A Christmas Message From Saint Chrysostomos of Smyrna in 1912

 

The Pole Star of the Hope of the Nations, Christ the Lord, the Savior Born To Us

 

 By Saint Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Smyrna

"Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great 

joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day
in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." 

(Lk. 2:10-11)

This great and sweet joy, this joy, which human lips cannot express, and the heart of man cannot understand, I proclaim to you on this day of the birth of Jesus Christ, or rather night, which reminds us of that most bright and great and most memorable night, during which the heavens burst and opened, and revealed to the human race all the infinite love and favor and condescension of God for us, all the ineffable glory and majesty of God, and all the divine and heavenly peace which supasses all understanding.

Homily Two on the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Chrysostomos of Smyrna)

By St. Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Smyrna

(Delivered on August 4, 1912)

From the event of the Lord's Transfiguration begins the second period of the Lord's public life, which was his final journey to Jerusalem, where the passion, the cross, and death awaited Him, which were also the main purpose of His life on earth, and the object of the preaching and the preparation of the first part of His early ministry.

But when the first period of the Lord's public life on earth began by a sign from heaven in Jordan, then the heavens were opened, and a voice came from there: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). Similarly, this second period begins with a sign from the sky: "Suddenly, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

Metropolitan Chrysostomos and the Tragedy of Smyrna in 1922

 By Panagiotis Melikidis

On August 27, 1922, the Kemalist troops, after breaking through the defensive line of the Greek troops in the area of Eskişehir-Afyonkarahisar-Kütahya, invaded the city of Smyrna, where the Greek element was in the majority.

Among the victims of the Turkish atrocity is the Metropolitan of Smyrna and Exarch of all Asia, Chrysostomos Kalaphatis. The martyrdom of the Hierarch is considered the culmination of the atrocities committed by the Turks against the Christian population.

Homily One on the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Chrysostomos of Smyrna)

By the Holy Hieromartyr Chrysostomos, 

Metropolitan of Smyrna

(Delivered in 1911)

"And he was transfigured before them: his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him." (Matt. 17:2-3)

This feast is the preeminent feast of the glory of the Lord, in a way it is the Resurrection before the Resurrection, for on this unique day in His life it pleased Jesus to reveal to His three foremost disciples, Peter, James and John, although faintly, His extraordinary beauty and the brilliant rays of His supernatural radiance and the majesty of that glory, which was hidden throughout the thirty years of His earthly life under the humble enclosure of His human flesh, in which the Only-begotten Son and Word of God dwelt among men.

Discourse on the Great Despotic Prayer of Jesus (St. Chrysostomos of Smyrna)

By Holy Hieromartyr Chrysostomos, 

Metropolitan of Smyrna (+ 1922)

"Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are." (Jn 17:11)

What a great and wondrous and wonderful thing is the prayer which is contained in today's Gospel reading that Jesus prayed to His Father with His eyes lifted up to heaven.

The entire seventeenth chapter of the Gospel according to John contains nothing else but this prayer of Jesus to His Father, which He prays first regarding the glory and triumph of His work, which was for the salvation of the world, the salvation of which He was to accomplish with His blood, and the final hour was approaching; secondly, with regard to His disciples, those who from the beginning and at first consisted of the core, the first small flock that believed in His name, and who, though their good shepherd will be taken away, they were to remain as orphaned and unprotected sheep in the midst of wolves, and having need of this support from above and extraordinary divine protection, not only to bravely endure the coming dangers and persecutions, but also with magnanimity to joyfully receive the exalted and thrice-glorious mission, to spread Christianity to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel to the nations glorifying Jesus; and thirdly, Jesus prays for all those, who through the preaching of the Apostles throughout the centuries will believe in Christ, that they will be arrayed as soldiers of that one army under the one flag of the heavenly King, Christ.