Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri and the Suicidal Young Woman

Mobilization was declared in Greece on July 20, 1974 due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. A few days later, in Halkida of Evia, Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri appeared to a Christian he had previously healed of a serious eye disease. As he was sleeping, the Saint appeared and said:

"Get up quickly! Go immediately to the house next door because someone is dying."

Saint Iakovos Tsalikes and the Suicidal Teenager

 

A priest narrated the following related to Saint Iakovos Tsalikes and a suicidal teenager:

One day a young boy came to confession and was in despair for a recurring sin he was committing, and the temptation got him to the point of finding a gun and wanting to commit suicide.

I tried for a long time to persuade him with love and patience to remove the temptation of despair from himself, but in vain.

Then I suggested that he go to the Monastery [of Venerable David the Elder in Evia] to rest for a few days, if he had a blessing from the Elder [the Abbot of the Monastery, Elder Iakovos], since it was a feast day.

Synaxarion of the Holy Martyrs Domnina, Bernike and Prosdoke

 

 

On this day [4th of October] we commemorate the Holy Martyr Domnina and her daughters Berine and Prosdoke

 

Verses

The three maidens were washed in the current of the river,
Ignoring their lives.

 

These Saints, inflicted with divine zeal and eros for God, left their homes and relatives and went to the city of Edessa. While residing there, behold there suddenly came Berine's* man and father, who were pagan Greeks, together with other soldiers. The Saints were therefore arrested, and went to Hierapolis, near which a river runs. While the soldiers were eating and getting drunk, the Saints secretly escaped, and praying to God, they entered the river. There they gave themselves over to the waves of the river. In this way the blessed ones met their end through drowning in the water.**

 

Saint Amphilochios Makris and the Call of the Despairing Widow

By Archimandrite Paul Nikitaras

It is worth adding an event that shows how Elder Amphilochios received mystical calls for the salvation of others that remind us of the great Apostle to the Nations, who heard the voice of a Macedonian call out to him: "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9).

The ever-memorable Elder, while he was in his cell at his monastery in Patmos, heard a certain woman named Helen calling him from Icarus to hurry over and save her.

Saint Athanasios the Athonite and the Bed-Wetting Monk

There was a monk who was a most devoted and eager ascetic and struggler, who suffered from bed-wetting. His incontinence brought him so much sorrow and affliction that the all-wicked and knavish devil suggested that the wretched one hang himself. Yet, the all-good God did not allow that ascetic to lose his labors. He motioned his heart to have confession with his elder Saint Athanasios.

Letter to a Person Who Had to Choose Between Suicide and Begging (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

To a person who had to choose between suicide and begging.

You write that all your worldly goods were sold off to a third party. When you found yourself out on the street with nothing and nobody, you headed to the cemetery, bent on killing yourself. You had no doubts or second thoughts about this. Exhausted by the vexations, you lay down on your parents’ grave and fell asleep. Your mother appeared to you in your sleep and berated you, saying that in the Kingdom of God there were plenty of people who had been beggars, but not a single one of those who had done away with themselves. That dream saved you from suicide. Your beloved mother really did save you, by God’s providence. You began to beg and to live off begging. And you’re asking if, by doing so, you’re transgressing God’s law.

The Sayings of Abba Longinus

Venerable Longinus, Abbot of Enaton Monastery (Feast Day - November 17)

Verses

You have as a great athlete Longinus O Christ,

You also have Longinus as a great ascetic.

1. Abba Longinus said to Abba Acacias: “A woman knows she has conceived when she no longer loses any blood. So it is with the soul, she knows she has conceived the Holy Spirit when the passions stop coming out of her. But as long as one is held back in the passions, how can one dare to believe one is sinless? Give blood and receive the Spirit!”

2. "Fasting humbles the body, vigil purifies the nous and stillness leads to the affliction that baptizes man anew and cleanses him of all sin."

3. "A dead man judges no one, and it is just the same with the man who is humble."

4. Abba Longinus was ill once, and he said to himself, "Be ill then and die, but if you ask me for something to eat other than at mealtime, I will not even provide you with the daily ration."

Saint Pelagia the Virgin Martyr of Antioch

St. Pelagia the Virgin (Feast Day - October 8)

Verses

From the edge you fled the edge of great disgrace,

Throwing the enemy over the edge, clever Pelagia.

Saint Pelagia was from Antioch and lived in the late third century. Of noble birth and great beauty, she strove to compliment these by making her soul noble and beautiful as well.

When she was fifteen, in the year 284, the governor sent soldiers to her house to arrest her for being a Christian. Surrounding the house, they were prepared to take her by force if she resisted. The young woman, however, came out and requested of the soldiers a few moments to get ready.

Why Our Souls Become Darkened

By Hieromonk Makarios Maroudas

A few months ago I found myself in an Athonite monastery, and we gathered in the hospice to receive treats for the celebration of the name day of the Abbot of the monastery. Among other things there dominated in the conversation information from the internet about the happenings in the world, about the satanic plans of Masons, politicians, economists, the Pope, and so on and so forth. Complete darkness.

Saint Porphyrios and the Depressed Man with AIDS

At one time, I took a sick person to him [Elder Porphyrios] who was diagnosed with AIDS. Some of my friends who knew that I was friendly with Elder Porphyrios of Athens and Oropos, Greece (+1991) asked me to help this sick person who was extremely depressed. The AIDS victim was in really bad shape and he wanted to commit suicide. When I heard that he wanted to commit suicide, I sent him to another priest who was also a doctor. His name is Fr. Stamatis. The sick person went to this priest but the priest advised him to go and see Elder Porphyrios.

Saint Porphyrios Speaks of an Incident of an Attempted Suicide

St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva speaks of an incident of an attempted suicide of a young woman who was slandered, and the love and providence of God.

The post-war years were very difficult, and people struggled to live. As I said, at that time I was at the Polyclinic. I remember many incidents from that time. Listen to one of them.

The Suicide Phenomenon

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Suicide or self-murder is an ancient phenomenon, which is often accompanied by the phrase "desperate step", declaring it an act of despair, that is, a lack of rationality and hope. Suicide is essentially a lack of meaning for life, an identification of life with small goals, with economic goods, and shows an aimless life.

Suicide According to the Holy Canons and Tradition of the Church

By Protopresbyter Fr. Lambrou Fotopoulos,

Parish Priest of the Sacred Church of Saint Kosmas Aitolos in Maroussi

The two thousand year tradition of the Church teaches us without any doubt whatsoever that a person who commits suicide does not receive a funeral, unless of course they are insane.

Even when the cemeteries belonged to the Church, unlike today when they belong to the local government, those who committed suicide were not only prohibited from receiving an ecclesiastical funeral, but in silence they were buried outside the periphery of the cemetery.

This practice is not only done according to the oral tradition of the Church that goes back to Christ and the Apostles, but it is a canonical obligation according to the written Sacred Canons.

Below is the 14th Canon of Saint Timothy of Alexandria, which has Ecumenical status following its ratification by the 2nd Canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Synod:

Canon 14 of St. Timothy

Question:

If anyone having no control of himself lays violent hands on himself or hurls himself to destruction, should an offering be made for him or not?

Answer:

The Clergyman ought to discern in his behalf whether he was actually and truly out of his mind when he did it. For oftentimes those who are interested in the victim and want to have him accorded an offering and a prayer in his behalf will deliberately lie and assert that he had no control of himself. Sometimes, however, he did it as a result of influence exercised by other men, or somehow otherwise as a result of paying too little attention to circumstances, and no offering ought to be made in his behalf. It is incumbent, therefore, upon the Clergyman in any case to investigate the matter accurately, in order to avoid incurring judgment.

Interpretation:

This divine Father has been asked whether liturgical and memorial services ought to be held for a man who has killed himself, by hurling himself down from a height, or by drowning himself, or by hanging himself, or by putting himself to death in any other manner, when he is not of sound mind, whether it be as a result of a demon or of an ailment of some sort; and the Father replies in the present Canon by stating that if any priest or any other clergyman be invited to celebrate memorial services for him, he ought to investigate well and with due accuracy whether such a man was in truth and reality out of his wits when he put himself to death. For it often happens that relatives and intimates of such a man, wishing to have him be given a memorial service and to be chanted over by the priests, and to have a liturgy held for the remission of his sins, tell lies and assert falsely that he was out of his wits, and that it was on this account that he put himself to death. Sometimes, though, one puts oneself to death either as a result of some injury or annoyance which he has received from other men, or as a result of faint-heartedness and excessive grief, or some other cause, voluntarily and while in his right mind; and for such a man no liturgical or memorial services ought to be held, since he murdered himself deliberately. Therefore, the clergyman must evaluate with accuracy in order not to sin.1

Such are the rulings of the Sacred Canons. As everyone understands, there is no discussion whatsoever over the issue as to whether a suicide should have a funeral or not. It is assumed that they won't receive a funeral. This Canon reiterates what was accepted by the Church until that point, and notes the only possible economy that can be given to a suicide is that they can receive a funeral if they are "mad", and this is to be determined after a thorough examination of each case.

As is known to those who have an ecclesiastical consciousness and do not see the Church in a "magical" way, that is, only as a ceremonial institution that does weddings, funerals, baptisms and other "social" events, the Sacred Canons are eternal laws that govern the Church. These laws have such a love for mankind, that it is incomprehensible nowadays.

Today there are many words about love and little actual love. True piety has become pietism, and the role of the priest is limited to caressing human passions instead of the aim of treating passions.

By banning a religious funeral the Holy Fathers, full of love for mankind, ensure the following key matters:

A. They shout out to all Christians with a blatant voice that whoever kills himself blasphemes the Holy Spirit and does not receive the remission of sins. In this way they are mentally supporting someone who is suicidal in a wise, clear and unambiguous manner to repel any such thought, even in cases of serious human difficulties.

Have the supposed "philanthropists" of today never contemplated that they justify suicides with intense emotional arguments, becoming unintentional instigators of many future suicides?

B. There is another, more spiritual reason why there should be no funeral service for a suicide. The social contempt for the suicide is a silent prayer to God to have mercy on them. Every humiliation of man before God increases Divine Mercy. Even posthumous humiliations help the soul in its account before God. This is shown in numerous instances in the life of the Church.2

We read in The Ladder of Saint John Klimacos, a book that has permeated throughout the centuries in all of Orthodoxy, that in the chapter "On Repentance" (Step Five) the monks whom the author knew and had reached a virtual angelic state, humbly asked that after their death "they would not even receive a memorial stone for them",3 but they requested their bodies be tossed without any postmortem honors. Saint Ephraim the Syrian asked that he not be buried with honors, and that they not light candles or incense for him, etc, so that God would take pity on him.

In the Euchologian, which every priest today uses, there are the prayers for the parting of the soul. These are heartbreaking cries of holy ascetics who pray for their body to be despised in order for their soul to find mercy from God. What do they say? "Do not allow my body to be buried in the earth, but leave it unburied, so that dogs can eat my heart."4 It is asked that the body of the sinner remain unburied for God to take pity on him. Therefore, it is by philanthropy that the Church does not give a funeral to suicides.

A blessed Athonite elder, Fr. Anthimos Agiannanites, when asked by relatives about a young suicide, if he should be commemorated during the Divine Liturgy (of course a funeral service was out of the question), responded: "Do not commemorate him during the Liturgy. It is better for his soul. When the All-Merciful sees that we do not honor him, the Same will take pity on him, but when we honor him, He will not have mercy on him."5

This is how our fathers respond to the postmortem false love of today.

....

For this dead person to not be read over, as we have seen, is the greatest compassion we can offer him. Otherwise, the prayers of the Church prevent Divine Mercy because they are false, self-righteous, hypocritical, and abusive towards God. How can we allow people who have abandoned the Christian faith or Orthodox truth or denied the divine gift of life to be chanted over in Christian churches with words such as "for the repose of the soul of the departed servant of God", "You are the resurrection...of the departed servant of Christ."

How can we on account of the deceased be kidding ourselves within the church, saying: "My soul longs with endless longing for Your judgments at all times" and "Despair took hold on me because of sinners that forsake Your Law" if he himself led an apostasy before God. How can we say on account of the deceased: "Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding, and I will learn Your commandments." How can the Church falsely celebrate by chanting: "Blessed is the way wherein you walk today, for there is prepared for you a place of rest."

Notes:

[1]. Προδρόμου Ι. Ακανθόπουλου, Κώδικας Ιερών Κανόνων και Εκκλησιαστικών Νόμων, β΄ έκδοση, Θεσσαλονίκη, ΑΦΟΙ Κυριακίδη, 1995, σελ. 605.

[2]. In the Gerontikon there is a characteristic example of a couple in which the husband was humbly buried and went to Paradise, but his wife who was unrepentant, despite her pompous funeral that took places with many Bishops, Priests and laypeople, went to Hell. Γεροντικό, έκδοση ζ΄, Θεσσαλονίκη, Λυδία, 1989, σελ.166-172.

[3]. Αγίου Ιωάννου Σιναΐτου, Κλίμαξ, μετάφρ. Αρχιμ. Ιγνατίου, έκδοση ε΄, Ωρωπός Αττικής, εκδ. Ι. Μ. Παρακλήτου, 1991, σελ. 127

[4]. Μικρόν Ευχολόγιον, έκδοσις Αποστολικής Διακονίας της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος, έκδοση 11η. 1992, σελ. 223.

[5]. Πρεσβυτέρου Θεμιστοκλέους Χριστοδούλου, Τα ιερά Μνημόσυνα, Αθήνα, εκδόσεις Ομολογία, 2002, σελ. 215.

Source: Αυτοκτονία και Ιερατική συνείδηση (Suicide and Priestly Conscience), Athens 2007. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Hieromartyr Philonides, Bishop of Kourion

Saint Philonides of Kourion (Feast Day - June 17 and August 30)

Verses

Before Philonides offered his sacrifice,
He offered the sacrifice of his prudence.

The Hieromartyr Philonides was born in Cyprus around 250 AD. As a young man he was chosen to serve the Church of Christ as a clergyman and eventually the Bishop of Kourion (Latin: Curium), a great city and renowned for its worship of Apollo. In fact, Saint Philonides is the first known bishop of Kourion.

When the terrible persecution of Diocletian broke out, the ruler of Cyprus at that time was Maximus, who the holy bishop arrested and imprisoned. He was imprisoned with three of his spiritual children - the priest Aristokles, the deacon Dimitrianos, and the reader Athanasios (who are celebrated by the Church together on June 23rd). One morning, when this holy companionship ended their devout prayers, three executioners came into the cell and dragged out and brutally killed the three companions of Bishop Philonides. Then they told Philonides that he must sacrifice to idols, or else they would strip him naked and drunk satyrs would sexually assault his body.

The Holy Hierarch literally froze when he heard this, and having prayed for a long time with tears, he stood up, and called forward some of his fellow brother prisoners and revealed to them the stance of the ruler and his decision to sacrifice himself. He did this because he did not want anyone to be scandalized by the manner of his death. It should be noted that this decree to corrupt Bishop Philonides did not only apply to the Bishop, but to all Christians in order to corrupt them and humiliate them physically.

To escape a shameful death, Bishop Philonides slowly crawled through a secret passageway and came to a high cliff. Having knelt in prayer for some time, he then covered his face with his cloak, made the sign of the Cross three times, then threw himself off the cliff. Before his body touched the ground, the soul of the Holy Hieromartyr flew to the Heavens.

Shortly after his death, the Saint appeared in a vision to two travelers, running before them naked and bathed in perfume, holding a palm branch and having a crown on his head. They heard the Saint say: "Thank you, my Christ, for by You I was victorious. From the door of the earth, You raised me up to the door of heaven." The vision led the two men to the spot where the dead body of the Saint was lying, then he disappeared. However, the pagans took the Saint's body and threw it into the sea in order for it to disappear. But the sea washed the corpse back on the shore from where eventually the Christians took it and buried it with honors.

A Bishop named Aristos, who had been arrested by the pagans and set free, is responsible for writing about the glorious life and martyrdom of Saint Philonides. His death is placed in the period between 303 and 305. In the Synaxarion of Constantinople his commemoration is set for August 30th. However, according to the Synaxarion of Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite his memory is celebrated on June 17th.