Venerable Mark the Ascetic and Wonderworker: A Most Eminent Ascetical Writer

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Mark was industrious in all things: he devoted himself also to the study of the divine Scriptures and reached the highest degree of ascetic practice and virtue. Proof of both is, on the one hand, the discourses he composed, which are filled with every kind of teaching and benefit, and on the other hand the working of miracles that was given to him by the Savior Christ. Of these it is absolutely necessary to recount one:

When the Venerable one was in the courtyard of his hermitage and, in prayer, was keeping watch over himself, a hyena came near him, bringing with it its blind little cub. With humble bearing it therefore begged the Saint to have pity on it and to heal the blindness of its child. And he, after spitting upon the wounded eyes and praying, made them healthy.

After some days, the hyena brought him the fleece of a large ram as a gift for the healing, but the Venerable one did not wish to receive it before the beast promised that from then on it would never again attack the sheep of poor people. But if he was so beloved by irrational nature, much more did he have love toward human beings, because of our common nature, which requires that we show very great compassion toward one another.

March: Day 5: Teaching 2: Venerable Mark the Athenian

March: Day 5: Teaching 2:
Venerable Mark the Athenian*
 
(On the Paths of Life — the Broad One Leading to Hell and the Narrow One Leading to Eternal Life)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Venerable Mark the Athenian, whose memory is celebrated today, was a wondrous ascetic. He labored in the Libyan desert, on Mount Trache. He himself told the following about his life to the holy elder Serapion, whom God sent to him on the last day of his life:

“For ninety-five years I have lived in this desert and have seen neither man, nor beast, nor bird, nor any other living creature. The first thirty years were especially difficult for me: I had no clothing and suffered both from cold and from heat; sometimes I satisfied my hunger with earth and my thirst with sea water; the lonely and deserted place filled me with sorrow and anguish. More than once my thoughts carried me back to the world, with all its comforts and pleasures.

But most of all I suffered from demons: neither by day nor by night did they give me peace, threatening to kill me, to drown me in the sea, or to tear me to pieces. After thirty years I was granted a great mercy from God: my flesh changed, and hair grew over my body which protected me from cold and heat; food began to be sent to me, and angels began to visit me.”

Prologue in Sermons: March 5

Against Those Who Love to Move from Place to Place

March 5

(From the homilies of Saint John Chrysostom on those who say that it is impossible to be saved in the world.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

“One is well off where one is not,” says a popular proverb, reproaching those who are dissatisfied with their situation. Sadly, nothing is so widespread among us as this dissatisfaction. It seems to us that if only we changed our place, we would become incomparably happier; if our way of life were altered as we wish, we would become far better — more God-fearing, more holy.

But is this really so? Would we truly change for the better if our dreams came true? Would we really become more God-fearing and holier? Hardly. Let Saint John Chrysostom speak to us about this.

“Place will not save us,” he says, “if we do not do the will of God. Neither an honorable rank nor a holy place brings any benefit to the one who does not keep the commandments of God. What rank could be higher than that with which Adam was honored before his fall? And what place is better than Paradise, from which he was expelled?

Homily for the First Sunday of Great Lent - The Triumph of Orthodoxy (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily for the First Sunday of Great Lent 

The Triumph of Orthodoxy 

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

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

The Holy Church, on the first Sunday of Great Lent, allows us — all those who have passed through the first week in repentance, in the awareness of our kinship with the first man Adam, in the consciousness that in each of us is the image of the ineffable Glory of God, though covered with the sores of sins, and in the penitential cry to the Lord: “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me” — to approach now the great joy, for today is a day of joy, a day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

It is not without reason, not by chance, that this week begins with such a day.

If we, the faithful, were all the time in the state of the first Adam, weeping, repenting, and crying out: “Lord, have mercy on me, the fallen one,” — together with him in a state almost of despair, and then only with distant hope that someday “the Seed of the Woman will crush the serpent’s head” — then we would still be in the Old Covenant. But we are already in the New.

The Holy Church arranges the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the second week to remind us that we already have this promise fulfilled, that we are already in the New Covenant, that we, though covered with the sores of sins like the first man, have had the Savior on earth, and not only was He here, but He also left us His Body — the Church — and we, glorifying Him, celebrating His coming, confess Him in Orthodoxy.

Homily for the First Sunday Evening of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily for the First Sunday Evening of Great Lent

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev 

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

The Holy Abba Isaiah was asked: “What is repentance?” He answered: “There are two paths. One is the path of life, the other is the path of death. He who walks on one does not step on the other. But the one who walks on both has not yet been accounted for on either — neither on the one that leads to the Kingdom, nor on the one that descends into hades.”

Indeed, in our life, my dear ones, there are two paths. One is the path of sin, of death; the other is the path of life. And we are all sinners, walking sometimes on one, sometimes on the other path. Yet we must correct our life and strive to walk more and more on the path of life, so that we may fulfill our covenant with God. Yesterday I said that God makes a covenant with all. When we served the Liturgy today, and the priest pronounced the words of the Secret Supper: “Take, eat" and "drink of it all of you,” this means that God’s covenant with man is given for all, but on the other hand — each must individually, personally enter into this covenant with God. Without this condition, the covenant of God with man is not fulfilled.

Venerable Gerasimos of the Jordan in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Gerasimos is one of the most beautiful presences in the ascetic tradition of our Church. Not only because of his ascetic conduct, but also because of his special relationship with his peculiar “subordinate,” the anthropomorphic lion. The lion of Saint Gerasimos has become so identified with him that most of his icons depict it together with him. Certainly, this is not the only case in which beasts are subject to saints. Quite often in the synaxaria we find similar phenomena, as for example on February 11 we commemorated Saint Blaise, Archbishop of Sebaste, who, living on a mountain, by his blessing caused all the wild beasts to be at peace at dawn. Even in more recent times, the case of the bear of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov is known, not to mention Elder Paisios, whose very friendly relationship with animals, even with snakes, is also known. According to our faith, the explanation is simple: the Creator God placed man, according to His image and likeness, to rule over all the animals of the earth. The animals looked to him and obeyed him, because he looked to and obeyed his Creator. But the sin that entered into man brought, among other things, this reversal: the animals became hostile toward him, something that was restored after the coming into the world of our incarnate God. From the moment Christ wiped out sin and cleansed the image of God in man, man was again granted the grace of dominion over created nature, to the degree that Christ Himself permits this during the interval in which we remain until His Second Coming.

Prologue in Sermons: March 4

Even the Beasts Obey the Righteous

March 4

(Commemoration of our Venerable Father Gerasimos of the Jordan)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

You know, brethren, that the Lord gave us authority to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the beasts, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth (Gen. 1:26). And that through sin we lost this authority. But do you know that if through a holy life we restore within ourselves the image and likeness of God, then this authority will return to us again? If you do not know, then we shall now tell you about this.

Concerning the Venerable Gerasimos of the Jordan, it is said in his Life that, having preserved within himself the image and likeness of God, he came to have mastery even over beasts. Thus, once, a huge lion came to him and began to tend the monastery’s donkey, which brought water to the monastery. The lion shepherded it and led it to and from the monastery.

Homily for the First Saturday Evening of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily for the First Saturday Evening of Great Lent

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev 

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

We, brethren, after the first week of Great Lent, which was supposed to be spent in sincere repentance, have come to the celebration of Orthodoxy, which opens for us the way out of our sinful condition and points the path that a person who has begun repentance must follow. If you have brought repentance, then by this you have only just begun to enter into true life. For God’s Covenant with man was established twice — in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it was established through Moses on Mount Sinai; in the New — through His Son — “This is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

The Lord now, and in ancient times, revealed His Covenant. But in order for the opportunity to be in His Covenant to be opened for us, we ourselves must enter into a Covenant with God. When the priest in the Mystery of Confession forgives the sins of the penitent, he asks in prayer to grant him the image of repentance: “Now, have mercy on Your servant and grant him the image of repentance” (Trebnik, p. 44, Rite of Confession).

Holy Martyrs Eutropios, Kleonikos and Basiliskos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

These Saints lived in the times of Maximian and were fellow-soldiers and relatives of Saint Theodore the Tiro, being from the land of the Cappadocians. They were therefore led before Asclepiodotus the governor because of their faith in Christ and were severely beaten. Saint Eutropios in particular was wounded in the mouth, because he insulted the governor.

There in the torments, the executioners indeed were exhausted because of the force they expended for the tortures, while the martyrs became healthy, because of the presence within them of the Lord and of the glorious martyr Theodore. Since therefore, because of this extraordinary occurrence, many believed in Christ, they accepted death by the sword.

The governor then changed his stance and attempted, with flatteries, to turn Saint Kleonikos away from the faith of Christ — that is, sometimes with promises and sometimes with gifts. The Saint, however, not only did not relax or bend at all, but on the contrary, becoming stronger and indignant, mocked the foolishness of the governor and ridiculed the weakness of the idols. For this reason also, at the very hour when sacrifice was being offered to them, he cast down by his prayer the idol of Artemis.

Then the idolaters burned pitch and asphalt in three cauldrons and poured them upon the martyrs. And they indeed were preserved unharmed, while the servants of the idols were burned up. Afterward Kleonikos and Eutropios were crucified and thus were perfected. Saint Basiliskos, however, was thrown into prison, and after some time he also was perfected.

Prologue in Sermons: March 3

How Should Adult Children Relate to People Who Teach Them to Act Against the Will of Their Parents

March 3

(A word of Saint Ephraim, that one ought not to obey those who swear one to evil.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Today our word is addressed to you, grown children, and this is what we shall say to you. We often see that evil people surround you and teach you to go against the will of your parents — and you listen to them. Indeed, why is it that in your families there are constant quarrels with parents, all kinds of disorders and family divisions? Chiefly it is from the slander and instigation of evil people.

A son meets some wicked man, tells him about some family misunderstanding, and that man begins to inflame the misunderstanding and to arm the son against his father or mother. And so the son, after meeting such a person, returns to his father’s house no longer the same as when he left it; he begins to raise his voice more and more in conversations with his parents, and then a spark turns into a flame, which in the end consumes the happiness and peace of the family.

From this it clearly follows that you, children, must flee from people who teach you to go against your parents as from a destructive plague. Only then, as the Venerable Ephraim the Syrian says, will you, by God’s mercy, escape family misfortunes and great calamities.

Icons and the Feast of Orthodoxy (Photios Kontoglou)

"Christ the Merciful" in egg tempera (1965) by Photios Kontoglou

Icons and the Feast of Orthodoxy 

By Photios Kontoglou

The Sunday before last was the first Sunday of Great Lent, on which the Church celebrates the Feast of Orthodoxy in remembrance of the Restoration of the Holy Icons. From the very first years of Christianity, Christians venerated the icons. But in time certain irreverent people appeared, the so-called heretics, who wished to give a new interpretation to many matters of religion, different from what the Apostles and the Holy Fathers had established. Thus there arose certain innovators who taught that Christians ought not to venerate the icons, because this was supposedly idolatry. These innovators were called Icon-fighters and Iconoclasts, and they caused great turmoil in the Byzantine state because they managed to win over many powerful figures of authority to their side.

The most demonic iconoclast was Theophilos, the son of Emperor Michael the Stammerer — he who, according to the well-known story, did not marry Kassiani but Theodora. During his reign many holy fathers were tortured and persecuted because they venerated the icons and taught the people to venerate them. After his death, Empress Theodora issued a decree that those who had been imprisoned and exiled for the veneration of the icons should be released. The iconoclast patriarch John was deposed, and Methodios — who had suffered greatly for the icons, even being shut up alive in a tomb — ascended the patriarchal throne.

Saint Nicholas Planas in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Papa-Nicholas Planas is the confirmation of what the Apostle Paul says: “God chose the poor things of the world and the despised, in order to put to shame the strong.” He was thus an instrument of God, through whose simplicity the wisdom of God was richly poured out into the world. He possessed none of the remarkable natural gifts which, many times — if their possessor is not careful — can act as temptations and become an obstacle to the vision of God.

His absolute gift was his simplicity, which meant the manifestation of his humility, and therefore the presence of God’s grace within him. “God gives grace to the humble,” says the word of God, and this humility was possessed by the well-known and beloved Papa-Nicholas. In other words, standing before Saint Nicholas is like standing before God Himself and breathing His atmosphere. The whole course of his life was an astonishing transparency of heaven.

Holy Martyr Hesychios the Senator in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Hesychios lived during the reign of Emperor Maximian (302) and was first in rank in the palace and in the council of the Senate. Because Maximian ordered that all Christians who were imperial soldiers, if they would not deny Christ, should be stripped of their belts (the sign of their royal dignity) and live as private persons and dishonored men, many Christians, on account of this unlawful decree, chose rather to live without any outward honor than to retain honor and lose their souls. One of these Christians was Saint Hesychios.

When the emperor learned of this, he gave orders that Hesychios too be stripped of his luxurious garments and clothed in a poor cloak without sleeves, woven of wool, and that he live among the women.

After this had been done, the emperor summoned Hesychios and asked him whether he was not ashamed that he had fallen from the honor of the magistracies into this dishonorable way of life, and whether he realized that none of the Christians would be able to restore him to his former honors and powers. The Saint replied that the present honor is temporary, whereas that of Christ is boundless and eternal. Enraged, the emperor ordered that a millstone be fastened around his neck and that he be thrown into the River Orontes (in Syria), in which the Saint received his blessed end.

March: Day 2: Teaching 1: Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Kyrenia

 

March: Day 2: Teaching 1:
Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Kyrenia

 
 (An Example of a Godly Life is the Best Sermon)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Theodotos, whose memory is celebrated today, preached the teaching of Christ (at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century) on the island of Cyprus, where he was appointed bishop in the city of Kyrenia. By his word and by the example of his own life he powerfully influenced the pagans and converted many of them to Christ.

When, under Licinius, a persecution of Christians broke out, the governor of the city ordered the Christian bishop to be brought to trial. Theodotos himself appeared before him and said:

“Here is the one whom you summon to judgment. I do not hide myself, but have come of my own accord to bear witness to the true God.”

In response to these words the governor ordered Theodotos to be subjected to the most cruel tortures. He was beaten with straps, torn with sharp iron instruments, and laid upon iron heated in the fire. Theodotos endured all these torments with wondrous patience and only prayed to God to strengthen him and all the persecuted Christians.

Prologue in Sermons: March 2

It is a Sin to Judge Others

March 2

(The Teaching of Saint Athanasios, Not to Condemn Everyone Who Sins.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

We ought not to judge others, first, because the human heart is deep as the sea, and the inner dispositions of the heart are known to God alone; second, because in judging our neighbor we can almost always be mistaken; and finally, third, because over us all there is one true Judge — God — and we ourselves are not judges, but those under judgment.

Saint Athanasios says:*

“Let us reflect, brethren, on the Lord who says: 'Judge not, that you be not judged.' And again the Apostle teaches us, saying: 'Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.' And again: 'Take heed to yourself, lest you also be tempted.'

Many have sinned openly, but secretly repented, and received forgiveness and accepted the Holy Spirit. And many of those whom we consider sinners are righteous before God. We have seen their sins, but we do not know that they have repented.

Homily for the First Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast - The Sunday of Orthodoxy (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the First Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast 

(The Sunday of Orthodoxy)

On the Veneration of the Holy icons

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“And you shall make two cherubim of beaten gold, and you shall place them on the two ends of the mercy seat. There I will make Myself known to you, and I will speak with you from between the two cherubim.” (Exodus 25:18–22)

Beloved faithful,

Today the Orthodox Church of Christ celebrates a great apostolic and synodal institution — namely, the veneration of the holy icons. This was established by the decision of the Holy and Great Seventh Ecumenical Synod held at Nicaea in the year 787, in which participated three hundred sixty-seven Holy Fathers and one hundred thirty-six archimandrites and abbots of monasteries.

The Synod was presided over, on behalf of the Orthodox Church of the East, by Saint Tarasios, Patriarch of Constantinople. Representing the Western Church was Peter, Archbishop of Rome, accompanied by Peter, presbyter and abbot of the Monastery of Saint Savvas in Rome, as representatives of Pope Adrian.

All these Holy Fathers decreed the veneration of the Holy Icons and pronounced anathema upon all the heretical icon-fighters, from whom many saints suffered severe persecutions and death for nearly two centuries — from Leo the Isaurian, the first opponent of the holy icons, until Theophilos, the last.

After the death of Theophilos, through the zeal of Empress Theodora and the Holy Fathers, the true faith and the veneration of the Holy Icons were restored, just as they had existed in the time of the Savior and of the Holy Apostles. For Jesus Christ Himself, by a miracle not made by hands, imprinted the image of His face upon a cloth and sent it to Abgar, king of Edessa (Combatting Sects, Chișinău, 1929, pp. 510–532).

Venerable Martyr Eudokia the Samaritan in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Eudokia was from Heliopolis of the province of Lebanon in Phoenicia, during the reign of Trajan. At first she lived a dissolute life, attracting many lovers by her beauty and amassing great wealth. Later, however, she came to Christ when she heard a certain monk named Germanos, who preached words of piety and repentance.

She was then baptized by Bishop Theodotos, having been persuaded through divine revelations. For it seemed to her that she had ascended into heaven, as though she had gone out of herself and was being guided by an angel, and that the angels rejoiced over her return; while at the same time a certain dark and terrifying figure roared and cried out that he was being wronged if she were taken away from him.

Eudokia therefore distributed her wealth, gave it to the poor, and entered a monastery. There she lived the ascetic life in a manner pleasing to God, until her former lovers denounced her and brought her before Aurelian, who had then ascended the imperial throne. But when she worked a miracle and raised to life the emperor’s son who had died, she also led the emperor himself to faith in Christ.

After several years she was tried by Diogenes, governor of Heliopolis; yet, having again performed miracles, she was released. Finally, Vincent, who succeeded Diogenes, issued an order, and she was beheaded.

Prologue in Sermons: March 1

Admonition of the Lover of Money

March 1

(Account concerning John, Bishop of Jerusalem, how Epiphanios by wisdom took silver from him and distributed it as alms to the poor and needy.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

A lover of money is the same as an idolater, for in both his mind and his heart there is nothing but money, and money becomes his idol. Therefore the Apostle also calls love of money idolatry, saying that covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5). This sin is one of the grave sins, and for it the Lord strictly punishes and brings lovers of money to their senses.

Once a certain deacon from Jerusalem came to Saint Epiphanios, Archbishop of Cyprus, and told him about John, Bishop of Jerusalem — that, out of love of money, he stored up wealth and gave no alms to the poor. Hearing this, Epiphanios sent John a letter exhorting him to show mercy to the poor; but John paid no attention to the message.