Homilies on Holiness and the Saints - The Prophets (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

 The Prophets

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

People who unite with God and receive His holy energies are also called Holy [or Saints]. God is holy in the absolute sense, while the people who commune with Him are called holy in a relative sense, because they commune with Him.

Among the saints are the Prophets, who lived in the Old Testament and led the people according the command of God. Such Prophets were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Elijah, Samuel, Moses, etc.

The word Prophet comes from two words "pro" and "fanai", and denotes the one who predicts and reveals the future, but also teaches at the same time. God reveals His will to the specific Prophet, who said: "Speak Lord, for your servant hears" and then this man conveyed God's will and command to the people, saying: "Thus saith the Lord". "Thus saith the Lord" and "Speak Lord" are what denotes the work of the Prophet. Because the Prophets saw God, the pre-incarnate Word, that is why the people called them, as it appears in the life of the Prophet Samuel, "seers" and "visionaries".

The Priesthood in the Old and New Testament

 By Grigoris Sachinoglou

The concept of the priesthood exists in the Old Testament, but has a different meaning and character from that which we receive in the New Testament. In the Old Testament period before Moses, every head of the family could offer sacrifices to God, as there are many examples of people making sacrifices, such as Noah after the flood to express his gratitude to God for his salvation (Gen. 8:20), as well as Abraham and his sons. There are also those in leadership positions, such as Melchizedek, who is presented as the King of Salem and a priest of the Most High, who offered a ritual blessing to Abraham (Gen. 14:18-20).

The institution of the priesthood is essentially established in the years of Moses, who defined the tribe of Levi as responsible for the proper observance of the religious duties of the people, while the family of Aaron and his descendants are chosen by God Himself for the performance of priestly liturgical functions. Chapter 16 of the Book of Numbers describes the process by which God chose Aaron as high priest and as leader of the tribe of Levi after his staff blossomed. Therefore, all the priests then came from the descendants of Aaron, thus making the priesthood hereditary and the descendants of Aaron hierarchically superior, since, among other things, he acquired rights to sacrifices and sacrificial meals.

Amphilochios of Iconium on the Canon of Holy Scripture

Amphilochios of Iconium was a cousin of Gregory the Theologian, and served as Bishop of Iconium (in Galatia) from A.D. 373 to 394. He wrote several books, but only a few poems and some other fragments from his writings have come down to us. His teaching on the canon is preserved in his Iambics for Seleucus (Iambi ad Seleucum), a didactic poetic work formerly attributed to Gregory the Theologian.

The Greek text reproduced below is from vol. 37 of Migne's Patrologia Graeca, where the Iambics of Seleucus is printed among the works of Gregory the Theologian.

Honoring the Old Testament Athletes of our Faith

By Archimandrite Dionysios Anthopoulos

Today, my beloved, is the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ, and our holy Orthodox Church prepares us for the great feast by setting before us sacred figures "who throughout the ages have pleased God, from Adam until Joseph, the betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos."

Let us proceed by listening to the content of the Apostolic reading of today which the Apostle Paul addressed to the Hebrew Christians:

The Angel of Great Counsel in Iconography

Karakalou Monastery, Mount Athos

Monastery of Saint Clement, Ochrid

Monastery of Saint Paraskevi, Flamouria in Voiou

Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Arbanasi, Bulgaria

Patriarchate in Pec, Serbia

Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Vasilopoulo of Xiromero

Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Amvrakia of Arta

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Angel of Great Counsel, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." - Isaiah 9:6-7

The Fathers of the Church, such as Athanasius the Great, responded to the Arians in their writings, who claimed that in the Old Testament there was no vision of God, rather what the Prophets saw was the created Word of God. The Fathers wrote that the Word (Logos) of God revealed to the Prophets in the Old Testament as the Angel of Great Counsel, was indeed the uncreated Word of God. Thus the debate between the Arians and the Orthodox was whether or not the Angel of Great Counsel revealed to the Prophets in the Old Testament was created or uncreated. The Arians argued he was created, while the Orthodox said he was uncreated. The answer to this question would reveal whether or not the Word of God was consubstantial with the Father, and thus God. If the Angel of Great Counsel is indeed the uncreated Word of God, then the Prophets had a vision of God. The Fathers of the Church, who experienced the vision of God, knew that the Word of God shared the same glory by nature with the Father, while the Arians, who did not have an experience of God but rather philosophized about God, did not come to this understanding. Thus when we say that the Word of God is consubstantial with the Father, it means He is uncreated and shares in the same glory as the Father. Athanasius the Great drew from his experience of the glory of God, and argued his position from both the Old and New Testaments.

Source

The Fleshless and Incarnate Logos

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The center of the Old and New Testament is Christ, with the difference that, in the Old Testament the Prophets saw the fleshless Logos, while in the New Testament the Apostles and the deified see the incarnate Logos. All the revelations of God in history, are revelations of the Son and Logos of God. In the Old Testament the Logos of God is the Angel of Great Counsel, the Angel of Glory, while in the New Testament the Logos of God becomes Christ, for the divine nature, by virtue of the hypostatic union of the divine and human nature in the person of the Logos, anointed human nature.

In a hymn written by Saint John of Damascus, it is written: "Although previously fleshless, afterward You became incarnate for us." Saint John of Damascus even teaches that the name "Christ" is a name of the hypostasis and not the nature. He writes: "We say that the name 'Christ' is the name of the hypostasis, not in the sense of one kind, but as signifying the existence of two natures. For He anointed Himself; as God He anointed His body with His own divinity, and as Man He was anointed. For He is Himself both one and the other. Thus the divinity anointed His humanity." He goes on to say: "For Christ, which name implies both natures, is spoken of as at once God and man, created and uncreated, subject to suffering and incapable of suffering."

Every passage used by Christ from the Old Testament in His teaching, as well as the passages interpreted by the Holy Apostles and referenced the revelations of God, are passages related to the revelation/appearance of the fleshless Logos. Yahweh of the Old Testament is He who is, who was and is to come, the Son and Logos of God, the Christ.

The Old Testament speaks of the divine nature of the Logos, while the New Testament, after the incarnation of the Logos of God, speaks of His divine and human natures which are united hypostatically to the person of the Logos and empower this hypostatic union and the exchange of properties of the two natures. The New Testament names as "Christ" the Lord of Glory and the Angel of Great Counsel of the Old Testament. So the name "Christ" is also referred to in the Old Testament and attributed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Saint John of Damascus says that when Christ is called "Son of God" He accepts the properties of human nature, which is united with His divine nature hypostatically, and when He is called "son of man" He declares that He accepts the properties and glorying of the divine nature. And this is because of the exchange of properties of each nature, for there is the identity of the hypostasis and the partaking of the two natures. For this reason we can say of Christ: "This is our God seen on the earth" and "This man is uncreated, passionless and indescribable."

The teaching of the Fathers of the Church is clear that the revelations of God in the Old Testament are revelations of the fleshless Logos. The appearance of the Prophet Moses and the Prophet Elijah on Mount Tabor, during the Transfiguration of Christ, shows this reality, that these great prophets during the course of their lives saw the fleshless Logos, who now recognize Him in the flesh. This also happened with Abraham, who according to Christ rejoiced: "Our father Abraham rejoiced to see this day, and he saw it and was glad" (Jn. 8:56). This is also shown by the fact that the Risen Christ interpreted to the Disciples walking towards Emmaus all that referred to Him in the Scriptures which had taken place. Specifically, Luke the Evangelist writes: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself" (Lk. 24:27).

There are some who separate the vision and the revelation of the Prophet Daniel from other revelations of God in the Old Testament, and they speak of the revelation of God to Daniel as the Ancient of Days as a revelation of God the Father.

Specifically, in the book of the Prophet Daniel this divine vision is described as follows:

"As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.) In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence" (Dan. 7:9-13).

This vision records two persons, one the Ancient of Days sitting on a throne, and the other the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven who came to the place where the Ancient of Days was sitting. There is a rich theological analysis around the interpretation of this prophecy, regarding who the Ancient of Days is, whether it be the Father or the Son. There are texts that support the Ancient of Days is the Father and the son of man is Christ, and there are other texts that support they are one and the same person, the Son and Logos of God, who as the Ancient of Days became man, without discarding His divinity. And in this way the Ancient of Days sitting on a throne is connected and identified with the future Judge.

The patristic and hymnological tradition mainly accepts the second interpretation, that it is one and the same person, that the Ancient of Days is the Fleshless Logos, for no one has seen the Father according to the clear words of Christ, and that the son of man is described as the incarnate Ancient of Days. Also, all the Theophanies of the Old Testament are revealtions of the Logos and, of course, if the Ancient of Days is the Father and not the Son, then we cannot explain why the Son and not the Father was incarnated.

Therefore, the authentic interpretive analysis of the vision of the Prophet Daniel is that it is not two persons, but one and the same person, since the Ancient of Days is the Son and Logos of God who is united and is ageless with the Father and the Holy Spirit; the Son who in due time became man and, of course, at His Second Coming will judge mankind.

Source: Ekklesiastiki Paremvasi, "Άσαρκος και σεσαρκωμένος Λόγος", December 2003. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily One on the Prophet Ezekiel (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos 

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

In our Church, beloved brethren, we honor the Apostles, the Martyrs and the Fathers, and generally all those who are united with Christ and are members of the Church, members of the Body of Christ. All these have within them the Grace of Christ, who sanctified them, who transformed them and all their heroic struggles were linked as well as their sacrifices for Christ.

But the Church also honors the righteous of the Old Testament - the Prophets, Judges and Kings - who guided the people of God, because they also had communion with the fleshless Logos, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The difference between the Old and the New Testaments is that in the Old Testament the righteous had communion with the fleshless Logos, while in the New Testament they had communion with the incarnate Logos.

One such Prophet and blessed man, chosen by God, who had constant communion with God, was the Prophet Ezekiel, whose memory is celebrated today by our Church. Our Church honors him for the relationship and communion he had with God, and his struggles for the people of Israel.

The Prophet Ezekiel, whose name means "mighty God" or "God of might", was the son of Buzi, who belonged to a priestly family and was a descendant of Zadok. He was captured in 597 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar, during the second siege of Jerusalem, together with thousands of people, for which reason he lived and died in Babylon. There he was called to the prophetic office, which he exercised for twenty-two years. In Babylon Ezekiel lived the tragic moments of the destruction of Jerusalem.

His work was difficult, but grand. The Prophet said that the Jews suffered from two great passions of the soul, which prevented their repentance. The first was egoism, because they believed they were unfairly punished for the sins of their ancestors. The second was hopelessness, which led them to gravitate towards idolatry. The Prophet Ezekiel had many revelations from God and did various symbolic acts. The two major visions he saw which he described in his book were of the Cherubic chariot and the new Temple.

We know of the prophecy of the Prophet Ezekiel regarding the restoration of the Israelites in Jerusalem, which is a prototype of the resurrection of the dead, and a prophecy we read in the Church on Good Friday evening, after returning to the church from processing the Epitaphios. There it is written that God brought the Prophet into ecstasy and led him to a valley that was full of dead human bones, and he was told by the Lord to address the dead bones. And as he preached the word of the Lord to the bones, there was an earthquake and the bones began to come together, acquiring nerves and flesh on top of which was placed skin. He was then told to preach to the spirit, and so the animating spirit entered the dead bones and the bones became alive and stood on their feet. And then God instructed him to proclaim: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:12-14).

The Old Testament Prophets preached repentance for the people to repent and return to God. Many of their teachings were messianic, since they refer to the coming of Christ, and to the preparation of the Israelite people to receive the incarnate Christ. Of all the peoples the Jews were the best prepared, which is why Jesus was born among them. And this is due to the Prophets, among whom was the Prophet Ezekiel whom we celebrate today. For this reason we owe them great gratitude. That which they preached, we received to enjoy.

Taking cue from today's celebration and the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel, we should firmly believe in the resurrection of the dead, which will take place during the Second Coming of Christ, and prepare to stand at the right hand of God.

Source: Ekklesiastiki Paremvasi, "23 Ιουλίου - Προφήτης Ιεζεκιήλ", February 2005. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Sunday After the Nativity of Christ

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

On the present Sunday after the Nativity of Christ the Holy Church commemorates St. Joseph the Betrothed and the protector of the virginity of the Most Holy Theotokos, and together with him is also commemorated his flight with the All-holy Virgin and newborn Child Jesus into Egypt (Mt. 2:13). The Holy King and Prophet David is commemorated on the present day as the ancestor of ancestors of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, and St. James, the brother of the Lord, because according to tradition he took part in travel with the holy family to Egypt.

The Holy righteous elder Joseph came from the royal line of David (Mt. 1:6; Lk. 1:27). The holy Evangelist calls him "righteous" (Mt. 1:18), and this name, according to the remarks St. John Chrysostom, demonstrates that the betrothed of the Most Holy Virgin "had all virtues". He lived in Nazareth and earned his living by working with his hands, being a woodworker, i.e. carpenter. As the man was strictly god-fearing, quite honorable, quiet, meek, humble, modest, sincere, peace loving, attentive to the voice of his conscience and to the announcements from above, Joseph was quite worthy of the great honor of living as the nearest spectator of the fulfillment of the "great mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16). He was already an eighty year old man and, according to the witness of St. Epiphanius, already "lived many years as a widower", when he was taken by his selection of the Providence of God to be the protector of the virginity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. In the opinion of some, St. Joseph died soon after his visit to Jerusalem with the twelve-year-old Jesus Christ (Luke 2:41-52), as he is not mentioned in the Gospels after that. 

The Holy King David came from simple stock, and was the youngest son of Jesse, from the root of Judah, and was engaged in shepherding sheep, but he was distinguished by a rare mind, great courage, unshakable patience, great meekness, with a touching tenderness of heart, strict godliness, had a deep faith in God and truly loved Him, living with the constant feeling of the co-presence of the unseen God and complete dependence on His leadership, and he was "a man after the heart of God" (Acts 13:22), and that is why he was selected by God to the kingdom in Israel. He reigned a thousand years before the Nativity of the Savior and was the second king of the Israelites. Before his reign, when he was still a young man, he, when the strong nation of the Philistines warred against the Israelites, left, with his firm trust in the help of God, for a one on one struggle with Goliath and with a single hit with a stone struck down the Philistine giant. Glorified for this by his compatriots, the young David with unshakable patience, meekness, and magnanimity had endured various attacks and the evil intentions of Saul. Having become the king of the Israelites, David conducted various wars with the neighboring peoples, conquered them, and in his reign had extended the limits of the kingdom to a rather significant degree. He made Jerusalem the capitol of the state. He transferred the ark of the covenant there and resolutely was going to construct a permanent magnificent temple to the Lord to house the ark; but rather the will of God was declared to him, that he would not construct the temple, but that it would be his son (Solomon), that David only prepared all that was necessary for the building of the temple and entrusted to his son his intention and desire to carry out its fulfillment. He did many things for the glory of God and for the piety of the people. He led the divine services in the tabernacle in distinct order: he determined the number and order of the servers, he started a choir with many members of singers and he himself inspired by the Spirit of God composed many "psalms", or hymns for use in the Divine Services. For his piety and righteousness he earned such love and mercy from God that God confirmed to him all the promises given to Abraham. He promised him the sureness of his throne, the blessing and multiplication of his posterity and announced to him that from his posterity will be born the Deliverer of the world (Psalm 71:17; 88:29,36; Mt. 1:1, 20:31, 21:9; Lk. 1:32,33). Although, the deeply edifying life of King David was also darkened, due to the frailty of human nature, it was a heavy downfall (2 Kings 11), but also in this downfall he taught us the greatest example of repentant contrition and firm faith in God (see Psalm 50), which gave him the opportunity and power to throw off from himself the burden of sinfulness and raise himself up for a new spiritual life. The living and indestructible faith in God was the distinctive trait of King David. This faith gave him the opportunity to forcefully deflect all of Saul's animosity against him, to sustain the shock of various kinds of misfortunes of his multitested life, to deeply repent the union with sin, to humbly turn himself over to the watchful hand of God, to patiently endure all the punishments for this sin, to rise up higher after his downfall, rather than to where he was, and exhibit in himself a high example of penance, meekness, patience, hope and piety. And "the Lord took away David's sins, and exalted his horn forever, and He gave him a royal covenant, and a throne of glory in Israel" (Sir. 47:11). Being the greatest king of the Israelites, a fearless leader, a skilful governor, a high guide and a holy man, St. David was at the same time an inimitable poet and inspired prophet. He was the originator of psalm singing, and his psalms, in which he with inspiration poured out feelings of faith and hope in God, gratitude and doxology, joy and grief, exaltation and repentant contrition, with the power and tenderness of expressions, with the highest and burning religious feeling, nothing like it exists in the books of the Old Testament. The Book of Psalms of Holy King David serves as an inexhaustible treasury of the best examples of prayers, supplications, petitions, thanksgiving to God, the healing consolations for suffering souls, for those living in poverty, for those consumed with passions, and for the down-trodden. As a God-inspired prophet (Acts 2:30), the Holy King David in his psalms proclaimed many clear and strong prophecies about Jesus Christ (see Psalms 2:2; 40:10; 21:1, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18, 22; 62:22; 87:15, 10).

One of the Seventy, in the opinion of the majority of the holy fathers of the Church, especially the Eastern, St. James was the son of St. Joseph the Betrothed, and needs to be distinguished from James, son of Zebedee (Apr. 30) and James, son of Alpheus (Oct. 9). As his father Joseph is called the father of Jesus Christ, and thus he is called "the brother of the Lord in the flesh" (Gal. 1:19), and in this sense even the All-Holy Virgin Mary may be called his mother (Mt. 13:55; Mk. 6:3). According to tradition, he accompanied the All-Holy Theotokos when she with the Baby Jesus and Joseph fled to Egypt from the wrath of Herod. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he was worthy of the special appearance of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:7).

If the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ falls between December 26 and December 31, its services are served on these days. If it falls on January 1 then it is served on December 26.

Apolytikion in the Second Tone
O Joseph, proclaim to David, Ancestor of God, the wonders. You have seen the Virgin with child, you have glorified with the shepherds, and you have worshiped with the Magi, and an angel appeared to you: Pray to Christ God to save our souls.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
Today David is filled with divine gladness, Joseph and James offer praise. For they rejoice in the crown of relationship with Christ, and they hymn the One who is unspeakably born on earth and cry out: O Merciful One, save those who honor Thee.

Source

The Sunday Before the Nativity of Christ

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

In the services of this week are glorified the Old Testament saints, from whose human family came our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore in the Gospel appointed for this Sunday is read the "genealogy" of Jesus Christ. Together with these on this Sunday, as well as on the Sunday of the Forefathers, are commemorated all those living in faith and all the Old Testament saints who have come to the Savior, who are listed in the Epistle reading for this Sunday.

In the church hymns for this day the Holy Church primarily sings “of the beginning fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, “together with the Three Youths, who quench the fiery flames with the dew of the Spirit” and “the physical images of the hidden mysteries of God revealed to the world”, and the prophet Daniel, who, “foretold the birth of the Christ from a virgin” and “foresaw that the cruel world would be counted among those with deep spiritual peace by the coming of Christ, having sometimes stopped the mouths of lions in the pit”.

Together with this the Holy Church in the hymns for the present day as well as for the Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ, exclaims: “Come let us all faithfully celebrate the Nativity of Christ”, “Skip, O hills and mountains; Dance, O prophets who spoke of God! Clap your hands, O peoples and nations! The salvation and the enlightenment of all draws near. He comes to be born in the city of Bethlehem”; “The never setting Sun arises from the bedding of the Virgin to enlighten all those under the sun. Let us hasten with chaste eyes and pure deeds to meet Him.” 

Apolytikion in the Second Tone

Great are the accomplishments of faith. For the Three Holy Youths rejoiced in the flames as though at the waters of rest. And the prophet Daniel appeared, as a shepherd to the lions as though they were sheep. So by their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.

On December 18-19: Kontakion in Plagal of the First Tone

O thrice blessed Ones, you did not worship the image made by man. But armed with the invisible power of God,you were glorified in a trial by fire. From the midst of unbearable flames you called on God, crying: “Hasten, O compassionate One, and speedily come to our defense, for You are merciful and able to accomplish everything that You will.”

On December 20-24: Kontakion in the First Tone

Be glad, O Bethlehem. Prepare yourself, O Ephrata. The lamb is on her way to give birth to the Chief Shepherd she carries in her womb. The God-bearing forefathers beholding Him will rejoice, and with the shepherds, they will glorify the Virgin nursing Him.

The Dates and Services

The Sunday of the Holy Fathers falls on a date between December 18 and 24. The services are not identical on all these dates: It is different when this Sunday falls on December 18 and 19; and different when it falls on December 20, 21, 22, and 23, that is, the days of the Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ; and it is different when it falls on a day, when it is the Forefeast and a major Saint is celebrated; and finally, it is different when it falls on the last day of the Forefeast, on December 24.

When the Sunday of the Holy Fathers happens to fall on this date, we sing fewer hymns for the Resurrection, than we do on the dates from December 20-23. At Great Vespers not all the appointed Resurrection Stichera are sung on “Lord, I call”, and in Matins the Canon; but we sing only the hymns for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers and the Forefeast. At Matins in the Canon we sing all the Irmoi for Great and Holy Saturday: “Of old Thou didst bury the pursuing tyrant beneath the waves of the sea.” (except instead of the Irmos for the Sixth Ode: “Jonah was caught but not held fast”, we sing: “Beholding the sea of life”) with special Troparia, two in each Ode. Concerning the singing the Canon of the Holy Fathers on December 24, the Typicon (Ustav) notes: “Because there are seven Troparia following the two for the Resurrection, the Canon of the Resurrection is not sung”. (Ustav for December 24)

Other Holy Fathers Commemorated

The Old Testament righteous men named in the Church hymns are known as the Holy Forefathers, and in the hymns for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers the following names are not specifically mentioned: Barak, Gideon, Deborah, Eleazar, Esther, Jael, Jephthah, Job, Joses, Judith, Nathan, Olda, Horus, Ruth, Sampson, Solomon and the Lesser Prophets. Of the names which are not mentioned in the hymns for the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, the only names mentioned in the hymns for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers are the names of the sons of Noah: Japheth and Shem.

Source

Sunday of the Holy Forefathers of Christ

Verses

Receive joy O Forefathers of old,
Beholding Christ the Messiah drawing near.
Rejoice Abraham, for you have been shown to be the great-grandfather of Christ.

On the Sunday that occurs on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we commemorate Christ's forefathers according to the flesh, both those that came before the Law, and those that lived after the giving of the Law.

Special commemoration is made of the Patriarch Abraham, to whom the promise was first given, when God said to him, "By your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). This promise was given some two thousand years before Christ, when Abraham was seventy-five years of age. God called him and commanded him to forsake his country, parents, and kinsmen, and to depart to the land of the Canaanites. When he arrived there, God told him, "I will give this land to your seed" (Gen. 12:7); for this cause, that land was called the "Promised Land," which later became the country of the Hebrew people, and which is also called Palestine by the historians. There, after the passage of twenty-four years, Abraham received God's law concerning circumcision. In the one hundredth year of his life, when Sarah was in her ninetieth year, they became the parents of Isaac. Having lived 175 years altogether, he reposed in peace, a venerable elder full of days.

Apolytikion in the Second Tone

You justified the Forefathers by faith, and through them betrothed yourself, aforetime, to the Church taken from out of the Gentiles. The saints boast in glory, for from their seed, there exists a noble crop, who is she who without seed has given You birth. By their intercessions, O Christ our God, save our souls.

Kontakion in Plagal of the Second Tone

You did not worship the graven image, O thrice-blessed ones, but armed with the immaterial Essence of God, you were glorified in a trial by fire. From the midst of unbearable flames you called on God, crying: Hasten, O compassionate One! Speedily come to our aid, for You are merciful and able to do as You will.

More About the Feast of the Holy Forefathers

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers occurs between the 11th and the 17th of December. This Sunday commemorates all the ancestors of the people of God, the holy patriarchs living up to the law, given on Sinai, and under the law, - from Adam to Joseph the Betrothed; together with them are commemorated "those who preached Christ" the holy prophets - from Samuel to Zechariah and to John the Baptist, and all the Old Testament righteous men, who were righteous in the faith in the coming of the Messiah. Especially in the service for this day are praised "the pious youths" Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, who "in faith were thrown into the fiery furnace" and "who in the middle of the flames were cooled by the dew of the Spirit and who walked about rejoicing, are mystically a prototype of the Trinity and the incarnation of Christ" from the Virgin, who after giving birth remained a virgin. With these holy youths are commemorated also “the righteous Daniel and the wonderful prophets”, who, clearly revealing the divine second coming, saw Christ, “coming to all nations as Judge”, and who, “your mind illumined by divine radiance”, "that clearly the Virgin would give birth represented in mystical images".

The Hymns

"Today as we celebrate the Forefathers’ memory”, the holy Church exclaims: “let us offer praise to the fathers, who shone forth before and during the law, with righteous minds they served the Lord and Master who shone forth from the Virgin, now they delight in the unending light.” "Let us offer songs of praise to the prophets of God". "Let us honor the holy youths, for they quenched the flaming furnace, together with the prophet Daniel, and all the righteous ones who shone forth before the law, together with those who served the Master under the law.” By accomplishing “now the honor of the memory of the forefathers”, the holy Church edifies us, that we, in the expectation of the great and light-bearing day of the Nativity of Christ, is reflected by the faith and life of the holy Forefathers and, through them, has prepared ourselves, by their example, to the worthy meeting of the Lord Who came from Heaven, who has adorned their soul with virtues beforehand to be ready for the great and light-bearing day of the Nativity of our Savior worthily to meet Him with the lamp of faith and with the oil of charitable deeds, with the firm hope of life everlasting, with the light of both the joyful face of cleanliness and purity.

The Gospel and Epistle Reading

Together with them the holy Church on the present day, that its appeal be not in vain, places in the Gospel reading by the clergy about those called in Vespers, inspiring us, that we can be distracted from worthily meeting the Lord by the predominance of flesh over spirit, the attachment to the terrestrial, the blinding by gleam of worldly goods, the predilection for vanity, the unwillingness to deny one’s self-love and pride everyday, the enslavement to passions and covetousness, and in the Epistle reading directly commands us to destroy our earthly members: fornication, impurity, passion, evil lust and cupidity, to lay aside anger, evil, blaspheming, slander, lies, and in general to take off the old man and put on the new in the image of the Creator (Col. 3:4-11).

Those Named in the Hymns

In the sacred chants for this day among the Old Testament righteous men the following are referred to by name: Aaron (the first priest, brother of Moses), Avakum [LXX for Habakkuk] (see December 2), Obadiah (see November 19), Abel (son of Adam), Abraham (see October 9), Haggai (see December 16), Adam (Forefather of the human race), Azariah (see December 17), Anna (see December 9), Barak (see. Judges 4-5), Gideon (see September 26), David (see December 26), Daniel (see December 17), Deborah (see Judges 4-5), Eleazar (see September 2), Elisha (see June 14), Enos (son of Seth, - see Genesis 5:6-11), Enoch (see Gen 5: 18-24), Esther (see Esther 1-10), Zechariah (see February 8), Elijah (see July 20), Isaac(son of Abraham), Isaiah (see May 9), Jael (see. Judges 4-5), Jacob (son of Isaac), Ezekiel (see July 21), Jeremiah (see May 1), Jesse (father of David), Jephthah (see Judges 11, 12:1-7), Joshua (see September 1), Job (see May 6), Jonah (see September 22), Joseph (see March 31), Josiah (see 4 Kings, 21:26, 22, 23:1-30), Judah (see. Gen 49:8-17), Judith (see book of Judith 1- 16), Levi (son of Jacob), Malachi (see January 3), Melchizedek (see. Gen 14:18-20), Misael (see December 17), Micaiah (see August 14), Moses (see September 4), Nahum (see December 1), Nathan (see 2 Kings 5:14), Noah (see. Gen 5:28-32, 6-9), Huldah (see April 10, 4 Kings 22:14), Hur (see Exodus 24:14), Rachel (wife of Jacob), Rebecca (wife of Isaac), Ruth (see Ruth 1-4), Samson (see Judges 13-16), Samuel (see August 20), Sarah (wife of Abraham), Seth (son of Adam, see. Gen 5:3-5), Solomon (son of David), Zephaniah (see December 3).

The Virtues of the Holy Forefathers

Singing in the service for this day “the god-pleasing life” of the Old Testament righteous men, the Holy Church thus represents our intellectual look at the whole universe of great virtues, such as: the God-loving gentleness and meekness of the first martyr in the world, Abel, the holy zeal for the glorification of the name of God, Enos, the high divine thinking and the fear of God, Enoch, the firmness in faith and piety, Noah among the general depravity of his contemporary world, the wonderful faith and obedience to the word of God, Abraham, filial obedience, Isaac up to the preparation to be offered as a burnt offering according to the command of God, the kind domestic bravery, Sarah, the penetrating maternal love, Rebecca, the mild humility, Jacob who earned the rage of Laban and Esau, the holy chastity, Joseph who was more than ready to suffer and die, rather than to sin before God, the unhampered invincible patience in the sufferings and misfortunes, Job, the meek, wise leadership, Moses and Samuel, the inspiring courage through faith, Joshua son of Nun, Barak, and Gideon, the high self-sacrificing love for their country and people, Judith and Esther, the plaintive and contrite repentance, David and Manasseh, the ascetic and divinely intellectual life, Elijah and Elisha, the zeal for the glory of God of the holy prophets, the unhampered invincible dedication to the law of God and usual patriotism of the three youths in Babylon and the rest of the good deeds of all the other Old Testament men we celebrate, "of whom the world was not worthy" (Hebrews 11:38). According to the teaching of St. Gregory the Theologian, each of these virtues stand by themselves «as a special way to salvation, and undoubtedly results in any one of the everlasting and blessed abodes; for as the generations of life are various, so are the abodes of God are many (John 14:2), and in them are divided and are assigned to everyone according to his worthiness. Therefore let one fulfill his virtue, one to another, the other of the many, and whoever, if it is possible, and in everything; only let everyone go without stopping, let everyone strive forward and follow steadily in the steps of the good leaders, who directly leads a path for him, and makes his way through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14) to lead to the heights of the blessed heaven».

Determination of the Feast

When the Nativity falls on Sunday, - Sun. of the Holy Forefathers 11, and the Holy Fathers 18 December. When the Nativity falls on Monday -Sun of the Holy Forefathers 17, and the Holy Fathers 24 December. When the Nativity falls on Tuesday, - Sun. of the Holy Forefathers 16, and the Holy Fathers 23 December. When the Nativity falls on Wednesday, - Sun. of the Holy Forefathers 15, and the Holy Fathers 22 December. When the Nativity falls on Thursday, - Sun. of the Holy Forefathers 14, and the Holy Fathers 21 December. When the Nativity falls on Friday, - Sun. of the Holy Forefathers 13, and the Holy Fathers 20 December. When the Nativity falls on Saturday, - Sun. of the Holy Forefathers 12, and the Holy Fathers 19 December.

Source

Homilies By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

A Homily On the Righteousness of Noah

A Homily On the Faith of Abraham the Patriarch

Homily on the Righteousness of Lot, Nephew of Abraham

Homily on Melchizedek, the King and Priest

A Homily on Isaac, Who Was Blessed By God

Homily on the Meekness of Jacob the Patriarch

A Homily on Joseph, the Chaste and Innocent

A Homily on the Meekness of Moses

Homily on the Obedience of Joshua the Son of Nun

A Homily on the Diligence and Devotion of Ruth

A Homily on the Blameless Prophet Samuel

A Homily on the Repentance of King David

A Homily on the Faith and Zeal of Elijah the Prophet

A Homily on the Long-Suffering and Patient Job

A Homily on the Steadfastness of Daniel the Prophet

The Tomb of the Prophet Jonah in Mashad

Mashad is said to be the site of the Prophet Jonah's grave and his birthplace (2 Kings 14:25), called Gath-Hefer in Biblical times, a village in the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:13). Today it is an Arab town located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) northeast of Nazareth in Israel's North District. The name Mash'had in Arabic means 'the grave of a holy man'.

The authenticity of Mash'had always correlates with its proximity to Gath-Hefer - the birthplace of Jonah. The earliest Jewish records are from the 6th century Midrash Genesis Rabba that identifies Gath-Hefer near Tsippori. The oldest Christian tradition is from the 4th century Church Father, Jerome, who mentions the tomb of Jonah in a place two miles from Sepphoris (Tsippori). The first Islamic record is from a Muslim Persian Pilgrim named Nasir Khusraw, who reports in 1047 AD about the tomb of Jonah in a hill south of Cana in Galilee. All these traditions locate Jonah's tomb in a place near Tsippori and Cana, which brings us into the modern village of Mashad.

On July 24, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant destroyed the masjid containing the tomb as part of a campaign to destroy religious sanctuaries it deemed to be idolatrous (see here).

We Too Are Anxious As The Prophet Elijah!

There is a great lesson that we are given through the commemoration of the Prophet Elijah, those of us who have the Church at heart and thirst for its purity. We receive this lesson by reading chapter 19 of book III of Kings. What is said in this part of the Old Testament is the following:

The fiery Prophet Elijah, with a soul exhausted and almost broken-hearted as a result of his struggles against the idolatry which plagued the state of Israel, is found in a cave of the mountain Horeb. He opens his heart in prayer before God and overflows with feelings of grievance: “I have served you with zeal,” he says to his Divine Master. “See, however, the reasons which have discouraged me. The sons of Israel betrayed me. And, in spite of all that I did for them, in spite of the castigation which I addressed to them, and in spite of the punishment of the priests of Baal which your power brought about, the same situation continues to apply. Your altars are still ruined. Your Prophets are assassinated. And I have remained alone but my enemies seek to put me to death.”

Then, the Prophet Elijah heard a voice which said to him: “Tomorrow you must come out of your cave and you must stand at the peak of the mountain.” This is indeed what happened. The following day, the Prophet came out of his cave, and climbed up to the top of the Mountain. What a dreadful moment! A terrible thunderstorm had broken out. It seemed that its force would dissolve the rocky mass of Mount Horeb. At this moment he heard a voice which said to him: “The Lord is not inside this violent and destructive storm.” Then the storm passed and a terrible earthquake occurred. But again the voice informed him that the Lord was not inside this earthquake either. And then, the rocks of Horeb brought out flames. And the voice said to Elijah that the Lord was not in that fire either. After these breath-taking phenomena, a gentle Breeze began to blow. The Lord was in it. This is what the voice said to the Prophet, and he believed it and understood what God wanted to teach him. The lesson is this: that the presence of God is not expressed in any other way but as “a gentle Breeze”, as the sacred text calls it. This is an eternal lesson, which is addressed to us as well.

We, too, often become as anxious as Elijah. Our zeal makes us feel violent like the storm, and like the earthquake and vehement like the fire. Our sacred indignation pushes us to words and acts which do not have the freshness and the gentleness of the Breeze.

We believe that the Church, this new Israel, will not be cleansed from sin, unless we move vigorously, imitating the activity of Elijah, before he received this superb lesson on the mountain Horeb.

But the Lord loves His Church more than we do. He is concerned much more for her well being than we are. His grievance which he feels because of our sorry state is uncontainable not only in our heart, but also in our imagination.

And yet, He tells us that we must not be impatient and uncharitable. Rather we should be merciful and condescending as He is.

When God came down to the earth, and became a human being,  He repeated this lesson to us. We may recall here the verses from Isaiah which St. Matthew the Evangelist recalls in order to show the simplicity which characterizes the Son of God in his behavior towards those who exhibit an evil behavior in the Church. “He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; he will not break a bruised reed, or quench a smoldering wick” (Matth. 12:19-20). It is exactly because the Lord loves his Church more than us that he is genial and caring and delicate. He does not like screaming, lengthy expostulations of wild criticism, or unbridled victimization. He knows, because he is the only one who knows our heart, and so, even in the worst guises of evil, which stigmatize the body of the Church, there is always the hope of recovery. This recovery is accomplished only under the life-giving and distinctive breeze of the Spirit. Love, forbearance, meekness, humility, affection should distinguish the workers of the Church. The workers should imitate their divine employer, the Lord of the Vineyard. There is no room in them for rage, anger, or a judging tongue. What has to be gained on behalf of Christ on the earth will not be gained by force, but with love, harmlessness and non-aggressiveness.

Indeed, the Son of God himself teaches this most clearly in the Parable of the Weeds Among Wheat. We see the weeds among the wheat and this sight is unbearable to us. Our zeal pushes us to cut out the weeds. Nevertheless, this impulse is not the finger of God, but the finger of Lucifer. God does not want us to cut them out. Listen to what he says to us, when we take it to ourselves to strike persons and situations in His Church: “It is not I who inspires you to do so. This behavior is thoughtless and prejudicial. Because where you direct your beating, there are souls around which will be scandalized by your action, and you may damage them and even uproot them together with the evil which purportedly you tried to uproot.”

Do not misappropriate what is not your own task. I will purge my Church from all weeds on the Day of Judgment. Your judgment, your holy indignation, your anger will not bring only good, but also evil. You may uproot from the Church myriads of pharisees, vicious culprits and bribe-takers, but if with them you cast out even one soul which is scandalized by your behavior, for whom I shed my Blood, the damage to you will be infinitely greater than the benefit.

Do you want to bring glory to my Church, or to work for its progress and her purity? Imitate me. Do not run to cut out the weeds. Do not take recourse to violence. Become and remain to the end as “a gentle breeze,” because I am not present either in the storm, or in the earthquake, or in the fire. I am only present in the refreshing breeze.

Taken from the «Κιβωτός» - απάνθισμα, vol. 2. Translated from the Greek original by Fr. George Dion. Dragas.

On Martyrdom and the Maccabees (St. Cyprian of Carthage)

By St. Cyprian of Carthage

The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and foretells, saying:

“If the world hates you, know that it first hated me. If ye were of the world, the world would love what is its own: but because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I spoke unto you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”

And again:

“The hour will come, that every one that killeth you will think that he doeth God service; but they will do this because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the hour shall come ye may remember them, because I told you.”

And again:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”

And again:

“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace; but in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good confidence, for I have overcome the world.”

And when He was interrogated by His disciples concerning the sign of His coming, and of the consummation of the world, He answered and said:

“Take care lest any deceive you: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall begin to hear of wars, and rumours of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and earthquakes, and pestilences, in every place. But all these things are the beginnings of travailings. Then they shall deliver you up into affliction, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hateful to all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall seduce many; and because wickedness shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he who shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached through all the world, for a testimony to all nations; and then shall come the end. When, therefore, ye shall see the abomination of desolation which is spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him who readeth understand), then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let him which is on the house-roof not go down to take anything from the house; and let him who is in the field not return back to carry away his clothes. But woe to them that are pregnant, and to those that are giving suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath-day: for there shall be great tribulation, such as has not arisen from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall arise. And unless those days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any one shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, there; believe him not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, to cause error, if it be possible, even to the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. If, therefore, they shall say to you, Lo, he is in the desert; go not forth: lo, he is in the sleeping chambers; believe it not. For as the flashing of lightning goeth forth from the east, and appeareth even to the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the carcase shall be, there shall the eagles be gathered together. But immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and all the tribes of the earth shall lament, and shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. And He shall send His angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the heights of heaven, even into the farthest bounds thereof.”

And these are not new or sudden things which are now happening to Christians; since the good and righteous, and those who are devoted to God in the law of innocence and the fear of true religion, advance always through afflictions, and wrongs, and the severe and manifold penalties of troubles, in the hardship of a narrow path. Thus, at the very beginning of the world, the righteous Abel was the first to be slain by his brother; and Jacob was driven into exile, and Joseph was sold, and King Saul persecuted the merciful David; and king Ahab endeavoured to oppress Elias, who firmly and bravely asserted the majesty of God. Zacharias the priest was slain between the temple and the altar, that himself might there become a sacrifice where he was accustomed to offer sacrifices to God. So many martyrdoms of the righteous have, in fact, often been celebrated; so many examples of faith and virtue have been set forth to future generations. The three youths, Ananias, Azarias, and Misäel, equal in age, agreeing in love, stedfast in faith, constant in virtue, stronger than the flames and penalties that urged them, proclaim that they only obey God, that they know Him alone, that they worship Him alone, saying: “O King Nebuchadnezer, there is no need for us to answer thee in this matter. For the God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of the furnace of burning fire; and He will deliver us from thy hands, O king. And if not, be it known unto thee, that we do not serve thy gods, and we do not adore the golden image which thou hast set up.” And Daniel, devoted to God, and filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims and says: “I worship nothing but the Lord my God, who founded the heaven and the earth.” Tobias also, although under a royal and tyrannical slavery, yet in feeling and spirit free, maintains his confession to God, and sublimely announces both the divine power and majesty, saying: “In the land of my captivity I confess to Him, and I show forth His power in a sinful nation.”

What, indeed, do we find in the Maccabees of seven brethren, equals alike in their lot of birth and virtues, filling up the number seven in the sacrament of a perfected completion? Seven brethren were thus associating in martyrdom. As the first seven days in the divine arrangement containing seven thousand of years, as the seven spirits and seven angels which stand and go in and out before the face of God, and the seven-branched lamp in the tabernacle of witness, and the seven golden candlesticks in the Apocalypse, and the seven columns in Solomon upon which Wisdom built her house; so here also the number seven of the brethren, embracing, in the quantity of their number, the seven churches, as likewise in the first book of Kings we read that the barren hath borne seven. And in Isaiah seven women lay hold on one man, whose name they ask to be called upon them. And the Apostle Paul, who refers to this lawful and certain number, writes to the seven churches. And in the Apocalypse the Lord directs His divine and heavenly precepts to the seven churches and their angels, which number is now found in this case, in the seven brethren, that a lawful consummation may be completed. With the seven children is manifestly associated also the mother, their origin and root, who subsequently begat seven churches, she herself having been first, and alone founded upon a rock by the voice of the Lord. Nor is it of no account that in their sufferings the mother alone is with her children. For martyrs who witness themselves as the sons of God in suffering are now no more counted as of any father but God, as in the Gospel the Lord teaches, saying, “Call no man your father upon earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”

But what utterances of confessions did they herald forth! How illustrious, how great proofs of faith did they afford! The king Antiochus, their enemy—yea, in Antiochus Antichrist was set forth—sought to pollute the mouths of martyrs, glorious and unconquered in the spirit of confession, with the contagion of swine’s flesh; and when he had severely beaten them with whips, and could prevail nothing, commanded iron plates to be heated, which being heated and made to glow, he commanded him who had first spoken, and had more provoked the king with the constancy of his virtue and faith, to be brought up and roasted, his tongue having first been pulled out and cut off, which had confessed God; and this happened the more gloriously to the martyr. For the tongue which had confessed the name of God, ought itself first to go to God. Then in the second, sharper pains having been devised, before he tortured the other limbs, he tore off the skin of his head with the hair, doubtless with a purpose in his hatred. For since Christ is the head of the man, and God is the head of Christ, he who tore the head in the martyr was persecuting God and Christ in that head. But he, trusting in his martyrdom, and promising to himself from the retribution of God the reward of resurrection, exclaimed and said, “Thou indeed impotently destroyest us out of this present life; but the King of the world will raise us up, who die for His laws, unto the eternal resurrection of life.” The third being challenged, quickly put forth his tongue; for he had learned from his brother to despise the punishment of cutting off the tongue. Moreover, he firmly held forth his hands to be cut off, greatly happy in such a mode of punishment, since it was his lot to imitate, by stretching forth his hands, the form of his Lord’s passion. And also the fourth, with like virtue, despising the tortures, and answering, to restrain the king, with a heavenly voice exclaimed, and said, “It is better that those who are given to death by men should wait for hope from God, to be raised up by Him again to eternal life. For to thee there shall be no resurrection to life.” The fifth, besides treading under foot the torments of the king, and his severe and various tortures, by the strength of faith, animated to prescience also and knowledge of future events by the Spirit of divinity, foretold to the king the wrath of God, and the vengeance that should swiftly follow. “Having power,” said he, “among men, though thou art corruptible, thou doest what thou wilt. But think not that our race is forsaken of God. Abide, and see His great power, how He will torment thee and thy seed.” What alleviation was that to the martyr! How substantial a comfort in his sufferings, not to consider his own torments, but to predict the penalties of his tormentor! But in the sixth, not his bravery only, but also his humility, is to be set forth; that the martyr claimed nothing to himself, nor even made an account of the honour of his own confession with proud words, but rather ascribed it to his sins that he was suffering persecution from the king, while he attributed to God that afterwards he should be avenged. He taught that martyrs are modest, that they were confident of vengeance, and boasted nothing in their suffering. “Do not,” said he, “needlessly err; for we on our own account suffer these things, as sinning against our God. But think not thou that thou shalt be unpunished, who darest to fight against God.”

Also the admirable mother, who, neither broken down by the weakness of her sex, nor moved by her manifold bereavement, looked upon her dying children with cheerfulness, and did not reckon those things punishments of her darlings, but glories, giving as great a witness to God by the virtue of her eyes, as her children had given by the tortures and suffering of their limbs; when, after the punishment and slaying of six, there remained one of the brethren, to whom the king promised riches, and power, and many things, that his cruelty and ferocity might be soothed by the satisfaction of even one being subdued, and asked that the mother would entreat that her son might be cast down with herself; she entreated, but it was as became a mother of martyrs—as became one who was mindful of the law and of God—as became one who loved her sons not delicately, but bravely. For she entreated, but it was that he would confess God. She entreated that the brother would not be separated from his brothers in the alliance of praise and glory; then only considering herself the mother of seven sons, if it should happen to her to have brought forth seven sons, not to the world, but to God. Therefore arming him, and strengthening him, and so bearing her son by a more blessed birth, she said, “O son, pity me that bare thee ten months in the womb, and gave thee milk for three years, and nourished thee and brought thee up to this age; I pray thee, O son, look upon the heaven and the earth; and having considered all the things which are in them, understand that out of nothing God made these things and the human race. Therefore, O son, do not fear that executioner; but being made worthy of thy brethren, receive death, that in the same mercy I may receive thee with thy brethren.” The mother’s praise was great in her exhortation to virtue, but greater in the fear of God and in the truth of faith, that she promised nothing to herself or her son from the honour of the six martyrs, nor believed that the prayer of the brothers would avail for the salvation of one who should deny, but rather persuaded him to become a sharer in their suffering, that in the day of judgment he might be found with his brethren. After this the mother also dies with her children; for neither was anything else becoming, than that she who had borne and made martyrs, should be joined in the fellowship of glory with them, and that she herself should follow those whom she had sent before to God.

And lest any, when the opportunity either of a certificate or of any such matter is offered to him whereby he may deceive, should embrace the wicked part of deceivers, let us not be silent, moreover, about Eleazar, who, when an opportunity was offered him by the ministers of the king, that having received the flesh which it was allowable for him to partake of, he might pretend, for the misguiding of the king, that he ate those things which were forced upon him from the sacrifices and unlawful meats, would not consent to this deception, saying that it was fitting neither for his age nor nobility to feign that, whereby others would be scandalized and led into error; if they should think that Eleazar, being ninety years old, had left and betrayed the law of God, and had gone over to the manner of aliens; and that it was not of so much consequence to gain the short moments of life, and so incur eternal punishment from an offended God. And he having been long tortured, and now at length reduced to extremity, while he was dying in the midst of stripes and tortures, groaned and said, “O Lord, that hast the holy knowledge, it is manifest that although I might be delivered from death, I suffer the severest pains of body, being beaten with scourges; but with my mind, on account of Thy fear, I willingly suffer these things.” Assuredly his faith was sincere and his virtue sound, and abundantly pure, not to have regarded King Antiochus, but God the Judge, and to have known that it could not avail him for salvation if he should mock and deceive man, when God, who is the judge of our conscience, and who only is to be feared, cannot at all be mocked nor deceived.

If, therefore, we also live as dedicated and devoted to God—if we make our way over the ancient and sacred footsteps of the righteous, let us go through the same proofs of sufferings, the same testimonies of passions, considering the glory of our time the greater on this account, that while ancient examples may be numbered, yet that subsequently, when the abundance of virtue and faith was in excess, the Christian martyrs cannot be numbered, as the Apocalypse testifies and says: “After these things I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of every nation, and of every tribe, and people, and language, standing in the sight of the throne and of the Lamb; and they were clothed in white robes, and palms were in their hands; and they said with a loud voice, Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb! And one of the elders answered and said unto me, Who are those which are arrayed in white robes, and whence come they? And I said unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.” But if the assembly of the Christian martyrs is shown and proved to be so great, let no one think it a hard or a difficult thing to become a martyr, when he sees that the crowd of martyrs cannot be numbered.

The Search for the Tomb of the Maccabees

Is the Maccabees’ ancient mystery close to solution?

New impetus in the 150-year search for the spectacular tomb of the famed Judean rebels.

Matti Friedman

July 9, 2012

The Times of Israel

Few ancient sites in the Holy Land have ignited the imagination like the lost tombs of the Maccabees, the family that led a Jewish rebel army to victory against Seleucid religious repression in the second century BCE.

Beginning more than 140 years ago, travelers, clergymen and enthusiastic scholars of varying levels of religious fervor and competence have been looking for the tomb site – described in contemporary sources as a magnificent Hellenistic monument that included pyramids and ships of carved stone and could be seen by sailors on the Mediterranean Sea, 18 miles away. The complex was one of the greatest man-made landmarks in ancient Judea.

No trace of it has ever been found.

For the early archaeologists who arrived in Ottoman Palestine with shovels, Bibles, and a thirst for the physical traces of the events described in Scripture, the tombs were a tantalizing mystery. More than a century later, so they remain.

Today, archaeologists have their eyes on a site that might — just might — provide an answer.

Maccabean Graves?

Many locals and visitors probably don’t realize there is a mystery at all. Off a road near the city of Modi’in in central Israel is a sign in English and Hebrew pointing unambiguously to the “Maccabean Graves,” and a path leads to 20 stone tombs cut deep into the rock on a nearby hillside. Prayers are held here every year on Hannukah, the holiday that celebrates the triumph of Mattathias the Priest and his five sons, who rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE and established the Hasmonean royal dynasty.

But while it is not clear precisely who was buried in these tombs, it is entirely clear that it was not the Maccabees. The graves are pagan or Christian, and were made centuries after the time of the Maccabees. First mistakenly linked to the Maccabees in the 19th century by a European explorer, the graves were later embraced by early Zionists as physical remnants of the ancient Jewish heroes they saw as role models. This is not exceptional: In modern Israel, religious sentiment, wishful thinking and a kind of cheerful disregard for the inconveniences of historical research have often led to grave sites being blithely misidentified, aggrandized and converted to Judaism.

Written descriptions that survive from the time of the Maccabees make clear that this particular tomb complex did not resemble an ordinary burial cave.

“And Simon built a monument over the tomb of his father and his brothers; he made it high that it might be seen, with polished stone at the front and back,” reads the description of the tombs in the Book of Maccabees, a text written in Judea several decades after the Maccabees’ revolt. Simon was a brother of Judah the Maccabee and one of the five sons of Mattathias.

For archaeologists looking for the tombs, passages from the Book of Maccabees provide three crucial clues

“He also erected seven pyramids, opposite one another, for his father and mother and four brothers.

“And for the pyramids he devised an elaborate setting, erecting about them great columns, and upon the columns he put suits of armor for a permanent memorial, and beside the suits of armor carved ships, so that they could be seen by all who sail the sea.

“This is the tomb which he built in Modi’in; it remains to this day,” reads the text.

The historian Josephus Flavius, writing nearly two centuries later, recorded a similar description.

For archaeologists looking for the tombs, those passages provide three crucial clues.

The site, a reader learns, was located on high ground from which it was possible to see the Mediterranean. The original tomb contained seven bodies – those of Mattathias, his wife, and their five sons – as well as other scions of the dynasty who were added later on. And it was near Modi’in, the Maccabees’ hometown. The location of ancient Modi’in has been lost, but scholars agree that it was in the same area where the modern-day city of that name now stands.

The early searchers

The first flurry of interest in finding the lost tombs began in earnest in 1866, as biblical archaeology became popular in Europe. The name Modi’in, a French Catholic priest suggested that year, was preserved in the name of an Arab village in the area – al-Midiya. This is still largely considered to be a logical conclusion. The tombs, it stood to reason, could be found nearby.

In 1869, another explorer came to the area asking about the tombs of the Maccabees, and local villagers pointed him to a cluster of ancient graves they called Qubur el-Yahud, or the “Jewish tombs.” Though these tombs matched none of the ancient descriptions – the sea was not visible, for example, and there were no signs of monumental construction – the explorer declared that he had found the site. This identification was never taken seriously by scholars, but it has nonetheless proved resilient, bequeathing to us the “Maccabean Graves” that are signposted along the road from Modi’in to Tel Aviv, misleading casual passers-by more than 140 years later.

The next year, 1870, saw the arrival of another Frenchman, Victor Guérin, who was interested in a different location nearby — a site home to a domed Arab tomb of fairly recent vintage and known as Sheikh el-Gherbawy. Guérin discovered the remains of an ancient rectangular structure that was divided, he thought, into seven crypts. That, he noted, matched the correct number of tombs.

His excitement rising, he went on to find pieces of stone that he identified as traces of the complex’s pyramids. Then he found fragments of bone and declared, in the enthusiastic archaeological style of those times, that these were no less than “the ashes of the heroic and holy old man Mattathias.”

The next to arrive was Charles Clermont-Ganneau, a meticulous French scholar who would go on to author a classic 1896 text on Holy Land archaeology, “Archaeological Researches in Palestine.” He showed up at the same site the following year, having set out from Jerusalem in the rain on horseback with a French companion, a rubber raincoat and a revolver. “Palestine was devastated by famine, many peasants had died of hunger, and the roads were hardly safe,” he wrote. “We followed an ancient Roman way which here was easily recognizable with its pavement and its edging of large blocks still in a good state of preservation. We left it to turn northwards and direct our course to el Midieh.”

Reaching Guérin’s site, he carried out a short excavation, then returned two years later with a work team and conducted a more extensive dig. He found a substantial building, but nothing he thought suggested any connection to the Maccabees. After several days of clearing rubble, he reached a mosaic floor, and when the dirt was cleared away the floor design was revealed – a Christian cross that could have been made no earlier than the fifth century CE.

Far from being the Maccabees’ tombs, the building at Sheikh el-Gherbawy was almost certainly a Byzantine-era church or monastery, one of many in the area. The find, he wrote, directing a scholarly jab at his giddy predecessor Guérin, “naturally calls in question the too hasty conclusions which had been arrived at from insufficient observation.”

During Israel’s War of Independence the same site – then known as Outpost 219, a small ring of trenches next to the old Arab tomb – was the scene of a battle between Israeli and Jordanian troops, and changed hands several times before it was recaptured by Jewish forces and remained on the Israeli side of the line after the armistice. The village of al-Midiya remained under Jordanian control, and is now under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

At some point, Jewish believers seem to have decided that the Ottoman-era Arab tomb at the site was in fact a Jewish holy place. A gravestone inside the building currently declares, with no apparent irony: “Mattityahu, son of Yohanan, the High Priest, is buried here.”

Coming full circle

One hundred and twenty-nine years after Clermont-Ganneau’s visit, archaeologists are still looking for the tombs. Leading the search these days is Amit Reem, the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist in charge of central Israel. For a digger in this part of the country the Maccabees are nearly inescapable – the Holy Land’s archaeological mega-celebrities, King David and Jesus of Nazareth, lived elsewhere, and there are no greater ancient stars under his purview. And identifying their graves would also serve a second purpose — helping scholars to conclusively identify ancient Modi’in.

In recent years, interest in the area’s history has grown along with the influx of residents into the city of Modi’in, a tidy middle-class suburb of 80,000 built from scratch on hills that were empty until the 1990s. In 2000, archaeologists excavating outside a new neighborhood found a Hasmonean-era Jewish village centered on a synagogue, and some raised the possibility that this was ancient Modi’in and that the famous tombs could be nearby. No evidence has been found to support that idea.

A few years before, a bulldozer clearing the way for a new road near the city accidentally uncovered a 2,000-year-old burial cave with stone ossuaries, one of which seemed to bear lettering that suggested the word “Hasmonean.” This led to another burst of public interest, though the inscription had been misread and the grave could not be linked to the Maccabees – ossuaries were used by Jews for burial only more than a century after the Maccabees’ lifetime.

Others have suggested a possible link to a high point near the city known as Titura Hill, where a Crusader fort sits atop the ruins of a large and as yet unidentified Roman-era building. Nothing on the hill, however, suggests a link to the tombs.

All of which has led Reem and other modern scholars back to the same site that drew the interest of the French diggers all those years ago.

Though Clermont-Ganneau conclusively established that the structure at Sheikh el-Gherbawy was Christian – the mosaic cross left no doubt about it – his finding might actually strengthen the possibility that the tombs are there, Reem said.

Early Christians saw the Maccabees as martyrs and would certainly have venerated their graves, he believes: In this version, the structure could have been constructed atop the lost tombs to mark their place.

In 2009, Reem made an effort to clean and investigate the site. Many of the remains the Frenchmen had seen all those years before had been long since looted, but the team used radar to peer under the ground and detected massive walls and subterranean chambers of considerable size.

The site, he noted, has remains of monumental construction; proximity to al-Midiya, which has the best claim to be ancient Modi’in; and a clear sightline to the sea. In other words, it would seem to match the criteria from the ancient writings.

Since then, Reem has been trying, without success, to drum up funding that would allow the site to be properly excavated for the first time.

“Neither I nor my colleagues are saying that this is the site of the tombs, but it’s the leading candidate,” he said. “Only a large, methodical excavation would prove or disprove the idea and solve the riddle of this place.”