The Skeptic Who Investigated the Tomb of Saint Demetrios

There lived once an ascetic on the Mount of Solomon who, hearing of the reports of the holy myrrh [of St. Demetrios], had doubts, saying in his mind that there were many other great martyrs who suffered more than St. Demetrios, yet they were not honored by God in such a manner. And one night later he saw, as if in a dream, that he was in the Church of St. Demetrios and he met the man who had the keys to the tomb of the Saint, and he asked him to open it that he might venerate it. When he was kissing the shrine, he observed that it was wet with fragrant myrrh, and he said to the keeper, "Come, help me that we might see from whence comes this holy myrrh." They dug, therefore, and came to a large marble slab which they removed with great difficulty, and immediately there appeared the body of the Saint, shining and fragrant, from which welled up abundant myrrh coming from the openings of his holy body made by the piercings of the lances. There flowed so much myrrh that both the keeper and the ascetic were drenched, and fearing to be drowned, the monk cried out, "Saint Demetrios, help!" Whereupon, he awoke from this vision and found himself to be drenched with the holy myrrh.

Source: "The Life of St. Demetrios of Thessalonica", The Orthodox Word, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, California.

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The Megalynaria of Saint Demetrios

ΜΕΓΑΛΥΝΑΡΙΑ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ
(Ποίημα Ἁγίου Συμεών, Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Θεσσαλονίκης - Σε μορφή διαλόγου)

Ὁ Ἅγιος Δημήτριος: Ὦ Πατρὶς φιλτάτη μὴ δειλιᾷς, ἀεὶ γὰρ εὐχαῖς μου, ἐκ δεινῶν σὲ ἐλευθερῶ, ἀγαθῶν τε πάντων, πληρώσω σε ἐνθέων, καὶ σώσω καὶ φυλάξω, λέγει Δημήτριος.

Ἡ Θεσσαλονίκη: Ὑπὸ τὰς σὰς πτέρυγας Ἀθλητά, ἀεὶ σκεπομένη, ἐκλυτροῦμαι πάντων δεινῶν, νῦν δὲ ἡ πατρίς σου, κινδύνοις κλονουμένη, προστρέχω σοι καὶ κράζω· Μάρτυς βοήθει μοι.

Ὁ Ἅγιος Δημήτριος: Τάφος με καλύπτει Ἑλλάδος γῇ, ἀλλ’ ὁ κόσμος πλήρης, ἐκ τῶν μύρων μου τῆς ὀσμῆς, χαῖρε οὖν πατρίς μου, κατέχουσά με ἐχθρούς σου, πατάξω καὶ φυλάξω σὲ τὴν τιμῶσάν με.

Ἡ Θεσσαλονίκη: Ὄλβιος ὁ τάφος ὄντως ὁ σός, καὶ ὀλβιωτέρα, σοῦ ἡ πόλις ὡς θησαυρόν, σὲ νεκρὸν πλουτοῦσα, κρουνοὺς βλύζοντα μύρων, βοώσῃ· Δημητρίου Θεὸς βοήθει μοι.

Ἡ Ἐκκλησια: Χαῖρε καὶ ἀγάλλου σφόδρα ἀεί, ἡ Θεσσαλονίκη, ὁ ὁπλίτης γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μετὰ σοῦ φρουρῶν σε, συντρίβων τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου, ᾧ εὐγνωμόνως κράζε· Χαίροις Δημήτριε.

Ὁ Λαός: Σχόντες τὸ σὸν Λείψανον σῷ ναῷ, Δημήτριε Μάρτυς, ὡς προπύργιον νοητόν, προσφεύγομεν τούτῳ, κινδύνοις καὶ πολέμοις, καὶ πάσης ἐπηρείας ἀπολυτρούμεθα.

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Megalynaria of St. Demetrios
(A poem by St. Symeon Archbishop of Thessaloniki in the form of a dialogue.)

St. Demetrios: O beloved Homeland do not grieve, for I will ever deliver you from dangers by my prayer, I will fill you with all good things, and save and protect you, so says Demetrios.

Thessaloniki: Under your wings O Champion, ever protected and delivered from every danger, therefore your Hometown, surrounded by dangers, I take refuge in you and cry, O Martyr help me.

St. Demetrios: A grave may cover me O Grecian land, but the whole world is filled with the fragrance of my myrrh, rejoice O my Homeland, for I hold back your enemies, I conquer them and protect you who honor me.

Thessaloniki: Blessed is your tomb, and more blessed is your city as a treasure, though you are dead you fill up, pouring forth rivers of myrrh, crying out: O God of Demetrios help me.

The Church: Ever rejoice and be glad greatly, Thessaloniki, for the soldier of Christ, is behind you protecting you, shattering your enemies, cry out in gratitude, Rejoice Demetrios.

The People: Possesing your Relic in your church, O Martyr Demetrios, as a noetic protecting wall, we take refuge in it, and are delivered from dangers and wars, and all temptations.

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The Largest Face of Christ in the Western Hemisphere

Cheryl Girard
October 22, 2011
Winnipeg Free Press

He has worked on the mosaic icons of more than 25 churches in the United States and on the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in London, England.

More recently, renowned American iconographer Robert J. Andrews was in Winnipeg to talk about one of the greatest challenges of his artistic career -- what he says is the "largest face of Christ in the Western Hemisphere."

Speaking to parishioners of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church on Grant Avenue at a catechism session on iconography, the 86-year-old Andrews shared a video and spoke of the massive icon project -- the climax of his 43 years working on the icons of another Greek church, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in San Francisco.


This particular icon of Christ is also known as the Pantocrator in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic iconography and commonly translates to mean Almighty. In Byzantine church art, it often occupies the space in the central dome of the church.

The giant mosaic of the face of Jesus is 7.5 metres from the top of the head to the chin and spans the church's 3,200-square-metre dome.

"The eyes alone are four feet," says Andrews.

More than two million pieces of mosaic glass were used, all imported from Italy, "all hand-cut, and that's why you get such a beautiful reflection."

The tiles are created in a way similar to how it was done thousands of years ago, Andrews says.

The dome is 30 metres off the floor, he adds, requiring scaffolding to be erected. That alone took 10 days to set up. On top of that were smaller, moveable pieces of scaffolding so workers could reach all parts of the dome.

Parishioners raised the $1.7 million originally budgeted for the project.

Because of the weight and pressure of the mosaic, the dome had to first be carefully reinforced with steel beams carried up to the dome, cut and then welded together.

A frame came next in order to create a plaster dome for the installation of the mosaic. A metal mesh, referred to as lath, was attached to the frame so the plaster would have something to stick to.

For 10 months, parishioners attended services in the basement of the church as the pieces of the project slowly came together.

Some 175 bags equalling almost nine tons of added weight were ordered for the plastering of the enormous dome.

Andrews, with his son Tim and an installation crew from the studio in Italy where the tiles were made, began the careful process of giving shape to Jesus' face.

Using a map created in Italy, the team cemented sheets of mosaic tiles to the dome and later peeled off the paper containing Andrews' original drawing.

A final beautification phase revealed the face of Christ surrounded by a golden halo and nine angels, with Jesus holding a Bible in his left hand and his right hand formed to offer a blessing.

"I'd like to remember that a lot of heart went into the whole thing; it was a labour of love in many respects," Andrews says in a documentary about the creation of the icon.

The artist, who specializes in mosaics, told the Winnipeg parishioners he was raised in a very religious family and started drawing icons when he was 13.

"My grandmother was in the Armenian holocaust and I spent summers with her in her house and I spent hours on my knees. My mother, too, was a very religious person. I was really interested in medicine, but we couldn't afford it. My second choice was art and teaching... I worked in iconography and taught for 34 years also."

Andrews credits his family, who worked along with him out of his home studio.

Andrews told the parishioners of St. Demetrios, who have recently begun their own enormous project of adorning their church with icons, he was pleased with the Christ mosaic.

"I have a legacy to leave for many years to come and I knew it would be around much longer than me or anyone else I know."

A documentary on the making of the Christ mosaic can be viewed at www.vimeo.com/1164833.

Holy Trinity's Artist/Iconographer: Stories and Reflections with Robert J. Andrews from Anthony Catchatoorian on Vimeo.

Holy Trinity's Pantocrator: Scaffolding Time Lapse from Anthony Catchatoorian on Vimeo.

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Video: The Incorrupt Relics of St. Alexander of Svir

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Whale Evolution: The Real Fossil Record

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Thousands Line Up To Venerate Holy Belt of the Theotokos

For the first time in its history since being kept at Vatopaidi Monastery on Mount Athos, the holy belt of the Theotokos has never been outside of Greece until its current visit to Russia. This is despite the many requests from the United States, Romania, and many other countries.

For more than 24 hours thousands of faithful stood in line to venerate the holy belt at the Holy Monastery of Novodevichy in St. Petersburg. The line was five kilometers in length and until today 400,000 people have venerated the holy belt.

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The Skull of the Apostle Andrew in Romania

From Monday, October 24th until Monday, October 31st the holy skull of the Apostle Andrew will be in Bucharest, Romania for the faithful to venerate. It was brought by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras and received by Patriarch Daniel of Romania. Many bishops, 600 priests and thousands of faithful welcomed the holy relic. The last time the holy skull of the Apostle Andrew came to Romania was 15 years ago in 1996 when Metropolitan Nikodemos of Patras brought it to Iasi.

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Memorial Saturday of Saint Demetrios and the Battle of Kulikovo

In the spiritual experience of the Russian Church, veneration of the holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessalonica is closely linked with the memory of the defense of the nation and Church by the Great Prince of Moscow, Demetrius of the Don (May 19).

St Demetrios of the Don smashed the military might of the Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo Field on September 8, 1380 (the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos), set between the Rivers Don and Nepryadva. The Battle of Kulikovo, for which the nation calls him Demetrius of the Don, became the first Russian national deed, rallying the spiritual power of the Russian nation around Moscow. The "Zadonschina" [read here], an inspiring historic poem written by the priest Sophronius of Ryazem (1381), is devoted to this event.

Prince Demetrius of the Don was greatly devoted to the holy Great Martyr Demetrios. In 1380, on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo, he solemnly transferred from Vladimir to Moscow the most holy object in the Dimitriev Cathedral of Vladimir: the icon of the Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessalonica, painted on a piece of wood from the saint's grave. A chapel in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrios was built at Moscow's Dormition Cathedral.

The St Demetrios Memorial Saturday was established for the churchwide remembrance of the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulidovo. This memorial service was held for the first time at the Trinity-St Sergius Monastery on October 20, 1380 by St Sergius of Radonezh, in the presence of Great Prince Demetrius of the Don. It is an annual remembrance of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, among whom are the schemamonks Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrew (Oslyab).

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The "Byzantine" Tax Code: How Complicated Was Byzantium?

Right-wingers are always complaining about the "Byzantine" tax code.

Brian Palmer
October 20, 2011
Slate Magazine

The Republican candidates for president debated Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Cain’s flat rate for income, corporate, and sales tax would replace the Byzantine U.S. income tax code, which runs to more than 72,000 pages. Critics often refer to the complicated politics of Constantinople (which used to be Byzantium and is now Istanbul) when discussing American tax laws. Was the Byzantine system of government especially complex?

Only compared to those of medieval Europe. Ceremony and ritual were important features of the imperial court at Constantinople. Guests at royal banquets were assigned titles that denoted where they could sit in relation to the emperor, whom they could talk to, and what they were allowed to discuss. Eventually, the rituals became so complex that treatises were written to help outsiders understand proper etiquette, and the emperor employed officials to teach newbies how to behave. During this period, Western Europeans had lost a taste for the pomp and circumstance of empire. Their leaders were little more than feudal lords who more closely resembled generals than true emperors, although they sometimes carried that title. Ambassadors to Constantinople complained loudly about the formality of the court: For example, in the late 10th century, Liutprand of Cremona, who traveled twice to Byzantium as an ambassador of German emperor Otto, wrote a book in which he bemoaned the overly choreographed Byzantine court ceremonies. Still, Byzantium was far less complicated than any modern government.

The crusaders, too, found the rituals confusing, and they were baffled by Byzantine diplomacy. Constantinople provided financial and military support to the crusaders in some situations but not others. The emperor may even have passed intelligence to the crusaders’ Muslim opponents. As a result, the crusaders viewed Byzantine diplomacy as complex and inscrutable. This partially explains why modern use of the word Byzantine refers not just to things that are complex but also to those that are deviously convoluted—i.e., intentionally designed to be incomprehensible.

Modern historians are quick to point out that modern contempt for Byzantine government is based more on bias than on fact. They blame Byzantium’s bad reputation largely on 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon. In his influential multi-volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon caricatured the history of the Byzantine Empire as little more than a series of shady backroom deals, backstabbing, and power grabs. (In fact, the same could easily be said of Ancient Rome—which Gibbon glorified—or the Islamic societies nearby.) Later historians seized on Gibbon’s portrait of the complexity of Constantinople’s ever-shifting political alliances and its reliance on rituals to maintain power distinctions. French scholar Jules Michelet was the first to use the adjective Byzantine to describe something excessively complex or subtle in his 1846 work Le Peuple, and the term had spread to nonpolitical contexts by the 1880s. (Louis Pasteur complained about Byzantine medical discussions in 1882.)

According to William Safire's Political Dictionary, the modern use didn’t enter the English political lexicon until 1937, when Arthur Koestler—who spoke French and spent some years living in Paris—described the structure of the Spanish army as “Byzantine.”

Bonus Explainer: Was Byzantium’s tax code Byzantine? Not at all. Byzantium’s two-pronged system would have made Steve Forbes proud. There was a flat tax on all citizens. Farmers paid an additional tax based on the size and quality of their land and their annual production. While the equation was straightforward, putting it to work was not. The Byzantines used alphabetic, rather than Arabic, numerals that were notoriously difficult to crunch.

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What Is It About Africa?

What’s wrong with Africa? The answer is, of course, nothing – at least not with the continent itself. Africa is a bountiful land of incredible diversity and productive potential, boasting the largest mammals, the great apes, geological diversity, vast panoramas of beauty, and numerous spectacular plants and animals. What comes to mind to many westerners, though, is starvation, drought, disease, war, genocide, and a long history of slavery, exploitation and corruption. For decades the charities have assaulted our emotions with heart-wrenching images of starving children with distended stomachs and flimsy arms, covered in flies and mosquitoes. Is Africa to blame? No; these are mostly human-caused problems, offering hope of solutions. A diverse continent with vastly different political systems, Africa offers striking contrasts of riches and horrors.

Take farming. According to Science Daily, parts of Africa have some of the most nutrient-depleted soils in the world (and this speaking of land south of the Sahara Desert). The BBC News said, “Researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre say poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa.” Here’s a simple solution: plant trees. The BBC News said that planting the right kind of trees can bring back the soil: “Fertiliser tree systems (FTS) ... help boost food security and play a role in ‘climate proofing‘ the region’s arable land”. Can this help forestall some of the desertification that worries scientists? According to the Science Daily article, some 400,000 farmers are now benefiting from this simple, elegant solution so economical it grows on trees. Readers may remember the amazing Moringa tree, a literal “tree of life” that provides food, fuel, clean water and soil fertilizer.

Take the desert. A BBC News nature feature reported that a rocky, arid part of Niger is a literal Noah’s Ark for migrating wildlife. The photo gallery affirms that this part of Africa is “one of the most inhospitable deserts,” and yet biologists are calling for its protection, because it is a “biodiversity hotspot.” Who would have thought? In America, deserts are no hindrance to booming, thriving cities (Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, and many others). Technologies are available to find and extract clean water, to derive energy, and to improve the standard of living for everyone – when there is the political will, the right principles, the right leadership and ability for the people to oust evil dictators.

But the atrocities continue. Recent news has called attention to America’s latest effort to help stop the misnamed “Lord’s Resistance Army” led by brutal bad guy Joseph Kony in Uganda, who sends children into villages to massacre everyone and tortures them if they don’t. South Sudan is trying to hold onto a flimsy new sovereignty after 15 years of civll war. Robert Mugabe destroyed once-productive Zimbabwe with his irrational, ego-driven policies. One of the worst sudden genocides happened in Rwanda just 17 years ago. Somalia remains a hotbed of death, piracy and terrorism. This is all recent history in “darkest Africa,” in spite of the fact that the old slave trade is gone, and the old colonial empires are gone. What’s wrong with Africa?

“The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice” (Proverbs 13:23).

“There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away” (Hosea 4:1-3).

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Mystagogy Helps Bring Relic of St. Polycarp to Thousands in Romania

I often receive emails concerning how Mystagogy has helped people personally, but a few days ago I received a surprising and moving email from Romania which shows how a post I made on the relic of the right hand of St. Polycarp became a blessing to thousands of people in Romania on the great feast of St. Parascheva. To understand the context of the feast before reading the letter below, read Saint Parascheva and Her Feast Day in Romania. Many thanks to Silviu Cluci for informing me about this and his permission to reproduce his emails.

Hello John!

My name is Silviu Cluci. I'm a Romanian weblogger living in Iasi. First of all I'm writing you this email to congratulate you for your wonderful work on your blog and second, and maybe the most important, I want to thank you in the name of all pilgrims, wich came last week to Iasi to venerate the relics of Saint Parascheva and the hand of Saint Polycarp the Bishop of Smyrna.

With this article
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/02/wonderworking-right-hand-of-st-polycarp.html
from your blog, you helped us first to know where we can find the relics of this wonderful saint. My friend, A. V., was very happy to hear that in Greece at Nafpaktos there is the hand of Saint Polycarp. Andrei has a great devoutness to Saint Polycarp and he wrote a very beautiful akathist hymn of the Saint in Romanian in 7 years. He was so happy for this discovery that he called Metropolitan Teofan and asked him to talk with Metropolit Hierotheos Vlachos about the posibility of getting the relics to Iasi for the celebration of Saint Parascheva on the 14th of October. (In each year this celebration is an occasion for a large Orthodox pilgrimage of up to 1 million people). And glory to God, Saint Polycarp came to bless our city last week.

Here are some videos from a procession from the 12th of October
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWPx3htHmE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teOACDP19Ds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkeMAYsN3nI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a42RLZj9ABI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRRdrR-HgLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdzGq-Z4ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHuMnUAnDOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZ1yoIYJWo
http://www.doxologia.ro/video/hramul-sfintei-cuvioase-parascheva/sosirea-moastelor-sf-mc-policarp-pelerinajul-calea

And here are some pictures http://www.doxologia.ro/foto/hramul-sfintei-cuvioase-parascheva/stiri/rugaciune-marturisire-pe-calea-sfintilor.

If you whant to know more about the events from the last week from our city, ask me for this.

Thank you once again for the great joy!

Silviu Cluci
http://cidadededeus.wordpress.com/

After requesting his permission to publish his letter, I asked him to tell me more about the feast. Here is what he wrote:

About the feast I can tell you that it started on the 11th day of October when the relics of Saint Parascheva were taken out from the cathedral in a procession and seated out for the pilgrims to venerate it. From the night before a large number of pilgrims came from the entire Romania and even from Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, Belgium, Canada and so on. The Police estimate the final number of pilgrims at 200,000. The queue wasn't so long in this year - 3 kilometers and around 12 hours of waiting. In the afternoon of the 12th of October, the Greek delegation with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou arrived at Iasi carrying the hand of Saint Polycarp. Soon after the arrival, in Iasi there started a procession with the relics of Saint Parascheva and Saint Polycarp with a large number of priests, monks and simple believers from the city. On the day before the celebration of Saint Parascheva we had some events like the launching of some books about Saint Parascheva. At 21 p.m. in the cathedral the vigil started and finished at 3 a.m. In the morning at 9 a.m., 24 bishops from Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece served the Divine Liturgy outside of the cathedral on a platform. Metropolitan Hierotheos had preached and, at the end of the service, Metropolitan Teofon of Moldavia and Bucovina thanked all for the contribution at the celebration.

In the afternoon of the 14th of October in the auditorium of Cuza Univerity, in front of more than 400 people, Metropolitan Hierotheos held a conference about the Theology of John Romanides.

In the morning of the next day, the Greek delegation went back home together with the hand of Saint Polycarp. But the queue of pilgrims continued to be long until the last pilgrim venerated the relics of Saint Parascheva on Sunday evening, when auxiliary bishop Calinic brought the relics back to cathedral.

In a few words this was the feast from the last week in Iasi, Romania.

Here are some video recordings:
http://wtrns.fr/vsl47gpsxxhHhU,
And here is the audio recording of the conference of Metropolitan Hierotheos:
http://fastupload.rol.ro/d51b4c03b8f7d027d5360fbedfb611d6.html

With joy,
Silviu Cluci

Below is video of the feast together with the arrival of the relic of St. Polycarp and Metropolitan Hierotheos. I also include a sermon delivered by Metropolitan Hierotheos in Iasi.





>

Andrei Vladareanu

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Saint Parascheva and Her Feast Day in Romania

Saint Parascheva was born in the village Epivat in Eastern Tracia, at the beginning of the 11th century, to a pious family. Then, by the age of 15, she dedicated herself to the monastic life.

Saint Parascheva’s relics were brought to Iasi in 1641, during the reign of the ruler Vasile Lupu, and they were exposed in the Church of the Three Hierarchs.


Saint Parascheva is considered the Protector of Moldavia and Bucovina, being the most popular of all the Saints whose relics are in Romania. Christians believe her relics to be miraculous.

Saint Parascheva’s feast day, and at the same time the feast of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iasi, has become, these last 15 years, an important Christian manifestation for the region of Moldavia. On this occasion there arrive in Iasi, in pilgrimage, about one million pilgrims, most of them waiting for hours in a line which covers 2-3 kilometers in order to reach the relics of the Saint and pray.


Generally, on the 12th of October the holy relics are brought out of the church and they are exposed on the esplanade of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Then, on the 13th of October, the feast day, a procession takes place on the streets nearby.

During the last few years, besides the relics of Saint Parascheva, there have also been brought here the relics of other important Saints such as: Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Nektarios of Aegina and those of Saint Andrew the First-called. In 2011 the arm of St. Polycarp of Smyrna was brought from Nafpaktos.


After the procession, the reliquary is exposed again in the courtyard of the Metropolitan Cathedral in order to allow the pilgrims to pray.

Also, after the Festal Divine Liturgy, the City Hall of Iasi organizes a lunch for the pilgrims, where they serve traditional meals.


The Life of Saint Parascheva

St. Parascheva was born at the beginning of the 11th century into a wealthy, noble, and pious Christian family in the town of Epivat (now in Turkey) on the shores of the Marmara Sea. At the age of ten, while attending the Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Theotokos, she heard the words, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.” The words of the Lord had a profound effect on the young girl, and they became the subject of her meditations.

The future St. Parascheva began to dress poor people in her expensive clothes – her good deeds later earning her recognition as a patron saint of such trades as spinning, sewing, weaving, and knitting – but her parents objected, finding the girl’s charity more than they could understand or support, and tried to get her to stop. To follow her calling, Parascheva abandoned her wealth and privileges, left her parents, and ran away to Constantinople. There, near relics of saints, she spent her time in prayer, meditating on the words of Christ.


To elude her parents, who were traveling from city to city trying to find her, she moved to Chalcedon, and then to the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, in Heraclea Pontica, near the Black Sea. She spent the next five years there, living an austere life of continuous prayer and devotion. During her prayers she received visions of the Holy Virgin Mary and in one of the visions, she was instructed to go to Jerusalem. After spending some time in the city, she joined a convent in the Jordanian desert. A few years later, she returned to Constantinople and then, at the age of twenty-five, moved to the village of Katikratia where, at the Church of the Holy Apostles, she lived the remaining two years of her life.

Legend has it that many years later an old sinner was buried near her grave. Parascheva appeared in a dream to a local monk, showed him the place of her burial, and asked him to “take that stinky corpse away from me. I am light and sun, and I cannot bear to have near me darkness and stench.“ The monk, with some local help, began to dig out the place he had seen in his dream and when they found the remains of the Saint, her uncorrupted body was emitting spiritual fragrances. Then they interred the Saint in the Church of the Holy Apostles, where she had spent the last years of her earthly existence.


Later on her relics were moved to Tirnovo, in Bulgaria, then to Belgrade, in Serbia, and finally to Constantinople. In 1641, they were given as a gift to the Prince of Moldavia, Vasile Lupu, in recognition of his support for the Ecumenical Patriarchy of Constantinople. Her intact relics have remained in Iasi ever since. She is venerated as the Protector of Iasi and all of Moldavia and each year, hundreds of thousands of Orthodox faithful and hierarchs from many countries gather in Iasi to celebrate her feast day and venerate her holy relics, which continue to work miracles.







More photos from the feast can be seen here.

Οδοιπορικό στους Επιβάτες της Θράκης,τον τόπο καταγωγής της Οσίας Παρασκευής της Επιβατινής

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The Belt of the Virgin Mary In Russia For the First Time

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met a delegation of Greek monks from Vatopaidi Monastery on Mount Athos in an airport in St. Petersburg, who brought with them the miraculous belt of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that the belt has the grace to help childless women to have children.

Hundreds, mostly women, stood in line to venerate this precious relic. The relic will remain in the Russian imperial capital until Tuesday.

It will then be taken on a month-long tour across the country, with stops including the northern city of Norilsk, the Pacific port of Vladivostok, the western exclave city of Kaliningrad and Moscow.

Clerics said they hoped the relic would help more Russian women become mothers as the influential Russian Orthodox Church is actively promoting motherhood to help the government curtail a population decline.

Church officials in several cities plan to take the relic, whose full name is the Belt of the Mother of God, to pregnancy centres that counsel women contemplating an abortion, the church said.

"This event is of huge significance especially when it comes to strengthening people's faith," Father Kirill, a spokesman for the Saint Petersburg diocese, said.

"And the fact that this is such a singular relic helping women is especially important for our city and our country, where the demographic situation leaves much to be desired."

Russian leaders have called the shrinking population a matter of national security.

The country's latest census released earlier this year shows the country's population has shrunk by another 2.2 million people since 2002 and now stands at 142.9 million.

"It's a serious problem and an important topic for our country," the head of the church, Patriarch Kirill, said this week.

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Ugandan Witch Doctors Sacrifice Thousands of Children

October 20, 2011
ABC News

MARK COLVIN: A week ago, the BBC broadcast a shocking story from Uganda about widespread child sacrifice. As a result of an undercover investigation, it said many cases were not being followed up by the police, and little was being done to protect potential victims.

The reporters spoke to a witch doctor who offered to kill a child for them to bring luck to a construction project.

Peter M Sewakiryanga is director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries in Uganda, which helped with the investigation.

He's in Australia to draw attention to the child sacrifice problem, and he spoke to me this afternoon.

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Many people in Uganda have come to believe that when you sacrifice a child to evil spirits you get blessings, you get wealth, you get protection of some kind.

And there are many people involved in witchcraft, who are called witch doctors, who have been going on telling people that you need to sacrifice to be able to succeed in life.

MARK COLVIN: How many children get kidnapped and used in this way?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Last year we had reports of over 9,000 children (inaudible) lost and that is based on the United States human rights report. And unfortunately the most number of these children never get to be found and it's been come to our attention that most of them have been victims of child sacrifice.

Because people do it in such secrecy, it's very hard to find them dead until you find decapitated bodies of children with ritual stuff that is around them; others are castrated for ritual, you know castrated completely, others are mutilated, others are just cut heads off and remove body organs out of their bodies, and others you will never find them.

We did an investigation with the witch doctors, an undercover investigation, and we found out that 100 per cent of all those involved in witchcraft are willing to give child sacrifice as the best remedy for a problem that is going to bring success to business, it's going to protect business.

MARK COLVIN: So the people who buy this service, they think they're going to get good luck and good health, do they?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Yeah, they think they're going to get good luck, good health, they're going to get rich because there's a big number of people that are poor and they're going to get rich.

And the rich people want also to protect their wealth.

MARK COLVIN: Uganda is in many areas a Christian country. Are these people both practising both Christianity and witchcraft sort of side by side?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: You will find that the biggest, we have a very, very big number of people that believe in witchcraft. Uganda is …

MARK COLVIN: So it's possible to go to church on Sundays and believe in witchcraft the other days of the week?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Most people that are practising witchcraft don't believe in god.

MARK COLVIN: Has this been happening for a long time or is it a relatively new phenomenon?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: It's come very highly in the last couple of years and it's a very complex phenomena. It's become very high now in the last four, five years.

MARK COLVIN: It's an extraordinary phenomenon because Uganda during that period has been growing quite fast and people have a lot more technology, mobile phones, computers, that sort of thing.

It's extraordinary to imagine that witchcraft should be so strong in those circumstances.

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Yeah we have heard also foreign people coming into the country like from Tanzania. Those people that believe in the killing of albinos, that they'll get wealth.

And so any witch doctor that crosses from Tanzania to come to Uganda, they are allowed to announce on radios that they are going to offer the best spiritual power.

MARK COLVIN: They're allowed to advertise on the radio?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Yes, they are allowed to advertise on the radio.

MARK COLVIN: For killing albino children?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: No, no, no to offer evil spiritual success or solutions to problems and once people go there is when they are brought into the practice of child sacrifice.

MARK COLVIN: So you're campaigning against it in Uganda, what are you hoping for by campaigning here? What can Australians do?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Back in Uganda we have tried to ask the government to look up the child protection laws. We have asked the government to bring all pending cases in court to a logical conclusion so that justice can prevail.

But that has not happened and why we are making this an international campaign is to ask people to sign petitions, to show the government that the whole world is behind this campaign, is asking you to bring all these pending cases in court to a logical conclusion, to ask the government to look at the child protection laws.

They can look at them and this petition to help bring justice and protect children.

MARK COLVIN: Peter Sewakiryanga, director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries in Uganda. If you're interested in that petition he was talking about you'll be able to see it at www.kyampisi.org or www.jubileecampaign.co.uk.

To see how Christians are battling against child sacrifice in Uganda, see this video.

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The Feast of St. Gerasimos in 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'

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Serbian Patriarch "Most Vocal Opposition" To EU Integration

October 19, 2011
B92

The SPC patriarch has emerged as the most vocal opposition to the government on the issue of the EU and the conditions for continued integrations, says a daily.

Belgrade-based Danas newspaper is writing that Patriarch Irinej's strong statements about the EU and Kosovo are more radical that those voiced by most opposition parties, with the exception of the SRS, and that he stresses more forcefully the need to give up on Serbia's European road.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church said in the town of Jagodina last weekend that Serbia was facing a great temptation, being offered to join the EU but with a horrible price - to renounce Kosovo and Metohija.

"If we should sacrifice Kosovo and Metohija in order to join Europe - then let's thank them for their goodness and love. Let them leave us alone, let them not do again to us what they've done recently, let our Kosovo remain ours," the patriarch said after a service dedicated to the fallen Jagodina residents,who took part in liberation and unification wars waged from 1912 until 1918.

In mid-September, the patriarch was in Kosovoska Mitrovica, where he told Serbs at the barricades: "If you are harmed, you know why you will be harmed, if you must spill your blood, you know why you'll do it. That is holy martyrdom and defense of the holy land. That is the message of our Church and those who care about you."

In early October, while visiting the SPC monastery of Mileševo along with Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin, the patriarch said that the Serb nation has had "many friends - at least that's what we thought - many of whom sided with those who do not like us, and who hate us."

"We stand with few friends now, but we have our greatest friend, the Russian people," concluded Irinej.

Religious affairs analyst Živica Tucić spoke for the newspaper to say that Serbia is divided over EU integrations, and asserted that "some 50 percent are in favor, while others are undecided or against".

He noted that there were Orthodox Christians "among those 50 percent", and added that "what the patriarch is saying is not in their interests".

"Still, the patriarch's words will not carry great influence on their opinion, because the Church is seen here in a more traditional sense, as a place to get christened, married and buried. In that sense, the political influence of the SPC is limited," Tucić believes.

He noted that churches and religious communities said in an official statement, amde when the Law Against Discrimination was adopted, that they would "not stand in the way of European integrations, and would aid it".

Asked by the newspaper "what happened in the meantime to make the SPC reach a position that could be interpreted as 'anti-European'," this analyst said that "euroskepticism" was on the rise in the society as a whole.

Still, Tucić advised the Church to "leave the issue of Kosovo to the state to solve", and to "bear in mind not its wishes, but the realistic situation".

Political analyst Dušan Janjić said the patriarch's statements can be interpreted as "announcements of very serious, dramatic events, and the Church's concern for its members".

"The government has reached a complete dead-end. There's not one person in Serbia who's satisfied with it. Even its members are behaving like they were never in power. That's a sign of a profound crisis. The Serbian Orthodox Church would not have left the confines of its role had it not heard the call of its people. If there were no believers there would be no Church, and that is the realistic concern that the SPC has," Janjić said.

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Learning the Bible With Alice Cooper

Andrew Snell
October 17, 2011
The Sun

Alice, 63 — once barred from performing at a venue over claims his show was anti-Christian — is a substitute teacher at his local church.

He said: "You should see the look on people's faces. 'Alice Cooper teaching Bible class? But he's the spawn of the Devil!'"

The reformed alcoholic — whose shows involve fake blood, electric chairs and snakes — holds the lessons in Arizona, US.

Alice — real name Vincent Furnier — added: "Surely people get it by now — Alice is just a character. Alice hates going to church, but I go every Sunday."

School's Out star Alice, whose dad was a pastor, said he cleaned up his act after daughter Calico was born in 1981.

He said: "Before Cali came along I was living Alice's life. Every day was just one big party, fuelled by a bottle of whisky and case of beer."

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The Byzantine Empire Comes To Life For Presbyterian School 7th Graders

October 18, 2011
Your Houston News

When you’re neighbors with vestiges of ancient cultures, a walk around the block can be a real history lesson.

Such was the case recently for seventh graders at Presbyterian School, located in the Museum District.

Presbyterian School counts among its neighbors the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, the Rothko Chapel and the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, many of which bring to life elements of the Byzantine Empire’s Greek culture. Utilizing the close proximity of these neighboring institutions, history teacher Kathy Webb took the entire seventh grade (students and faculty) on a walking tour to see some Byzantine life in the 21st century.

The Byzantine Fresco Chapel and the Rothko Chapel are a part of the Houston Menil Collection near the University of St. Thomas. The Byzantine Fresco Chapel displays the only intact Byzantine frescoes of this size and importance in the entire western hemisphere. Students had the opportunity to view the work of Francois de Menil, the architect of the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, who executed his mother's vision for a "chapel museum" as a repository for frescoes recovered from Cyprus in the 1980s. Presbyterian School students had the good fortune to visit the frescoes this fall since they will be permanently returned to Cyprus in 2012.

Student Connor Watson said, “There were many paintings and idols in the Byzantine Chapel. We even studied a lot about one of the idols, and it ended up being there. That was very cool.”

Following the visit to the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, students walked to the Rothko Chapel, which is a non-denominational chapel founded by Francois de Menil’s parents, John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art. Students learned that the Rothko Chapel was a chapel with many paintings which could be interpreted as anything you can imagine from it. The Rothko Chapel also has no lights and only uses the light from the sun. Rothko would consider this “Natural Light” which he used in everything he made or painted.

Topping off the walking tour was a visit to the Original Greek Festival, sponsored by the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Students were able to feast on Greek gyros and dolmades. What do Presbyterian School students think about Greek food? As one student shared: “This festival had amazing food, maybe even the best I’ve ever had. The food was so good that I would consider it the best part about the trip. I thought the field trip was amazing.” After tasting Greek fare, students took in much of the Byzantine culture through the festival displays of religious artifacts/icons, Greek music and folk dancing. Students also toured the Cathedral sanctuary to see up close the iconostasis, a wall of religious paintings, which divides the nave and the altar and holds many of the icons from the original 1917 church.

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Agapius the Syrian: The Origins of Idolatry

By Agapius the Syrian

It is written that when the languages of the tribes of the children of Shem, Ham and Japheth, son of Noah, were divided in all the climates on the surface of the earth; when they had occupied their areas and when each language, each people and tribe had moved away into an unspecified region of a climate of the earth, as we described, the people began to make war on each other, one against another. Each tribe and each people chose a head of an army, who led their troops and led them into battle, going at their head. It is told that once, when some of the chiefs of the warriors and commanders of the troops returned victorious and triumphing to their companions, their people and their tribe, the people took them as their masters because of their victory and for their chiefs, renowned and famous for their exploits, their wars and their success, they set up idols bearing their names and resembling them, so that these idols recalled the memory of those who had made conquests to their profit and had returned victorious to them. A long time after this, people started to show veneration towards them and to offer sacrifices to them, initially as a testimony of veneration for them and to remember the victories which they had gained; then when misfortunes occurred, when their enemies, wanting revenge, inflicted on them all kinds of evils and wounds, they came to these idols, beseeching their help. For this reason, in the times that followed, the worship and the veneration of the idols were introduced by the living themselves of the heroes; devils, according to what is written, spoke to the men from the interior of these idols.

Source: Universal History

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Video: A Ghostly Encounter In Greece

As a young girl in Greece, Georgia Triantafillou saw a horrifying spectre. She recounts her exhilarating drama of a supernatural encounter through interview, re-enactment and archival photography.

Part One

Part Two

Ghostly Encounters, Season 1 Episode 29, "When Folk Tales Come True"

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Epistle to Diognetus: The Christian Way of Life

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.

They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

To sum up all in one word-what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures.

The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

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New Trailer - 'The Stylite: A Matter of Faith'

A spec trailer for a new documentary about a monk who hopes to live atop a 140ft rock outcrop in the central Imereti region of the Republic of Georgia. He would be the first in 600yrs. This trailer was cut from footage captured during our first research trip and a short documentary is coming soon. Join the growing international community around this project about a modern day Stylite and help us bring the feature length version to a theater near you.

Official Website

Read also:

Documentary On A Modern Day Stylite

Georgian Monk To Mount Katskhi Pillar As A Stylite

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The Translation of the Relics of St. Kyranna

On 11 October 2011 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited the Church of the Archangels in the village of Ossa in Lagada to venerate the recently discovered holy relics of the Holy New Martyr Kyranna. He was met by Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens, Metropolitan John of Lagada, many more bishops and priests, and a multitude of people who gathered for the Doxology.

After Metropolitan John spoke about the life and martyrdom of St. Kyranna, as well as the miraculous discovery of her holy relics in recent days, the Ecumenical Patriarch spoke about the mindset of St. Kyranna, and noted that she should be an example and model for our times. He supported this by quoting St. John Chrysostom, who said: "Those who honor the martyrs, should imitate the martyrs."

After this priests bore the relics of St. Kyranna in a larnax and began a procession to transfer the relics from the old church to the new church built in honor of the Saint. Women threw flowers before the relics on the way, while children ran to venerate the relics of the Saint or grab a blessing from a priest. When the relics arrived inside the church, they were placed in front of the Holy Altar where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew venerated them, followed by the Archbishop of Athens, the Bishops and all the people. Shortly afterwards the Ecumenical Patriarch was presented the manuscript of the Service to Saint Kyranna by Tryphon Tsombani, a professor of the Theological School of Aristotle University.

Read also:

Saint Kyranna the New Martyr (+1751)

The Recent Discovery of the Relics of Saint Kyranna the New Martyr of Ossa

Photos: The Church Where the Relics of St. Kyranna Were Discovered

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