Homily on the Holy Martyr Mamas (St. Basil the Great)

  

Homily 23

On the Holy Martyr Mamas

By St. Basil the Great

I am not unaware of the greatness of the panegyric encomia demanded by this festival; but just as I know this, so also I am conscious of my own weakness. For the subject requires that something worthy be said both of those who have gathered here, and of the hope they have placed in us, and of the subject itself. Since today we are celebrating the memory of the greatest of the martyrs, every mind is alert and every ear prepared, expecting to hear something worthy of the martyr; and out of longing for him, they have come to the church. For grateful children demand great encomia for their fathers, and would never consent that the greatness of those being praised should be placed in jeopardy through the smallness of the speaker. Thus, the greater the eagerness, the greater the danger. What, then, shall we do? And how shall we both fulfill your desires and ourselves not depart without accomplishing what is required of the occasion? Let us invite each soul to depart having renewed in its mind the things with which it came to the commemoration, having fed itself from its own resources, and gladdened itself with its own provisions.

Remember the martyr for me, all of you who have benefited through dreams of him; all of you who, having come upon this place, have found him a fellow-worker with you in prayer; all of you for whom, when he was called upon by name, he stood beside you in your deeds; all of you whom he has brought back from your journeys; all of you whom he has raised up from sickness; all of you to whom he has restored children who had already died; all of you for whom he has extended the appointed term of life. Gather all these things together for me, and compose an encomium from a common contribution. Share with one another what each of you knows with the one who does not know; let the one who does not know receive from the one who does know what he does not know; and thus, by feasting one another from our common contribution, pardon the weakness of our speech. For these are the encomia of a martyr: the abundance of spiritual gifts.

Holy Martyr Mamas in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Mamas was from Gangra, a city of the Paphlagonians. His parents were Christians, and they were arrested for their faith in Christ and thrown into prison. There, in the bonds of imprisonment, the Saint was born. Because his parents died in prison, the infant was taken in by a Christian woman named Ammia, who raised him. The Saint continually called this foster mother of his “Mama,” and for this reason he was named Mamas. When he was fifteen years old, he was arrested as a Christian and beaten with rods; afterward they hung a heavy weight of lead around his neck and threw him into the sea. But by the power of God he was saved from the danger and hid in a cave, being nourished on the milk of deer. Yet again they arrested him, threw him into a furnace, and cast him to the wild beasts. Finally, they pierced him with an iron trident, and thus he departed from this life.

2. The grace possessed by Saint Mamas is threefold. First, because he was the child of martyrs, from whom, even though he never knew them, he surely received the continual blessing of their bold prayers before the Lord. Second, because he was brought up as a Christian by a devout woman, who imparted to him the streams of the Christian faith and surely never ceased speaking to him about his sanctified parents. Third, and most importantly, while still a child he himself became a confessor and martyr of the Christian faith, belonging to that distinguished company of the holy child-martyrs.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 2

The Month of September

Day 2

3. To Mothers Who Are Widows and Have Young Children

(From the Life of the Holy Martyr Mamas. September 2 in the Festal Menaion)

One often encounters in this world such a sorrowful sight: a widow dies surrounded by helpless young children. How terrible is her situation! Even as she struggles against death and grows weaker, you see that what torments her, what torments her beyond expression, is the grievous fate she imagines awaits her orphans after her death. “What will they do after I am gone? What will they live on? Who will need them?” such a woman thinks. And thus to bodily illness is added yet another torment, that of the soul; fear presses upon her heart, pity for her children strikes it with sorrow, and, looking ahead to the bitter fate of her children, who will then be complete orphans, the poor widowed mother gives herself over to boundless grief.

Widowed mothers who have young children! What do you think? Must all of you likewise look with such sorrow upon the future fate of your orphaned children without you? Is it really only left for you to think that without you your children will inevitably be both unhappy and helpless? And finally, is there truly no means by which you might in some way comfort and encourage yourselves when reflecting upon their future fate?

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 1

The Month of September

Day 1

1. Without Labor One Cannot Enter the Kingdom of Heaven

(From the Life of St. Symeon the Stylite. September 1 in the Festal Menaion)

Some of those who are lazy in the work of their salvation deceive themselves with the hope that, despite their laziness, they will nevertheless be heirs of the Kingdom of God. Such people ordinarily say: “What can we do, since we are lazy? The Lord is merciful, and He sees that we live amid the cares and distractions of the world; therefore He will forgive us.” Is this so? No, brethren, the lazy merely comfort themselves in vain with such words; and let them know that if they do not cast off their laziness, God will neither forgive them nor admit them into His Kingdom. Why? Because there is no place there at all for the lazy, but only for those who labor, who do not yield to the temptations and seductions of the world, and who conduct themselves according to the commandments of the Lord.

Once, St. Symeon the Stylite began to ask God to show him the path to salvation. His prayer was heard, and Symeon was granted the following vision. It seemed to him that he was digging a pit. At the beginning of his work, he suddenly heard a voice: “Dig deeper!” And Symeon dug deeper. When he stopped, thinking that he had dug deep enough, he again heard a voice commanding him to dig still deeper. And once again he began to dig; and when he again decided to rest, for the third time he heard: “Dig deeper!” Finally, after Symeon had labored for a long time, the voice said: “Stop, it is enough. And now, if you wish, build, build, laboring diligently; for without labor you will accomplish nothing!” With this, the vision ended.

Two Churches Dedicated to Panagia Protoseptemvriani in Crete

Panagia Protoseptemvriani at Kavousi

Within the sacred grove of Kavousi on the island of Crete, a short distance from the famous monumental olive tree, and situated along the road leading to the important archaeological site of Azoria, stands the Church of Panagia Protoseptemvriani, also known as Panagia sto Skali.

It is a single-nave, barrel-vaulted church, dated on the basis of its architecture and the embedded ceramic bowls (pinakia) in the western wall, above the doorway, to sometime between the 14th and 16th centuries.

During the period of Ottoman rule, a cemetery was in operation at the site where we now see the church. The existence of a small monastery here is also attested.

Between 1988 and 1996, an archaeological surface survey was carried out in the area by archaeologist Donald C. Haggis, who identified pottery and architectural remains belonging to a settlement dated to between 2100 and 1450 BC.

The New Ecclesiastical Year in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church (1)

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Today, September 1, our Church celebrates the Beginning of the Indiction, that is, the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year. For this day, Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite writes in his Synaxarion:

“We must know, brethren, that the holy Church of God celebrates the Indiction today for three reasons. First, because this too is the beginning of the year. For this reason, among the ancient Romans it was also greatly honored from ancient times. Indiction, in the Roman, that is, Latin language, means ‘decree’ or ‘proclamation.’ And secondly, the Church celebrates it because on this day our Lord Jesus Christ went into the synagogue of the Jews, and the Book of the Prophet Isaiah was given to Him, as the Evangelist Luke writes (Luke 4). And when the Lord opened the Book - O the wonder! - He immediately found that passage, namely the beginning of the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, in which these words are written concerning Him:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

And after the Lord had read these words concerning Himself, He closed the Book and gave it to the attendant. Then, having sat down, He said to the people: ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ Therefore, when the people heard these things, they marveled at the gracious words that came from His mouth, as the same Evangelist Luke writes (ibid.).

There is also a third reason for which the Church of Christ commemorates the Indiction today and celebrates the beginning of the new year: namely, that through the hymns and supplications which we offer to God on this feast, God may be merciful to us, and may bless the new year and grant it to us prosperous and filled with all bodily goods. And that He may enlighten our minds, so that we may pass through the whole year purely and with a good conscience, and so that we may please God by keeping His commandments. And thus may we attain the eternal goods in Heaven.”

Homily on the Beginning of the Indiction, or the Ecclesiastical New Year (St. Sergius Mechev)

 

Homily on the Beginning of the Indiction, or the Ecclesiastical New Year

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

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

By the mercy of God, today we enter with you into a new ecclesiastical year. Each year, going from feast to feast, the Holy Church, together with all of nature, passes from beginning to end through the annual cycle of divine services.

For people living in the world, the arrival of a new year is usually associated with a burdensome feeling of regret over what one could have done and what has remained undone. Looking back upon the time that has been lived, a person inevitably thinks about what has been irretrievably lost in the past, what can no longer be returned or changed in the future.

For people who live a spiritual life, this feeling of the irretrievability of what has passed is foreign to them, because they live in a world where there are no temporal limitations, where the boundaries of the past, present, and future are overcome.

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew, 
or Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

On the Priesthood and Pastoral Ministry

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“There was a certain man, a master of his house, who planted a vineyard. He surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and gave it to the vinedressers…” (Matthew 21:33).

Beloved faithful,

In several places in Holy Scripture, the world created by God is compared to a vineyard. The Gospel reading today states this most clearly: “There was a certain man, a master of his house, who planted a vineyard.” This is God Himself, the Master of heaven and earth, who created all things visible and invisible and made the world as a vineyard of His house! Elsewhere the Savior says: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser… I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:1–5). The Prophet David likewise compares the world to a vineyard and prays for its perfection, saying: “Lord, Lord, look down from heaven and see, and visit this vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and perfect it” (Psalm 79:15–16).

Why does God compare the world to a vineyard or to wheat ready for harvest, and not to something else? Because both the vine and the grain are the two foremost fruits of the earth that sustain people's bodily life. Then, because bread and wine, through the Divine Liturgy, are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, which sustain the spiritual life of our souls. For just as bread and wine “strengthen man's heart,” so Holy Communion strengthens faith, forgives sins, and saves the soul of the faithful person. Bread and wine, along with the oil that is also often mentioned, are basic foods of humanity that possess a twofold sacred character, for they nourish both body and soul through the liturgical sacrifice.

Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

 

Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew
(13th Sunday After Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

Today during the Divine Liturgy, beloved brothers and sisters, there was read from the Gospel the parable of Christ the Savior concerning the master of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and, having entrusted it to vinedressers, went away. When the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. But the vinedressers seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than before, and they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, “They will surely be ashamed before my son.” But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.” And having seized him, they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those vinedressers? The chief priests and elders, to whom this parable was spoken, said to Him, “He will bring those wicked men to a wicked end, and will give the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will render him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps. 117:22–23). Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits” (Matt. 21:33–43).