Orthodoxy and Divorce

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: Statistics say that in some countries of the EU more than half of all marriages end up in divorce. Do you think that besides social there are also spiritual reasons for the alarming dissolution of the family in modern societies, and consequently, what precise attitudes and measures could be taken by the Orthodox community to resist this trend?

Answer: The cause of divorces is the various passions developing in man, such as self-love, indulgence, and selfishness.

When one reads the Service of the Mystery of Marriage carefully, one will find out that the joint life of man and woman, which must be in Christ, is lived within a certain framework. When someone trespasses this framework, he first experiences what is called emotional divorce and then he ends up in a final divorce.

The way the Dance of Isaiah is performed during the Mystery of Marriage is indicative. The priest leads the couple, holding the Gospel and chanting “Holy Martyrs who have fought well and have been crowned”. This means that the steps of the new couple will resemble martyrdom and this is why the Priest should always be ahead of them to guide them on the basis of the Gospel. This means that there is asceticism within the marriage, the asceticism of the Church. When this is not observed, marriage is secularized.

Orthodox Communities should help people from their young age to learn clearly what the purpose of man’s existence is, what the purpose of marriage is and what its conclusion is. Because the purpose of marriage is not simply a social cohabitation but the experiencing of Paradise on earth and a road that leads to Paradise.

From Sobornost, September 2006.

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A Newly-Revealed Saint With Incorrupt Relics in Romania

The relic of the monk Joseph is located at Radeni Hermitage in the small city of Targu Neamt in N.E. Romania. On 7 November 2011 his exhumation took place seven years after his repose.

However the life of the monk Joseph is impressive and shows that God is wondrous in His Saints and that God is not silent. One sob, one tear, one Lord have mercy from the depths of the soul, and God forgives all.

Information about the venerable monk Joseph comes from a comment I found by a reader of the Romanian website from where I got the article.

According to this information, the monk Joseph had been a member of the communist party and had around nine children, not all from the same mother. Generally his life did not keep in pace with the teachings of the Church, but he was merciful. He lived in a village near Radeni Hermitage.

The fathers of the Hermitage say that upon entering the Hermitage he would continually weep, and the majority thought that he was deluded. Furthermore his fellow villagers would come who recognized him for his former life and they asked the Abbot to get rid of him from the Hermitage. Many times they wanted to get rid of him.

A little while before he died he was very sick. For about two weeks he was bedridden. Even then the villagers spoke evil of him. He would hear from his window how awful they spoke against him. He forgave them however and continued to shed tears of repentance.

A few days before he died he asked for Communion. The spiritual father of the Hermitage denied this request however because he Communed him a few days earlier. The next day when the spiritual father visited, the venerable monk Joseph told him that an angel of the Lord Communed him. He did not believed him and considered this a delusion.

After his burial a wolf stood at his grave and all night howled without stopping!

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Elder Polycarpos Matzaroglou Has Reposed

On June 15, 2012, at 6:10 AM, Fr. Polycarpos Mantzaroglou reposed at the age of 83.

The blessed elder Fr. Polycarpos came from Edessa and was born in 1929 to his parents Amphilochios Matzaroglou and Vayia Kozanite. He was tonsured a monk at the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Evangelist and Theologian on Patmos. He was ordained a Deacon on 10/11/1951 by the late Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Panteleimon Papagiorgiou and was appointed on 11/6/1952. He was ordained a Presbyter and Archimandrite on 1/12/1958 by the same Metropolitan.

Fr. Polycarpos served the Metropolis of Thessaloniki from 1952 till 1970 when he was transferred to the Metropolis of Cassandria where he stayed until 1983. In 1983 he established the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos with some nuns in Makri, which today is occupied by 50 nuns. He retired as vicar of the Metropolitan Church of Saint Nicholas in Alexandroupolis on 12/31/1987.

For his overall contribution to monastic life he was awarded in 1991 by Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios the title of Archimandrite to the Ecumenical Throne and was honored by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in 2002 with the Golden Cross of the Apostle Paul, the highest decoration of the Greek Church.

The blessed elder Fr. Polycarpos, as a spiritual treasure of the Metropolis of Alexandroupolis, was known throughout Greece and even abroad, especially in Syria and Romania, and he had many bishops, priests, monks and nuns as spiritual children who fled to him for spiritual guidance and counsel.

The funeral of Fr. Polycarpos took place on Saturday June 16 at 12:00 noon at the Holy Monastery of the Dormition in Makris.

Read also the link below written by Elder Polycarpos concerning his meeting with Elder Paisios and the founding of the Monastery of Souroti.

How I Met Fr. Paisios and How the Monastery of Souroti Was Established

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Trailer: Restless Heart - The Confessions of Augustine

430 AD. The Roman Empire is beginning to crumble. The Vandals and other marauding tribes spill through the gaps in Roman defenses. And one of the greatest saints of the Christian church stands between his flock and the barbarian invaders. As he attempts to negotiate between the proud Roman authorities and the implacable Vandal king, Bishop Augustine recalls his own life before Christianity...

In this stirring and epic new film on the life of St. Augustine of Hippo, follow the great saint as he rises from his reckless days as a youth to his accomplishments as a renowned but dissolute orator. Though worldly success and riches come his way, including a position in the imperial court of Milan, satisfaction and peace elude him. It takes a confrontation with the Christian bishop Ambrose and the countless prayers offered by his patient mother, Monica, to break through his intellectual pride.

Starring Alessandro Preziosi, Monica Guerritore, Johannes Bandrup, and Franco Nero.

Coming Fall 2012. Find out more at www.RestlessHeartFilm.com

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Is Augustine of Hippo A Father of the Church?

By Fr. John Romanides

Augustine of Hippo, the Source of the Humorous Errors of Barlaam

Although both the Papacy and the Protestants have theologically associated both Saints Ambrose and Jerome with Augustine, the latter has no theological relation with the former. Both Ambrose and Jerome belong to the tradition of the Roman Ecumenical Councils. However, Augustine is the unique source of the humorous errors of Barlaam the Calabrian who was accused of heresy by St. Gregory Palamas and was condemned as a heretic by the Councils of Constantinople New Rome held in 1341, 1347 and 1351 for his teaching that God reveals his will to humans by means of creatures which He brings into existence to be seen and heard and which He passes back into non-existence when the revelations have been accomplished.

Such revelations have been supposedly recorded in the Bible because they were preserved by the Biblical writers.

This nonsense cannot be termed a heresy since it is too stupid.

In any case these positions of Augustine have remained the backbone of both Protestantism and the Papacy.

Augustine describes these positions in great detail which he repeats over and over again in the earlier books of his DE TRINITATE.

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Is Augustine of Hippo A Father of the Church?

Orthodox Fathers of the Church are those who practice the specific Old and New Testament cure of this sickness of religion. Those who do not practice this cure, but on the contrary have introduced such practices as pagan mysticism, are not Fathers within this tradition.

Orthodox Theology is not "mystical," but "secret" (mystike). The reason for this name "Secret" is that the glory of God in the experience of glorification (theosis) has no similarity whatsoever with anything created. On the contrary the Augustinians imagine that they are being united with uncreated original ideas of God of which creatures are supposedly copies and which simply do not exist.

In this regard Augustine’s teaching on original sin, i.e. his understanding of Rom. 5:12, and therefore related questions like mysticism, were first condemned by the Council of Orange in 529 and also by the Ninth Roman Ecumenical Council of 1341 in the person of Barlaam the Calabrian. The Fathers of this latter Council were not aware that the heresies of Barlaam they were condemning stemmed from Augustine. Also in 1957 the faculty of the University of Athens approved the doctoral thesis on "Ancestral Sin" of John S. Romanides which had proven that the very presuppositions of Augustine’s theology based on analogia entis and analogia fidei has nothing in common with the Fathers of the Roman Ecumenical Councils. Augustine had not been in the Calendar of the Church of Greece. He was added during the period of the dictatorship of the colonels who uncanonicaly appointed Father Jerome Kotsonis as Archbishop of Athens (1968-1974) who was known for his non-patristic orientation. It was he who added Augustine to the Church Calendar of the Church of Greece.

Up until the 14th century only the last three chapters of Augustine’s De Trinitate had been translated into Greek. These chapters are completely Orthodox. He tells us himself that he wanted to rewrite his De Trinitate which the Archbishop of Carthage Aurlean wanted to examine, but finally corrected what he could. Having in mind these three Orthodox chapters of Augustine, the Roman Emperor and his bishops at the Council of Ferrara and Florence (1438-1442) became completely confused by the theological method being used there by the Frankish theologians and concluded that the Franks had tampered with the works of Augustine.

Gennadius Scholarius, the first Patriarch of Constantinople New Rome after the Turkish takeover in 1453, had been at the Council of Ferrara/Florence (1438-1442) as a layman. He had brought back to Constantinople manuscripts of Augustine and concluded the following about his positions on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity which are clearly not due to tampering. He takes Augustine to task as follows:

"To say that the Hypostasis of the Spirit comes or proceeds from the Son, that is to say that It holds its existence from him, not only as cause of the love for us, or of love in itself, but also as the love of the Father and the Son for each other, emerging from one to go to the other, the Father being the first giver and receiving in turn the Son, all this is insupportable grossness…Where does one find clearly exposed, in the sacred books, that the Holy Spirit is the reciprocal love of the Father and the Son, Who love each other, and Who derives his existence from the Two. In which sacred treasure has this sacred dogma been hidden? And how did it escape the notice of the other Fathers who, nevertheless have examined all with great care?"

Indeed some centuries earlier, just after the Norman conquest, the second Lombard Archbishop of Canterbury Anselm (1093-1109) was not happy with Augustine’s use of procession in his De Trinitate XV, 47, i.e. that the Holy Spirit proceeds principaliter from the Father or from the Father per Filium. (See Anselm’s own De fide Trinitate chapters 15, 16 and 24). This West Roman Orthodox Filioque, which upset Anselm so much, could not be added to the creed of 381 where "procession" there means hypostatic individuality and not the communion of divine essence as in Augustine’s Filioque just quoted.

Augustine is indeed Orthodox by intention by his willingness to be corrected. The real problem is that he does not theologize from the vantage point of personal theosis or glorification, but as one who speculates philosophically on the Bible with no real basis in the Patristic tradition. Furthermore, his whole theological method is based on happiness as the destiny of man instead of biblical glorification. His resulting method of analogia entis and analogia fidei is not accepted by any Orthodox Father of the Church. In any case no Orthodox can accept positions of Augustine on which the Father’s of Ecumenical Councils are in agreement "against" him. This website (www.romanity.org) is not concerned with whether Augustine is a saint or a Father of the Church. There is no doubt that he was Orthodox by intention and asked for correction. However, he can not be used in such a way that his opinions may be put on an equal footing with the Fathers of Ecumenical Councils.

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Theosis in the New Testament is called "Glorification"

By Fr. John Romanides

One of the keys to today's continued misunderstandings of Patristic dogma and theology is the fact that some Orthodox began dealing with St. Gregory Palamas within a non Patristic context, as pointed out in my "Notes on the Palamite Controversy and Related Topics Part One[1] and Part Two"[2]. A doctoral thesis had been published earlier than my just cited work, "The Teaching Concerning Theosis According to St. Gregory Palamas", by now Professor Georgios I. Mantzarides.[3] This thesis was translated into English with the title "The Deification of Man"[4], with a forward by Bishop Kallistos Ware. This book marks a backward step into the non-patristic past of Orthodox theology which had begun in the times of Palamas and especially in Russia during the reign of Peter The Great. This Doctoral thesis is not aware of the fact that a prevalent Old and New Testament term for "Θέωσις" ("Theosis") is simply "glorification". This led a "A Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue"[5] to claim in their statement about "ΘEΩΣΙΣ (DEIFICATION)"[6], citing Bishop Kallistos Ware about the Orthodox understanding of Christianity in terms of deification (Θέωσις)[7], that both Lutherans and Orthodox agree that, "Although the term "Θέωσις" does not occur in Holy Scriptures the idea of sharing in the divine nature (which "Θέωσις" means) does occur".[8] But neither Mantzarides, nor Bishop Ware, nor the rest of the Orthodox present, were aware that one of the Old and New Testament terms for "Θέωσις" is "glorification". The Lord of Glory's cure of human personalities by means of the purification and illumination of their hearts and their glorification, both before and after His Incarnation, is the heart and core of Holy Tradition in both Testaments. This is why St. Gregory Palamas quotes Maximus the Confessor's interpretation of Hebrews 7:3 as follows: "The Great Melchisedek is recorded as 'without having neither beginning of days nor end of life,' not because of the created nature, by which he began and ended, but because of the divine and forever existing uncreated and above every nature and all time eternally existing God".[8] Although the prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament had reached glorification, yet they did die, but were resurrected with Christ and became members of His Body, the Church, on Pentecost.

Notes:

[1] The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, vol. vi, no. 2 (1960-61), pp. 186-205Also published on the internet at http://www.romanity.org.

[2] The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, vol. ix, no. 2 (1963-64), pp. 225-270. Also published on the internet at http://www.romanity.org.

[3] Published by the Department of Church Literature of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, 1963.

[4] Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Press. 1984.

[5] "SALVATION IN CHRIST," A Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue, Edited and with an Introduction by John Meyendorff and Robert Tobias, Copyright Augsburg Fortress.

[6] Pages 19-24.

[7] Page 19-20.

[8] Page 20.

[9] Gregory Palamas, Writings, edited and copyrighted by professor Panagiotes K. Christou, Thessaloniki, Vol. 3, p. 164. Cited from St. Maximus the Confessor's work Ambiguorum Liber, PG 1141A-1145B.

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On So-Called Neo-Chalcedonianism

By Fr. John Romanides

Theologians of the Vatican have been supporting their position that Leo of Rome and his Tome became the basis of the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of 451 which, according to them, supposedly corrected the monophysitic and theopassion tendencies of Cyril of Alexandria. But the reality of the matter was that some 50 bishops refused to sign Leo’s Tome claiming that it did not agree with the Synodical Letters of Cyril against Nestorius which were the basis of the decision of the Third Ecumenical Council in 431. They were given five days to examine the Tome of Leo with the said letters of Cyril. They all agreed that Leo indeed agrees with Cyril. Their statements to this effect are individually recorded in the minutes.

So Cyril and not Leo was the key to the Council of Chalcedon. Evidently the Vatican has been keeping this fact quiet since it makes a mockery of so-called Papal infallibility. Contrary to these minutes of Chalcedon are the scholars who claim that the Council of Chalcedon modified the Monophysitic tendencies of Cyril and supposedly de-emphasized the theopassianism of his Twelve Chapters. But Cyril’s Two Synodical Letters to Nestorius and his 433 letter to John of Antioch are included in the Horos of Chalcedon "to which have been adapted the Tome of Leo...."

In spite of these facts scholars of the Vatican propose that Leo, and not Cyril, is "the" Great Father of the Council of Chalcedon. As these scholars see things, strict Cyrilians refused to accept the Council of Chalcedon because of Leo’s victory. So in order to bring these Cyrilians back to the Imperial Church, Emperor Justinian convened the Fifth Ecumenical Council in order to supposedly "reinterpret" Chalcedon within strict Cyrilian categories. This imperial Justinian reinterpretation is called Neo-Chalcedonianism. That no such thing ever happened is supported by studies on this website (www.romanity.org). What is especially strange is that the Latin positions on Neo-Chalcedonianism are text book taught at the theological faculty of the University of Athens as historical reality. Sometimes part of this myth is the idea that Cyril became fully Orthodox when he accepted John of Antioch's confession of Christ’s two natures. It was not Cyril of Alexandria who adjusted his terminology to John, but John to Cyril.

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Tunisian Beheading Video Not From Tunisia, says Metropolitan

According to the Holy Metropolis of Carthage and North Africa, the beheading of the young man for embracing Christianity which was broadcasted on Egyptian television, did not depict a young man from Tunisia as was reported.

Specifically, Metropolitan Alexios of Carthage stressed that "after relevant inquiry it emerged that the incident did not take place in the territory of the Metropolis of Carthage, that is, in Tunisia," adding that "the pronunication of Arabic, in which the prayers are recited in the video, originate somewhere in the Gulf or in asiatic Islam. There is a presumption that it is in Iraq or Syria and he was probably a soldier or policeman who embraced Christianity."

Below is a statement by the Holy Metropolis of Carthage, in which it states that the clergy and people of the Metropolis were shocked when they first saw the video, and that Metropolitan Alexios immediately recommended calm among the people lest violence break out, as he sought the truth. After the investgation he discovered that such incidents do not take place among the Muslims of his territory, and the video does not support Tunisian origins.

1. Το βίντεο από την πρώτη στιγμή συγκλόνισε τις συνειδήσεις τόσον του Κλήρου όσον και του Λαού της Μητροπόλεως.

2. Από την πρώτη επίσης στιγμήν ο τοπικός Ποιμενάρχης, Σεβασμιώτατος Μητροπολίτης Καρθαγένης κ. Αλέξιος, εξέδωσε ανακοίνωση και συνέστησε ψυχραιμία, έως της διαπιστώσεως της αληθείας του προβαλλομένου. Χωρίς βεβαίως να παρακάμπτεται το γεγονός ότι πλέον η κατάστασις για τους Χριστιανούς των Ισλαμικών περιοχών γίνεται ολοέν και πιό δυσχερής, αφού καθημερινώς ανεβαίνουν τα ποσοστά των φανατικών ισλαμιστών στην πολιτική ζωή, ως και τα ποσοστά των σαλαφιστών.

3. Κατόπιν ενδελεχούς ερεύνης υπό αρμοδίων φορέων, διπλωματικών και πολιτικών, ο Σεβασμιώτατος γνωστοποίησε, αλλά και εδήλωσε, την αμφισβήτησιν ότι το τραγικό συμβάν έλαβε χώρα στην έδρα της Μητροπόλεως Καρθαγένης, δηλαδή την Τυνησία, διότι, όπως αναφέρει σε εγκύκλιό του, δεν υπάρχουν σε αυτήν την περιοχή υποδομές για τέτοιες συμπεριφορές. Η προφορά της αραβικής, με την οποία απαγγέλονται οι προσευχές στο βίντεο αναγάγει κάπου στον κόλπο, ή στο ασιατικό Ισλάμ. Υπάρχει η εκδοχή ότι είναι ή Ιράκ ή Συρία και πρόκειται για στρατιώτη ή αστυνομικό που εκχριστιανίστηκε.

4. Με την εμπειρία της πολυετούς Ορθοδόξου Διακονίας στον Αραβικό κόσμο βεβαιώνουμε ότι είναι πολύ διαφορετικό να βιώνης μαρτυρικές καταστάσεις σε καθημερινό επίπεδο, περιφρόνησιν και εμπαιγμούς, επιθέσεις και απειλές κατά την τέλεσιν των ακολουθιών, όπως συνέβη στην Τύνιδα πριν λίγο τη Μ Εβδομάδα κλπ, και άλλο να είσαι ασφαλής εντός των συνόρων και να βλέπεις τις καταστάσεις, από άλλη οπτική γωνία. Και είναι αδιαμφισβήτητο ότι εδώ καλούνται οι Χριστιανοί με επικεφαλής τον Ποιμενάρχην τους να εξαντλούν διαρκώς τα όρια της εκκλησιαστικής διπλωματίας, να σιωπούν και να υπομένουν, προκειμένου να επιβιώνουν εν μέσω λεόντων και με μόνον όπλο την Αγάπη και την Ευλογία του Χριστού, την άνωθεν σκέπη και προστασία.

5. Η Μητρόπολις Καρθαγένης και προσωπικώς ο Σεβασμιώτατος κ Αλέξιος ευχαριστούν τον αδελφόν Μητροπολίτην Άγιον Πειραιώς κ Σεραφείμ για το κείμενόν του, που δημοσιεύθηκε στη Ρομφαία (Romfea.gr), το οποίον εκτός από τον μεστό Θεολογικό λόγο, πλήρη επιχειρημάτων και τις αλήθειές του, εκλαμβάνεται και ως κείμενον συμπαρατάξεως, συμπαραστάσεως και συνοδοιπορίας στον δύσκολο δρόμο των χριστιανών των Ισλαμικών περιοχών, εκφράζοντας θέσεις και απόψεις, που για ευνόητους λόγους...οι τοπικές εκκλησίες των Αραβικών περιοχών δεν δύνανται να εκφράζουν επισήμως....

Romfea

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New Evidence Supports Authenticity of St. John the Baptist Relics

Scientists have uncovered new evidence that mysterious remains found in an ancient reliquary in a 5th century monastery on Sveti Ivan Island in Bulgaria belong to St John the Baptist.

June 15, 2012

The Telegraph

The remains - small fragments of a skull, bones from a jaw and an arm, and a tooth - were discovered embedded in an altar in the ruins of the ancient monastery, on the island in the Black Sea.

But after the find two years ago was met with universal scepticism Oxford University archaeologists undertook carbon dating tests.

On Thursday, the team announced they have provided scientific evidence to support the extraordinary claim. The findings are to be presented in a documentary to be aired on The National Geographic channel in Britain on Sunday.

The research team dated the right-handed knuckle bone to the first century AD, when John is believed to have lived until his beheading ordered by king Herod.

Scientists from the University of Copenhagen analysed the DNA of the bones, finding they came from a single individual, probably a man, from a family in the modern-day Middle East, where John would have lived.

While these findings do not offer conclusive evidence, they also don't refute the theory first proffered by the Bulgarian archaeologists who found the remains while excavating under an ancient church on the island.

Many sites around the world claim to hold relics of the saint, including the Grand Mosque in Damascus which says it has his head. Countries around the Mediterranean claiming to have remains include Turkey, Greece, Italy and Egypt.

The right hand with which the prophet allegedly baptised Jesus in the River Jordan is also claimed to be held by several entities, including a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Montenegro.

“We were surprised when the radiocarbon dating produced this very early age,” said Oxford Professor Tom Higham, who led the study.

“We had suspected that the bones may have been more recent than this, perhaps from the third or fourth centuries.

"The result from the metacarpal hand bone is clearly consistent with someone who lived in the early first century AD,"

He added: "Whether that person is John the Baptist is a question that we cannot yet definitely answer and probably never will."

Dr Hannes Schroeder, from the University of Copenhagen, added: “Of course, this does not prove that these were the remains of John the Baptist but nor does it refute that theory.”

Bulgarian archaeologists had found a small box made of hardened volcanic ash close to the sarcophagus.

The box bore inscriptions in ancient Greek that referred to John the Baptist and the date that Christians celebrate his birth, June 24.

The findings of another Oxford researcher, Christopher Ramsey, using historical documents, suggest that the monastery of Sveti Ivan may have received a portion of John the Baptist's relics in the fifth or early sixth centuries.

St John, who is especially revered by the Eastern Orthodox Church, foretold the coming of Christ before being beheaded on the orders of King Herod, with his head served up on a plate.

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Orthodoxy and New Age Spirituality

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: Over the last several decades societies which in the past considered themselves to be Christian are falling victim to the flood of different pseudo-religious cults (represented in numerous Yoga and meditation systems, UFO hysteria, neopagan sects, etc.), all of them under the umbrella of the so-called New Age Movement. What do you think is the reason for the popularity of these movements and how the Orthodox Church should act in the presence of the above-mentioned New Age “spirituality”?

Answer: The reason for the spread of various pseudo-religious heresies, the so-called religious or neopagan sects, which many members of the Church fall victims to, is that a lot of people have separated from the neptic tradition of our Church. As it is known, the neptic/hesychastic tradition of the Church, which constitutes the prophetic, apostolic and martyric spirit of the ancient Church, is the criterion by which it can be discerned whether some action comes from God or from the devil.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa teaches that heresies flourish where prophets are absent. This is so because prophets and apostles know how to distinguish falsehood from truth.

In addition, in our days, people, and mostly the young ones, do not find comfort in conventional manners, in an externally moralistic life. Instead, they search for answers to existential questions, they look for inner peace and existential freedom.

Therefore, what is needed above anything else in our times is the hesychastic tradition, which forms the basis of the Gospel, the context of the Holy Eucharist, the essence of the apostolic and patristic message. This spirit is found abundant in the Philokalia and the Sayings of the Elders (Gerontikon). When these texts are read within the canonical structure of the Orthodox Church, they help us avoid fallacy and everything associated with it.

From Sobornost, September 2006.

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'Vampire' Graves Discovered at Bulgarian Monastery

Archaeologists excavating a monastery near the city of Sozopol, Bulgaria, discovered the 700-year-old remains of two males who had been stabbed through the heart with iron rods — an indication that their 14th century contemporaries believed them to be vampires. The sensational discovery was made during the excavations of St. Nikolai Chudotvoretz Monastery, which was built at the harbor (St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors) and existed in the 10th-12th centuries. The find was discovered in a necropolis close to the semicircular building part.

More than 100 such “vampire” graves have been discovered in Bulgaria recently, all of them containing male aristocrats or clerics whose bodies had been repeatedly stabbed or nailed into their coffins after death.

Bojidar Dimitrov, head of the Bulgarian National History Museum, told the Sofia News Agency that ”these people were believed to be evil while they were alive, and it was believed that they would become vampires once they are dead, continuing to torment people.”

“The curious thing is that there are no women among them. They were not afraid of witches,” he added.

Prof. Bojidar Dimitrov supposes that the found skeleton belongs to the legendary pirate Krivich, the superintendent of the Sozopol fortress, or his heir. Nearby is the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, where a woman in fact was found buried in the same manner.

The findings have sparked intense interest among vampire-lovers in Europe, Asia and the United States and could transform Bulgaria into a “tourism gold mine,” according to CNN.

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How Fourth Marriages Became Prohibited

By Milton V. Anastos

Emperor Leo VI's Fourth Marriage

Α short period of tranquillity ended in 912, when Nicholas Mysticos ("confidential adviser"), who was Patriarch of Constantinople from 901 to 907 and from 912 to 925, removed the name of the Pope of Rome from the Constantinopolitan diptychs because the Roman see had sanctioned the fourth marriage of the Emperor Leo VI "the Wise" (886-912). The problem arose because of the singular misfortune of the Emperor Leo, whose first three wives died without providing him with a male heir. About 894, apparently sometime before his second marriage, not realizing what fate had in store for him, Leo had himself sternly forbidden third marriages (Novel 9). Nevertheless, since he still lacked a son after the death of Zoe, his second wife, he felt compelled for dynastic reasons to press on to a third union, and subsequently even to a fourth, when Eudocia, his third wife, died in giving birth to a son who did not survive.

Then, at first, he comforted himself with a mistress named Zoe Carbonopsina ("of the coal-black eyes"). But in 905, when this fourth lady bore him a son (the future Emperor Constantine VII, one of the greatest scholars and historians Byzantium ever produced), Leo resolved that she and their son should be fully legitimated. The Patriarch Nicholas agreed to baptize the young prince (January 6, 906), but only on the condition that Leo separate himself from the child's mother. Three days later, however, Leo got a priest by the name of Thomas to perform the marriage ceremony.

In the midst of the ensuing uproar among the clergy and people of Constantinople, while Nicholas was seeking a formula by which the Byzantine Church could overcome its prohibition of fourth marriages and lend its approval to what Leo had done, Leo decided that appeal should be made to the other four patriarchates for their judgment in the matter. Actually, as it turned out, Leo was unwilling to receive any special dispensation from Nicholas who had once joined in a plot against the throne; and as soon as word arrived from the four foreign patriarchates that they saw no reason to nullify Leo's fourth marriage, Nicholas was forced to abdicate and give place to Euthymius (907-12). Hence, the procedure followed in this case cannot be regarded as an example of an appeal to Rome, as some have supposed, but rather as another instance of Byzantine concern for oecumenical sanction as manifested by the approval of the five patriarchates.

On the death of Leo in 912, his brother, the wastrel Alexander, became emperor (912-13), and recalled Nicholas. Euthymius was immediately deposed and handed over to ecclesiastical ruffians, who beat him unmercifully and tore out his beard. Shortly thereafter, he was excommunicated, along with all who had been in communion with him, including, thus, the successors of Pope Sergius III (904-11) of Rome, until 923, when communion was re-established. But Sergius himself was specifically exempted from anathematisation despite his support of Leo in 907.

Nicholas never succeeded in persuading Rome to condemn fourth marriages, as he attempted to do, and he himself was forced to issue a special posthumous ruling which validated Leo's marriage to Zoe Carbonopsina. He was also compelled to crown Zoe empress, although Euthymius had steadfastly refused to do so. But, within the Byzantine Church, the privilege accorded Leo VI was deemed to have been altogether exceptional, and was so described by the Constantinopolitan Council of 920, which settled this question and reconciled Nicholas and his followers with their opponents, Euthymius and Archbishop Arethas of Caesarea, the latter's staunchest supporter. In the future, this Council ruled, fourth marriages were to be prohibited, and anyone, except a childless widower over 30 and under 40, who contracted a third marriage was, under varying conditions, to be deprived of communion.

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The Enochites: An Early 20th-Century Russian Apocalyptic Cult

In 1902-03 there were reports in The New York Times of a Russian sect emerging that revolved around the veneration of St. John of Kronstadt - while he was still alive. Of course, he condemned this movement, yet this did not stop the fanaticism of the people, who misinterpreted his unique miraculous powers as a sign that the end of the world was near. Below are the articles which describe this movement further:

A NEW RUSSIAN SECT: Rise of the Enochites in Zarizyn -- Inventions Foretell the End of the World (October 26, 1902)

RUSSIAN PEASANTS WORSHIP FATHER JOHN: Sect Has Been Formed Founded on This Veneration (October 28, 1902)

Russian Fanaticism and Ignorance (November 09, 1902)

STILL WORSHIP FATHER JOHN: Many Russian Peasants Believe He Is Christ -- A Scene at a St. Petersburg Station (February 19, 1903)

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Documentary Which Exposes Psychic Abilities

From the feature "Beyond Belief" on ABC's Primetime Nightline. See in one video here.

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Greeks Have the Longest Word, According to Guinness

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest word coined by a major author and the longest word ever to appear in literature comes from a word coined by Aristophanes (c. 392 BC) in his comedy Assemblywomen (line 1169-74), which in Greek contains 173 letters, which far surpasses that of Shakespeare's 27-letter long word, "honorificabilitudinitatibus" in his Love's Labour's Lost (V.I). In Greek it is:

λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιοκαραβομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοκεφαλλιοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερύγων

The English transliteration has 182 letters:

lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimupotrimmatosilphioliparomelitoaktakexhumenokichlepikossuphophattoperisteralektruonoptopiphallidokinklopeleioplagoosiraiobaphetragalopterugon

What it describes is a fictional food dish consisting of 17 ingredients, combining fish, poultry and other meat. It was originally coined by Aristophanes as poking fun at the fact that stringing together words to form compound words was common practice, and wanted to show an extreme version of the lengths that sometimes resulted in doing so.

Liddell and Scott define this as "name of a dish compounded of all kinds of dainties, fish, flesh, fowl, and sauces."

More specifically, the dish is a fricasee, with 17 sweet and sour ingredients, including brains, honey, vinegar, fish, pickles, and the following: fish slices, fish of the Elasmobranchii subclass (a shark or ray), rotted dogfish or small shark’s head, silphion laserwort – a kind of fennel, a kind of crab, beetle, or crayfish, eagle, cheese, honey, wrasse or thrush, topped with a sea fish or blackbird, wood pigeon, domestic pigeon, chicken, roasted headof dabchick, hare (a kind of bird or sea hare – a mollusk), must (wine), dessert, fruit, or other raw food, and wing or fin.

Specifically:

-lopado- from λοπάς (lopas, stem lopad-) “dish, meal”,

-temacho- from τέμαχος (temachos) “fish slice”,

-selacho- from σέλαχος (selachos) “fish of the Elasmobranchii subclass (a shark or ray)

-galeo- from γαλεός (galeos) “dogfish, small shark”

-kranio- from κρανίον (cranion) “head”

-leipsano- from λείψανον (leipsanon) “remnant”

-drimy- from δριμύς (drimys) “sharp, pungent”

-hypotrimmato- from ὑπότριμμα (hypotrimma) “generally sharp-tasting dish of several ingredients grated and pounded together”

-silphio- from σίλφιον (silphion) “laserwort” (apparently a kind of giant fennel

-karabo- from κάραβος (karabos) “a kind of crab, beetle, or crayfish” (the word is related to scarab)

-parao- appears to be from παραός (paraos) “eagle”

-tyro- is clearly just τυρός (tyros) “cheese”

-melito- from μέλι (meli) “honey”

-katakechymeno- is from κατακεχυμένος (catacechymenos), something like “poured down”, past participle of καταχεύω (catacheuō)

-kichl- from κίχλη (cichlē) “wrasse” (or “thrush”)

-epi- from επι (epi) “upon, on top of”

-kossypho- from κόσσυφος (cossyphos) “a kind of sea-fish” (or “blackbird”)

-phatto- from φάττα (phatta) “wood pigeon”

-perister- from περιστερός (peristeros) “domestic pigeon”

-alektryono- from ἀλεκτρυών (alectryōn) “chicken”

-opto-/-opte- from ὀπτός (optos) “roasted, baked”

-kephallio-/-kephalio- from κεφάλιον (cephalion), diminutive of “head”

-kinklo-/kigklo- from κίγκλος (cinclos) “dabchick”

-peleio- from πέλεια (pelīa) “pigeon”

-lagoio- probably from λαγῶς (also accented λαγώς) meaning basically “hare” but also a kind of bird or a kind of sea-hare

-siraio- from σίραιον (siraeon) “new wine boiled down”

-baphe- from βαφή (baphē) “dipping” (also ‘dyeing’, ‘temper (of a blade)’)

-tragano- from τραγανός (traganos) “he-goat” (but if it is really ‘-tragalo-’ as in one variant, then maybe it is really from τραγάλιον “dessert fruit; thing eaten uncooked”)

-pterygon from πτέρυξ (pteryx) “wing, fin”.

There is some disagreement as to the original form of the word and the correct transliteration.

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Analysis of the Prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Have Mercy On Me, A Sinner"

By Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra

The prayer of Mount Athos, who does not recognize it? It is comprised of one small phrase, of measured words.

"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner."

With the loud cry "Lord", we glorify God, His glorious majesty, the King of Israel, the Creator of visible and invisible creation, Whom Seraphim and Cherubim tremble before.

With the sweet invocation and summons "Jesus", we witness that Christ is present, our Savior, and we gratefully thank Him, because He has prepared for us life eternal.

With the third word "Christ", we theologically confess that Christ is the Son of God and God. No man saved us, nor angel, but Jesus Christ, the true God.

There follows the intimate petition "have mercy", and we venerate and entreat that God would be propitious, fulfilling our salvation's demands, the desires and needs of our hearts.

That "on me", what range it has! It is not only myself, it is everyone admitted to citizenship in the state of Christ, in the holy Church; it is all those who are members of the body of the Bridegroom.

And finally, so that our prayer be full of life, we close with the word "a sinner", confessing - since we are all sinners - as all the Saints confess and became through this sound sons of light and of the day.

Through this we understand, that this prayer involves:

Glorification

Thanksgiving

Theology

Supplication

and Confession

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Asceticism and Ecclesiology

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: Now we would like to tackle the sensitive question of the relation between monastic experience and the Catholicity of the Church. Namely, we are witnessing cases when in some circles (especially in our country) opinions are being put forward that assert certain superiority of “asceticism” and “prayer of the heart and mind” even in the respect of the canonical order of the Church and its One Liturgy; and this is going as far as to use such claims often as a justification for seceding from the Church and persisting in schism. In brief, we would like to hear your stance concerning this phenomenon; specifically, whether “asceticism” and “prayer of the heart and mind” have any meaning outside the liturgical and canonical unity of the entire Orthodox Church?

Answer: Ever since Saint Irenaeus, the Fathers of the Church have taught us that the Church is very closely connected with Orthodoxy and the Holy Eucharist. The Church is the “Body of Christ and a communion of deification”, Orthodoxy is the correct teaching and life of the Church and the Holy Eucharist is the true praxis of the Church. All three of them are connected to each other and none is overemphasized or underrated versus the others. A “Church” without Orthodoxy and Holy Eucharist is a conventicle. “Orthodoxy” without Church and the Holy Eucharist is a heretical school, and “Holy Eucharist” without Orthodoxy and Church is a simple religious gathering.

We should view the relationship between asceticism, the noetic prayer of the heart and the Holy Eucharist in this context. The Holy Eucharist is in the center of Church life, because through the Holy Eucharist we receive communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, but the Holy Eucharist presupposes asceticism and the noetic prayer of the heart. Both asceticism and the noetic prayer of the heart refer to the Holy Eucharist. Neither is the Holy Eucharist performed without preconditions nor is the noetic prayer separated from the Holy Eucharist. Both of these extreme autonomous situations cause ecclesiological problems. He who lives ascetically and has noetic prayer of the heart without the Holy Eucharist is influenced by misbegotten and erring conditions. He who lives the Holy Eucharist without the preconditions of asceticism lives in a mechanistic way in the Church.

Furthermore, it is not possible for spiritual gifts to revoke the canonical order of the Church, which is constituted by the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit “constitutes the whole institution of the Church” through the Local and Ecumenical Councils. At the same time, we should not underrate spiritual gifts in the name of canonical order.

In general, a great deal of attention is required regarding autonomous movements and cases of overemphasis on particular aspects of Church life.

From Sobornost, September 2006.

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St. Lazarus' Relics Brought to Moscow from Cyprus

June 13, 2012

Interfax

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias took a reliquary with a relic of St Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead from the Church of St Lazarus in Larnaka to Russia so that believers could venerate it. The solemn transfer of the reliquary marked the end of Patriarch Kirill’s official visit to the Republic of Cyprus, which lasted from 8 to 11 June. Orthodox Tradition relates that the Righteous Lazarus, whom Jesus Christ himself called his friend, was resurrected by the God-man on the fourth day after his death. Sometime after the resurrection of Christ, St Lazarus had to flee from Judea because his resurrection scandalised many Jews. He left in a sailboat, and, after a few days, the wind drove the fugitive to the shores of Cyprus. Whilst on Cyprus, St Lazarus met the Apostles Ss Paul and Barnabas, they ordained him Bishop of Kition, an office he held for the rest of his life. For his true faith and holiness, the Cypriots loved the saint very much. After his death, his followers buried the Righteous Lazarus near the ancient city of Kition, which later became Larnaks, which means “a grave or sarcophagus”, which subsequently became Larnaka in modern times.

His Holiness, when he took the reliquary from the hands of the rector of the Church of St Lazarus in Larnaka, spoke of the value that the relic had for believers, saying, “You can give us no greater gift than this. We’ll take these relics of your heavenly patron to the city of Moscow and put them in a place where many people will be able to bow before them. All those who bow before the saint’s relics will know your generosity. The veneration of this holy object will strengthen the love for Cyprus and the Church of Cyprus in the hearts of our people”.

In 898, Roman Emperor Leo VI the Wise transferred the recently-discovered relics of Righteous Lazarus to Constantinople (now Istanbul), where he placed them in a silver reliquary. Relics have miraculous powers; therefore, the Church of St Lazarus attracts thousands of pilgrims come from all over the world. Archbishop Chrysostomos Dimitriou of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus emphasised, “The fact that we loaned these relics to Patriarch Kirill signifies the special respect that the Local Church of Cyprus has for the Local Church of Russia and its First Hierarch. Today, our hearts overflow with a sense of the sacred and with sincere joy, because your presence here provides an opportunity for our pious and suffering people to receive a blessing from the distinguished First Hierarch of the Church of Russia, an exemplary man adorned with humility, sobriety, and love. With admiration, we watch your many-fold activities. Your deeds embellish the majesty of Orthodoxy, and they reinforce the hope for a better society in the world, relying on the principles of love and equality, based in the acceptance and recognition of the basic human rights inherent in all mankind”.

The history of warm relations between these two Local Churches spans the centuries. Russian pilgrims, travellers, sailors, diplomats, and merchants, en route to the Holy Land and the Levant always made a detour to the island to pay homage to its holy sites, to rest, and to replenish their supplies. Many left behind writings noting their fond memories of this blessed land. More than once, Russian icon-painters came to Cyprus to help decorate local churches. One could see an example of this at the world-famous Holy, Royal, and Stavropegic Monastery of the Mother of God of Kykkos that the Patriarch visited during his visit. At the monastery, His Holiness said, “When I was Metropolitan of Smolensk, I helped with the decoration of the Monastery of Kykkos. In the economically-hard times of the 1990s, I blessed a talented team of Russian painters and gilders from the Diocese of Smolensk to go to Cyprus in order to contribute to the beautification and restoration of this monastery. I haven’t been here until today, but it seems to me that they made the grade, as I see how well they restored the art here, including the iconostas in the church”.

In 1988, the then-First Hierarch of the Local Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos Arsitodemou, took part in the celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Russia. Since the early 1990s, many thousands of our compatriots have moved to Cyprus. In 1997, in Limassol, the Russian-speaking community of the city received a small church, where the clergy serve regularly in Church Slavonic. This helped to alleviate the problems in caring for the spiritual needs of Orthodox Russians living in Cyprus. During his current visit, Patriarch Kirill blessed the hillside site of another Russian church and laid its foundation stone. There are four Russian-language schools on the island and many colleges and secondary schools throughout the country offer courses in Russian as a second language.

The reliquary with the relics of St Lazarus will reside at the Stavropegial Convent of the Conception in Moscow {the convent is accessible by Metro: editor}. For its part, the Church of Russia gave a reliquary with the relics of Russian saints, as well as 19 icons painted recently by Russian icon-painters, as a gift to Cypriot churches and monasteries.

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Turin Shroud One of Forty Fakes, Claims Historian

Matthew Kalman

June 10, 2012

Daily Mail

Not only is the Turin Shroud probably a medieval fake but it is just one of an astonishing 40 so-called burial cloths of Jesus, according to an eminent church historian.

Antonio Lombatti said the false shrouds circulated in the Middle Ages, but most of them were later destroyed.

He said the Turin Shroud itself – showing an image of a bearded man and venerated for centuries as Christ’s burial cloth – appears to have originated in Turkey some 1,300 years after the Crucifixion.

Lombatti, of the Università Popolare in Parma, Italy, cited work by a 19th century French historian who had studied surviving medieval documents. ‘The Turin Shroud is only one of the many burial cloths which were circulating in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. There were at least 40,’ said Lombatti.

‘Most of them were destroyed during the French Revolution. Some had images, others had blood-like stains, and others were completely white.’

The Turin Shroud is a linen cloth, about 14ft by 4ft, bearing a front and back view of the image of a bearded, naked man who appears to have been stabbed or tortured. Ever since the detail on the cloth was revealed by negative photography in the late 19th century it has attracted thousands of pilgrims to the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Turin.

In a research paper to be published this month in the scholarly journal Studi Medievali, Lombatti says the shroud was most likely given to French knight Geoffroy de Charny as a memento from a crusade to Smyrna, Turkey, in 1346. The de Charny family are the first recorded owners of the shroud.

Lombatti found that Geoffroy was unable to join a pilgrimage to Jerusalem after liberating Smyrna, so he was given the shroud as a symbol of his participation in the crusade to Turkey.

The Catholic Church has never officially commented on the shroud’s authenticity, but has made samples available to scientists for testing.

In 2009 a Vatican researcher said she had found the words ‘Jesus Nazarene’ on the cloth, while two years later Italian government researchers claimed the image of a man had been caused by a supernatural ‘flash of light’.

But carbon tests carried out in Oxford in 1988 firmly dated the material to 1260-1390.

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Movie Trailer: Isän Varjo (Father's Shadow)

This film out of Finland takes place during the Winter War of 1940, when the Soviet Union and Finland fought over territory during World War II, and 150 monks of Valaam Monastery were evacuated and settled in Heinävesi in Finland, in what became New Valamo Monastery.

In the movie, a ten year old Orvo lives with his grandmother, Kaarina, while his father is away at war. Meanwhile a monk from Valaam and the young Orvo become friends, and the story focuses on them and the challenges they face due to the war. The film explores the relationship between the Monastery and a nearby village and how it changed following the war.

Official Website

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New Saints

By Monk Moses the Athonite

Our age is often criticized for many reasons, fairly or unfairly. Yet truly difficult times hide treasures, generating small or great saints. Besides the officially recognized saints, there exist hidden saints throughout the entire twentieth century.

The venerable Methodia of Kimolos (†1908), Saint John of Kronstadt (†1908), the bishop of Zilon Euthymios (†1921), the bishop of Iconium Prokopios (†1922), the bishop of Kydonion Gregory (†1922), the bishop of Moschonision Ambrose (†1922), the bishop of Smyrna Chrysostomos (†1922), the wondrous Elder of Optina Monastery Venerable Anatoly (†1922), and many other venerable ones and new martyrs of Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Poland and other places in Europe, Asia and America.

In the twentieth century we also have the following saints: Arsenios of Cappadocia (†1924), Nicholas Planas of Athens (†1932), Silouan the Athonite (†1938), the venerable Savva of Kalymnos (†1948), the venerable George Karslides of Drama (†1959), the hieromonk Anthimos Vagianos of Chios (†1960), the archbishop of Shanghai John Maximovitch the Wonderworker(†1966), the Serbian hieromonk Justin Popovich (†1979), and the hieromartyr Philoumenos of Jerusalem (†1979).

A reputation of holiness and high virtuous life belongs also to these blessed elders: Archimandrite Ieronymos of Simonopetra (†1957), Joseph the Hesychast and Cave-dweller (†1959), Abbot Amphilochios Makris of Patmos (†1970), the abbot of Longovardos on Paros Philotheos Zervakos (†1980), the abbot of the Monastery of the Venerable David in Evia Iakovos Tsalikes (†1991), the discerning and clairvoyant Elder Porphyrios Kafsokalivites (†1995), the wise Elder Sophrony Sakharov (†1993), the known-to-all and charismatic monk Paisios the Athonite (†1994), the obedient and prayerful Ephraim of Katounakia (†1998), and others.

Holiness-bearing monasticism challenges us and invites us to stand more heroically, to greater frugality, simplicity, modesty and humility. We are obliged to maintain a solid, strong and pure spirit of Orthodox monasticism at all costs. We are called to teach the patience of the Elders of old.

The greatness of our Church is that it generates saints also today. Holiness will be needed much more in the 21st century world. Elder Paisios the Athonite would say that it is impossible to not keep monasticism intact. Holiness is not a forgotten vision or a false hope. Happiness-seeking, secularism, and laziness prevent the emergence of the tree of holiness. The contemporary spirit of having good times, of rushing, of effortless and trouble free work, and superficiality removes holiness.

The purpose of life is holiness. Holiness is the chief issue. Approaching holiness gives peace, joy, gentleness, patience, temperance, and spiritual gifts. The catalogue of new saints is growing also in the 21st century. Sometimes holiness hides itself in places where you would never expect, in cities and villages and not only on Mount Athos. Monasticism is booming today. We all pray that it continues to produce saints who walk the traditional path. Saint Silouan the Athonite would say according to his experience: "The Lord loves us exceedingly and through our unworthy prayers we converse with Him and repent and glorify Him. It is impossible to write how much the Lord loves us."

Through the Holy Spirit you know this love and the soul of one who prays knows the Holy Spirit.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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On Personal and Collective Repentance

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: Furthermore, remembering that the Gospel starts with the message of repentance, a question could be asked whether repentance is only a personal experience or is there such a thing as collective repentance where an internal transformation of entire peoples could take place? Can we find examples of this in the history of the Church?

Answer: Repentance is the basic prerequisite for experiencing the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ began His teaching with repentance, because He continued the dialogue with man which was interrupted in Paradise. There, Adam with his sin discontinued his dialogue with God and now Christ with repentance started the dialogue for the reestablishment of man’s relationship with God.

In Greek the word repentance (“metanoia”) denotes the change of the nous. According to the Orthodox teaching, the nous is the eye of the soul and is not identified with the reasonable faculty. The nous is distinguished from reason. With sin, man’s nous is darkened, so with repentance his illumination begins. This is why the Orthodox neptic teaching of the Church maintains that the road to God is marked by these three words: purification, illumination and deification. The heart is purified from the passions with purification, the nous is illumined and begins to pray unceasingly with illumination, and in deification one beholds the glory of God.

Therefore, in principle, repentance is a personal experience. But it is also a collective experience, because when entire local Churches lose the truth and their pastoral mission they must repent. This is why we talk about theological and ecclesiological sins. This is how we should interpret God’s epistles to the angels of the Church, as described in the first chapters of the Revelation of John.

For this reason we attach great importance to heresy and schism. Because through heresy we are cut off from the truth revealed by Christ and through schism we break apart the Church of Christ, with terrible consequences for our life, because, as Saint John Chrysostom says, not even the martyrdom of blood can save a man who molests the Church of Christ.

Therefore, collective repentance is the return to the doctrinal truth of the Church and our reintegration with the unity of the local Churches.

From Sobornost, September 2006.

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Maurice Banjoko – ‘How I Became Orthodox’

Maurice Banjoko from Nigeria, an Investment Consultant, in his interview with Pemptousia talks about how he became Orthodox.

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Martyrs and Confessors of Orthodoxy in China

The following article was published in the theological periodical Ecclesiastical Truth, Constantinople, March 23, 1901 - less than a year after the incident.

As is well known, a severe persecution broke out in China against all Christians in general, and in particular against those of the Orthodox mission. Sufficient details of this persecution are already known. Let eyewitnesses inform us of the atrocities in China, since the horrors recall those such as suffered under Nero and Diocletian. We learn from a recent letter in the Moscow News of the Archimandrite Innocent, leader of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China (and as is already known for a long time, the Russian Orthodox Mission is active both in China and Japan), that the recently-formed Orthodox community in China now has its martyrs and confessors of the faith, since they recall the martyric sufferings of the ancient Christian Church. A feeling of holy emotion is truly born in the soul of the reader before such exemplars on behalf of Christ's name in the days of their self-sacrifice; let godly zeal and pious inspiration not at all be separated.

June 11, 1900 was, above all, a day of martyrdom for Orthodox Chinese in Beijing. Some of them, at the horrible prospect of such death and suffering, renounced their faith in Christ and sacrificed to idols, so that they might save their lives. Nevertheless, others boldly confessed Christ by undergoing sufferings and death. The end was frightful for such people.

According to the testimony of non-Christian eyewitnesses themselves, some of the Chinese Orthodox faced martyrdom with amazing self-sacrifice. Paul Wang, the Chinese Orthodox catechist, submitted to martyrdom with a prayer on his lips. Ia Wen, the teacher from the Mission School, was tortured twice. At first, the Boxers mutilated her and then threw her on the ground half-dead. When she recovered, a non-Christian watchman heard her groaning and carried her to his station. A short time later, she was subjected again to new tortures that resulted in her death. But in both instances, she rejoiced and confessed the name of Christ in the face of her torturers. After the frightful events of that first night of persecution, peace-loving Chinese citizens found an eight-year-old boy, John Tsi, son of the priest who was likewise murdered,[1] mercilessly mutilated by the Boxers. To their question whether he was suffering much, the boy replied with a smile on his lips: "Suffering on behalf of Christ is no burden."

The blood of the martyrs has always been seed from which flourishing Christian communities have grown again in non-Christian countries. We pray then that this frightful persecution may at length be a cause for encouragement for both like-believing missions and the little Orthodox flock in China and become, on the contrary, a starting point for greater zeal and a broader expansion of the Kingdom of God in those countries, to the glory of the Scriptural saying: "My gospel will be preached in all the world" (Matthew 26:13),[2] and again: "Many will come from East and West and recline with Abraham and Isaac in the kingdom of heaven."[3]

Orthodox in America — The number of Orthodox from different nationalities in America at present amounts to 29,949. To serve their religious needs, there are altogether forty-two churches and fifty-seven chapels.

I. P.

[1] Mitrophan Tsi-Chung (1855-1900).

[2] Cf. Matthew 24:14.

[3] Matthew 8:11.

Source

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The Child Elias Healed By St. Luke of Simferopol

On the afternoon of May 28th in 2012 in the Church of St. Luke the Physician, which is under construction in the Monastery of Panagia Dobra in Beroia, there was celebrated the Hierarchical Vespers for the Feast of the Translation of the Holy Relic from Simferopol in Crimea to the Monastery. It was officiated by the Bishop of Nazianzus Theodoret, who spoke.

The morning of May 29th there was celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in which the Metropolitan of Beroia, Naoussa and Campania Panteleimon was attended by His Grace Theodoret bishop of Nazianzus, Demetrios of Thermi, and many priests who came to honor and receive a blessing from St. Luke.

Shortly before the end of the Service, Archimandrite Sosipatros Pitoulias, at the instigation of the Bishop of Beroia, recounted how Saint Luke the Physician healed his little nephew (photo).

Father Sosipatros was visibly touched as he began to narrate the miraculous incident, saying:

"Little Elias was a few months old and the doctors diagnosed him as having leukemia. I along with Father Gregory Maza did shifts in the hospital where he was sick. On the eve of the Dormition of St. Luke, i.e. June 10th, Father Gregory left the hospital late in the evening to rest and left me in his post. After a while he called me with a frightened and yet happy voice, saying: 'Father Sosipatros, St. Luke did his miracle again!' What was done? When he left the hospital he took a taxi to take him to the home where he lived. Just before they reached the house the unknown taxi driver asked Father Gregory: 'Father, are you all right?' Father Gregory replied awkwardly: 'All is well.' But insistent the taxi driver asked again: 'Father, are you all right?'. Father Gregory not wanting to continue the conversation with the unknown taxi driver again replied curtly: 'All is well'. And then the taxi driver said to him: 'Father Gregory, the child you are caring for that is not yours will be fine!'. Father Gregory was in a daze for a moment, and in addressing the stranger asked how did he know about the child? About me? About all of this? And the taxi driver replied: 'Do not ask a lot Father; the child you care for, but that is not yours, will be well!' With these words the taxi stopped and the shocked Fr. Gregory gave the appropriate cash to the stranger who knew everything. The taxi driver took the money, gave the change, and disappeared. I do not know if the taxi driver was St. Luke or another Saint who spoke through this man, what I know is that little Elias became well!"

The reaction of the audience to this story of Fr. Sosipatros was moving. Little Elias was in church with his parents, still alive, by a miracle of St. Luke.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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St. Theodore the Studite: On Bartholomew the Apostle

By St. Theodore the Studite

The blessed apostle Bartholomew preached first in Lycaonia, and after in India, and at the last in Alban, a city of Great Armenia, and there he was first flayed and afterward his head smitten off, and there he was buried.

And when he was sent by our Lord to preach, as I suppose, he heard how our Lord said to him: "Go, my disciple, to preach, void out of this country, and go fight and be capax of [valiant in] perils. I have first accomplished and finished the works of My Father, and am first witness; fill thou the vessel that is necessary and follow thy Master, love thy Lord, give thy blood for His blood, and thy flesh for His flesh, and suffer that which He had suffered; let thine armor be debonair in thy sweatings, and suffer sweetly among wicked people and be patient among them that perish thee."

And the apostle recoiled not, but as a true servant and obeissant to his master went forth rejoicing, and as a light of God illumining in darkness the work of holy Church, like as the blessed St. Austin witnesseth in his book, that, like a tiller of Jesus Christ, he profiteth in spiritual tilling.

St. Peter the Apostle taught the nations, but St. Bartholomew did great miracles. Peter was crucified the head downward, and Bartholomew was flayed quick, and had his head smitten off. And they twain increased greatly the Church by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And right as a harp giveth a right sweet sound of many strings, in like wise all the apostles gave sweet melody of the unity divine, and were established by the King of kings. And they departed among them throughout all the world, and the place of Armenia was the place of Bartholomew, that is from Ejulath unto Gabaoth. There thou mayst see him, with the plough of his tongue, ear [plough] the fields unreasonable, sowing in the deepness of the heart the word of the faith, and in planting the vines of our Lord and trees of paradise. And to everyone each setting medicine for the remedies of the passions, rooting out pernicious thorns, cutting down trees of felony, and setting about hedges of doctrine.

But what reward yielded the tyrants to their curate? They gave to him dishonour for honour, cursing for benediction, pains for gifts, tribulation for rest, and right bitter death for restful life. And since that he had suffered many torments, he was of them discoriate and flayed quick, and died not, and yet for all that he had them not in despite that slew him, but admonished them by miracles, and taught them by demonstrances, that did him harm. But there was nothing that might refrain their bestial thoughts, and withdraw them from harm.

What did they afterwards? They enforced them against the holy body, and the maladied and sick men refused their physician and healer, the city refused him that illumined their blindness, governed them that were in peril, and gave life to them that were dead.

And how cast they him out? Certainly, they threw the body into the sea in a chest of lead, and that chest came from the region of Armenia with the chests of four other martyrs, for they did also miracles and were thrown with him into the sea. And the four went before a great space of the sea, and did service to the apostles like as servants in a manner, so far that they came into the parts of Sicily in an isle that is named Lipari, like as it was showed to a bishop of Ostia which then was present. And these right rich treasures came to a right poor woman. And these right precious margarets [pearls] came to one not noble, the bright shining light came to one right heavy.

And then the other four came in to other lands, and left the holy apostle in that isle, and he left the other behind him.

And that one which was named Papian went into a city of Sicily, and he sent another, named Lucian, into the city of Messina. And the other twain were sent into the land of Calabria, St. Gregory into the city of Columna, and Achate into a city named Chale, where yet at this day they shine by their merits.

And then was the body of the apostle received with hymns, louings, and candles honourably, and there was made and builded a fair church in the honour of him.

And the mountain of Vulcan is nigh to that isle, and was to it much grievous because it received fire, the which mountain was withdrawn by the merits of this holy saint from that isle seven miles, without to be seen of any body, and was suspended toward the sea. And yet appeareth it at this day to them that see it, as it were a figure of fire fleeing away.

Now then, therefore, I salute thee, Bartholomew, blessed of blessed saints, which art the shining light of the holy Church, fisher of fishes reasonable, hurter of the devil which hurted the world by his theft. Enjoy thee, sun of the world, illuminating all earthly things, mouth of God, fiery tongue pronouncing wisdom, fountain springing good things, full of health, which hallowest the sea by thy goings and ways not removable, which makest the earth red with thy blood, which repairest in heaviness, shining in the middle of the divine company clear in the resplendishour of glory. And enjoy thee in the gladness of joy insatiable. Amen.

Source: Englished by William Caxton, 1483

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