The Topic That Tests the Faith of a Christian (Photios Kontoglou)

"When you speak to pseudochristians about strict asceticism of the body and the spirit for the love of Christ, they get angry, they call you a fakir, an idolater, a barbarian. If you want to test the faith of a Christian, speak to them about asceticism."

- Photios Kontoglou

 

 

The Veneration of Photios Kontoglou for Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri

Photios Kontoglou was born in Aivali (Ayvalik), Asia Minor on November 8, 1895 and died in Athens on July 13, 1965.

The following incident refers to his last moments in the hospital and the wonderful information that his wife received from Saint Ephraim the Wonderworker. We read this in the book Visions and Miracles of Saint Ephraim the Great Martyr and Wonderworker.

The "Ignorant and Boorish Saint" Luke of Steirion (Photios Kontoglou)

 By Photios Kontoglou

On February 7, the memory of Saint Luke of Steirion is celebrated. The monastery that honors his name is located near the village of Steiri and hence he is called Saint Luke of Steirion or the New, to set him apart from Luke the Evangelist, who lived 890 years earlier. This monastery is famous and its church is the largest of those that have survived from that time, decorated with mosaics and colored marbles. One goes to the monastery from Distomo. It is built in a beautiful place, near the mountain that was called in ancient times Elikonas and today is called Paliovouna.

Words of Complete Immortality: Saint Symeon the New Theologian (Photios Kontoglou)

Sketch of St. Symeon the New Theologian by Photios Kontoglou

 

By Photios Kontoglou

I would have written today on another subject, which is not religious. But I received many letters and phone calls from readers of "Eleutheria" expressing their strong desire to read more about the Orthodox Fathers and their books, because they find no such spiritual food anywhere. Well, I changed my purpose and I will write about Saint Symeon the New Theologian.

Truly, unaware are those who have not tasted from this immortal fountain, I mean the words of the Holy Fathers, which many consider to be priestly chatter.

The discourses of Saint Symeon the New Theologian are read in Europe today more than any other patristic book, from what has been translated into foreign languages, as I wrote a few days ago. This saint has a certain grace to touch the most elusive and deepest mysteries of religion. It is as if he is pointing it out to you, the blessed one, with his finger, because he was found worthy to live in the inexpressible Light of Christ, being still in the body.

Saint Demetrios and Saint George, the Two Brave Young Lads of Christendom (Photios Kontoglou)

By Photios Kontoglou

Saint Demetrios, together with Saint George, are the two brave young lads of Christendom. They are down here on earth, and the two archangels Michael and Gabriel are in heaven.

In ancient times they were painted without arms, but in later years they were depicted armed with swords and spears and dressed in iron shirts. On one shoulder they have their helmet, on the other their shield, and in the middle are the straps that support the sheath of the sword.

Gangrene Humanity (Photios Kontoglou)

 

By Photios Kontoglou

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

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

A Guided Tour of the Mosaics of Hagia Sophia with Photios Kontoglou

By Photios Kontoglou (1895-1965)

Hagia Sophia is the boast of Orthodoxy, the mother of all churches.

For us Greeks it is the castle of our freedom and religion, a fairytale church as well as a palace.

The building was built by the architects Anthemios and Isidoros, by order of the pious emperor Justinian.

Today we will not talk about the building, but only about the mosaics that decorate it.

Most of them represent ornamentation.

Of the iconography most were icons of Christ, the Panagia, angels, saints, as well as emperors and empresses.

Compositions are very few.

Greeks and Turks (Photios Kontoglou)

Greeks and Turks (by artist Johann Wilhelm Baur, 1636)

By Photios Kontoglou

By the time the Turks appeared in Asia Minor it was a small tribe. In order to multiply, they captured and converted the locals, most of whom were Greeks. In this diabolical way, which is said to have been advised by an imam, they became a great nation. But this artificial way of multiplying ceased at one point and they began to dwindle again. The German professor Krumbacher writes that as long as Turkey was nourished by the peoples it had enslaved and by the wealth it had amassed for centuries, it grew and grew stronger, until the fear of Europe came. But as those happy years passed, she began to drink her own blood, which could not be replaced by anything. As much as they had harems with many women and as much as they were masters in this country, they kept falling, instead of moving forward. Incessant and long-term conscription cooperated a lot to this, but more so unnatural debauchery and degeneration was the reason that the Turkish population was becoming more and more dilute, including bad administration, even though the Greek subjects had the same administration and in fact much worse.

The Simple Joys of Summer (Photios Kontoglou)

By Photios Kontoglou

Blessed is the man who can, now in the summer, get away for a while from the turmoil of civilization. If he likes the sea, let him go to any island, where the islanders are not spoiled yet, or to any fishing village. But do not carry civilization with you, as many do, who on the one hand want to leave the unrest behind them, and on the other carry with them all the complicated and tedious tasks of civilization. Take as few things with you as you can. Because, the biggest gain that you will have going to such a place, will be the joy that the person feels as if he is missing many things, that he has them so easily in civilization, and that over there it will seem like some great enjoyment, finding joy in the slightest thing. Unhappy are the people who lack nothing, and have no hope of longing for anything, whether it be food, or rest, or speech, or warmth, or coolness. And truly blessed are those who do not have everything easy, and that is why all things become new and refreshing for them.

Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher (Photios Kontoglou)

Saint Nilus the Myrrhgusher

By Photios Kontoglou

In the time of the Turks, there appeared a number of saints, martyrs and venerables in Moria who made it fragrant with their holiness, and the tortured Christians of that time found solace in them, while slaves and the persecuted found support and hope.

One of them was Saint Nilus the New*, who is called the Myrrhgusher, because his holy relic gushed forth myrrh, just like Saint Demetrios and other saints.

"Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord" (Photios Kontoglou)

"Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord"

By Photios Kontoglou

2 March 1953

He Whose throne is heaven, and Whose footstool is the earth, the Son of God His co-eternal Word, today humbles Himself, and comes to Bethany on a little donkey.

And the children of the Hebrews received Him, crying out: "Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He Who comes, the King of Israel."

The warlords of the world, when they would finish a war and threw down their enemies, they would return glorified, and sitting on golden chariots to enter their city. Before them would go the trumpets and flags and brave generals and a multitude of soldiers, covered with iron armor and bearing weapons around a chariot that was filled with many pieces of armor and swords and spears that remained from the conquered nation.

Photios Kontoglou's Vivid Description of the Icon of Saint John the Baptist

By Photios Kontoglou

He stands on a rock, like a wild bird, winged with thin legs, wearing camel's skin over his flesh shortly below his knees, and above that he is wrapped in an oily-green garment.

His head is disheveled like a wild evergreen oak, with a twisted curl at the top; the beard, sparse at the cheeks, thickening under the chin and spun into four or five spirals; the nose is thin and long towards the lower point; eyebrows compact; eyes very sad, fixed at a distance; the mouth melancholic, curved.

On Ecclesiastical Music (Photios Kontoglou)

By Photios Kontoglou

Music is of two kinds (as are the other arts also)—secular and ecclesiastical. Each of these has been developed by different feelings and different states of the soul. Secular music expresses worldly (i.e., carnal) feelings and desires. Although these feelings may be very refined (romantic, sentimental, idealistic, etc.), they do not cease being carnal. Nevertheless, many people believe that these feelings are spiritual. However, spiritual feelings are expressed only by ecclesiastical music. Only ecclesiastical music can truly express the secret movements of the heart, which are entirely different from those inspired and developed by secular music. That is, it expresses contrition, humility, suffering and godly grief, which, as Paul says, "worketh repentance to salvation." [1] Ecclesiastical music can also evoke feelings of praise, thanksgiving, and holy enthusiasm. Secular music, on the other hand—even the purest—expresses carnal emotions, even when it is inspired by suffering and affliction. This type of suffering, Paul calls "worldly grief," which "worketh death." [2]

An Offering of Praise to Holy Abba Isaac the Syrian (Photios Kontoglou)

Sketch of St. Isaac the Syrian by the hand of Photios Kontoglou

ENCOMIUM

An Offering of Praise to Holy Abba Isaac the Syrian,
Inadequate for the Sublimity of Its Subject,
but Written With Much Love

Photios Kontoglou

Athens, 1944

'The man to whom wisdom has been given knows 

the inward essences of immaterial things and what 

is the origin and consummation of the world.'

- Thalassios the Lybian

(Century 1:47)

He who wishes to praise the holy Isaac should hold an Archangel's trumpet, and not this sinful pen I have here in my hand.

Who will weave an unfading garland for his head? With what melodious praise could any human being laud this man who is hymned by the very angels? With the harmonious art of the tongue, come now, let us extol this humble wildflower of Syria, this gold-spangled fountain of immortality, this salt of the earth, this honeybee of virtue, this gold-stringed lute which ravishes the heart, this divinely-fashioned intellect, this glory of the Orient, this tremendous ocean, this enchanted light shining to unfathomed depths, this blessed child of God, and whatever else our tongue may call him, accustomed as it is to speak of trivialities.

The Relationship Between Photis Kontoglou and St. Ephraim of Nea Makri

Saint Ephraim was a monk of the Monastery of the Annunciation on Mount Amomon in Attica, and in September of 1425 he was captured in a Turkish raid. Held captive and tormented for more than eight months, he was finally tortured to death hanging on a mulberry tree on May 5, 1426. Though his story was lost to history, his relics were discovered by Mother Makaria Desypri (1911-1999) after a visitation of Saint Ephraim to her in 1950; 524 years after his death.

The Main Representatives of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Iconography

Below we present the names of some of the main representatives of iconography without of course exhausting the list of the large number of masters who served the art with humility, anonymously or not, small and big, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Saint Luke the Evangelist: Tradition mentions as the first iconographer, the Evangelist Luke. The Evangelist was the first to paint three icons - using wax, gum and colors - of the All Holy Theotokos, holding in her bosom our Lord Jesus Christ, and he offered them to her, wishing to know if they were pleasing to her. The Mother of the Lord accepted them saying, "The grace of the one who was born from me goes through me to them." Of these three icons, one is in the Peloponnese, in the Monastery of the Great Cave which is made with wax and gum. The second is said to be in little Russia, in a town called Vilina which was given as a gift by the Roman emperors to the Russians, so that they may be their allies. The third icon according to the assurance of the golden sealed decree of John Gregory Ghikas, ruler of Wallachia, is in Cyprus at the Monastery of Kykkos. Moreover according to tradition the Evangelist Luke drew some icons of the Holy Pre-eminent Apostles and some others, and since then the art of painting Holy Icons was passed on to good and pious people.

Joyful Sorrow and its Secret Fruits (Photios Kontoglou)

By Photios Kontoglou

Among the saints who felt joyful sorrow and wrote about it, is Saint Symeon, the so-called New Theologian.

This Saint was very tormented and pained, and shed many tears in his life. He was born a thousand years after Christ, in a village of Paphlagonia, which is a place in Asia Minor near the Black Sea. From a young age he loved religious life.

His parents sent him to Constantinople, because he had an uncle there who was a man of the palace, and he sent him to school to study to bring him to the palace. But Symeon did not want to learn many things, because he thought it unnecessary.

He associated with monastics and pious people, and this association was his joy.

The Beauty of the Panagia (Photios Kontoglou)

By Photios Kontoglou

The Panagia is the spiritual ornament of Orthodoxy. For us Greeks she is our pained mother, the comforter, the protectress, who stands by us in every circumstance.

In every part of Greece there are built numerous churches and monasteries, palaces to this humble Queen, and a bunch of deserted shrines, in the mountains, the plains and the islands, fragrant with her virginal and spiritual scent.

Within each of these there is an old and revered icon of her with her dark and wax-golden face, which is ever being rained on with the tears of our suffering people, because we have no other help, except from the Panagia: "We who sin have no one else, who intercedes for us before God, praying endlessly, in ills and all dangers, for us who are laden with our many sins and mistakes."

What Orthodox Iconography Is (Photios Kontoglou)

What Orthodox Iconography Is

By Photios Kontoglou

The religion of Christ is the revelation, by Him, of the truth. And this truth is the knowledge of the true God and of the spiritual world. But the spiritual world is not what men used to — and still do — call "spiritual."

Christ calls His religion "new wine" and "bread that cometh down from Heaven." The Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away: behold, all things have become new."

In a religion like this, one that makes the believer into a "new man," everything is "new." So, too, the art that gradually took form out of the spirit of this religion, and which it invented to express its Mystery, is a "new" art, one not like any other, just as the religion of Christ is not like any other, in spite of what some may say who have eyes only for certain meaningless externals.

The Forgotten Forerunner (Photios Kontoglou)

By Photios Kontoglou

Today as I write, August 29th, it is the commemoration of Saint John the Forerunner. Last night we chanted Vespers devoutly in a chapel, and there were only a few women and two or three men. This morning we chanted liturgy and again there were a few pilgrims. The shops were open, everyone worked as if it was not the feast of the greatest saint of our religion. In truth does the hymn say: "The memory of the just is celebrated with hymns of praise, but the Lord's testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner."