February: Day 16: Holy Hieromartyr Pamphilos

February: Day 16:
Holy Hieromartyr Pamphilos
 
(On the Need for a Christian to Care About the Salvation of his Neighbor’s Soul)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Holy Hieromartyr Pamphilos, whose memory is celebrated today, lived at the beginning of the 4th century, was born in Berytus, in Caesarea of Palestine, where he later served as a priest. Having received an excellent education in Alexandria, he studied the Holy Scriptures: he compared the texts of the New Testament, corrected places corrupted by copyists, copied manuscripts himself and distributed them to all who wanted them. He worked long and hard on this matter and collected a large library of sacred books in Caesarea. At the same time, distinguished by his piety, he distributed his wealth to the poor and devoted himself to the spread of the true faith and Christian education.

Homily on the Love of God (St. Anthimos of Chios)

Homily on the Love of God

By St. Anthimos of Chios

(Delivered on August 30, 1954)

The goodness of God, sisters, is so rich in graces that it seeks a reason to have mercy on man. The grace of God is ready at any moment to reflect in the heart of man and to give him learning, to give him grace and mercy, but it wants to be given a reason. They say that Emperor Napoleon once went to a forest to rest, to take in its air, to enjoy there the beauty of nature. There he saw a beautiful tree, but it was a panorama: tall, cool, shady, its bark gleamed like a mirror. The emperor liked that tree so much, it aroused his admiration and curiosity so much, that he sat down opposite the tree and looked at it and admired it. Inside, his heart was filled with the beauty of the tree.

All the emperor's soldiers and the whole world had learned this and everyone appreciated the emperor's tree and kept it with great care. After a while the emperor died, and on the same day the tree also withered. Then they all thought it good to cut down the tree and with its wood to make the emperor's coffin, since he loved it so much. Indeed, they cut down the tree, and when they went to cut it down they saw the emperor's face in the wood like a photograph. It was so successful that the best camera could not have achieved it as well.

February: Day 15: Holy Apostle Onesimus

February: Day 15:
Holy Apostle Onesimus
 
(On the Attitude of Masters to Servants)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. In Asia Minor, in the region of Phrygia, there lived a rich and dignified man named Philemon. Having heard the preaching of the apostles, he converted to Christianity, and then he himself was numbered among the seventy apostles. He had a slave Onesimus, later the Holy Apostle Onesimus, one of the seventy, whose memory is celebrated today. Having committed some offense against his master and fearing punishment, he fled to Rome, where at that time the Apostle Paul was preaching the gospel. Onesimus followed him; he received baptism from him and did not abandon the Apostle even in his imprisonment. The Apostle Paul came to love his new follower very much, “our faithful and beloved brother,” as he calls him in his epistle to the Colossians. At the same time he wrote an epistle to Philemon, Onesimus’s master, and asked him to forgive the latter. “I beseech you,” he wrote to Philemon, “for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains... I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart." This is how the Apostle spoke about Onesimus. Philemon not only forgave Onesimus, but also set him free. Then Onesimus began to serve the Apostle Paul with even greater zeal and after his death he himself began to preach the gospel in Spain, Greece, Asia Minor and, already in his old age, was appointed Bishop of Ephesus after Timothy and John the Theologian.

An Orthodox Christian Evaluation of Saint Valentine's Day

By Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev

For ten years now, in mid-February, a special topic has appeared in ecclesiastical periodicals and parish sermons: the topic is that of a warning against celebrating "Saint Valentine's Day." They say it's not our holiday...

It's strange: the holiday itself is not called "Stakhanovite Day" or "Forestry and Timber Industry Worker's Day." It has an ecclesiastical name and reminds us of a Christian saint - and yet the Church calls not to celebrate him?

Let's first look at the formal reason for the holiday. The reason that is reflected in its name.

Was there really such a saint?

Yes, Saint Valentine lived in the Italian city of Terni in the 3rd century and was executed on February 14, 270.

February: Day 14: Venerable Maron

 

February: Day 14:
Venerable Maron
 
(The Custom of Resorting in Certain Cases To Prayer To Certain Saints Has a Legitimate Basis)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Maron, a Syrian hermit, whose memory is celebrated today, labored near the city of Cyrus, which was a two day journey from Antioch. He chose the summit of a mountain, revered in ancient times by the pagans, as the place for his exploits. Having made this place of idol sacrifices a place of service to God, he labored in a small hut, which, however, he rarely visited, almost always remaining in the open air. To mortify the flesh, he undertook heavy physical labors. God sent him the gift of healing various ailments and diseases, not only physical, but also spiritual, through prayer and blessing. He healed those sick with fever, the frenzied, and those possessed by demons. He healed souls from the ailments of covetousness, anger, intemperance, and carelessness, and inspired humility in the proud and justice in the unjust. After a short illness, he peacefully departed to eternal life, around the year 370. The inhabitants of a nearby village took his holy relics and placed them in their church, as a blessing to their village.

The Sacred Couple Aquila and Priscilla: The Protectors of Loving Spouses

By Lambros Skontzos

On February 13, our Church celebrates the holy memory of two important saints of the apostolic era, Aquila and Priscilla. These two sacred spouses constitute for our Orthodox Church the true version of what the commercialized “Saint Valentine” is said to offer on February 14. The late Archbishop Christodoulos had proposed to replace Valentine's Day as a “festival of lovers” brought from the cacodox “Christian” West with the feast of Saints Aquila and Priscilla.

This sacred couple is mentioned many times in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, who contributed greatly to the missionary work of the Apostle to the Gentiles. They were of Jewish origin and initially lived in Rome. They practiced the profession of tentmaker, manufacturing special fabrics for tents. However, in 49 AD Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) expelled the Jews from Rome on the grounds that they were arguing about a certain “Christ.” This testimony, which is important for the early Church, clearly shows the persecution that the Jews had proclaimed against the Christians. It also seems that Aquila and Priscilla had heard about the new faith, which they liked. From Rome they found themselves in Corinth, the great multinational city of Achaia, which rivaled Rome in moral corruption, practicing the lucrative profession of tentmaker.

February: Day 13: Venerable Martinian of Caesarea

February: Day 13:
Venerable Martinian of Caesarea
 
(On the Means of Combating Temptation)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Venerable Martinian, whose memory is celebrated today, was a hermit, who lived ascetically first in the vicinity of Caesarea in Palestine, and then on a rocky island. He died in Athens at the beginning of the 4th century; his relics were transferred to Antioch.

One harlot, who tempted the righteous man, was converted by him to a virtuous life and, under the name of Zoe, spent 12 years in severe asceticism in a Bethlehem monastery.

This is how it happened.

Having taken off her luxurious clothes and put on a torn rag instead, this woman, on a stormy, rainy night, penetrated into the hermit's solitude and, approaching his deserted cell, with feigned crying and a frightened voice asked him to shelter her from the bad weather and not to give her over to the beasts as a sacrifice.

On the Matter of the Publican and the Pharisee (St. Andrew of Crete)

On the Matter of the Publican and the Pharisee

By St. Andrew of Crete

The content of the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:10-14) constitutes something like training and preparation for those who want to approach sacred humility, which is contained in all the virtues upon which the Kingdom of Heaven is truly based, and to abstain from God-hating arrogance, which prevents man from every Christ-loving virtue. Who, then, would not desire to imitate the Publican and his return and repentance and would not turn away from the arrogance of the Pharisee, since humility is associated with Christ, and arrogance with the proud demon?

Arrogance is undoubtedly what made the first of the angels, who was also called Lucifer, a devil. It expelled the forefather Adam from Paradise. “He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble.” “The Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” It condemns Pharaoh: “The fool said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” It brought down Nebuchadnezzar, because “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve;” and “you shall make no graven image.” And if the disease is weakened, the habit becomes the passion. Truly, pride is a fever that numbs the sensitivity of the sick person, a terrible disease of the soul that provokes a person to fall; it is dropsy, full of fluid and air.

February: Day 12: Teaching 2: Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch

February: Day 12: Teaching 2:
Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch
 
(Stand Firm in the Faith!)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. In the fourth century, strife and various heresies disturbed the peace of the Church. In particular, the heresy of Arius, who denied the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father, spread. Rejected and condemned by the Ecumenical Synod of Nicaea, this heresy nevertheless found many followers. The Greek Emperor Constantius, one of the sons of Constantine the Great, was inclined toward Arianism and persecuted bishops who disagreed with him. Everywhere, enmity, revenge, and often bloody strife replaced the love and peace bequeathed by Jesus Christ.