Renewal Thursday - Wonders Have Been Revealed To Those Who Worship the Mystery in Faith (Fr. George Dorbarakis)

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

“Lord, though the tomb was sealed by the lawless, You came forth from the grave, just as You were born from the Theotokos; Your bodiless Angels did not know how You were incarnate; the soldiers guarding You did not perceive when You rose; for both were sealed from those who inquire; but the wonders have been revealed to those who worship the mystery in faith; grant us who hymn You gladness and great mercy” (Resurrectional Sticheron, plagal tone 1).

The Holy Hymnographer places in a straight line the mystery of the birth of the God-man Christ from the Most Holy Theotokos and the mystery of His going forth from the tomb in which He had been buried. No human being, nor even angels, knew the counsels of God in these events; both the supernatural Birth of the Lord and His Resurrection remained hidden from all creation, because there we have the action of the Triune God — we stand before the mystery of His almighty presence. And this is not only, of course, when the Lord came; even afterward, and for as long as the world and creation exist in the form we know, these saving events will remain completely closed to every rational being that thinks it can investigate the activity of God by its own powers — even for the angels! In other words, no created rational nature, however endowed it may be, can enter into the inner depths of the thought of God. These belong only to the three divine Persons, which means that God keeps “secrets” even from His holy angels. The Apostle Paul confesses this with complete awe at a certain point in his epistles: “Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?”

Prologue in Sermons: April 16

Three Friends

April 16

(A Parable of Barlaam the Elder About Three Friends)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Although the Lord teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33), and assures us that if we seek Him, all that is necessary for temporal life will also be added to us, yet we somehow listen little to the words of the Savior. Instead of enriching ourselves with virtues for the attainment of the Kingdom of Heaven, we care most of all about acquiring temporal and perishable goods, and in them we place all our hope. “I have,” says the greater part of us, “a wife and children. What will they be left with after me? How will they live if I do not provide for them?” And a person begins to think only about money, and in sleep and in waking sees only money, dreams only of it, and places in it the chief good. But care for the one thing needful — for conscience and the immortal soul, for adorning oneself with virtues — he considers, if he considers it at all, the very last object of his concern. And meanwhile, how does all this end? The lover of money dies, and his money remains on this side of the grave. In the other world it will not be needed by him; there what would be most necessary and most useful for him is precisely that to which in life he paid the least attention, and which in fact ought to have been the first object of his care.

The Icon of the Resurrection of Christ (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

The Icon of the Resurrection of Christ 

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

As is known, the Resurrection of Christ is the supreme historical event of Christianity. The Resurrection of Christ is the victory over death and dominion over it. And of course His Resurrection is a natural consequence of His divinity, “because it was not possible for Him to be held by it (death)” (Acts 2:24). Thus, the Resurrection is the foundation of faith in Christ, and the Church is truly the Church of the Resurrection. Day and night the Resurrection is hymned in the life of the Church, and every Sunday in particular is a feast of the Resurrection, a feast of Pascha, “feast of feasts and festival of festivals.” This fact is expressed not only through all hymnography and hymnology, but also through the art of iconography.

Iconographers, because the Resurrection itself is not described by the Evangelists, depicted the Resurrection through various types of images. In particular, in Orthodox iconography we have images that express the event of the Resurrection. One image depicts the moment of Christ’s descent into Hades, and another depicts Peter and John at the empty tomb. We also have the depiction of the Angel who sits on the rolled-away stone of the tomb and speaks to the Myrrhbearing women. Furthermore, concerning the event of the Resurrection, we have the appearance of the Risen Lord to Mary Magdalene with His words: “Do not touch Me” (John 20:17). Finally, there is also the depiction of Christ appearing to another group of Myrrhbearers who worship Him. The image of the Resurrection in which Christ is shown holding a banner, or other such depictions, are purely of Western style.

Homily on the Pascha of Christ (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily on the Pascha of Christ 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

We are already standing at the threshold of the feast; we have already seen how the Epitaphios was carried into the altar, and by this the Church symbolizes the hidden Resurrection of Christ the Savior. For when our Lord rose, neither the angelic worlds nor people knew about it — only God knew! As the Church sings: “We did not know how You were born of the Virgin, nor do we know how You rose from the dead.” Both of these mysteries were hidden from those who examine, but grace was revealed to those who believe and confess the mystery. Truly, the great mystery of faith which we proclaim today — the mystery of victory over death, the mystery of deliverance from corruption and destruction, the mystery of the transformation of man, the mystery of the great escape from death to life, escape from slavery to freedom, escape from the prison of decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God — this is great happiness! Because we are no longer slaves of the earth, we are not bound by earthly laws, and the weight of earthly expanses does not press upon us. A great meeting with Almighty God awaits us. This victory is manifested in that we are given the joy of absolute forgiveness. Let the Jews be indignant, let the Muslims consider it audacious, let the godless reproach us for cunning, saying: “Everything is simple for you — repent and receive forgiveness!” The main Paschal message is the proclamation of repentance to all nations!

The Lord after Pascha said: “Go, proclaim and preach repentance and forgiveness of sins, beginning from Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth” (Luke 24:47).

Sunday of Holy Pascha (6-7 of 15)

...continued.

6. The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ – The Joy of All Joys

We must rejoice, remembering that great and glorious day when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the Tomb and by His Resurrection delivered us also from death. God Himself desires that we spend the feast of the Resurrection of Christ in joy and gladness, and therefore He often sends on this day unexpected joy to His faithful sons who are in some difficult circumstances.

In one book there is told of such an event. Before a certain bishop, an innocent priest was slandered. Shortly before Pascha this priest was taken into custody and kept in prison. On the night from Great Saturday to Bright Resurrection an Angel of God appears to the priest and says: “By the will of God you are freed from this confinement; you are given freedom so that in your parish village on the first day of Pascha you may serve the Liturgy.” Having said this, the Angel led the priest out of the prison and escorted him to the village. The guard informed the bishop about the disappearance of the priest from the prison, saying that this happened in a miraculous way, because the key to the lock was kept by him. The bishop sent a messenger to the village to find out whether the priest had served the Liturgy there. Having verified that he had, the bishop became angry and decided with dishonor to subject him again to imprisonment. But the Angel of God, after the completion of the service, with the consent of the priest, returned him to the same prison.

Saint Leonides the Bishop of Athens in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

A. Concerning Saint Leonides, there is not sufficient information. Most historians identify the Saint with the martyr Leonides who is commemorated on April 16. And for those who distinguish the two Saints, Saint Leonides, Bishop of Athens, was the sixth bishop of Athens and ended his life peacefully, whereas the one identified with the martyr Leonides was from the Peloponnese.

Whether as a bishop or as a layman, however, he was found in Epidaurus and was arrested for his faith in Christ together with seven women, and all of them suffered many torments. At first they hung up the Saint and tore his flesh. Then they threw him into the sea together with the seven holy women, after tying stones to their feet.

Thus they found a martyric death and received the crown of their contest. Their holy relics were found in a wondrous manner in 1916. In any case, whether it concerns one Saint Leonides or two different ones, both lived around the middle of the third century under Decius.

In Athens there is an early Christian church (crypt) in the name of Saint Leonides behind the columns of the Olympian Zeus.

Renewal Wednesday - You Renewed the Corrupted Nature of Mankind (Fr. George Dorbarakis)

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

“We unceasingly venerate Your life-giving Cross, O Christ God, and we glorify Your three-day Resurrection; for by it You renewed the corrupted nature of mankind, O Almighty, and showed us the ascent to the heavens, as the only good and lover of mankind” (Resurrectional Sticheron, Tone 4).

The Holy Hymnographer calls us to glorify the Resurrection of the Lord. For it was this that gave new life to human nature, which had been wounded and corrupted by sin and the wicked devil. The choice of sin by the first-formed humans was, unfortunately, a choice of death. Thinking that they were gaining eternal life, according to the deceitful suggestion of the devil-serpent, they saw with terror that they had turned against themselves, were irreparably wounded, and entered into the dark tunnel of corruption and hell. Their life thereafter was indeed pain and groaning; they fell into a valley of mourning and tears. Their only hope was the consoling voice of the Creator that in the future a descendant of the woman would crush the devil and restore them to their former state — and even more. And this, of course, came to pass with the appearance of the daughter of Nazareth, Mariam, who gave birth, from the Holy Spirit and through her own cooperation, to the Son of God as man. Christ now, the second Adam, assumed human nature and united it to His divinity; thus, in Christ, man was redeemed — he saw again the face of God. Whoever is now united with Christ, within His living Body, the Church, lives a new life, beyond the compulsive inclination toward sin; he already lives eternal life, that is, the life of Christ as love toward God, toward neighbor, toward all creation. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” as the Apostle says. “Behold, I make all things new,” according to the assurance of the Lord Himself. The believer in Christ is already on the path toward Heaven — better yet, he already lives Heaven from now, because he walks upon Heaven itself, the Way who is Christ.

Prologue in Sermons: April 15

Both Sorrow and Joy Can Serve for Salvation

April 15

(A Word from the Paterikon about two monks who took wives.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

In the Prologue we read: “Two monks once fell into a grievous sin. But after some time they repented and said: 'Well then, what profit did we gain by leaving the angelic life and falling into a defiled way of living? Does not eternal torment await us for this? Let us go again into the desert and repent. The Lord will receive our repentance.' Having said this, they went to a monastery, confessed their sin to a spiritual father, and he imposed a penance upon them. He commanded them to remain shut in seclusion for a whole year and sent them there only bread and water, to both in equal measure. A year passed, the time of the penance was completed, and it was revealed to the elders of the monastery that the monks had been forgiven. Opening the cells where they had been confined, the fathers brought them out. And what was seen? One monk was very thin and pale and came out in despondency, while the other was joyful, his face radiant, and he was rejoicing. The fathers were amazed at such a contrast, especially since, as we have said, the monks received the same food in equal measure. And so they first asked the sorrowful brother: 'How did you spend your time in your cell?' The monk answered: 'I thought about the evil I had done and pictured to myself the torment of hell into which I ought to go.' They asked the rejoicing monk: 'And you, what did you think about in your cell?' He said: 'I glorified God, Who rescued me from a defiled life and brought me back again to the angelic state, and, praising God, I rejoiced.' Then the elders said: 'The repentance of both was pleasing to God, for He forgave them both.'”

Holy Newly-Revealed Martyrs Raphael, Nicholas and Irene in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The Holy Newly-Revealed Martyrs of the Lord whom we celebrate today, Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene, are not the only ones who were “discovered” through a vision that God permitted to devout believers. We have a multitude of other Saints whose tombs with their relics, their holy heads, or various icons were hidden and “by judgments known to the Lord” at some time came to light, in order to be honored by the Christ-named fullness of the Church. Let us mention as simple examples the head of the thrice-great John the Forerunner and Baptist (whose finding we celebrate even three times), or the countless icons of our Panagia - the Panagia Portaitissa, the Panagia Trypitē, and others. Therefore, among this multitude of Saints who were found with their relics are also included the Saints celebrated today. According to the blessed and now Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis, the poet of their Service, Christ “from the depths of the earth revealed” the Saints “for the strengthening of the faithful” (Vespers Sticheron). And He revealed them “through many visions and dreams” (Sticheron) of the Saints themselves, so that there would be no doubt whatsoever about the truth of their words.