The Value of the Compline Prayer to the Theotokos

 By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

The Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, which we read and chant during Small and Great Compline, and was written by the scholar Venerable Paul, the founder and builder of the Sacred Monastery of the Theotokos the Evergetidos in Constantinople in the eleventh century, has great value and importance for its spiritual content.

It consists of five parts. The first is about the Most Holy Theotokos. The second contains the awareness of the sinfulness of the praying believer. The third refers the Prayer to the Panagia, while the fourth is about the situations of human life, and the fifth closes the Prayer, referring to the Panagia's mediation to Christ, her Only Begotten Son.

Supplicatory Canon to the Most Philanthropic Son of the Living God the Conqueror of the Coronavirus

Supplicatory Canon to the Most Philanthropic Son of the Living God the Conqueror of the Coronavirus

By Dr. Haralambos M. Boussias,

the Great Hymnographer of the Church of Alexandria

Athens 2020

Original Greek

+ + +

Priest: Blessed is our God always, now and forever and to the ages of ages.

People: Amen.

The Prayers Prayed by the Athonite Monks in Their Vigil Against the Coronavirus

On Friday 27 March into Saturday 28 March the monks of Mount Athos, in every monastery, skete and cell, held an all-night vigil against the pandemic of the coronavirus.

The vigil was dedicated to the Panagia, who is the protectress of the Holy Mountain, as well as the Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos, who is noted especially for his miracles in vanquishing plagues and epidemics, including an epidemic that once infected the monks of the Holy Mountain and which he was responsible for dispelling.

Presanctified Liturgy Resource Page

 

 

What is the Presanctified Divine Liturgy? 

 

On the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts 

 

Tracing the Origins of the Presanctified Liturgy 

 

History of the Holy Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts  

 

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 1 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

 

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 2 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

 

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 3 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki) 
 

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 4 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

 

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 5 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

 

St. Pachomios of Chios on the Frequent Reception of Holy Communion 

 

A Sample Sermon for Children at the Presanctified Divine Liturgy
 

A Model Sermon for Children Attending a Presanctified Liturgy

 

Saint Gregory the Dialogist Resource Page 

 

The Liturgical Richness of Great Lent 

 

Great Lent Resource Page

 

 

The Meaning of Memorial Services in the Orthodox Church (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

By St. Symeon of Thessaloniki

BOILED WHEAT (KOLLYVA)

The boiled wheat is offered because man is also a seed and like a fruit from the earth. Like a seed he is placed in the earth now, and he will be raised up and blossom forth again by God's power.*

THIRD DAY SERVICE

The third day service is celebrated for the reason that the reposed one received his being through the Trinity, and having been translated, he hopes to be changed back to the ancient beauty in which man was first made before the fall, or one better.

How Saint Porphyrios Studied in his Youth

By St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva

When I was at Mount Athos, all I occupied myself with was study.

I was seven or eight years old and I didn't know about spiritual things. I would read the Apocalypse of Christ and the Apocalypse of the Panagia. I had learned them by heart. But who knows how I twisted them, since I did not yet know the meaning of the word "oikos," that it meant "house." This is how I learned them, without knowing their meaning, but because they were holy books, I learned them and, when I came across them again, I understood them, since I compared them with the first.

Supplicatory Canon to Saints Joachim and Anna, the Ancestors of God

Supplicatory Canon to Saints Joachim and Anna, the Ancestors of God

PRIEST: Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

PEOPLE: Amen.

PRIEST: Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, O Treasury of every good and Bestower of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save, O Good One, our souls.

Akathist to Saints Joachim and Anna, the Ancestors of God

Akathist to Saints Joachim and Anna, the Ancestors of God

Kontakion 1

To the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna, forbears of Christ and elect among the human race, who gave birth to the holy Maiden of whom the Son of God was born in the flesh. Since you have great boldness before Christ our God and stand before His heavenly Throne, earnestly entreat Him that we may be delivered from all misfortune and thus may unceasingly cry aloud to you:

Rejoice, holy and righteous Joachim and Anna, Ancestors of God.

The Blessing of Automobiles and Drivers for the Feast of Saint Christopher

The priest of the Chapel of Saint Nektarios in Nafplio, Fr. Vasilios Golemis, sprinkled with holy water the automobiles, motorcycles and drivers on the feast of Saint Christopher, the patron of travelers and drivers, on Monday 9 May.

After a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated by Metropolitan Nektarios of Argolis, at which time he presented the chapel with a portion of the relic of Saint Nektarios for the veneration of the faithful, the yearly blessing of the automobiles took place. The reason it is done here is because the chapel has a portion of it on the left side dedicated to Saint Christopher.

The Reception of the Lord and Sarantismos

"Symeon's hands that bore You, my Christ, were a type of the bosom of the Father."

By Michael Papatheocharis

Forty days have just passed since the birth of the God-man, and the Lord is offered to the Temple by His Virgin Mother, and the elder Symeon received Him. According to the provision of the Mosaic Law: "When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering" (Lev. 12:6).

When the elder Symeon received the Lord of Glory in his hands, he said: "Now let Your servant, Master, depart in peace according to Your word...", because the elder Symeon waited for many years to see with his eyes his Lord and God. And now that he was most satisfied he could go to God's bosom.

After this general introduction, it is understood that the Sarantismos has its roots in the time of Moses. It is called "Sarantismos" ("fortieth-day), because the mother offers the newborn child to the church to the glory of the Holy Triune God forty days after its birth.

An Annual Liturgical Drama That Took Place in Hagia Sophia on the Sunday Before Christmas

In the 15th century St. Symeon of Thessaloniki, in his treatise "Dialogue Against Heresies", wrote:

"If [the Latins] reproach us for the furnace of the three children, they should not congratulate themselves. Because we light up not a furnace but candles and lights, and we offer incense to God according to custom; and we represent [in painting] the angel, and it is not a man that we send. Furthermore, we place three boys, pure as those children, to sing their canticle according to tradition."

What St. Symeon is describing here is a liturgical drama or play called The Three Children in the Furnace, which took place every year on the Sunday before Christmas in the Great Church of Hagia Sophia in his time, and it seems likely also in Thessaloniki and perhaps other places. He is describing it with the purpose of differentiating the Byzantine practice from the Latin practice of biblical theatrical performances in a liturgical setting. In the West they would perform this play with a real furnace, with an actual person playing an angel and descending into it, and they would compose polyphonic music specifically for this performance. St. Symeon argued that what took place in Byzantium was fully in line with tradition, and did not add innovations contrary to tradition. What is interesting however is that this drama that took place in Constantinople was not full of symbolic imagery, but it describes an actual play of which four texts with the musical notation are preserved today.

The Ceremony of the Lifting of the Panagia

The term Panagia, besides being an epithet of the Virgin Mary that means "All-Holy", may also refer to the prosphoron (Greek: Aρτος της Παναγίας), the offering bread, which is solemnly blessed in honor of the Theotokos during the Divine Liturgy. From this loaf is cut a large triangle in honor of the Theotokos and placed on the diskos during the Liturgy of Preparation. The remainder of the loaf is blessed over the Altar Table during the hymn Axion Estin, just before the blessing of the antidron. The priest makes the sign of the Cross with the Panagia over the Sacred Mysteries (consecrated Body and Blood of Christ) as he says, "Great is the name of the Holy Trinity."

In some monasteries there is a special ceremony called the "Lifting of the Panagia"* which takes place in the trapeza. After the dismissal of the Liturgy, a triangular portion is cut from the prosphoron by the refectorian (the monk in charge of the refectory). The Panagia is then cut in half and laid crust downwards on a tray. The brethren will go in procession from the katholikon (main church of the monastery) to the trapeza, and the Panagia is carried on its tray at the head of the procession. Once there, the Panagia is placed on a table called the Panagiarion.

Saint Theosteriktos the Confessor, Author of the Small Supplication Canon to the Theotokos

St. Theosteriktos the Confessor (Feast Day - March 17)

Saint Theosteriktos the Confessor, abbot of Pelekete Monastery near Prusa, suffered for the Holy Icons under the impious Emperor Constantine Copronymos (741-775). His feast day is February 29th in the Slavic Churches and March 17th in the Greek Churches.

Theosteriktos was born in Triglia of Bithynia and became a monk at a young age at the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, known also as Pelekete Monastery, where he later became abbot. During the persecution of Emperor Constantine V Copronymos, his general in Asia Minor, Michael Lachanodrakon, began a fierce persecution especially against the monastics who venerated the Holy Icons.

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (7 of 7)

Papal Mass - Liturgy of James

...continued from part six.

D) Press Release of the Sacred Church of Saint John the Theologian in Peristeri

"In the Sacred Church of Saint John the Theologian in Peristeri there will be performed the archaic Divine Liturgy of Saint James, outside of the Holy Sanctuary, on 10/29. It is performed every year and the faithful have the unique opportunity and blessing to receive the body and blood of the Lord separately, as it was done by the early Christians."

It is emphasized here that the Divine Liturgy will be performed outside of the Holy Sanctuary. They are thus emphasizing that they are violating the rules of the Sacred Canons. They are emphasizing that they are advertizing arbitrariness. Does this not, therefore, make it clear that the purpose of this Liturgy is the "renewal" of our worship? It is surprising that they consider it a "blessing" to receive the elements of Communion separately. In fact is it not a blessing that they are receiving the Lord Himself? Is it thus a greater blessing to receive Communion separately, and if so, why? Is not such an observation blasphemous to the Body and Blood of the Master? Do we not show by this that we are wrongly catechizing our faithful and leading them into errors? Many times we have received complaints from good and innocent people who have participated in this Liturgy where the priest first gave them antidron! This means that these good and innocent people thought the Body of the Lord was antidron and they received Communion completely unprepared. Instead of catechizing our faithful we confuse them with our tricks and novelties.

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (6 of 7)

...continued from part five.

Appendix

In the following pages we will practically support all that has been written in this text regarding the so-called Divine Liturgy of James. We will demonstrate in the most incontrovertible way the facts, that the restoration of this Liturgy has no other purpose than to bring a forced liturgical renewal into the life of our Church, a renewal that in turn is solely intended to remove liturgical differences with Catholics in order to bring about faster and with the least possible resistance from the faithful the union of "churches". But the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is not an organization, a company or a religion that requires the discussion of union for it is the very Body of Christ, Truth itself. The liturgical life as it developed in our Church is so perfect that it does not require the slightest change, rather, it is only required to live it and leave it be so we can understand how easily it brings us into communion with God.

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (5 of 7)

Christ the Great High Priest

...continued from part four.

Priestly Vestments

Another novelty introduced by the Liturgy of Saint James concerns the originality of the vestments. The innovators have often sought for the abolition of the cassock and the change of the sacred vestments. What they essentially want to achieve, as much as possible, is the outer resemblance with Catholic vestments so that the steps towards union will be even less. What is sought for with this Liturgy, therefore, is coming closer since, according to them, many liturgists and even hierarchs take care to wear different vestments during its performance. For example, the Archbishop of Athens often performs this Liturgy not with the standard hierarchical sakkos, but with the phelonion and omophorion of a priest, like we see in iconography, on the basis that these were the vestments of the time. What they who use this argument forget is that the priests of the time also did not drive to Liturgy in expensive cars. It seems we want to imitate the times of the saints only in clothing and not imitate their life and works.

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (4 of 7)

...continued from part three.

The Participation of the People

While all the above complaints are ignored by the aspiring "innovators", they also claim that during the Liturgy of Saint James the people are more involved because they are able to see and hear everything. This serves the purpose of the "liturgical renewal", which among other things seeks greater participation in the Liturgy, meaning, together with hearing and seeing, common chanting as well. Another Protestantized misconception!

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (3 of 7)

...continued from part two.

The Reading of Prayers13

Another innovation sought for by the innovators, which is presented as part of the "archaic" Liturgy of Saint James, is for the people to be able to listen to the secret prayers of the Divine Liturgy being recited out loud. Even clergy who read the secret prayers silently during the regular Divine Liturgy, when they perform the Liturgy of Saint James, they become lured by the novelty of it and recite the prayers out loud in order to better impress and move people. Yet the prayers of the Liturgy are to be read silently, and this tradition has been maintained from the first century until today.

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (2 of 7)

The Veil (το καταπέτασμα), the Sanctuary Doors (τα βημόθυρα) and the Beautiful Gate (Η Ωραία Πύλη)

...continued from part one.

The Place and Position of the Holy Altar

It has become customary for this Liturgy to be performed not on an established and sanctified Holy Altar, but on a table placed in the middle of the church. This act is certainly contrary to our Sacred Tradition and the Sacred Canons of the Church. But it is the long-standing demand of certain "professors", clergy and laity who have been educated in the West (Fr. Vasilios Thermos,5 Fr. Demetrios Tzerpos,6 Mr. Peter Vasiliadis,7 etc.), who persistently seek the abolition of the icon screen and therefore the distinction of the Sacred Sanctuary.

The Liturgy of Saint James: the Trojan Horse of "Liturgical Renewal" (1 of 7)

By Fr. Vasilios Spiliopoulos

In recent years, more often and more priests celebrate the so-called Divine Liturgy of Saint James the Brother of God. The celebration of this Liturgy and its sudden appearance in the life of our Church on the one hand shows the secular spirit that pervades many clergy, and on the other hand it serves the plan of the "reformists" of our liturgical life, the self-appointed saviors of the Church. The plan is simple: this Liturgy has been "baptized" by the reformists as "archaic". However, when it is performed, it is performed in a manner envisioned by the reformists, so that the faithful people are thrilled by the originality and effects, and they conclude, quite wrongly, that this is the archaic and traditional way it is supposed to be performed. This leads people to ask their priests to liturgize this same way when they perform the Divine Liturgies of Saints John Chrysostom and Basil the Great. But is this really so? Can any priest perform any Liturgy they want and how they want? Let us analyze this in detail.