Holy Martyr Varus in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Varus lived during the reign of Maximian and was a soldier in Egypt. He came from a distinguished, illustrious, and pious family. When seven saints were imprisoned for a long time because of their faith in Christ, Saint Varus cared for them daily. It happened that one of the seven fell asleep in the Lord, and Saint Varus took his place, provoking the ruler’s opposition. The ruler brought them all before him and ordered that Varus be the first to be beaten with clubs and that his sides be scraped for a prolonged period. After the tortures had continued for five hours, he surrendered his soul to the Lord.

2. Saint Varus brings to mind other martyrs who were led to martyrdom by the example of those who had gone before them. In other words, they admired the struggles of earlier martyrs and were thus moved to enter the contest of martyrdom of their own free will. The hymns of our Church, of course, never cease to emphasize the Saint’s great love for God, a love reaching the point of the sweetest longing. This love led him to deny himself and endure the tortures with great courage and strength:

“Seized by divine love, O all-blessed one, and by the sweetest longing, you denied yourself and steadfastly endured every torment of the flesh, contending with resolute courage.”

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 19

 

The Month of October

Day 19

50. Instruction to Mothers Who Have Lost Their Children: Third Discourse

(From the account of Holy Martyr Varus, Blessed Cleopatra, and her son John)

To you, mothers whom the Lord has ordained to lose one or another of your children, we address these words. What does it mean that whenever we have seen you at the graves of your children, we have always encountered a heart-rending sight, seeing on your faces inconsolable grief or boundless despair? What makes you give yourselves over to such sorrow? Intense love? But love must be guided by sound judgment. A lack of faith in God? But this is very dangerous.

Yes, mothers, if you are Christians, you should not behave like those who have no hope. If you believe that God exists, that the soul is immortal, and that there is a future life, why then behave as though there were no future life, as though nothing had existed, nothing existed now, and nothing would ever exist, and as though your children had vanished forever? This is unworthy of Christians. God exists; therefore, as the common Father of all, He has taken your children to Himself and will surely preserve and raise them better than you could. There is a future life; therefore, you will see your children again. There is recompense after death; therefore, there is no need to worry about your children’s fate in the life after death if you raised them in the Orthodox faith and in piety, or you can always obtain mercy for them at God’s judgment through fervent prayer. Therefore, grieve, but not without reason. Believe, hope, pray, and the Lord will comfort you.

Commemorating the Apostle Luke When His Feast Falls on a Sunday

By Fr. George Dorbarakis 

 

Our Church today sets aside the appointed sequence of readings, both the Gospel and the Apostolic reading, in order to turn its attention to Saint Luke the Evangelist, the Apostle and physician, a companion especially of the Apostle Paul, and, according to Tradition, the painter of the first icons of the Most Holy Theotokos. It does so by presenting texts associated with him. His personality and his contribution to the evangelization of mankind, both through preaching and through writing, are so great and significant that the Church does not wish to pass him by with only a few hymns. Saint Luke was not only an Apostle but also the author of the Gospel bearing his name in the New Testament, as well as the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostle Paul's reference to Luke as his beloved helper in the Apostolic reading emphatically confirms this.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 18

The Month of October

Day 18

49. On the Veneration of Holy Icons

(The Life of Saint Luke the Apostle and Evangelist)

In His second commandment, the Lord did not simply say, “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” but also added, “or any likeness.” Hence the question arises: may and ought we to venerate holy icons? We answer you, brethren, that holy icons most certainly may and ought to be venerated. This is evident from the following.

First, God Himself, who gave the words quoted above in His second commandment, nevertheless commanded Moses to place two golden cherubim in the Tabernacle, above the Ark of the Covenant. Thus, in the Book of Exodus, we read: “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘And you shall make two cherubim of gold; make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and the other cherub at the other end … And the cherubim shall have their wings spread upward … and their faces shall be turned toward one another’” (Exodus 25:18–20).

Encomium to our Venerable and God-bearing Father Symeon the New Theologian (St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite) - 4 of 5

 

...continued from part three. 

30. Now, if Saint Symeon demonstrates through these words how the spiritual formation of Jesus takes place in the hearts of others, how much more should we conclude that he himself first acquired this spiritual formation of Christ in his own heart, became His spiritual mother, and, having experienced and learned it himself, became a teacher of it to others? Indeed, this is precisely what we ought to conclude and firmly believe, for no one can rightly teach such divine mysteries to others unless he himself is first deemed worthy to know them through experience and to undergo them through the grace of the Holy Spirit. That the Son of God is continually born spiritually in those who love Him and becomes an infant, fashioning Himself within them through the virtues, and that the one who fears God conceives a spirit of salvation, is confirmed by the God-bearing Maximus in chapter 8 of the Third Century of the Theological Chapters²¹ and by the great Athanasius in his Questions to Antiochus²². The Prophet Isaiah had testified to this even before them, saying: “Because of Your fear, O Lord, we conceived in the womb, and were in labor, and gave birth; we brought forth a spirit of Your salvation…” (Isaiah 26:17–18).

Holy Prophet Hosea in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. The Prophet Hosea, whose name means “God saves,” is one of the twelve so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. He ministered during the eighth century BC in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, whose capital was Samaria and which was finally brought to an end by the Assyrians in 722 BC. His book indicates that he did not live to see the destruction, although he prophesied and described it. We have little information about his life, but we know his teaching well from his prophetic book. The personal story of the prophet—that he married a woman named Gomer, with whom he had three daughters, who proved to be an unfaithful wife, yet whom he continued to love until he welcomed her back into his home after she repented—provides the prerequisite for understanding his book. Through his relationship with his wife, the prophet comes to understand the relationship between God—Yahweh—and His people, Israel. God loves this people, who prove unfaithful as they continually turn to idols. Yet God continues to love Israel, awaiting its repentance, and when Israel does indeed repent, He immediately accepts it, so that God and His people live in reconciliation.

Holy Venerable Martyr Andrew who is in Krisi in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The Venerable Martyr Andrew lived during the period of Iconoclasm, when the Wicked Demon found an opportunity to wage war against the Christian faith using “right-handed” weapons. For under the pretext of fighting on behalf of Christ (!), the heretics, who in reality denied the manifestation of God in the world as man, turned against the true Christians, who, through the icons, emphatically proclaimed their faith that God had indeed become man and was therefore depictable according to His humanity, and that He had not come as a “phantom” or as a product of the mind. It is worth recalling that, for the early Church, and consequently throughout its entire history, the reality of God’s Incarnation in the person of Christ was the absolute criterion for confirming the genuineness of the faith. “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,” Saint John the Theologian would write, as well as the converse.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 17

The Month of October

Day 17

48. To Parishioners Living Among Schismatics

(The Passion of the Holy Venerable Martyr Andrew, who was from Crete)

When you Orthodox Christians encounter schismatics, and they begin, in your presence, to blaspheme our faith and the Church, some of you remain completely indifferent to their blasphemies and, out of ignorance, offer them no response. Others, which is worse still, are carried away by the ravings of the schismatics. They abandon the faith and the Church, sometimes even leaving their families, and themselves join the schism. Is this right, brethren? No, it is very wrong, for whoever sells the holy faith and the Church becomes another Judas.

Therefore, if you are truly Orthodox Christians, do not merely believe, but also confess your faith. That is, do not renounce it; defend it with all the strength of your soul against every form of blasphemy and slander. Do not sell it to just any heretic, and do not become traitors to it yourselves. To learn how to do this, study the confession of faith of the saints. By their example, better than by any words, they will show you how a Christian ought to conduct himself toward heretics and with what courage and patience he ought to defend his holy faith and the Church against their schemes and slanders.

Quack Healers

  

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou 

 

In recent days, following the death of singer Giorgos Mazonakis, we have repeatedly heard that the doctors he had visited did not have the medical specialty required to perform the particular plasmapheresis treatments in question, and for this reason they were described as fake doctors and kompogiannites (quack healers). Of course, a physician practices the science of medicine after learning from qualified physicians, receiving training and specializing in a particular field. The physician seeks to treat people on the basis of scientific knowledge and evidence.

By contrast, a fake doctor may have graduated from medical school, but when he undertakes procedures outside his specialty, particularly when he employs shamanistic methods (shamans being healers in antiquity), he falls under this designation. A fake doctor may also be someone who has not graduated from medical school but recommends herbs and fraudulent treatments, thereby exploiting people—not only failing to cure them but also leading them to their deaths. These fake doctors are also called quacks. We say of someone, “He is a kompogiannitis.” But what does this term mean?