Saints Demetrios, Evanthia and Demetrian as Models for our Lives

Sts Demetrios, Evanthia and Demetrian (Feast Day - September 11)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saints Demetrios and Evanthia were husband and wife and Demetrian was their son. Their life is recorded in a concise way in the Synaxarion of Saint Cornelius the Centurion, because it is connected with two miracles that were performed in this family through Saint Cornelius. The first miracle is the resurrection of Evanthia and Demetrian, and the second and greatest miracle is the complete change of Demetrios.

Demetrios was a philosopher and ruler in the city of Skipsi in Asia Minor, but also a fanatical idolater, who furiously persecuted all those who believed in Christ. His wife and son became Christians without him knowing it.

"Because God Loves You, He Kept You From Seeing What You Just Saw" (A Miracle of Saint Panagis Basias)

 

A Testimony of Gerasimos Drakopoulos 

Regarding a Miracle of Saint Panagis Basias

When I was 12 years old, one night when I was sitting outside my father's goldsmith shop in the central square of Lixouri, some of his friends gathered - as every night - to chat. These were all the literate people of the city and most of the elderly.

That night the discussion revolved around the holiness and miracles of Papa-Basias [1801-1888] and each of them had a miracle to tell. Then, my late father told me an amazing miracle of Papa-Basias, which was experienced by my grandfather Vasilios Drakopoulos, lead chanter and composer of many church songs. The miracle is as follows.

Why Did Christ at His Birth Allow Infants to be Slaughtered Because of Him? (St. Photios the Great)

By Saint Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople

(Amphilochia, Question 26)

Why did Christ at His birth allow infants to be slaughtered because of Him?

Your bewilderment is beautiful and compassionate, and perhaps the answer will be no worse, but even with a softer judgment. It was necessary for Herod's villainy to become clear and obvious to everyone, and therefore, if he showed it to people who had reached the age of maturity, then nothing would prevent the tribe of flatterers and henchmen from inventing some reasons that would make a criminal murder look more acceptable, and killed by the perpetrators of considerable evils, saying that it was not proper for the king to leave crimes unpunished. When applied to infants, even the most shameless lie can neither conceive nor invent anything like that, and in all things open and unreasonable misanthropy and unsurpassed villainy of the mind, language, and hand are exposed.

Parable of the Destitute Child

Parable of the Destitute Child

 

On the street, a man saw a naked child.
He was hungry and shivered from the cold.

The man got angry and turned to God:
"Why do you allow this? Why are you not doing anything?"

In response, he heard:
"I did do something: I sent you ...."

 

 

Saint Demetrios and the Bitter Woman

It was around the beginning of the 20th century when in Aitoliko a pious and faithful woman suddenly became a widow. Helpless and sad as she was with her young son Demetrios she tried to move on with their lives. The pain was silent but unbearable.

Her son, Demetrios, however, soon fell ill and flew off to heaven. The blow to the mother was heavy. In such a short time she lost her husband and child.

The second may have been heavier and she could not overcome it. It was God's fault!

She had placed her last hopes and supplications in Him but what she asked of Him did not come true.

Homily for the Ninth Sunday of Matthew - Courage in the Midst of Difficulties (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Homily for the Ninth Sunday of Matthew (14:22-34)

Courage in the Midst of Difficulties

Christ, after the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves, ascended the mountain to pray, and the Disciples boarded the ship to go to the opposite shore of the lake, namely Gennesaret. A great storm broke out, the wind was against them and the ship was tormented by the waves. In the meantime it was getting dark and darkness had prevailed. During the fourth watch of the night, that is, the dawn, Christ went to them, walking on the sea, and said to them, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid" (Matt. 9:27).

What should be noted here is that Christ is walking on the sea. Christ was perfect God and perfect man, in His person the divine and the human nature are united. But when human nature acted, it acted in communion with the divine nature, and when divine nature acted, it acted in communion with human nature. Thus, Christ walking on the sea was not something magical or the result of some technique, but the result of His God-manhood.

Where Is God in Everything That Is Taking Place?

"Where is God in everything that is taking place? 

He is right there where we left Him... To the side!"

- Metropolitan Pavlos of Siatista

Sunday of the Blind Man - The Manifestation of the Works of God

 By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin (1807-1869)  

"Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (Jn. 9:3)

Jesus Christ, passing through the city of Jerusalem, saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him: "Rabbi! Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus Christ answered: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Christian listeners! And nowadays there are many people who are in poverty, apparently without any guilt, and when we see these unfortunate people, we often ask: why are they, the poor, suffering? The answer to this question is the same as that which Jesus Christ gave to the apostles: these unfortunate ones suffer so that the works of God may manifest in them; it is they who suffer in order to get rid of great suffering; who live in poverty in order to get rid of great troubles. Yes, listeners, they suffer in body - but they will not suffer in soul; they suffer for some time - but eternally they will be blissful; they do not see the light of the sun - but they will see the unapproachable Light; they do not walk on the earth - but will fly to Heaven; they do not hear the worldly - but they will hear the heavenly; they are silent among people - but they will converse with the Angels.

The Bright Example of the Much-Contested Job (Elder Ephraim of Arizona)

By Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Today our Orthodox Church celebrates the holy and much-contested Job, the righteous Job. Why? Because he contested much, he was in many contests. He received many crowns, he brought many victories. Where? In the sea of life. And we see in his biography, that this Saint, in the time he lived, in those years when there was no Orthodox Church, Christ had not come down, God the Word had not incarnated, the world did not see the life of Christ, no one saw God in the flesh, they did not see His miracles, they saw nothing. And yet, with a simple faith in the Creator, in the Maker, he became the Great Atlas of God. With a simple faith, seeing the creation, the operation of creation, he saw the upper world, the stars, the seasons and everything he saw working perfectly, from time immemorial, without anything created going astray from its creation, not in the slightest. How is it possible, he said, for material things to be made with such science and to function with such scientific precision without a Creator? Reason, conscience, made him submit to unwavering faith. With this awareness, of faith in the Creator, he became a great believer. Establishing his faith on these things and hitting rock bottom, he was confronted by the great Dragon, the deceitful Devil.

We Must Bear Our Cross With Patience (St. Luke of Simferopol)

By St. Luke of Simferopol

Our life, the life of each person, is sorrow and pain. All these sorrows in our social and family life are our Cross. A failed marriage, an unfortunate choice of profession, don’t they bring us pain and sorrow? Shouldn’t people who’ve suffered these calamities have to bear them bravely? Serious illnesses, contempt, dishonor, loss of personal wealth, jealousy between spouses, slander and, in general, all the wickedness that people do to us, aren’t they all our Cross? That’s exactly what our Cross is, the Cross of the vast majority of people. These are the sorrows that afflict people and we have to bear them, even though most people don’t want to. But even people who hate Christ and refuse to follow His way, they, too, have to shoulder their own Cross of pain. What’s the difference between them and Christians? The difference is that Christians shoulder the Cross with patience and don’t complain against God. Humbly, with eyes cast down, they bear it to the end of their lives, following the Lord Jesus Christ. They do it for Christ and His Gospel, they do it for fervent love of Him, but the whole of their thought is caught up in the Gospel teaching.

The Panagia in the Intensive Care Unit - A Modern Testimony

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The area of ​​the intensive care unit is a place where the fight against death is intensified. Doctors and nurses are personally fighting with death that has claimed the patient, but the patient is also in a difficult situation. In front of them they see death coming, and this increases their distress, at the same time they are alone, without the presence of their loved ones, whom they see for a few minutes. Then there are the big questions of life and death, of the meaning of life, but there are also regrets of past events.

In the intensive care room there is a strong interest in the health of the body and in the avoidance of death, but there is also no parallel interest in the patient's internal existential questions and spiritual concerns. The clergyman can hardly practice his pastoral ministry. Thus, the patient has to be spiritually reawakened alone, to accept the visits of divine Grace, in accordance with previous internal situations.

A Treatise Offered in a Time of Pestilence by St. Cyprian of Carthage

The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic that afflicted the Roman Empire from about AD 249 to 262. The plague is thought to have caused widespread manpower shortages for food production and the Roman army, severely weakening the empire during the Crisis of the Third Century. Its modern name commemorates St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, an early Christian writer who witnessed and described the plague. The agent of the plague is highly speculative due to sparse sourcing, but suspects include smallpox, pandemic influenza and viral hemorrhagic fever (filoviruses) like the Ebola virus.

Unexpected Misfortunes and the Providence of God

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

When an unexpected misfortune happens to us who are innocent, we should not immediately grieve but rather we should try to see in this the Providence of God, Who, through that misfortune, is preparing something new and beneficial for us. One day, unexpected news came to Blessed Theophanes, the abbot of Docheiariou (Aug. 19), that the Turks had seized his sister's son, forced him to embrace Islam and took him to Constantinople. Theophanes immediately traveled to Constantinople and, with the help of God, succeeded to find his nephew and to secretly bring him out of Constantinople and brought him to his monastery on Mount Athos. There, he again, received his nephew into the Christian faith and, after that, also tonsured him a monk. However, the brethren began to complain against their abbot and his nephew for fear of the Turks, for they were afraid that the Turks would find out and come and destroy the monastery. Not knowing what to do, Saint Theophanes took his nephew and, with him, secretly withdrew not only from Docheiariou but also from the Holy Mountain and came to Beroea. The later activities of Theophanes in Beroea and in Naousa proved how much that misfortune was beneficial to the Church. That which Theophanes could never succeed to achieve on the Holy Mountain, he achieved in these other places to which he had fled from that misfortune. Namely: he founded two new monasteries, where, in time, many monks were saved and where countless men found comfort for themselves. In addition to this, his holy relics among the Christian people became a source of healing for the strengthening of faith among many unbelievers and those of little faith. Thus, God wisely directs the destiny of men through unexpected misfortunes, which momentarily seem to men that they are going to their final destruction.

"Saint Panteleimon Took the Hit" - St. Paisios the Athonite

St. Paisios the Athonite holding an icon of St. Panteleimon

- Elder, I'm sick. Say a prayer that I may become well.

 

- It will not be good for you for me to pray about this matter. If you are patient and have faith in God, then you will get a pension from "healthcare", which is bigger than the Agricultural Insurance Organization!

Once, a sick man entreated Saint Panteleimon to make him well. The Saint, however, did not do it. He insisted and continuously made entreaty. In the end, he cured him.

When he died and went to the other life, he saw that he lost many crowns due to his healing. He then said to Saint Panteleimon:

"Why did you make me well? You knew that I would lose crowns, which is why you should not have cured me."

So, Saint Panteleimon took the hit!

From Μαρτυρίες Προσκυνητών, Γέροντας Παΐσιος ο Αγιορείτης, Τόμος Β’, σελ. 113. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Saint Christina the Great Martyr as a Model for our Lives

St. Christina of Tyre (Feast Day - July 24)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Christina was born in Tyre around the year 200. Her parents were both pagan idolaters, with her father being a general in the Roman army whose name was Urbanus. A pious woman catechized her in the truth of the Christian faith. From the moment she became a member of the Church her life changed and she lived within the love of God and in service to others. It was not long after that her father was informed that his daughter became a Christian, and in a rage he shut her up in a tower and tried by every means to persuade her to return to idolatry. Because she remained firm in her faith, he had her imprisoned. After her father died, the eparch Dion had her horribly tortured. Then the eparch Julian cast her in a place of wild beasts and fierce snakes, but the Saint remained unharmed, since the irrational beasts, as opposed to the rational ones, respected her. When many pagans had seen that the Saint remained unharmed after her horrible tortures, the wild beasts and the fierce snakes, they believed in Christ and boldly confessed their faith. Then the eparch ordered for all of them to be killed, and in this way they received the unfading crown of martyrdom. Saint Christina delivered her pure and untainted soul into the hands of the living God, when a spear was driven through her side and heart.

Saint Joseph the Much-Ailing of the Kiev Caves Lavra

St. Joseph the Much-Ailing (Feast Day - April 4)

Saint Joseph the Much-Ailing lived during the fourteenth century. He suffered from various diseases, which is why he is called "much-ailing" or "many-ailings". In his grievous illness he turned to God with prayer and vowed that if the Lord granted him health, he would then serve the brethren of the Kiev Caves Monastery until the end of his days.

Saint Euthalia as a Model for our Lives

Holy Virgin Martyr Euthalia (Feast Day - March 2)

By Archimandrite Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Euthalia lived in Sicily during the early Christian centuries, when persecution raged against the Church. The exact date of her birth and martyrdom are not known. She came from a pagan family. Her mother had an issue of blood and saw in a dream the Holy Martyrs Alpheus, Philadelphus and Cyrinus (May 10), who told her to believe in Christ and be baptized, in order for her to be healed and saved. When she awoke, she told her daughter Euthalia everything she saw and heard in her dream, then they were both catechized and baptized, and indeed after her baptism she was healed. The brother of the Saint, however, was a fanatic idolater, and when he was informed that his mother was baptized a Christian he abused her, and if not for the intervention of her servant he would have killed her. His sister made a harsh comment about his behavior against their mother, then he asked her if she was a Christian also. When she boldly confessed her faith in Christ, her brother struck her mercilessly, then handed her over to a servant that he may rape her. The Saint prayed fervently and that servant was blinded. Then her brother, like another Cain, beheaded her, and so the pious virgin Euthalia received the unfading crown of martyrdom.

Holy Prophet Habakkuk as a Model for our Lives

Holy Prophet Habakkuk (Feast Day - December 2)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

The Prophet Habakkuk was the son of Shaphat and of the tribe of Simeon. His name means "warm embrace." He was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah and is dated between 650 and 672 B.C. His actions revolved around Jerusalem, after the period when the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish, and extended their domination into Palestine. His book consists of three chapters and is distinguished by its remarkable literary grace. The first chapter consists of a dialogue of the Prophet with God, in which the Prophet tries to unravel the manner in which God directs history. The second chapter is the response of God that justice will prevail, and that the just man will live thanks to his trust in God. The third and last chapter includes a doxology of the Prophet for the final triumph of God.

Commemoration of the Falling of Ash from the Sky in 472 AD

SYNAXARION

On this day [November 6th] we commemorate the philanthropy of God after the falling ash under Leo the Great.

Verses

You threatened to burn us, but we did not burn, 
Since You mingled Your wrath with long-suffering O Word.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Emperor Leo the Great, who is also called "Makellis" and "the Thracian," in the year 475,* on the sixth day of the month of November, at around noontime, the entire sky became cloudy. The normal blackness of the clouds changed into a red color, appearing as if it intended to scorch the entire world. This astonished everyone so much, that just by looking at the sky they thought that if rain fell from these red clouds, surely the rain would be fire and flames, and scorch everything, just as a rain of fire fell upon Sodom. In view of this expectation, all the Christians fled to the sacred churches, and supplicated God with entreaties and weepings. Wherefore the philanthropic Lord, mingling His goodness with His punishment, ordered the clouds to rain down such a rain that is strange and not customary, which brought fear to sinners, because the rain began at the time of vespers and kept up until midnight.

What Saint Paisios the Athonite Said About the Prophet Elijah

- Elder, I am jealous of a fellow sister nun.

- I know which sister you are jealous of, but I learned that she also is jealous of you! I pray both of you become jealous of the zealous Elijah, and that he will cast jealousy away from both of you, and give you his own divine zeal. Amen.