Saint Bessarion of Agathonos Remembers the Christmas of 1941

 By Dr. Haralambos Bousias

It was a few days before Christmas in the year 1988. In the Guesthouse of the Agathonos Monastery which has a hanging fireplace, Elder Bessarion was reading a Christian publication. He was engrossed and seemed moved.

Suddenly the current Abbot, Father Damaskenos, who was sitting near him and writing Christmas cards, realized that the Elder was crying and trying to wipe away his tears.

"Why are you crying, my father?" he asked him.

"I'm fine, my child," he replied, "don't worry!"

The Archangel Michael Visits Saint Iakovos Tsalikes

 

 By Dr. Haralambos M. Bousias

The Holy Elder Iakovos was not only privileged to see Angels and Archangels at the Holy Altar.

He also saw Michael the Commander of the Heavenly Army giving him instructions for the construction of his church outside the Liturgy.

In 1961 Father Iakovos together with the then abbot decided to build a chapel in honor of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel.

The abbot chose the place and demarcated the area. At night, however, an officer with a golden sword, tall, blond and handsome, appeared to Father Iakovos and said to him:

"I am the Archangel Michael. I do not wish my temple to be built where you marked, but here where I will show you."

Elder Cornelius Marmarinos of Chios (+ 1975)

Chios is an island of many churches, chapels and monasteries. There are 22 native born saints from Chios, the most famous of which are Isidore, Markella and Matrona. This list is soon to include Elder Cornelius Marmarinos, who is in the process of being canonized.  

Cornelius Marmarinos was born in Halkios on the island of Chios in 1885. His birth name was Constantine and his parents were the notary Demetrios Marmarinos and Evanthia Flatsousis. His parents were thrifty and managed to ensure him a good future through education. He attended the Zografio High school of Constantinople.

Synaxarion of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Eumenios (Saridakis) the New

 

 

By Haralambos M. Bousias

On the 23rd of this month [May], we commemorate our Venerable and God-bearing Father, Eumenios the Cretan, who in these latter days shined forth in Athens.

Verses

Healer of lepers and pestilential diseases,
You were seen, Eumenios, as a guide of the faithful.

Our Venerable and God-bearing Father Eumenios had as his homeland Ethia in the province of Monofatsi in Herakleion, Crete. Wounded by divine eros as a child he followed the monastic path in the Monastery of the Great Martyr Niketas, which is located near where he was born. At his tonsure he received the name Sophronios, and at his ordination as a hieromonk by Archbishop Timothy of Crete at the Monastery of Kaliviani he received the name Eumenios. Attacked by the arrows of the hater of that which is good, Belial, he went to the famous Monastery of Koudouma, where he was liberated from that most wicked influence. Becoming sick with a pestilential disease he went to the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Athens, it became an arena for his ascetic battles and a palace of sympathy for those sick who are suffering and in pain. At the Hospital for Infectious Diseases he fulfilled his duties in the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries and he diligently served Venerable Nikephoros, whose surname was Tzanakakis, who was blind, a leper and a paralytic. He served all those in need and the sick in great pain and became a spiritual father and guide towards salvation of countless Athenian Christians. He endured without complaint, in imitation of Job, the sicknesses of his flesh and was distinguished for his humility, meekness and sympathy towards all the sick. He reposed in Athens on the 23rd of May in the year of salvation 1999, when his grace-flowing body was displayed for veneration in the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases and was given a last embrace by a countless mournful crowd. He was then buried in his homeland.

Through his holy intercessions, Christ God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Apolytikion in Plagal of the First Tone
Divine comforter to those in rough seas, aid to those in need, and guide without error, the reverence of the people with longing praises with hymns Eumenios, as one equal in zeal with Job, an expeller of evil spirits, a most gracious intercessor for us to the compassionate Lord.

Kontakion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
To the long-suffering, quiet, sensible, simple, meek and humble and sympathetic, revered hieromonk, let us sing praises and odes flowing with honey, without error he was a mighty guide to the faithful, and with longing we cry out: Rejoice, blessed Eumenios.

Megalynarion
Rejoice, you who have lately shined as a close helper to those in pain, a new example of patience, extreme humility and virtue, sensible Father Eumenios.

 

 

Elder Anthimos the Agiannanites and the First Icon of Saint Savvas of Kalymnos

Left, Elder Anthimos Agiannanites (1913-1996); Right, Saint Savvas of Kalymos (1862-1947)

 

By Dr. Harlalambos M. Bousias

Saint Savvas of Kalymnos had been an ascetic at the Skete of Saint Anna on the Holy Mountain.

In fact, in the Hut of the Entrance of the Theotokos, where the charismatic Elder Anthimos the Agiannanites resided, is where Saint Savvas learned to be an iconographer.

When Saint Savvas reposed on the island of Kalymnos he appeared to Metropolitan Isidoros of Kalymnos and ordered him to transfer his relic. It was at that time that Elder Anthimos accompanied with four other monks arrived on the island.

Saint Anthimos the Arethiotis (+ 1870)

Translation of the Sacred Relics of Venerable Anthimos Arethiotis
(Feast Day - May 25)

By Dr. Haralambos Bousias

‘Whoever observes the whole of the law, but errs in one thing, is guilty of everything’ (Jas. 2:10). And the damage is unimaginable! You lose eternity, that is, everything. This is what happened to the young man in the Gospel, and is the case with so many others in life. The devil binds people with so many ropes. But whether we’re bound by one rope or another, the fact remains that we’re bound to the devil. Say that the devil’s bound us with a hundred ropes and, through our struggles, we manage to free ourselves of ninety-nine. We’re still not free. We’re still bound, even if it’s only by one rope. To be free of our bonds, we have to cut the hundredth one, and of course, not alone, but with God’s divine assistance. And then, when we’ve cut through them, we should still say that we’re unworthy servants of the Lord (Luke 17:10), as did the unsung Elder, Saint Anthimos Arethiotis, the ascetic of the Monastery of the Panagia, in Retha of Valtos, because humility crowns our every struggle.

The Triumphant Entry (Dr. Haralambos Bousias)

By Dr. Haralambos M. Bousias,

Great Hymnographer of the Alexandrian Church

Triumph presupposes victory and victory a legitimate struggle and difficult battle. The crowned victor lauded by the crowds enters his homeland triumphantly through arches erected for his welcome.

In spiritual battles, which are much tougher than the worldly, military, local and national ones, since the opponent is relentless, tenacious and ferocious, the victor is accompanied by the eternal Victor, He Who told us "without Me you can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5), and is praised by the Holy Angels as he enters the heavenly places.

In order for Christ to enter Jerusalem triumphantly it had to be preceded by the resurrection of Lazarus. By this the God-man showed His divine hypostasis and his sovereignty over the living and the dead.