Holy Martyr Basiliskos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Basiliskos lived during the reign of Emperor Maximian (3rd century) and came from the village of Choumalia in Amaseia of Pontus. He was the nephew of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit. Although at first he was tortured together with the fellow soldiers of Saint Theodore, Eutropios and Kleonikos, those two were perfected through martyrdom for Christ, while Basiliskos himself was left in prison. But because he had a great desire to complete the course of martyrdom himself, he prayed to God for this, and he was granted a vision of the Lord, Who commanded him to go and bid farewell to his family, and then, when he arrived at Comana, he would receive the martyr’s crown.

The Saint was therefore released from prison by the soldiers, and together with them he went to his home. After bidding farewell to his mother and brothers, exhorting them to remain steadfast in the faith of Christ, he stayed with them for a short time. But the governor Agrippas, having learned of his release, sent other soldiers, who arrested him. They bound him and put sandals on his feet that had nails driven through them, and thus they led him by force along the road to Comana — the place where his martyrdom awaited him. Arriving at the village of the Daknoi, they were hosted in the house of a woman named Traiane, while the Saint was tied to a dry plane tree with his hands bound behind him. The Saint prayed, and the plane tree sprouted and put forth many leaves. Moreover, a spring of water burst forth from its roots, at the very place where the Saint had been tied. When the soldiers and the woman saw this miracle, they declared that they believed in Christ and loosed the Saint from his bonds.

Prologue in Sermons: May 22

  

Why We Often See That the Wicked Seem Untouched by the Devil in This Life, While the Godly Suffer From Him

May 22

(From the Paterikon.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Why is it, brethren, that in this life we often see wicked people as though they experience no temptations from the devil, while the godly suffer from him? Why is this so?

A monk once asked an elder: “Why is it that wicked people abandon fasting and prayer, give themselves over to gluttony, deceive and rob one another, do whatever they wish, often break their oaths, and pay no attention to the fact that they sin grievously? They even receive the Holy Mysteries calmly, and all this seems to mean nothing to them, as though everything were perfectly normal. And why is it that the godly exhaust themselves with fasting, vigils, prayers, and dry eating, deprive themselves of bodily comfort, weep and lament, and say that they are great sinners and deserving of the fires of Gehenna?”

Hearing this from his disciple, the elder replied with a sigh: “You spoke rightly when you said that for sinners everything seems to mean nothing. They have fallen so deeply that they are no longer even aware of it. Yes, because of their lack of repentance, they cannot rise again. Think about it: why should the devil struggle against them when they themselves already lie prostrate before him and cannot get up? He does not fight such people. But the godly, though sometimes defeated, also overcome; though they fall, they quickly rise again and in the end will completely conquer the enemy of their salvation.”

The Ascension of Christ Points to Pentecost and the Second Coming

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. The Completion of His Saving Work

With His Ascension, the Lord completed His redemptive and saving work on earth. His ascent into Heaven was the continuation of His Birth, His Baptism, His teaching ministry, His Crucifixion, and His Resurrection. What the Lord began when He came into the world reached its fulfillment through His divine Ascension: He united mankind with the Triune God. According to the Kontakion of the feast, which summarizes its essence, the Lord ascended in glory, “having fulfilled the divine plan for our sake and united things on earth with things in heaven.”

This glorious Ascension does not mean that the Lord rejected His physical body and returned as God alone to the right hand of the Father. The Lord ascended into Heaven, “where He was before,” together with His holy body, which means that the incarnation of God was not a temporary episode in His life. Such temporary appearances are seen among the “deities” of the ancient Greeks and other peoples, when some “god” appears in human form in the world to accomplish a specific mission and then returns to his normal state. But the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, became incarnate as man, assumed human nature, and retains it forever. If humanity was healed from the wound of sin, it was because God, moved by infinite love, united His life with ours. Forever now within the Godhead there also exists human nature. And this means that in Christ, man has “conquered” heaven. Already we exist within the Kingdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ. “I go to prepare a place for you,” said the Lord (John 14:2).

Saints Constantine and Helen in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Constantine is a scandal to many with regard to his sainthood. How is it possible, they claim, that an emperor who by necessity waged wars, gave orders for the destruction of his opponents, even of his own people whenever he thought they opposed him, could ultimately become a saint and be honored as a saint by the fullness of the Church? Yet the question must be broadened: how is it possible for the Apostle Paul to be a saint and to be regarded as the greatest of the apostles, when he too committed many violent acts in his life, so much so that even his name alone functioned among the first Christians as a synonym for threat and murder? And not only Paul, but many others among the saints of our faith as well. What do those who hesitate regarding the sanctity of Constantine the Great — and of the others who used violence — fail to understand or sufficiently take into account? The power of repentance, and even more, the will of God Himself. For — to focus on the Equal-to-the-Apostles Saint — whatever violent acts Constantine committed, he committed while he was not yet a Christian, or after his conversion and certainly before his definitive entrance into the faith through holy baptism, acting in ignorance, while God Himself gave abundant signs of His will that Constantine should be near Him.

Prologue in Sermons: May 21

To Guard Ourselves Against Sin, It is Good to Reflect Often That the Devil Wages Constant Warfare Against Us, and That Those Who Overcome Him Do Not Remain Without Reward

May 21

(From a Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on the Upbringing and Discipline of Children)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some foolish parents completely neglect the upbringing of their children in their early years. When a child does something wrong, the foolish parent says: “Oh, it is nothing; he is still a child and does not understand. When he grows up, he will stop doing such things.” And so the child grows up like a wild apple tree in the forest — uncultivated, overgrown, and barren. But if you taste the fruit of that tree, you will not rejoice, for it is sour and bitter. Thus, without restraint, correction, or instruction, the child eventually grows into a slave of his disordered inclinations; his early bad behavior becomes habit, and he becomes an unworthy member of society, a grief to his parents, and a burden and scandal to many.

“Nothing is worse,” says Saint Chrysostom, “than when the faults of children are not corrected, and thus become habits in them. These faults, when neglected, usually corrupt the child to such an extent that later there is no possibility of correcting him by any exhortation. The devil then leads such children about like captives wherever he wishes. He becomes their absolute ruler, gives them destructive counsels, and the unfortunate children, not even realizing that these counsels lead them to eternal ruin, carry them out with full willingness.”

Death as a Post-Fall Event and Not of Nature (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Death as a Post-Fall Event and Not of Nature 

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou 

 

Prologue

We are living in the period of the feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (Pascha), and we celebrate the fact that Christ by His death conquered death, sin, and the devil, according to the whole tradition of our Church. During these days we chant triumphantly: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”

He trampled down death and gave to everyone the possibility through His Grace to conquer spiritual death (his separation from God) and finally also the second death through the resurrection of the bodies. According to the Apostle Paul: “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25–26).

Likewise He abolished the devil in the sense that, according to the word of the Apostle Paul: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14–15).

This means that within the Church, which is the true Body of Christ, we struggle, by the power of Christ, to conquer sin and the passions, to transform the powers of soul and body so that they may proceed according to nature and toward that which is above nature, and to partake even now of the life of Christ and of His Resurrection.

Death was the result of Adam’s sin with the cooperation and contribution of the devil, and in the Church, with the help of God, we wage a struggle against all three of these: namely the devil, sin, and death.

Nevertheless, there are certain contemporary theologians who claim that death is not the result of sin, but is a natural condition, because it is connected with the created nature of human existence. Such a teaching overturns the entire theology of the Church concerning original sin and furthermore undermines the whole work of the incarnation of the Son and Word of God, and even of the Church itself.

This view in a certain way reintroduces the heresy of Pelagianism, which the Church condemned synodically. This is analyzed in the text that follows, titled: “Death as a Post-Fall Event and Not of Nature.”

Saint Lydia of Philippi: The First European and Greek Christian

By Lambros Skontzos

One of the most beloved female figures mentioned in the New Testament is Saint Lydia of Philippi in Macedonia, who is in fact regarded as the first Christian woman of Europe and, of course, the first Greek Christian woman.

We receive information about her exclusively from the sacred book of the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 16). The Apostle Paul, together with his co-workers Timothy, Silas, and Luke, during his second missionary journey in the spring of 50 A.D., while he was in Troas, saw an important vision: a Macedonian man who said to him: “Come over into Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). The great Apostle considered this vision as a command from God to cross into Europe in order to preach the gospel of salvation.

Without wasting time, he boarded a ship together with his co-workers and arrived at the harbor of Neapolis, present-day Kavala. By way of the Via Egnatia they reached Philippi, a very important Roman city which enjoyed special privileges from imperial Rome. It was built in a strategic location in the midst of a rich region. After the Battle of Philippi (42 B.C.) it was transformed into a Roman colony and populated by Roman veteran soldiers; it bore the privileged name “Colonia Iulia Augusta Philippensis” and was governed by magistrates, possessing administrative and economic autonomy.

Holy Martyr Thallelaios in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Thallelaios lived during the reign of Numerian (around the end of the third century). He came from Lebanon; his father was called Beroukios and his mother Romylia, and he studied the medical art. He was arrested for his faith in Christ in Azarbos, the second province of Cilicia, while he was hiding in an olive grove. He was then led before the governor Theodore, who, since he was unable to persuade him to sacrifice to the idols, ordered that his ankles be pierced and that he be hung upside down with ropes. While the servants appeared to be carrying out the command, by some divine power they lost their minds and instead of the Saint pierced a piece of wood and hung it up. They themselves were then beaten, because they were thought to have mocked the governor. Afterwards the governor ordered the Saint to be thrown into the sea, from which however he emerged unharmed, clothed in a white garment. After these things he was cast into the arena to be devoured by wild beasts, but again he remained unharmed, whereupon they cut off his head with a sword in Edessa, the city of Aigai.

Prologue in Sermons: May 20

For Guarding Ourselves From Sins It Is Good to Think That the Devil Has Constant Warfare With Us and That Those Who Conquer Him Do Not Remain Without Reward

May 20

(Word from the Paterikon.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Know, brethren, that for guarding ourselves from sins it is good for us to think more often that the enemy of our salvation constantly wars against us and that those conquering him receive from God for their victory over the enemy crowns in the future life. This is evident from the following.

A certain monk Moses was greatly tormented by demons tempting him to the sin of the flesh. Not being able to drive away from himself the vile thoughts and not wishing any longer to remain in his cell, he went to the venerable Isidore and announced to him his inner warfare. The elder began to entreat him that he return to his cell, but Moses remained unyielding. Then the elder led him up onto a mountain and said: “Look to the west.” Moses looked and saw a multitude of demons rushing to battle against him. After some time Isidore said: “Now look more attentively to the east.” Moses began to look to the east and beheld an innumerable multitude of people shining with heavenly glory. And Abba Isidore said to Moses: “These whom you see in the east are the saints sent to us for help in the struggle against sin; and those whom you saw in the west are those fighting against us, the enemies of our salvation.” And the words of Abba Isidore so inspired and encouraged Moses that he glorified God and, completely renewed morally, returned to his cell.