Continuation and End of the Festal Homily for the Friday of Renewal Week and the Zoodochos Pege (Elder Philotheos Zervakos)

CONTINUATION AND END OF THE FESTAL HOMILY FOR THE FRIDAY OF RENEWAL WEEK

(Part 2 of 2: continued from part one)

And the remaining portion of the Reading.

Bless, Father.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

By Archimandrite Philotheos Zervakos

Since there are some who, although they believe in the miracles spoken of concerning the Zoodochos Pege, nevertheless do not accept or are not persuaded that there are also other holy waters honored in the name of the Mother of God and of other saints, nor that signs occur elsewhere except only at the Zoodochos Pege outside Constantinople — the one discovered by Emperor Leo I, as we have said — thus ignorantly and impiously limiting to one place the indescribable grace and power of her who was counted worthy to become the Mother of the Incomprehensible God. Let such people investigate, and they will find within this same Constantinople another miracle-working and sign-bearing holy spring of the all-immaculate Theotokos, namely that at Blachernae, where even to this day innumerable miracles take place, not only for the faithful but even for unbelievers; and many other illnesses and afflictions are healed there. Especially those suffering from fever, if they go there with faith and drink from the holy water, are quickly delivered from the disease.

But what will such people say also about the bath that existed in former times in the house of prayer of the Theotokos at the Neorion, in which many miracles were performed, as is recorded in the Synaxarion on the last day of August? This account is as follows:

A certain patrician, called Anthony, a devout man and God-fearing, having his residence in the part of Constantinople called the Neorion, also had a beautiful house of prayer in the name of the Mother of God. This church, having previously been stripped by the iconoclasts, was later adorned again by the said patrician with venerable icons and with other sacred things, as many as were necessary. And since the grace of the Theotokos dwelt in it, countless miracles were performed.

Anthony, having great reverence toward our Lady, built beneath the church a very small bath, so that he himself and the people of his household might wash there for sanctification. Certain devout people asked the patrician to give them permission to make use of the bath once a week and to wash the brethren who came with reverence. The patrician consented and even provided them with expenses for this purpose as long as he lived, for such spiritual consolation of the faithful.

When the patrician Anthony died, he left the said bath together with the church to those Christians. But they, not being able to maintain such a bath at their own expense, and not having authority on their own to give it to others, gradually neglected it, and it became completely idle; the vessels in it were seized by whoever happened upon them, and the bath was left entirely bare and useless.

The church, however, was served by a certain devout priest, who had his livelihood from the Christians, since innumerable miracles were wrought there by the Mother of God.

At one time, Emperor Romanos wished to demolish this bath in order to take its marbles. But he was prevented by the Theotokos. For while he was building a palace and had need of marble, certain people told him that this bath had such marble as he required. Therefore the emperor, considering it useless, sent a certain rector, his representative, to demolish it and take the marbles, since they were suitable for his need.

But during that night, when this decision had been made, the Lady Theotokos appeared in a dream to the rector, and likewise to one of his relatives, and commanded them with threats not to dare to touch the bath in the Neorion. When the rector awoke, he went to Emperor Romanos with a fearful heart and reported what he had seen.

The pious emperor, hearing this, said: “I do not wish to have judgment with my Lady the Theotokos.” Therefore, instead of demolishing it, he sent men and had it cleaned, and made it larger, and constructed a pool in it. And the three emperors — Romanos, Constantine, and Christopher — bathed there, and they issued a chrysobull, that this bath should have maintenance and provisions from the imperial treasury, for the refreshment of the Christians who bathe there with reverence.

For the water had to be carried there, and for this reason expenses were required; and for this reason it had formerly fallen into ruin, because the necessary expenses for transporting the water were lacking.

After the bath was restored, countless miracles again began to occur there, through the grace of the Theotokos. Of these, leaving aside many to recount, let us relate only one, for the confirmation of devout and simpler Christians.

A certain noblewoman, having fallen ill with dropsy, and having been despaired of by the physicians, ran to the said church of the Theotokos in the Neorion, and falling down, she entreated the Queen of All to heal her illness. Having remained there for many days and not being helped, she departed from there and went to the church of the Theotokos in Blachernae; and casting herself before the venerable icon of the Mother of God, she besought with fervent tears, saying: “Have mercy on me, Mother of Christ my God, for now, having despaired of every other help, I have run to your immeasurable mercy.”

And she did this, remaining there for nine days. But on the night of the ninth day, the Most-Merciful Lady appeared to her in a dream, saying to her: “O woman, why do you cry out to me, troubling me and not resting at all?” And she, becoming afraid and answering with reverence, said: “O Lady, I know that I suffer because of my sins; yet again I believe that your Son and our God, for us sinners, came down and, dwelling in your immaculate womb, took flesh from your pure blood, becoming a perfect man while being perfect God, in order to save me and sinners like me from the bondage of the evil one, using you, His immaculate and ever-virgin Mother, as the means of such a great gift. You appear as a ready helper and protector to all who call upon you with faith; therefore I also, a sinner and very unworthy and defiled servant of yours, have fled to your protection, that you might have mercy on me, since you have the power to show mercy to whom you will.”

Thus she spoke; and the Theotokos, taking pity on the suppliant, said to her: “Go to my very small house in the Neorion, and there you will find your healing.”

Awakening and giving thanks to the Theotokos, she hastened to the church in the Neorion; and again falling down, she prayed, saying: “Have mercy on me, your servant, O Lady, and grant me healing, according to your unfailing promise made through your great mercy.” And saying these things with tears for a long time, she fell asleep and saw again the dignified woman who had appeared in Blachernae, together also with a reverent and devout man, to whom she said: “Behold the sick woman; cut open her navel.”

And that man, making a gesture of obedience toward the appearing Lady and holding a staff in his hands, struck the suffering woman in the abdomen; and at that blow they became invisible, and the woman, awakening, found herself full of pus and foulness.

Whereupon she entered the bath, and having washed, she came out entirely healthy, completely healed, having not even a scar from such a great and grievous illness. And coming out of the bath, she went to the church, and having offered incense and rendered the fitting thanksgiving to the Benefactress, she returned to her home rejoicing and proclaiming the miracle.

But also in the great city of Thessaloniki, in a certain church of the Theotokos, there is found a marble basin, in which there occurs a wonder worthy of narration, by the grace of the Theotokos. For this basin, being movable and shifted from place to place, gushes forth water in a wondrous manner, from which many sick people, drinking with faith, are healed.

Concerning this wondrously gushing and healing water, many, being doubtful, were convinced by trial. For although, seeing the healings, they believed that they were accomplished by the grace of the Theotokos through the faith of those who approached, yet they did not believe in the miraculous flowing forth itself; because, seeing marble that could be moved producing water, they hesitated, thinking such a miracle to be an artifice and a deceit of the church officials, done for base gain.

Nevertheless, because of the faith, as we have said, of those pious believers who drank, they believed that the miracles were performed by the Theotokos. Therefore, having lifted it and placed it in another location, and having covered and securely sealed both it and the building from the evening, in the morning, when they went, they found it filled with most clear holy water; and being astonished, they believed. And not only once or twice did such a test occur, but even until today many who disbelieve, by testing it, come to believe.

And again, in the province of Demetrias, in the region of Volos, there is a certain hill called Gouritza. Upon this hill there are seen the ruins of a fortress, and a tower, and cisterns, and carried water; and in the middle of the fortress there was a church of our Lady the Theotokos of the Life-Receiving Spring, destroyed by the impious rulers and cast down, having only a small enclosure. Behind the church there is a very large reservoir, ruined on one side; and within it, on the side of the church, there is a small well, from which there gushes forth exceedingly clear water.

This water, being honored in the name of the most glorious Theotokos of the Life-Receiving Spring, performs very many miracles each year, when there is held there a splendid festival on the Friday of Renewal Week. To this festival many people gather, moved by reverence, not only from the province of Demetrias, but also from the surrounding regions, bringing the sick and those in poor condition.

And many — namely, all those who drink with faith from the holy water — are healed. And it has acquired such a reputation that many, being ignorant of the Life-Receiving Spring in Constantinople, suppose this to be that very one discovered by the Emperor Leo Makellis.

And a custom has prevailed at this revered holy place, that Christians drink from it after the Priest has begun the Divine Mystagogy. And they say that especially at that time, when the bloodless sacrifice is being offered, the greater number of miracles occur. And this is in no way strange for those who are faint-hearted and doubtful concerning the mystery of our blameless faith.

There also exist other holy waters, honored in the name of the Theotokos and venerated in the name of certain other saints: that in Nicomedia of Saint Panteleimon, and another in a village of Chalcedon in the name of the Theotokos, and in Nicaea, and in the province of Prusa that of the Archangels, and in the environs of Constantinople that of the Venerable Martyr Paraskevi and of the Prophet Elijah the Thesbite; and within Constantinople that of the Honorable Forerunner, in the Monastery of the Studites, that of the Great Martyr George, and of our Father among the saints Nicholas the Archbishop.

And in other places very many are honored in the name of the Savior, and of His Pure and All-Immaculate Holy Mother, and of many other saints, from which spring forth extraordinary miracles and there flow many and wondrous healings. It is not at all strange, I repeat, that such things occur. For the Saints and the all-compassionate Lady, accepting the piety and good disposition of the faithful, send their graces upon these places, and thus signs wondrous and extraordinary are performed.

As a final seal of the innumerable miracles of our Lady the Theotokos of the Life-Receiving Spring, we set forth here also the following miracle, accomplished in the Sacred Monastery of Longovarda by the Life-Receiving Spring, in these present days.

In the first days of the past forty-day fast, that is, in the year 1927, there came here a certain villager from the village of the island of Leukes, named Georgios Rangousis. This man entreated me to allow him to bring to our Sacred Monastery his son Demetrios, aged 18 years, suffering from a severe paralysis of all the limbs of his body and wholly unable to walk.

I, having unshaken confidence in the invincible help of the Theotokos and in the multitude of her innumerable miracles, said to the man: “Go, bring your son to the Monastery, and have faith and hope that the All-Immaculate Lady, the Life-Receiving Spring, will heal him.”

Therefore, having gone to the village, he brought his son, for whom we began to read the prayers of Basil the Great and of the divine Chrysostom, at the same time anointing him with oil from the unceasing lamp of the icon of the Theotokos of the Life-Receiving Spring.

O the wonder! After a few days of his stay here, the one who before could not stand upon his feet began already to walk freely, glorifying and blessing God and the All-Hymned Theotokos, the Life-Receiving Spring, who granted him a double healing, both of soul and of body.

He now remains in our Monastery, working at shoemaking (for he is by trade a shoemaker), and is about to depart shortly for his paternal home, to the joy and rejoicing of his parents, who had spent very much on physicians for the healing of their son, but in vain.

But also other miracles of the Life-Receiving Spring are reported as having taken place in our Sacred Monastery of Longovarda. In a certain document of the Monastery, dated April 6 of the year 1669, it is recorded that the sister of the then abbot and founder of the Monastery, Joachim Palaiologos, named Marina A. Raphou, having fallen into danger from a grievous illness and having received her health from the Lady, the Spring of Longovarda, dedicated to it a certain field in Palaeopyrgos, in order that she might be commemorated at the Prothesis.

Another miracle occurred during the time of the blockade, in the year 1917, when there was no wheat on the island because of the blockade imposed by the Anglo-French. Many of the poor of the island, and also refugees, took refuge in our Sacred Monastery of the Life-Receiving Spring of Longovarda; for most of the wealthy, in such circumstances, hide their grain in order to sell it at increased prices and profit.

The fathers of the Monastery, having compassion on the hungry, provided to all bread for food and other necessities from what the Monastery possessed. Then one could behold the wonder-working power of the Life-Receiving Spring: for while on the one hand the Fathers were giving daily to those who came and the grain was diminishing, and according to the calculations of certain faint-hearted ones the grain in the storehouse would soon be exhausted, on the other hand the All-Immaculate Theotokos, the Life-Receiving Spring, by her blessings showed it to be inexhaustible. And the grain was not exhausted, but was preserved, to the amazement and wonder of those who saw it, until the new harvest.

But why should I speak at length? She has shown her Sacred Monastery to be an unceasing and inexhaustible river. For what poor man, or widow, or orphan, or sick person, or sufferer either in body or in soul, coming to the Monastery with faith, does not receive what he asks? All, becoming well — one receiving healing of soul, another of body — depart giving thanks to the Theotokos and proclaiming the multitude of her miracles.

Let the shameless mouths of the impious unbelievers be stopped, who do not accept miracles. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and unto the ages. Always and at all times the goodness and love for mankind of our Almighty God and King and Creator of all has not ceased working wonders through His All-Hymned Mother, the Holy Prophets, the Apostles, and all the Saints, for those who with faith hasten to the holy temples and to their venerable icons and holy relics, and who ask from them the healing of soul and body.

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But this most illustrious and most historical Temple of the Zoodochos Pege, beloved brethren in Christ, that we may return to the course of the festal discourse — this temple, first erected by the Emperor Leo called Makellis, as we have said, then enlarged by the great Justinian, and enriched and splendidly adorned by Basil the Macedonian, by his son Leo the Wise, and by other Emperors, was preserved until the fall of the Queen of Cities.

At that time — alas! — when very many churches were destroyed in those accursed days of the Fall, this magnificent Temple of the Zoodochos Pege was also destroyed from its very foundations. But the life-giving stream of the Spring continued to flow silently, and the grace that invisibly overshadowed this sacred place had never abandoned it. And the multitudes of the faithful continued to flock there with faith and reverence, and miracles were abundantly granted by the Zoodochos Pege to those who came with faith.

Thus there arose the necessity of erecting a temple in that sacred place. First, after the passage of three centuries, the Metropolitan of Derkoi, Nikodemos, in the year 1727, built a small chapel of the Zoodochos Pege, and liturgies, matins, and vespers began again to be celebrated there until the year 1821, when that small chapel was once more completely destroyed by the raging Janissaries, and the Spring itself was entirely covered over.

Nevertheless, the coming of the faithful to that revered and sacred place and the miracles continued. But in the days of Sultan Mahmud, when his subjects enjoyed religious freedom, permission was sought by the Orthodox for the rebuilding of the chapel; and the work indeed began on July 27, 1833. After excavations were made and the foundations of the ancient temple were discovered, by a later permission not only was the chapel of the holy water rebuilt more splendid than before, but also another church was erected upon the foundations of the old one — most large, most beautiful, and most magnificent.

And the foundations of this were laid on September 14, 1833, and the work was completed on December 30, 1834, with the consecration taking place on February 2, 1835.

And the ever-memorable writer of Constantinople, Skarlatos, writes: “When, having come in the year 1825 to the City, I went to venerate that sacred place, I found nothing but a heap of ruins, and in their midst the priest standing in the open air and reading the Supplication for the faithful who were present. But the life-receiving stream of the Spring continued to flow silently, and the grace that invisibly overshadowed this sacred place had never abandoned it.

Twenty-four years passed thereafter, and returning again in 1849, now already white-bearded, to this same place, I found the same shady and thickly wooded grove, and the spring flowing quietly and gently; but instead of the ruins, I saw a magnificent church, a splendor of marbles and columns and adornments, orderliness in all things and about everything… and I was unable to restrain my tears. Yet these tears were tears of joy and compunction, of national sympathy. And taking my notebook, I wrote at the end of the article this: ‘This is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High.’”

The holy water, which bubbled up beneath heaps of earth and stones, worked miracles; and a certain priest or devout lay steward, for the perpetuation of the miracle, recorded with all reverence upon a long wooden tablet the miracles of the Theotokos which took place in the years 1824–1826. These were later printed together with some more recent miracles that occurred during the time when the magnificent church now standing was being built.

These miracles are reported in the “Concise Description of the Zoodochos Pege” by K. R., pages 24–29. And for the completion of those mentioned in the booklet of K. R. and those recorded by Kallistos Xanthopoulos, we transcribe from “The Zoodochos Pege,” published in 1886 by Eugenios the priest, director of the Sacred Monastery of the Zoodochos Pege, the miracle that happened to Neophytos Mavrommatis, which he himself recounts, saying:

“Being nineteen years old, the affliction of the syrinx, commonly called fistula, took hold of me, and at times I was almost left completely immobile and unable to function. I suffered greatly, and after spending no small amount on the most experienced physicians, undergoing incisions and even mutilations for the sake of healing, I gained nothing. Having been completely given up by them, I remained weeping and lamenting, again subjected to grievous afflictions and struck with intense pains.

As I was thus suffering for many years, one day a certain priest, named Nikolis, from the island of Chios, a cleric of the Patriarchal church, came to me and said: ‘My dear deacon (for I myself at that time was also serving as a deacon under my elder, Kyr Dionysios, who was then guiding the Church), do you wish to go with me to the Zoodochos Pege, to invoke her and to wash in its holy water?’ I replied that because of my illness I was lame and unable to walk. But he said, ‘We will go little by little, and you will manage.’ So we set out, walking slowly, step by step, until with great effort we reached the Spring.

After he had said “Blessed is…,” we together chanted the Supplication to the Theotokos and the service of the sanctification of water. Then, after the dismissal, I took in my hands the vessel there filled with holy water; while the priest stepped aside, I poured it over my body, washing the wound many times — for I still had the fresh incisions from the physicians. And — O your wonders, O Lady! — in an instant I found myself healed, with only the scars remaining, as a sign, as I suppose, both of the illness and of the miracle.

Thus, beyond all hope, having been healed by the Mother of God, I returned in health with the priest to the Patriarchate, proclaiming the mighty works of God and of the Holy Theotokos.”

Therefore, my brothers, if you believe in the all-powerful Queen — and above all in the omnipotence of God — then wherever you hear of holy water (hagiasma), go to it with faith, all who are sick in soul or body, without hesitation, and you will find a wondrous healing given freely.

And when you go to a feast, go with what God desires, and the Lady Theotokos, and all the Saints: with faith and reverence, with hymns and praises, with thanksgiving, and with spiritual joy and gladness. Acting in this way, each of you will receive what he seeks — healing of soul and body.

But if someone hears about the miracles of the holy waters and needs healing, and goes there, yet not in the way we described, but as if going to a marketplace, or to theaters and entertainments of irreverent and unbelieving people — eating and drinking with dancing and noise — such a person, because of his irreverence, cannot find healing. If he does not deny divine grace, let him not think God is powerless, but rather blame himself, discipline his lack of self-control, and recognize that through his unbelief he makes himself an enemy of God, displeasing to the Theotokos, and akin to demons because of his unrepentant mindset.

Thinking on these things, he should not despair, but repent of his wrongdoing. Let him turn his unbelief into faith, his irreverence into reverence, his dancing into hymns, his entertainments into praise, and his improper songs into sacred chants. Let him fall before the infinite mercy of God. Let him set as intercessor the blessed Theotokos, the defender of our whole race. Let him call upon the holy angels and as many saints as he knows. Let him not neglect the divine services, but become a lover of virtue, devoted to worship, and live entirely for the life to come. Then he will understand that the grace of the holy waters will act within him.

And he will not only see bodily health, but will also gain spiritual joy and gladness — especially in what matters most, the spiritual part. For miracles and healings happen for this reason: so that each person may be strengthened in goodness, desire what is heavenly and eternal, and become a faithful servant of Christ.

So before healing, faith and repentance are necessary. Without these two, no one can receive healing. And after being healed, faith should grow even more in that person, and he should withdraw as much as possible from sin — or better, stop sinning altogether. For when our Lord healed the sick, although it was His divine power that healed them, He did not say, “I have saved you,” but “Your faith has saved you,” meaning, “Because of your faith you have been saved.” And after healing, He commanded them not to sin again, saying: “See, you are made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.”

What is this “worse” that could happen? Some bodily illness — blindness, lameness, crippled limbs, dropsy, cancer, or other such things? No. That is not the worse thing. God did not humble Himself so greatly, taking the form of a servant and accepting a cursed death and burial, just to heal bodies that will decay again.

No. That “worse” refers to eternal punishment — the truly worst of all evils, because it is everlasting and without end, and deprived of all divine comfort.

From this evil — the most terrible of all — God, in His love for humanity, wanted to free us who had been enslaved to the devil. That is why He humbled Himself, was mocked, insulted, dishonored, and endured crucifixion and burial, becoming a curse for us, in order to remove our condemnation, cancel our debt, and raise us to an even greater honor than before.

That is why He performed those extraordinary signs: so that people would recognize their Deliverer, Savior, God, and Benefactor, and be persuaded by His words to abandon evil, turn toward goodness, and be freed from eternal destruction.

And the all-compassionate Mother of God desires this as well, together with all the holy angels and saints. That is why they work miracles — to draw us toward eternal good and make us participants in the heavenly inheritance.

So every believer who comes to the grace-filled holy waters should first cleanse himself from spiritual impurity through holy confession, repent of his sins and wrongful deeds, turn toward good, and love the gentle commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he should approach with faith and reverence, and he will receive what he seeks — both spiritual and bodily healing.

Living in this way, pleasing to God, he will become a sharer with the saints in heavenly and eternal blessedness.

As long as faith exists, miracles will not cease. There are many who are called Christians, but few who are truly Christians in faith and in reality. As long as such faithful Christians exist, miracles will continue — as we see even now, especially in these last days, for example in Tinos at the holy church of the Evangelistria.

But when even these few faithful Christians disappear, then miracles will cease.

And you, Most Pure Theotokos, to you, the all-compassionate one, I turn my words — O divine Life-Giving Spring, ever flowing with streams of salvation: pour out the streams of your divine mercy upon us and upon all Orthodox Christians; give drink to our souls that have been scorched by the burning heat of sin; refresh them with the refreshment of your grace. Wash and cleanse them by your maternal compassion, and heal and give life through your life-flowing streams, that by your motherly love and sympathy toward us, and by your intercession to your Son and God on our behalf, we may be counted worthy to pass safely across the sea of this present life and to be brought into harbor at the calm haven of Paradise, and to enjoy the unending good things which the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.

To Him belong glory, power, honor, and worship, together with His unoriginate Father and His all-holy, consubstantial, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.