Discourse on the Placement and Veneration of the Honorable Zoni of Theotokos (St. Germanos of Constantinople)

Discourse on the Placement and Veneration of the 

Holy and Honorable Zoni (Girdle) of Our Most Pure Lady 

the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

By St. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople

 

Through the Holy Spirit, David, the Prophet and King, sang, “Glorious things are spoken of you, the City of God”. In this way he revealed, as the City of the Great King, her of whom many wonderful things, praises and hymns have been spoken. But what is this City, in fact? It seems to me that David answers this clearly and beyond doubt when talking about her who was really chosen and is superior to all others. Not because of the excellence of its buildings, nor because it is higher than the highest hills and mountains of the earth. The all-immaculate and all-unblemished Mother of God is higher because of her great, divine virtues and because she excels in purity. The King of royal rulers and Lord of the overlords dwelt in her. Or rather, in accordance with the holy Apostle, we should say that “all the fullness of the deity in bodily form” dwelt in her.

Saint Germanos of Constantinople as a Model for our Lives

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Germanos was born in Constantinople in 640 AD. His father was the patrician Justinian, a man worthy of mention and famous for his virtue, who during the reign of Emperor Heraclius administered much public authority. His colleagues, but also others who knew him, admired him for his learning and especially for his piety and virtue. However, this caused him to be envied by the grandson of Heraclius, Constantine Pogonatos, who killed him, saying that Justinian thought of revolting against his empire. "For envy does not know where there is profit," and thus the Saint was orphaned at the age of twenty.

Saint Germanos of Constantinople Resource Page

St. Germanos of Constantinople (Feast Day - May 12)

Verses

Germanos rejoiced to leave the earth and his earthly throne,
The earth as the throne of the Creator sees and rejoices.

 

Synaxarion of Saint Germanos the Patriarch of Constantinople 

 

Saint Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Wonderworking Icon of Lydda

 

Saint Germanos of Constantinople as a Model for our Lives

 

May: Day 12: Teaching 2: Saint Germanos of Constantinople

 

“The Ecclesiastical History and Mystical Contemplation” of St. Germanos of Constantinople

  

First Homily on the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (St. Germanos of Constantinople) 

 

Second Homily on the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (St. Germanos of Constantinople)

 

Discourse on the Placement and Veneration of the Honorable Zoni of Theotokos (St. Germanos of Constantinople)

“The Ecclesiastical History and Mystical Contemplation” of St. Germanos of Constantinople

By Bishop Auxentios and Father James Thornton

The short commentary on the Divine Liturgy of St. Germanos of Constantinople is one of the most fascinating of Byzantine documents, if simply because it has been so widely used by commentators on the Liturgy. In fact, it was included in the text of the first printed edition of the Divine Liturgy. It enjoys great popularity today because it is thought to represent a synthesis of the Alexandrian interpretation of the Divine Liturgy (represented by St. Dionysios the Areopagite and St. Maximos the Confessor) and the Antiochian school. Next to the mystical texts of the Alexandrians, presumably permeated by hidden Origenistic presuppositions and an obfuscating emphasis on the ascended Christ over and against the Christ of salvation history, some liturgical scholars juxtapose the writings of Patriarch Germanos. In him, they find a fresh “synthesis” of the Alexandrian school with deliberate attempts to portray the Liturgy as it relates to the life and works of Christ, to an historical dimension, drawn from the more literal exegetical school of the Antiochian Fathers. Acknowledging both St. Germanos’ debt to the Alexandrians and his roots in a new Antiochian-inspired view of the Divine Liturgy, Paul Meyendorff comments that:

Second Homily on the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (St. Germanos of Constantinople)

By St. Germanos, Archbishop of Constantinople (715-730)

Behold, again another festival, and a glorious feast of the Mother of the Lord. Behold, the arrival of the blameless bride (cf. 2 Peter 3.14). Behold, the first procession of the queen. Behold, an accurate sign of the glory which will surround her.

Behold, the prelude of the divine grace which will overshadow her. Behold, the brilliant evidence of her exceptional purity. For where entering not many times, but once in the year (cf. Leviticus 16.1), the priest performs the mystical worship, there she is brought by her parents for unceasing residence, to be in the sacred sanctuary of grace.

First Homily on the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (St. Germanos of Constantinople)

By St. Germanos, Archbishop of Constantinople (715-730)

1. Every divine festival, whenever it is celebrated, spiritually fills those who are present from a treasury and divinely flowing spring. But even more and beyond other feasts does this recently hymned festival, brilliantly celebrated, attract the soul with holy joy and gives more joy in proportion to the preeminence of the excellent child of God. For the annual observation of this feast is coming, in which one must be pure to participate.

And let us be anointed with the perfume of her roses, as Solomon says in the beautiful verse of his Song: "Who is that who comes up from the wilderness, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchants?" (Song of Songs 3.6) - "Come hither from Lebanon, my bride; come hither from Lebanon" (Song of Songs 4.8).

So let us eagerly approach together this mutually beneficial, salvific feast of the Mother of God. And bowing before the unapproachable place [the Holy of Holies] let us watch the child going toward the second veil, Mary the all-holy Mother of God who put an end to unfruitful sterility, and exchanged the mere shadow of the letter of the law (cf Hebrews 1O.1) through the grace of her birth-giving.