Homily One on the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

On the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (1)

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered on August 1, 1962)

The Cross is the preserver of the whole universe,
the Cross is the beauty of the Church,
the Cross is the confirmation of the faithful,
the Cross is the glory of angels and the scourge of demons

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church glorifies the power of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, and at the same time remembers the honorable sufferings that our Lord Jesus Christ endured on the Cross. The nearest reason for the event now being celebrated was the miraculous signs that appeared from the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross to the inhabitants of Constantinople.

In ancient times, a severe pestilence broke out in the capital of the Greek state, Constantinople, which claimed many human lives. After, at the request of the residents of the city, the Wood of the Holy Cross was carried through the streets of the capital for fifteen days with prayers and sprinkling of buildings and houses with holy water, the destructive disease stopped, and all Christians brought their deepest gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Priests Ilarion Felea, Ilie Lacatusu and Dumitru Staniloae: Witnesses of Christian Love in an Era Marked by Hatred and Division

Răzvan Mihai Clipici, the head of the Culture subdepartment of the Culture, Painting and Restoration Sector of the Patriarchal Administration, published an article with historical data about the priests Ilarion Felea, Ilie Lăcătusu, and Dumitru Stăniloae in response to various accusations that appeared in the public space after their canonization announcement.

These three deceased theologians and clergymen suffered under communism, however Holocaust researchers are protesting that in the 1930s and 40s these clergymen openly campaigned for the Romanian fascists who carried out pogroms against Jews. They argue that there is no written evidence that any of them ever regretted their support.

Recently, the public sphere in Romania has seen numerous opinions both for and against the canonization of 16 saints decided by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church at its working session on July 11-12, 2024.

The news of these canonizations has brought great joy to most clergy and believers, as these saints already have a well-established devotion in the Romanian people’s consciousness.

Some expressed doubts about certain aspects of the lives of the canonized fathers, which at first glance seem controversial or sometimes even misunderstood.

Surely, many of those who have such doubts have a sincere desire to know the truth and to be assured of the holiness of these great spiritual fathers, who have demonstrated their humility and boundless love under conditions of torture and humiliation. Some of them even paid with their lives for their testimony of faith.

The Relics of Fathers Sofian Boghiu and Dumitru Staniloae Are Exhumed and Transferred Ahead of their Upcoming Canonization

On Monday the 29th of July 2024, two exhumations took place of Romanian Confessors who will be canonized as Saints by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2025: Archimandrite Sofian Boghiu and Father Dumitru Stăniloae. This was done in preparation for their upcoming canonization, in order to transfer their relics from the monastery cemeteries they are buried in and move them into a church, where eventually they will be placed in reliqueries to be venerated by the faithful. Both services were performed by Bishop Timotei Aioanei of Prahova, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bucharest.

The first exhumation was that of Archimandrite Sofian Boghiu (+ September 14, 2002), who was abbot of Antim Monastery in Bucharest. He was buried in the cemetery of Căldărușani Monastery, and upon exhumation his relics were transferred to the church of the same Monastery in order for a specific service to take place after an exhumation, and from there they were brought to the church of the Antim Monastery.

Pilgrimage Tourism (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 Pilgrimage Tourism

Presentation at the conference held in Agrinio on Pilgrimage and Alternative Tourism, it took place in the "set" of the Pithari Estate on Lake Trichonida on July 5th 2024 and was organized by the Association of Hoteliers of Aetoloakarnania.

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Because the wise Antisthenes writes "the beginning of education is the examination of terms" I will start by defining what "tourism" means. The English word "tourism" means to move from place to place mainly for recreational reasons. From this movement, the term "tourism" was created.

This term was also given to the movement of people and groups for religious reasons and thus the travelers were called "tourists". The term "religious tourism" was used "for the first time in 1937 by the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations (UN) in order to describe those who emigrated to foreign places for a period of more than 24 hours."

The first travelers/tourists were the Christians, who traveled to various ecclesiastical sites, but mainly to the Holy Land, to venerate the places where Christ lived, was crucified, buried, resurrected and ascended and where the first Christian Church also lived, as well as the monastic centers where Saints lived, to ask them about various issues that occupied them. Various texts that have survived, such as the Gerontikon, the Evergetinos, etc. are characteristic of this mentality.

The Olympic Games in Athens and in Paris (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

The Olympic Games in Athens and in Paris

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after watching the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, among other things, made a polite criticism of what he watched, saying that "the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 remains the owner of the gold, not only because of its aesthetics, but primarily because it functioned as a guardian of the idea of the Olympics and the games."

It is important to see how this result was achieved in Athens.

1. The Church and the Olympic Games in Athens

Let me remind those who do not have a strong memory or have a selective memory that since September 1997 when our country had taken over the organization of the 2004 Olympic Games, pagan proposals had been formulated on this occasion to revive the cultural atmosphere of the Games that were taking place in ancient Greece with the main proposition that "Olympism is a way of life for the Greeks."