Saint Joseph of Arimathea

Verses

You were found to secretly bury the dead in the tomb,

You who buried as dead the One who will empty the tombs.

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The noble Joseph, a wealthy man and member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, was secretly a follower of Christ.

"Now when it was evening, there came a certain rich man of Arimathea, Joseph by name, who was himself a disciple of Jesus" (Matthew 27:57).

"Now after these things Joseph of Arimathea, because he was a disciple of Jesus (although for fear of the Jews a secret one), besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus" (John 19:38).

Saints and Feasts of July 31

Eudokimos accepts his first burial on the thirty-first.

Holy and Righteous Eudokimos of Cappadocia

 

Saint Eudokimos the Righteous of Cappadocia

 

July: Day 31: Holy Righteous Eudokimos

Saint Joseph of Arimathea

 

Saint Joseph of Arimathea

 

Life of Saint Joseph of Arimathea

 

Concerning the Burial of the Lord (St. Cyril of Alexandria)

 

Homily on the Burial of Jesus and the Courage of Joseph (Saint Chrysostomos of Smyrna) 

One of the Most Beloved and Most Beautiful Hymns of Holy Week That is Rarely Chanted

Holy Twelve Martyrs of Rome

Holy Twelve Martyrs of Rome

Commemoration of the Consecration of the Church of 

our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos in Blachernae and 

the Forefeast of the Procession of the Holy Cross

Synaxarion for the Forefeast of the Procession of the Holy Cross

Commemoration of the Consecration of the Church of the Theotokos of Blachernae

Saint Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre

Saint Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre (+ 448)

Saint Arsenius, Bishop of Ninotsminda

Saint Arsenius, Bishop of Ninotsminda (+ 1082)

Holy Anonymous New Martyr from Crete

An Anonymous New Martyr From Crete (+ July 1811)

Holy New Martyr Dionysios of Vatopaidi

Holy New Martyr Dionysios of Vatopaidi (+ 1822)

Holy New Hieromartyr Benjamin, 

Metropolitan of Petrograd, 

with Archimandrite Sergius, 

and the Laymen Yuri and John

Holy New Hieromartyr Benjamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd, and Those With Him (+ 1922)

Holy New Hiero-Confessor Basil, Bishop of Kineshma

Holy New Hiero-Confessor Basil (Preobrazhensky), Bishop of Kineshma (+ 1945)

Translation of the Sacred Relics of the 

Holy Apostle Philip to Cyprus

Translation of the Sacred Relics of the Apostle Philip to Cyprus

The Joseph Story: Narrative, Theology and the Christian Hope

By Patrick Henry Reardon

The following literary and theological reflections on the Old Testament story of Joseph have no other purpose than Christian edification. Besides studying the narrative as a normal part of lectio divina over the years, I have preached on certain aspects of it occasionally during more than three decades in the pulpit. I have also lectured on the text numerous times, both in parish ministry and as an Old Testament professor in college and seminary, and have researched the many technical questions connected with that text in preparation for those lectures. In these lines I intend simply to share my own reading of that section of Genesis with a wider audience of Christians. Although this reading follows sympathies that are very personal, I hope that they are not merely idiosyncratic and that others may find them helpful.1 Perhaps one will best think of the following lines as a sort of meditation.

Homily Six on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in Alushta in 1957)

The glorious feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord gives us reason to ponder the words of our Lord Jesus Christ addressed to the people and the Apostles: “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come in power” (Mk. 9:1).

We could not understand these extraordinary prophetic words of the Son of God if we related them to the manifestation of the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for more than 1900 years have already passed; and all the contemporaries of the Lord Jesus have died, and we are still waiting for the Second Coming.

Synaxarion for Holy and Great Friday

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

GREAT FRIDAY

On this day, Holy and Great Friday, we celebrate the awesome, holy, and saving Passion of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ - the spitting, the blows with the palm of the hand, the buffeting, the mockery, the reviling, the wearing of the purple robe, the reed, the sponge, the vinegar, the nailing, the lance, and above all, the Crucifixion and Death which He condescended to endure willingly for our sakes - and also the saving confession of the grateful thief upon the cross.

Verse for the Crucifixion

Thou art a living God, even though Thou wast lifeless on the Wood. 
O naked corpse, Thou art the Word of the living God.

Verse for the Penitent Thief

The thief opened the locked gates of Eden with the key, "Remember me".


Synaxarion

After our Lord Jesus Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver and was betrayed by a friend and disciple, He was led to Annas the High Priest. Annas again sent the Lord to Caiaphas, where He was spat upon and at the same time mocked and laughed at. He heard them saying to Him, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one that struck you?" (Matt. 26:68). Then many false witnesses and accusers arrived, perhaps because He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19) and because He said about Himself, "I am the Son of God" (Matt. 27:43), or because He said, "Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64). At that point, the High Priest tore his own garment, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!" (Matt. 26:65). And when morning came, Jesus was led into the Praetorium to Pilate, and "they did not enter," as they said, "lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover" (John 18:28).

Then when Pilate came, he asked them about Jesus, saying, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" (John 18:29). Since he did not find any reasonable cause for the accusation, he sent Him to Caiaphas, since he was the one who was seeking His execution, and Caiaphas sent Him back again to Pilate. Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according your Law." Therefore the Jewish leaders said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death" (John 18:31). They said this so Pilate would pronounce the judgment of death on the cross. Pilate asked Jesus whether He was the King of the Jews, and Jesus acknowledged this and said that His Kingdom is eternal and not of this world (John 18:36). Pilate wished to release Jesus and first told the crowd that he did not find any serious accusation against Him. Then he reminded the Jews of their custom of releasing a prisoner of their choice on the feast of Passover. The crowd named Barabbas the robber as acceptable choice but not Christ. Pilate then sought to placate the crowd, but with no success. Leading Him out through the soldiers, he first had Jesus scourged. Then clothing Him with a purple cloak, the soldiers forced a crown of thorns upon His most pure head and placed a reed in His right hand as though it were a royal scepter. All this time, the soldiers were mockingly sneering and shouting a parody of their salute to Caesar, "Hail, King of the Jews" (Matt. 27:29; Mark 15:18; John 19:3). Clearly, this public humiliation and torment was for the gratification of the mob, for Pilate showed that he was acting against his conscience by saying again, "I find no fault in this Man" (John 18:38; John 19:6; Luke 23:4). The Jewish leaders answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God" (John 19:7).

While these things were being said, Jesus was silent. But the crowd cried out to Pilate, "Crucify Him, crucify Him" (John 19:6). Thus they wished to destroy Him through an inglorious and shameful death, so that they might destroy the noble fame that Jesus possessed. Pilate incited their ethnic pride and said, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" (John 19:15). Since they could not get their way by any other means, they uttered this blasphemy because Jesus clearly called Himself the Son of God, and they wanted Caesar to stand in His place so that their madness would be satisfied. Therefore they said, "Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar" (John 19:12).

While these events were taking place, Pilate's wife - Procula Claudia (comm. Oct. 27), sent a message to him that she was troubled by a fearful dream, and she said, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him" (Matt. 27:19). Then Pilate washed his hands and clearly rejected the responsibility for the blood of the Righteous One. But the people cried out, "His blood be upon us and upon our children" (Matt. 27:25). If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend" (John 19:12). Even though Pilate surely knew that Jesus was not guilty, he feared Caesar and thus confirmed the Lord's condemnation to death on the Cross, and he released Barabbas. When Judas beheld this, he threw away the silver coins and went out and hanged himself from a tree.


The soldiers mocked Jesus, hitting His head with a reed, and they placed the Cross on Him to bear. Then they coerced Simon of Cyrene, obliging him to carry the Cross. About the third hour, they reached the Place of the Skull, and they crucified Him there. On the right and on the left they suspended two thieves so that Jesus would appear to be an evildoer. In a spirit of greed, the soldiers divided His garments, but they cast lots for His seamless tunic. They performed each deed with excessive animosity, as if they were drunk. They not only did these things, but they also feigned ignorance, saying ironically to Jesus on the Cross, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the Cross!" (Mark 15:29-30). And they continued, "Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the Cross, that we may see and believe" (Mark 15:32). However, if they had reflected and understood correctly, they would have wished to have recourse to Him without hesitation, because He proved Himself to be not only King of Israel, but even of all the world.

For what other meaning was there when the sun was darken during the Crucifixion of Christ at the third hour, in the middle of the day, but that the Lord's Passion would be revealed to all men? Likewise, when the earth shook and the rocks were rent asunder, did this not reprove the stony-heartedness of the chief priests? And when many bodies arose for the acknowledgment of the common resurrection, did it not provide the evidence that the power of the Suffering One might appear? Moreover, when the curtain of the temple was split in twain, did it not mean that the temple was certainly angered, because the One who was glorified in it was suffering, thereby revealing these things which were not apparent to the multitudes? Therefore, at the third hour, Christ was crucified, as says the divine Mark; from the sixth hour until the ninth there was darkness over the whole land (Mark 15:33). The Centurion Longinus (comm. Oct. 16), seeing these marvelous events and especially the darkening of the sun, cried out with a mighty voice, "Truly this Man was the Son of God" (Matt. 27:54; Mark 15:39). Of the two thieves, one reviled Jesus, but the other reproached him, most profoundly reproving him, and confessed Christ to be the Son of God. Because of his confession, the Savior rewarded his faith and promised that he would be with Him in Paradise that very day. The "good thief" is commemorated on October 12.


When every sort of abuse had been hurled at the Lord Jesus, Pilate wrote out His title, which read, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS", and placed it on the Cross. (See John 19:19.) Therefore, the chief priests said to Pilate, "Do not write, The King of the Jews, but He said, 'I am the King of the Jews'." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written" (John 19:21-22). And when the Savior said, "I thirst" (John 19:28), they put vinegar on hyssop and brought it to Him. After saying, "It is finished" (John 19:30), He inclined His head and gave up the spirit. He was crucified on the day when the moon was full and at the hour when, according to the old Law, the Passover lamb was to be slain (See Exod. 12). When all had fled away, His Mother alone kept vigil at the Holy Cross with her sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas (the one, some say, Joachim begot in accordance with the Mosaic Law since his brother Cleopas died childless, but this assertion is false), Mary Magdalene, and John, the Disciple beloved by Him. (See John 19:25.) Then the ungrateful people, not being able to tolerate seeing the bodies on the crosses, since it was the great day of the Passover, asked Pilate that the legs of the condemned might be broken so that death might come more quickly. They broke the legs of the thieves, since they were still alive and, coming upon Jesus, as soon as they saw that He was already dead, they refrained from breaking His legs. One of the soldiers, doing a favor for the ungrateful ones, took his spear and pierced the right side of Christ, and immediately there flowed forth blood and water. On the one hand, the outpouring was as from a man, and on the other hand on behalf of mankind; that is, the blood, for the sake of the Holy Communion of the divine sanctified elements, and the water, for the sake of Holy Baptism. In fact, this two-fold fountain constitutes the foundation of the Holy Mysteries for us.


Also, St. John the Theologian saw and bore witness to these events, and his witness is true, because he was present at all these happenings, and after he saw them he recorded them. For if they were false, clearly he would not have written them, for such things would have appeared as a dishonor to the Teacher. It is said that when he was present at that time, he collected in some kind of vessel the Divine and All-holy Blood from the Life-giving side. Moreover, while these extraordinary events were being accomplished, when night approached, Joseph of Arimathea arrived (he was a disciple from the beginning, as the others, but secretly). He then went to Pilate with boldness since he was clearly known by him, asked for the Body of Jesus, and was given permission to take It. Then he immediately took the divine Body down from the Holy Cross with all reverence. And when night came, Nicodemus arrived, bearing a certain mixture of myrrh and aloes, which had been prepared for the special purpose of anointing, and he wrapped the Holy Body in a winding cloth, as was the regular custom of the Jews. They then entombed the Body of the Lord nearby in the garden tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, which had been cut into a rock, rolling a great stone over the entrance. In this tomb, no one had been buried before, so that when Christ arose the chief priests might not attribute the Resurrection to another person. The mixture of aloes and myrrh strongly cemented the winding cloth to the Body of Christ, so that when the winding cloth and the face cloth would be seen folded up in the Tomb, no one would suppose that His Body had been stolen away. How would it have been possible that anyone could have detached the linen so firmly glued to the flesh? However, those foolish men who shaped this falsehood did not know that in accordance with the economy of God, all these proofs remained inside the Tomb for the censuring of their slander. All these events marvelously happened on Friday. Accordingly, the God-bearing Fathers decreed that we should commemorate all these events with a compunctious and contrite heart. Furthermore, the Church, as received from the time of the Holy Apostles, has given the commandment that every Friday is to be observed as a fast day in remembrance of Christ's Holy Passion and Life-giving Death.


It is fitting to understand that on the sixth day of the week, Friday, the Lord was crucified because on the sixth day of the week during Creation, Adam, the first man, was formed. Furthermore, at the sixth hour of the day, He was suspended on the Holy Cross because at the sixth hour, tradition tells us, Adam stretched out his hands toward the forbidden tree to eat the fruit and inherited death. Therefore it was fitting that at the same shattering hour the Old Adam would be created anew. The Lord's Crucifixion was in a garden because Adam was deceived in a garden in Paradise. The bitter drink which the Lord tasted on the Cross healed the tasting of Adam. The Holy Cross replaced the tree in Paradise. The slap on the Face signified our awakening from the stupor of sin. The spitting and the dishonorable behavior toward the Lord makes manifest the value He places on us. The crown of thorns relieved us from the curse surrounding the head of Adam and Eve. The purple cloak replaced the garment of skin and symbolized the royal garment with which He covers us. The nails indicated our total immobility in our sins. The pierced Side of the Lord, from which our salvation came forth, represented the side of Adam, from which Eve came forth and out of whom the transgression occurred. The spear removed the fiery sword which guarded Paradise after the disobedience. The water from the Side was an image of Holy Baptism. The blood and the reed were the means through which the Savior, as though writing in imperial red ink, decreed, as a King from on high, the restoration of the ancient homeland.

It is said that the skull of Adam lay where Christ, as the Head of all, was Crucified, and Adam was "baptized" through the Blood of Christ, which flowed from Him and down onto Adam's skull. It is called the Place of the Skull because during the Flood the earth expelled the skull of Adam, which rolled around by itself in a circle, and this was viewed as a fearsome sign. The Holy Prophet and King Solomon, out of respect toward the Forefather, covered it up with many stones. Moreover, the eminent saints say, as is the tradition, that Adam was buried there by an angel. Therefore, where Adam's corpse lay, there Christ stood as the everlasting King, the New Adam, healing by the wood of the Holy Cross the Old Adam who had fallen by the wood of the tree.

It should be noted that on this day there is no celebration of the Divine Liturgy, nor of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. On this day of the Holy Crucifixion we neither eat nor drink anything according to the words which the Lord spoke to the Pharisees: "But the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast" (Matt. 9:15). Yet, if anyone is weak or old and cannot keep the fast, let him be given bread and water after sunset.

Wherefore, O Christ our God, through Your boundless compassion for our sakes,
have mercy on us and save us. Amen.


Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
When the glorious disciples at the supper were illumined by the washing of the feet, then was the impious Judas darkened by the disease of avarice. And he betrays Thee, the Righteous Judge, to the lawless judges. See, O lover of possessions, how for money's sake he hanged himself! Flee from that insatiate soul, which dared such things against His Master. O Lord, who art good towards all men, glory to Thee!

Antiphon Six in Plagal of the Third Tone
Coming to Thy voluntary Passion, O Lord, Thou didst cry out to Thy disciples, "If ye were not able to watch one hour with Me, how could ye promise to die for My sake? Behold how Judas does not sleep, but hastens to betray Me to lawless men. Arise and pray that no one deny Me when he sees Me on the Cross." O longsuffering Lord, glory to Thee!

Antiphon Fifteen in Plagal of the Second Tone
He who hung the earth upon the waters hangs today upon the Cross.
He who is King of the Angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns.
He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.
He who in the Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon His face.
The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails.
The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear.
We worship Thy Passion, O Christ.
We worship Thy Passion, O Christ.
We worship Thy Passion, O Christ.
Show us also Thy glorious Resurrection.

Kontakion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Come, let us all praise Him who was crucified for us, for when Mary beheld Him on the Cross, she cried, "Though Thou sufferest on the Cross Thou art my Son and my God!"

Ikos
Seeing her own Lamb led to slaughter, Mary let down her hair in grief and followed Him with the other women, crying thus: "Where goest Thou, my Child? Why dost Thou run so swiftly? Perhaps there is another wedding in Cana of Galilee, and Thou dost make haste now to go there and change their water into wine? Shall I go with Thee, O my Child, or shall I wait for Thee? Grant me some word, O Word, and pass me not by in silence, O Thou who hast preserved me in virginity. For Thou art my Son and my God.

Exapostilarion
The wise thief at that same hour, O Lord, Thou didst deem worthy of Paradise. Enlighten me as well by Thy Cross, and save me.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thou hast redeemed us from the curse of the Law by Thy precious Blood. Nailed to the Cross and pierced by the spear, Thou hast poured forth immortality upon mankind. O our Saviour, glory to Thee!

Source

Homily on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women: On Spiritual Deadness (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)

By St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

The Gospels have told us today[1] about the exploits of the holy women who followed the God-Man during His earthly wanderings. They witnessed His sufferings and were present at his burial. The burial took place on Friday evening. While the Jews’ wrath was pouring out like the fiery lava of Aetna not only upon the Lord, but upon all of those close to Him; while the Holy Apostles were forced to hide or observe the extraordinary events only from a distance; while only John, the beloved disciple who leaned upon the breast of the Lord, feared nothing and remained always near the Lord, the secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, who had always concealed his heart’s allegiance due to persecution from the Sanhedrin, suddenly disregards all the obstacles, hesitations, and anxiety that had bound and worried him until then, and he appears before cold, cruel Pilate to beg the body of the One who was shamefully executed. He receives the Lord’s body and buries it with reverence and honor.

Saint Neophytos the Recluse of Cyprus (+ 1219)

St. Neophytos of Cyprus (Feast Day - January 24 and September 28)

By Father Panagiotes Carras

St. Neophytos was born in the year 1134 of pious Orthodox parents who had eight children. His parents, Athanasios and Evdoxia, strove to impart to their children a love for our Lord. Evdoxia upon the death of her husband entered a convent. The family was extremely poor and the Saint had to till the fields with his father and was not able to attend school even for one day. When Saint Neophytos became eighteen years old, his parents, according to the custom of the time, undertook to arrange a marriage for him.

The blessed one, even at that young age, had come to understand the vanity of this world and his soul desired to give itself completely to our Saviour. He secretly departed from his paternal home and sought to find a monastery where his parents would not find him. He reached Mount Koutsoventes where he found a monastery dedicated to Saint John Chrysostom. When the Saint arrived at the monastery, the Fathers were in church and so Saint Neophytos entered. The Fathers were reading the first verse of the Book of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth". These words filled the Saint’s soul with a joy that he had never felt before. In his heart there was kindled the love of the knowledge of the Mysteries of God. He asked God to give him the Grace to understand the words of the Divine Books, for as we said earlier, he was illiterate.

The Holy Neophytos struggled devoutly in the monastery. He was obedient to the rule that he was given and supplemented it with trying to teach himself to read the Service Books of the Church. Cyprus, however, does not cover a great expanse and his parents soon discovered where he was concealed. His parents pleaded with him for many hours to return to their home and Neophytos as an obedient son agreed to follow them. Upon returning he immediately began to speak to them of his fervent desire to follow the angelic life. He appealed to them to grant him their blessing and when his parents saw the fervour of his faith, they acceded to his request. Once again he set out for the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom.

On arriving, he sought out the abbot and begged him to put upon him the holy Schema of the monks. Wherefore, the righteous one was tonsured and was clothed in monastic garments. As soon as the service was completed the blessed one began to weep with joy and to kiss his new robes, all the while fervently praying that the Lord would give him the Grace to keep his garment pure. Saint Neophytos describes the joy that he felt at that moment in the following words: "Never has anyone been so captivated by their wedding clothing as much as I have by the wearing of the monastic garment."

In the monastery, the Saint was given the obedience to work in the vineyards. He remained in this service for five years, praying and studying the word of God night and day. Although unlettered, through the Grace of God he was soon not only able to read, but could recite by heart the Psalms of Prophet David. Here we see a great wonder. We know that Saint Neophytos had never attended a school even for one day and yet our Lord gave him such understanding that his writings can be compared with the works of the great Fathers of the Church. It is estimated that he was the author of many works totaling as much as five thousand pages. Currently scholars at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland are preparing to publish the surviving writings of Saint Neophytos. They expect that the publication will contain about one thousand pages. This great Father wrote interpretations to the Psalms, Song of Songs and the Six-day Creation. Included in his works are many Homilies, Hymns and Odes along with many letters written to the faithful. This is an accomplishment which can only be brought about by the Grace of God.

There are many events in the Saints life that witness to the fact that his gift was God-sent. On one occasion the righteous one was visited by a priest who had a great veneration for Saint Diomedes and requested that the Saint compose a homily on Saint Diomedes so that those who would hear it would be encouraged to emulate the Saint. The man of God, however, did not heed the priest’s request. Earlier he had decided not to write any more because some people inspired by Satan were scandalized by the abundance of the Saints writings. The priest would not leave the site of the cave. After twenty-four hours, Saint Neophytos, not wishing to be unbending, acceded to the priest’s pleas. That very night, Saint Diomedes appeared to the great ascetic and asked him to put his life in writing. When Saint Neophytos awoke he realized that this day was the feast day of Saint Diomedes.

After working obediently in the monastery’s vineyard for five years, he was given a blessing by the abbot to become the monastery’s ecclesiarch in which capacity he served for two years. At this time he asked for a blessing to become a hermit, but the abbot would not give this blessing. Obediently he continued in his position as ecclesiarch and then a year later the abbot approached him and told him that he was free to go and become a desert dweller. His desire was to go to the Holy Lands to live as an ascetic under the guidance of a desert father. Upon reaching the Holy Land he venerated all the holy places around Jerusalem. He then set forth northwards to the mountains of Magdala, Tabor and Jordan. During his six-month stay in the Holy Lands he sought out every cave and crevice in search of one to whom he could place himself under obedience. The fathers of the Palestinian deserts, however, had been driven away by the incursions of the Arabs and later by those of the Crusaders. In vain did the righteous one search for a spiritual guide. One day as he was asking for Gods direction our Lord appeared to him and spoke to him in the following words: "Not in this desert but go to another place where the king will descend and grant you a morsel."

Saint Neophytos returned to the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom until he could determine to which desert our Lord was directing him. He learned that many desert fathers had fled from Palestine and Egypt to Mount Latros in Asia Minor. Once more with the blessing of the abbot he set out in search of the desert which his soul longed for. The Lord God in His wisdom and out of love for the Orthodox people of Cyprus did not allow the blessed one to leave the Island. When the Saint reached the port city of Paphos, he was arrested by the guards of that city who suspected that he was a fugitive. He was bound and cast into prison where he remained for a sufficient length of time. Certain Christians of the city learned of his situation and arranged for his release. Seeing this as a sign from God, he determined not to leave Cyprus.

Not having any particular place in mind he left the city and directed himself toward the highlands. North of Paphos, high on a mountain, he found a desert place with a steep precipice. On closer examination he was able to discern a small cave and immediately the Saint knew that this was the desert which the Lord selected for him. This cave was found on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, June 24th, 1159. He began cleaning and leveling it out, using his own hands or stakes that he found nearby. The site was extremely rugged and it took him about fifteen months to complete his task. On the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross [September 14th] his cave was ready. He dedicated it to the Feast not only because on that day his labours ceased, but more so in order to have the Cross of our Lord always before him. For the Saint, a monk had to be above all a Cross-bearer. He had a great love for the Holy Cross and this can be seen in the many hymns he wrote glorifying the Precious Cross.

Along with preparing a place to sit and lie down he also prepared his tomb inside the cave. Once the tomb was completed he inscribed underneath it the following: "You will gain no more than this, even if you should acquire the whole world." Truly the King descended here and granted His Saint much Grace. One may imagine the suffering and hard­ships of the flesh that Saint Neophytos must have endured in that desert place. These the man of God countered with readings from the Holy Fathers, prayers, prostrations, vigils and standing all night with his hands extended towards our Heavenly Father begging for a morsel of His Grace. Here he would remember that Paradise was lost because of sin and that man was a prince who had lost his inheritance. He would weep and lament for hours, pleading to regain Divine Sonship. He was no longer the Kings son but a stranger in a strange land, a captive in a foreign land. How could he not weep?

Within this cave he vowed to enclose himself giving it the name Enkleistra or Enclosure. He confined himself to physical darkness so that he may receive the Heavenly and Uncreated Light of the Most Holy Trinity. In a vision our Lord revealed to the Saint the time of his departure from this life. Our Lord first told him that he would be taken up to worship the Heavenly Cross in fifty years and then said that it would take place in sixty years. This extension was given so that Saint Neophytos would be able to make the faith of the Cypriot people firmer. The holy one then increased his ascetic struggles vowing not to eat cooked food and to wear chains on his body. Later he com­manded his disciples to bury him with these chains.

His fame spread everywhere and many flocked to him for his prayers and blessing. Those who loved this God-loving man came nearly every day and besought him fervently to become his disciples. After much pleading he consented to accept a few disciples, later commanding that his monastery never exceed eighteen fathers. The holy one avoided the esteem of men, but the all-merciful God, Who cares for the salvation of our souls, ordained that the Saint’s Grace become known to all. In a divine vision Basil, the Bishop of Paphos, was commanded by our Lord to ordain His Saint to the Priesthood. For four years the bishop, who had great love and veneration for Saint Neophytos, pleaded with him to accept ordination from his hands. Finally, in obedience the man of God received the Grace of the Priesthood. He was thirty-six years of age when through Gods Providence he entered the final stage of preparation which would make him the spiritual father of all Cyprus when the Latin cloud would descend upon it.

Every day during the Divine Liturgy he would receive the Sacred Mysteries which would restore the lost sonship. With his few disciples he started the construction of a monastery not too far from his cave. For thirteen years they worked unceasingly to build this future spiritual centre of Cyprus, as if the man of God knew what the Lord had ordained for him. The people of Cyprus were about to go through great temptations, but the Lord would provide them with the means to withstand. The funds for the construction of the monastery were provided by the Emperor of Constantinople himself and many other Byzantine nobles, as a Patriarchal document which survives to this day attests to.

The Saint called the fathers of the monastery the Enkleistoi or the Enclosed Ones. He diligently instructed them not only in the ways of ascetic struggle but also gave much attention to teaching them the Orthodox Faith. Not only did he insure that the monastery had as many writings of the great Fathers as possible, but he zealously endeavoured to acquire the Holy Relics of many Saints for the fathers to venerate and from which they would receive enlightenment.

The monastery was filled with many Holy Icons. Especially noteworthy are the frescoes depicting scenes from the Holy Gospels. It is at this point where we notice how concerned Saint Neophytos was to lead not only his monks but all Christ-loving people closer to our Lord. We observe that the Saint commanded the iconographer to include him in many of the icons. In the icon of the Mystical Supper he places himself next to Judas, in the Washing of the Disciples feet, near Saint Peter, and in the Descent from the Cross he puts himself in the place of Saint Joseph of Arimathea. This was done to set an example of how we should fervently desire to be inseparably united to our Lord.

On May 6th 1191, Richard the Lion-Heart invaded and captured Cyprus on his way to Jerusalem to take part in the Third Crusade. From this day on the people of Cyprus were ruled by non-Orthodox foreigners until 1958. Richard the Lion-Heart sold Cyprus to the monastic order of the Knights Templars, who in turn sold it to the deposed King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, in 1192. The Franks introduced the Feudal system and all Cypriots became serfs. The Orthodox Church was persecuted and all educated people and most bishops were forced to leave. Using similar methods in Southern Italy and in Sicily, the Papacy forced the people to become Roman Catholics.

Saint Neophytos, at fifty-eight years of age, was called on by God to undertake a new struggle as the spiritual guide of all Cyprus. In 1196, under the direction of Pope Celestine III, a Latin Metropolitan along with suffragan bishops were given the spiritual leadership of the people of Cyprus. This was the Papal policy in all the conquered lands where there were Orthodox. Saint Neophytos led the resistance against the latinization of Cyprus without going against his vow to remain in his cave. When it was necessary, he would write general epistles which were sent to the various parishes throughout Cyprus. On Sunday or a Feast day the priest would read the epistle to the people who had come to partake in the Divine Liturgy. The Orthodox Christians would heed the words of the Saint just as if they were coming directly from the mouth of God. The righteous one would instruct the faithful in all the matters that were needed for one to remain in the Faith. His letters would include admonitions against laxity regarding the holy fasts, the significance of the Great Feasts, and exhortations to stand firm in the current struggle against the Latins. On occasion he would also stipulate that an epitimion (penance) should be given for violating the Holy Canons. In one letter when he referred to the Crusaders coming to save Jerusalem, he wrote that it is similar to the wolves coming to chase away the dogs. In another letter he wrote: "Our country now is no better than that of a raging sea, under a great storm and tempest. Nay it is worse than a wild sea. For a calm succeeds the wildness of the sea, but here day by day the tempest increases and its fury knows no end."

Saint Neophytos observed that the growing numbers of the faithful and those who desired to attend to his teaching were depriving him of his cherished solitude. He decided that after forty years in his beloved cave of the Holy Cross he would have to leave and go higher up on the precipice. Placing a ladder on the ledge outside his cave he stood on top of the ladder and excavated a small opening which with time he enlarged so that it would become his new place of habitation. Once the new cave was complete he wished to make a ledge upon which he could walk. As the ledge was nearing completion, Satan, the hater of good, caused a boulder to dislodge and, as it rolled, it took with it the man of God. The Lord, however, wished to glorify His Saint even more and just as the Saint was about to roll off the ledge and fall to his death, the boulder was held back by the hand of God. Underneath the boulder the Saints right hand and part of his robe were caught whereas the rest of him was already over the ledge. The Fathers who were watching helplessly from down below glorified God for His mercy and rushed to dislodge the Saint from the boulder.

This new cave was named New Zion. There, he accustomed himself to living in total silence not even attending the Divine Services except on the Lords Day, on which day he would also instruct his disciples. At other times he would listen to the Divine Services and prayers of the fathers through a hole which was his only contact with the cave below. The Saint struggled in this way for a long time. He foreknew the day of his departure from this world, which he did not hide from his disciples; rather he summoned them and instructed them both verbally and in writing on how they were to continue after his departure. He also ordered that, after the funeral service, they bury him in the tomb which he had prepared and that it should be walled up and an icon painted on the wall because he wished his tomb to remain unknown. He also expressed his desire to be buried in the burial garments which he himself had prepared and with the chains which he always wore. He bade them live in peace and harmony and in a God-pleasing manner to obey the abbot they would elect. After he uttered these things, he prayed for them, gave them his blessing, and gave up his blessed soul into the hands of God.

The man of God reposed on April 12th, 1219* after having given the people of Cyprus the guidance which would assist them in resisting the efforts of the Papists to separate them from the Kingdom of Heaven. He had become a spring of living water that did not dry up after his departure from this world. The sixty years of his struggle in the Enkleistra, just as the Lord had foretold him, had come to an end. The Grace that flowed from that holy cave, however, would not cease. His presence was something the people of Cyprus always felt although for hundreds of years no one knew where his Holy Relic was.

Through the Grace of God its presence was revealed in the following manner. On September 27th, 1750, a certain monk who had thought that he found a hollow space in the wall of the Enkleistra was overcome by temptation and imagined that there was a treasure to be found behind the wall. That night he waited for the fathers to sleep and he went to the Cave of the Holy Cross with a pickaxe and made an opening in the wall. He was then struck down by a Divine hand. When he came to himself, he ran to the abbot to confess his sin. The abbot, realizing the true nature of the treasure that was found, summoned the other fathers and lifted the marble cover and immediately the cave was filled with indescribable fragrance. Since then the 28th of September is also kept as a feast day by our Holy Church.

Source

* In 1854 the feast day of St. Neophytos was transferred from April 12th to January 24th, because occasionally April 12th falls during Great Lent or Holy Week.

Second Paschal Oration of St. Gregory the Theologian

This Oration was not, as its title would perhaps lead us to suppose, delivered immediately after the first; but an interval of many years elapsed between them, and the two have no connection with each other. Chronologically they are the first (Oration 1) and last (Oration 45) of Saint Gregory's Sermons. The Second was delivered in the Church of Arianzus, a village near Nazianzus, where he had inherited some property, to which he withdrew after resigning the Archbishopric of Constantinople, and then, finding the administration even of the little Bishopric of Nazianzus too much for his advancing years and declining strength, he retired to Arianzus about the end of A.D. 383, dying there in 389 or 390. "The exordium of this discourse is quite in the style of the Bible; the Orator here describes and puts words into the mouth of the Angel of the Resurrection. His object is to show the importance of the day's solemnities, and to explain allegorically all the circumstances of the ancient Passover, applying them to Christ and the Christian life. Two passages are borrowed verbatim from the discourse on the Nativity, preached at Constantinople" (Benoît).

The Twelve Gospels of the Holy Passion of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

First Gospel

John 13:31-38; 14-18:1

The Lord said to his disciples, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow afterward." Peter said to him, "Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times.