The Conception of Saint John the Baptist in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The sacred Evangelist Luke relates in his Gospel that when the aged and righteous Zechariah entered the Holy of Holies in order to offer the sacrifice of incense during his period of service in the Temple, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and brought him the joyful news that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son in her old age: a Prophet and Forerunner, a voice and herald and everlasting lamp, the initiate of the grace of God. The divine chief commander announced this divine conception to the Prophet and Priest Zechariah with the words: “Your prayer has been heard,” and thus, through this extraordinary birth, on account of the old age and barrenness of Elizabeth, the divine and virginal birth of the all-pure Theotokos also began to be foreshadowed.

First of all, we should note that today’s feast of the conception of Saint John is not based on certain pieces of information from apocryphal Gospels, which one might perhaps call into question, but is a most certain event, recorded, as we said above, by the holy Evangelist Luke. And this means that our Church, by including this event among her divinely inspired texts—certainly, the Gospels do not have the same authority and value as the so-called apocryphal or pseudepigraphical writings: the apocrypha, from the second century AD onward, may preserve genuine elements (for example, those concerning the Birth of the Most Holy Theotokos or her Entry into the Temple), but in many places they contain either false or heretical and misleading information—wishes to emphasize the significance of the coming into the world of John the Forerunner, that is, of that Prophet who would prepare the way for the coming of God Himself as man. Once again, it is in the perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ that the event of the conception of Saint John is evaluated; that is, in the light of the Sun, the light of the lamp is understood. For otherwise, its significance would have had the same force as the conception of every other human being who comes into the world, certainly through the good pleasure of God.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 23

 

The Month of September

Day 23

24. Why John the Baptist Is Greater Than Those Born of Women

(Homily on the Conception of the Glorious and Honorable Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist of the Lord John)

The Lord said: “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). “Greater” means “higher, more perfect, better.” (Interpretation of the Gospel by Bishop Mikhail.) Why did the Lord give John the Baptist such preference among other people? Why is he higher, more perfect, and better than they are? Why has no one greater than him arisen among those born of women? We find the answer to these questions in the Church’s homily on the conception of John the Baptist, and this is what it says about the Baptist in anticipation of the future.

Why will John, who is yet to be born, be great? Will he really be greater and more honorable than the Prophet Jeremiah, to whom the Lord said: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5)? Yes, the answer says, John will be great before the Lord and will surpass Jeremiah in spiritual greatness. If the latter was sanctified before his birth, then the former, from his mother’s womb, will be incomparably more filled with the Holy Spirit. And if Jeremiah was destined only to prophesy about the Messiah, John was also foreordained to baptize Him and to lay his hand upon Him. But John will surpass not only Jeremiah, but also all the other great Saints in the greatness of God’s grace, and no one greater than him will arise among those born of women... For although many stars precede the rising of the sun, only the morning star precedes the sun itself; so too, although many Prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, John will not only foretell Him in word, but will also point Him out to the people with his own finger as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And for this reason he will be great and greater than all those born of women. He will be, the homily concludes, “the fulfillment of all the prophets, and the end of the Old Law, and the Forerunner of the new grace.”

Holy Hieromartyr Phocas the Wonderworker in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Phocas was the son of Pamphilos and Maria and lived in the city of Sinope. From a very young age, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, he performed wondrous miracles, and he continued to work miracles until the end of his life. For this reason, God revealed to him his end through martyrdom in the following manner: a dove alighted upon his head and placed a crown upon him, and then the dove said to him with a human voice, ‘A cup has been given to you, and you must drink it.’ Indeed, he was found worthy to drink this cup of martyrdom under the Emperor Trajan, bringing his life to an end by the sword and by fire. Many miracles, of course, were also performed through him after his departure to the Lord.

2. We are grateful to the Lord, who illumines His holy hymnographers so that they may guide us in glorifying His holy name through the Saints. “God is wondrous among His Saints.” The hymnographers, going before us who are the faithful, enable us to transcend the daily reality of the passions and the turmoil they cause, because they open our eyes to see the depth of reality, both with regard to the Church Triumphant and to the Church Militant. This means that the believer who devotes himself, even for a little while, to the Services of the Church, especially Vespers and Matins, experiences an atmosphere different from that of the tragedy of this present life. Not in the sense of fleeing from life, for this is incompatible with the Christian faith and its realism; it would be a denial of the Incarnation of our God, but in the sense that he is raised to such a level that he sees life with a different vision: from the perspective of eternal life. If this does not happen, then any person, even one considered a believer, becomes trapped in this world and enters, as we have said, into the whirlpool of the passions and of the workings of the devil, the ancient source of evil.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 22

The Month of September
 

Day 22

23. A New Form of Charity

(From the Life of Saint Phocas, Called the Gardener)

“Varied is the manner of showing mercy,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “and broad is this commandment.” How are we to understand these words? It seems to us that they can be understood in the sense that there may be countless kinds of charity and many ways of putting it into practice. Let us consider the latter. In order to show charity to others, some simply give their own money or possessions; others establish charitable societies; others collect offerings in churches; others make collections at public gatherings; others invite the wealthy to practice charity; still others do something else altogether; and some even practice charity in particularly original ways. Hearing this last point, you will surely be surprised and ask: can there really be special ways of practicing charity? Yes, brethren, there can, and we shall now present you with an example.

Saint Phocas, called the Gardener, whose memory the Holy Church commemorates on September 22, revealed himself after his martyrdom as a great wonderworker. Some received healing from illnesses through him, others consolation in their sorrows, and still others help in their troubles. But above all, Saint Phocas revealed himself as a wonderworker at sea. Seafarers turned to him with particular faith, asking for his help, and he always granted it to them. Many times he appeared to them visibly at sea. Sometimes, at night during a storm, he would awaken the sleeping helmsman; at other times they saw him unfurling the sails; sometimes they saw him standing at the stern of the ship; at times he pointed out dangerous shoals to the seafarers; and sometimes they even saw him walking upon the sea. Because of such mercies, the seafarers especially venerated him, and his name was renowned not only among those who sailed upon the Red Sea and the Adriatic, but even among those who sailed upon the ocean. The seafarers composed hymns of praise in honor of Saint Phocas, and his name, it is said, was continually “on the lips of those who go out to sea in ships and work upon many waters.”

"Every Day We Should Celebrate the Exaltation of our Cross" (St. Ephraim of Katounakia)

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Ephraim of Katounakia said: “I came here to Mount Athos on September 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross. The day on which I was born again. Every day we should celebrate the exaltation of our cross. When we take up the cross, we die and are born again. The taking up of the cross is death and resurrection” (From the book by Fr. Spyridon Vasilakos, Come, O Light..., Thesvitis Publications, p. 75).

The great Elder, Venerable Ephraim of Katounakia, celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross in a particular way. Why? Because it was the day on which he entered Mount Athos: “I came to Mount Athos on the Feast of the Cross, September 1933,” he would constantly repeat. Yet he did not celebrate it merely as an event of simple remembrance that changed even the course of his life — from a man living in the world he became a monk — but as an event that left its mark on his inner spiritual life. The holy Elder, with his great, completely luminous eyes that reflected the light of Heaven which he lived in his heart and throughout his entire being, felt, upon entering the Holy Mountain as a young man, the mystical significance of this sanctified place — the grace that permeates it like an inner current of life. It was then, he confessed, that "I was born again.” The person who is baptized in the holy font of the Church is born again spiritually, as is the person who finds the true path of repentance, in which he bathes himself with his tears. God gave the young Evangelos, the man who would later become Ephraim, the grace to understand that being a monk means a person who struggles in repentance. He understood that he had received the power of repentance from the “womb” of the Church, the holy font, and for this reason, many years later, he would seek it out in his village and venerate it with many tears, and that this repentance is the work of every Christian, and all the more so of the “model” of Christians, the Orthodox monk.

Holy Prophet Jonah in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Presbyter Georgios Zaravelas, 
Theologian, MA in Historical Theology–Liturgics at the 

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

The Prophet Jonah, who is commemorated today, is the central figure of the Old Testament book bearing his name. He is one of the Twelve Minor Prophets and one of the most important figures of the Old Testament. The significance of Jonah's person is also demonstrated by the place he occupies in the hymnography of the Orthodox Church, with the sixth ode of the canons being the principal point of reference. By studying some of these troparia, we observe how the Church understands the prophet and his activity, how it connects him with the teaching of the New Testament and with God's plan for the salvation of man.

The heirmos of the sixth ode of the canon of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross, whose Apodosis coincides with his commemoration, presents the prophet as a prefiguration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord. Jonah, according to Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, “when he stretched out his hands in the form of a Cross within the belly of the sea monster […] clearly prefigured the Passion of Christ, which became salvation for all people.” The biblical text does not testify to his standing in the form of a cross within the belly of the sea monster; it is reasonable, however, that during his prayer he assumed the posture of the Cross, stretching out his hands and asking for the mercy of God. Here, therefore, even if only as a prefiguration, we see the saving power and energy of the Cross. The hymnographer clearly points out the symbolism of Jonah's posture as a prefiguration of the Lord's Passion on the Cross: just as Christ suffered while fastened to the Cross, so Jonah suffers within the carcass of the sea monster with his hands extended in the form of a cross.

Holy Ethno-Hieromartyr Platon Aivazidis (+ 1921)

The Holy Ethno-Hieromartyr Platon Aivazidis (Aivazis or Aivazoglou) was born in 1852 on Patmos to Nikolaos, who was from Chios, and Maria. He studied at the Patmiada School and, at the age of fifteen, became a novice at the Sacred Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, where two of his uncles were monks. He remained there until the age of twenty-five. He then went to Constantinople, where he attended the Great School of the Nation and the Theological School of Halki, becoming acquainted there with the student Germanos Karavangelis. At the same time, he served as a Deacon in the Sacred Metropolises of Kastoria (1883–1888) and Lemnos (1888–1894).

In Lemnos, he was ordained a Priest and appointed Protosyngellos (that is, second in rank) by Metropolitan Athanasios Kaporalis. In 1899, Metropolitan Athanasios was transferred to Kastoria and took Protosyngellos Platon with him. Only a year later, he was transferred again, this time to Samos, and Metropolitan Germanos took his place, but he kept Platon close to him. During the period up to 1908, essentially throughout the entire period of the Macedonian Struggle, he faithfully served Karavangelis. He remained in the city as his representative during his extensive tours, cared for the restoration of women and children who had suffered, and saw to the proper functioning of institutions. The two of them together conducted the funeral and memorial services at the grave of Pavlos Melas.

Holy Apostle Kodratos at Magnesia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

For your athletic struggles, O Kodratos, and your preaching,
You receive many prizes in the heavens.
On the twenty-first, Kodratos found a crown through his struggles.

1. Saint Kodratos was a wise and highly learned man. He too was one of the disciples of Christ, one of His Seventy Apostles, and, having been enriched by the fiery grace of the Holy Spirit, he was ordained Bishop of the Athenians. He converted many pagans to the true faith of Christ, while those regarded by the Greeks as wise men, who took great pride in their wisdom, he silenced and put to shame by the grace of God and by the power of his words. For this reason he was punished by the persecutors of the Christians with stones, with fire, and with many other tortures, and was driven from his province and his flock. He departed for the city of Magnesia, where there too he dispelled the darkness of delusion through his teachings. And afterward, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, called Aelius, in the year 117, he received the crown of martyrdom. His holy relic is in Magnesia of Asia Minor and, like a spring, heals every illness in all those who approach it with the faith of Christ.

2. The Holy Hymnographer Joseph directs our attention to three things from the magnificent life of the Holy Apostle Kodratos: the power of his teaching, his miracles both while he was alive and after his martyrdom, and the purity of his soul. It is understandable that all three are most intimately connected with one another, since purity of soul is the prerequisite for the presence of Christ in the existence of a believer: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” He Himself said, so that, illumined by this presence, he may preach His gospel with power and perform miracles, both while living and after his repose, radiating the all-powerful energy of the Triune God. Indeed, it is striking how much Saint Joseph, “dazzled” by the luminous personality of the Apostle, emphasizes the radiance of the light of Christ within the sanctified existence of His Apostle. Not once or twice, but countless times, at Vespers and at Matins, he points to this reality, as though the Apostle were truly a luminous pillar rising from the earth to reach heaven, and yet also the reverse: being completely radiant in heaven, he becomes an instrument of Christ, so that through his prayers he may illumine the darkness of the people who remain on earth.

“You became completely radiant with the splendors of the heavenly gifts,” he says, for example, already at the beginning of Vespers, “and you appeared in the world, O Kodratos, as a sun offering joyful rays of the divine preaching to all.” 

“With your divine teachings you illumined many, for you became a minister of the Light of Christ, which illumined the ends of the earth, O Hierarch Kodratos, with His divine radiances” (Ode 3). 

“Illumining those darkened by delusion with the lamps of your words, you burned up every deception like dry brushwood” (Ode 4). 

And what was the cause of his luminous presence? The fact that he became a dwelling place of God Himself. “The most pure God found your pure soul to be a dwelling place of His glory, and through you He therefore purifies souls defiled by terrible transgressions” (Ode 4).

What was it that Saint Kodratos did that caused the holy Triune God to look upon him with such favor? Or, in other words: what did the Apostle do in order to preserve his soul pure? The Holy Hymnographer tells us repeatedly: “You walked, O glorious Apostle, along the straight path of the commandments of Christ; therefore you saved those who had gone astray from the difficult paths of impiety and unbelief. Therefore we, the faithful, glorify you as a man who is free from error, and as a guide and mediator of our reconciliation with God” (Vespers, Aposticha). The interpretive word of the hymnographer, Saint Joseph, concerning Saint Kodratos is perfectly clear and stands wholly within the tradition of the Lord, the Apostles, and the Fathers of the Church: no one can find God outside the path of His commandments. With His help, the believer places himself, even by force, where the will of God indicates that he should be, with the result that he becomes attuned to Him, since God “hides within His commandments.” Having God within his being, literally becoming a dwelling place of the Almighty, on the one hand he himself lives his salvation, and on the other he offers the world this salvation that he lives, that is, Jesus Christ.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 21

 

The Month of September

Day 21

22. The More the Lord Rewards a Person for His Labor, the More That Person Should Labor

(From the Life of Saint Dimitri of Rostov)

When, brethren, we find ourselves in a lowly condition and suffer want, then, in most cases, we labor diligently and strive with all our strength to rise above our circumstances or escape from poverty. But when this happens, or when the Lord simply blesses us with good fortune, then laziness also appears in us, and we are no longer the diligent workers that we were when we were in a lowly condition and suffering want. Should it be this way? No. If the Lord has blessed you with good fortune, then all the more should you show your gratitude to Him through greater labor. Show that you value His great mercies, and then, surely, the Lord will bless you even more and reward you with even greater mercies, and will grant you even greater happiness. The Saints deeply reflected upon this truth and always acted according to it. For our instruction, let us learn from one of them.

Saint Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov, made it a rule of his life to act in such a way that whenever the Lord raised him to a higher position, he would labor all the more. And just as he resolved to act, so he actually acted. When he was made an archimandrite, it is written in his Life that he “increased his labor in proportion to his rank, knowing what is written: ‘To whom much has been given, from him much will be required’” (Luke 12:48). Dimitri also edited the Lives of the Saints, concerned himself with the good order of the monastery, and with the salvation of the brethren entrusted to his care. “No less,” it is further written, “did he assist in other spiritual matters that were greatly beneficial to the Holy Church, by word, counsel, discernment, and deed.”