rags flutter from the branches of wild olives.

The church itself is not of architectural note, but it too offers panoramic views. Nearby the Turks have, perhaps inevitably, built a teahouse and restaurant. The site seems quintessentially Mediterranean to me, combining the Greek genius for building places of worship in remote locales with the Turkish predilection for tea and other such sedate pleasures in picturesque landscapes.

A Turkish teahouse abutting a Greek church, and Muslim pilgrims receiving blessing from Orthodox priests strike me as powerful evidence that civilisations do not inevitably clash, that where faiths meet the result need not be a tussle whereby one must cancel the other out. Through long interaction and mutual respect, cultures can fuse and meld, adopting and adapting from each other.

St George, the 'warrior saint', may be puzzled by all of this. Known for smiting the dragon he offered inspiration to belligerent Crusaders, but for countless years on Büyükada he has brought members of different faiths together. On April 23rd, as at many times during the year, their prayers in different languages will again intermingle and rise heavenwards.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Sixth Week of Great Lent

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

Being disclosed in a Canon of the 5th week, the Gospel parable about the rich man and Lazarus serves as the subject of hymns also in the 6th week. The Holy Church calls us "to run from the cruelty and hatred of mankind of the rich man and to emulate the fortitude and longsuffering of Lazarus" and to beg the Lord that, "Having grown poor through the pleasures of this life, He make us rich in virtues", and deliver us "from the torment of Gehenna" and "that we may enjoy rest in the bosom of the Patriarch Abraham". Continuing also in this week, as well as in the previous one to call us to spiritual efforts of piety, the Holy Church appeals to us:

"Come, brethren, and before the end with pure hearts let us all draw near to the compassionate God. Casting aside the cares of this life, let us take thought for our souls. Through abstinence let us reject with loathing the pleasures of food, and let us busy ourselves with acts of virtue."

"Through abstinence let us destroy the passions and through godlike actions let us bring to life the spirit."

"Let us fast, pouring out streams of tears from our soul, that we may be granted mercy".

Together with this the Holy Church, "having begun the sixth week", invites all of us: "Let us sing to Christ a hymn in preparation for the Feast of Palms who comes" "to raise Lazarus from the tomb" and "who comes seated on the foal of an ass".

According to this, the 6th week is called "the threshold of the lifegiving of Lazarus", but mainly is the Week of Palms", "the Flowery" or "Flower bearing". In its Forefeast hymns the Holy Church sings:

"Rejoice, O Bethany, home of Lazarus: for Christ comes to you and shall perform a mighty work, bringing Lazarus to life."

"O faithful let us follow Martha and Mary, let us send to the Lord divine acts as prayers, that He may come to raise up from the dead our mind, which lies dead in the tomb of insensible laziness, lacking all feeling of the fear of God, and now having no vital energy, crying out: O Lord, by Your dread authority You has raised up Your friend Lazarus of old, O Compassionate One, so now enliven all of us, granting us Your great mercy".

"The Lord comes seated, as is written, upon a foal. O people, prepare to receive in fear the King of all, and to welcome Him with palms as Victor over death, who raised Lazarus from Hades."

"Having enlightened and cleansed our souls by fasting, let us go to meet Christ, who comes into Jerusalem in the flesh."

"With the Children let us also meet Christ our God, bringing works of mercy instead of palms, and fervent prayer instead of branches singing Hosanna: bless, and exalt Him forever."

"Come let us prepare for meeting the Lord, carrying branches of virtue to Him. So shall we receive Him in our souls as in the city of Jerusalem, worshipping and singing to Him".

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Video: Report On the Miracle of Kalymnos

From the video here provided by Truth FM on April 7th, the miracle of the appearance of the face of Christ continues at Holy Trinity Church in Kalymnos.

One sees the continuous swinging of the hanging vigil lamp. Interviews from witnesses follow (in Greek).

The second video below is from April 4th.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Relics of Saint Antipas, the Martyr of Revelation 2:13

In 610 A.D. the future Roman Emperor Heraclius had the beheaded body of Emperor Phocas burned in a brazen ox. This brazen ox was the same one used to slowly burn alive Saint Antipas the Martyr (April 11), whom the Lord speaks of in Revelation 2:13. More can be read about Saint Antipas here.

Saint Antipas was sentenced to be burned alive in the brazen ox at the age of 83. This ox had been donated by King Attalus of Pergamum (241-197 BC) on the Acropolis of the city of Pergamum as a trophy of victory against the Gauls. It was transferred by the Romans to the Egyptian temple of Serapis in Pergamon, who honored the ox as a sacred animal. The body of St. Antipas also was buried outside the city where later a small church was built in his honor. Emperor Theodosius brought the ox and relics to Constantinople.

Today the relics of St. Antipas can be found in many places. A portion of his skull is in Patmos, Dionysiou Monastery at Mount Athos has his right arm, and his jaw is at Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos. More relics can be found in places such as the Phanar in Constantinople and the Metropolis Cathedral of Mytileni.

It should be noted that the relics of St. Antipas are myrrh-flowing.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Erdogan Saved the Future of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

April 11, 2011

Today's Zaman

The spokesperson of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Father Dositheos Anagnostopulos, has said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saved the future of the patriarchate by offering Turkish citizenship to a number of archbishops in 2009.

In an interview with the Star daily, Anagnostopulos said there were 12 archbishops on the patriarchate's Spiritual Board at the time. “Most of [those archbishops] are very old. In order to become a member of this board, one has to be a Turkish citizen. If the patriarch dies one day, it seemed unlikely that a new patriarch would be elected from the board [due to the members' age]. This danger has now passed. The prime minister attended a luncheon on Büyükada in August 2009 … and said the problem with the Spiritual Board will be overcome if archbishops applied to become Turkish citizens. He assured us that applicants would be granted citizenship,” the spokesperson stated.

Anagnostopulos defined the prime minister's remarks as the “most positive moment in his lifetime.” “After the prime minister's call, 27 of 35 archbishops abroad submitted applications to become Turkish citizens. Thirteen of them have already been granted citizenship,” he added. In 2010, CNN International ran a story on the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in which it suggested that Patriarch Bartholomew could ultimately be the last patriarch if Turkish laws, demographics and attitudes do not change. According to Anagnostopulos, however, this is no longer the case, thanks to Erdoğan.

The spokesperson also said Erdoğan and Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınc were the first state authorities to express their wish to reopen a closed Greek Orthodox seminary on Heybeliada, off the coast of Istanbul. The Halki Seminary was closed in 1971 in accordance with a law that put religious and military training under state control.

In addition, Anagnostopulos said the Halki Seminary is of high importance for the Greek Orthodox population as it was once a base where clerics were trained for the religious community.

“An argument has been put forward by some people in Turkey. They say the Greek Orthodox population comprises only 2,500 people, and we needn’t train clerics for so few people. They say we may ‘import’ clerics from abroad. However, they should know that the Greek Orthodox patriarch is the most senior among Orthodox churches in the world. This is why he was granted the ecumenical title. We also have followers outside of Istanbul, including in North and South America and some parts of Europe, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Their priests and archbishops are appointed by our patriarch. And for their appointment, it is a must for candidates to have graduated from a seminary,” he stated.

Anagnostopulos also said the re-opening of the Halki Seminary would not run contrary to the Treaty of Lausanne. He also ruled out fears that the “Byzantine spirit” would be revived if the seminary is re-opened.

“Some fear that it will go against the principles of the Republic of Turkey if the patriarchate is a very strong institution. This is wrong. The Republic of Turkey has a secular character. Every religious group has the right to continue its activities provided they are not engaged in politics. It is now a fact that the closing down of the Halki Seminary was not legal. I personally believe that the seminary was used as a trump card in the Cyprus issue and was eventually shut down,” he noted.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

There Is No Rest On Earth For Those Desiring Salvation

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"There can be no rest for those on earth who desire to be saved," says St. Ephrem the Syrian. The struggle is unceasing be it either external or internal. The adversary acts visibly at times through men and other things, and at other times invisibly through thoughts. At times, the adversary appears openly and behaves brutally and cruelly like an enemy and, at other times, under the guise of a flattering friend he seduces by shrewdness. That which occurs in battle between two opposing armies also occurs to every man individually in battle with the passions of this world. Truly, "there can be no rest for those on earth who desire to be saved." When salvation comes, rest also comes.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Authenticity of the Lead Codices: Scholars Disagree

According to a growing number of scholars, scores of lead codices revealed to the public last month as possibly the earliest Christian writings may be nothing more than modern forgeries. The latest and most vocal doubts have come from Dr. Peter Thonemann, a specialist in ancient Greek at Wadham College in Oxford, who was sent pictures of the codices by their most ardent defender, archaeologist and Biblical scholar David Elkington.

After reviewing the images of the codices, Thonemann is very suspicious and believes the credit-card sized books were probably made within the past 50 years. “The image they are saying is Christ is the sun god Helios from a coin that came from the island of Rhodes,” said Thonemann. “There are also some nonsense inscriptions in Hebrew and Greek.” The Israel Antiquities Authority, among others, had earlier voiced its concern that the books contained “a mixture of incompatible periods and styles without any connection or logic.”

Archaeologist and biblical scholar, David Elkington believes, however that the 70 lead and copper books, or codices, found in Jordan could be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.

Mr Elkington hit back at Dr Thonemann yesterday: “He’s not a biblical scholar, he’s a Greek classicist. Dismissing the provenance of the books on the basis of two low resolution photographs by e-mail is out of order. We welcome healthy debate but it is not very helpful for anybody to dismiss it on such little evidence.”

Read more here.

Dozens of photos are now online here.

Jim Davila provides a concise and compelling summary of the case against the authenticity of the lead codices here.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Yuri Gagarin and Sergei Korolev Were Orthodox Christians

April 11, 2011

Interfax

Hegumen Job (Talats), the patriarchial metochion's rector of Transfiguration Church in Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City), gave evidence that neither Yuri Gagarin, nor Sergei Korolev were atheists.

"Yuri Gagarin baptized his elder daughter Yelena shortly before his space flight; and his family used to celebrate Christmas and Easter and keep icons in the house," Father Job said in an interview to the April issue of Vima magazine.

He also recalled that Gagarin urged the authorities to reconstruct Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

"Sergei Korolev lost faith for some time but eventually regained it through suffering and temptations. Of course, he could not make it public but he used to pray and confess. Now I am trying to find out who was his confessor," Father Job said.

As a child, Father Job was dreaming of becoming a cosmonaut. Even as a priest, he completed a series of cosmonaut training to better understand these people. He sees the Russian cosmonaut teams off to Baikonur and meets the crews returning from space.

In his monastery (Father Job is a monk at the Trinity Laura of St. Sergius), he has a telescope, binoculars and many books on astronomy.

According to Father Job, sins are preventing people from further outer space exploration.

"I was once asked, 'Father Job, why do we fail to move further on in space?' I answered, "We have already damaged the Earth; so do you want to damage the whole Universe? Look what's going on around here - robbery, murders, violence, deception, and we shall carry our wickedness further out. Therefore, God does not let us move on. While we are in the process of moral growth, we shall not go far away from the Earth," the priest said.

Read also:

The Confessor of the Astronauts

Church Asks Gagarin's Daughter To Allow Services in Kremlin Church of St. John of the Ladder Whose Feast Day Coincides With Cosmonautics Day

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Serbian Orthodox Nuns Learn Language of Albanian Muslims

Ismet Hajdari

April 11, 2011

AFP

A Serb Orthodox monastery in religiously polarised Kosovo is breaking stereotypes by making its nuns learn Albanian so they can talk to Muslim villagers who come to pray at a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Muslims from all over Kosovo flock to the Sokolica monastery because they believe its 14th-century sculpture of the Virgin with Christ can cure deaf-mute children and help childless couples fall pregnant.

"When they ask how to pray, we tell them to pray in their own language and in the way they are taught to. We let them praise their Allah as we do our God," the 67-year-old head of the monastery, Mati Makarija, told AFP.

The monastery is settled in rugged volcanic mountains that overlook the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica, where relations between Serb Orthodox Christians and Albanian Muslims are tense -- as they are throughout Kosovo which broke free from Serbia in 2008.

Sokolica is surrounded by the Muslim village of Boletin whose residents are regular visitors.

"Our door is open for them. If they think our sacred sculpture can help them, then they are welcome," said Makarija, dressed in a traditional black habit and with a black head scarf.

As part of her effort to welcome all faiths, Makarija has instructed her nuns to learn Albanian, which is vastly different to Serbian and spoken by very few Serbs.

"Speaking languages of each other is a must," Makarija said. "I don't want them to talk to the neighbours and Albanians who visit the monastery in English but in Albanian."

"I am always looking for (Albanian) textbooks. I might be too old for it already but my nuns have to learn Albanian," insisted Makarija, who speaks English, German and Greek.

The eight nuns have to squeeze their language lessons into an already tight schedule.

Under the supervision of Makarija, considered one of the best fresco painters in the Serbian Orthodox church, they work from the early morning, mostly in the fresco and icon workshop that produces paintings popular with foreign buyers.

"That is our main income," Makarija said.

The language training, which has aroused great interest among the Muslim villagers, is the latest measure in a long tradition at the monastery of reaching out to its Albanian neighbours.

Even during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war that pitted the security forces of Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic against ethnic Albanian guerrillas, the convent tried to remain neutral.

Today the nuns and villagers won't be drawn in to discussions about politics, a sensitive issue with Kosovo declaring independence in 2008 but its status fiercely disputed by Serbia.

"Politicians are occupied with politics, not us," Makarija said.

Villagers tell how she braved heavy fighting during the war to take a pregnant Boletin woman to the Serb-controlled hospital in Mitrovica to deliver her baby.

"It was dangerous even for her, despite the fact that she was a nun," said Besim Boletini, who lives next door to the monastery.

Muslim villager Mustafa Kelmendi, 67, said Makarija had saved his son Basri from Serb paramilitaries twice.

"The war brought chaos ... However she did not allow Serb forces to stay in the convent even when fighting was going on in the area," the pensioner told AFP.

Kelmendi is a regular visitor to the restored Sokolica monastery, built in the Middle Ages, decorated with neatly cut white stone tiles and considered one of the highlights of medieval orthodox architecture in Kosovo.

The famous sculpture, known as the Sokolac Virgin, is adorned with gold necklaces, bracelets and strings of pearls from grateful visitors -- Christians and Muslims.

"It cures not only their but also our people," Kelmendi said.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Animations: Saint Mary of Egypt

Below are two different animations of the life of St. Mary of Egypt. The first animation is in Russian with Greek subtitles, while the second is Ukrainian with Greek subtitles.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

What Did Patriarch Bartholomew Ask For At the Martyrdom Site of His Predecessor Patriarch Gregory V?

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the end of today's Liturgy [05/10/2011], addressed the numerous pilgrims from Greece and abroad, among whom there were hundreds of Greek elementary and high school students. Speaking in memory of Patriarch Gregory V, he said the following:

"Today is a day of mourning and bitter memories, because as today, April 10, 190 years ago in 1821 it was Pascha, and outside in the courtyard of the Patriarchate, the then Patriarch Gregory V was hung. Since then every year we remember this day.

Before descending to the church today, I went, as I was indebted, and put a few flowers at the, since then, Closed Gate, the place of martyrdom of the Ecumenical Patriarch, and lit a candle asking for his blessing and prayer for this great Orthodox Monastery called the Ecumenical Patriarchate and for all of us who have the blessing of God to minister at this point in the Grand Monastery. I also asked his prayers for all Orthodox Christians throughout the world, because the prayers of such a Martyred Patriarch is certainly heard by God.

I asked his prayers for the peace of the the whole world, the stability of the Holy Churches of God and the union of all things - mankind, churches, peoples and nations of the world. This unity we particularly need now and I plead with you to also pray for the same yourselves."

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Hieromartyr Gregory V, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1821)

St. Gregory V of Constantinople (Feast Day - April 10)

Our father among the saints Gregory V of Constantinople was the 234th Patriarch of Constantinople. He served as patriarch for three separate periods at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: from 1797 to 1798, from 1806 to 1808, and from 1818 to 1821. He was martyred in 1821 during the Greek War of Independence. He was glorified as a saint by the Church of Greece in 1921 and is commemorated as an Ethnomartyr (Greek: Εθνομάρτυρας). He is remembered on April 10.

Georgios Aggelopoulos was born in Dimitsana of the Arcadia prefecture in 1746 to poor parents. A studious child, Georgios attended school at Dimitsana before continuing his education in Athens for two years. With the help of his uncle he continued his education in the theological school at Smyrna for another five years. Having been raised in the hesychastic environment around the Monastery of Philosophou he turned to a monastic life and was tonsured a monk in Strophades with the name Gregory. He continued his education in theology and philosophy at the School of Patmos.

After completing his education at Patmos, Gregory returned to Smyrna where he was ordained a deacon in 1775 by Metropolitan Prokopios of Smyrna and subsequently became an archdeacon. Over the following years he was ordained a priest and a protosyngelos. In 1785, he was elected by the Patriarch of Constantinople to the position of Bishop of the Metropolis of Smyrna succeeding Prokopios who had become Patriarch of Constantinople. In what was becoming a volatile political atmosphere, Gregory was elected to the patriarchal throne of Constantinople in May 1797. In a year he was deposed and deported to the Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos where he lived an ascetic life of study. On September 23, 1806, the synod recalled him to the patriarchal see. With the shifting Turkish politics and the revolt of the Janissaries, Gregory’s second stint as patriarch ended in 1810 when he was expelled first to Pringiponisos [Princes' Islands], and then again to Mount Athos, where he stayed for nine years. On December 15, 1818, for the third time Gregory was called to the patriarchal see, this time at a crucial and tense time in the Greek struggle for independence.

In 1818, Gregory became a member of the Filiki Eteria (Friendly Society) that was preparing for a revolt against the Turkish rule. However, when Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut River, starting the Greek revolt in Romania, Gregory felt it necessary to excommunicate him to protect the Greeks of Constantinople from reprisals by the Ottoman Turks. The reprisals did come during Holy Week in April 1921 after the Greeks revolted in the Peloponnesus. During celebration of the Divine Liturgy, with eight hierarchs, on the night of Pascha of April 10, Gregory was arrested and, by order of Sultan Mahmud II, hanged at the front gate of the Patriarchate compound in his full Patriarchal vestments. The gate has been closed, locked, and not used since. After hanging for three days and being mocked by the passing crowds, his body was taken down and given to a group of Jews who dragged it through the streets of Constantinople before throwing it into the Bosphorus.

Gregory’s body was recovered from the sea by a Greek seaman, Nicholas Sklavos, and secreted to Odessa, then in Southern Russia, where it was buried with honors at the Church of the Holy Trinity. Later his relics were enshrined in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens. His statue, along with that of Rigas Feraios, stands outside the University of Athens as great martyrs of the Greek Revolution. Patriarch Gregory's martyrdom stirred the Greek revolutionaries who used his name as a rallying cry in the siege of Tripolis and later, eventually winning their freedom.

Source

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

You righteously served the God of all as a priest, and offered yourself to Christ as a chosen sacrifice by struggling well. Wherefore by your hanging, you were truly shone to be a deliverer from slavery to the nation of the Greeks. Therefore O Hieromartyr Gregory we honor you.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Synaxarion For the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

FIFTH SUNDAY of LENT

On this day, the fifth Sunday of the Fast, we are enjoined to celebrate the memory of our Holy Mother Mary of Egypt.

Verses

Her spirit hath departed, and her flesh decayed long ago.

O earth, conceal the bony corpse of Mary.

Synaxarion

When she was only twelve years old, she slipped away from her parents and went to Alexandria, where she lived a life of prodigality for seventeen years. Then, moved by curiosity, she departed for Jerusalem with many pilgrims, in order to be present at the Exaltation of the Precious Cross. During the voyage, she gave herself over to every kind of licentiousness and immorality and enticed many into the pit of perdition.

Wishing to enter the Church, on the day when the Cross was being elevated, three times, four times, she sensed an invisible force that prevented her from entering, whereas the crowd of people with her was entering without any hindrance. Smitten in her heart by this, she resolved to change her life and to propitiate God through repentance; and thus, on returning to the Church, she entered it with ease. After venerating the Precious Cross, she departed from Jerusalem that same day, crossed the Jordan, and went into the inner recesses of the desert, where, for forty-seven years, she lived a life that was very severe and superhuman, praying alone with God.

Near the end of her life, she encountered a hermit named Zosimas and, after recounting her life from the beginning, she besought him to bring her the immaculate Mysteries so that she might receive communion. He did so the following year, on Great Thursday. When Zosimas returned a year later, he found her dead, stretched out on the ground, with a note near her, which read: “O Abba Zosimas, bury the body of humble Mary in this place. I reposed on the same day that I communed the immaculate Mysteries. Pray for me.” Her death is assigned to the year 378.

The memory of this Saint is celebrated on the 1st of April; but she is also commemorated on this day, as the Holy Fast is already drawing to a close, in order to arouse the slothful and the sinners to repentance, having St. Mary as an example.

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

Source

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

In thee the image was preserved with exactness, O Mother; for taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to overlook the flesh, for it passeth away, but to attend to the soul since it is immortal. Wherefore, O righteous Mary, thy spirit rejoiceth with the Angels.

Kontakion in the Second Tone

By the toils of thy struggles, O God-inspired one, thou didst hallow the harshness of the desert. Wherefore, we glorify thy memory, as we honour thee with hymns, O Mary, glory of the righteous.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Hymns and Readings of the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

The church service for this Sunday is devoted to the memory and glorification of the spiritual efforts of Saint Mary of Egypt (Apr. 1), who "has cut down with the sword of abstinence the desires of your soul and the passions of your flesh. You have choked your sinful thoughts with the silence of the ascetic life, and you have watered all the wilderness with the streams of your tears, and caused the fruits of repentance to spring up for us" and "with works of Lenten fasting", "as the sun she shines revealed as a guide to all who have sinned". In her life the Holy Church pays attention to two contrasts: on the depth of her sinful falling and on the height of her graceful rising, that it points out that true repentance wipes away the very heaviest sins, and can uplift the repenting trespasser to a high degree of spiritual perfection. The Odes of the Canon opens the parable about "the rich man and Lazarus". This parable through its imagery gives a lesson on the efforts of fasting that they, fasting physically, fasted also spiritually, that is, they helped their needy brothers and eased the portion of the suffering; but the suffering and the deprived are inspired by patience and magnanimity, by the example of Lazarus who for these virtues "was worthy of Paradise of sweetness". Inspiring those who fast with the necessity of charity, the Holy Church hymns: "The Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and abstinence with holiness; therefore the rich shall not enter into it, but those who entrust their treasures into the hands of the needy. This is what David the prophet teaches us saying: the righteous man shows mercy all day, his delight is in the Lord, and walking in the light he will not stumble. All this was written for our admonition, that we should fast and do good, and the Lord will reward us with heavenly things instead of earthly things". The Resurrection gospel proclaims the approaching time of the coming Passion of Christ, and the Epistle reading explains the saving actions of the offering of the Savior on the cross. With these reminders of the parable about the rich man and Lazarus and suffering, death and resurrection of the Savior, the Holy Church relates the fifth Sunday to a relationship of the coming end of the Lenten effort with the memory connected to Him.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Video: Who Is Saint Mary of Egypt?

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Synaxarion For the Fifth Saturday of Great Lent

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

FIFTH SATURDAY of LENT

On the same day, the Fifth Saturday of the Fast, we celebrate the Akathist Hymn of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.

Verses

With unsleeping hymns doth thy city gratefully

Hymn her Protectress, who is unsleeping in battles.

Synaxarion

When Herakleios was ruling the Roman Empire, King Chosroes of Persia, seeing the extreme humiliation to which the Roman state had been reduced by the tyrannical Emperor Phokas, sent one of his satraps (generals), Sharbaraz by name, with many thousands of troops to subjugate all the East to him. For Chosroes had previously succeeded in destroying one hundred thousand Christians, whom the Jews had purchased and slain. After laying waste to the entire East, Sharbaraz, the Chief Satrap, reached as far as Chrysopolis, which is now called Scoutari. Emperor Herakleios, lacking public funds, melted down the sacred vessels of the Churches and converted them into coinage, in order to increase his revenues, crossed the Black Sea in ships, and invaded Persian territory, which he destroyed. Chosroes, with the rest of his army, suffered a crushing defeat. Shortly thereafter, Shiroes, the son of Chosroes, rebelled against his father, assumed control of the Empire, and, having killed Chosroes, made peace with Emperor Herakleios.

Now the Khagan, that is, the ruler, of the Mysians and the Scythians (Avars and Slavs [Bulgars]), on learning that the Emperor had crossed over the sea into Persia, broke his treaty with the Romans and, at the head of countless hordes, invaded Constantinople from the west, sending up blasphemous cries against God. At once, the sea became full of ships, and the land was filled with innumerable infantry and cavalry. Patriarch Sergios made many appeals to the people of Constantinople not to fall into despair, but to place all their hope wholeheartedly in God and His Mother, the All-Immaculate Theotokos. Bonus, a Patrician, who was governor of the city at that time, made suitable preparations for warding off the enemy; for, together with help from on high, we, for our part, must do whatever we can. Along with the entire populace, the Patriarch, carrying the holy Icons of the Mother of God, went around the upper walls, thereby ensuring their security. When Sharbaraz from the east and the Khagan from the west began to set fire to the outskirts of the city, the Patriarch bore the Icon of Christ “Not Made with Hands,” the pieces of the Precious and Life-giving Cross, as well as the Precious Robe of the Mother of God and went around the walls. The Scythian Khagan launched an attack on Constantinople via the land walls with a countless multitude of soldiers, so great that for every Roman there were ten Scythians fighting against him. But the invincible Champion, with the very few soldiers who were in her Church of the Life-Giving Spring, destroyed a very large number of the enemy. Encouraged by this and rejoicing over it, the Romans, under their invincible leader, the Mother of God, continued to inflict heavy defeats on them. The people of Constantinople sought to make peace, but their offer was rejected, for the Khagan issued this proclamation: “Do not be deceived by the God in Whom you believe; for I will assuredly occupy your city tomorrow.”

On hearing this, the citizens stretched forth their hands to God. The Khagan and Sharbaraz came to an agreement, and attacked by land and by sea with siege-engines, eager to capture the city. But they were so severely defeated by the Romans that there were not enough men left alive to burn the dead. As the enemy ships, filled with heavily-armed troops, sailed down through the Horn towards the Church of the Theotokos in Blachernai, they were destroyed along with the rest of the enemy fleet when a violent storm suddenly fell upon the sea. And hereupon a miraculous feat of the All-Pure Mother of God could be seen: she cast them all up on the edge of the sea at Blachernai. The people, flinging open the gates as quickly as possible, killed every single one of the enemy, and even women and children fought against them like men. Their leaders returned, weeping and lamenting. The God-loving people of Constantinople, ascribing the victory to the Mother of God, sang the Akathist Hymn throughout the night to her who had kept vigil for their sake and had accomplished a triumph over the enemy by her supernatural might.

Ever since then, in commemoration of such a great and preternatural miracle, the Church has, by tradition, dedicated such a feast to the Mother of God in the present season, when she wrought her victory.

After some forty years had elapsed, during the reign of Constantine Pogonatos, the Hagarenes mustered an enormous army and attacked Constantinople. They laid siege to the city for seven years and, while wintering in the regions around Cyzicus, lost many of their own soldiers. Then, giving up and withdrawing with their fleet, they reached Sylaion, where they all drowned at sea, by the mediation of the All-Pure Mother of God. Again, a third time, during the reign of Leo the Isaurian, the Hagarenes, numbering very many thousands, first destroyed the Persian Empire, and then invaded Egypt and Libya, India, Ethiopia, and Spain. After that, they advanced against the very Queen of cities, with the additional support of 1800 ships. They surrounded the city and waited to take it by storm. The holy people of the city, bearing the hallowed Wood of the Precious and Life-giving Cross and the venerable Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, went around the walls, tearfully propitiating God. Thereafter, the Hagarenes decided to separate their army into two divisions: one division marched against the Bulgarians, but more than twenty thousand of them were slain in the fighting; the other division remained behind to capture Constantinople. However, they were prevented from so doing by a chain that extended from Galatia to the city walls. Retreating, they reached the Sosthenian Strait, where most of their ships were smashed and destroyed by the onrush of a north wind. The survivors were stricken with a terrible famine, to the point that they cooked human flesh and even ate dung. They then fled, but when they reached the Aegean Sea, almost all of their vessels sank with all hands into its depths; for a hailstorm suddenly fell from the sky, causing the sea to seethe so much that it dissolved the pitch that held the ships together. Thus, that innumerable fleet was destroyed, and only three ships survived to report what had happened.

We celebrate the present feast on account of all these preternatural miracles of the All-Pure Mother of God. The hymn is called “Akathist” because at that time all the people chanted it to the Mother of the Word while standing throughout the night; and also because, while we are accustomed to sitting down when such hymns are chanted on the other Feasts, on the present Feast of the Theotokos, we all stand and listen to the hymn.

By the intercessions of Thy Mother, our invincible Champion, O Christ our God, deliver us also from the calamities that beset us, and have mercy on us, for Thou alone lovest mankind. Amen.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr