Church of Saint Theodore the Tiro in Derinkuyu of Cappadocia

The Church of Saint Theodore the Tiro (Aziz Theodoros Trion kilisesi in Turkish)) is located in Malakopi (today’s Derinkuyu) near the Cappadocian underground city. On the top of the entrance of the church, the inscription says:

“This sacred Church of Saint Theodore of Tiro has been built under the auspice of the Parishah Sultan Abdülmecid Han, with the blessing of Aziz Matropolitan Neophytos of Iconium Efendi and thanks to the donations of the Christian inhabitants of Malakopi, under the direction of the architect Kyriakos Papadopoulos Efendi from Chaldia. The church has been blessed and consecrated to Saint Theodore. Saint Theodore bless the country and protect it from dangers. Amen. Year 1858 May 15.”

The Sacred Icon of the Panagia in Plikati of Konitsa

By Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis

On the 16th of February in Konitsa, an annual synaxis is held in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary, whose icon was found in the village of Plikati (of Konitsa).

Verses

The Divine Icon of the Pure Theotokos, located in Plikati,
Has been glorified with miracles.
On the 16th I honor the glory of the Icon of the Mother of God.

This miraculous icon of the Theotokos is located in the village of Plikati, which is near Konitsa in Epirus. It had been hidden for a long time, unknown when, somewhere in the forest, and it was revealed like this, as we will show below.

About two hundred years ago, residents of the village grazed their sheep in a wooded area, which they call Petsilepi and is located south of the village of Aetomilitsa, formerly Dentsiko.

The shepherds saw for consecutive nights a light shining in the opposite forest, which created a lot of fear for them and they suspected that there was a lair of criminals.

Faith and Works: An Orthodox Philokalic Perspective (3 of 6)

 ...continued from part two.

3. Roman Catholic "created grace" and Protestant "sola fide": An Orthodox Philokalic Response

As is known, Roman Catholic theology understands justification as the result of the infusion (infusio) of grace into man as a supernatural state (habitus) or attribute, since the justice of God the Father was "satisfied" through the death of the Savior on the cross (Anselm of Canterbury). Created grace raises (gratia elevans) man to the level that now allows him, as a new creation, to lovingly respond to God's grace by performing good works. The grace of justification (gratia gratum faciens) is thus understood as a created measure that is added to and exists in the believer (gratia inharens) in order to make his will to turn to God with perfectly formed faith, love and hope (fides caritate et spe formata). The works performed in this state of justification are considered meritorious (merita) and are therefore rewarded by God after death with eternal life, which, according to Roman Catholic theology, lies in the beatific vision (visio beatifica) of the divine essence and of the intra-trinitarian projections (in this regard see the most representative modern Roman Catholic Dogmatic: G. L. Müller, Katholische Dogmatik, passim).
 

The Hermitage of Saint Damian on Mount Kissavos

The holy new martyr Damian was born around 1500 in the village of Myrichovos to rayah parents. His village Richovos or Myrichovos, in the district of Karditsa, was a poor village with mostly farmers. From a young age he desired to dedicate himself to God and become a monk. So he went to Mount Athos at a young age and presented himself to the Holy Monastery of Philotheou where he became a monk. While there he was called by God to go to his homeland in Thessaly to rekindle their spiritual life.

The enslaved Greeks listened attentively to the divinely inspired words of Saint Damian and their conscience was awakened and they corrected their way of life. These fiery sermons quickly created dislikes and thus began the first persecution of the Saint. The Hagarenes slandered the Saint as an impostor and set in motion an assassination plan.

Homily for the Epistle Reading on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son

 

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

(Homily on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20)

By Archimandrite Constantine Haralambopoulos

The denunciatory discourse of today's Apostlic Reading regarding the corruption of the flesh awakens us and reminds us of our duty as Christians, as people of God, not to surrender to the power of the passions but to tame the body through self-control and to purify the spirit through prayer.

At all times, my brethren, man is carried away by the sirens of lust and falls into the sins of the flesh. Therefore, the words of the Apostle, supported by the Great Father of the Church Basil, in his discourse "On Fornication", make us responsible for obeying the flesh.

In our age, sensual pleasure and worship of the flesh is promoted. Modern man's behavior is unnatural while it is projected as normal, abolishing the naturalness of life and transforming society into a society of animalistic violence and dehumanization.

An Instructive Lesson for Young Men from the Parable of the Prodigal Son (St. John Maximovitch)

 

 

 By St. John Maximovitch

(Delivered in Shanghai in 1946)

“And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me’” (Luke 15:12-14).

The Parable of the Prodigal Son contains the most instructive lesson for a young man.

In fact, in the prodigal son we see the full character of a volatile youth: frivolity, thoughtlessness, a passion for independence - in a word, everything that usually distinguishes most young men. The youngest son grew up in his parents' house. Having reached his youthful years, he already thought that his parents' house was too small for him. It seemed to him unpleasant to live under the guidance of his father and the supervision of his mother, he wanted to imitate his friends, indulging in the noisy pleasures of the world. “I,” he argued, “am the heir to a rich estate. Wouldn't it be better if I got my part now? I can dispose of wealth differently than how my father disposes." And the frivolous young man was carried away by the deceptive brilliance of the pleasures of the world and decided to overthrow the yoke of obedience, thus he decided to leave his parents' house.

Faith and Works: An Orthodox Philokalic Perspective (2 of 6)

 ...continued from part one.

2. The Philokalic View Towards "External Justification" (Protestantism) and the Roman Catholic "Meritocracy"

This is how we can understand why the sola fide of Protestants is lacking:
 
Faith does not save as a general idea, emotional state, acceptance of theoretical truths or even existential conviction. I remind you that the central Protestant idea, the justification of the sinner by faith alone (this "article" "stands or falls with the Church" according to Luther!) consists in the fact that God was "satisfied" by the death of His Son, thus the sinner by his faith alone (sola gratia) recognizes externally by grace alone (sola gratia) only Christ (propter Christum or solus Christus). Attention: God recognizes, not justifies the sinner. This means that the believer still remains in sin, but is now counted by God as righteous (the famous phrase "simul justus et peccator"). It is a purely judicial action, so justification is understood as a judicial measure (justitia forensis). Justice is an attribute of Christ and is not an action or attribute existing in the believer (justitia aliena), however it somehow brings about the renewal of the believer. From there on, good works are devoid of any merit (in contrast to Roman Catholic teaching), and are only the fruit and sign of justification. The faith of justification is an absolute gift of God. However, by looking towards Christ, the believer finds the certainty of salvation. Here, in my opinion, the teaching of "merit" is replaced by the "certainty" of salvation. (For details I refer, among others, to one of the most recent relevant studies: H.M. Barth, Die Theologie Martin Luthers, Gütersloh 2017, 272-273).
 

The Metropolitan Who Was Granted an Extension of Life from Saint Haralambos

Metropolitan Dionysios of Trikki and Stagon (1905-1/4/1970)

Since the feast of Saint Haralambos is approaching, we will share with you a story that Father Gerasimos Fokas of Mytilene used to tell us and is related to Saint Haralambos:

During the Second World War 1940-1942, Metropolitan Dionysios of Trikki and Stagon served as a preacher of the Holy Metropolis of Mithymna and in August 1942 he was arrested by the German occupiers on the charge of helping and treating British soldiers. The Germans tortured him severely and sentenced him to a ten-year prison term.

In the first phase, he was sent to Thessaloniki to the Pavlos Melas Camp, and then he was for three years in the German camps Stone and Bernau, where he was horribly tortured and was on the verge of death several times. With the intervention of the Panagia, he survived.
 

Faith and Works: An Orthodox Philokalic Perspective (1 of 6)

 By Dr. George D. Panagopoulos,
Professor of Dogmatics at the
University Ecclesiastical Academy Of Vella Ioannina

Not a few Orthodox theologians in our days overtly or covertly try to downgrade the Neptic-Hesychastic tradition and to diminish the importance of Monasticism in the life of the ecclesiastical body by "denouncing" Philokalic piety as primarily "prayerful" and ascetic living as an attempt at "individualization by works". In this way, they bring to the fore, consciously or unconsciously, the "oft-repeated" criticism raised by Protestants against monastic asceticism as an "ethic of meritorious works" (cf. G. Florovsky, The Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers).