Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

It is rare to find a Christian who does not know the phrase “the winter is harsh, but Paradise is sweet,” even if he does not know that it is connected with the Holy Forty Martyrs. Indeed, this well-known phrase may be said to be the seal of the martyrdom of these Saints, since they themselves, by saying it, acted as anointers of their own souls — that is, as trainers and guides of themselves — encouraging and strengthening one another so that they might remain steadfast in the martyrdom they were undergoing. And what they said was the most timely and decisive thing they could think of, since they urged themselves to endure their terrible suffering by transferring their thoughts beyond it, toward what is higher and better, toward Paradise itself. This means that the Saints functioned as true and genuine healers of themselves, striving to maintain those thoughts that moved within the grace-filled dimension of the revelation of Christ. Did not the Lord reveal that martyrdom and afflictions constitute the path that leads into the Kingdom of God — “through many tribulations you must enter into the Kingdom of God” — and that what the believer suffers in the world as persecution constitutes participation in His own Passion? “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” The Apostle also notes: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Thus the orientation of the Saints and the firm establishment of their thoughts not on the outward appearance — the martyrdom and the torments — but on the result as the depth and meaning of the martyrdom — the Kingdom of God — was on the one hand the confirmation of the genuineness of their faith: they saw things in Christ; and on the other hand it was their liberation, for in this way the grace of the Lord became active in their existence. From this perspective they show all Christians how we may face any difficulty and sorrow of life, whether it is called an economic crisis or a “misfortune” or the loss of what we once possessed: not to remain fixed on the problem itself, but on the solution of the problem, its transcendence. In this way our whole being is set in motion, acquiring a dynamism that leads, by the grace of God, to the place where the sun of joy and gladness shines.

Prologue in Sermons: March 9

Against Those Who Turn to Sorcerers for Help in Illness

March 9

(From a Discourse of Saint John Chrysostom on those who treat illnesses with sorcery and charms.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

It is very sorrowful, brethren, that even now one can still find among you many people who, in times of illness, abandon their hope in God and in the help of ordinary physicians and instead seek relief from the so-called sorcerers. It is grievous to see how sometimes a person, going to some deceiver — or one who truly works with dark powers — gives him his last coin, humbles himself before him, reveres him, and almost worships him as a god. Where then, brethren, is our Lord, our Defender and Helper in the afflictions that befall us? Where is the vow made at Baptism to renounce Satan and all his works? What kind of Christians are we after this?

“O how much better it is to die,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “than to go to the enemies of God! What help is it to heal the body while destroying the soul? What profit is there in receiving a little relief here, only to be sent there with the demons into eternal fire?”

Homily for the Second Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast - The Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the Second Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast 

The Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas 

On the Power of the Faith of Many

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: Child, your sins are forgiven you!” (Mark 2:5)

Beloved faithful,

The word of God is full of boundless teachings. In today’s sermon we will speak about the power of prayer made with faith by many people. For just as when several candles are lit in a dark room greater light is produced, and just as when many coals are gathered together they give more heat, so also the faith of many has greater acceptance before God.

This truth is seen from many testimonies of Holy Scripture, but also from the teaching of the Holy Gospel that was read today. Let us take, for example, the word that the Lord spoke: “And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: Child, your sins are forgiven you.”

Homily for the Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for the Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

I congratulate you all on the feast day of Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, whose memory, since the 14th century, the Church has celebrated on this day, the second Sunday of Great Lent. Saint Gregory Palamas is a singer of the Divine Light, as the Holy Church calls him. Saint Gregory came from a very noble family — his father was a senator and advisor to the emperor. Gregory's father was always distinguished by his love for the Jesus Prayer. He was married and had three children, yet he always immersed his mind in the vision of God and Holy Scripture. Gregory's life recounts how his father, during a senate meeting, would often become so immersed in the Jesus Prayer that he failed to hear what the emperor was saying. And when the emperor asked Senator Andronikos what he thought of the matter, he would ask again, "What was the matter?" The Emperor responded, "He's praying again!" The Emperor greatly valued and loved Senator Andronikos, as he gave wise and sound advice.

This pious father fathered a pious son, Gregory. From childhood, he possessed a truly phenomenal memory. Later, on Mount Athos, he memorized the entire Bible. Saint Gregory mastered the basics of education very quickly and completed school at the age of fourteen. He was then expected to graduate from the Imperial University and enter the service of the emperor, who wanted to make him one of his ministers. But Saint Gregory decided otherwise. He left home without permission and went to Mount Athos, where, at the age of twenty, he became a monk. At thirty, he was ordained a priest. Gregory studied with the great teachers of the time and was acquainted with Gregory of Sinai and other great saints.

Homily Two for the Second Sunday of Great Lent (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two for the Second Sunday of Great Lent

By St. John of Kronstadt

“Jesus entered Capernaum; and it was heard that He was in a house; and immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room even near the door; and He spoke the word to them. And they came to Him, bringing a man paralyzed in his limbs, carried by four” (Mark 2:1–3).

If an earthly king or the son of a king visits some city or village and stays in a certain house, then great crowds of people gather around that house, because everyone desires to see the clear royal eyes, carefully turned toward the whole vast kingdom and toward all the subject peoples; everyone desires to hear the merciful royal word.

So high is the rank of a king, so important on earth is his service to God and to people, that everyone feels toward his person an involuntary reverence; and often even the mere sight of him brings delight.

But there was a time when the King of heaven Himself, the King of the whole world, the beginningless God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the King of earthly kings, appeared on earth and lived with men, traveling from city to city and from village to village.

Saint Theophylaktos of Nicomedia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

This blessed man came from the regions of the East, and living from childhood in a virtuous manner, he departed from there by divine Providence and arrived in Constantinople. He met the first personal secretary of the emperor and entered into his service. This was Tarasios, the great glory of Orthodoxy. When, therefore, he by divine vote was chosen for the throne of Constantinople, because Paul the Cypriot had resigned from the throne, the lamp was placed on the lampstand. And immediately the divine High Priest built a monastery at the entrance of the Euxine Pontus (Black Sea) and placed there, instead of living any longer among the worldly, the most-holy Theophylaktos and Michael, who were living dedicated to God in deeds and words in the city of Synada. Then the High Priest, having learned of the radiant virtue of the men and their Christian progress, sent and immediately summoned them and established them in his own house of prayer. Not much time passed and he ordained them as bishops: Michael indeed in Synada, and the honorable Theophylaktos in Nicomedia.

The achievements of Theophylaktos are very many, and the things themselves reveal them: namely the divine churches that were built by him, and the hospitals, and the protection of widows and orphans, and the immeasurable philanthropy. So active was the love of this great imitator of God, that filling a vessel with lukewarm water, he washed and cleansed the crippled and the lame and those wounded in their limbs with his own hands.

Prologue in Sermons: March 8

Against Pride

March 8

(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on Pride)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Since pride blinds a person, since it deprives him of peace, since it is insatiable, and since, finally, it is hateful to God — then, without doubt, it is an evil. And if it is an evil, then it is clear that we must avoid it in every way and acquire humility. How can this be attained? It seems to us that the best way is precisely through reflection on the evil of pride. Such reflection, undoubtedly, must bring saving fruits, for it will show us the destructive consequences of pride and all the misfortunes that proceed from it. What kind of evil is this? And what destructive consequences can come from pride?

Saint Chrysostom says:

“As a garden that is not cleared of brushwood cannot grow, so also a proud man cannot be saved unless he conquers pride by humility and repentance. The soul of the proud strives for the heights, but instead of them it falls into the depth of hell. And as rotten fruit is unpleasant to the gardener, so also the prayer of the proud is unpleasant to God. The soul of the proud has no portion with God, but becomes a joy for the demons. Because of pride the angels also were cast down from heaven and became demons. Humble-mindedness raises a man to heaven and creates communion with the angels, but pride joins one with the demons. The prayer of the humble ascends to God, but the prayer of the proud provokes His anger. And as the weight of fruits breaks the branches, so pride destroys the soul, even a virtuous one. And as a tree that has no root soon falls, so the proud man soon descends into the abyss of hell.

The Art of Iconography (Photios Kontoglou)

 

The Art of Iconography 

By Photios Kontoglou

The all-honorable art of Iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church is a sacred and liturgical art, just as all ecclesiastical arts are, for they have a spiritual purpose. These holy arts do not aim merely to adorn the church with painting to make it pleasing and delightful to the worshippers, or to delight their hearing with music, but to lift them into the mystical world of faith through a spiritual ladder, which has gradations, that is, steps: the sacred arts, hymnography, psalmody, architecture, iconography, and the other arts, all cooperating together, so that the mystical Paradise, fragrant with spiritual perfume, may be formed within the souls of the faithful. Therefore, the works of the ecclesiastical arts of the Eastern Church are reminders of the divine word.

The art of Icons in the Orthodox Church is called Hagiography, as it paints holy persons and sacred subjects. The iconographer is not simply an artisan who makes a representational painting on religious themes, but possesses spiritual rank and a spiritual ministry, which he performs within the church, as does the priest and the preacher.

The Witness and the Mission of the Orthodox Faith

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani

March 2021

On the occasion of the celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, during which we remember the restoration of the holy and venerable icons, as well as the victory and triumph of the Orthodox Church, it becomes necessary that the great duty of the witness and mission of the Orthodox faith in our difficult times be emphasized.

It is a fact that our era has been marked by a health crisis on a global level. We are still experiencing the various hardships of the Covid-19 pandemic in all sectors of society. This constitutes a trial for modern man, even raising questions of existence and worldview.

Undoubtedly, this pandemic comes and brings about a reconsideration of many data and conditions. Nothing is the same as before. The way of life of people, after the coronavirus era, has new foundations. And the changes are radical and decisive at all levels of the life of people and of societies.