Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 6

The Month of September

Day 6

7. The Holy Angels Are Our Invisible Protectors and Guardians

(The Miracle of the Holy Archangel Michael. September 6, Menaion)

Both the word of God and the Holy Fathers teach us to believe that the holy Angels of God, who in God's goodness always care for human beings, do us good, care for us, remain near us, and, as those who stand ever wakefully before the face of God, attending to God's all-good providence for mankind, always protect us at the prompting of the divine will. Thus, the Prophet David, glorifying the protection of God manifested over him, says: “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps. 33:8), that is, from the schemes devised against them by evil men. And elsewhere: “No evil shall befall you, and no plague shall come near your dwelling; for He shall command His Angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways” (Ps. 90:10–11). Saint Basil the Great teaches: “As the walls of a city, surrounding the city on every side, repel enemy attacks from every direction, so the Angel serves as a wall before you, guards you from behind, and on both sides leaves nothing unprotected” (Works of Basil the Great, Part 5, Homily on Ps. 33:8). Thus, from all these words we become convinced that the Angels are our invisible protectors, guardians, benefactors, and keepers. But having been convinced by these words, can we also become convinced of this truth by an example? We can. And here is such a proof.

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

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

On the Wedding Garment

“Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

Beloved faithful,

The parable from today's Holy Gospel, besides the other hidden teachings contained within it, also reminds us of the wedding garment with which we were clothed at Holy and Divine Baptism. We will be called to give an account for this garment on the great day of God's judgment at the end of the ages.

We must understand that this garment is Jesus Christ Himself, our Lord and Savior, according to the testimony of the great Apostle Paul, who says: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ!” (Galatians 3:27). We ask ourselves: What duty do we have, we who at Holy Baptism put on Christ? In answer, we shall say that all of us who have put on Christ have the great duty to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the garments of light (Romans 13:12).

What are the works of darkness, and why are they called by this name? The works of darkness are all evil, fruitless works, that is, the sins which we commit of our own will, about which the divine Apostle Paul tells us (Ephesians 5:11).

Homily on the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (St. Justin Popovich)

Homily on the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost 

By St. Justin Popovich

(Delivered in 1974 at the Ćelije Monastery)

There is no more important event in the history of the human race, nor in our history—my history and yours, the Serbian and the Orthodox history, and the history of the whole human race—than the descent of God from Heaven to earth. There is no greater event that could happen in this world. And it did happen. The King of Heaven descended! How could the Kingdom of Heaven not descend with Him into this world! God descended! How could the Angels of Heaven not descend with Him and come to dwell upon the earth!

Behold, the earth is in truth a piece of Heaven. The earth was created to be a part of Heaven, but we human beings, through sin, have moved the earth away from God and placed a terrible darkness between ourselves and God, for sin is darkness. And thus the earth fell away from Heaven. The Lord has come into this world, the Parable of the Wedding Feast of the Son of God tells us today. It is an enigmatic and mysterious word: the wedding of the Son of God. That is, the greatest celebration on this earth when God came upon it. The greatest joy and the richest feast.

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

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew
(14th Sunday After Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

In the Gospel read today, the Lord Jesus Christ likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a man, a king, who made a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast; and they did not want to come. What disregard! What pride, ingratitude, and insolence! And yet what condescension and longsuffering on the part of the king! He again sent other servants, saying: "Tell those who have been invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and what has been fattened are slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast." What, then, did those who had been invited do? How did they respond to the renewed invitation of their gracious king? They, the Gospel says, paid no attention and went away, one to his own field and another to his business; but the others seized his servants, insulted them, and killed them. But now hear what the king did with these insolent and ungrateful men. When the king heard of such brazen insolence on the part of those invited to the wedding, he became angry, and sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants: "The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy; therefore go out to the crossroads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find." And those servants went out onto the roads and gathered all whom they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with those reclining there. And when the king came in to see those reclining there, he saw a man there who was not dressed in a wedding garment, and he said to him: "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" But he was silent. Then the king said to the servants: "Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth there; for many are called, but few are chosen" (Mt. 22:2–14). Here ends today's Gospel reading.

Reflection on the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Theophan the Recluse)

 Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew

Matthew 22:2-14

By St. Theophan the Recluse  

 

A king arranges a wedding for his son, he sends once for those who were bidden, sends twice, but because of earthly cares they do not come—one was busy at home, another with business. A new invitation was made in other spheres, and the wedding chamber was furnished with guests. Among them was found one not dressed for a wedding, who was therefore cast out. The meaning of this parable is clear: The wedding is the Kingdom of Heaven, the invitation is the preaching of the Gospels, those who refused are those who did not believe at all, and the one who was not dressed for a wedding believed, but did not live according to faith. 

 

Each of us must figure out for ourselves which category we belong to. That we are bidden is clear, but are we believers? Indeed it is possible to even be among believers, under their common name, and completely lack faith. One does not think at all about faith, as if it did not exist; another knows something or other about it and from it, and is satisfied; another interprets the faith in a distorted way; another relates to it with complete animosity. All are reckoned to be among the Christians, although they have absolutely nothing which is Christian. 

 

Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew Resource Page

Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew

 

Matthew 22:2-14   

 

Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew: Gospel Reading 

 

Gospel Commentary for the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Theophylact of Ochrid) 

 

Reflection on the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Theophan the Recluse) 

 

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

 

Homily on the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (St. Justin Popovich) 

 

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

 

 

Fourteenth Sunday After of Pentecost 

 

2 Corinthians 1:21-24; 2:1-4 

 

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost: Epistle Reading 

 

Holy Prophet Zechariah, Father of John the Forerunner, in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Zechariah, whose feast we celebrate today, is a Hebrew name meaning “he who remembers the Lord.” He is distinct from the Prophet Zechariah who belongs to the group of the twelve so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. He too is characterized as a prophet because he truly possessed the prophetic gift, and the matters concerning him are recorded by the Evangelist Luke, who relates that during the period of his priestly service in the Temple, as a priest, he received a vision of the Archangel Gabriel, who announced to him beforehand the birth of his son John, despite all the logical obstacles: his own old age, and the old age and barrenness of his wife Elizabeth. Because of his disbelief, the archangel “punished” him with muteness, which was removed with the birth of John, an event that led Zechariah to hymns and glorifications, as well as to a prophecy concerning his child. His end was martyric, as is also noted in the New Testament: namely, his countrymen killed him, according to their well-known custom, between the Temple and the altar.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 5

The Month of September

Day 5

6. To What Terrible Crimes Apostasy from the Faith Can Lead a Person

(The Sufferings of the Holy Martyrs Urban, Theodore, Medimnos, and those with them; and of the Holy Martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus. September 5, Menaion)

To Parishioners Living Among the Old Believers

It is known that, in general, all the Old Believers have no love for Orthodox Christians, and almost all of them seek to do them harm. But it is also known that those who are distinguished by a particular hatred of the Orthodox are not those who were born and raised in the schism, but those who themselves abandoned Orthodoxy and entered into it because of their own foolish convictions. Why is this latter the case? Why, brethren, do those among the Old Believers who themselves departed from the Orthodox Church into schism show particular hatred toward you? Know that this is because the devil draws especially close to those who have apostatized from Orthodoxy; he takes away from them all love for their neighbors and fills them with every kind of malice. And with such malice, naturally, they become capable of every kind of crime, and in fact they commit such crimes. It is not difficult to prove this truth.

An Account of a 19th century English Traveler to Crete Regarding Saint Anthimos Kourouklis

Robert Pashley (1805–1859), the English classical scholar and traveler, visited Crete in 1833–1834 and later published the results of his journey in his two-volume Travels in Crete (Cambridge, 1837). The work remains an important nineteenth-century firsthand account of the island, combining observations of its geography, antiquities, villages, monasteries, customs, and inhabitants with information gathered from local sources. In the following passage from the second volume, Pashley records his thoughts on Saint Anthimos Kourouklis, the Blind Ascetic of Kefallonia (+ 1782), providing a valuable contemporary glimpse into nineteenth-century Cretan life, as well as how he viewed the oral legends of a holy elder he heard from a local. Following this description, he goes on at some length describing another "holy elder" who he actually saw with his own eyes.

Saint Babylas of Antioch in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Great Fathers of the Church, such as the thrice-great Saint John Chrysostom, not only concerned themselves with Saint Babylas and his three spiritual children, but also wrote important discourses in order to emphasize their holy example and their fervent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the culmination of which was the offering of their blood for His sake and, consequently, their glorious entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Among these discourses is that of the holy hymnographer Theophanes, who, referring to the Holy Bishop Babylas, emphasizes what is usually stressed when speaking of holy hieromartyrs: the Saint was both the one who offers the sacrifice and the one who is offered as the sacrifice. The one who offers the sacrifice, because as a high priest he ministered Jesus Christ in the Divine Liturgy; the one who is offered as the sacrifice, because he was called by grace to offer his own life precisely for the sake of his faith. The verses of the Synaxarion are very expressive: 

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 4

 

The Month of September

Day 4

5. To Schoolchildren: On the Love of God

(From the Life of the Holy Hieromartyr Babylas. September 4, Menaion)

You know, children, that the benefits bestowed upon us by God are great and beyond number. You know that God gives us life; that He sends the holy Angels to guard us; that He gives us the earth as our dwelling place; the sun, moon, and stars to give us light; the air, water, plants, and animals, so that we may have everything necessary and beneficial for life; that He has revealed His will to us, so that we may fulfill it and be pleasing to Him; that He has granted us the saving Mysteries, so that by making use of them we may be cleansed from our sins, draw near to Him, and receive salvation and eternal life in Him. You know that everything good which we possess, beginning with life itself, we have from God, and that, as the word of God says, “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Thus, you know all these things. But why, I ask, have you been given this knowledge? Do not forget that it has been given so that, seeing and knowing the boundless love of God for you, you yourselves might repay God with love and thanksgiving. Our Savior also calls you to such love. He says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength—this is the first commandment!” (Mk. 12:30) Yes, do not forget, children, that the first commandment for you, your first duty, must consist in loving God, your Creator and Benefactor; and, as you see, not simply loving Him, but loving Him, according to the word of the Savior, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. But what, you may ask, does this latter mean? What does it mean to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? The following example will give you the answer.

Orthodox Resistance to Nazism: The Church of Czechoslovakia and the Martyrdom of Bishop Gorazd

By Archimandrite Athenagoras Soupourtzis,
Professor of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law, Volyn Academy of Theology

On June 18, 1942, exactly 84 years ago, hundreds of SS men surrounded an Orthodox church in Prague.

The battle that followed lasted for hours. None of the seven resistance fighters hiding in the crypt surrendered.

The story that led to that day, and the ethos of the Church that defined it, deserves to be brought back to memory.

When resistance against Nazism is discussed, historical memory usually turns to the military operations of the Allies, the resistance movements, and the governments that continued the struggle from exile.

Far less well known is the contribution of certain ecclesiastical communities, which chose to defend human dignity at the cost even of the lives of their pastors.

Perhaps the most characteristic example is the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios

The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios:
The Celebration of the Translation of His Relics and the Construction of His Church on Aegina

Estia, 
Friday, November 9, 2018

By Eleutherios G. Skiadas

“A Saint Among Us” was the common sentiment and customary expression of the faithful when, in 1961, the Ecumenical Patriarchate canonized Metropolitan Nektarios of Pentapolis, known in the world as Anastasios Kefalas (October 1, 1846 – November 9, 1920). And rightly so, since many were still living who had known him, had conversed with him, and had heard his teachings or spiritual counsel. Moreover, the fact that the likeness of a Saint had been preserved in photographs was an additional reason for the strange feelings this evoked.

Yet long before the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it was the faithful themselves — the people bearing the name of Christ — who had already accorded him the honors of a saint. Apart from Aegina, where he ended his earthly life and left behind blessed memories, his reputation had spread throughout the entire country. For this reason, at the initiative of the people of Aegina, he was already being commemorated as a Saint during the 1940s and 1950s. In Athens, on the very day of his repose, services were held at the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries in Thissio and at the Church of Saint Eleutherios in Pedion tou Areos.

Holy Hieromartyr Anthimos of Nicomedia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Anthimos was led in chains before the emperor Maximian for interrogation, while all the instruments of torture had been brought there. And when he was questioned and boldly confessed Christ, they severed his tendon, wounded him with red-hot irons, and stretched him out naked upon a potsherd, whereupon they beat him with rods. Then they put red-hot bronze supports on his feet as footwear and bound him to a wheel, while at the end they cut off his head. And even after his head had been cut off, his hair continued to grow.

2. Saint Anthimos belongs to the company of the holy hieromartyrs, who possess the grace of God in twofold measure: that of the priesthood and that of martyrdom. In both he excelled to such a degree that not only do the faithful in this world rejoice and glorify his memory, but so do the angels and the martyrs who preceded him—and thus the whole Church, both the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, as they are called. For, “Having first offered sacrifice to God, the bloodless sacrifice, as a priest most law-abiding, and afterward, as a most true Martyr, you offered yourself to Christ as an acceptable sacrifice through blood”; that is, as a priest who lived wholly according to the law of God, he first offered the bloodless sacrifice to Him; afterward, as a most true martyr, he offered himself to Christ as an acceptable sacrifice through his blood. And not only this: as has also been noted on another occasion, he was a trainer of many martyrs, that is, through his word, his exhortations, and his prayers, but above all through his life, he guided others to remain steadfast in their faith and to become martyrs of the Lord themselves. “You offered armies of martyrs to Christ, Father Anthimos, through your teachings and exhortations, admonishing, teaching, and, as one wise in God, presenting yourself as a clear example.”

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 3

The Month of September

Day 3

4. Against Falsehood

(From the Life of the Hieromartyr Anthimos. September 3)

It seems to us that in recent times no sin has become so widespread among people as the sin of falsehood. They lie everywhere and about everything. They lie simply by knowing the truth and concealing it; they lie by presenting a matter not as it actually is; they lie with the aim of harming one person or another; they lie out of greed and bribery, in order to obtain something for themselves through falsehood; finally, they lie out of flattery and the desire to please people, in order by lying to curry favor with someone. In a word, words flow everywhere like rivers, yet there is nothing with which to quench one’s thirst, because the water is rotten. But this sin of falsehood, which, incidentally, is now given so little attention, is in reality a grave sin before God, hateful to Him and severely punished by Him. Thus the word of God says: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). And in another place: “The Lord shall destroy all those who speak lies.” For this reason we, too, must not give ourselves over to the sin of falsehood, but avoid it in every way and always speak the truth alone. But in order to acquire the habit of the latter, what must we do? We must, precisely, first of all remember that falsehood is a grave sin and one severely punished by God; secondly, we must remember also that whoever lies imitates the devil, who, according to the word of the Lord, “did not stand in the truth ... and is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44); and thirdly, we must learn the truth from the saints, who stood for it even when, for its sake, they had to lay down their very lives. Yes, brethren, regarding the truth, the saints can always give us saving lessons, and by their example can always turn us away from falsehood. Therefore, for a lesson in truth, we intend now to direct you to the saints as well, and we hope that the lesson they give you will not remain without benefit for you.

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).

Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost (St. Innocent of Kherson)

Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost

By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride

Have you heard the thunder? Have you seen the lightning? This lightning flashed here; this thunder resounded in this very church. For was it not here, from this very sacred place, that the apostle’s lightning-like word was proclaimed today: “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be anathema!” (1 Cor. 16:22). What are all the thunders and lightnings compared with the one curse of God? Thunder and lightning strike at a particular time and in some particular place upon the earth; but the curse of God, once pronounced in Paradise, has continued to this day to make the whole earth bring forth thorns and thistles. Thunder and lightning may kill the body, may take away temporal life; but the curse of God may cast both soul and body forever into the fiery Gehenna. Therefore, we must look more carefully into ourselves: are we standing beneath this terrible thunder? Are we in some way drawing this unquenchable lightning down upon our own heads? Has someone perhaps already been struck by it? For this, too, may happen: someone may already have been struck by it and yet feel nothing of his affliction, just as one struck by physical thunder and lightning does not know his condition; and if he can be restored to life, it is through the help of a beneficent hand belonging to another.

Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the Honorable Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (Gennadios Scholarios)

Introduction

The following text, “Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the Honorable Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John,” was written by George Scholarios, who later became known as Gennadios II, Patriarch of Constantinople. Scholarios (ca. 1405–1472) was one of the most important Greek theologians and intellectuals of the fifteenth century. He was deeply involved in the theological controversies surrounding the Council of Florence and initially supported union with the Latin Church before becoming one of the most prominent opponents of the union. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he became the first Patriarch of Constantinople under Ottoman rule, taking the monastic name Gennadios. His patriarchates were troubled and relatively brief, and by the autumn of 1465 he had withdrawn permanently to the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mount Menoikeion, where he devoted himself to prayer, study, and writing. It was during this final period of his life that many of his most important surviving works were composed.

This homily is dated 15 June 1466. The manuscript heading itself identifies it as having been written at the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mount Menoikeion near Serres. It was therefore composed only a few months after Scholarios had made his final withdrawal from Constantinople and entered the more secluded monastic period in which he produced much of his later theological and ascetic writing. The editors of Scholarios's complete works specifically note that the homily was written to be read, rather than preached, and describe it as an expression of gratitude toward the Honorable Forerunner, combining historical reflection with ascetic exhortation.

The Community of Saint John the Forerunner on Antigone Island

Antigone is the second inhabited island of the Propontis after Prinkipo (Büyükada), when coming from Istanbul, and is the second in size in the group. It is covered with pine trees and has an area of approximately 1,500 square meters. Its Turkish name is “Burgaz,” meaning “fortress” or “wall.”

In the center of the island's inhabited area stands the magnificent Church of Saint John the Forerunner. According to tradition, it was built around 841 by the Empress Theodora over the crypt of Saint Methodios the Confessor. Following the Fall of Constantinople, the church was renovated twice, in 1759 and again in 1817. On June 28, 1894, during the great earthquake, the church was split in two and could no longer be repaired. The people of Antigone undertook a major effort to rebuild their church and organized a collection among themselves. Eventually, through the generous donation of the great benefactor Demetrios Pantziris, and with his son-in-law Nikolaos Dimadis serving as architect—he was the son of Konstantinos Dimadis, the architect of the Great School of the Nation—the magnificent Church of Saint John the Forerunner was erected. The church was consecrated on July 11, 1899, with the Patriarch of Constantinople Neophytos presiding over the ceremony; he was serving at Antigone at the time.

“The Honorable Forerunner is Gentle, Lovely, Exceedingly Beautiful”

Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis would say about Saint John the Forerunner, while pointing to his icons:

“The Honorable Forerunner is not so stern and fierce! He is gentle, lovely, exceedingly beautiful.”

And when he was asked whether he had seen him, he replied:

“I have seen him; that is why I tell you that he is gentle. Indeed, he told me that he would be my protector in this life and the guarantor of my salvation!”

Source: From the book Taught by God published by the Metropolis of Veria, Naoussa and Campania in 2023, which contains the file for the canonization of Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

 

New Archaeological Discoveries Beneath the Holy Sepulchre Strengthen the Case for Jerusalem’s Traditional Tomb of Christ

New archaeological discoveries beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are shedding important new light on one of the oldest and most disputed questions in Christian archaeology: whether the traditional site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and Resurrection is historically credible.

The discoveries do not provide an inscription identifying the tomb as that of Jesus, nor do they constitute definitive proof that the tomb preserved within the Holy Sepulchre is the tomb in which Jesus was buried. What they do provide, however, is a remarkably detailed picture of the landscape that existed beneath the church during the first century. That landscape—a disused quarry subsequently used for cultivation and burial—fits important elements of the Gospel accounts and provides new archaeological context for the traditional identification of the site.

The excavations, directed by Francesca Romana Stasolla of the Sapienza University of Rome, have been conducted since 2022 as part of restoration work involving the floor of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The preliminary results of the 2025 campaign have now been published in Liber Annuus, the archaeological journal of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. The research represents the culmination of investigations in several areas of the complex and provides a broader topographical reconstruction of the site.

The Revealed Path: Saint Phanourios and the Memory of Nafplio’s Liberation

The veneration of Saint Phanourios occupies a unique space within Greek Orthodox folklore. Unlike many military, clerical or monastic saints whose legacies were codified in homilies or formal ecclesiastical historiography, Saint Phanourios exists primarily through the lens of lived experience and communal practice. The hallmark of his devotion is the baking of the phanouropita, a vegan cake made with seven or nine ingredients, which functions as a domestic ritual of intercession, traditionally associated with the recovery of lost objects, opening of closed paths, or offering prayers for his legendary, unrepentant mother. Alexandros Papadiamantis beautifully preserved this folklore and act of piety in his 1899 short story, Goutou Goupatou, recording the custom of offering a cake while quietly praying, "God forgive the mother of Saint Phanourios." Yet, when this same underlying folklore interacted with the localized realities of Nafplio, the concept of a saint who "reveals" (phaneronei) underwent a profound, civic transformation, shifting from a private domestic prayer into a literal catalyst for the Greek War of Independence.

The Teaching on Weeping of Venerable Poemen the Great

A brother asked Abba Poemen what kind of spiritual labor a monk ought to undertake. The Abba replied: “When Abraham came into the Promised Land, he purchased a tomb for himself, and from the tomb he began to take possession of the Promised Land.” The brother asked: “What does the ‘tomb’ signify?” The Abba replied: “It is a place of weeping and lamentation.”

The following saying also belongs to Abba Poemen: “Weeping is twofold: it brings about and preserves.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my passions, which trouble me?” The Elder said to him: “Let us weep with all our strength before the goodness of God, until He has mercy upon us.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my sins?” The Elder said: “He who desires to be freed from the sins that dwell within him is freed from them through weeping; and he who desires not to fall into sin again avoids falling through weeping. This is the path of repentance handed down to us by Scripture and the Fathers, who said: ‘Weep!’ There is no other path apart from weeping.”

Venerable Poemen the Great Resource Page

Venerable Poemen the Great (Feast Day - August 27)

 

Verses

As from the open mouth of a wolf Poemen snatches,

The lives of the sheep of the exceedingly great Shepherd.

On the twenty-seventh Poemen is mourned as a great shepherd.

 

Life and Sayings of Holy Abba Poemen the Great

 

August: Day 27: Venerable Poemen the Great 

 

Homily One on Venerable Abba Poemen, the Shepherd of Souls (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos) 

 

Homily Two on Venerable Abba Poemen, the Shepherd of Souls (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

The Teaching on Weeping of Venerable Poemen the Great 

 

On Those Who Do Not Accept Our Forgiveness (Abba Poemen)

 

Seven Precepts For An Assured Salvation 

 

Prologue in Sermons: February 16 

 

Christians Today Are Like Watermelons

“Elder, what are Christians like today?”

“Like watermelons, my child.”

With this simple remark, full of spiritual wit, an elder on Mount Athos expressed a profound truth about our times.

If you think about it, a watermelon is a fruit that can easily deceive you. On the outside, it is deep green and firm, and you see a beautiful, hard surface that gives you the impression that nothing can bend or break it.

So it is with many Christians today. They wear the “garment” of piety, know the right words, follow religious customs, and appear steadfast.

“Help Us To Love Our Enemies, Our Brothers and Sisters.”

At the Sacred Pilgrimage Cave Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner (Damialis, Crete), traditionally believed to have been built by Saint John the Xenos (10th century), where, according to the liturgical schedule of the shrine, Divine Liturgies and Parakleses are celebrated every month, with the commemoration of all the names that the many pilgrims record during their pilgrimage, His Eminence Metropolitan Amphilochios of Kissamos and Selinos celebrated the Paraklesis to Saint John the Forerunner on July 14th 2026.

At the conclusion of the Paraklesis, the His Eminence Metropolitan Amphilochios referred to one of the “For Health” prayer requests that had been recorded at the shrine during the month of July.

In this particular request, which was written in English, the person making the request asked God to keep his or her family “in Lebanon” safe and to grant them peace: “Keep them safe. Make peace.”

The next sentence of the prayer request was a prayer for the “enemies.”

It reads:

“Help us to love our enemies, our brothers and sisters.”

The Hidden Greatness of Greece

“Scattered across the surrounding hills and throughout the entire rural amphitheater are an astonishing number of churches.

The immeasurable depth of Orthodoxy, with the houses of God that you encounter everywhere in Greece, whether you make your way through the ravines and mountains or along the sea-washed shores of this maritime land, three-quarters of which is surrounded by the sea, where the people have always found the foundation of their spiritual truth: 'that you may know how one ought to conduct oneself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.'

Faith and language, peasant and fisherman or sailor—the two primordial, indestructible cells, bound together in the form of a cross, like the lion, the angel, the ox, and the eagle upon the Tetramorph, or again like the four primordial elements, those four so celebrated, inexhaustible sources, flowing abundantly through life and death, ever-flowing springs that sustain a people who are the guardians of one of the most wondrous religions and languages in the world. […]

Saint Kosmas the Aitolos and His Vision for the Greek Nation

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

Father Kosmas¹ is one of the best-known ecclesiastical figures of the pre-revolutionary period, even within the sphere of scholarly research,² although his activity and contribution do not primarily belong to the field of scholarship. This has been emphatically underscored by Professor Gerhard Podskalsky, who included Father Kosmas in one of his strictly scholarly works as the sole exception.

Sufficient evidence of his significance for the enslaved Nation is found in the laudatory words spoken about him by the German researcher himself: "An exceptionally popular missionary and teacher of the Nation." He was a characteristic example of a popular preacher who "possessed a religious piety foreign to academic theology" — "His sermons deeply moved the People both from a national and from a religious perspective" — and for this reason they were regarded as "subversive from a sociopolitical perspective."³ Indeed, it is a fact that, in the mouths of the People and in their Songs, the echo of the sermons of this great teacher of the Nation has been preserved.

Saint Kosmas the Aitolos: His Athonite Paschal Procession to the Enslaved

 

By Stelios Koukos

Every second day of Pascha, in the capital of the monastic state of Mount Athos, Karyes, the procession of the icon of the Axion Estin takes place. Following the morning Paschal services of Matins and the Divine Liturgy, celebrated in the magnificent Church of the Protaton, with its famous frescoes, shining like a full moon in its splendor, the great procession of the wonderworking icon of the Axion Estin is held.

The procession is led by the Greek flag, followed by the hieromonks and deacons, who cense the icon with their thuribles. The icon of the great noblewoman of Mount Athos is protected from the weather by a large umbrella, which also serves as an indication that she is a person worthy of great respect.

The chanters of the Protaton also participate in the entire procession, chanting Resurrection hymns throughout its course.

The icon is initially carried by hieromonks, then by monks, and toward the end of the procession, pilgrims from the world, and in our world, are also permitted to carry it as a blessing. In fact, the first year that I carried it myself, the icon had no weight. After several years, the friend with whom I had carried it together revealed to me that he had experienced the same thing. The second year, however, it had weight.

The Most Holy Theotokos as the Restoration of Fallen Adam and the Redemption of Eve (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Transcribed Sermon delivered at Vespers for the Leavetaking of the Feast in the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Palaio-Panagia, August 22, 2025.)

We celebrate today as well, beloved fathers and brethren, most honorable rulers, the Leavetaking of the feast of the Most Holy Theotokos, specifically the feast of the Dormition of our Panagia, which is a very great feast of the Theotokos. We have the feasts that refer to Christ the Master, which are called the Despotic Feasts, and we also have the feasts that refer to the Most Holy Theotokos, which are called Theometoric Feasts.

Throughout this entire period, from August 1 until today, and tomorrow, when we will celebrate the services of Matins and the Divine Liturgy, we glorify the all-praised name and person of the Most Holy Theotokos. Every day in the holy churches we celebrate and chant the troparia, not only now, but throughout the entire year, with various feasts, and we clergy, the bishops and preachers, each time during the sacred service that we celebrate, try to contemplate some aspect of the personality of the Most Holy Theotokos. And I can say that we never tire of chanting the troparia for our Panagia and speaking about her.

If you consider it, other priests and clergy do this as well, but personally I have been speaking about our Panagia for more than fifty years. And because I have various archives and keep a record each time of what I say, I observe that only rarely do I repeat myself in sermons that I have given on other occasions. You understand, therefore, that our Panagia is a very great person. She is not simply, as we usually say, our mother who cares for us and loves us, but she has an enormously profound theological significance.

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

Homily for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew, 

or Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

On Christian Perfection

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; afterward, come and follow Me” (Matthew 19:21).

Beloved faithful,

The ideal of every Christian on earth is the salvation of the soul, that is, the attainment of eternal life. Until the Incarnation and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, no one could be saved, for Paradise was closed and the grace of the Holy Spirit had not been poured out upon the world. Therefore, all the righteous of the Old Testament awaited the deliverance of their souls through the death and Resurrection of the Son of God.

Salvation, according to the teaching of the Holy Gospel and of the Orthodox Church, is attained through keeping the commandments given by God to mankind, contained both in the Decalogue of the Old Law and in the New Testament, which is also called the Law of Grace. Every Christian who desires to be saved must fulfill these three conditions: to have right faith in God; to possess the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given to all through the seven Holy Mysteries of the Church — Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, Holy Communion, Marriage, Priesthood, and Holy Unction — and to fulfill the commandments contained in the Holy Gospel. Without these three obligatory conditions, there is no salvation. If even one of them is lacking, a person cannot be saved and loses his soul, “which is more precious than the whole world.”