Discourse on the Miracle of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore on the First Saturday of the Holy Fast (Archbishop Nektarios of Constantinople)

Introduction from Migne in P.G. 39, 1821-1840

Nektarios, by origin a Cilician and by birthplace a native of Tarsus, was by profession a layman and held the rank of senator and praetor of Constantinople (a).

When, in the year 381, the see of Constantinople became vacant through the resignation of Gregory of Nazianzus, Nektarios, being about to return to his homeland, went to Diodorus of Tarsus — who at that time was among the one hundred and fifty Fathers assembled at Constantinople for the appointment of a bishop — in order that, if Diodorus wished to send any letters to his own people, he might entrust them to him for delivery.

Diodorus, whether moved by divine inspiration upon observing the man’s venerable gray hair and outstanding character, or — as Socrates relates — prompted by the circumstances, received him, once he had been brought forward by the people and demanded for the highest priesthood, and successfully labored for his appointment to the see of Constantinople.

At that time Nektarios had not yet even been baptized. He was therefore immediately washed in the divine font, duly initiated into the sacred mysteries, and appointed bishop. This distinguished man held that dignity until about the year 398 (b).

Venerable Basil the Confessor in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Basil lived during the reign of Leo the Iconoclast. He left the world and the things of the world and became a monk. And after first practicing asceticism in a manner pleasing to God, later, when the struggle against the holy icons began, he strongly resisted the iconoclasts. As a result, he was arrested and underwent many punishments, yet he did not yield. On the contrary, he preached the truth unto death, having as his fellow-combatant also the divine Prokopios the Decapolite.

For this reason they tore his entire body and his neck with iron claws and cast him into prison. But it happened that the tyrant died, and thus the Venerable one was set free. And coming out of prison, he continued the same manner of life. He prepared and guided many on the path of virtue and brought back those who had gone astray to the Orthodox faith, until he departed with joy and thanksgiving to God, Whom he had longed for since infancy.

The ascetic tradition of our Church always presents as a way of life something that provokes the reasoning of the worldly man, who does not live in God — even if he is superficially characterized as a Christian: namely, that temperance as a limitation of bodily pleasures constitutes the delight of the believer; poverty as a conscious choice constitutes his wealth; non-possession as the renunciation of owning any material things — especially of interior attachment to them — is his great property; humility is his praise.

And this is due to the fact that the Christian struggles against the central passion of man, self-love (philautia) with all its offshoots: love of pleasure (philedonia), love of money (philargyria), love of glory (philodoxia) — so as to transform it and make it love of God (philothea) and love of mankind (philanthropy). That is, he strikes his passions with the corresponding virtues, so that, by transforming through the grace of God self-love into love of God and love of man, he may find the point of harmony with the grace of God.

We must not forget that what is always sought is God Himself and His grace in the life of man, and the only place where man truly finds God is love. From this perspective we do not find it difficult to understand what we read, for example, in the Gerontikon concerning our saints, who said:

“I go where there is toil, and there I find rest.”

This same understanding we also observe in the ascetic life of Venerable Basil. Our Hymnographer guides us and says:

“Desiring the blessedness of God which is beyond human understanding, O inspired one, you regarded temperance as your delight, poverty as your wealth, non-possession as abundant property, and humility as your glory” (Vespers sticheron).

In other words, no one can truly encounter God, or feel the grace of the Spirit of God actively within him, while the passion of egoism with its consequences remains active within him. From this viewpoint one also understands the blessing of the period of Great Lent, which provides countless opportunities for examining our blameworthy passions and transforming them into divinely-inspired passions — that is, into love toward God and toward one’s fellow man.

The Holy Hymnographer Theophanes, apart of course from the ascetic conduct of Venerable Basil, also emphasizes in several hymns of his Canon the Venerable’s particular contest concerning the holy icons. The era of Venerable Basil chiefly confronted this reality: the Christological heresy of the iconoclasts with the immense warfare they had unleashed against the Orthodox — and there the Venerable one struggled: both through his teaching and through his martyrdom, from which he also received the title of Confessor.

The Hymnographer therefore, considering together Venerable Basil and his disciple Prokopios the Decapolite (27 February), notes something very beautiful regarding their struggle for the holy icons: the Venerables revered the icons because they preserved upright the image of God within their own soul. The honor they rendered to the icons of our Church was thus the continuation of the honor they gave to the image of God within their heart.

And this means: he who has the eyes of his soul open and beholds with reverence his grace-filled self — the one reborn by the grace of God in the Church through holy baptism and the other mysteries — he alone can also stand rightly before the icons, which make perceptible the living presence of Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints within our Church.

Consequently, in the opposite sense: the opponents of the icons, those who claim that they are “idolatrous” things, are precisely those who first of all have demolished within themselves the image of God and the true image of man.

“Having preserved with piety the image within the soul, O venerables, you struggled in martyrdom, reverencing the immaculate image of Christ” (Ode 3).

Saint Theophanes does not spare hymns in order to highlight, as we said, the joint struggle of Venerable Basil together with his disciple, Saint Prokopios. Not one or two, but six hymns within the Canon speak of the disciple — the fellow-athlete, co-struggler, like-minded companion, equal partner of Venerable Basil, Prokopios. For example:

“You obtained, Father, a fellow-athlete and prudent soldier, ever advancing in virtues, with whom, rejoicing, O all-blessed one, you contended in the martyrdom of steadfast struggle” (Ode 1);

“Bearing the name of the heavenly kingdom, you walked the road leading to it, having found Prokopios as one like-minded" - that is, of one soul and one faith (Ode 4).

Why this particular emphasis? Although Saint Theophanes says nothing explicitly about this, he clearly has in mind what the word of God always notes: “A brother helped by a brother is like a fortified city.” For if any stumbling should occur, the other immediately hastens to help. Therefore: “Woe to the one who is alone.”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Prologue in Sermons: February 28

To Avoid Sins, One Must Reflect on Their Consequences

February 28

(From the Lemonarion, the story of the monk Julian, whom an Angel saved from fornication.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Why is it, brethren, that we are so inclined toward sin?

It is because we do not reflect on its consequences. We only wish to taste a little of sin’s sweetness, and about the rest we scarcely think at all.

“Oh well, nothing will happen; everything will pass; God will forgive everything,” we say — and like a foolish fish rushing onto the hook, so we hasten toward sin and fall into the claws of the devil. This is not good.

In order to avoid sin, we must reflect on what consequences will follow if we commit it, and flee from it as from fire.

Timeline: Hell as the Experience of God’s Love

 

 

Timeline: Hell as the Experience of God’s Love

 

Century	Figure	Key Teaching on Hell
2nd c.	Irenaeus of Lyons	Separation from God = death; punishment arises from refusal of Life, not divine cruelty.
2nd–3rd c.	Clement of Alexandria	Punishment is medicinal and corrective; God acts as teacher/physician, not avenger.
3rd c.	Origen of Alexandria	Divine fire is spiritual, exposing sin; souls punish themselves by resisting divine reality.
4th c.	Basil the Great	God remains good; suffering results from human opposition to divine goodness; fire = God revealed.
	Gregory the Theologian	Divine light illuminates saints, burns sinners; God’s presence is the measure of judgment.
	Gregory of Nyssa	The same divine light that glorifies saints torments the unrighteous; suffering comes from resistance to God.
7th c.	Isaac of Nineveh	Explicit: “The punishment of hell is the scourge of God’s love.” God never ceases loving; torment is inability to receive love.
7th–8th c.	Maximus the Confessor	Judgment reveals spiritual state; God’s energies save or burn depending on human disposition.
8th c.	John of Damascus	God’s love remains unchanged; heaven/hell = different reception of divine energies.
14th c.	Gregory Palamas	Theology of uncreated energies: the same divine light is bliss for the purified, fire for the unrepentant.
20th c. (Orthodox)	Vladimir Lossky	Fire of hell = divine love; God’s presence is experienced as bliss or torment depending on spiritual state.
	Georges Florovsky	Judgment reveals spiritual condition; salvation = participation in divine life; God’s love never ceases.
	John Romanides	Heaven and hell = encounter with God’s glory; spiritual illness determines experience.
	Kallistos Ware	Same as Lossky; divine love is joy or torment according to human openness.
20th c. (Catholic)	Hans Urs von Balthasar	God’s love offered to all; hell = self-exclusion from love; suffering arises from refusal of God.
	Karl Rahner	Hell = existential state of final rejection of God; judgment = ratification of human freedom.
	Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)	Hell = interior isolation; self-imposed inability to receive God’s love; not a place of punitive vengeance.
	Henri de Lubac	Separation from God = tragedy; punishment = consequence of refusal to participate in divine communion.

 

Observations from the Timeline

 

1. Continuity: From Irenaeus → Cappadocians → Isaac → Palamas → modern Orthodox and Catholic theologians.       

 

2. Core Idea: Hell is the experience of divine love or presence, not divine vengeance.      

 

3. Development: Early hints in 2nd–3rd centuries → clearer articulation in 4th–8th centuries → precise synthesis in Palamas → 20th-century revival.     

 

4. Western Convergence: Modern Catholic theologians like Balthasar and Rahner independently rediscovered what the Greek Fathers taught centuries earlier. 

 

 

Loss of Greek Patristic Continuity in the West

 

Everything changes with Augustine of Hippo.

Because of:

• his intellectual brilliance,

• the collapse of the Western Roman Empire,

• and the decline of Greek learning in the Latin West,

Augustine became the primary theological authority for medieval Western Christianity.

His framework emphasized:

• inherited guilt,

• divine justice,

• legal judgment,

• punishment as penalty.

Over centuries, this became the default Christian imagination in Western Europe.

 

After roughly the 6th century:

• fewer Western theologians could read Greek,

• Cappadocian and Eastern texts circulated less,

• theological development relied mainly on Latin sources.

So teachings associated with:

• Basil the Great

• Gregory the Theologian

• Gregory of Nyssa

became comparatively unfamiliar in Western theology.

 

- A "pseudomorphosis" (or "Western Captivity") began in the

17th century where western influences trickled into Orthodox theology.

In the 20th century, both Orthodox and Catholic theologians independently returned to:

• Scripture,

• early patristic sources,

• pre-scholastic theology.
   

Two Parallel renewals occurred:

Orthodox World	Catholic World
Neo-Patristic synthesis	Ressourcement movement
Florovsky, Lossky	de Lubac, Balthasar
Return to Cappadocians & Palamas	Return to early Fathers

 

Both rediscovered older Christian ways of understanding the Judgment.

  

Venerable Father Ephraim of Katounakia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Ephraim of Katounakia was born in 1912 in Ampelochori of Thebes. His father was named Ioannis Papanikitas and his mother Victoria. The Elder’s secular name was Evangelos. He completed secondary school, yet the grace of God closed before him every path toward worldly advancement.

In Thebes, where his family later moved, Evangelos met his future elders, Ephraim and Nikephoros. Even before becoming a monk his life was already monastic; while still living in the world he struggled spiritually, practicing the Jesus Prayer, prostrations, fasting, and above all obedience. His deeply devout mother was granted assurance from Saint Ephraim the Syrian that her son’s desire to become a monk was also the will of God and that Evangelos would honor the monastic life.

Indeed, on September 14, 1933, Evangelos left the world and came to the desert of Mount Athos, to Katounakia, at the hesychasterion dedicated to Saint Ephraim the Syrian, placing himself in obedience under the Elders Ephraim and Nikephoros. After his trial period he was tonsured a monk of the Small Schema with the name Longinos. Two years later he received the Great Schema from his Elder Nikephoros and was given the name Ephraim. The following year he was ordained a priest.

Confession on Friday of the First Week of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Confession on Friday of the First Week of Great Lent 

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

I think our main misfortune is that we consider confession to be merely an obligation performed once a year. Then we fast, confess, feel relieved — and this divine lightness we wrongly reduce to simple emotional relief, an ordinary human feeling. We feel lighter — and that seems to be enough.

But is repentance given only so that we may feel better?

We must understand that confession is the means given by God for the ordering of our spiritual life — for the transformation of our entire existence. Otherwise repentance becomes fruitless. Repentance is a great mystery, yet we turn it into nothing more than a pleasant emotional experience.

The Holy Fathers teach that true repentance begins from the very moment you have confessed. The priest prays over the penitent that the Lord may grant him the image of repentance:

“Have mercy, O Lord, upon Your servant, and grant him the image of repentance.”

But why do we ask this, if the person has already confessed and repented?

Because from that moment — from confession, the forgiveness of sins, and union with the Holy Body and Blood — repentance in life truly begins. That is real repentance.

Homily on the Fall (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily on the Fall 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

After the Fall, Adam attempts to deceive God; he desires to become a god himself. When a man begins to sin, it becomes exceedingly difficult for him to stop. Therefore one must never say: “I will sin now and repent later.” For it is by no means certain that repentance will follow. Sin carries a man away, as it carried Adam away.

And do you know how far Adam was carried?

To the very depths of hades itself, where Christ found him after His saving death upon the Cross.

God said to Adam:

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?” (Gen. 3:11).

Thus Adam already regards God as an enemy; he is ashamed before God and fears Him. Even now many people perceive God in the same way — as some distant and terrible force: something exists, yet it would be better if that Something remained far away. For men fear God because they do not wish to repent. This disposition comes from that very moment of the Fall.

Homily on Paradise (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

 

Homily on Paradise 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

On the fourth day of Great Lent we heard the narrative from the sacred book of the Old Testament concerning Paradise, into which the man fashioned from the dust of the earth was introduced.

This is the most detailed description of Paradise given in Holy Scripture — that ancient homeland of ours, our primordial fatherland, to which we long to return, knowing that through the hidden path of Holy Baptism access to it has now been opened for us. Because the Lord was born, the barrier standing between God and mankind has been destroyed.

Indeed, the description of holy Paradise, in which we were settled by God, ought to inspire us to enter upon the path of righteousness.

Homily on the Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily on the Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

We see how wisely the Church guides us, showing us in every detail and from every side the greatness of God. Today we conclude the account of how the world came into being. We shall speak about the sixth and the seventh days of Creation — about Friday, the day that completed all creation, and about Saturday, which received the name of the day of rest.

On the sixth day, when the beasts were created, the earth brought forth living creatures possessing sensation and movement, yet not endowed with reason. At this point, the Lord, as it were, pauses in speaking about the creation of the world and begins to take counsel with Himself. Why?

Because the Lord resolved to create an astonishing and inconceivable union. He decided to unite two universes: the visible, material world and the world not perceived by the senses — the invisible or intelligible world. God resolved to bind these two worlds together by creating a flesh-bearing, mammalian angel.

Saint Prokopios the Decapolite in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Prokopios first followed the monastic life and practiced every form of ascetic discipline with great exactness. He completely purified himself from his passions, while he also reproved and abhorred all those who impiously denied the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God. Then, for the sake of his faith, he was scourged and was revealed as a great confessor; and after performing many miracles, he departed unto the Lord.

According to the hymnography of our Church, Saint Prokopios constitutes a confirmation of that which God granted to man from the very beginning of his creation: namely, that he was fashioned according to the image and likeness of God. Although man distorted this divine gift through his fall into sin — so that the image of God in man was darkened and the likeness lost — Saint Prokopios, like our other saints, made use of the supernatural coming of God as man in the person of Christ. Through this coming, Christ restored humanity to its original condition and even beyond it: He purified the image of God in man and reopened the prospect of attaining the likeness, that is, deification, which is now accomplished within the living Body of Christ, the Church.

Prologue in Sermons: February 27

What Benefit the Remembrance of Death Brings Us

February 27

(From the Teachings of Saint John Chrysostom on Death)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Both the word of God and the Holy Fathers teach us that reflection upon death brings great benefit to us. The wise Sirach says: “Remember your end, and you will never sin” (Sirach 7:36). Likewise, Saint John Chrysostom teaches: “Keep death always before your eyes; for by reflecting upon it, you will not sin.”

Thus teach both Holy Scripture and the Holy Father - but is this truly so?

Saint John Chrysostom says:

“I beseech you, brethren, continually keep death before your eyes! Reflecting upon it, you will not sin. For we do not know at what hour the Lord will come to judgment. Shall we appear before Him unprepared and uncleansed from sins?

The Life of Saint Porphyrios, Bishop of Gaza

Saint Porphyrios, Bishop of Gaza

By Aristeidis G. Theodoropoulos, Educator

The “initiate of the Lord and filled with divine zeal,” the God-appointed, compassion-loving and wonderworking Hierarch of Gaza.

Among the God-bearing hierarchs who shone in a manner worthy of God during the 4th–5th centuries A.D., a prominent place is held by the loving and wonderworking shepherd of the people of Gaza, Saint Porphyrios, commemorated by our Orthodox Church on February 26.

This venerable and illustrious native of Thessaloniki is hymned, among other titles, as “an imitator and equal of the Apostles,” as one “who practiced virtue with longing and despised gold for Christ’s sake,” and as “the bulwark of the orthodox dogmas and the downfall of idol-worshippers.”

This most wise hierarch of Christ distinguished himself through simplicity, humility, meekness, freedom from resentment, chastity, compassion, tenderness of heart, and generosity in almsgiving, as well as through his ability to interpret difficult passages of Holy Scripture.

Saint Porphyrios of Gaza in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

It would not have been possible for the Holy Hymnographer Joseph, as he has done in many other similar cases, not to make use of the opportunity afforded him by the very name of Saint Porphyrios in order to highlight his sanctity. According to the Hymnographer, the Saint is first of all distinguished among the holy Shepherds of the Church, because he constitutes their flower, shining forth in brightness and in the purple radiance of its color.

The acrostic of the Canon which he composed for him emphasizes precisely this truth:

“I revere the purple-glowing flower of the Shepherds. — Joseph.”

Furthermore, the Saint moves continually in the heavens with joy, because he wears the all-radiant and splendid garment of the soul, shining like purple, which he acquired through the purification of his soul from the passions by the streams of his tears:

“By the streams of your tears, O blessed Porphyrios, you quenched the flame of the passions of sin, cleansing the defilement of your soul; and, clothed in a robe dyed in purple, you dwell forever in the heavens, rejoicing unto the ages.” (Vesperal sticheron)

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 3 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

By St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki
 
Question 57

Do the Presanctified Holy Gifts receive anything through the prayers that are said?

Answer

The most holy Presanctified Gifts receive nothing from the prayers that follow, for they are already perfect. The prayers recited during the Liturgy itself bear witness to this: they are prayers of supplication and propitiation offered on our behalf, through the dread Mysteries set forth — namely, the Body and Blood of the Only-Begotten — beseeching God the Father to be merciful to us and rendering us worthy to partake of the Communion of Christ.

As for the Entrances: the first belongs to Vespers, while the second takes place for the transfer of the Gifts onto the Holy Table, so that, beholding and venerating them, we may be sanctified through their vision and grace. What these Entrances symbolize has been explained elsewhere.

Prologue in Sermons: February 26

Joseph interpreting the dreams of the chief cupbearer and baker.

 

Belief in Dreams is Dangerous

February 26

(From the discourse of Saint Antiochus: “That One Ought Not to Believe in Dreams”)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Many Christians have grown accustomed to placing faith in dreams. As soon as they rise from their beds, they immediately begin to reason: that they saw this or that, and that this means some particular matter awaits them; that another dream signifies some joy or misfortune that will happen to them; that another means that someone will come or will not come; and so on. The speculations of such people often have no end.

And thus, instead of beginning the day with prayer and undertaking some good work, they begin it with sin: they spend the whole morning interpreting dreams, telling fortunes with cards, troubling their household and infecting them with superstition, depriving both themselves and others of peace.

What, brethren, shall we say to such people? Much could be said against belief in dream-fantasies. For the present, let us limit ourselves to one observation: they stand in danger of falling into the nets of the devil if they do not abandon their irrational faith in dreams.

Questions and Answers on the Presanctified Liturgy - Part 2 (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

By St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki
 
Question 56

Why are the Presanctified Liturgies not celebrated during the other fasting periods?

Answer

The Presanctified Liturgies are not celebrated during the other fasts because this fast, above all others, remains first and pre-eminent — it is the Fast of the Lord Himself. During it alone, on the five weekdays, this practice has been handed down to be performed, since our spiritual struggle is then greater.

Because the most dread and sacred rite — the saving mystery for the whole world — is absolutely necessary above all things, it was not considered right that throughout Great Lent it should entirely cease. Therefore, the Fathers ordained that on Saturdays and Sundays we celebrate the sacred and complete Sacrifice, fulfilling the Lord’s command when He said: “Do this in remembrance of Me,” continually. But on the five weekdays they appointed the celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy, and they did not legislate that the bloodless and life-giving sacrifice be celebrated on any other days — except on two days of Cheesefare Week, Wednesday and Friday, and on Great Friday.

The Three-Day-Fasting Monks of Mount Athos – A Story of Grace for Great Lent

With a typikon that has been preserved uninterruptedly for more than ten centuries, the monks of Mount Athos enter Holy and Great Lent immediately after the Vespers of Forgiveness.

On the evening of Cheesefare Sunday, after the completion of Vespers and Compline, the fathers in the Holy Monasteries and in the Huts withdraw to their cells, limiting their movements only to what is absolutely necessary. For three days their life is devoted entirely to prayer and spiritual watchfulness.

The refectory is not set for the monks during this first three-day period of Lent; only for visitors is a simple refreshment offered, usually a little tea and some rusks. Most observe complete abstinence from food until Wednesday at noon, while many refrain even from water — except, of course, those who face health problems.

Throughout these days, the monks leave their cells only to participate in the long sacred services. Silence is a fundamental element of their struggle, and many remain awake as much as possible, dedicating their time to unceasing prayer.

Saint Tarasios of Constantinople in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Tarasios defined as dogma the veneration of the august and holy icons, and through him the imperial and Roman authority returned to the venerable traditions of the Holy Apostles and of the Ecumenical Synods, and the Holy Church was united with the other Patriarchates. Tarasios lived piously and became respected by the emperors, and he also founded a sacred monastery beyond the strait, where he gathered multitudes of monks. He was very merciful to the poor, governed the Church well for twenty-two years and two months, and reposed in peace; his body was then laid in the monastery built by himself. In bodily appearance he was in every way like Gregory the Theologian, except for his age and the scar beneath his eye. For he was not altogether advanced in years. 

Three are the levels that the hymnography of the feast of Saint Tarasios sets forth:

Venerable Walburga of Heidenheim the Wonderworker

Saint Walburga or Walpurga (c. 710–777) was an 8th-century English-born Benedictine nun, abbess, and missionary to Germany who is recognized by some Orthodox jurisdictions (notably in Western Europe) as a saint who lived before the Great Schism. She is commemorated on February 25, honored for her piety, miracles, and role in establishing German monasticism. 

Walburga was the daughter of Saint Richard the Pilgrim and Wunna his wife, and sister to Saints Willibald and Wunnibald, and she remained and was educated at the abbey at Wimborne under the Abbess Saint Tetta when her menfolk set off for the Holy Land. Later she joined her brothers in Germany, when her uncle, Saint Boniface, sent to Wimborne asking for sisters to help with missionary work.

After a couple of years with Saint Lioba at Bischofsheim she was appointed abbess of the convent of nuns founded by her brothers in Heidenheim, and when Winnibald died, his monastery for monks was added to hers to make a double community, which she ruled until her own death. 

Prologue in Sermons: February 25

On Communion with God

February 25

(From the Discourse of Saint Antiochus on the Calling of God)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

We must seek communion with God. Why? Because it is to this communion that God Himself calls us.

“If you will listen to My voice,” He says, “you shall be My chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; and you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. I have chosen you as My own special people.”

And Wisdom says: “Draw near to Me, you who desire Me, and be satisfied with My sweetness, for I am sweeter than honey. He who eats of Me shall hunger no more, and he who listens to Me shall not be put to shame.”

And again: “Come, eat My bread and drink the wine which I have prepared for you; forsake folly and you shall live, and seek understanding.”

And David says: “Draw near to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed.”

The First Week of Holy Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

The First Week of Holy Great Lent 

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, having passed through the preparatory weeks, we now enter into Holy and Great Lent. And we enter it remembering the very beginning of man’s life on earth: his creation, his fall into sin, and his expulsion from paradise.

The Holy Church now compels us not only to recall what once happened to the first man, but to come to know ourselves.

Abba Poemen, explaining his teaching on the foundations of spiritual life, said that only he has begun spiritual labor who has come to know himself. And Isaac the Syrian, speaking of a man who has come to know himself, places him above the one who has been counted worthy to see an angel.

Self-knowledge is the work of a Christian’s entire life; yet the beginning of this knowledge — knowing who I am, whence I came upon the earth, and where I shall go from this life — is necessary even for beginners.

The 1st and 2nd Finding of the Head of Saint John the Baptist in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The honorable and venerable head, revered even by the angels, was first found — according to the good pleasure and revelation of Saint John the Forerunner — by two monks in the house of Herod, when they had come to Jerusalem to venerate the life-giving tomb of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. From these monks a certain potter received it and carried it to the city of Emesa. Because the potter felt joy and happiness in his heart through it, he honored it greatly. Then, as he was about to die, he entrusted it to his sister, giving the command not to move it or open it, but only to honor it. After the woman’s death, many received the head in succession, one after another. Finally, the head of the Forerunner came into the possession of a certain monk and presbyter, Eustathios, who belonged to the heresy of the Arians. He was driven out by the Orthodox from the cave in which he dwelt, because he exploited the healings that occurred through the honorable head, claiming that they were due to his heretical faith. Therefore, by divine providence, as he fled he left behind the head of the divine Forerunner in the cave. It remained hidden there until the time of Marcellus, who was archimandrite, during the reign of Valentinian the Younger and the episcopate of Uranios of Emesa. At that time, since many revelations were made concerning it, it was found in a jar and was brought into the Church by Bishop Uranios, performing many healings and miracles.

Once again, the finding of the honorable head of the Forerunner gives our Church the occasion to emphasize his exalted position among all the saints. We believers are reminded that he was the one who “proclaimed the saving coming of Christ the Savior, perceived the descent of the Holy Spirit who dwelt upon Him at the Lord’s baptism, and mediated between the Old and the New Grace” (Vespers sticheron); that he was the one who, “when Herod transgressed the law, rebuked him, and therefore the coward, like a madman, cut off his head” (Matins kathisma); that he was the one who “sealed the Old Testament and became the end of the prophets, while preparing the way for the New” (Ode 4); and finally that he was the one who “appeared with the power and spirit of the Prophet Elijah as an unshakable tower” (Ode 5), and was praised by the Lord “as the greatest among all men” (Ode 7).

Homily for the Commemoration of the First and Second Finding of the Head of John the Baptist (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

 

On the Commemoration of the First and Second Finding of the Head of John the Baptist 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

I congratulate you all on the feast of the first and second finding of the honorable head of John the Baptist. In our Church there are three feasts in honor of the finding of the head of John the Baptist. By God’s providence it came to pass that over the many centuries since the time when John the Baptist bore witness to his faithfulness to God — when Herod executed the Forerunner at the instigation of Herodias — his head appeared in various places.

The head of the Forerunner was cut off and taken to Herodias, who in fury and malice seized it, pierced the tongue that had denounced her lawlessness, and buried it in an unclean place on the Mount of Olives. The steward of the palace was a man faithful to God, and his wife became one of the Myrrhbearing women. He washed the head of John, placed it in a large clay vessel, and buried it near Jerusalem, on his estate on the Mount of Olives. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the burial place was lost.

Homily on the Fourth and Fifth Days of the Creation of the World (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

On the Fourth and Fifth Days of the Creation of the World

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

During these days, God created the luminaries from nothingness. By His will, the primordial light created on the first day of Creation was collected into the luminaries, as if into vessels. The planets were placed like mirrors to shine upon the earth. We also heard of the creation of the first beings, endowed with a living soul. On this day, I would like to reflect on what some current teachings oppose. 

Nowadays, many people, even those who consider themselves Christians, profess a false doctrine of the planets. How many people do we have today who believe that their lives are somehow determined by the positions of the luminaries in the sky! And with the advent of the fashion for celebrating Chinese New Year, many Christians have begun calling themselves all sorts of animals. And this frenzy in our country reaches its peak with the arrival of the civil New Year.

This would be understandable if they were atheists, for an atheist is "a slave to all the elements," as the Apostle Paul says; such a person works for all the elements of the world. But a Christian, who has been freed from slavery to the elements of the world through the Blood of Christ the Savior, how dare he return to these feeble elements and think that they will somehow influence him?! Nevertheless, I have seen dozens, if not hundreds, of Orthodox Christians who sincerely believe that the stars influence, if not their fate, then their character. As if there are bad days and good days (if the day starts badly, it will continue to be bad). All these superstitions are spread with complete seriousness. There are countless people who consider themselves Orthodox, yet in reality they worship not God, but the luminaries. Because a real person who believes in horoscopes, who believes that he is subject to the voice of these luminaries, can he really be called a Christian? He is an idolater in the literal, not figurative, sense of the word. How did paganism itself originate? People worshiped the celestial bodies. Seeing the terrible, catastrophic impacts of celestial bodies on Earth (humanity has witnessed asteroid impacts and floods caused by cosmic objects), people decided that the celestial bodies themselves governed the world and were supposedly animate beings. There were even heretics in the Church — Origen, for example — rwho claimed that the Moon, the Sun, the stars, and even planet Earth itself were living bodies endowed with intelligence.

Fr. Stephanos Anagnostopoulos Has Reposed

Today, February 24, 2026, the Orthodox world mourns the passing of a spiritual giant, Protopresbyter — and in his final days, Hieromonk — Stephanos Anagnostopoulos. His repose on this Clean Tuesday marks the end of an era for thousands of faithful who looked to him as a beacon of liturgical depth and hesychastic practice in the midst of the modern world.

Brief Biography

Fr. Stephanos was born in Drama, Macedonia, in 1930, to a Greek father and a Romanian mother. He completed elementary school and high school in Drama, spending his childhood in poverty and with many hardships. He served in the Greek Army for 30 months as a reserve second lieutenant. After his military service he worked as an accountant. In 1957 he married Eleni Liaskopoulou (later the nun Ephraimia) from Thessaloniki, with whom he had seven children — six daughters and one son. Rejecting a significant scholarship to study classical vocal music in France, and having a calling to the priesthood, he entered in 1958 the Higher Ecclesiastical Tutorial School of Thessaloniki.

Prologue in Sermons: February 24

The Holy Servants of God Themselves at Times Indicated the Places for their Monasteries

February 24

(From the Lemonarion, the story of John the monk, whom Saint John the Forerunner healed of illness.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some monasteries flourish, are adorned, and prosper because the places on which they stand were beloved by the saints to whom they are dedicated, and these saints themselves chose even their abbots. This we shall now prove by the following example.

There was a certain hieromonk, very pious and loving toward the brethren, who lived in a monastery near Jerusalem. Archbishop Elias wished to make him abbot of that monastery, but the elder, seeking solitude, departed with one of his disciples for Mount Sinai. On the way, near the Jordan, he was seized with a fever and could go no farther. With great difficulty he reached a cave and settled there.

At night, in a dream, a certain man appeared to him and asked: “Where are you going, elder?”

“I am going to Mount Sinai,” replied the elder.

The one who appeared said: “I beg you, do not go.”

Saint Polycarp of Smyrna in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Polycarp was a disciple of John the Theologian and Evangelist together with Saint Ignatius the God-bearer. After Boukolos, the most holy Bishop of Smyrna, he was ordained by the bishops, for the blessed Boukolos had foretold his entry into the priesthood. He was arrested during the persecution of Decius and was brought before the proconsul. He endured his martyric contest through fire and became the worker of sublime miracles. For even before his ordination he filled, by his prayer, the grain stores of the woman who had raised him — stores which he had previously emptied in order to provide for the needs of the poor. Moreover, after his elevation to the priesthood he halted the force of a wildfire; and by his supplication to the Lord he brought rain down upon the parched earth, and again stopped it when it rained without ceasing.

The Christ-centeredness of the life of Saint Polycarp is the principal element highlighted by the hymnography of his feast. Making use of his very name — Polycarp (“much-fruited”) — the Hymnographer sees the Saint as the richly-fruited ear of grain that sprang up from the seed planted in the earth by Christ, and also as the richly-fruited branch extending from Christ the Vine. Already in the first stichera of Vespers we hear: 

“When the Fruit of the Virgin and life-originating Seed fell to the earth, then He caused you to spring forth as a richly-fruited ear of grain.”  

“When the true Vine that was hung upon the wood of the Cross was lifted up, then He extended you as a heavily-laden branch, cut by the sickle of august martyrdom.” 

Adam, the Twilight, the Footsteps and the Voice of God

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani

Adam is man. It is the name of the first man, according to Holy Scripture. He is the first-formed, our forefather, the representative of the human race. He is the most perfect divine creation. Adam — man — is the crown of the entire creation of the all-wise God.

Undoubtedly, in the Book of Genesis, the first three chapters are foundational. They describe the creation of the world, of irrational creation, but also the creation and formation of man. They also speak of his original state, as well as of his fall. They recount the exile of Adam and Eve from Paradise and make reference to the divine promise concerning restoration. Certainly, in the sacred text, the expressions are anthropomorphic, so as to be accessible to our understanding; yet within the words and explanations are hidden profound and most subtle symbols and realities. The ultimate purpose is the realization of the content of “according to the image” and the journey toward “according to the likeness.”

Thus, in the narrative of Genesis, both the greatness and the wretchedness of man are presented and revealed. First, we shall write about the greatness of man. This consists in the fact that man is a divine creation of the infinite love of the One and Triune God, who is truly Love. Consequently, man is not the result of random coincidences of blind, mindless forces. The creation of man was decided by the three Persons of the one Godhead. “Let us make man,” says Genesis (1:26) in the plural number. And God formed man as a psychosomatic being — body and soul. This is the dual composition of man, the spiritual and the material element in one harmonious unity.

Prologue in Sermons: February 23

One of the Effective Means for the Conversion of Schismatics to Orthodoxy

February 23

(A Homily from the Paterikon on Melchizedek)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Why is it, brethren, that among us there are few who convert from schism to Orthodoxy? There are many reasons for this. But one of the chief reasons, in our opinion, is our hot-tempered zeal. When Orthodox Christians and the so-called Old Believers meet to discuss matters of faith, the matter rarely ends in peace. They argue, quarrel, and part ways. Of course, in such a case no benefit for the cause can be expected. From evil comes only evil. But if the discussion were conducted under different conditions — if it were carried on meekly and thoughtfully — then the outcome would be different.

There once lived a monk in the land of Egypt who was distinguished by coarseness and ignorance, because of which he told everyone that Melchizedek was the Son of God. This was reported to Archbishop Cyril, and the latter summoned the monk to him. Being a wise man and knowing that by meekness one can best turn a person from evil to good, Cyril did not enter into dispute with the monk, but gently said to him:

Homily for Cheesefare Sunday -- The Expulsion of Adam from Paradise (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for Cheesefare Sunday 

The Expulsion of Adam from Paradise 

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

"But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to men to be fasting” (Matthew 6:17).

Beloved faithful,

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came down from Heaven to obey His Father and to serve in the salvation of the human race, delivering it from the bondage of the devil and of death. Throughout the entire Gospel He ceaselessly taught people how to do the will of God and how to perform good works for His glory and for the salvation of their souls. In today’s divine Gospel, among other teachings, He shows us how to fast and where to gather treasure for our souls. Behold what He says concerning fasting, so that it may be for the glory of God and for the salvation of our souls: “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:17–18).

But the Savior commanded us not only to fast in secret, in order to escape the glory of men, but also to give alms, to pray, and to perform all good works in secret. For behold what He says: “Take heed that you do not do your righteous deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 6:1). “Therefore, when you do a righteous deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your almsgiving may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:2–6).

Homily on the Commemoration of Adam's Expulsion (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily on the Commemoration of Adam's Expulsion 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

Today, on Forgiveness Sunday, our Church remembers the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. From the Paradise of sweetness in which we dwelt, from that beautiful Garden where we were with God. Where we could draw infinite knowledge from the infinite mind of God, and from His infinite strength we drew infinite power, from His life we drew our eternal life. From His joy we drew our eternal joy. But we were expelled from there in Adam and Eve, for we are all blood descendants of the first man. Our entire nature is the nature of Adam and Eve, which was expelled from Paradise. We remember how we were deprived of blessedness as a result of the sin of the first people. But if you pay attention to the order in which sin unfolded, you will see that nothing has changed since then.

When we prepare people for Holy Baptism, we rehearse the meaning of each episode of the exile from Paradise. I think it would be good for us to repeat this. The first woman walks through Paradise and approaches the Tree of Knowledge. According to ancient tradition, this tree was not an apple tree, as many believe, but a fig tree. It was not for nothing that our Lord cursed the fig tree in order to wither the tree of sin. So, she approaches the tree forbidden by God, because God did not want us to know good and evil at that moment. God does not want us to try to be our own judges of good and evil, to try to determine for ourselves what is good and what is bad. God wanted us to act based on His point of view, not on our own, which is limited in knowledge and understanding.

Homily Two for Cheesefare Sunday (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

Homily Two for Cheesefare Sunday

Forgiveness of Our Brethren as a Prerequisite for Our Union with Christ

(Delivered at the Supper of Forgiveness in Gregoriou Monastery - February 24, 1992)

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis

We thank the Lord, who has vouchsafed us also this evening, all united as brothers, to celebrate Cheesefare Sunday; and in a little while He will vouchsafe us to be forgiven, and forgiven and reconciled in love, to enter into the blessed and holy period of Great Lent.

It is a Tradition of our Church and of our Orthodox Nation that on this evening Orthodox Christians, both in the cities and in the villages — where formerly there was piety and where some piety still remains — go to the Vespers of Forgiveness, listen to the beautiful hymns which move the human soul toward spiritual struggle, and afterward receive forgiveness from the priest and from one another. Then they go to their homes, set a common table with relatives and friends, and rejoice together as families. And thus, all Christians, forgiven, begin the Holy and Great Lent, and in some places even keep the Three-Day Fast.

Homily Two for Cheesefare Sunday (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two for Cheesefare Sunday 

By St. John of Kronstadt

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matt. 6:14).

This present Sunday is called among the Orthodox Russian people “Forgiveness Sunday,” from the good and pious custom of asking one another’s forgiveness before the Great Fast and preparation for Holy Communion. This custom has taken firm root from the command of the Savior, who in today’s Gospel enjoins us to forgive one another’s sins, if we desire that our Heavenly Father also forgive our sins — He whom we grieve and anger without number every day and every hour.

Since beginning tomorrow the Great Fast commences, and we all, according to Christian custom, intend to cast off from ourselves the heavy burden of sins; and since this casting off of the sinful burden requires some self-denial on our part and some spiritual skill, the Lord teaches us what exactly is required from us so that our sins may be forgiven completely, without remainder — what we must relinquish on our part, given that the Lord God, on His part, is always ready to have mercy and to save repentant sinners. Namely, He says that what is required of us is simplicity and freedom from malice, absence of anger, forgetting of offenses, friendliness, love toward enemies.