The Contemporary Problems of the Church According to Father John Romanides

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The late Father John Romanides lived in the 20th century, then he died in 2001, at the beginning of the 21st century, and dealt with all the problems of his time through the empirical theology of the Church.

Precisely because he relied on the theology of the Saints, who did not talk about that which pertains to God, but about God, that is why he had acquired a spiritual sense to foresee the problems that exist in every age that need to be confronted by the shepherds of the Church.

In fact, he claimed that a theologian is also a spiritual father and a spiritual father is also a theologian. He said this because real theology, which is the essence of the pastoral ministry, distinguishes the created from the uncreated, the energies of God from the energies of the devil, which is characterized as discernment. Both the theologian and the spiritual father must have the patristic discernment to help their spiritual children.

Gangrene Humanity (Photios Kontoglou)

 

By Photios Kontoglou

Confusion and turmoil and chaos among the nations! Turmoil and shock and chaos also among the people, one by one. Where can one find the path in one's life with a high purpose, with stability and hope! It's a rare thing.

People today have become mostly empty creatures of every living idea, which would make them wander in the sea of life happy and lively, like a ship which is loaded with good cargo, and, full of hope and longing, pulls into the much-desired port, between the dry ground and wild rocks.

The Diseases of Blissful Happiness

By George N. Papathanasopoulos

It is not only Greece that is showing symptoms of social disintegration, as we live in our daily lives and as projected by the Mass Media and Social Media. It is the so-called civilized West. Its countries and only these, for the most part, have democratic regimes, but in reality it is a luxurious and valuable building with treasures inside, which is collapsing. The sad thing is that none of the current leaders of the Western countries are sounding the alarm. They are all managers of decline… And if anyone dares to tell the truth about the moral nature of the modern West and reacts, he receives the fire of its followers. In March 2020, the French publisher Presses universitaires de France published the work of Hugues Lagrange, Deputy Director of Research at the National French Research Center, titled Les maladies du Bonheur. In it, the author describes the state of modern reality in the West. Its main finding is that social life is extinct in its countries as a "disease" that belongs to the past like the once deadly diseases (tuberculosis, malaria, etc.).

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Tomb of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On October 31, 1997 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was the first religious leader to visit the tomb of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia for a Wreath-Laying Ceremony in his honor at the Martin Luther King Center for Social Change. Present and introducing him was Coretta Scott King.

Prophetic Themes in the Orthodox Ecclesiology of Fr John Romanides

Prophetic Themes in the Orthodox Ecclesiology of Fr John Romanides

By Deacon Geoffrey Ready

Contents

Introduction
(1) Church and Salvation
(2) Membership in the Church
(3) Apostolic Succession
(4) Empirical Truth, Synods, and Ecumenical Dialogue
(5) Church and World
Conclusion
Endnotes
Bibliography

Introduction

Orthodox Christians have forgotten the true nature of the Church. Throughout the Orthodox world today, the Church is variously confused with worldly institutions and political structures. She has come to be seen as simply another one of the world's religious societies, her message of healing and salvation for all reduced to the sphere of private belief and cultural affiliation. Even Orthodox theologians who have attempted to correct people's misconceptions of the Church have often followed Western Christianity's "worldly considerations," making "the dogmas of the Church... the object of logical gymnastics in the classrooms of philosophy."[1] While attempting to show something of the uniqueness of the Orthodox Church, in responding to the demands of ecumenical contact with the Western confessions, these theologians have tended to present the Church in the institutional and structural terms the West understands, and have thus lost sight of her true and organic life in Christ.

The Church Is Not What We Think It Is

By Archimandrite Vasilios of Iveron

The Church is not what we think it is. They took our babies from the breast of their mother, the Orthodox Church. They taught us other things. They gave us artificial milk to drink. They cut us off from our roots. They separated us from Tradition. They distanced us from our home. They made us foreigners in our own country. They set out to make us unlearn our native language, the language of Orthodoxy, the native language of humanity.

Orthodoxy and the World Today: An Interview With Fr. Nikolaos Loudovikos

The following interview with Protopresbyter Fr. Nikolaos Loudovikos, Professor of Dogmatics and Philosophy at the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki, took place in 2007.

Apostolos Diamantis: How did you, a graduate of psychology, turn to theology?

Nikolaos Loudovikos: I come from psychology, I studied psychology. Then, through monks from Mount Athos, I moved on to Orthodox theology. And I immediately read the Greek Fathers. In my work I stand critically against existentialism, which has been adopted by some Greek theologians, which has its roots in Augustine and Plotinus. Namely that the soul is celestial and the body earthly. And so they talk about nature as if it is something we must emerge from. This division does not exist in the Greek Fathers, for whom the soul is a "thinly bodied spirit".

A.D.: These are certainly difficult things to follow for an ordinary person.

N.L.: Not at all. Ordinary people experience them empirically, by their participation in ecclesiastical life. It becomes tradition. The problem is with the schematic thinking of the "educated", those of the right and the left and the centrists. The cliches of the left are three categories: Middle Ages = Disaster, Enlightenment = Resurrection, Church = Christodoulos, namely an open tomb. Those on the right identify the entire Orthodox tradition with whatever is prevailing in the Church. A good relationship had with all of these is the monastic tradition and ordinary people, who have "kept the steps of a lost dance", as Dionysios Savvopoulos once said.

Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos Interviewed About Contemporary Issues of the Church and Society

The following timely and enlightening interview with His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou was conducted by the journalist Alexander Kolliopoulos for the newspaper "Ecclesiology" out of Patras in December 2014.

1. Your Eminence, if you agree, we wanted to begin with a contemporary issue. Many people are worried that a union of the Orthodox Church with the Papal Church will take place without terms and conditions. Please clarify for us how and when is union possible with the Westerners? In the area of the Church are there "red lines" which, if violated, then we can speak about a betrayal of the faith?

The Sunday of Orthodoxy - Jubilee Speech of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens

Jubilee Speech

SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY

(19 March 2000)

Sermon of His Beatitude,
Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece

In all the nations for His Name

"The annual rendering of thanks due unto God, on which day we received the Church of God, together with the delivery of the doctrines of piety and the overthrow of the teachings of wickedness."

Your Excellency, Mr. President of the Hellenic Republic,

FESTIVE AND JOYOUS indeed is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, as we celebrate this Jubilee year of the 2000th year from the Birth of Jesus Christ, a celebration which adorns the Church with a yet more radiant splendour. We recall struggles and agonies, passions and hatred, exiles and persecutions, aspirations and degradations, magnanimity and pettiness -that amalgam of human actions, which passing through the "scheming of evildoers" (Ps. 63:3) has shaped the historic face of the Church. God's saints giving witness to their faith," conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises & destitute, afflicted, ill-treated & others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment & wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth" according to St Paul's characteristic description in his epistle to the Hebrews (11:33-39).

Saint Porphyrios of Gaza and the World of Late Antiquity

By Anastasios Philippides

On February 26th our Church celebrates the memory of Saint Porphyrios, Bishop of Gaza in Palestine. Saint Porphyrios came from Thessaloniki and lived between 350 and 420. His Life, among the most ancient lives of a saint after the cessation of persecution, was written by his disciple Deacon Mark and is one of the most eloquent hagiographical texts we have, as it is inspired by the vibrancy of the narrative in the first person, who was an eyewitness.

Saint Anthony the Great as a Model for our Lives

St. Anthony the Great (Feast Day - January 17)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Anthony, the professor of the desert, is one of the few who has received the epithet "Great". Truly he was a great athlete of spiritual athletics and triumphant in his struggles against delusion, sin, the devil and the many-formed passions. His life, which was authored by another with the epithet "Great", his contemporary Saint Athanasius, the Archbishop of Alexandria, is beyond wondrous and enviable. The study of it should be food for all those who crave to experience the grandeur of life in Christ.

Anthony the Great, with his asceticism and unceasing prayer, reached the pinnacle of spiritual life and acquired true wisdom. He calls himself "idiot" and was uneducated, but he had as a teacher the wisdom from above by the Spirit. From this wisdom, enlightened and inspired, he gave the most wise responses to various Christians who sought to benefit their souls, as seen in many parts of the book called Gerontikon. Apart from these he also left the "One Hundred and Seventy Chapters", which are included in the Philokalia and offer great benefit to those that read them.

Asceticism is the effort a person makes to apply the will of God in their life. It is an effort to transform their passions, to be purified of their passions, that they may love "with all their soul and heart" both God and mankind. For it is impossible to love anyone truly while dominated by the passions and especially by selfishness, which oppresses man and makes life difficult. Self-love is the irrational love for ourselves and from this, as from a mother, is born all the passions, such as pride, vanity, sensuality, avarice, etc.

In our days, we often talk about love, peace and friendship between people and nations, and other things like this. All this is good, but the question is how can we love others and be at peace with them while we are enslaved to the passions and cannot attain peace even with ourselves? Love, according to Saint Maximus the Confessor, is the grandchild of dispassion. It is born and nurtured within a heart which has been purified, or at least is struggling persistently and laboriously to be purified from the passions. Then love is selfless and resilient in adversity and difficulties. It does not have an expiration date, but lasts beyond the grave, it is "coeval with the ages". In contrast, passionate love is false and lasts as long as it is able to serve and feed or be fed from the passions. And how is it possible to have strength and durability, as conditions of life change, interests change and the human body wears out and is altered?

The biggest problem of transition societies are human passions. Passionate people cause huge problems in the family and social environment, but also wars and messiness around the world when it comes to people who hold office and power. As emphasized by His Eminence our Metropolitan Hierotheos: "Sin has social implications. Sick people make social institutions sick and then social institutions make people more sick." Therefore, the change of human societies for the better, or rather their humanization, requires the spiritual regeneration of their citizens, which can happen through asceticism, prayer, the sacramental life and general obedience to the Church and ecclesiastical institutions.

Saint Anthony, by his spiritual struggles against the spirits of wickedness and pride, acquired lofty humility. However, God revealed that there was a shoemaker in Alexandria who surpassed him in the spiritual life, which was sent to teach him his spiritual way of life. And as Elder Sophrony Sakharov notes: "He learned from this to think inwardly: 'Everyone can be saved, but I alone am separated'." These words can only be endured by those who have conquered the extreme height of humility.

Humility is the mother of love and all the other virtues. The Venerable One loved everyone sacrificially and prayed for the entire inhabited world. Characteristic is the way he communicated with people, and especially with the afflicted people. With his princely love he truly comforted and supported them.

Once a theologian/writer visited him, named Didymus, who was blind, but as it appears the eyes of his soul were opened and, among other things, Anthony said: "Do not be upset or troubled, Didymus, by the fact that you are missing your physical eyes, because you lack such eyes with which flies and mosquitoes can be seen. You have such eyes that are possessed by the angels, which God has determined and His Light occupies." This incident shows the pastoral way of the Saints. They do not disappoint people nor drive them to despair, but rather they increase their love for life, and the life in Christ, and repel from the soul the mist, increase their joy, strengthen their faith and increase hope.

I would like to conclude this article with the advice/exhortation of Saint Anthony: "It is needed that we run to be healed of the passions of the soul, because in the future we will be judged before the face of God, so that we do not find ourselves (there) losers and embarrassed."

Source: Ekklesiastiki Paremvasi, "ΟΣΙΟΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΟΣ Ο ΜΕΓΑΣ", January 2003. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Saint Domna as a Model for our Lives

St. Domna the Martyr (Feast Day - December 28)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Domna lived in the time of the pagan emperor Maximian and was priestess of the idols in Nicomedia, specifically the Temple of the Twelve Gods. She had the good habit of studying and this was the reason behind her discovering the true faith. Because she was benevolent the Grace of God overshadowed her while reading the epistles of the Apostle Paul. Her spiritual eyes opened, namely her nous, and she understood what she was reading was the truth and that Christ is the true Savior of mankind. "Then He opened wide their mind to perceive the scriptures" (Lk. 24:5). She asked to be baptized together with her servant Indes, and the Mystery of Baptism was performed by Bishop Cyril of Nicomedia.

After baptism her way of life changed radically and it became obvious to all those who watched her and consorted with her. She distributed her wealth to the poor, and whatever she made from the palace where she worked she gave to all those who were in need while she lived in fasting, asceticism and prayer. Her way of life irritated the pagans and, when they learned she became a Christian, they decided to punish her as an example. Then she made out to be a fool (crazy) and brought herself to the Bishop for treatment. With the blessing of the Bishop she dressed in men's clothing and helped the men, without being recognized, in burying the relics of the Martyrs. At the time Maximian was absent. When he returned to Nicomedia he asked to meet with Domna, and upon learning that she renounced the idols to follow Christ, he commanded her to be arrested. She was arrested during the general persecution and her faith remained firm, thus she was beheaded and in this way delivered her holy soul into the hands of Christ, whom she loved so much.

Her life and deeds give us the opportunity to emphasize the following:

First, idols are works of the imagination and human passions. "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands." And demons act through the idols, which mislead people and lead them to irrational and destructive acts and actions, such as hatred, envy and even murder, since the worship of Satan requires human sacrifices. Apart from the idols of the old age, which unfortunately even today some worship, there also exist contemporary idols. These can be any person or thing, when they are absolutized, autonomized and worshipped. Such idols can be clubs, organizations, groups of any kind, but also a beloved person or thing, and even ourselves with all our passions and weaknesses: "Our passions have become our idols" (Great Canon). Essentially it is a relinquishment of our liberty, which is a God-given good, and our voluntary enslavement to persons, things and situations that satisfy our weaknesses and passions and through which the devil acts. Knowledge of the truth, which is Christ ("I am the truth"), frees us from the tyranny of the passions and the oppression of demons and offers existential and true freedom. Therefore, the struggle made in Christ within the Church for the transformation of the passions, is simultaneously a demolishing of idols and it paves the way for finding true freedom, genuine love and the real meaning of life.

Second, the study of Holy Scripture together with the lives and sayings of the Saints nourishes us spiritually, but it also creates inspiration and the mood for prayer. Of course, this takes place when this study is done with humility, reverence and a willingness to live the divine commandments. When one is benevolent and struggling to live according to the will of God, then they are overshadowed by uncreated divine Grace and this gives inspiration to the spiritual life, as well as to all God-pleasing works.

The Saints, but also those who are struggling to achieve their personal sanctification, have inspiration in all works according to God, which they work and perform with gusto and enthusiasm. Rightly it has been said that the true Christian is an artist and a poet, an inspired creator, and whatever they do they do with hunger and love. We live in a time when everyone is talking about their rights, ignoring, intentionally or unintentionally, their duties and obligations. Struggles for the safeguarding of individual rights should not be at the expense of society, because indifference to others reveals psychic illness, which creates many social anomalies. The study of the divinely inspired writings, moreover, reminds us of the duties we have towards our fellow human beings, and we as members of society. These are necessarily and inextricably linked with the respect and love for all without exception. "An excellent path towards our obligations will be found in the study of the divinely inspired writings" (Basil the Great).

The various acts and actions that affect the community and especially those most vulnerable, who have been wronged and have no way to react and defend themselves, their families and their property may sometimes be legal and legitimate, however they are not always ethical and permissible. Besides, the law of love is superior to human laws, which, sometimes, are made only to serve human passions, irrational desires and unfair trade.

The study of the divinely inspired Scriptures, and the lives and sayings of the Saints, contributes greatly to the creation of true people, who do not create problems in society, but rather are for it a source of inspiration and blessing.

Source: Ekklesiastiki Paremvasi, "ΑΓΙΑ ΔΟΜΝΑ", December 2008. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

I Believe In God But I Don't Go To Church

By Archimandrite Paul Papadopoulos

"I believe in God but I don't go to church."

We often hear the above phrase from acquaintances, friends and relatives, so our discussion will focus a little more on spiritual matters.

The basic argument of people who say that they believe in God yet do not go to church to participate in the Mysteries of our Orthodox Church, is that they are bothered by certain things, such as the luxuriousness of churches, obnoxious priests and chanters, the language is ancient (they don't understand it), the microphones, the lights, the candle offering (where they give money for a candle), the time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, etc.

The excuses are certainly a lot when someone DOES NOT WANT to live according to how the Church says. Unfortunately these people consider themselves outside the Church since they do not accept the basic components of the life in Christ, which is the participation of a Christian in the Mysteries of the Church. These people are not Christians, at least not Orthodox, because while they (supposedly) believe, they do not follow any word of Christ.

The issue of course is that most baptized Christians do not know who Christ is or what the Church is, and what Christ and the Church offer to people. Thus they do not attend church, because essentially they do not know what they are missing, and they do not know what the sacramental life can offer.

The Church, with all Her Mysteries, transforms us, sanctifies us, and brings us into communion with God. Our participation in the Mysteries of the Church is the key to this personal resurrection of ours.

The Church does not exist merely to take the position of medicine and exhaust all its capabilities, as some wrongly treat it. The Church exists to lead people, the faithful, to the Love, the Light and the Life in Christ through the Mysteries.

To say you believe in God is easy, but to believe in God in an Orthodox manner and to do corresponding works is difficult, though not impossible.

If a person really wants to know Christ, they can do this through the sacramental life offered by the Church. If you want to fool yourself you can claim to achieve this on your own. However, I do not know anyone that has been sanctified outside the Church. (The crazy thing is that some people consider as saints people like Elder Paisios, Elder Porphyrios, etc., yet they do not accept their lives. Twisted people!)

All this happens for just one reason: Egoism. When each person believes themselves to be a better interpreter of the Scriptures, and they believe the God-bearing Fathers of the Church are beneath them, and they believe they are smarter, more worthy and holier than the old "religionists" as they call them, and when they believe they have no need to repent of any of their sins (!), and they could be saved by themselves (whatever that means to them), then this text will probably not trouble them at all, rather it has been a long time since they fell into the abyss of self-love and delusion.

The biggest obstacle that prevents contemporary man from reaching communion with God is precisely this: they are trying to know Him the wrong way, using the wrong means, outside the Church. They dismiss the mystery of love and remain willfully grounded in a sterile faith which in a best case scenario simply means "acknowledging the existence of God" and not trusting and surrendering to Divine Providence.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Why Is Sunday So Important For Christians?

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Christ resurrected during the early hours of Sunday. We do not know the actual time of His Resurrection, since no one saw Him at that moment, but it was certified when the Myrrhbearing women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ with perfumes. Thus, Sunday is the first day of the week, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. If Christ conquered the dominion of death on a Saturday, on a Sunday He certified to all His Resurrection, that He is the conqueror of death and the devil.

The day of Sunday in the so-called weekly calendar is the first day from which the week is numbered, but also the eighth, because it lies at the end of the seventh day, after Saturday that is. In the Old Testament it was considered an important day, firstly because it is the first day of the creation of the cosmos, on which light was brought about, and on the other hand it is considered holy according to the command: "For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work" (Lev. 23:36).

Moses did not call the first day first, but Day One. Interpreting this, Basil the Great says that holy Sunday, on which day the Lord resurrected, is called Day One in order to lead our minds to a sense of the future eternal life. Now Sunday is a type of the future age, but then it will be in itself the eighth day. If one thinks that the weekly cycle symbolizes the entire time of a persons life, and Sunday is a type of the future eighth age, then it is a single day. Basil the Great calls Sunday "the first-fruit of days" and "having the same origin as light".

According to Saint Gregory Palamas, Sunday is called the eighth day because on this day the Resurrection of Christ took place, which is the eighth resurrection in history. Three resurrections took place in the Old Testament (one by the Prophet Elijah and two by the Prophet Elisha), and four resurrections happened in the New Testament by Christ (the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, of Lazarus, and the dead on Good Friday). And so the greatest, the eighth resurrection, was the Resurrection of Christ. Essentially, however, it is not only the eighth resurrection, but also the first according to the resurrection hope of the dead.

On Sunday, the first day of creation, light was made. On Sunday, the first day of regeneration, the light of the Resurrection appeared, which is the same Light of Transfiguration and Pentecost. The human nature of Christ eliminated mortality and corruptibility, as we will see below.

Sunday is also called a holy and chosen day, because all the great Despotic events happened on it. According to the Fathers, the Annunciation to the Theotokos, the Birth of Christ, the Resurrection, the basic great Despotic events, occurred on a Sunday. And the Second Coming of Christ, and certainly the resurrection of the dead will also happen on this day (Saint Peter of Damascus). This is why Christians give such importance and weight on the day and seek to make it holy, because on this day the sudden Second Coming of Christ will take place.

For all these reasons Saint John of Damascus celebrates on the day of Pascha: "On this chosen and holy day, the first of the Sabbaths, the royal and supreme, the festival of festivals and celebration of celebrations, we bless Christ unto the ages."

It is humbling to think that the Church every Sunday with this wonderful hymn celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. Thus, besides the annual Pascha there is also a weekly Pascha, the so-called small Pascha, the luminous day of Sunday.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan: 1700 years later

Keynote Address of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the opening of the Edict of Milan Seminar 2013

(Conrad Hotel, May 17, 2013)

“Behold how good and pleasing it is for brothers [and sisters] to dwell together” (Ps. 132), especially in the risen Lord.”

We too, echo the words of the Psalmist, beloved brothers and concelebrants in the risen Lord, representatives of the Holy Orthodox Churches throughout the world, brothers in Christ from other Christian Churches, distinguished and esteemed seminar participants. We are delighted to have you with us in our city, in the courtyard of grace and history, the truth of faith and the experience of wonder, in this sacred place of our glorious Lord, who suffered, was crucified, buried and rose from the dead for our salvation.

This seminar, whose deliberations we now proclaim open in Christ’s name, marks the turning of a new page. It is not simply a new record, but a new reality. Sadly, for many people, it is the pages of ephemeral reality that provide the record of history.

Nonetheless, we who are of Christ – through whom and by whom and for whom all things came into existence, in periods of persecution and sorrow for the truth, up until 1700 years ago, with the declaration of the renowned Edict of Milan by Constantine the Great, through whom freedom was granted to the Church for worshipping the Lord and publicly confessing our faith in Him as the only true God and Savior – record history through the presence of God in various times and periods as well as in diverse ways and forms in the worldly arena. These pages of history are certainly influenced by human freedom but ultimately defined by the Lord of life and death.

We glorify the risen Christ and express our gratitude to all of you as delegates of the holy Orthodox Churches and to our venerable brother First-Hierarchs for your participation in this celebration, which is a tribute of honor to the divinely-crowned Emperor Constantine, who is truly one of very few Great Saints – for “whoever among you wishes to be great must be servant of all” (Matt. 20:26-27), according to the scripture. He was the first to grant freedom to the Church and to the world, the first to put an end to the ruthless persecutions against the Church. We confess that this page of history, from the earliest times to this day, is filled with bitter experiences and events, surrendered to oblivion and vivid only in the impassioned memory of some. At the same time, this historical page “has a name inscribed on his robe and his thigh, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16), who “makes all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)

***

The anniversary that we are celebrating and honoring provides occasion for us to ruminate on these events, considering and reflecting on the development of the contemporary world 1700 years after the divinely-inspired Emperor established in action and legislation the fundamental principles, on which modern Christian societies – and by extension and analogy, the entire world – are based to this day.

In our time, we observe various nations and countries mimicking one another, especially in this age of so-called “globalization,” when the velocity and quantity of information and misinformation, of truth and fabrication – to the point of distortion for some trivial or ephemeral “interest” in events as well as the relentless slander of people and circumstances – of justice and injustice, are broadcast “in a split second” throughout the world; we observe a tendency for all things to be permeated by only a secular spirit.

We sadly ascertain as contemporary human beings, and particularly those of us “called to a sacred vocation,” another reality, beyond the expected and surely desirable “good transformation.” More specifically, traditions are increasingly abandoned; faith is regarded as an individual affair and people endeavor to marginalize it within society; ideals and values – namely, the forces which have constituted and conserved nations through the centuries – are scorned; education is assaulted and secularized; legislation is estranged from its religious basis, which always – and especially from the time of Constantine to this day – comprised the theoretical foundation of all law; sin is no longer conceived as “evil” and adopts the garment of variation, that is to say merely of personal choice; immorality is accompanied and concealed by the scornful pretext or complex of fleshly weakness, while the morality of Christ is trivialized; in other words, people overlook the penitential cry: “Lord, have mercy,” which is the very content of faith and life.

Despite this disappointing development in human affairs, which is all the more apparent in the secularized Western society and civilization, the same Western world retains – in its heart and mind, as well as in its fabric and structure, its governance and legislation, its arts and values – the ethos and spirit of the Church, of Constantine the Great, and of the Gospel. Whatever good and righteous remains in today’s secularized society in fact derives from the Gospel and the Church.

The basic human rights, for which all peoples and societies strive, but which are frequently perceived in a sense of retribution that does not resemble the spirit of the Gospel or Christianity (“an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”), comprise spiritual values, which the Emperor Constantine planted within the governance and structure of his empire because he discerned and predicted that this was the only way of securing progress and preserving peace. It is essentially the same values that the modern world has inherited, except that the titles have been altered, while humanity now formally declares that it does not believe in God and the hour of Christianity has passed.

Nevertheless, despite these cries, Christianity and the Truth are not only not outdated, but in fact have increasingly matured, affirming on a daily basis the words of St. Paul: “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more; so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:20-21)

***

Despite frequent and dangerous reformations, which sometimes destroy the very foundations of society, such as a lack of respect for the sacred institution of family and marriage, the legal recognition and regulation of serious mortal sins or unnatural conditions (see Rom. 1:25-32), contemporary state institutions are deeply permeated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the blood of the Church Martyrs.

Constantine the Great colored his empire with the dye of Christ in order that this might not be extinguished with the passing of time. Have we ever asked ourselves why?

We judge one another, yet we ignore the words of Christ: “Do not judge in order that you not be judged.” We believe that, in our human frailty, everything comes and goes and is forgotten, although we know that God “sees all things” and “rules hearts and minds.” All things human are vain (St. John of Damascus); indeed, “the present pleasures resemble the flow of a river, shadow and smoke, a dream and blade of grass.” (St. Andrew of Crete) Nonetheless, the dye of Truth is “stronger than death.” Moreover, the dye of Christ through Constantine the Great could not be permanent unless it was preceded by the dye of “the indelible ink” of this sacred City and the whole world through the blood of the countless and great holy Martyrs, many of whom lived anonymously “in mountains and caves and the holes of the earth” (Heb. 11:38), as well as on cemetery gravestones, but also the countless and great heroes of the faith, through whose sacrifice the Church increases and is nurtured, reconciled and stabilized.

The blood of the Martyrs, their cross and sacrifice; the renunciation of the world and of the things of the world; the notion of solidarity and friendship (according to the words of Christ: “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from the Father” [John 15:15]); the love that “casts out [every] fear” (1 John 4:18) and especially the fear of death; all these things brought peace to the Church, which was in turn visibly and tangibly articulated in the Edict of Milan. The suffering of the holy Martyrs and of those unjustly assaulted through the centuries to this day, all of which were modeled after the martyrdom of Jesus Christ Himself, who was covered with myrrh and who suffered for us “in order that we may follow in His footsteps” (1 Peter 2:22); these same sufferings of the Martyrs also granted to the Church mercy, salvation, peace after three centuries of horrible persecutions.

***

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom. 11:29)

The Orthodox Church is perfected in suffering, through the martyrdom of its children, who reveal the sincerity of their love for God precisely through suffering. Thus, the blood of the Martyrs comes first and the freedom to worship, which was proclaimed by Constantine the Great, follows. The suffering of the holy Apostles comes first and the rights provided by the emperors follow. The tears of the holy myrrh-bearing women come first and the absurdity of the Resurrection follows. The Lord invites St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, in order to warn him “about all the things that he would suffer in His name” (Acts 9:16), while St. Constantine is called by the triumphant and brilliant sign of the precious cross.

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Truly, Constantine the Great, “as the Apostle of the Lord among emperors beheld the sign of the cross in heaven and, like Paul, received his vocation from above.”

When Constantine the Great encountered in the “Italian” skies the precious cross shining, he was transformed. And together with him, the entire world of the Empire and of humanity was also transformed. This tangible vision of the ever-present sign of the cross, silently and constantly calling him, is similar to the sign witnessed by St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, on his way to Damascus, “so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:2) Can it not also be said about us, that we too “persecute” those who hold views contrary to ours, whom we simply endure and tolerate, wishing that they would be “bound” to the cross – although not the cross of Jesus Christ, which would be desirable for their and our salvation, but rather the cross of our human weakness and evil?

Saul the persecutor was converted into the most zealous disciple of Christ and transformed the whole world through his preaching. Through the vision by daylight of the sign of the cross, the Emperor Constantine reformed the entire world. Not only did he put an end to the unjust persecutions against the Church and humanity as the image of God in the world; but his actions managed to attract the Christian doctrines and Gospel commandments into the ideology and lifestyle of the empire and the world, thereby introducing a profound division into world history without either planning or striving for it. So he did not receive his calling from below; nonetheless, behold, he was proclaimed an Apostle among emperors. A human paradox; yet, a divine gift.

In order to believe, human beings always require a sign. (Matt. 16:4) However, we ignore the fact that we shall not receive any sign, except the sign alone of Jonah the Prophet, who survived in the belly of the beast and foreshadowed the resurrection. In this sign, which shines more brightly than the sun, we are able to see and celebrate. And we should never forget that every sign is given as a gift, received and never planned; it is a calling, charisma, grace, mercy, commission, and constant journey.

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With Constantine the Great and his genuinely radical service, the Lord our God entered the very heart of the worldly empire and gave life to what was previously corrupt and foul. He proved that the persecutors “became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being.” (Rom. 1:21-23) Finally, he taught us that the Lord alone gives life to the dead, and to all forms of death, by “calling things from non-being into being.” (Rom. 4:17)

It is noteworthy that the former kingdom of corruption, in the secular rule “of Augustus who was monarch of the world,” received the infant Jesus with the slaughter of thousands of innocent infants.

While, from the incarnation of the Lord, “deceit is overcome” and divine grace, love and justice reign, we cannot say with conviction that, despite human progress, everything under the sun has been transformed. Today, two thousand years after the incarnation of Christ and the murder of Herod, who thought of himself as “universal ruler,” unfortunately the murder of thousands of infants is legally recognized in most “Christian” countries.

Just like Abraham the Patriarch, Constantine the Great “patiently endured and obtained the promise.” (Heb. 6:15) The Neros, Diocletians and Herods, the “worldly rulers” of every generation dress up in glory and purple robes,” like the rich man in the Gospel passage, and persecute people. They do not endure; instead, they forget and in the end mercilessly murder the poor Lazarus, who is starving and consuming the crumbs that fall from their table, just like the splendid icon of the Annunciation Church of Tataoula in our city depicts so characteristically. This is why they do not obtain the promise that is acquired by those, to whom it is given, who do not practice truth with injustice. (Rom. 1:19)

Constantine the Emperor rejected the “right” to claiming the status of a god, to which he was entitled by his office and the ideology of his time. Nevertheless, he gained the One who alone is necessary (Luke 10:42) and inherited the kingdom of God.

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Beloved brothers and sisters in God,

We find ourselves in the city of Constantine. And we are justifiably exploring the condition today of the most Christian of cities, which was established and honored by Constantine the Great with his own name. Yet, the historical page and sign witnessed 1700 years ago overcomes any pessimistic and negative consideration. For the fact is that the Church contains the entire world through the cross; the fact is that faith is not a social phenomenon or mere ideology It is the sanctifying grace, which descends upon us and visits us eternally and silently, accompanying us like “fire,” “a gentle breeze,” something “unknown among known and unknown,” something discernible among those who obey God’s will but also recognizable among those who disobey his commandments, something that comforts the fearful disciples in the upper room of Jerusalem and the doubtful disciples of all ages – namely, the abiding grace of the risen Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Christians “find themselves protected in the world, yet at the same time holding the world together. (Epistle to Diognetus 6 PG 2. 1176) This is why we Christians are not dragged down and do not despair. We know that people make mistakes in their judgments, thoughts, programs, ideologies and considerations. However, the Church does not; the Church is not abolished, even when Christian nations are dissolved, even when the Church lives and exists in (sometimes harsh) captivity, even when the Church is persecuted. The Church is in the world and serves the world, but it is not controlled by the world, which is the reason why evil does not affect it. The spirit conquers the flesh. Christ reigns forever. The Lord is victorious over all.

With this experience and sense of the Church’s power, we are called to imitate the virtuous work of the Emperor Constantine, the saint and peer of the Apostles, in order that we, too, may leave behind a profitable legacy and favorable memory, which will precede us before the Lord on the great and awful day of judgment, which begins here, concludes when we die and is perfected with the Lord’s voice: “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34)

In the inscrutable will of the Lord, which has deemed us worthy of being “laborers in His vineyard” and of continuing the work of the Apostles and Hierarchs, we are invited in His name, without human plans and programs that are foiled on a daily basis, to labor for the transformation and reformation of society, whether in a smaller or larger community, while also advancing and converting ourselves into sons and daughters of the light of Christ.

It is true that contemporary social structures sometimes unfortunately distract us – and especially us as shepherds of Christ’s flock, and those of us inside His divine care – to a sense of pessimism due to the state of the world, which is alienated from the source of life. As a result, our passion is diminished and our heart is weakened in our love for Christ.

Yet, we believe that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, will never abandon us. The Lord celebrates our life mystically, profoundly and sacredly, invisibly transforming us.

With these thoughts, then, we declare open the deliberations of this seminar and beseech the Lord to grant us all, to our churches and our religious communities, and to the whole world a sign for our good so that we may record new pages of history and service in order that He may be magnified and honored, through the intercessions of the Lady of angels, the Martyrs and the great pillars of our faith and history, such as Constantine the Great and Basil the Great, while, through the work of the Church, Christ may be glorified as our resurrection and life. Amen.

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