Saint George Karslides and his Wondrous Meeting With the Three Hierarchs

 By Monk Moses the Athonite

When Saint George Karslides was a young child, he met in a wondrous vision the Three Hierarchs - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. This is how he described it to his spiritual children many years later:

I was home alone, in my brother's house, after my parents died.

A beggar came that day, I took a plate, I went to the barn, I took some flour and I gave it to him.

Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs: Epistle and Gospel Reading

Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs: 

Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom 

January 30

 Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Mode Plagal 4.
Psalm 18:4,1

Their voice has gone out into all the earth.
Verse: The heavens declare the glory of God.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 13:7-16

English

Brethren, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their lives, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited their adherents. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

The Answer of the Three Hierarchs to Western European Education

 

 

By Archimandrite Kyrillos Kostopoulos

 

Greek and foreign scholars often hear that the European Renaissance and the European Enlightenment are the most brilliant continuation of Ancient Greek Education.

But is this claim true? With the voice of Stentor we answer: No!

Our negative answer is based on the fact that none of the European philosophers were able to contribute with their humanistic teachings to the spiritual completion of man, who has now rushed onto the stage of the European theater of the absurd.

The Three Hierarchs and the Calendar Issue (Elder Cleopa Ilie)

Fr. Calistrat Bobu (+ 1975)

While serving as head sacristan, Brother Constantine (Elder Cleopa Ilie before his tonsure) was an eyewitness to several miracles which occurred during the Divine Liturgy at Sihastria. He recalled these in later years and would recount them to those who came to him for their spiritual edification. Among these he recalled the following:

"Look at at what happened to a very good priest, Fr. Calistrat Bobu. He was a known spiritual father and confessor, but he went to see a nun who was living as a hermitess in the forest. At that time there were about fifty known monks and nuns living alone like that in the woods. This particular nun continued to adhere to the Old Calendar, in opposition to the decision of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. When Fr. Calistrat visited her, she said:

The Three Hierarchs in the Orthodox Church (John Fountoulis)

By John Fountoulis

On January 30th, the Church celebrates the memory of the three great hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. This is not a commemoration in the strict sense of the word, i.e. the anniversary of the death of these Fathers, but a common feast, a “synaxis” (to use liturgical terminology). Basil the Great died on January 1st in the year 379 and his memory is celebrated, as is well-known, on January 1; Gregory the Theologian departed this life on January 25th 389, so his feast has just past; and John Chrysostom fell asleep in the Lord on September 14th 407, on the day of the Elevation of the Honorable Cross. The latter’s commemoration has been moved, however, because it coincided with one of the Lord’s feasts, and it is now held on November 13th.

The Three Hierarchs and the Greek Emphasis on Hellenism

By Fr. John Romanides

Modern Greeks learn to admire them so much in school that the Fathers turn into performers on the stage who dance to the music of Plato and Aristotle. How else, other than by being followers of the ancient Greeks, could the Fathers have become great Fathers in the eyes of modern Greeks? In Greece, the sole criterion for greatness is if something comes from ancient Greece. This is also why the feast of the Three Hierarchs has taken on the particular form it has taken in Greece, portraying the Three Hierarchs as a continuation of the great Hellenic spirit of ancient Greece. But if you read the Three Hierarchs, and above all St. Chrysostom, you will see that St. John Chrysostom consistently ridicules the ancient Greeks. He is renowned for deriding them. As far as St. Chrysostom is concerned, the word 'Hellene,' which ended up meaning idolater, is nothing more than an insult. Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian do not lag far behind him for that matter, but as Cappadocians, they belonged to another tradition.

From Patristic Theology: The University Lectures of Fr. John Romanides, Pt. 1, Ch. 16.

The Christian Humanism of the Three Hierarchs

By Fr. George Dion Dragas

The Three Hierarchs, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom, are the Fathers of the Greek Orthodox Church par excellence, the patron saints of Christian, Hellenic education and culture. Our Church has praised them and continues to do so by using the richest vocabulary and literary devices, which she can produce. She praises them as "those, who have the manner of the Apostles," "the teachers of the ecumene," "the instruments of grace," "the depths of wisdom," "the oceanic sources of the Spirit," "the living water, which produces the brightest diamonds," "the trees that bear the fruit of joy and gladness," "the coals that burn with an unquenchable fire," "the castles of faith," "the expert healers of the sickness of soul and body," "the theologians," "the foundations," "the golden mouths of God," "the glory of wisdom," "the three greatest luminaries of the three Suns of the Godhead."

Saint John Mauropous, Metropolitan of Euchaita

St. John of Euchaita (Feast Day - October 5)

Saint John Mauropous was born in Paphlagonia around 1000. He came to Constantinople, and quickly gained a reputation as a teacher of rhetoric. Among his students, Michael Psellos was to be the most important. While teaching at the University of Constantinople, he helped reorganize it. It was also Psellos who introduced him to the emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055). In 1046 he became a monk and was ordained a priest at the Monastery of Petra, which was dedicated to the Honorable Forerunner John. For a couple of years, Mauropous belonged to the favored circle of poets and scholars that Emperor Constantine gathered around him, and he functioned as a court orator. But for an unknown reason, these friends suddenly fell from favor around the year 1050, and presumably on this occasion, Mauropous was appointed Metropolitan of Euchaita. In many letters, Mauropous complained of this "honorable exile", and asked his friend Psellos to urge the succeeding emperors to call him back to the capital. This seems to have succeeded at the end of Mauropous' life: he retired to the Monastery of Petra in Constantinople. Towards the end of his life he became blind and his hands paralyzed, and he was confined to bed. He reposed in peace presumably in the 1070s.

Saints Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa - Mothers of the Three Hierarchs

On the Sunday after the Feast of the Reception of the Lord (Feb. 2), the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has determined, that the memory of the three holy mothers of the Three Hierarchs be honored. They are Saint Emmelia, the mother of Basil the Great, who is also commemorated on May 30th; Saint Nonna, the mother of Gregory the Theologian, who is also commemorated on August 5th; and Saint Anthousa, the mother of John Chrysostom, for whom this is her primary feast.

A Historic Divine Liturgy After 600 Years in the Cretan Monastery of the Three Hierarchs

By John Sanidopoulos

The 14th century scholarly monk Joseph Philagres (or Philagrios) was born in Crete, when the island was under the Venetian occupation (1204-1669). His original name was John and took the name Joseph when he became a monk and priest. He studied Aristotelian philosophy, rhetoric, logic, and ethics in the Pandidakterion at Constantinople.

The Three Hierarchs: Towers of Faith

By Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria

January, the month of the Holy Fathers. It begins with the figure of Basil the Great and ends with the joint celebration of the three greatest luminaries of the Three-sunned Divinity: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.

They are the strongholds of piety and the writing tablet of the Holy Spirit. They are the fragrant blossoms of Paradise, and the breasts from which gushed forth the milk of salvation, according to the expression of the sacred hymnographer.1

They are the foremost of the chorus of the Holy Fathers and Teachers, who with the illumination of the Holy Spirit expressed in their time and continue to express until today with their words which are timeless, the experience of divine truth.

The Fathers of the Church and Islam (2 of 5)

...continued from part one.

1. The Three Hierarchs and Islam

The title of this section seems a bit paradoxical, because the Three Hierarchs never dealt with Islam, nor did they encounter it, because the first two (Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian) lived in the fourth century, and John Chrysostom reposed in the early fifth century, while Islam appeared in the seventh century, and in the following centuries it expanded to the East and to the West. But one can find indications of a negative relationship between the two.

Muhammad was born, according to the Arabian tradition, in the year 570 A.D., or the end of the sixth century. In the year 610, the early seventh century, he was in a cave near Mecca, and had a vision of an angel that taught him to read. Not knowing how to read, the angel read to him, and Muhammad repeated, saying that the Lord created all things, created man from a blood clot, and that the Lord is most generous, giving him the ability to write and teaching him what he previously did not know. This is considered the cornerstone of the Koran.

The Fathers of the Church and Islam (1 of 5)

The following lecture was delivered on January 30, 2015 for the teachers of the Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos, in honor of the Feast of the Three Hierarchs.

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Always on this day we gather in our love for the Fathers of the Church, especially for the Three Hierarchs who played an instrumental role in their era and in the later development of Christianity, as well as for our love of Education, which should prevail in our country.

Moreover it is an opportunity for me to express my love and appreciation to you educators, who transfer knowledge to the children, not only intellectual knowledge, but also cultural and spiritual knowledge, which will play a major role for your students, when they also enter society to play a role.

Three Hierarchs Resource Page

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Holy Three Hierarchs (Feast Day - January 30)

 

Verses 

 

It is right to venerate together the three morning stars,

Who in life poured forth a thrice-radiant light.

It is fitting for all to offer a common hymn

To those who have poured out grace shared by all.

One swallow does not make the spring,

But three nightingales are the springtime of souls.

 

The Trinity shines upon the noetic creation,

And this triad likewise upon the visible one.

Those of old destroyed reverence for God,

Foolishly drawn to the sun and the moon;

For marveling at their beauty and swiftness,

They offered to them, as to gods, misguided worship.

But through these three luminaries again

We have been raised up to reverence for God.

For by the beauty of their lives and the persuasiveness of their words

They persuade all to worship the one Creator.

 

The visible creation is composed 

Of fire, air, water, are the nature of the earth. 

And those who constitute the great cosmos likewise, 

Bearing faith towards God as if another creation, 

Carry the pattern of the elemental Trinity. 

For they have no concern for any earthly things, 

And they possess no earthly mind in their words.

 

For the watchful mind breathes forth fire in speech,

Urging all to run upward toward the heights.

To those who have grown faint from passions, again

The words of Basil are a kind of breath.

Imitating the flow of the waters,

He alone whose heart and mouth are golden

Refreshes those who have been melted by passions.

Thus they lift the whole nature of mortals

From the earth upward by their words.

 

On the thirtieth a golden, three-sunned radiance shone forth.

 

The Feast of the Three Hierarchs

 

Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs: Epistle and Gospel Reading

History of the Feast of the Three Hierarchs

The Three Hierarchs in the Orthodox Church

 

 January: Day 30: Teaching 1: Commemoration of the Holy Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom 

 

January: Day 30: Teaching 2: Commemoration of the Holy Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom 

 

 The Holy Three Hierarchs in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

What a Muslim Saw that a Faithful Christian Did Not

The Bogomils and the Three Hierarchs

The Earliest Known Image of the Three Hierarchs

The Fourth Century as the “Golden” Age of the Church (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos) 

 

The Three Hierarchs and the Identity of Hellenism (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

The Three Hierarchs and the Greek Emphasis on Hellenism

The Church Fathers and Heathen Literature Under Julian the Apostate

The Three Hierarchs and the History of the Celebration of Greek Education

 

The Answer of the Three Hierarchs to Western European Education

 

Education, Freedom and Youth According to the Three Hierarchs

 

The Three Hierarchs and the Upbringing of Children

“Roads to Damascus”: Crisis, Conversion, and Community in the Lives of the Three Hierarchs

The Three Hierarchs as Hierarchs of the People

The Christian Humanism of the Three Hierarchs

The Three Hierarchs and Modern Atheism

The Three Hierarchs: Towers of Faith

 

The Three Hierarchs and Mount Athos (Monk Moses the Athonite) 

The Three Hierarchs and the Calendar Issue (Elder Cleopa Ilie)

The Vision of Sophiani Which Took Place in Constantinople in 1607

 

Saint George Karslides and his Wondrous Meeting With the Three Hierarchs

 

A Miracle on the Day of the Three Hierarchs in Communist Romania

A Historic Divine Liturgy After 600 Years in the Cretan Monastery of the Three Hierarchs

 

Children Celebrate the Patron Saints of Education on a Remote Greek island Without a Priest

Saints Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa - Mothers of the Three Hierarchs (Sunday After Feb. 2nd)

Saint Basil the Great Resource Page

Saint Gregory the Theologian Resource Page

Saint John Chrysostom Resource Page

The Earliest Known Image of the Three Hierarchs

The Theodore Psalter (London, British Library, Add. MS 19352) is a profusely illustrated Book of Psalms from 1066 and is possibly the most significant surviving manuscript illuminated in Constantinople. It was made at a time when the anti-image movement of the iconoclasts had relatively recently been beaten down, and representational art could again flourish. The name comes from the monk who illustrated the manuscript.

What a Muslim Saw that a Faithful Christian Did Not

The following translation is taken from Daniel J. Sahas, "What an Infidel Saw that a Faithful Did Not: Gregory Dekapolites (d. 842) and Islam", Greek Orthodox Theological Review 31 (1986), 47-67. It is based on the text at PG 100, cols. 1201-12. and is listed as a miracle of Saint George. It purports to describe how a "Saracen", i.e. a Muslim, noble was converted to Christianity following a vision he experienced in a church dedicated to St. George. Besides being a ninth century text of a Muslim convert to Christianity who became a martyr, whom some wrongly confuse with St. Anthony Ruwah, it is also perhaps the earliest reference to the Three Hierarchs (Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian) together.

A HISTORICAL SPEECH OF GREGORY DEKAPOLITES, VERY PROFITABLE AND MOST PLEASING IN MANY WAYS, ABOUT A VISION WHICH A SARACEN ONCE HAD, AND WHO, AS A RESULT OF THIS, BELIEVED AND BECAME A MARTYR FOR OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST