The Miraculous Discovery of the Relics of Saint Leonides and His Companions in 1917

The commemoration of the Holy Martyr Leonides and his seven female disciples, who were also glorified as saints because of their martyrdom, is celebrated on April 16.

In 1917 their relics were discovered in the region of Nea Epidavros (Nea Epidaurus), and they have been placed in a silver reliquary and constitute a place of pilgrimage in the Church of Saint Leonides there.

The beginning of the revelation of the Church of Saint Leonides took place on April 12, 1898, after a vision seen at dawn on that day by seventeen-year-old Ioannis Georgiou Bimpis. In the vision, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared — clothed in black yet radiant — with the Divine Infant in her arms, at the very spot where the church stands today, and she instructed him to dig in that place and he would find an invaluable treasure.

After recounting the vision to his family and praying, the young man took a hoe and, at sunrise, went to the place indicated by the Panagia.

Five Miracles of Saint Amphilochios of Patmos

1. An event that shows how he received mysterious calls for the salvation of others, and which recalls the great Apostle of the Nations, Paul the Apostle, who heard the voice of the Macedonian: “Come over and help us.” 

The ever-memorable Elder, while he was in his cell at the monastery in Patmos, heard a certain Helen from Ikaria calling him to hasten and save her. He did not lose time; he went down to the harbor of the island and, as if by a miracle, found a sailing vessel departing for Ikaria.

Battered by the sea, he arrived at his destination and immediately asked whether there was a certain widow named Helen, and was informed that a few days earlier she had lost her husband. At once he asked to learn the road that led to the house of the widow. He did not seek to rest his weary body, but hastened without delay — the voice of Helen troubled him. As he was walking, he saw a frantic woman running in despair; he called her by name and said to her: “Helen, where are you going? I have come for you.” And the grieving woman came to herself, saw the spiritual father, thought about what she was about to do, and confessed that at that very moment she was going to drown herself in the sea. The woman was saved; the miracle took place, as she herself told me.

His constant journeys and his labors in hearing the confessions of his spiritual children are not easy to record. He ran with all missionary zeal to find and save the lost. His concern for sinners in general shows him to be a good shepherd, an imitator of Christ the Chief Shepherd.

The Professor and Elder Amphilochios of Patmos

By Georgios Papazachos (1935–2001), 
Professor of Medicine, University of Athens

I would meet him on Patmos, where he lived as a monk, and also in Athens — indeed, once when he had come to the capital, I even had the special “blessing” of hosting him in my home. He was serene, gentle; you rejoiced even just to look at him!

The first time I met him, as soon as he saw me from afar, without even knowing me, he opened his arms wide and cried out warmly: “Blessed is he who comes!”

He embraced me and then kissed me. This is the love of the elders: they embrace you and truly warm your soul!

The Ineffable Event of the Resurrection of Christ (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

The Ineffable Event of the Resurrection of Christ

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

It is a fact that we now live in the age of globalization, where on the one hand there exists the threat of hateful insecurity, and on the other a hedonistic, materialistic understanding of life. At the center stands the human being. And this postmodern human being seems to prefer the path of autonomy, self-sufficiency, and his own reason alone. The cogito, ergo sum of René Descartes stands not only at the beginning of modern times, but also determines the entire course up to the present day. Neo-rationalism becomes the small or great god and the criterion — like another “infallibility” — and the “man is the measure of all things” becomes dominant in all the structures of our society.

However, the problems of man are not diminished, and the fundamental ontological category of existence remains unredeemed. The man of the 21st century continues to feel the unsatisfied void within himself and remains troubled.

And yet, before modern man comes the unprecedented and astonishing event of the Resurrection of Christ. The words are heard: “We celebrate the death of death,” and the proclamation resounds: “Christ is Risen.”

Sunday of Holy Pascha (8-9 of 15)

...continued.

8. What Have Hades, Earth, and Heaven Become After the Resurrection of Christ?

The descent into hades and the Resurrection of Christ have great significance in the work of the salvation of mankind.

Saint Philaret of Moscow wrote:

“Is it necessary to establish faith, to create hope, to inflame love, to enlighten wisdom, to raise up prayer, to bring down grace, to destroy calamity, death, evil, to give life to life, to make blessedness not a dream but reality, glory not a phantom but the eternal lightning of eternal light, illuminating everything and striking no one? — For all this, sufficient power will be found in one miraculous word: ‘Christ is Risen.’

What is hades after, since by the descent into hades, Christ is risen? A fortress into which, under the appearance of a prisoner, the conqueror entered; a prison whose gates are shattered and whose guards are scattered; this is truly, according to the image of Christ, a monster that swallowed the prophet cast from a ship; but instead of devouring and destroying him, it became for him another, though not so calm, ship, in order to bring him to the shore of life and safety. Now it becomes clear how someone hoped to pass safely even through hades itself: ‘Even though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me’ (Ps. 22:4) — You, Who for us descended from heaven, walked on the earth like us, and like us descended into the shadow of death, so that from there also You might open a path for Your followers into the light of life.

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).