The Simple Holy Elder Who Was Deceived About the Eucharist

This is what Abba Daniel, the Pharanite, said, 'Our Father Abba Arsenius told us of an inhabitant of Scetis, of notable life and of simple faith; through his naivete he was deceived and said, "The bread which we receive is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol."

Two elders having learnt that he had uttered this saying, knowing that he was outstanding in his way of life, knew that he had not spoken through malice, but through simplicity. So they came to find him and said, "Father, we have heard a proposition contrary to the faith on the part of someone who says that the bread which we receive is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol."

The elder said, "It is I who have said that."

Then the elders exhorted him saying, "Do not hold this position, Father, but hold one in conformity with that which the catholic Church has given us. We believe, for our part, that the bread itself is the body of Christ as in the beginning, God formed man in his image, taking the dust of the earth, without anyone being able to say that it is not the image of God, even though it is not seen to be so; thus it is with the bread of which he said that it is his body; and so we believe that it is really the body of Christ."

The elder said to them, "As long as I have not been persuaded by the thing itself, I shall not be fully convinced."

So they said, "Let us pray to God about this mystery throughout the whole of this week and we believe that God will reveal it to us."

The elder received this saying with joy and he prayed in these words, "Lord, you know that it is not through malice that I do not believe and so that I may not err through ignorance, reveal this mystery to me, Lord Jesus Christ."

The elders returned to their cells and they also prayed to God, saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, reveal this mystery to the elder, that he may believe and not lose his reward."

God heard both the prayers.

At the end of the week they came to church on Sunday and sat all three on the same mat, the elder in the middle. Then their eyes were opened and when the bread was placed on the holy table, there appeared as it were a little child to these three alone. And when the priest put out his hand to break the bread, behold an angel descended from heaven with a sword and poured the child's blood into the chalice. When the priest cut the bread into small pieces, the angel also cut the child in pieces. When they drew near to receive the sacred elements the elder alone received a morsel of bloody flesh. Seeing this he was afraid and cried out, "Lord, I believe that this bread is your flesh and this chalice your blood." Immediately the flesh which he held in his hand became bread, according to the mystery and he took it, giving thanks to God.

Then the elders said to him, "God knows human nature and that man cannot eat raw flesh and that is why he has changed his body into bread and his blood into wine, for those who receive it in faith."

Then they gave thanks to God for the elder, because he had allowed him not to lose the reward of his labour. So all three returned with joy to their own cells.'

From The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

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The Miracle of Panagia of Kassopitra in Corfu

The town of Kassiopi, situated 37 km north of Kerkyra, was founded by Pyros, who transferred Epirotians here from Kassiopia, in order to solve the problem of the scarce population on the island. According to another tradition, the town was founded by the Epirotians after the destruction of Epirus by the Romans. It is said that in the current location of the Monastery of Panagia Kassopitra, during the Roman years, stood the Temple of Cassius Zeus after whom the town was named. The Emperor Nero visited Kassiopi singing a song for Jupiter in the Temple of Zeus.

The Monastery of Panagia Kassopitra was built before 1706, and in 1850 we have testimony as to its builder - Elias X. Hieromonk Gennadios from Epirus purchased the Monastery and installed three nuns to serve there. From that time it became a female convent. In 1991 it became a male monastery. The feast of the Monastery is celebrated on May 8 to commemorate the healing of the blind Stephen, which took place here in 1530.

In 1530 a young peasant named Stephen went to the city of Kerkyra for certain business that he had there. There he met other young men from the countryside whom he knew, and they decided to return home together. On the way they met other young people who were bringing flour from the mill to their homes. The companions of Stephen decided to forcibly take this flour, and urged Stephen to participate in the theft. Stephen not only refused to participate in this evil act, but urged the others to abandon their plan as well. Despite this the theft took place and the one who was punished was the innocent Stephen. This was because the victims lodged a complaint to the authorities, and the perpetrators went into hiding while Stephen did not hide, having not committed the crime. For this reason he walked freely back to the city one day and they arrested him. He was brought before Symeon Leone who ordered that either his hand be cut off or his eyes removed for the crime, leaving to innocent Stephen the choice; he chose the second. Now blind, Stephen was led by his mother to the Church of Saint Lazarus to beg for mercy. Yet in the city Stephen encountered derision, so they decided to go away from the city and arrived in Kassiopi. Arriving at the Monastery of the Theotokos, there they asked the guardian monk for hospitality. The monk allowed them to stay the night in the church. During the night, while Stephen was numb from the pain, he felt someone pushing his eyes hard, and he awoke screaming. He then saw a woman bright beyond measure, who then disappeared immediately. He then woke up his mother to tell her of his vision, and revealed to her that he could now see. Hearing the cries of Stephen, the monk ran to the church. Amazed, the monk went to the city and proclaimed the miracle. Symeon Leone himself went to the Monastery to see the miracle, and upon seeing Stephen begged for forgiveness for his unjust punishment. It should also be noted that before the miracle the eyes of Stephen were brown, but after they became blue.

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After 95 Years, Iveron Icon Returns To Moscow Convent

Milena Faustova

May 6, 2012

The Voice of Russia

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin, who will become Russia’s president on Monday, together with the head of the Russian Church Patriarch Kirill, took part in a religious procession in Moscow.

The procession was held on the occasion of handling an old and very venerated icon of the Mother of God over to the Church from a museum.

The icon belonged to the Moscow Novodevichy convent until the convent was closed by the atheistic Bolshevik regime in 1922. After that, the icon was kept in the Moscow Historic Museum.

Now, a decision has been taken to return the icon to the Church.

Historian of religion Alexey Yudin believes that this is a very significant event for the Russian Church.

“This icon, known as the Iveron icon of the Mother of God, is a copy of a much older icon,” he says. “This copy was made for the Russian Tsar Alexey Romanov at the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece in 1648.”

“Mount Athos is a place known for centuries-old traditions of monasticism.”

“In fact, three copies from this icon were brought to Russia during the reign of Mikhail Romanov,” the historian continues, “but this particular copy was the first one brought to Russia. When it arrived, the tsar himself, surrounded by a crowd of believers, came out to meet it.”

“The Iveron icon of the Mother of God has always been especially venerated in Russia.”

An old chronicle says that when the Athos monks were painting this copy, they observed a very strict fasting and performed day and night church services twice in a week.

An autograph of the copyist has remained on the icon. It says in Greek: “Iamblichus Romanov, a monk from Iveron, painted this icon with great diligence in the year 7156.” (Which corresponds with the year 1648 according to the new chronology.)

Initially, the icon was placed in the Assumption cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. However, in 1654, the Russian army, which was holding a campaign against Poles, took the icon with itself to protect the army. One may believe in miracles or not, but the campaign ended with the victory of Russians.

When the icon returned to Moscow, Tsar Alexey Romanov decoded to hand it over to the Novodevichy convent. He believed that it was the Mother of God who brought the victory to the Russian army.

The Novodevichy convent is believed to be one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles of Moscow. It is situated in a picturesque place near the Moskva River.

The convent was founded in 1524. It has several times saved Moscow from enemies. When Crimean Khan Kazi-Girei attempted to besiege Moscow in 1591, Russian soldiers, who hid behind the powerful walls of the convent, opened fire on the khan’s army and prevented it from entering the city.

When French Emperor Napoleon retreated from Moscow in 1812, he attempted to blow up the Novodevichy convent. However, one of the convent’s nuns managed to put out a fired cord, which led to a cell with gunpowder, several minutes before the explosion.

In 2004, the Moscow Novodevichy convent was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a unique historic and architectural site.

In an interview with the Voice of Russia, the convent’s prioress Mother Margarita Feoktistova said:

“Since the Iver icon was handed over to our convent by Tsar Alexey Romanov, the only time that it left the convent was in 1913, when 300 years of the reign of the Romanov dynasty were celebrated.”

“In 1922, the Bolshevik regime closed the convent and made it a branch of the Moscow Historic Museum. The icon remained in the convent but was kept in a reserve depot.”

“In 2010, a decision was taken to return the convent to the Russian Orthodox Church. The museum left the territory, but it took the Iver icon with itself.”

“We were very sorry to part with the icon,” Mother Margarita says, “but we couldn’t do anything about it because, officially, the icon still belonged to the museum."

“Now we are very glad that the old and much-venerated icon has returned to us.”

At the solemn ceremony on Sunday, Russia’s soon-to-be president Vladimir Putin handed the icon over to Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna. They carried the icon from the convent’s gates to the Smolensk cathedral, where it hung before 1922 and where it will hang now.

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A Bright First Feast for Saint Sophia of Kleisoura

May 7, 2012

Romfea

With solemnity and awaiting the coming of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Kastoria, there was celebrated for the first time the memory of Saint Sophia of the Holy Monastery of Panagia Kleisouras where she lived in asceticism, on May 6th, the day of the repose of the Saint.

It is worth mentioning that the official celebration of Saint Sophia will take place on June 30 and July 1 of 2012, the dates when the Ecumenical Patriarch will visit the Metropolis of Kastoria, to initiate the official celebration of the canonization and will dedicate the temple housing the tomb of the Saint, to which the faithful resort every day, and will light for the first time the oil lamps which will burn unquenchable before the grave and in the area of the asceticism of the Saint.

The day before the feast a Great Hierarchical Vespers was celebrated at the Monastery of Panagia Kleisouriotissa, officiated by Bishop Bartholomew of Arianzou and Bishop Seraphim.

In his speech Mr. Bartholomew thanked the Metropolitan of Kastoria for the opportunity to live something very moving, as it was the first celebration as a Saint of the Eldress of Kleisoura.

Immediately after the clergy and people went to the hermitage of Saint Sophia, where she spent her life, and sang praises to the Blessed Sophia.

It is worth mentioning that the Services of Vespers and Matins and the Supplication and Lamentations to the Saint were written by the Great Hymnographer of the Alexandrian Church, the charismatic Dr. Harry Boussias.

On the day of the feast the Bishop of Kastoria thanked the bishops the clergy and the people who arrived in Kastoria in celebration of the Saint, saying that we are the ones that will not only be written in history because we were the first to celebrate, but Saint Sophia will write us in her own book, fulfilling the requests we asked for by resorting to her intercessions.

Finally, after the Divine Liturgy was celebrated, a procession of the sacred icon and the holy relics of Saint Sophia, took place around the premises of the monastery.

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Qeiyafa Ostracon Refers to Birth of Israelite Monarchy

Gerard Leval

May/Jun 2012

Biblical Archaeology Review

The already famous Qeiyafa Ostracon, found only in 2008, has been read and interpreted quite differently by a variety of senior scholars, as recounted in the previous article by Christopher Rollston. One of the most fascinating interpretations is by Émile Puech, the senior epigrapher of the prestigious École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem. Because his analysis is written in French (published in the Revue Biblique), it is not well known outside of a small group of scholars, but it is well worth considering. In Puech’s view, the Qeiyafa Ostracon is the earliest known text relating to the establishment of the Israelite monarchy—likely referring to the installation of the first Israelite king, Saul, rather than to the accession to that throne by his more illustrious successor David.

The five-line text of the ostracon, written in ink on the inside of a broken piece of pottery from a large jar, is badly abraded and, Puech agrees, cannot be deciphered with certainty. Some portions of the text are simply missing, and the legible letters are very irregularly written and positioned. Just as Rollston proposes in the previous article, Puech reads the text from left-to-right, rather than in the more common Hebrew direction of right-to-left. From the sloping of the text, he deduces that the scribe held the potsherd in his left hand, and he notes that the text is slightly tilted up to the right.

Puech rejects the notion put forward by some that the text is just a writing exercise by a scribe. Rather, he posits that the text is the concluding section of an administrative document and proposes the following interpretation of the five-line text:

Do not oppress, and serve God … despoiled him/her

The judge and the widow wept; he had the power

over the resident alien and the child, he eliminated them together

The men and the chiefs/officers have established a king

He marked 60 [?] servants among the communities / habitations / generations

Puech begins his analysis with an extensive examination of each letter and the way in which each is written—its direction, its proximity to adjacent letters, as well as its position within the line. He also explores various alternative interpretations of the text. Ultimately, he concludes that the message is “manifestly incomplete,” that it is only a part (albeit a substantial part) of a longer text. He assumes that the first part is entirely missing, but theorizes that the text is plausibly “a copy for the purpose of memorializing a message coming from elsewhere, the copy of an administrative circular.”

According to Puech, the text appears to be the locally written copy of a message to the governor or a notable of the town, informing him of the decisions taken by a hierarchical superior (the king or a minister of the central administration). The text directs the recipient faithfully to accept those decisions, in his comportment and in regulating local situations, and, in particular, in matters dealing with the needy, the widow, the resident alien and children, in contrast to that which was done previously.

The text is thus a message to a local leader about decisions taken by someone in a higher position of authority, which the recipient must accept.

The text provides insights into “the organization of society in connection with the exercise of government and of local justice.” It identifies concerns about “the manner of rendering justice, which was not in conformity with that which is expected of judges.”

Finally, and most importantly, the text informs us (in line 4) about the “establishment of a monarchy, an experience that is apparently new,” according to Puech, and thus not likely the result of a succession within an established monarchical line.

Each of these bits of information is significant in itself, but together they provide a powerful confirmation of a major political transformation.

Puech dates the ostracon to “about 1000 B.C.E., toward the end of the 11th century or more probably the beginning of the tenth century B.C.E.” In his judgment, based on the shape and form of the letters, the Qeiyafa inscription is “certainly” older than the Gezer Calendar and the Tel Zayit Abecedary, two other inscriptions treated in the preceding article by Christopher Rollston.

In archaeological terms, this is the period denominated Iron Age IIA, the time of the earliest kingdom of Israel, not that of David and Solomon, but even earlier, that of King Saul.

Puech notes that others have concluded that the language of the text is Hebrew and have asserted that it is the “oldest Hebrew text—found in an Israelite or Judahite fortress.” Puech recognizes, however, that at this stage it remains impossible to distinguish completely between Hebrew and Canaanite. That the ostracon was found in an Israelite fortress (which is devoid of any remnants of pig bones commonly found in the same strata of archeological sites of Philistine cities) would tend to reinforce the possibility that it may be Hebrew.

Who is the king referred to in line 4? The use of the word “established” seems to indicate that the king ascended to the throne by the establishment of his monarchy rather than by familial succession. Given the provenance of the find—a Judahite fortress—only two possibilities seem available: David or Saul. Puech leans toward Saul—the first Israelite king.

According to the Bible, Saul was chosen by the high priest Samuel to rule over the Israelites. Saul, who, together with three of his sons, died on the battlefield at Mt. Gilboa, was not succeeded on the Israelite throne by any of his descendants, but by David the son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah. Puech dates the beginning of Saul’s reign to approximately 1030 B.C.E., and David’s to approximately 1010 B.C.E.

The Biblical text informs us that Samuel’s sons did not follow in their father’s ways. They accepted bribes and perverted justice. As a consequence, the elders approached the aging Samuel and demanded that he appoint a king over Israel. At first Samuel resisted; however, the text states that in the end the Lord instructed Samuel to accede to the elders’ demand and guided him to Saul, the tall, handsome son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin, who became Israel’s first king (1 Samuel 8–9).

Puech tells us that when he had completed deciphering the text of the Qeiyafa Ostracon, he was “surprised to find that [it] contained all of the essentials” that are in the Biblical text: (1) the need for judges who will not oppress the foreigner and those less fortunate (e.g., the widow and the orphan) and a need for those who will protect them from annihilation, (2) the installation of a king, (3) the existence of servants who serve the king, (4) the injunction not to oppress, but to serve God and (5) most importantly the designation of a new monarch.

For Puech, the text announces the installation of a centralized royal administration and it makes this announcement to a distant frontier province. He concedes that it is difficult to establish with certainty whether the new royal administration is that of Saul or David. On balance, however, he concludes that, most likely, the ostracon refers to Saul’s accession.

Puech agrees with the excavators that Khirbet Qeiyafa is likely Biblical Shaarayim. Shaarayim is located in Judah, and Qeiyafa seems to be located in an area where the Bible places Shaarayim (Joshua 15:36). The name Shaarayim means “gates”; Qeiyafa is a prime contender for Shaarayim since it has two gates, while other sites excavated in the vicinity have only one gate.

Another Biblical reference to Shaarayim indicates it existed before the time of David’s reign: After David killed the Philistine Goliath with a stone flung using his slingshot and then beheaded the giant with Goliath’s own sword, the Israelites pursued the Philistines who fell mortally wounded on the way from Shaarayim (1 Samuel 17:52).

This reference reflects the existence of Shaarayim before David’s reign, during his predecessor Saul’s reign (see also 1 Chronicles 4:31). Since the Qeiyafa inscription refers to an apparently new king and seems to have been written earlier than David’s reign, Puech concludes that it is more likely that the ostracon refers to the establishment of Saul’s rule.

Moreover, the inscription seems to memorialize (or, in Puech’s words, is “a witness to”) the transition not from one king to another (from Saul to David), but rather from the period of the judges to the monarchy—thus from Samuel and his sons to Saul.

If Puech is correct, the Qeiyafa Ostracon is the only archaeological artifact referring to Israel’s first king. And it is the earliest non-Biblical confirmation of the establishment of the Israelite monarchy.

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The Truth About the Prophecies of Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher

The Story

Saint Nilus (+ 1651) was a bright beacon of sanctity who struggled valiantly in asceticism on the Holy Mountain of Athos, and who upon his repose gushed an abundant amount of myrrh that testified to his holiness and purity.

Between the years 1813 and 1819, a certain monk named Theophanes, also known as the "Prisoner", was troubled by a demon due to his many sins, and he also suffered from a hernia. In despair over his condition he planned to leave the Holy Mountain until one day St. Nilus appeared to him. St. Nilus showed him an abandoned hut and instructed him to settle there, promising to provide for his needs. Theophanes obeyed, although at first he did not know it was St Nilus - only later did the Saint reveal himself.

St. Nilus appeared to him several times, healed him, and taught him about spiritual warfare. Cleansed of his passions and sins through proper ascetic struggle, St. Nilus ordered him to take the Great Schema and bear the name Ekhmalotos (Prisoner) as a sign that now he was a captive of St. Nilus for healing him of demonic possession and vice.

St. Nilus told Monk Ekhmalotos he wanted a path made to his cave so that monks could go there to pray. He also wanted the Liturgy to be served in the cave church he himself had built.

When the Fathers heard this, they wished to build a new church in honor of St. Nilus. As they were digging the foundation, they found the saint's grave. From his relics an ineffable fragrance came forth. This took place on May 7, 1815.

Then the monks informed the Fathers of the Great Lavra of their discovery. They came and transferred the relics to the Lavra, leaving only a portion of the saint's jaw at the cave to be venerated by those who came there.

At the request of certain monks from Kafsokalyvia, Monk Ekhmalotos wrote down the appearances of the Saint, and later St. Nilus told him to write down his words in full. Because he was barely literate he dictated the story and prophecies to a Hieromonk Gerasimos from Constantinople, who recorded it word for word.

The Saint counseled that those who sought shelter on the Holy Mountain should never become despondent nor lose hope in the protection of the Mother of God. The monks should not abandon Athos until the day the Iveron icon of the Theotokos departs, but remain there in repentance, silence, humility, obedience, and especially chastity, hoping always in their salvation.

Many holy elders have seen in Monk Ekhmalotos a type of the monasticism of the end times.

The entire chronicle of St. Nilus' teachings and prophecies to the Monk Theophanes between the years 1813 to 1819 fill a six-hundred page book, available in Greek and Russian. On page 611 of this text, we read that it was a monk by the name of Iakovos from Iveron Monastery who copied this entire text and published it in 1906. It includes prophecies of the invasion of the Holy Mountain during the Greek Revolution, the 1821 Revolution itself, the end of monasticism on the Holy Mountain, and the struggles of the monks of the last times.

The Truth

For a few years now there have been an abundant amount of posts throughout the cyber world, as well as in published material in many languages, of the so-called "Prophecy of Saint Nilus", which claims to foretell the various signs of the end-times and the coming of Antichrist beginning in the 20th century (specifically beginning in 1992). This "prophecy" is just one excerpt from the chronicle mentioned above of St. Nilus' teachings and prophecies to Monk Theophanes. Proper discernment compels us to ask, however, just how trustworthy and reliable are these prophecies from an Orthodox perspective?

The simple answer is this: the so-called "prophecies of St. Nilus" are not very trustworthy at all. Monk Theophanes appears to have fallen into delusion, probably following the miracle of the finding of the holy relics of St. Nilus on May 7, 1815.

In 2002 a book was published in Greece under the title Η ΠΤΩΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΟΡΟΥΣ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΕΥΘΗΚΕ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΟΣΙΟ ΝΕΙΛΟ ΤΟΝ ΜΥΡΟΒΛΗΤΗ; (The Fall and End of Mount Athos Was Prophecied By Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher?). This book was written by Monk Maximos Varvaris and published by the Holy Monastery Paraklitos in Oropos of Attica which is under the Holy Cells of Saint Nilus on Mount Athos. This publication with its provocative title and huge significance for Mount Athos caused a closer examination of these so-called "prophecies". One book, titled ΟΙ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΕΣ ΜΑΣ ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΠΤΟΥΝ (The Prophets Reveal To Us), was published by Poimenikos Avlos on Mount Athos in 2010 and written by the Athonite monk Abraham from the Kalyva of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Provata. In this book he offers very important information about what are known as the prophecies of Saint Nilus, following an examination of the text which he had published in the first edition. We read (in both English and the original Greek for the benefit of all):

In the first edition of this essay we quoted from the above mentioned text as a prophecy of Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher. But then there came into our hands a book titled Prophecies of Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher. A reprint of these "prophecies" over time and in many variations has unfortunately been circulated by uncritical zealots to the libraries of certain Monasteries. A study of the text confirms this to be a blasphemy against Saint Nilus, which were handed down by a demonized monk who wrote them. Listen to what he writes, that after one hundred and seventy years following the repose of the Saint, St. Nilus appeared to him "in another form", as if he recognized his true form, since he reposed so many years prior, and since, he says, he was healed of his demonic possession, he dictated the so-called "prophecies". But since he was completely illiterate, he was told to tell them to another hieromonk to write them down. And all these texts, which required a thick book to fit them, he remembered and dictated them to this hieromonk.

In these texts one encounters meaningless teachings, which are derogatory and defamatory against the Athonite fathers, with generalizations and in the last reprint by a well-known monk, who is a zealotist and schismatic, identifies these pseudo-prophecies of the last days with the state of today's fathers of Mount Athos, who are struggling the good struggle of the faith praying for the entire world; and he himself has prophecied that the Antichirst has been born and will reveal himself in 2012!

Unfortunately, he has the same spirit that inspired the writing of the so-called "prophecies", supposedly of St. Nilus.

And to make clearer the deception, we say the following: No saint, in the history of the Church, appeared after his repose to dictate to someone who is still in this world some prophetic texts. Prophecies are only given by God to holy persons who live in the world to give to their contemporaries who are in the Church, revealing also future events to future generations to contribute to the educational awareness and preparedness of the faithful in view of future happenings.

So in our humble opinion there are no prophecies of Saint Nilus the Myrrgusher, but it is a false text of one who was deceived, and for this reason its distribution must cease, because it confuses the faithful and we must restore at the same time Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher, who is loved and reverenced by all the Athonite fathers. We request of the fathers of the Monasteries who have in their libraries copies of these to remove them from their libraries and destroy them. The same opinion is shared by other Athonite fathers.

This text which we quoted as a prophecy of St. Nilus we did not receive from this book we mentioned above, but it was recorded in Stavrovouniou Monastery in Cyprus, and it could come from someone else and is attributed to St. Nilus.

If someone has a different opinion from what is written above and has some other arguments, if he wants to communicate with me, so there may be some order on this issue, let other fathers also take a stance, and if I have an error I will correct it. Otherwise, as it is well-known here on Mount Athos, when in olden times the Russians asked for these "prophecies of Saint Nilus" to translate them, the Holy Community of Mount Athos did not allow them to be given considering them invalid [this occurred in 1912].

Στην πρώτη έκδοση αυτού του πονήματος παραθέσα­με το παραπάνω κείμενο2 που αναφέρεται ως προφητεία τού Οσίου Νείλου τού Μυροβλύτου. Κατόπιν όμως ήλθε στα χέρια μας ένα βιβλίο με τίτλο ‘Προφητείες τού άγιου Νείλου του Μυροβλήτου’. Μία ανατύπωση που κατά και­ρούς διακινούν κάποιοι άκριτοι ζηλωτές, και που δυστυχώς υπάρχουν σε παραλλαγές, αυτές οι «προφη­τείες», και στις βιβλιοθήκες κάποιων Μονών. Από την μελέτη των κειμένων διαπιστώσαμε ότι πρόκειται για βλασφημία κατά τού Οσίου Νείλου, που του τις απέδω­σε, ένας δαιμονισμένος μοναχός που τις συνέγραψε. Ακούστε τι γράφει, ότι μετά από εκατό εβδομήντα χρό­νια από την κοίμηση τού Οσίου, τού παρουσιάστηκε σε όραμα ο όσιος Νείλος «υπό ετέραν μορφήν» ωσάν να γνώριζε την πραγματική του μορφή, αφού εκοιμήθη τόσα χρόνια πριν, και αφού τον εθεράπευσε λέει από τον δαι­μονισμό, του υπαγόρευσε τις λεγόμενες προφητείες, αλλά επειδή ήταν τελείως αγράμματος τού είπε να τις ειπή σε κάποιον ιερομόναχο για να τις καταγράψη. Και όλα αυτά τα κείμενα που χρειάστηκε ένα χονδρό βιβλίο για να τα χωρέση τα θυμόταν και τα υπαγόρευσε στον ιερομόναχο αυτό.

Στα κείμενα αυτά περισσότερο συναντά κανείς διδασκαλίες ανούσιες, απαξιωτικές και συκοφαντικές για τους αγιορείτες πατέρες, με γενικότητες και μάλιστα στην τελευταία επανέκδοση υπό γνωστού μοναχού, ο οποίος είναι ζηλωτής και εξαγωνίτης και ταυτίζει τα φοβερά που αναφέρονται στις ψευδοπροφητείες για τους έσχατους καιρούς με την κατάσταση των σημερινών πατέρων τού Αγίου Όρους3, οι οποίοι αγωνίζονται τον καλόν αγώνα της πίστεως προσευχόμενοι για όλο τον κόσμο· αφού ο ίδιος έχει προφητεύσει ότι ο Αντίχριστος έχει γεννηθεί και θα παρουσιασθή το 2012!!4

Δυστυχώς, από το ίδιο πνεύμα εμπνέεται με αυτόν που συνέγραψε τις λεγόμενες προφητείες, δήθεν τού Οσίου Νείλου.

Και για να γίνει πιο ξεκάθαρη η πλάνη λέμε τα εξής: Κανένας άγιος, στην ιστορία της Εκκλησίας, δεν παρου­σιάζεται μετά την κοίμησή του, να υπαγορεύη σε κάποι­ον που βρίσκεται ακόμα σ' αυτό τον κόσμο, κάποια προ­φητικά κείμενα. Οι προφητείες δίνονται μόνο από τον Θεό σε έναν άγιο άνθρωπο που ζει σ' αυτόν τον κόσμο να τις μεταδώση στους συγχρόνους του και να υπάρχουν στην Εκκλησία, αποκαλύπτοντας μελλοντικά γεγονότα και στις επόμενες γενεές ώστε να συντελέσουν για μία παιδαγωγική εγρήγορση και ετοιμότητα των πιστών εν όψη των μελλόντων να συμβούν.

Επομένως κατά την ταπεινή μας γνώμη δεν υπάρχουν προφητείες του Οσίου Νείλου τού Μυροβλήτου, αλλά πρόκειται για ψευδή κεί­μενα ενός πλανεμένου και γι' αυτό πρέπει να σταματήση η διακίνησή τους· διότι συγχύζουν τους πιστούς και ταυ­τόχρονα να αποκαταστήσουμε τον Όσιο Νείλο τον Μυροβλήτη, που αγαπούν και ευλαβούνται όλοι οι αγιο­ρείτες πατέρες. Παρακαλούμε δε και τους πατέρες των Κοινοβίων Μονών που έχουν στις βιβλιοθήκες τους τέτοια αντίτυπα να τα βγάλουν από τις βιβλιοθήκες τους και να τα καταστρέψουν, την ίδια γνώμη έχουν και άλλοι αγιορείτες πατέρες.

Αυτό το κείμενο που παραθέσαμε ως προφητεία τού Οσίου Νείλου5 δεν το ελάβαμε από το βιβλίο αυτό που αναφέρομε πιο πάνω, αλλά κάπου ήταν καταγραμμένο στην Μονή Σταυροβουνίου της Κύπρου, όμως μπορεί να προέρχεται από κάποιον άλλο, και την απέδωσαν στον Όσιο Νείλο.

Εάν κάποιος σχετικά με τα παραπάνω έχει διαφορε­τική γνώμη που την κατοχυρώνει με κάποια επιχειρήμα­τα, αν θέλει ας επικοινωνήση μαζί μου, για να μπη μια τάξη και σε αυτό το θέμα, ας πάρουν θέση και άλλοι πατέρες και αν έχω λάθος εγώ να το διορθώσω. Άλλωστε, όπως είναι γνωστό εδώ στο Άγιο Όρος, όταν παλαιότερα εζήτησαν οι Ρώσοι αυτές τις «προφητείες τού οσίου Νείλου», η Ιερά Κοινότης δεν επέτρεψε να δοθούν ως μη έγκυρες.

The decision of the Holy Community of Mount Athos in 1912 to not allow the translation of these "prophecies", and their opinion that these are illegitimate and deluded teachings, is the response to all those who overemphasize them to promote their ideologies.

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Video: Byzantium and the Art of Modernity

What does modern art have to gain from Byzantium? What does Byzantine art have to gain from modernism? How can Byzantine philosophy enrich our understanding of the modern and contemporary image? In this introduction to the Byzantium/Modernism Symposium at Yale University, conference co-chair Roland Betancourt addresses these questions in the context of modern and byzantine art history.

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Video: The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Significance of Dialogue

Metropolitan Emmanuel of France delivers the Patriarch Athenagoras Lecture titled "The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Significance of Dialogue". Recorded on Wednesday March 14, 2012 at 7:30PM at Hellenic College / Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) is the Metropolitan of France, Exarch of Europe. He also serves as the representative of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to the European Union. He is President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France, as well as the Co-President of the Council of Christian Churches of France. His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also appointed Metropolitan Emmanuel to the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Dialogues.

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Patriarch of Georgia Baptizes 400 Babies

Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili

May 6, 2012

Associated Press

The patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church presided over the baptism of hundreds of babies in a Tbilisi cathedral on Sunday as part of an effort credited with helping raise the birth rate in this former Soviet nation.

Patriarch Ilia II has promised to become the godfather of all babies born into Orthodox Christian families who already have two or more children. Since he began the mass baptisms in 2008, he has gained nearly 11,000 godchildren.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has said the patriarch deserves much of the credit for the rising birth rate, which in 2010 was 25 percent higher than in 2005. The number of abortions also declined by nearly 50 percent over the same five-year period.

Parents of the 400 babies baptized by an array of priests Sunday said the patriarch was instrumental in their decision to have a third or fourth child.

"This is a wonderful day for my family," said Tamar Kapanadze, a 33-year-old father of four. "Our fourth son, Lashko, was baptized by the patriarch himself, and before this he baptized our daughter Liziko. This is why we decided to have a fourth child."

Lamara Georgadze, whose fourth child was among those baptized on Sunday, said she and her husband also answered the patriarch's call to have more children.

"The Holy Father reminded us all of the importance of increasing the birth rate," she said. "There are too few of us Georgians and therefore this is very important."

Saakashvili has set a goal of increasing Georgia's population from 4.5 million to 5 million by 2015.

Since coming to power in 2004, Saakashvili has focused on modernizing and expanding the economy, attracting foreign investment and pushing for closer ties with the United States and Europe. With Georgia's population aging, he is eager to see a new generation born that could help secure the country's future.

In his annual address to parliament in February, he said the government would give parents a one-time payment the equivalent of about $600 for a third child and double that amount for a fourth child.

"This will help raise the birth rate," Saakashvili said. "The patriarch has already taken steps in this direction. We should be thankful to him for continually reminding the Georgian people that we should multiply."

The president and his Dutch wife have two children.

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How to Live Unhappily Ever After

The upside of being downbeat, and embracing loss and anger.

Augusten Burroughs

May 4, 2012

The Wall Street Journal

"I just want to be happy."

I can't think of another phrase capable of causing more misery and permanent unhappiness. With the possible exception of, "Honey, I'm in love with your youngest sister."

Yet at first glance, it seems so guileless. Children just want to be happy. So do puppies. Happy seems like a healthy, normal desire. Like wanting to breathe fresh air or shop only at Whole Foods.

But "I just want to be happy" is a hole cut out of the floor and covered with a rug. Because once you say it, the implication is that you're not. The "I just want to be happy" bear trap is that until you define precisely, just exactly what "happy" is, you will never feel it. Whatever being happy means to you, it needs to be specific and also possible. When you have a blueprint for what happiness is, lay it over your life and see what you need to change so the images are more aligned.

Still, this recipe of defining happiness and fiddling with your life to get it will work for some people—but not for others. I am one of the others. I am not a happy person. There are things that do make me experience joy. But joy is a fleeting emotion, like a very long sneeze. A lot of the time what I feel is, interested. Or I feel melancholy. And I also frequently feel tenderness, annoyance, confusion, fear, hopelessness. It doesn't all add up to anything I would call happiness. But what I'm thinking is, is that so terrible?

I know a physicist who loves his work. People mistake his constant focus and thought with unhappiness. But he's not unhappy. He's busy. I bet when he dies, there will be a book on his chest. Happiness is a treadmill of a goal for people who are not happy by nature. Being an unhappy person does not mean you must be sad or dark. You can be interested, instead of happy. You can be fascinated instead of happy.

The barrier to this, of course, is that in our super-positive society, we have an unspoken zero-tolerance policy for negativity. Beneath the catchall umbrella of negativity is basically everything that isn't super-positive. Seriously, who among us is having a "Great!" day every day? Who feels "Terrific, thanks!" all the time?

Anger and negativity have their uses, too. Instead of trying to alleviate some of the uncomfortable and unpleasant emotions you feel by "trying to be positive," try being negative instead. Seriously, try it sometime. This will help you get in touch with how you actually feel: "I feel hopeless and fat and stupid. And like a failure for feeling this way. And trying to be positive and upbeat makes me feel angry and feeling angry makes me feel like I am broken."

If that's how you feel—however you feel—then you have a base line, you have established a real solid floor of reference. Sometimes just giving yourself permission to feel any emotion without judgment or censorship can lessen the intensity of those negative emotions. Almost like you're letting them out into the backyard to run around and get rid of some of that energy.

A corollary to the idea that we must all be happy and positive all the time is that we must all be "healed." When I was 32, somebody I loved died on a plastic-covered twin mattress at a Manhattan hospital. His death was not unexpected and I had prepared myself years in advance, as though studying for a degree. When he died, I was as stunned as if he had been killed by a grand piano falling from the top of a building. I was fully unprepared.

I did not know what to do with my physical self. It took me about a year to stop thinking, madly, I might somehow meet him in my sleep. Once I finally believed he was gone, I began the next stage: waiting. Waiting to heal. This lasted several years.

The truth about healing is that heal is a television word. Someone close to you dies? You will never heal. What will happen is, for the first few days, the people around you will touch your shoulder and this will startle you and remind you to breathe. You will feel as though you will soon be dead from natural causes; the weight of the grief will be physical and very nearly unbearable.

Eventually, you will shower and leave the house. Maybe in a year you will see a movie. And one day somebody will say something and it will cause you to laugh. And you will clamp your hand over your mouth because you laughed and that laugh will break your heart, it will feel like a betrayal. How can you laugh?

In time, to your friends, you will appear to have recovered from your loss. All that really happened, you'll think, is that the hole in the center of your life has narrowed just enough to be concealed by a laugh. And yet, you might feel a pressure for it to be true. You might feel that "enough" time has passed now, that the hole at the center of you should not be there at all.

But holes are interesting things. As it happens, we human beings are able to live just fine with many holes of many sizes and shapes. Pleasure, love, compassion, fulfillment; these things do not leak out of holes of any size. So we can be filled with holes and loss and wide expanses of unhealed geography—and we can also be excited by life and in love and content at the exact same moment.

This is among the oldest, deepest, most primal truths: The facts of life may be, at times, unbearably painful. But the core, the bones of life are generous beyond all reason or belief. Those things which ought to kill us do not. This should be taken as encouragement to continue.

The truth about healing is that you don't need to heal to be whole. And by whole, I mean damaged, missing pieces of who you were, your heart—missing what feels like some of your most important parts. And yet, not missing any part of you at all. Being, in truth, larger than you were before.

Human experience weighs more than human tissue.

—Adapted from "This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike," by Augusten Burroughs.

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The Paralytic's Endurance and the Meaning of Life

Homily For the Sunday of the Paralytic

By Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis (John 5:1-15)

"And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years."

The question is asked, beloved, what is life? Is it enjoyment? Is it amusement? Is it dancing and fun? Is it "let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die"? Many people think this way, especially the young of our times, who are carried away by materialistic and atheistic ideas and think that the few years they are going to live on this planet must be lived as happily and as hedonistically as possible. They have as a kind of motto the Italian phrase dolce vita, which means "sweet life". For them, sweet life means living day and night at various amusement centers, dancing wildly, singing obscene songs, engaging in loud behavior, and taking drugs to achieve a chemical paradise of pleasure for a few hours. Once those hours pass, these unfortunates fall into a terrible state of depression and gloom.

For those who examine things deeper and think philosophically, life has a greater meaning. The life of virtue and duty is not like a smooth paved road, landscaped with shrubs and flowers for passing motorists to admire; it is like a narrow, hilly road, on which motorists shall meet many obstacles, afflictions, and trials. As Job observes, man's life is a trial. And what is a trial? It is a life full of temptations, sorrows, and tribulations. Just as gold comes out of the depths of the earth unclean and is thrown into a fiery furnace where all the worthless elements are burned away and the gold runs pure, in the same way man has to pass through the fiery furnace of affliction and temptation to be cleansed of his faults, vices, and passions.

There was a time, however, when man did not have to be cleaned. He was pure and clean. When? When he lived close to God in paradise. But when man sinned, sin contaminated the world of his soul and he became full of evils and faults, like impure gold in need of cleansing and purification. From then on, after the fall of the first man, the sufferings, the sorrows, and the temptations started. The earth, which was pure and fragrant with the aroma of beautiful flowers, became wild and started to send out thorns; to root out the thorns and make the earth productive, man had to bloody his hands. Tame animals became wild and turned into beasts whose roars frightened man. The rivers filled up and overflowed, causing floods and cataclysms. The earth started to shake with fearful quakes. Man, too, who once was healthy and immortal, was infected by illness, pain, and death because of sin.

Afflictions, then, came to man from the upheavals of the elements of nature, from earthquakes and floods. Afflictions came from sicknesses and death. They also came from his fellow man; these were the greatest. The afflictions hardest to bear are those that come from friends and relatives, who because of the evil within them, pour affliction out like a poison. Out of this evil from his fellow man, man has suffered many and great afflictions. Injustice, theft, insult to family honor, fornication and adultery, lies, calumny and slander, injuries, killings, crimes, horrifying wars that make the earth an endless trial - all of these constitute a great well of affliction for man.

Wherever man goes he shall face afflictions, sometimes from the elements of nature, sometimes from the evil and malice of his fellow man, and sometimes from himself. Some afflictions come from the devil, who tries to destroy man. Finally, some afflictions come from the omnipotent, all-benevolent and all-wise God for the purpose of bringing about the purification of a sinful humanity.

Man travels within an ocean of sorrows. Christ confirmed it when he said, "In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" [John 16:33]. There was not, there is not, and there shall never be a person who does not have to confront affliction. When there is an island that is not surrounded by the sea, then there shall be a man who is not afflicted by sorrows.

The problem is, how does man confront affliction? Many people glorify God when they are healthy, their wallets are full, their children are thriving, and their lives are on course. But when affliction interrupts the tranquility, they lose their composure and curse the day they were born. Some become so desperate that they end their lives through suicide.

Oh man who is afflicted in this world! You have to arm yourself with patience to conquer sorrow. To receive patience, you must open up Holy Scripture and read what it says about affliction and the purpose it serves; read about those superb examples of patience.

In Holy Writ, there are many examples of patience. One such example is the paralytic in this Sunday's Gospel reading. He is a hero greater than those who are victorious on the fields of battle and get medals for courage.

Let's look at the life of this hero. He lived inside an ocean of afflictions. Not days, not weeks, not just a few years but for thirty-eight years he was sick, completely paralyzed. And yet he didn't howl, he didn't blaspheme, he didn't curse the day he was born. With a patience that reminds one of the patience of Job, he passed the days of his affliction believing that God had not abandoned him, but would someday show His mercy to him. And God did show His mercy. He came Himself, Jesus Christ, the true God, and cured the paralytic. All who saw were amazed by this miracle. On that day, the paralytic, that hero of patience, received from Christ, the Ruler of All, the reward for patience.

May it be, my beloved, that we all - men and women, any of us who suffer afflictions - be rewarded for patience. In order to endure, let's think of those heroes of patience like the paralytic and especially the king of pain and sorrow, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who said: "In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

From Drops From the Living Water: Orthodox Homilies On the Sunday Gospel Readings by Augoustinos N. Kantiotis; pp. 60-64.

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The Paralytic and the Paralysis of Egoism

By Fr. Alexander Schmemann

On the third Sunday after Easter, the reading from the gospel of John recounts Christ’s healing of a paralytic. “There was a feast,” writes the Evangelist John, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethsaida, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whoever stepped in first after the troubling of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. (Jn 5:1-9)

That is the gospel record, and having heard it, many will respond that it’s just another miracle, another unbelievable event that has nothing whatsoever in common with our life, interests, needs, questions … But we listen carefully and reflect: the gospel is so childishly simple, and its stories so short, that a person of today is easily fooled by this brevity and simplicity. It seems to him or her that the truth about themselves and about their life must be complicated and cumbersome, because they themselves are complicated. But perhaps the gospel’s ageless power resides in its reduction of everything to the most essential, elementary, fundamental: good and evil, darkness and light, man and God, life and death. And indeed, any focused and deep thought that involves not merely the mind, but one’s entire being, in the end always concerns what is most essential. For all of life’s complexity balances on the simplicity of eternal questions: good and evil, life and death, God and man.

So, in this particular gospel story, what is eternal and enduring? At its center, very clearly, are the paralytic’s words to Christ, “I have no man.” This truly is the cry of someone who has come to know the terrible power of human selfishness, narcissism. Every man for himself. Looking out for number one. All of them, all that great multitude of blind, sick, paralyzed, are all “waiting for the troubling of the waters,” in other words, waiting for help, concern, healing, comfort. But…each waits by himself, for himself. And when the waters are troubled, each throws himself forward and forgets about the others… From the gospel’s point of view, this pool is of course an image of the world, an image of human society, a symbol of the very organization of human consciousness.

Oh, of course, within the world one can find many examples of people who overcome egoism, examples of goodness and self-sacrifice. But even when someone has apparently overcome personal selfishness, he is still held prisoner by the category “his.” He may have overcome bondage to himself as an individual, but then it is “his” family, and for “his” family, since “charity begins at home.” If not family, then “his” ethnic group or country. If not this, then “his” social class, “his” political party. His, always his! And this “his” is invariably opposed to someone else’s, which by definition becomes alien and hostile. We’re told that this is how the world works, what can you do? But is this really true, is this really the ultimate, objective, and scientific truth about the person and human life?

Is it really true that everything in this world boils down to personal or collective self-interest, and that everyone lives by this? We are told that capitalism is wrong because it is self-serving and must, therefore, be destroyed in the name of communism. But self-serving is exactly what communism has been, constantly trumpeting its own worldview, its own class, its own party and so forth: its own against not-its-own, the other. .. And there is no escape whatsoever from this vicious cycle.

Unknown to us, however, we no longer feel suffocated by this world so totally drunk on all-consuming ego. We have become accustomed to blood, hatred, violence and, at best, indifference. Sometime in the 1920′s, a young man, practically a boy, left a note and then committed suicide: “I do not want to live in a world where everyone is playing a con game … ” All of this was suffocating him, he could not stand it any longer. But we are gradually harassed into accepting this as normal, and the horror of self-centeredness we cease experiencing as horrible … This is what the gospel story of the paralytic is about. All these sick, helpless, paralyzed people are sick first and foremost with incurable narcissism. This is what brings a person to cry: “I have no man!” There is no one! And this means that a person comes into being when narcissism is overcome; it means that human beings, above all, are a face turned toward the other person, eyes looking intently with concern and love into the eyes of the other person. It is love, co-suffering and care. The gospel also tells us that this new and authentic human being has been revealed to us, has come to us in Christ. In him, the One who comes to the lonely and long-suffering paralytic is no stranger, but “his own”; He comes in order to take up the sick man’s sufferings as his own, his life as his own, to help and to heal.

“Do you want to be healed?” This is not the question of someone intent on forcing, convincing or subduing others. It is the question of genuine love, and therefore, genuine concern. Religion, alas, can also become narcissism, exclusively busy with itself and its own. But it is important to understand that this kind of religion, in spite of whatever Christian cloak it might be wearing, is in reality not Christianity … For the whole of Christianity consists of breaking through the terrible walls of self-centeredness, breaking through to that love which, in the words of St Paul, God has “poured into our hearts” (Rom 5:5). That is Christianity’s new, eternal commandment, and the content of the entire gospel and all our faith …

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3 Miracles of Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri

1. The Swedish Prisoner

My name is Th. M. and although Greek by birth, I live in Sweden. Twelve years ago I was convicted of a crime I did not commit and sentenced to three years in prison. I was locked up in a dark cell for five months awaiting my appeal, which had been set for Friday, December 18, 1981.

On Thursday night at 3:00 am, I woke up suddenly, startled, and was on my feet before I fully realized I was awake. Standing in front of me was a man, barefoot and dressed in a white robe, who was smiling at me. He was tall and thin and had a full beard. He wore no hat; his eyes were clear blue and he seemed kind.

I asked in Swedish, “Who are you?” He smiled again, and raising his hands, replied in Greek, “Tomorrow in court you will be released.” I repeated, “Who are you? How do you know?” Smiling he said again, “Tomorrow you will be released.” I turned to the door in amazement to see if it had been left open. It was locked. I turned back to the visitor and experienced something I will never forget as long as I live: the figure of the man rose to the upper corner of the cell; there, it vanished. I was convinced I had just witnessed a miracle worked by Christ. I made the sign of the Cross and fell asleep.

The next morning I was taken to court, where, after several hours, the judge stood up and said, “You are free.” I knelt down and made the sign of the Cross and left the courtroom. I called my parents to let them know I’d been released. To my surprise, they already knew. “How? How did you find out?!” I exclaimed. They told me they had been informed by my sister, who had prayed to St. Ephraim in Nea Makri the day before.

I called my sister. She told me that on Thursday evening she had gone to the Monastery of St. Ephraim to pray for me; there she felt St. Ephraim promising her I would be released from prison. She had called to tell my parents about an event that only transpired the following day! It was especially remarkable because no one knew the appeal had been scheduled for the next morning.

Some days later I received a book and icon of St. Ephraim from my sister through the mail. I recognized him at once as my mysterious visitor. I left for Greece and as soon as I arrived went straight to the monastery to thank the Saint for the great gift I had received from God through him.

Th. M. Carussell

2131 Hagersten, Stockholm Sweden

2. The Expectant Mother

June, 1983. In my village a very pious girl of seventeen was pregnant. The doctor had informed her that she wouldn’t be able to give birth naturally and she was terrified, knowing the labor would be painful and end in a Caesarean. One day she decided to visit a relative in the hospital, and hoped while she was there to meet some woman who had recently given birth and could encourage her. She had also been praying to St. Ephraim, as we had told her, with the words, “Saint, may I give birth to this child in the easiest possible way.”

Although she had been examined by the doctor that day, who had noticed nothing unusual, during the evening the girl became anxious. She had no symptoms of being in labor but her husband, as if guided by God, insisted on taking her to the clinic. On the way his wife teased him because the doctors and nurses would make fun of their needless visit.

When they arrived the girl was examined by a nurse who, surprised, said that she was going to give birth very soon. When the doctor arrived, the frightened girl began praying, and within three minutes the baby was painlessly in the doctor’s hands. He later assured the new mother that her most difficult birth had turned into the easiest of his twenty-five year practice.

Maria

Kalamata City

September 16, 1983

3. Passing a Chemistry Exam

My name is Helen Voulgarakis. I was applying to enter the university and took my entrance exams in June of 1985. I had not done well in physics and on this day I was to take a chemistry exam. I remember it was a Thursday and I was very nervous. Although I had studied hard, chemistry was not my best subject and I was very unsure of myself. By noon the test was almost over, and I was not at all confident that I had answered correctly. I prayed intensely to God for help.

Then, as if I was listening to a silent voice that spoke in my ear, I erased what I had written. It was almost as if someone was narrating the correct answers.

I returned home and found out that during the test a relative of mine had telephoned the monastery and asked Abbess Macrina to pray to St. Ephraim to help me. It was he who stood next to me during the test and helped me with the answers. He did this out of his great love for people.

I fervently thank the Saint, who gave me 90% on my chemistry exam.

Helen Voulgarakis

Nekea, Athens

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Largest Church In Cyprus Consecrated

Aristedes Viketou

May 5, 2012

Amen

With Byzantine splendor Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus celebrated today, 5 May 2012, the consecration of the Church of God's Wisdom in Strovolos, which is the largest in Cyprus - 60 meters in length, 30 meters in width, and 30 meters in height.

Archbishop Chrysostomos sanctified the Holy Altar with Holy Myrrh and other aromatic oils. The Altar is an exact copy of that in the Archdiocesan Church of Tbilisi in Georgia. Co-liturgists with the Archbishop were Metropolitan Panteleimon of Koronias of the Church of Greece, who preached the holy sermon, Metropolitan Savvas of the Patriarchate of Georgia, and the Titular Bishops of Karpasia, Mesaoria, and Neapolis. Panteleimon of Koronias stressed the importance of the Orthodox Temple, "which is the house of the living God, and the place of Orthodox worship, which climaxes with the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist."

The church was designed by church architect Fano Loizides and constructed along the lines of the Great Church of Christ, that of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (though not a true copy), after a Cyprus-wide architectural competition.

The feast is celebrated on Mid-Pentecost.

It (underground) has three chapels, of which one is simultaneously a baptistery for both children and adults.

There is also a large banquet hall, used for weddings and other events.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Russian Monks Continue Lowell Bell Tradition At Harvard

Petey E. Menz

May 4, 2012

The Harvard Crimson

Mother Earth, the largest of the Russian bells that hangs in Lowell House’s belltower, weighs about 13 tons. But despite its weight, Father Roman Ogrzykov, the head bellringer at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, manipulated the device with ease on Wednesday afternoon, quickly tolling the three quick strokes that ended that afternoon’s bellringing session.

Ogryzkov, a tall, bearded man dressed in traditional Russian Orthodox garments, was one of two Russian monks who visited Harvard this past week. Along with Father Pavel Radin, who was clad in a checkered vest, linen shirt, and paisley ascot, Ogryzkov taught a series of master classes for the Lowell House Society of Russian Bell Ringers, a small student group that rings the bells every Sunday.

“This is a time for us to hone our skills with the traditional peals,” co-president Ivan D. Bochkov ’12 said.

According to co-president Inna Ryzhik ’12, the two monks taught three different peals. In addition, Radin, a monk from St. Petersburg, gifted the group a book of notated peals that he had compiled.

Though this was Radin’s first visit to Harvard, Ogryzkov has maintained a relationship with the University since 2003, when a delegation of Russian governmental and Orthodox Church officials came to Harvard to discuss the return of the historic bells, which had rested in Lowell House since 1930. The set, one of the few that survived the atheist regime of Joseph Stalin, was played by Ogryzkov during that trip.

“To a great extent, he enabled people to hear what those bells sound like when rung in the proper way,” Lowell House Co-Master Diana L. Eck said.

Though it was decided that the bells were to be returned and that Lowell House would receive a set of newly cast bells, Ogryzkov remained a friend of the University. According to Eck, when a delegation of Harvard officials went to Russia to find a bell foundry, Ogrzykov accompanied them. When the new bells were placed in Lowell in 2008, he taught a master class to several students and gave a bells concert.

“Since then, we’ve tried to maintain contact so we have some kind of program where our bellringers can travel to Russia every other year to learn more about the culture an practice of bellringing, and Father Roman comes here on the off years to teach master classes,” Eck said.

The monk has left a literal imprint on the Lowell Bells—during the Wednesday master class, he pointed out that his signature can be seen on the inside of Mother Earth.

“I participated in installing it,” he explained proudly. According to Ryzhik, the lessons, in conjunction with the trips, have also left a lasting impact.

“We improvised things, but we didn’t have a set canon of traditional peals,” she said.

Eck agreed that these elements have improved the sound of the bells. “Just in this week, the difference of hearing the complexity of the bells is really powerful,” she said.

Ryzhik encouraged all Harvard students to explore the bells, noting their uniqueness.

“Harvard is the only university with a set of Russian bells,” Ryzhik said. “We are trying to incorporate more traditional peals, but there’s always room for fun and improvisation.”

More about The Lowell House Bells.

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Fr. John Romanides, the Angel of Great Counsel, and Iconography

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

The iconographer John Charilaos Vranos in his book The Exact Patterns of Icons: Iconographic Theology, analyzes the Theophanies in the Old Testament and in particular, according to the teachings of Fr. John Romanides, regarding the vision of the Angel of Great Counsel, by which we know the Triune God. In the preface of the book he writes among other things:

"The recovery of theology came with the appearance of the novice theologian Fr. John Romanides, teacher of Dogmatics. With his book Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology he methodically and convincingly worked out perfectly the case of the Theophanies. He lists the texts of the great ancient Fathers and reconstructs the theology of returning the God of the Old Testament to His throne, in the midst of His people He Himself defends them, He feeds them like a mother, and teaches them salvation! Rightly Father George Metallinos considers Father John Romanides a milestone of theology so that we can talk about a pre-Romanides period and a post one."

This is written because Fr. John Romanides, relying on patristic texts and the hymnography of the Church, argued that the revelations of God in the Old Testament were revelations of the fleshless Logos, the Angel of Great Counsel, the Wisdom of God. And as the iconographer John Charilaos Vranos stated, that after the recovery of theology by Fr. John Romanides there followed the recovery of religious iconography, he writes:

"The offering of Fr. John Romanides to iconography is incalculable. And not only in iconography, but in our attitude toward the West. After two thousand years he has opened the Beautiful Gate of the Altar for the Lord of Glory to enter, the Angel of Great Counsel, on His throne. Deception and heresy were removed. 'Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty — He is the King of glory' (Ps. 23:7-10). Eternal be the memory of Father John Romanides."

In the beginning of his book he depicts Father John Romanides sitting in front of a table, as the evangelists sit who wrote the Holy Gospel, dressed in priestly attire, writing his Dogmatics about the Angel of Great Counsel, while watching, at the same time, His icon. He is the I AM and in Him we see the Father, and this vision is through the Holy Spirit. Surrounding this sketch is written in a scroll circle: "John Romanides, Priest 1927-2001, a Teacher of Theology." Above the sketch is written, "Father John Romanides, the novice theologian of our time, restored the teachings of the Fathers regarding the God and Lord of the Old Testament. He was the Son God Logos and not the Father. Fleshless in the Old Testament, the Angel of Great Counsel, and the incarnate Christ in the New Testament. Iconography was thus illumined, on the top of the ladder of Jacob, in the struggle with the Angel, in the burning bush, in Moses who received the stone slabs and in all the Theophanies of the Old Testament we paint God the Logos, the uncreated Angel of Great Counsel, and not one who is created." Below the sketched representation is a phrase apparently belonging to Fr. John Romanides: "The non-Christological interpretation of the Old Testament is not only deception, but also heresy." This shows the great importance of the dogmatic teachings of Fr. John Romanides and how it is expressed in Orthodox iconography.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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