Church of the Holy Martyr Anastasia in Novgorod, Built in One Day To Protect the People From the Deadly Plague of 1417

A.D. 1417. A.M. 6925. The same summer and winter there was a fearful plague among the people in Novgorod, and in Ladoga, in Russa, Porkhov, Pskov, Tver, Dmitrov, and in Torzhok, and throughout their districts and villages. And how can I relate the fearful and terrible misery that there was during the whole plague? What grief the living had for the dead, for the deaths increased so in towns and villages that the living had barely time to make the dead tidy for burial; so many died every day, that they had not time to bury them; and many houses were closed unoccupied. First of all it would hit one as if with a lance, choking, and then a swelling would appear, or spitting of blood with shivering, and fire would burn one in all the joints of the body; and then the illness would overwhelm one; and many after lying in that illness died. But to many Christians God was merciful: they left this life entering the angelic order after receiving holy unction from the Vladyka. And two Posadniks died in the same order: Ivan Olexandrovich and Boris Vasilievich.

Saint Savvas the Sanctified, a Man of the People in Time of Famine and Plague

During the reign of Emperor Anastasios (491-518), a great famine visited the villages of Jerusalem, and there ensued much loss of life. With the passage of time, it spread into others areas of the Eastern Roman Empire and Constantinople. From this scourge, numerous homes were deserted and left uninhabited.

The various bureaus of the state and the emperor himself, in order to avoid a great loss of revenue, enacted a decree, whereby the unpaid taxes of the deceased were to be paid by their survivors. When the merciful Savvas heard of this unjust and absurd law, he journeyed “once more to Constantinople” to see the emperor, expressing his disapproval of it, demonstrating that the needy would be totally annihilated and that it was not in the best interests of the realm, but to its detriment and destruction. For it was utter injustice for those that were spared by two evils - the famine and the deadly plague - to be further tormented at the hands of the state by having to shoulder an unjust tax burden. Oppressed by the state and driven by necessity, they might attempt something that would be injurious to the realm.

Holy New Martyrs Ambrosios, Neophytos and Makarios of Vatopaidi (+ 1821)

Sts. Ambrosios, Neophytos and Makarios of Vatopaidi (Feast Day - June 22)

In 1820 the Hieromonks Neophytos and Ambrosios, the Hierodeacon Parthenios and the monks Dionysios and Dorotheos and later Makarios were sent to Crete, by invitation, with sacred relics, in order to expel the terrible disease of the plague, which infected the locals there. These relics were a portion of the Holy Zoni of the Panagia which was a gift to the monastery of the emperor John Kantakouzinos, a piece of Holy Wood from the True Cross, and the skull of Saint Andrew of Crete.

On Covid 19 (Archimandrite Alexios of Xenophontos)

 

 On Covid 19

January 2022
 
By Archimandrite Alexios,
Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Xenophontos, Mount Athos

I consider the Covid 19 pandemic, regardless of its origins, an ordeal God has allowed to visit the human race. To allow does not mean to wish, but to tolerate.

We have all, therefore, come face to face with the tragic reality of counting numerous deaths on a daily basis, including friends and loved ones.

In an effort to interpret the phenomenon, many voices have been heard, resulting in confusion and division among the people.

The health authorities promptly informed us as to how the virus is transmitted and how it should be confronted.

The Custom of the Distribution of a Piece of Watermelon in Kerkyra Every February 11th

Although watermelon today is known to Greeks as the king of the summer fruits, it is traditionally known as a winter fruit (heimoniko), due to the fact that it has a thick rind and can be preserved until Christmas, or even until Great Lent. On the island of Kerkyra, it is a custom to distribute a piece of watermelon on the feast of Saint Blaise, which is February 11th, at the Metropolitan Church of the island after the Divine Liturgy.

On February 11th in Kerkyra, the Empress Theodora is primarily celebrated, whose relic came to Kerkyra from Constantinople, shortly after the fall of Constantinople, together with the relic of Saint Spyridon. The litany of the relic of Saint Theodora, who ratified the decisions of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod in 787 and restored the Holy Icons in 843, is kept in the Metropolitan Church of Kerkyra which is dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos Spilaiotissa and Saint Theodora.

Saint Haralambos and the Twelve Year Plague of Crete in the 19th Century

In Crete the plague is likened to an ugly old woman. The folklorist Nikolaos Politis describes her as follows: "She is a blind woman, running through the cities from house to house and killing those she touches, but because as a blind woman she touches the walls of the houses, she is unable to touch those in the middle of the rooms."

In 1817 an endemic took place in Crete that lasted for 12 years. It is believed the plague was brought by 22 Egyptian soldiers. Many families took refuge in the countryside (caves and elsewhere) to avoid being infected. Other times the sick resorted to the caves to prevent the transmission of the disease.

2022 Pastoral Encyclical for the New Year (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

A New Year Message of 

Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

 

Happy and blessed new year! May we have peace and love between us, but mainly in the new year to bring us that which is "desired", as Saint Kosmas the Aitolos would say about the liberation of this country, saying that may God grant us that which is "desired". And that which is "desired" now for all of us is to get rid of the coronavirus, in the new year to get rid of this scourge that has taken over not only our country, but all of humanity.

Saint Sebastian and the Arrows of the Plague

 

On Those Who Say "I Believe, Therefore I Am Not Afraid"

 

By Archimandrite Vasilios Bakoyiannis

Many say: "I believe in Christ, therefore I am not afraid of the coronavirus, that is why I do not wear a mask in the church." So those who support the opposite, are they unbelievers? Perhaps they are more faithful! Who knows?

The proclamation, "I believe, therefore I am not afraid," can hide pride, and (it can) be a sign of an unhealthy spirituality. The strange thing is that this ("I believe, therefore I am not afraid") can also be heard from a Christian, who lives in sin, with extramarital "relationships". In fact, he accuses to be an unbeliever (!) the Priest (!) of his parish, because the Priest observes the guidance of the government relevant to the coronavirus!

Almost Every Monk at Stavrovouni Monastery Has Been Infected With the Coronavirus

Stavrovouni Monastery in Cyprus is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the world, which is believed to date back to Saint Helen, who established the monastery in the fourth century and left behind a large portion of the True Cross for veneration.

These days, however, Stavrovouni Monastery is not doing too well. For weeks the Monastery has been closed due to coronavirus infections spreading. On May 19th of this year they had their first death reported due to the coronavirus. His name was Monk Demetrianos.

Almost all the monks of the Monastery of Stavrovouni were infected with the virus and some are being treated at the General Hospital of Nicosia. Fr. Neophytos is intubated, while the condition of Fr. Theophanes is also serious. Hieromonk Gregory, Fr. Artemis and Fr. Hilarion are also in the hospital. The Abbot Dionysios was also in the hospital, along with two others, but they were released.

The Chapel of the Holy Skull in Samos

Relics from left to right: 1) Gifts of the Magi, 2) St. Febronia, 3) St. Michael of Synnada

The village of Ano Vathi is situated in the northeast of the island of Samos. Ano Vathi was created in the 17th century when the inhabitants moved away from the coast due to pirate raids. The streets are narrow and steep and some of the traditional, old houses have hanging bay windows in a Venetian style.

One of the hidden jewels of this village is the Chapel of the Holy Skull, or Agia Kara. Agia Kara is a small single aisle, tiled-roof church, built around the end of 17th century. The two main features of interest in this chapel is the wood carved iconostasis and the large fresco of the Great Judgment built at the chapel's exit.

Father Ananias Koustenis Has Died Due to Complications With the Coronavirus

 

 

I almost hate to say what I'm about to write so soon after his repose, because it's going to sound like an "I told you so" comment, but I'm going to say it mainly because if you search the name "Ananias Koustenis" on the internet in English, this is by far the most popular story told about him.

In March 2020 a video began to circulate (which has now been removed by YouTube for violating its rules on spreading unverified information on covid-19, see here) of Father Ananias Koustenis "revealing" to the Orthodox world a "sure protection and cure" for the coronavirus. I can't remember all the details, but apparently an older gentleman from Greece said that Saint Nikephoros the Leper told him through a vision not to be afraid of the new virus (coronavirus), because he would protect and heal all those who have faith and turn to him in prayer.

The "Godlike Personhood" and the "Society of Persons"

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

In a text signed by "Hagiorite Fathers Living in Cells" and sent to the "Revered Sacred Community of the Holy Mountain of Athos" regarding the pandemic and the vaccine (dated 2/10/21) many and various things are written, for which they wrote the various "observations" of the friend of Mount Athos the Reader-Doctor Stephanos Demetropoulos.

However, I would like to comment on a paragraph which refers to the "mask-muzzle" which "allegedly" protects against the coronavirus the "Godlike personhood of man" and by this "abolishes the society of persons."

Homily in Thanks to the Lord for the End of the Epidemic of Cholera in Rybinsk in 1848

 

 

By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin (1807-1869)

The Holy Church confesses You throughout the whole universe.

We had a terrible summer! For almost four months, each of us had to constantly fear not to die from an epidemic disease, because everyone got sick from it: both old and young, weak and strong, and few of those who fell ill did not die. We had a terrible summer! Our city was a hospital, and the Rybinsk pier was a haven for patients from different parts of Russia.

But do you remember, listeners, where we then ran away from fear? Of course you remember - to the church of God. And how calm we were here! Here we were not afraid to die, here we forgot to think that we had a disease in the city, here we looked at the dead calmly, because we looked at them as if they were alive. In the temple of the Living God, everything is alive - both the dead are alive, and the absent are inherent here; here are all those in Christ with us, for whom we pray, whom we remember. And that is why here we were not afraid for ourselves or for others. Here, after all, we are all under the special protection and patronage of Almighty God, because we are in His house.

Easter in a Ward With Covid-19 Patients

 

The following refers to events that took place on Easter in 2020 at the Pathology Clinic of Sotiria Hospital in Athens, written from the perspective of a patient that night.

It's been days now that I'm stuck in a bed, alone and weak. I don't remember when I went to the hospital, I don't remember what day it was or what time. I only remember the horror in my wife's eyes when the test for covid-19 came out positive.

I don't know where I caught it and it doesn't matter so much. I know that my life changed from one moment to the next. Everything that I considered important yesterday until now seems silly and tragically ridiculous.

Priest in Greece Weeps While Reciting the Salutations of the Akathist Hymn

This video shows Fr. Demetrios Loupasakis reading the Salutations of the Akathist Hymn on Friday 16 April 2021 at the Church of Saint Isidore on Lycabettus Hill in Athens, Greece. This took place during a strict Covid-19 lockdown across Greece and in the Athens region.

Theophany During the Cholera Epidemic of 1909 in St. Petersburg

The Holy Hieromartyr Cyril (Smirnov) of Kazan was the Metropolitan of the Eparchy of Kazan in Russia from 1918 to 1922. Designated by Patriarch Tikhon as first locum tenens of the see of the Patriarchate, Metropolitan Cyril fought against Bolshevik control of the Church of Russia during the 1920s and 1930s. On July 7, 1937, Metropolitan Cyril was arrested in Yany-Kurgan and imprisoned in Chimkent on a charge of “participating in a counter-revolutionary underground organization of churchmen” together with Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd. The two hierarchs were condemned by a troika of the South Kazakhstan region on November 19, and were shot together on November 20, 1937 in Lisiy ovrag, near Chimkent. They were buried in Lisiy ovrag. His feast day is November 20th.

The Cholera Epidemic That Struck Athens in 1854

In 1854 cholera struck Athens, brought by English and French soldiers during the Crimean War. Panic gripped the citizens, and those who were wealthy enough fled, but more so the politicians left the city. Most of the members of the Civil Protection Committee swiftly fled and there were only two left. Everything was paralyzed as many police, doctors, nurses, judges and even the prefect left the city to save their own lives, leaving the poor citizens, 1/3 of the population, at the mercy of the deadly cholera epidemic.

Metropolitan Neophytos of Athens prohibited the public from going to church, to prevent the spread of the disease, and one priest even published his weekly sermons and had them distributed so the people would not go to church while at the same time receive spiritual benefit. It was announced that it was not a sin at this time to avoid attending church.

Holy Martyrs Who Died in the Great Plague in Alexandria

The Plague in Rome, Jules Elie Delaunay. Art: Minneapolis Institute of Art

According to the Roman Martyrology under February 28th, there is a mention for the commemoration of the following Holy Martyrs:

"In Alexandria, in the reign of the emperor Valerian, the commemoration of the holy priests, deacons, and other Christians in great number, who encountered death most willingly by nursing the victims of a most deadly pestilence then raging. They have been generally revered as martyrs by the pious faithful."

In other words, these Christian victims of this pandemic are considered martyrs, out of their selfless love for others, putting themselves in harms way in order to help others in their time of need, and in order for others to not face death alone in their suffering.

Saint Haralambos and the Plague of 1753 in Trypi

 

The village of Trypi is 9 km to the west of Sparta and belongs to the municipality of Mystras, in the southern Peloponnese. There, next to the Church of the Holy Trinity, is a shrine dedicated to Saint Haralambos, which is accompanied by a marble cross, at the base of which is the following inscription:

ΘΕΟΣ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΣ
ΑΓΙΩ ΧΑΡΑΛΑΜΠΩ
ΕΠΑΤΑΞΕΝ ΕΝΘΑΔΕ
ΕΤΕΙ 1753
ΠΑΝΩΛΗΝ
ΧΩΡΟΥΣΑΝ ΤΡΥΠΗΝ
ΜΟΡΦΗ ΓΡΑΙΑΣ
ΕΠΙΤΑΓΗ ΠΡΟΓΟΝΩΝ
ΤΗΝ ΔΕ ΑΝΑΤΙΘΕΜΕΝ
ΕΥΓΝΩΜΟΝΟΥΝΤΕΣ