The 800 Year Anniversary Since the Repose of Saint Michael Choniates, Metropolitan of Athens

Today marks exactly eight hundred years since the death of Saint Michael Choniates, Metropolitan of Athens, who is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on July 4th. 

 

In a Synodal Letter of the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos John Apokaukos written in Arta, the capital of the Despotate of Epirus during Theodoros Doukas, we read in his handwritten note, as a reminder of the exact day of the repose "of the body and soul of the most-holy one of Athens; the 28th of February, Monday, in the tenth indiction of the year 1222."

Ferdinand Gregorovius, in his work History of the City of Athens in the Middle Ages, notes: "He was translocated from here to the ageless bliss, the ray that illuminated the darkness of Athens in the Middle Ages, the last great citizen and the last glory of this city of the wise."

The Oldest Surviving Depiction of the Holy Neomartyr Kyranna of Thessaloniki

The oldest surviving depiction of the Holy Neomartyr Kyranna is found in a fresco of the second half of the 18th century (1765-circa 1800), in the kyriakon church of the Skete of Kavsokalyva of Mount Athos.

The depiction is particularly important, since its painting is placed in the first decades after the martyrdom of the Saint, which took place in 1751. Saint Kyranna is depicted as a bust at the north window, together with Saint Michael Mavroudis from Granitsa, Agrafa.

Saint Gorgonia, Sister of Saint Gregory the Theologian (St. Justin Popovich)

St. Gorgonia of Nazianzus (Feast Day - February 23)

By St. Justin Popovich

 

Among the chosen Christian families, in which all or almost all of their members have dedicated themselves to the Lord, is the holy family of our Holy Father Gregory the Theologian. In this holy family, holy parents were also celebrated with holiness: the father Gregory and the mother Nonna, and their holy children: Gregory the Theologian, his brother Caesarius and his blessed sister Gorgonia.

Blessed Gorgonia would have been born in the small town of Nazianzus, near Caesarea of Cappadocia, but according to her brother Gregory, her true homeland was the Jerusalem Above, a city in heaven to which all true Christians aspire and in which Christ is king and all the saints of the heavenly Church are citizens. firstborn. As for her nobility, adds Saint Gregory, it consisted in preserving the image of God in the soul and in reaching the likeness of God through virtue (η της εικονος τηρησις και η προς το αρχετυπον εξ). Her parents were a new Abraham and Sarah, that is, Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, and his holy wife Nonna. Saint Nonna was born and raised in the house of Christian parents, while Gregory was initially a pagan and an idolater. Saint Nonna converted him to the faith of Christ with her faith, virtue and wisdom, because he was a man of good and gentle nature. Converted to Christianity by Saint Nonna, he was so famous after his holy baptism in faith and virtuous living that he was elected bishop of the Church in Nazianzus, where he served as a bishop wisely and reverently until his blessed death in 374. Blessed Nonna was a model of Christian virtues and piety, an excellent wife and godly mother, an ornament and praise to the female race. She nurtured so much piety towards the temple of God that, according to her son Saint Gregory, she never turned her back on the east where the Sanctuary and the Holy Altar are, nor did she ever talk in the temple during the holy services. With such virtues and her unceasing prayers to God, she raised such holy and virtuous children and dedicated them to God.

Saint Eustathios of Antioch as a Model for our Lives

St. Eustathios of Antioch (Feast Day - February 21)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Eustathios, Archbishop of Antioch, was born in Sidon of Pamphylia in 260 AD. In 320 he was elected Bishop of Beroea (Aleppo) in Syria, and after three years the Archbishop of Antioch. He took part in the proceedings of the First Ecumenical Synod, which convened in 325 at Nicaea in Bithynia and condemned the heresy of Arius.

He was in the front lines for the battle for Orthodoxy and a fellow-struggler of Athanasios the Great, who called him "a man who is a confessor". That is why he was envied by the leading followers of Arius, namely the Bishops Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theognis of Nicaea and Eusebius of Caesarea, and was slandered as an underminer of secular authority, and as unethical, therefore he was exiled. In other words, they claimed that he was attacking the mother of the Emperor Constantine, namely Saint Helen, but also that he had an illegitimate child with a woman of loose morals, whom they bribed to accuse him. Thus they managed to exile him, but God protected him and finally glorified him. A result of his flawless life and his painful struggles for the Orthodox faith, was that his flock was not seduced by heresy.

Holy Seventy-Nine Martyrs of Sicily

79 Holy Martyrs of Sicily (Feast Day - February 21)

In Sicily, during the reign of Diocletian, seventy-nine holy martyrs received an immortal crown for the confession of their faith after enduring various torments.

 

 

The Life and Passion of the Holy Apostle Onesimus, One of the Seventy (St. Justin Popovich)

St. Onesimus the Apostle (Feast Day - February 15)

 By St. Justin Popovich

In the Phrygian city of Colossae was a distinguished nobleman named Philemon. He believed in Christ, and later was honored with the episcopal rank. He would also be included among the Holy Seventy Apostles. Before his apostleship, Philemon had a slave named Onesimus. He sinned against his master and, fearing punishment, fled from him and traveled to Rome. In Rome he found the Holy Apostle Paul in chains, and heard a holy sermon from him. And having learned the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, he was baptized by the apostle, and served him in Rome with Saint Tychicus. His service to the apostle was also of great benefit.

Saint Auxentios of Mount Katirli (+ 1757)

St. Auxentios of Katirli (Feast Day - February 14)

Venerable Auxentios was born in Andros at the beginning of the 18th century. He first served as a sexton in the Church of the Savior Christ in Galata of Constantinople, and was later ordained a deacon. As a deacon he settled in the coastal town of Katirli of Nicomedia and lived as an ascetic on Mount Katirli of Propontis. The holiness of his life and the gift of miracles that the Lord gave him, made many come to him to receive his blessing and healing. Patriarch Cyril V of Constantinople (1748-1751, 1752-1757) had him as a spiritual father.

Holy New Martyr Damian the Monk (+ 1568)

St. Damian the New (Feast Day - February 14)

 

 By St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Verses
 

Having received the fruit of the Gospel, blessed one,
You received your end through hanging O Damian.

This new athlete of Christ, Damian, came from a village called Myriochovos located north of Agrafa (northern Greece). He was born of pious parents and when still young he longed for the monastic life. Leaving behind the world and worldly things, he made his way to Mount Athos, to the Sacred Monastery of Philotheou. There he became a monk. Having stayed a little while in the monastery, he then set off to become an hesychast, so that he could strive even more for the virtues. He went to a wonderworking ascetic named Dometios, who had retreated off to a quiet place. He stayed with him for almost three years and practiced all the virtues with such great willingness and accuracy that he was found worthy to hear a divine voice tell him: “Damian, you must not seek your own interest only, but that of others as well.” Afterward, he immediately left Mount Athos and went to Mount Olympus, where he preached God's word to the villages there in a brilliant voice, teaching and inciting Christians to repent and abstain from all injustices and all other evils and to keep God's commandments, doing works that are good and pleasing to God.

Miracles of Saint Meletios of Ypseni

The living presence of Saint Meletios is displayed in various ways on the island of Rhodes as well as being a permanent intercessor throughout the universe. Many believers come for the first time as pilgrims to the Holy Monastery of Panagia Ypseni to narrate their personal experience and the miraculous intervention of the Saint. The once unknown "Papa Meletios" is becoming well known. With simplicity and humility he "invades" the lives of the faithful by revealing his name, saying "I am Meletios" and invites them to come to his monastery to heal them spiritually and physically, to give them a small stone of hope, faith and love.

Saint Meletios of Antioch Resource Page

 

St. Meletios of Antioch (Feast Day - February 12)

 

 

Verses

 

As the Lord grasped the hands of Meletios,

"I surrender my soul into Your hands" he said.

On the twelfth Meletios entered the all-nourishing earth.

 

Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch (+ 381) 

 

Life of Our Holy Father Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch

 

Funeral Oration to St. Meletios of Antioch (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

 

Homily in Praise of Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch (St. John Chrysostom)

Saint Meletios of Antioch as a Model for our Lives

 

February: Day 12: Teaching 2: Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch

 

Saint Meletios of Antioch in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church 
 

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.

Translation of the Sacred Relics of our Venerable Father George Karslides

 On the 9th of this month [February], we commemorate the translation of the relics of Venerable George Karslides.

Verses

The fragrance of your relics George,
Proves that grace dwells within you.

Below is the testimony of a nun who witnessed the translation of the relics of Saint George take place on February 9, 2006:

"It was nine o'clock in the morning. We had been standing on our feet since nightime. As much as they could they alternated between diggers. We were chanting, said the prayer, the Salutations to the Panagia, in the icy landscape that reminded us of Russia where he came from. There was silence, in order to hear the shovels and the pickaxes and the murmuring of the prayer and the supplications to the Lady Theotokos and the name. The weather was hazy, cloudy, frosty, and the whole surrounding atmosphere had the semblance of the resurrection. Within the ice one could smell the spring, our thoughts had been purified, our inner man had become unburdened, the passions had become hidden.

Introduction to the Writings of Saint Peter of Damascus in the 'Philokalia' (St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite)

By St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Our Venerable Father Peter, who served as Bishop of Damascus, lived during the reign of Constantine Copronymus in the year 775. Having first lived ascetically as a monk and anchorite, he lived with such non-possessiveness that he did not even have a book of his own, as he testifies of himself. However, taking books from others, I mean the Old and New Testaments, the great teachers of the Church and all the other Neptic and God-bearing Fathers in general, he showed such diligence that, studying day and night the law of the Lord and drinking from their life-giving waters, he showed himself truly to be like a tree that is tall and heavenly, according to the Psalmist (Psalm 1:3), planted by these springs of waters of the Spirit. With one difference: the tree bears its fruit in a single season; the other tree, however, namely the Venerable Peter, does not do the same, but remaining continuously and relentlessly sturdy, in every season it bears spiritual fruit that is beautiful to the sense of sight, sweet to the sense of taste, fragrant to the sense of smell, which satiates every sense of body and soul with the immortal and fragrant sweetness they emit.

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 Ephraim of Katounakia Resource Page

 

St. Ephraim of Katounakia (Feast Day - February 27)

Verses

 
Obedience, prayer and harsh training,
In these you excelled, O Ephraim, in Katounakia.

 

Synaxarion of Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

 

Blessed Elder Ephraim Katounakiotis (+ February 27, 1998)

 

Elder Ephraim of Katounakia  (+ February 27, 1998)

 

Venerable Father Ephraim of Katounakia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church
 

Venerable Ephraim the God-seer: The Mysteries of the Spiritual Life According to Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

 

Elder Ephraim of Katounakia (Documentary)

The Skull and Grave of Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

 

Monk Moses the Athonite on Contemporary Elders

 

Athonite Neo-Hesychast Fathers (3 of 3)  

"When I Went to the Cave of Bethlehem, My Heart Broke There" (St. Ephraim of Katounakia)

 

A Stunning Revelation About Saint John the Baptist to Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis

 

Even Great Saints Have Human Needs

 

Select Sayings of Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

 

"Impartial Judge" (Saint Ephraim of Katounakia)

"The Bridal Chamber of Your Soul"

 

A Theologian Is One Who Converses With God 

 

Lay People and the Prayer of the Heart (St. Ephraim of Katounakia) 

 

Elder Ephraim Katounakiotis: On the Priesthood (1)

Elder Ephraim Katounakiotis: On the Priesthood (2)

 

Saint Joseph the Hesychast Explains Why an Icon "Spoke" to Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

Two Holy Fathers on the Calendar Issue: Elder Ephraim of Katounakia and Elder Joseph the Hesychast

 

The Ecumenism That Stinks 

 

Rotting Like A Tomato  

A Prayer to the Panagia by Saint Ephraim of Katounakia for a Group of Children That Visited Him in 1993

 

Orthodox Christian Youth and Suicide (St. Ephraim of Katounakia)

 

The Theotokos as a Harbor 

 

Seek Patience, Not Deliverance (St. Ephraim of Katounakia)

The Dream of Elder Ephraim of Katounakia

 

A Letter of Elder Ephraim of Katounakia To A Monk Suffering With Cancer

 

Elder Ephraim Katounakiotis Relates A Miracle of Saint Paraskevi  

 

Saint Nektarios and the Nun Who Was Noetically in Church (St. Ephraim of Katounakia)

 

Elder Ephraim of Katounakia on Saint George of Karslides

 

When Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Met Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

 

Upcoming Canonizations of Orthodox Elders 

 

Ecumenical Patriarch Announces the Canonization of Four 20th Century Athonite Elders  

Three Athonite Fathers - Joseph the Hesychast, Ephraim of Katounakia and Daniel of Katounakia - Officially Canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate

 

Official Announcement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Regarding the Canonization of the Three New Athonite Saints 

 

Synaxarion of Saint Ephraim of Katounakia

 

By Dr. Haralambos Boussias

 

Synaxarion

 
On this day [February 27th], the commemoration of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Ephraim, who just now lived in asceticism in Katounakia.
 
Verses

 
Obedience, prayer and harsh training,
In these you excelled, O Ephraim, in Katounakia.

Our Venerable and God-bearing Father Ephraim, who lived in asceticism in Katounakia of Athos in a God-pleasing manner, was born on December 6th, 1912 in Ampelochorio of Thebes. A child of parents with four children, John and Victoria Papanikitas, he received in holy baptism the name Evangelos.

Holy Martyrs Didymos, Nemesios and Potamios

Sts. Didymos, Nemesios and Potamios (Feast Day - February 20)

 

Nothing is known of these three Holy Martyrs except that they were martyred for their faith in Christ on the island of Cyprus at different times, according to Archimandrite Kyprianos (later Archbishop of Cyprus) in his Ιστορία χρονολογική της νήσου Κύπρου (Venice, 1788). The Roman Martyrology also lists them as Martyrs of Cypus to be commemorated on February 20th. However, Hippolyte Delehaye says they could have been from Alexandria.

 

 

The "Good Friday" of Russian Monasticism (17-18 February 1932)

 

A special place in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the twentieth century is occupied by the event, which was named the "Good Friday of Russian Monasticism." On one night from 17 to 18 February 1932, hundreds of monks and nuns were arrested, thrown into prison and subsequently sent into exile. These were primarily from monasteries in the northwestern region of Russia: Makarievskaya Hermitage, Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and the monasteries of Ioannovsky, Novodevichy Voskresensky, Vokhonovsky, Pyatogorsky, Kashinsky, Staroladozhsky. On this day, the following were arrested, and later numbered among the saints - Sts. Arefa Mitrenin, Lev Egorov, Maria Lelyanova and Patrick Petrov. At the moment, there is information there were about 273 monastics and 45 brothers and sisters. This is not a complete list. The arrests continued, and on April 17 and 18 of the same year, more than 200 people were arrested.

Synaxis of Panagia Plikatiotissa

Synaxis of Panagia Plikatiotissa (Feast Day - February 16)

 

The history of the village of Plikati in Konitsa of Ioannina at an altitude of 1200 meters is combined and parallel with the tradition of the finding of the miraculous icon of the Panagia Plikatiotissa that has blessed the village since 1770.

History
 

According to tradition, the icon was found as follows:

Shepherds were grazing their sheep in a place called Pestilepi south of the village Dentsiko, today called Aetomilitsa, east of the settlement Phetokos, of today's Theotokos, and saw in the darkness in the opposite forest a bright light.

Synaxis of the Dalmatian Icon of the Mother of God

Original Dalmatian icon in a frame and an icon case
(photo by S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky, 1911)

 

In Perm Gubernia, Shadrinsk county, on the banks of the Iseti River, is the Dalmatian Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos. In the main church of this monastery is a wonderworking Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which belonged to Father Dalmatios, the founder of this monastery.

In the first half of the 17th century, a certain resident of Tobolsk, a nobleman by the name of Demetrios Mokrinsky, left his wife and children, and went to the Nevyansky Monastery (Tobolsk Diocese), where he was tonsured with the name Dalmatios, in honor of the fourth century ascetic Saint Dalmatios of Constantinople (August 3).