Homily for the Sunday After the Elevation of the Honorable Cross - Salvation and the Death of the Soul (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Homily for the Sunday After the Elevation of the Honorable Cross

Salvation and the Death of the Soul

Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

"What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

Beloved brethren,

In Holy Scripture, there are two meanings of the word "soul". Sometimes with the word "soul" it is characterized as "the spiritual element of our existence" and sometimes it is used with the biblical meaning of "life". This double meaning of the soul is seen in the following text: "Whoever would save his soul will lose it; and whoever loses his soul for my sake and the gospel's will save it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:35-36). This double meaning of the word "soul" indicates an inner connection between soul and life.

According to the Holy Fathers, the image of God in man refers to the soul, which is "rational and intelligent" or it also refers to the powers of the soul, especially the mind and speech, which are more related to the image of God in man. However, the soul is closely connected with the body. As God is omnipresent in all creation, so the soul with its energies is present in the whole body. And just as God through His energy sustains and animates the world, so the soul of man sustains and animates the attached body. Saint Gregory Palamas teaches that the image of God in man is stronger than the image of God in angels, because it animates the attached body.

Reflection on the Sunday After the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (St. Theophan the Recluse)

Sunday After the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Mark 8:34-38; 9:1

By St. Theophan the Recluse  

“Whoever wants to follow Me, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34) .

It is impossible to follow the Crucified Lord without a cross; and all who follow Him certainly follow with the cross.

What is this cross? All sorts of inconveniences, hardships and sorrows, both from the outside and from within, on the path of conscientious fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord in life in the spirit of His precepts and requirements. Such a cross is so fused with a Christian that where there is a Christian, there is this cross, and where there is no such cross, there is no Christian.

Second Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

 

By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin

"This kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21).

Now the Gospel reading tells us about how Jesus Christ healed one demoniac who could not be healed by the disciples. When Jesus Christ with His disciples descended from the mountain, after His Transfiguration on it, and came to the people, then a man approached Him and, kneeling before Him, said: "Lord! Have mercy on my son; he rages in the new moon and suffers greatly, for he often throws himself first into fire, then into water. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him."

First Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

 

 

 By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin

"I believe, Lord, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

One father brought to Jesus Christ his sick son, possessed by a dumb spirit. The long and difficult suffering of the demoniac, even the disciples of Christ, whom he asked, could not cast out the demon from him, therefore the poor father became confused and alarmed, and he began to ask on his behalf with timidity and with some doubt, as if afraid Jesus Christ would not help. If you can do anything, he said to Jesus Christ, have pity on us, help us. When Jesus Christ said to him: "If you can believe a little, everything is possible for him who believes," he cried out with tears: "I believe, Lord, help my unbelief." That was enough, and the Lord helped the sick person right there.

Homily on the Second Sunday of Great Lent (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

 

 By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin

"And He preached a word unto them" (Mark 2:2).

At one time Jesus Christ came to Capernaum. When it was heard in the city that He was in a house, many immediately gathered, so that there was no room outside the doors. "And He preached a word unto them." They came to Him with a paralytic, who was carried by four men. And not being able to reach Him due to a multitude of people, they opened the roof of the house where He was, and breaking through, lowered the bed on which the paralytic lay. Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic: "Child, your sins are forgiven you." Some of the scribes thought in their hearts, "Why does He blaspheme so? Who can forgive sins except God alone?" Jesus, immediately realizing in His spirit that they were think this way in themselves, said to them, "Why do you think this way in your hearts? What is easier? Should I say to the paralytic: your sins are forgiven? Or say get up, take your bed and go? And so that you may know that the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins on earth (he speaks to the paralytic), I say to you: get up, take your bed and go to your house." He immediately got up, took the bed and went out in front of everyone, so that everyone was amazed and praised God, saying: "We have never seen anything like this" (Mark 2:1-12).

Homily for the Sunday After the Elevation of the Honorable Cross (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis,
Former Abbot of Gregoriou Monastery on Mount Athos

(Delivered in the Refectory in 1985)

We have heard the word of the Lord again today, my brethren, in the Holy Gospel: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mk. 8:34). This is the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross. The day before yesterday we had the feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross. And that is why the Church today is talking about the Cross again. The Cross of the Lord, which must become our cross. For if we do not lift up our cross, if we do not partake of the Cross of Christ, what kind of Christians are we? Because a Christian is one who imitates Christ, hence they are a Christian. And he imitates Christ throughout his life, even His crucifixion. And he is crucified with Christ in order to be with Him and to walk "in the newness of life" (Rom. 6:4), as the divine Apostle Paul says.

Fifth Sunday of Great Lent - The Cup (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

"The cup that I drink you shall drink." (Mk. 10:39)

The two disciples asked Christ for glory by human standards, having in mind that His Kingdom is physical. But Christ, correcting their erroneous belief, indicates the real and eternal glory that enters through the "cup", which is the Passion and the Cross. He Himself was glorified through the Cross and His disciples will be glorified through the cross. We will try to analyze this truth, that is, the "cup" is the glory of the Church.

Fourth Sunday of Great Lent - Orthodoxy and Monasticism (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

"This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." (Mk. 9:29)

When asked by the disciples why they could not get the demon out of the young man who was being tormented "from childhood", the Lord answered that this kind, which according to Saint Gregory Palamas "was the terrible demon of licentiousness", cannot with any other means come out of man, except through prayer and fasting. And because for the one possessed by a demon it is difficult to pray and fast, those who want to heal the demon possessed must do so.

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Great Lent (St. Theophan the Recluse)

By St. Theophan the Recluse

 

"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Mark 8:34).

It is impossible to follow the Lord as a crossbearer without a cross, and everyone who follows Him, unfailingly goes with a cross. What is this cross? It is all sorts of inconveniences, burdens and sorrows — weighing heavily both internally and externally — along the path of conscientious fulfilment of the commandments of the Lord, in a life according to the spirit of His instructions and demands. Such a cross is so much a part of a Christian that wherever there is a Christian, there is this cross, and where there is no such cross, there is no Christian. Abundant privileges and a life of pleasure do not suit a true Christian. His task is to cleanse and reform himself. He is like a sick person, who needs cauterization, or amputation; how can this be without pain? He wants to tear himself away from the captivity of a strong enemy; but how can this be without struggle and wounds? He must walk counter to all practices surrounding him; but how can he sustain this without inconvenience and constraint? Rejoice as you feel the cross upon yourself, for it is a sign that you are following the Lord on the path of salvation which leads to heaven. Endure a bit. The end is just around the corner, as well as the crowns! 

Second Sunday of Great Lent - Saint Gregory Palamas and the Paralytic (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

"Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men." (Mk. 2:3)

On the Second Sunday of the Fast, the Church decided to celebrate the memory of Saint Gregory Palamas, as a continuation of the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Indeed, today we heard the echo of last Sunday, since Saint Gregory was a worthy son of the Church, who contributed to the triumph of Orthodoxy in a difficult time.

Saint Gregory Palamas, a great hesychast, and then Archbishop of Thessaloniki, expressing the experience of all the Holy Fathers, fought the Rationalism of the fourteenth century and protected the Orthodox Faith from the danger of agnosticism and pantheism, developing the fundamental truth of the Church around the mystery of the indivisible division of the essence and energy of God. This teaching is necessary for our time, because many have a personal ignorance of the energy of God, as a result of which they confuse it with something created, while others speak thoughtfully about these great issues of the faith.

Patriarch of Alexandria Performs the Divine Liturgy of Saint Mark at the Tomb of Saints Gabriel and Kyrmidoles and Blesses the Nile River

 

 

On October 18th, to celebrate the feasts of the Holy and Glorious New Martyrs Gabriel and Kyrmidoles, Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa performed the Divine Liturgy of Saint Mark the Evangelist at the Patriarchal Monastery of Saint George in Old Cairo, where the tomb of the New Martyrs is located.

This Divine Liturgy belongs to the ancient Alexandrian tradition and is inextricably linked to the history of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, with important Byzantine influences over time, and its composition is attributed to the Apostle Mark, who founded the Church of Alexandria.

Saint Julian, Bishop of the Cenomani in Le Mans

St. Julia of Le Mans (Feast Day - July 13)

Saint Julian was elevated to the episcopal office by the Apostle Peter. Some believe that he is the same person as Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3), receiving the name Julian in Baptism. Others believe he was a Roman nobleman, or perhaps one of the Seventy Apostles.

The Apostle Peter sent Saint Julian to preach the gospel in Gaul. He arrived among the Cenomani tribe (who were in the region of the River Po in the north of present day Italy) and settled into a small hut out beyond a city (probably Cremona), and he began to preach among the Cenomani pagans. The idol-worshippers at first listened to him with distrust, but the preaching of the Saint was accompanied by great wonders. The capital city of the Cenomani was Civitas Cenomanorum (Le Mans), which was suffering from a shortage of drinking water. Julian thrust his staff into the ground and prayed. Water began to gush out of the ground. This miracle allowed him to preach freely within Le Mans.

Holy Apostle Mark the Evangelist: Epistle and Gospel Reading

Holy Apostle Mark the Evangelist

April 25th

 Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Mode Plagal 4.
Psalm 18.4,1
Their voice has gone out into all the earth.
Verse: The heavens declare the glory of God.

The reading is from the First Epistle of Peter 5:6-14

English

Brethren, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, first in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen. By Silvanos, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God; stand fast in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you that are in Christ.

Homily on the Third Eothinon Gospel - Mark 16:9-20

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

This year's Sunday sermons, my beloved brethren, will refer to the Eothina Gospels, which are read during Matins on Sunday. Every Sunday morning, before the Divine Liturgy begins, during Matins (Orthros), there is a reading from a Gospel, which refers to the Resurrection of Christ. These Gospels are called Eothina, because they are read in the dawn of the morning (eothinon means "morning"), and also because they refer to the great event of the Resurrection of Christ, which is the orthros (dawn), or dawning of another life for mankind, since by His Resurrection Christ gave us another life, which is a prelude to the great day of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Meaning of the Withered Fig Tree of the Gospel (St. Maximus the Confessor)

On Difficulties in Sacred Scripture:
The Responses to Thalassios

Question 20

What is the meaning in the Gospel of the fig tree that to all appearances withered contrary to reason? And what is the inordinate hunger of Christ that sought for figs out of season? And what is the meaning of a curse placed upon something that is devoid of sense?

Response

The Divine Word, who governs everything with wisdom for the sake of human salvation, first trained human nature with a law requiring a more corporeal observance, because humanity's ignorance of, and estrangement from, the archtype of divine realities was preventing it from receiving the truth free of figurative veils. Afterwards, manifestly becoming man by taking on flesh possessing an intellective and rational soul, He redirected the course of human nature - insofar as He is the Word - toward immaterial and cognitive worship in the Spirit. Once the truth was made manifest to human life, the Word did not want a shadow to hold sway over that life, a shadow whose very type and figure is the fig tree. This is why Scripture says that He encountered the fig tree "while returning from Bethany to Jerusalem." In other words, after His figurative, shadowy, and hidden presence in the law, He becomes present anew to human nature through the flesh (for this is how one must understand "returning"), for it was then that "He saw a fig tree on the way of having nothing but leaves." It is evident that the tree is the corporeal observance of the law, existing in shadows and figures, having an unstable and transient tradition, which is why it is found "on the way," being a sign of passing figures and precepts. Seeing that, like a fig tree, it was ostentatiously and extravagantly adorned by the outward leaves of the corporeal observances of the law, but finding no fruit on it - clearly no fruit of righteousness - He cursed it, since it did not provide nourishment for the Word. Or rather He commanded that the figures of the law should no longer hold sway over and conceal the truth. And this was subsequently proven to be the case through actual deeds, when the beauty of the law, which exists merely in external forms, was completely withered, and the pride that the Jews took in it was extinguished. For insofar as the truth of the fruits of righteousness was now visibly displayed, it was neither reasonable nor seasonable, that the appetites of those who travel on the road of life should be beguiled and deceived by mere "leaves," and in the process neglect the edible fruitfulness of the Word. This is why it says: "It was not the season for figs." In other words, the time when the law prevailed over human nature was not the time for the fruits of righteousness, but was rather a prefiguration of those fruits and in some way indicative of the future divine and ineffable grace that is able to save all. Since the ancient people did not arrive at this grace, they were lost through unbelief. For the divine Apostle says that: "Israel, which pursued righteousness based on the law" - referring, of course, to the law in shadows and figures - "did not arrive at the righteousness of the law," that is, the law fulfilled in the Spirit through Christ.

Gospel Commentary for the Sunday After the Holy Cross (St. Theophylact of Ochrid)

Sunday After the Holy Cross

Mark 8:34-38; 9:1

From the Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Mark

By Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid

34-37. And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever desireth to follow after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever desireth to save his life, shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospels, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

[In this passage of St. Mark, and in the following commentary, the single Greek word, psyche, has been translated as either "life" or "soul" as it has both these meanings. See also Theophylact's Explanation of St. Matthew, pp. 30, 61, and 193. Tr.]

Since Peter had rebuked Him for wanting to be crucified, the Lord called the people unto Him, and said in the hearing of all, but directing His words mostly towards Peter, "Do you find fault with Me, Peter, because I take up the cross? I say to you, that neither you, nor anyone else, will be saved unless you die for the sake of goodness and truth." See that Christ does not compel a man to die on a cross against his own will. Instead He said, Whosoever desireth. The Lord is saying: "I compel no one. I invite him to something good, not to something bad to which he must be forced. Whoever does not want these things is not worthy of them." We can learn what it means to deny oneself if we understand what it means to deny another. He who denies another is he who, when he sees his brother, or servant, or father, being flogged or even murdered, does not turn towards him and pity him in his suffering, but acts as if he were a stranger to him. In this same manner the Lord wants us to show no pity towards our own bodies, so that even if we are flogged, or worse, let it make no difference to us. Let him take up his cross, that is, accept a most shameful death, for at that time to die on a cross was considered the most shameful of deaths. But since many were crucified for being bandits, the Lord added to the crucifixion something else: that one ought to have virtue. This is what it means to follow Me. Although His command that one give oneself over to death seemed hard and cruel, the Lord straightway shows this commandment is given out of love for mankind. For whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find life. (But the death of a condemned man, or of one who hangs himself, is not for Christs sake and brings no such reward.) And, on the contrary, he who appears to have saved his life, far from finding life, shall lose it by not remaining steadfast during his time of martyrdom. Do not say to Me, "But he has saved his life", it means nothing. Even if you say that he has gained the whole world as well, it is of no benefit. No one can exchange money for his salvation, for if that were so, a man who had gained the world but lost his soul, could, while burning in the flames of hell, use his money to buy innocence. But at that time and in that place no such trade can be made. Here let us shut the mouths of those who say, following Origen, that all the souls in hell will be restored [and reunited with those in heaven] after they have been punished in accordance with their sins. (1) Let them hear that there is no exchange that can be made there for ones soul. No one is kept in hell as a punishment. Rather, it is the weight of his own sins which holds him there.

38-9:1. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. And He said unto. them, Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

Intellectual faith does not suffice, but confession of faith with ones mouth is required as well. Since man himself is two-fold, let his sanctification be two-fold as well. The soul is sanctified by faith, but the body is sanctified by confessing. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed to confess that the Crucified One is his God, of him also shall the Crucified One be ashamed. For the Lord shall judge that man to be an unworthy servant, when He comes with glory, escorted by the angels, and no longer in lowly form. At the second coming He will not appear, as He did before, to be of base origin and circumstance, and an object of scorn. Since He speaks of His own glory, He desires to show that He is not vainly boasting, and says, There be some of them that stand here, namely, Peter, James, and John, who shall not die until I have shown them at the Transfiguration the glory with which I shall appear at the second coming. For the Transfiguration was nothing less than a foreshadowing of the second coming, and as He appeared in radiance then, so will He shine at the second coming, as will also all the righteous.

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1. This false teaching of Origen, apokotastasis, the general restoration of all fallen creation, was condemned by the Church as heresy at the Fifth Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in 553 AD.

Source

Gospel Commentary for the Third Sunday of Pascha (St. Theophylact of Ochrid)

Third Sunday of Pascha

The Myrrhbearing Women

Mark 15:43-16:6

By Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria

42-47. Now when the evening was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a noble counsellor, who also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and asked for the Body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if He were already dead, and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the Body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a tomb which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid.

Holy Apostle Mark the Evangelist

St. Mark the Evangelist (Feast Day - April 25 or Bright Wednesday)

Verses

The bloodthirsty dragged Mark along the ground,
Sending to the heavens him who they did not recognize.
On the twenty-fifth the senseless ones dragged Mark along the ground.

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark was a Jew by birth, of the tribe of Levi. His Hebrew name was John, but attached his Latin name Mark to it when he joined the Apostle Peter to preach the gospel in Rome. He is considered one of the Seventy Apostles of the Lord by Origen and Saint Epiphanios of Salamis.

Saint Veronica the Bleeder

St. Veronica the Bleeder (Feast Day - July 12)

Verses

You entirely perceived at that moment O Word,

The grasping of your hem before it was grasped.

The woman with the issue of blood that was healed by the Lord and is recorded in the Gospels, has by tradition (Acts of Pilate) come to be known as Veronica the Haimorrhousa (Bleeder). Though many doubtful medieval traditions surround her life (such as Veronica's Veil), what we know from ancient sources are the following.

Christ and the Binding of the Strong Man (Origen of Alexandria)

By Origen of Alexandria

Christ has presented each Christian with the death of sin itself, a gift of faith, as it were, deriving from His own death. Sin can have no more freedom of action in people who believe themselves to be dead, crucified and buried with Christ, than in those who have suffered bodily death. They are therefore said to be dead to sin. This is why the Apostle says, "If we have died with Him, we believe we shall also live with Him." It is important to note the difference of expression: Paul does not say "we have lived" as he said "we have died," but "we shall live." This is his way of showing that death is at work in the present world, but not in the life to come, "when Christ is revealed. He is our life, hidden away in God." For the time being, therefore, as Paul himself teaches, "death is at work in us."