MYSTAGOGY RESOURCE CENTER

Holy Prophet Zechariah, Father of John the Forerunner, in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-05T10:09:10.213-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Zechariah, whose feast we celebrate today, is a Hebrew name meaning “he who remembers the Lord.” He is distinct from the Prophet Zechariah who belongs to the group of the twelve so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. He too is characterized as a prophet because he truly possessed the prophetic gift, and the matters concerning him are recorded by the Evangelist Luke, who relates that during the period of his priestly service in the Temple, as a priest, he received a vision of the Archangel Gabriel, who announced to him beforehand the birth of his son John, despite all the logical obstacles: his own old age, and the old age and barrenness of his wife Elizabeth. Because of his disbelief, the archangel “punished” him with muteness, which was removed with the birth of John, an event that led Zechariah to hymns and glorifications, as well as to a prophecy concerning his child. His end was martyric, as is also noted in the New Testament: namely, his countrymen killed him, according to their well-known custom, between the Temple and the altar.

2. The Prophet Zechariah, despite the association of his memory with his disbelief in what the Archangel Gabriel announced to him, is especially honored by our Church, always in connection with his most eminent son, John the Forerunner. The Hymnographer of his service, moreover, sees him adorned with a triple crown: the crown of a faithful priest of God, of an excellent martyr, and of a glorious prophet: “faithful among priests and excellent among martyrs, and a glorious prophet… adorned with a triple crown.” Yet what the majority bring to mind is, as we said, his questioning of the heavenly vision, which Saint John Chrysostom says resulted in his deafness and muteness, because it revealed that he placed his own reason before the omnipotence of the word of God. Is it possible, the Holy Father even asks, for there to be any rational objection to Him whose word establishes and creates the universe?

And yet! If we were to judge the response of Saint Zechariah according to the criteria of our later saints, especially the Hesychast Fathers and Teachers, we ought to praise him. For precisely because he did not hasten to accept the vision, the appearance. Our saints, that is, basing themselves both on the word of God and on their own experience, teach us that our first response to such phenomena, should they occur, ought to be caution, and perhaps even questioning. And this is because it is not only God who can reveal Himself through His angel or in some other way, but also the wicked devil. Indeed, it is usually the devil who attacks a person in this particular manner; for this reason, caution is ultimately regarded before we can say it is from God. We remember the words of a holy ascetic of Mount Athos, who said that of the approximately three hundred visions he experienced as a monk, only three were from God. Praise, therefore, would be the proper response on our part to the questioning of Saint Zechariah. And the Gospel text itself does not seem to be negative toward something of this kind. The “punishment” of the Prophet rather functions simply as a form of instruction, and for this reason, as soon as the child John is born, the Saint’s tongue is also released.

The service of the day, however, gives us another interpretation of Zechariah’s deafness and muteness, placing it within the framework of his prophetic gift: his deafness prophesies the silence of the Old Testament, which brings its work to completion with the appearance of the light of God’s grace, indicated by the birth of John. “O, what a wondrous miracle! The silence of the Old [Testament] and the manifestation of the New, Zechariah’s deafness most clearly prophesies. For, having fallen silent at the fulfillment of the Law, he revealed the light of grace.” This is a symbolic elevation of the Prophet’s muteness, which moves us because it shows us with what broad vision our Church approaches the events of the Divine Economy and how much the Spirit of God guides her toward their proper understanding. And beyond this: the very service itself — that is, once again seeing these events through divine illumination — directs us toward something that has immediate relevance to our own life. “Your prophet, O Master,” the holy hymnographer points out, “faithfully ministered to You in the rational types, and was deemed worthy, in knowledge, to behold the truth” [of grace]. That is: Your prophet, Lord, faithfully ministered according to the rational types of the Old Testament; therefore he was deemed worthy also to behold with full knowledge the truth of grace, through the coming of Christ. In other words, when we too persist, remaining steadfast and faithful in those things that, even in their outward form, we are able to fulfill from the law of God — our prayer, our attendance at church, our study of the word of God, our almsgiving — we will see the grace of God become active and sweeten our heart. A period of spiritual dryness, then, when it does not become an occasion for us to turn away from the word of God, usually brings afterward the rich dew of God’s presence.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 5

2026-09-05T09:37:54.158-04:00

The Month of September

Day 5

6. To What Terrible Crimes Apostasy from the Faith Can Lead a Person

(The Sufferings of the Holy Martyrs Urban, Theodore, Medimnos, and those with them; and of the Holy Martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus. September 5, Menaion)

To Parishioners Living Among the Old Believers

It is known that, in general, all the Old Believers have no love for Orthodox Christians, and almost all of them seek to do them harm. But it is also known that those who are distinguished by a particular hatred of the Orthodox are not those who were born and raised in the schism, but those who themselves abandoned Orthodoxy and entered into it because of their own foolish convictions. Why is this latter the case? Why, brethren, do those among the Old Believers who themselves departed from the Orthodox Church into schism show particular hatred toward you? Know that this is because the devil draws especially close to those who have apostatized from Orthodoxy; he takes away from them all love for their neighbors and fills them with every kind of malice. And with such malice, naturally, they become capable of every kind of crime, and in fact they commit such crimes. It is not difficult to prove this truth.

Here, for example, is what is written in the Life of the Holy Martyrs Urban, Theodore, and Medimnos. When many of the Christians in Constantinople abandoned Orthodoxy for the Arian heresy, they first of all launched a persecution against the Orthodox: they drove out Evagrius, the bishop; they beat some of the Christians; they began throwing others into prison; and they plundered the possessions of still others. And when the apostate emperor Valens was approached by the aforementioned Holy Martyrs, who came to ask him for protection from the Arians, instead of granting them that protection, he ordered them to be secretly put to death. The Holy Martyrs were placed aboard a ship, and when the ship was in the middle of the sea, the emperor's servants set it on fire, and the Saints perished in the flames.

Another example. Once the emperor Julian, likewise an apostate from the faith, intending to defile Christians, ordered that all foodstuffs being sold in the marketplace be sprinkled with the defilements of sacrifices offered to idols. Two Christian soldiers, Juventinus and Maximinus, having learned of this while they were at a banquet, bitterly expressed their grief over the emperor's lawlessness. The emperor learned of this and at first ordered them to be beaten without mercy; then he threw them into prison; and finally, their holy heads too were cut off by his command.

Is it not true, then, after this, that those who have apostatized from the Orthodox faith and become schismatics, brethren, hate you precisely because the devil has drawn especially close to them as apostates, has taken love away from them, and has filled them with every kind of malice? Yes, look at the Arian heretics. When the Orthodox in Constantinople became such, what happened? Immediately, upon their apostasy from the Orthodox faith, the new Arian heretics began persecuting the Orthodox: they expelled their bishop, beat them, imprisoned them, and robbed them. And the apostate emperors, as you have seen, drowned Orthodox Christians and had their heads cut off. Whose work is this, chiefly? Certainly, first and foremost, the work of the devil's hands. What did the Lord say about the unbelieving Jews? “Your father is the devil, and you want to carry out the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning” (Jn. 8:44). Can the same thing not be said about those who have apostatized into schism? Again, yes. If their faith were true and the Spirit of God were with them, then, of course, they would have love for everyone; they would be at peace with everyone; and they would have compassion for everyone. But what do we see in apostates? As you have heard, there is in them nothing but malice and a readiness, because of it, to commit every kind of crime. Truly, every tree is known by its fruits.

But what, you will say, does this have to do with us? It means that you should put aside all doubts concerning the truth of the faith and of the Church; flee from the Old Believers as from a deadly plague; and, while doing them only good, nevertheless avoid their blasphemous conversations concerning our Holy Church in every possible way. Reject their foul and old-wives' tales, and continually remember the word of the Apostle: “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the deceit of men, by their cunning craftiness in the art of deception” (Eph. 4:14). Amen.

Questions for Conversation 6

1. How did the soldiers Juventinus and Maximinus express their grief over the emperor's lawlessness?

2. What happened to the holy heads of Juventinus and Maximus?

3. What does the devil take away from those who apostatize from the Orthodox faith?

4. Under what condition would those who have apostatized have love for everyone, peace with everyone, and compassion for everyone?

5. Doubts concerning what should we put aside?

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

An Account of a 19th century English Traveler to Crete Regarding Saint Anthimos Kourouklis

2026-09-04T18:24:44.121-04:00

Robert Pashley (1805–1859), the English classical scholar and traveler, visited Crete in 1833–1834 and later published the results of his journey in his two-volume Travels in Crete (Cambridge, 1837). The work remains an important nineteenth-century firsthand account of the island, combining observations of its geography, antiquities, villages, monasteries, customs, and inhabitants with information gathered from local sources. In the following passage from the second volume, Pashley records his thoughts on Saint Anthimos Kourouklis, the Blind Ascetic of Kefallonia (+ 1782), providing a valuable contemporary glimpse into nineteenth-century Cretan life, as well as how he viewed the oral legends of a holy elder he heard from a local. Following this description, he goes on at some length describing another "holy elder" who he actually saw with his own eyes.

Travels in Crete

(From Vol. 2, Ch. 37)

By Robert Pashley

In a country where the belief in such supernatural occurrences, as have been described in the previous chapter, is not confined to old women and children, but prevails among the whole population, it is not surprising to learn how powerful an influence has occasionally been exerted over the people by artful men, who have played on their simplicity and credulity, and have made the profession of a Saint and Prophet answer well their own base ends. The older Sfakians remember that not long after the devastation of their country in 1769, a saint, who was stone-blind and never tasted any food,[1] came from one of the monasteries of the Holy Mountain[2] to preach and prophesy to the Sfakians. When surrounded by a numerous audience he would sometimes declare who were the sinners, and who the righteous men among his hearers. Once some Mohanmedans joined his congregation, and scarcely had they entered the church before he exclaimed, that they would never learn any thing from him but must go to their prophet Mohammed. He declared that the wrath of God could only be averted from the land by their abandoning their unchristian and murderous practices: and the influence of his reputation and preaching among them was confessedly great enough to put a stop, for awhile, to the murders which from time immemorial were so common in Sfakia. But the date of this worthy man’s ministry is so remote, that we do not learn so much about him as we may of another saint, who is still living,[3] and who made his appearance in Sfakia during the year 1811.

Notes:

1 My Sfakian informant, although he had been a leader in the whole war, and had lived in exile at Nauplia ever since his country was given up to Mehmét-Ali, was firmly persuaded that the holy elder never eat anything. Many examples “of wonderful fasting” are stated in JONSTONUS, An History of the Wonderful Things of Nature, Classis x. Ch. 2. §.7. p. 315. ed. Lond. 1657. The periods vary from the modest length of forty days to that of forty years! "Hermolaus knew a priest who lived in health forty years, without any thing, but by sucking in the air.” The goats of Cephallenia are said always to have satisfied their thirst in the same way: see the Book de Mirab. ausc. n. 9. p. 831. ed. Bekk.

2 The “Holy Mountain", as Mount Athos is called by the Greeks.

3 I saw him at Nauplia in 1834. He has long since abandoned his sacred profession spoken of in the text.

Saint Babylas of Antioch in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-04T17:52:36.987-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Great Fathers of the Church, such as the thrice-great Saint John Chrysostom, not only concerned themselves with Saint Babylas and his three spiritual children, but also wrote important discourses in order to emphasize their holy example and their fervent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the culmination of which was the offering of their blood for His sake and, consequently, their glorious entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Among these discourses is that of the holy hymnographer Theophanes, who, referring to the Holy Bishop Babylas, emphasizes what is usually stressed when speaking of holy hieromartyrs: the Saint was both the one who offers the sacrifice and the one who is offered as the sacrifice. The one who offers the sacrifice, because as a high priest he ministered Jesus Christ in the Divine Liturgy; the one who is offered as the sacrifice, because he was called by grace to offer his own life precisely for the sake of his faith. The verses of the Synaxarion are very expressive:

“Babylas, who formerly offered Christ Himself as a sacrifice, is willingly sacrificed to Christ by the sword.”

And elsewhere, in greater detail:

“Offering to the Lord the spotless, awesome, bloodless sacrifice, O Hieromartyr Babylas, you also offered yourself as a spotless sacrificial victim through your blood” (Ode 4).

For Saint Theophanes, however, what above all constitutes the most important fact, and what also explains the Saint’s courageous confession before the king, as well as that of the three children — a confession that transcends even the natural inclination of man to preserve his life (“undaunted by threats before tyrannical tribunals,” Ode 4) — is the Saint’s great love for Jesus Christ, literally his love for the Holy Trinity. He truly speaks of divine eros, characterizing the Saint as a lover of the transcendent Trinity. And why is this so? Because, in order for man to free himself from the desire for earthly things — for, having a body, because of the Fall we turn with passion toward whatever constitutes an attraction of matter — a stronger force than this desire is required; and this force is none other than eros for Christ our God.

Let us listen to the Holy Hymnographer, who moves with complete freedom in his choice of the words he uses, without worrying that he might be “misunderstood” because of his erotology.

“You, O blessed Babylas, having subjected your desire for earthly things to eros, despised life itself, hastening to behold the beauty of Christ” (Ode 1).

And further:

“As a lover of the transcendent Trinity, O blessed Babylas, you died with joy together with the three children, giving your soul over to eros for Them” (Ode 1).

The Saint, according to the Hymnographer, recalls Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer, who likewise, out of his longing for Christ, wrote that his eros had been crucified: “My eros has been crucified.” He also recalls the Apostle Paul, who, in the same vein, and even more emphatically, stressed that “for him to live means Christ, and to die is gain.” Why? Because “he had the desire to depart from this life in order to be with Christ.”

When we speak about the saints of our Church, we find ourselves on a level beyond material and earthly things. Through them we are brought into the words of the Lord Himself, who calls us to a corresponding love for Him, which means that we enter into Him, since, according to the teaching of the Fathers, He Himself is contained within His words: “In Him we live, and He in us.”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 4

2026-09-04T17:22:41.520-04:00

The Month of September

Day 4

5. To Schoolchildren: On the Love of God

(From the Life of the Holy Hieromartyr Babylas. September 4, Menaion)

You know, children, that the benefits bestowed upon us by God are great and beyond number. You know that God gives us life; that He sends the holy Angels to guard us; that He gives us the earth as our dwelling place; the sun, moon, and stars to give us light; the air, water, plants, and animals, so that we may have everything necessary and beneficial for life; that He has revealed His will to us, so that we may fulfill it and be pleasing to Him; that He has granted us the saving Mysteries, so that by making use of them we may be cleansed from our sins, draw near to Him, and receive salvation and eternal life in Him. You know that everything good which we possess, beginning with life itself, we have from God, and that, as the word of God says, “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Thus, you know all these things. But why, I ask, have you been given this knowledge? Do not forget that it has been given so that, seeing and knowing the boundless love of God for you, you yourselves might repay God with love and thanksgiving. Our Savior also calls you to such love. He says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength—this is the first commandment!” (Mk. 12:30) Yes, do not forget, children, that the first commandment for you, your first duty, must consist in loving God, your Creator and Benefactor; and, as you see, not simply loving Him, but loving Him, according to the word of the Savior, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. But what, you may ask, does this latter mean? What does it mean to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? The following example will give you the answer.

Saint Babylas, the Hieromartyr and Bishop of Antioch, once, during his lifetime, took pity on three orphaned boys who had lost their father. He took the place of their father for them and raised them in faith and piety. And the children became so attached to him that they did not leave him even when he was handed over by the persecutor Numerian to suffer for Christ, and they followed Babylas even when he was being led through the city in chains and in disgrace. At that time the tyrant-king noticed the children and, calling them to him, asked: “Do you have a mother?” The boys answered: “We do.” Thereupon their mother was immediately brought before the persecutor, and he asked her: “What is your name, and are you the mother of these children?” She answered: “My name is Christodoula, and these boys are my children, whom I entrusted to the care of Babylas, and I hope that his teaching, which he imparted to them, will not be without fruit for them.”

Hearing this, Numerian became enraged and ordered the pious mother to be struck on the cheeks. Then he again turned to the children and asked each of them his name and age. The first said that his name was Urban and that he was twelve years old; the second said that he was called Prilidian and was nine years old; and the third gave his name as Eppolonius and said that he was seven years old. After this, the king began urging the children to renounce Christ and worship idols, and he offered them rich gifts if they would carry out his will. But the boys, filled with love for God, answered with one accord: “It is not right for us to bow down to idols. We have been taught to know the one true God, who created heaven and earth; and to Him alone do we bow down, and not to demons.”

Seeing that the boys remained unyielding, the persecutor ordered them to be beaten, giving each one as many blows as he was years old. And so they laid the first one out upon the ground and gave him twelve cruel blows; then the second, and inflicted upon him nine grievous wounds; and then the third also received seven blows. And the boys, out of their ardent love for God, endured all this courageously; they even regretted that they had not suffered still greater wounds for Christ. And they said: “Even if you should wish to kill us, we still will not bow down to false gods, but will worship the one God, our Lord Jesus Christ.”

After this, Numerian tormented them further and ordered that they be hung together with Babylas upon a tree and burned with fire. And this torture also the blameless boys endured bravely together with their teacher, through the help of the strength of God that strengthened them. Seeing that it was impossible to make them renounce Christ by tortures, the king again resorted to flattery and cunning. He ordered the children to be taken down from the tree and, calling them to him, began in every way to caress them; he called them his own children, beautiful and well-behaved boys, and offered them gold and silver. But the boys remained unshaken even then, like a rock, and, as though with one mouth, answered the king: “Do you really think that you will ever ensnare us by flattery? Know that you will never accomplish anything, even if you were to labor without end.” Then, sighing, they all added: “Even if not only this one king were here, but also a multitude of fiercer kings and persecutors, not one of them would separate us from our God.”

After this the king ordered the children, together with Babylas, to be put to death. And so the boys went with their teacher to their execution. As they were going to the place of execution, the Hieromartyr Babylas sang the words of David: “Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you” (Ps. 114:7). And when they reached the very place of execution, the boys first bowed their heads beneath the sword, and afterward Babylas also had his holy head cut off.

Is it clear to you now, children, what it means to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? The example of the children, the disciples of Babylas, as you see, tells you that to love God in this way means to be devoted to Him with your whole being and to conduct yourselves in such a way that, when necessary, neither threats, nor enticements, nor even death itself could force you to depart from the laws of the Lord, violate them, or renounce the Lord Himself.

The example shows us that love for the Lord must be limited by nothing, and that our entire life must be devoted to Him. Having learned this, strive also to establish such love for the Lord in your hearts. Remember that He is your only, highest, and essential good; strive toward Him continually with your mind and your heart and with your whole being; do everything for the glory of His name; place the keeping of His law above everything for yourselves; be firm and unshakable on the path of piety and virtue. Remember that you may encounter troubles, sorrows, and other difficulties because of your love for the Lord; but even then do not be troubled. Do not grieve if, for example, you hear an insulting word or a mockery, or if you see some foolish contempt for your complete devotion to the King of Heaven. On the contrary, in all such and similar difficulties, comfort yourselves with the thought that you are enduring them because of your ardent love for God; comfort yourselves with the words of the Lord and Savior: “He who endures to the end will be saved.” Amen.

Questions for Conversation 5

1. How did Saint Babylas, the Hieromartyr, raise the three orphaned boys?

2. According to the boys’ words to the persecutor Numerian, what had they been taught?

3. Why did the boys courageously endure the blows they received from the persecutor according to their age?

4. What does the example of the three boys show us?

5. With what words of the Lord should we comfort ourselves when we encounter difficulties?

Orthodox Resistance to Nazism: The Church of Czechoslovakia and the Martyrdom of Bishop Gorazd

2026-09-04T17:12:00.243-04:00

By Archimandrite Athenagoras Soupourtzis,
Professor of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law, Volyn Academy of Theology

On June 18, 1942, exactly 84 years ago, hundreds of SS men surrounded an Orthodox church in Prague.

The battle that followed lasted for hours. None of the seven resistance fighters hiding in the crypt surrendered.

The story that led to that day, and the ethos of the Church that defined it, deserves to be brought back to memory.

When resistance against Nazism is discussed, historical memory usually turns to the military operations of the Allies, the resistance movements, and the governments that continued the struggle from exile.

Far less well known is the contribution of certain ecclesiastical communities, which chose to defend human dignity at the cost even of the lives of their pastors.

Perhaps the most characteristic example is the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

One of the smaller autocephalous Orthodox Churches, with a small flock and a small Holy Synod, nevertheless gave one of the most important testimonies of resistance against Nazi totalitarianism.

In December 1941, Czechoslovak paratroopers, selected by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London and trained by British special forces, secretly returned to their occupied homeland.

Two of them, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, had been assigned the mission of eliminating Reinhard Heydrich, one of the principal organizers of the Nazi machinery of repression and of the Holocaust. The operation became known as Operation Anthropoid.

On May 27, 1942, the two men attacked Heydrich in the streets of Prague; he succumbed to his wounds several days later, on June 4.

The paratroopers being hunted did not seek refuge in a military unit or in some political network; they found it in the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodios.

There, under the responsibility of Bishop Gorazd and the priest Vladimir Petřek, clergy and laity of the Orthodox Church hid seven resistance fighters for weeks in the church crypt, knowing that their discovery would mean certain death.

When a traitor revealed the hiding place, on June 18, 1942, the church was surrounded by hundreds of SS men.

Three of the paratroopers fell fighting inside the church.

The remaining four, trapped in the crypt, chose to end their own lives rather than be captured and betray those who had helped them.

Bishop Gorazd personally assumed responsibility. In a letter to the German authorities, he attempted to spare his flock from reprisals.

He was arrested, tortured, and executed on September 4, 1942, together with close associates, among them the priest Vladimir Petřek, the priest Václav Čikl, and the chairman of the church council, Jan Sonnevend.

The Church later proclaimed him a Holy New Martyr, in 1987, and he is annually commemorated on September 4th.

The price, however, was not limited to these individuals.

In retaliation, the Nazi authorities dissolved the entire Orthodox Church in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia: worship was prohibited, its property was confiscated, and its clergy were persecuted.

This small Church found itself, in practice, on the side of the European anti-Nazi resistance and the Allies — not because it had adopted some geopolitical position, but because its Christian conscience did not permit it to hand over people who were struggling against a criminal totalitarian regime.

This stance constitutes one of the most characteristic expressions of Orthodox ecclesiology.

Gorazd was not an isolated exception, but a representative of a consistent ecclesiastical ethos, which was repeatedly confirmed in different countries and under different circumstances.

In Greece, in March 1943, Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and All Greece publicly rose up against the deportation of the Greek Jews, while the Metropolitan of Zakynthos, Chrysostomos, shortly afterward refused to hand over the lists of the Jewish community, thereby saving it intact.

In Bulgaria, during the same period, the Metropolitans Stephen of Sofia and Cyril of Plovdiv firmly opposed the deportations, contributing to the rescue of thousands.

In Serbia, as early as 1941, numerous clergy and several hierarchs suffered persecution and martyrdom.

In all these cases the same principle applies: the bishop does not abandon his flock, nor does he sacrifice human dignity for reasons of self-preservation.

Responsibility toward the human person takes precedence over personal interest, even over life itself.

Today, the crypt of the church has been transformed into a museum of remembrance.

The traces of German bullets are still visible on its walls, reminding us that the freedom of Europe was also written with the blood of Orthodox clergy and faithful.

At a time when Europe is once again seeking the foundations of its historical memory, the example of Prague acquires particular significance.

It demonstrates that Orthodoxy was not merely a spectator to the twentieth century.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios

2026-09-03T17:59:43.449-04:00

The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios:
The Celebration of the Translation of His Relics and the Construction of His Church on Aegina

Estia,
Friday, November 9, 2018

By Eleutherios G. Skiadas

“A Saint Among Us” was the common sentiment and customary expression of the faithful when, in 1961, the Ecumenical Patriarchate canonized Metropolitan Nektarios of Pentapolis, known in the world as Anastasios Kefalas (October 1, 1846 – November 9, 1920). And rightly so, since many were still living who had known him, had conversed with him, and had heard his teachings or spiritual counsel. Moreover, the fact that the likeness of a Saint had been preserved in photographs was an additional reason for the strange feelings this evoked.

Yet long before the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it was the faithful themselves — the people bearing the name of Christ — who had already accorded him the honors of a saint. Apart from Aegina, where he ended his earthly life and left behind blessed memories, his reputation had spread throughout the entire country. For this reason, at the initiative of the people of Aegina, he was already being commemorated as a Saint during the 1940s and 1950s. In Athens, on the very day of his repose, services were held at the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries in Thissio and at the Church of Saint Eleutherios in Pedion tou Areos.

Special ferry services as well, with inexpensive fares, transported the faithful to Aegina to venerate the Saint’s relics, which had begun to be exhibited at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. In any case, confirming the view of those who spoke of “a Saint among us,” we are adding another link to the long chain of information concerning Saint Nektarios by presenting the details contained in his civil registry death record! As is well known, he departed this earthly life at the Aretaieion Hospital, where a small chapel was also erected in his honor.

The administrative formalities at the Civil Registry were undertaken by his nephew, “from Selyvria,” the 38-year-old real-estate agent and stockbroker Themistokles Kefalas, the son of his brother Haralambos. The death record was drawn up the day after his death, on November 9, 1920, a Monday, and in the particulars he is recorded as “Metropolitan of Pentapolis (Egypt), aged 75 (seventy-five), from Selyvria, resident of Aegina, unmarried, [having died] from chronic cystitis and hypertrophy of the prostate.”

The age given raises a question, since the prevailing account holds that Saint Nektarios was born on October 1, 1846, whereas according to the declaration in the death record he is listed as 75 years old, which would place his birth in 1845. The two witnesses required by law, who also co-signed the record, were municipal employees.

Meanwhile, every year on September 3, the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nektarios is solemnly celebrated on Aegina, a commemoration stemming from the fact that on September 3, 1953, the Church made the decision to collect the Saint’s skull and bones. Most of the relics were placed in silver reliquaries at the monastery on Aegina. A small portion of the relics was deposited as a blessing in Orthodox churches both within Greece and abroad. The Saint’s sacred body remained completely incorrupt for more than twenty years, while the branches of lemon trees that had been placed upon the Saint’s funeral bed on the day of his burial likewise remained unchanged, spreading the same inconceivable fragrance throughout the surrounding area each time the tomb was opened.

And the tomb had been opened on quite a few occasions. From 1920, the year of the Saint’s death, until 1953, there are records of at least six occasions on which the covering slab of the tomb was moved: six months after the burial, as well as in the years 1924, 1927, between the years 1930 and 1935, in 1937, and in 1948. On the very day of the translation of the Saint’s relics, in 1969, the foundation stone of the new church was laid at the former Monastery of the Holy Trinity on Aegina, which had already been renamed the Monastery of Saint Nektarios. Construction of the church was completed in 1994.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Hieromartyr Anthimos of Nicomedia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-03T15:52:31.003-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Anthimos was led in chains before the emperor Maximian for interrogation, while all the instruments of torture had been brought there. And when he was questioned and boldly confessed Christ, they severed his tendon, wounded him with red-hot irons, and stretched him out naked upon a potsherd, whereupon they beat him with rods. Then they put red-hot bronze supports on his feet as footwear and bound him to a wheel, while at the end they cut off his head. And even after his head had been cut off, his hair continued to grow.

2. Saint Anthimos belongs to the company of the holy hieromartyrs, who possess the grace of God in twofold measure: that of the priesthood and that of martyrdom. In both he excelled to such a degree that not only do the faithful in this world rejoice and glorify his memory, but so do the angels and the martyrs who preceded him—and thus the whole Church, both the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, as they are called. For, “Having first offered sacrifice to God, the bloodless sacrifice, as a priest most law-abiding, and afterward, as a most true Martyr, you offered yourself to Christ as an acceptable sacrifice through blood”; that is, as a priest who lived wholly according to the law of God, he first offered the bloodless sacrifice to Him; afterward, as a most true martyr, he offered himself to Christ as an acceptable sacrifice through his blood. And not only this: as has also been noted on another occasion, he was a trainer of many martyrs, that is, through his word, his exhortations, and his prayers, but above all through his life, he guided others to remain steadfast in their faith and to become martyrs of the Lord themselves. “You offered armies of martyrs to Christ, Father Anthimos, through your teachings and exhortations, admonishing, teaching, and, as one wise in God, presenting yourself as a clear example.”

The superhuman course of Saint Anthimos’ life, both while he lived in peace and at the hour of his martyrdom, was certainly also a fruit of the divine grace that strengthened him. No one can of himself become a martyr of Christ, meaning not only endurance in the face of tortures, something that we encounter even in martyrdoms outside the Christian faith, but also perseverance in love toward one’s enemies. The martyr of Christ dies praying for his persecutors, but it was also the fruit of his own will, which he had offered wholeheartedly to his Lord. Indeed, if this will is absent on the part of man, the grace of God remains inactive, no matter how greatly God desires to save man. Saint Anthimos’ desire to be with God, which also set the grace of God into operation, was revealed by his persistent effort to keep the remembrance of God in his mind and heart. The Saint lived the commandment of the Lord, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself,” and this provoked the devil, who could find no opening in his heart through which to tempt him. The result, of course, in such cases is well known: the devil becomes enraged, while the faithful man is strengthened still more by the grace of God, through which he also utterly defeats his adversary. The Church’s hymnographer describes this inner state in a magnificent way: “Having strengthened your soul through persistent contemplations, you enraged the enemy through courageous struggles, and showed him to be powerless.”

Saint Anthimos is an example not only for the faithful of his own age, but for every age. He reminds us that we cannot have God at the margins of our life, but at its center, which means that everything we say, do, and think must breathe forth the fragrance of the divine presence. And this is accomplished when we begin to realize that the entire secret of the spiritual life, which, as we have said, activates the grace of God, is the matter of our thoughts. Our mind and our heart must be turned toward God. Our persistent contemplation upon the presence of God, upon His holy commandments, and in our prayers—especially through the brief prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”—is what enlivens our faith and makes us truly members of Christ, literally His dwelling places. Saint Anthimos is also our trainer in the struggle to find the Kingdom of God.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 3

2026-09-03T15:21:19.717-04:00

The Month of September

Day 3

4. Against Falsehood

(From the Life of the Hieromartyr Anthimos. September 3)

It seems to us that in recent times no sin has become so widespread among people as the sin of falsehood. They lie everywhere and about everything. They lie simply by knowing the truth and concealing it; they lie by presenting a matter not as it actually is; they lie with the aim of harming one person or another; they lie out of greed and bribery, in order to obtain something for themselves through falsehood; finally, they lie out of flattery and the desire to please people, in order by lying to curry favor with someone. In a word, words flow everywhere like rivers, yet there is nothing with which to quench one’s thirst, because the water is rotten. But this sin of falsehood, which, incidentally, is now given so little attention, is in reality a grave sin before God, hateful to Him and severely punished by Him. Thus the word of God says: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). And in another place: “The Lord shall destroy all those who speak lies.” For this reason we, too, must not give ourselves over to the sin of falsehood, but avoid it in every way and always speak the truth alone. But in order to acquire the habit of the latter, what must we do? We must, precisely, first of all remember that falsehood is a grave sin and one severely punished by God; secondly, we must remember also that whoever lies imitates the devil, who, according to the word of the Lord, “did not stand in the truth ... and is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44); and thirdly, we must learn the truth from the saints, who stood for it even when, for its sake, they had to lay down their very lives. Yes, brethren, regarding the truth, the saints can always give us saving lessons, and by their example can always turn us away from falsehood. Therefore, for a lesson in truth, we intend now to direct you to the saints as well, and we hope that the lesson they give you will not remain without benefit for you.

Here is the first lesson for you, from the Hieromartyr Anthimos. Once, when he was secretly living in the village of Semane, the fierce persecutor of Christians, Maximian, learned of him and sent twenty soldiers to seize him. The soldiers soon found Anthimos and, not knowing who he was, asked him: “Tell us, where can we find Anthimos, the teacher of the Christians?” Anthimos first of all invited the soldiers into his home and offered them food, and then told them that he himself was Anthimos, whom they were seeking, and offered to go with them to Maximian. The soldiers were astonished and, taking pity on the Saint, said to him: “We will not take you with us, and we advise you to hide somewhere; we will tell Maximian that we searched for you and did not find you.” But Anthimos, to their astonishment, resolutely rejected their proposal and, instructing them that they should always speak the truth alone, went with them and voluntarily appeared before Maximian in order to receive terrible tortures at his hands.

Another similar example of fidelity to the truth is given to us by the Holy Martyr Mamas.

Once, a persecutor of Christians, a certain Alexander, the governor in Cappadocia, learned that Mamas was hiding in the desert and likewise sent soldiers, as Maximian had done, to seize him and bring him to martyrdom. When Mamas saw them in the desert, he himself came out to meet them and asked: “Whom are you seeking?” The soldiers, taking him for a poor shepherd, answered frankly: “Why, we are looking for a certain Mamas; do you happen to know where he is?” The martyr said: “And why do you need him?” “The governor ordered us to bring him to be tortured.” Then Mamas said: “My friends, I know where he is, and I will find him for you; only, I ask you, first come into my hut, rest for a while, and take some food, for you are weary from the journey.” The soldiers entered Mamas’s hut and sat down at the table; Mamas, meanwhile, stood at prayer. When the meal was over, the martyr said: “I am Mamas, whom you are seeking.” The soldiers were amazed and replied: “We leave it entirely to your will: if you wish to go with us to the governor, then go; if you do not wish to, then remain here; we dare not take you.” Mamas said: “Go on ahead, and I will follow after you.” The soldiers departed and, having come to the city, began waiting for Mamas at the city gates. Their waiting was not in vain: the martyr himself came to them, and they led him away to the torturer.

Do you now see, then, under what conditions the saints kept the truth and how faithful they were to it? They, as you surely have now been able to see for yourselves, remained faithful to it even when, because of it, they had to go to crosses and fires, shed their own blood, and endure immeasurable and unimaginable tortures. And we? We, who live in peace and prosperity, and often in ease and luxury, have completely forgotten about it and, having given ourselves over to falsehood at every step, sell our conscience and soul, our good name and honor—and those of both ourselves and our neighbor—and at every step, according to the word of God, “with our mouths we bless, but with our hearts we curse our neighbors” (Ps. 61:5). “With our mouths we speak peaceably with our neighbor, but in our hearts we lay snares for him” (Jer. 9:8). And in relation to God, through falsehood we often have only the appearance of godliness, while at almost every step we deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5). Is this worthy of Christians? And is this falsehood becoming to us, when we know that the tongue itself has been given to us so that we may speak only the truth and by the truth alone glorify the righteous God? And do we not offend and anger that same God by our falsehood, who Himself, being Truth, loves only the truth? And does falsehood not, finally, humiliate us in the most cruel manner, making us like the primordial liar—the devil? Let us come to our senses, then, brethren, and abandon falsehood forever. From this point forward, let truth be our constant companion in our words and in our deeds, while falsehood, as a sin that defiles the mouth and heart, darkens the soul, is hateful to God, and is absolutely destructive to us, should depart from us forever. Amen.

Questions for Conversation 4

1. What did the Hieromartyr Anthimos do for the soldiers before telling them that he himself was Anthimos?

2. What instruction did Anthimos give the soldiers when they suggested that he hide?

3. How did the Holy Martyr Mamas address the soldiers who were looking for him?

4. What did Mamas ask the soldiers to do because they were weary from the journey?

5. Why was the soldiers’ waiting for Mamas at the city gates not in vain?

Homily on the Holy Martyr Mamas (St. Basil the Great)

2026-09-02T17:49:22.481-04:00

Homily 23

On the Holy Martyr Mamas

By St. Basil the Great

I am not unaware of the greatness of the panegyric encomia demanded by this festival; but just as I know this, so also I am conscious of my own weakness. For the subject requires that something worthy be said both of those who have gathered here, and of the hope they have placed in us, and of the subject itself. Since today we are celebrating the memory of the greatest of the martyrs, every mind is alert and every ear prepared, expecting to hear something worthy of the martyr; and out of longing for him, they have come to the church. For grateful children demand great encomia for their fathers, and would never consent that the greatness of those being praised should be placed in jeopardy through the smallness of the speaker. Thus, the greater the eagerness, the greater the danger. What, then, shall we do? And how shall we both fulfill your desires and ourselves not depart without accomplishing what is required of the occasion? Let us invite each soul to depart having renewed in its mind the things with which it came to the commemoration, having fed itself from its own resources, and gladdened itself with its own provisions.

Remember the martyr for me, all of you who have benefited through dreams of him; all of you who, having come upon this place, have found him a fellow-worker with you in prayer; all of you for whom, when he was called upon by name, he stood beside you in your deeds; all of you whom he has brought back from your journeys; all of you whom he has raised up from sickness; all of you to whom he has restored children who had already died; all of you for whom he has extended the appointed term of life. Gather all these things together for me, and compose an encomium from a common contribution. Share with one another what each of you knows with the one who does not know; let the one who does not know receive from the one who does know what he does not know; and thus, by feasting one another from our common contribution, pardon the weakness of our speech. For these are the encomia of a martyr: the abundance of spiritual gifts.

For we do not have the means to exalt him according to the convention of encomia from without; we have no illustrious fathers and ancestors to speak of. For it is shameful to adorn with foreign ornaments one who shines forth by his own virtue. Such things, after all, are customarily taken up in encomia according to the conventions of custom. But the encomia demanded by truth require what belongs to each man himself. For neither does a father's good fortune in the race make a horse swift, nor is it an encomium of a dog that it is descended from the swiftest. Rather, just as in other animals the excellence of each is seen in the creature itself, so also a man's proper praise is that which is attested by the achievements that belong to him. What has a father's distinction to do with the child? Thus the martyr did not receive his distinction from elsewhere; rather, he himself, by the life that followed, kindled a lamp of renown. The others derive their distinction from Mamas, not Mamas from others.

Let the children who have been taught piety by him take their glory from him. For he himself pours forth virtue from within. He is not like a torrent made imposing by waters flowing in from elsewhere, but a spring pouring forth beauty from its own depths. Let us marvel at the man, adorned not with another's ornament, but distinguished by what is his own. Do you see the splendid horse-breeders? Do you see their white monuments? What are they but stones that are passed by? Yet at the memory of the martyr, every region has been stirred, and every city has been transformed for the feast. Nor do the relatives of those men hasten to the tombs of their fathers; rather, all hasten to the place of piety.

They call this man father, the leader of truth, but not fathers and leaders according to the flesh. Do you see how virtue is honored, and not wealth? Thus the Church, by the very things with which she honors those who have gone before, exhorts those who are present. “Do not,” she says to me, “strive after wealth; nor after the wisdom of this world, which is being brought to nothing; nor after glory, which is fading away; for these things vanish with life. Rather, be a worker of piety. For this will also raise you to heaven; this will also make your memory immortal and secure for you enduring renown among men.”

Therefore, if anyone remembers the shepherd, let him not marvel at wealth. For we have gathered together to praise one who was not rich; do not depart marveling at a rich man, but at poverty joined with piety. A shepherd—nothing great, nor a sophisticated occupation. Surely, if you were angered, would you not say by way of reproach to the one who provoked you, “Are you a shepherd?” A shepherd possessing nothing more than his daily sustenance, carrying a wallet slung over him, bearing a club, and provisions for the day, with no concern whatsoever for tomorrow. At war with wild beasts, a companion of the gentlest animals, fleeing the marketplace, fleeing the law courts, knowing nothing of informers, knowing nothing of commerce, knowing nothing of wealth, having no shelter of his own, dwelling beneath the common shelter of the world, looking toward heaven by night, and through the stars reading the wonder of Him who made them. A shepherd. Let us not be ashamed of the truth. Let us not imitate the storytellers from outside; let us not cloak the truth in the elegance of words. Naked is the truth, without an advocate, displaying itself by itself. The humbler the subject, the more you will marvel at the encomium.

A shepherd and a poor man—these are the honors in which a Christian may glory. If you seek the leaders of the school of piety, they are fishermen and tax collectors; if you seek the disciples, they are poor shoemakers. No rich man, no worldly distinction anywhere. All these things have been brought to an end together with the world. Behold, then, whose day we are celebrating, in whom we all rejoice, through whom a life has been transformed. Since we have been reminded of the shepherd, do not despise the name.

You have heard that Abel, the first man who was pleasing to God, was a shepherd. Who was his imitator? Moses, the great lawgiver, who escaped the ordeal of Pharaoh, who hated the treachery of his fellow Israelites; he was shepherding on Mount Horeb, and through the very things with which he shepherded, he conversed with God. It was not while sitting in judgment that he saw an angel in the bush, but while shepherding that he was deemed worthy of that heavenly encounter.

Who came after Moses? Jacob the patriarch, displaying endurance in shepherding and, in a small image, giving expression to his whole life.

To whom did he hand on his zeal? To David. David passed from shepherding to kingship. For shepherding and kingship are sisters, insofar as the one was entrusted with the oversight of irrational creatures, while the other was entrusted with the oversight of rational beings. Thus this is the foundation of the greater office. For this reason the Lord, embracing both, is both shepherd and king, shepherding the irrational and leading the more rational under the oversight of His kingship. Do you wish to learn how great a shepherd is? “The Lord shepherds me.” And how is shepherding a sister of kingship? “Who is this King of glory?” The shepherd here is king there. And do not suppose that while others bear witness to Him, He Himself is ashamed of this designation. Rather, having silenced the false shepherds, He gathers the true testimony of shepherding into Himself: “I am the good shepherd.” I am He, and I have not changed.

How is it that, when He speaks of great things, saying, “With My hand I established the earth; I stretched out the heaven alone,” He speaks in the same way when He says those other things that are worthy and fitting to be said of God: “I am the good shepherd”? He drives away the false shepherds and gathers the truth into Himself: “I am the good shepherd.” Learn who the shepherd is, and who the good one is. He Himself explains it: “The true shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but the hireling, who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, does not care for them when he sees the wolf coming.” Here the Church raises the question: if the Lord is the shepherd, who is the hireling shepherd? Is it perhaps the devil? And if the devil is the hireling shepherd, who is the wolf? But the wolf is the devil, the untamed beast, the predatory one, the treacherous one, the common enemy of all. Let the hireling shepherd, then, have his own proper designation. At that time the Lord, turning away from those who were then opposed to Him, called them hireling shepherds. And even now there are such men—would that there were not—who make the designation of hirelings their own.

At that time there appeared the chief priests and Pharisees, and that whole Jewish party. Those men He called hireling shepherds: those who had received the authority to shepherd not for the sake of the truth, but for what was expedient for themselves. Those who pray under a false pretext so that they may devour the bread of widows and orphans—these are hirelings. Those who minister to their own interests, who pursue the present and do not look toward what is to come, are hirelings, and not shepherds.

And even now there are many hirelings, sacrificing their own lives for the sake of miserable little glory, and even now causing division over the sound words of the Lord. For when the Lord had said these things, a division arose among them. Some were saying, “He has a demon”; others, “A demon cannot make the eyes of the blind see.” Do you see how ancient is the disease of division? For immediately the winnowing shovel separates the chaff from the wheat: the light and unstable is separated from what is nourishing, while that which is fit for spiritual nourishment remains with those who cultivate it.

For this reason a division arose, and some were of one opinion, others of another. Division is fitting for the Jews; but the Church of God, having received the seamless tunic, woven from above, the tunic that was kept undivided by the soldiers, She who has put on Christ must not tear the garment. “And I know My own, and My own know Me.” The heretic seized upon this for the construction of his own blasphemy. “Behold,” he says, “it has been said that ‘My own know Me, and I know My own.’”

What, then, does He mean by “to know”? To comprehend the essence? To measure its magnitude? To understand those things concerning the Godhead which you, in the recklessness of your speech, claim to understand? Or, from what follows, do you not understand the measure of knowledge?

What do we know of God? “My sheep hear My voice.” See how God is understood: by our hearing His commandments; by our doing what we hear. This is the knowledge of God: the keeping of the commandments of God. Why, then, this meddlesome curiosity concerning the essence of God? Why this inquiry into things beyond the world? Why these conceptions of invisible things? “My own know Me, and I know My own.” It is enough for you to know that He is the good shepherd, that He laid down His life for the sheep. This is the limit of the knowledge of God.

But how great God is, and what His measure is, and what His essence is like—such questions are perilous for the one who asks, and impossible for the one who is asked; and silence is the remedy for such matters. “My sheep hear My voice,” He said; He does not dispute. That is, they do not misunderstand, they do not contend. You have heard “Son”: do not concern yourself with the manner of His begetting; do not yourself devise theories about it, nor reduce what has no explanation to causes; do not divide what has been joined together by creating a schism. For this reason the Evangelist has secured you beforehand.

You heard earlier, and you will hear again: “In the beginning was the Word,” so that you will not suppose that the Son, as though born in the human manner, was taken from non-being. “Word,” He called Him, because of the passionless; “was,” He said, signifying the timeless; “beginning,” He said, in order to join the One who was begotten to the Father. You have seen how an obedient sheep listens to the voice of its Master: “In the beginning, and was, and Word.” Do not say, “How was He?” and, “If He was, He was not begotten,” and, “If He was begotten, He was not.” He who says such things is not a sheep. He wears the skin of a sheep, but within is a wolf who speaks. Let the treacherous one be recognized. “My sheep hear My voice.” You have heard “Son”? Consider the likeness to the Father. I say “likeness” because of the weakness of our second-order bodily comparisons. For the truth at least—I am not afraid to approach the truth—I am not an eager slanderer. I say identity, while preserving the distinction proper to Son and Father. In the hypostasis of the Son, understand the Father's form, so that they may preserve for me the precise account of the image, so that you may understand with reverence toward God: “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me”—not a confusion of essences, but an identity of characteristics. But none of this is difficult, beloved, since the readiness of your hearing has compelled our weakness to say something in the midst and to speak forth, so that the power of God may shine forth all the more through the weakness of the instrument.

Perhaps, indeed, this is why our weakness has been pressed so hard, so that He who strengthens what is weak may be glorified all the more. And He who has led us through this festival, and given the words the conclusion of a prayer, and is still completing the head of the cycle—for this day defines for us the cycle that has passed, and becomes again the head of the cycle that is coming—may He, then, who has joined together and granted the activity of what is to come, preserve us in it unharmed, undisturbed, unbroken by the wolf; may He preserve this Church steadfast, guarded by the great towers of the martyrs. May He turn away every plot and assault of heretical devices; and may we, in peace and quiet, be taught all the divine sayings, and be taught the grace bestowed by the Spirit; for to Him belong the glory and the dominion, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

- From PG 31, 589B–600B. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Ὁμιλία ΚΓ΄

Εἰς τὸν ἅγιον μάρτυρα Μάμαντα

Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας

Οὐκ ἀγνοῶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς πανηγύρεως ἐγκωμίων· ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ τοῦτο ἐπίσταμαι, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπαισθάνομαι. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὑπόθεσις ἀπαιτεῖ ἄξιόν τι ῥηθῆναι τῶν συνελθόντων καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἧς ἔχουσιν ἐφ’ ἡμῖν, καὶ τῆς ὑποθέσεως. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ μεγίστῃ τῶν μαρτύρων ἄγομεν τὴν μνήμην σήμερον, ὀρθὴ πᾶσα διάνοια καὶ ἐμπαράσκευος ἀκοὴ, εἰπεῖν τι ἄξιον τοῦ μάρτυρος προσδοκῶσα, καὶ πόθῳ τῷ περὶ αὐτὸν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐπάγει. Καὶ γὰρ εὐγνώμονες παῖδες μεγάλα ἀπαιτοῦσι τὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐγκώμια, καὶ οὐκ ἂν καταδέξαιντο ἐν μικρότητι τοῦ λέγοντος κινδυνεύειν τῶν ἐγκωμιαζομένων τὸ μέγεθος. Ὥστε ὅσῳ μείζων ἡ προθυμία, τοσούτῳ μέγας ὁ κίνδυνος. Τί οὖν ποιήσομεν; Πῶς δὲ καὶ τὰς ὑμετέρας ἐπιθυμίας ἀποπληρώσομεν, καὶ αὐτοὶ μὴ ἀπέλθωμεν ἀσυντελεῖς τῶν παρόντων; Παρακαλέσομεν ἑκάστην ψυχήν, ἃ ἔχουσα ἦλθεν ἐν τῇ μνήμῃ, ταῦτα ἀνακαινίσασαν τῇ διανοίᾳ, οἴκοθεν ἐπισιτισάμενην, τοῖς οἰκείοις ἐφοδίοις ἑαυτὴν εὐφράνασαν ἀπελθεῖν.

Μνήσθητέ μοι τοῦ μάρτυρος, ὅσοι δι’ ὀνείρων αὐτοῦ ἀπηλαύσατε· ὅσοι, περιτυχόντες τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, ἐσχήκεσαν αὐτὸν συνεργὸν εἰς προσευχήν· ὅσοις, ὀνόματι κληθεὶς, ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων παρέστη· ὅσους ὁδοιπόρους ἐπανήγαγεν· ὅσους ἐξ ἀῤῥωστίας ἀνέστησεν· ὅσοις παῖδας ἀπέδωκεν ἤδη τετελευτηκότας· ὅσοις προθεσμίας βίου μακροτέρας ἐποίησεν. Πάντα μοι συναγαγόντες, ἐγκώμιον ἐκ κοινοῦ ἐράνου πονήσατε. Ἀλλήλοις διάδοτε, ἃ οἶδεν ἕκαστος, τῷ μὴ εἰδότι· ἃ μὴ οἶδε, λαμβανέτω παρὰ τοῦ εἰδότος, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ συνεισφορᾶς ἀλλήλους συνεστιάσαντες, ἡμῶν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ σύγγνωτε. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐγκώμια μάρτυρος, ὁ πλοῦτος τῶν πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων.

Οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν νόμον τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐγκωμίων ἀποσεμνύνειν· οὐκ ἔχομεν λέγειν πατέρας καὶ προγόνους περιφανεῖς. Αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ἀλλοτρίοις κόσμοις κοσμεῖσθαι τὸν τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἀρετῇ διαφανῆ. Συνηθείας γὰρ νόμοις τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐν τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις παραλαμβάνουσιν. Ἐπεὶ ὅ γε τῆς ἀληθείας ἴδια ἑκάστου ἀπαιτεῖ τὰ ἐγκώμια. Οὔτε γὰρ ἵππον ταχὺν ποιεῖ ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς περὶ τὸν δρόμον εὐμοιρία, οὔτε κυνὸς ἐγκώμιον τὸ ἐκ ταχυτάτων φῦναι. Ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ ἄλλων ζώων ἡ ἀρετὴ ἐν αὐτῷ θεωρεῖται ἑκάστῳ, οὕτω καὶ ἀνδρὸς ἴδιος ἔπαινος ὁ ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ κατορθωμάτων μαρτυρούμενος. Τί πρὸς τὸν παῖδα ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς περιφάνεια; Οὕτως οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἑτέρωθεν τὸ περιφανὲς ὁ μάρτυς· ἀλλ’ αὐτὸς τῷ ἐφεξῆς βίῳ λαμπτῆρα εὐκλείας ἀνῆψεν. Ἀπὸ Μάμαντος οἱ λοιποί, οὐκ ἀφ’ ἑτέρων Μάμας.

Παῖδες οἱ παρὰ τούτου τὴν εὐσέβειαν διδαχθέντες τούτῳ σεμνυνέσθωσαν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ οἴκοθεν βρύει τὴν ἀρετήν. Οὐκ ἔστιν ὥσπερ χειμάρρους ἀλλοτρίᾳ συρροίᾳ σεμνυνόμενος, ἀλλὰ πηγή ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων λαγόνων προχέουσα τὸ κάλλος. Θαυμάσωμεν τὸν ἄνδρα μὴ ἀλλοτρίῳ κόσμῳ κοσμούμενον, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀποσεμνυνόμενον. Ὁρᾷς τοὺς λαμπροὺς ἱπποτρόφους; Ὁρᾷς τὰ λευκὰ αὐτῶν μνήματα; Πῶς λίθοι εἰσὶ παρατρεχόμενοι; Μνήμῃ δὲ μάρτυρος καὶ πᾶσα μὲν χώρα κεκίνηται, πᾶσα δὲ πόλις πρὸς ἑορτὴν μεταπεποίηται. Οὐδὲ οἱ συγγενεῖς τῶν πρὸς τοὺς τῶν πατέρων ἀποτρέχουσι τάφους, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τῆς εὐσεβείας.

Πατέρα τοῦτον τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ πατέρας καὶ σωμάτων ἀρχηγοὺς ὀνομάζουσιν. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἀρετὴ τιμᾶται, καὶ οὐχὶ πλοῦτος; Οὕτως ἡ Ἐκκλησία, δι’ ὧν τιμᾷ τοὺς προλαβόντας, προτρέπεται τοὺς παρόντας. Μή μοι, φησὶ, σπούδαζε περὶ πλοῦτον· μὴ περὶ σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου τὴν καταργουμένην· μὴ περὶ δόξαν τὴν ἀπαθοῦσαν· ταῦτα τῷ βίῳ συναφανίζεται· ἀλλ’ εὐσεβείας ἐργάτης ἔσο. Αὕτη γὰρ καὶ εἰς οὐρανόν σε ἀνοίσει, αὕτη καὶ ἀθάνατόν σου τὴν μνήμην καὶ διαρκῆ τὴν εὔκλειαν παρὰ ἀνθρώποις παρασκευάσει.

Ὥστε, εἴ τις μέμνηται τοῦ ποιμένος, μὴ θαυμαζέτω τὸν πλοῦτον. Συνήλθομεν γὰρ ἐπαινέσαι οὐχὶ πλούσιον ὄντα· μὴ ἀπέλθῃς πλούσιον θαυμάζων, ἀλλὰ πενίαν μετ’ εὐσεβείας. Ποιμὴν οὐδὲν μέγα, οὐδὲ σοφὸν ἐπιτήδευμα. Οὐκ ἂν, ὀργισθείς, ἀντὶ ὀνείδους εἶπες τῷ παροξύναντί σε· Ποιμὴν εἶ; Ποιμὴν οὐδὲν πλέον τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς κεκτημένος, πήραν ἀνημμένος, καὶ κορύνην φέρων, καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἡμέραν ἐφόδια, οὐδεμίαν μέριμναν περὶ τῆς αὔριον ἔχων. Θηρίοις πολέμιος, ἡμερωτάτων ζῴων σύννομος, φεύγων ἀγορὰν, φεύγων δικαστήρια, οὐ γνωρίζων συκοφάντας, οὐ γνωρίζων ἐμπορίαν, οὐκ εἰδὼς πλοῦτον, οὐκ ἔχων ἰδίαν σκέπην, ὑπὸ τὴν κοινὴν τοῦ κόσμου διαιτώμενος, ἐν νυκτὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέπων, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀστέρων ἀναγινώσκων τὸ θαῦμα τοῦ πεποιηκότος. Ποιμήν. Μὴ ἐπαισχυνώμεθα τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Μὴ τοὺς ἔξωθεν μυθοποιοὺς μιμώμεθα, μὴ περιστέλλωμεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν εὐπρεπείᾳ ῥημάτων. Γυμνὴ ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἀσυνηγόρητος, αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν δεικνῦσα. Πλείονι λόγῳ τὸ ταπεινόν· ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον θαυμάσεις τῷ ἐγκωμίῳ.

Ποιμὴν καὶ πένης, ταῦτα τῷ Χριστιανῷ τὰ σεμνολογήματα. Ἐὰν τοὺς ἀρχηγοὺς τοῦ διδασκαλείου τοῦ κατ’ εὐσέβειαν ζητήσῃς, ἁλιεῖς τε καὶ τελῶναι· ἐὰν τοὺς μαθητάς, σκυτοτόμοι πένητες. Οὐδεὶς πλούσιος, οὐδαμοῦ περιφάνεια. Ταῦτα πάντα μετὰ τοῦ κόσμου κατήργηται. Ἰδοὺ τοίνυν τίνος ἡμέραν ἑορτάζομεν, ἐπὶ τίνι φαιδροὶ πάντες ἐσμὲν, ἐπὶ τίνι βίος μεταπεποίηται. Ἐπειδὴ ὑπεμνήσθημεν τοῦ ποιμένος, μὴ καταφρόνει τῆς προσηγορίας. Ἤκουσας, ὅτι ὁ πρῶτος εὐαρεστήσας Ἄβελ ποιμὴν ὑπῆρξε.

Τίς ἐκείνου μιμητής; Μωϋσῆς ὁ μέγας νομοθέτης, ὁ τὴν πεῖραν Φαραὼ ἀποδράσας, ὁ μισήσας τῶν συννόμων τὸ ἐπίβουλον, οὗτος ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ Χωρὴβ ἐποίμαινεν· δι’ ὧν ἐποίμαινε Θεῷ προσωμίλει. Οὐ δικαζόμενος εἶδεν ἐπὶ βάτου ἄγγελον, ἀλλὰ ποιμαίνων ἐκείνης τῆς ὁμιλίας τῆς οὐρανίου ἠξιώθη. Τίς μετὰ Μωϋσέα; Ἰακὼβ ὁ πατριάρχης, ἐν τῷ ποιμαίνειν ὑπομονὴν τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπιδεικνύμενος, μικρᾷ εἰκόνι τὸν ὅλον ἑαυτοῦ χαρακτηρίσας βίον. Τίνι παρέδωκε τὸν ζῆλον; Τῷ Δαβίδ.

Δαβὶδ ἐκ ποιμαντικῆς παρῆλθεν εἰς βασιλείαν. Ἀδελφαὶ γὰρ ποιμαντικὴ καὶ βασιλική· παρ’ ὅσον ἡ μὲν τῶν ἀλόγων, ἡ δὲ τῶν λογικῶν τὴν ἐπιστασίαν ἐπεπίστευτο. Οὕτως ὑποβάθρα τῆς μείζονος ἐπιστήμης ἐστὶν αὕτη. Διὰ τοῦτο ἀμφότερα συλλαμβάνων ὁ Κύριός ἐστι καὶ ποιμὴν καὶ βασιλεύς, τοὺς ἀλόγους ποιμαίνων, τοὺς λογικωτέρους ὑπὸ τὴν ἐπιστασίαν τῆς βασιλείας ἄγων. Βούλει μαθεῖν πηλίκον ἐστὶ ποιμήν; «Κύριος ποιμαίνει με.» Πῶς δὲ ἀδελφὴ βασιλείας ποιμαντική; «Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης;» Ὁ ἐνταῦθα ποιμὴν ἐκεῖ βασιλεύς. Καὶ μὴ νομίσῃς παρ’ ἄλλων μὲν μαρτυρεῖσθαι, αὐτὸν δὲ ἐπαισχύνεσθαι τῇ προσηγορίᾳ ταύτῃ. Ἀλλὰ κατασιωπήσας τοὺς νόθους ποιμένας, ἐφ’ ἑαυτὸν περιίστησι τὴν ἀληθῆ τῆς ποιμαντικῆς μαρτυρίαν· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός.» Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι.

Πῶς, ὅταν τὰ μεγάλα λέγῃ· «Ἐγὼ τῇ χειρί μου ἐστερέωσα τὴν γῆν· ἐγὼ ἐξέτεινα τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος»· ὡς ὅταν τἄλλα λέγῃ τὰ ἀξιοπρεπῆ καὶ ἄξια περὶ Θεοῦ λέγεσθαι, οὕτως λέγει· «Ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός»; Ἀποδιώκει τοὺς νόθους, καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν εἰς ἑαυτὸν περιίστησιν. «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός.» Μάθε τίς ἐστιν ὁ ποιμὴν, καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ καλός. Αὐτὸς ἑρμηνεύει. «Ὁ ἀληθινὸς ποιμὴν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων· ὁ δὲ μισθωτός, καὶ οὐκ ὢν ποιμήν, οὗ οὐκ ἔστι τὰ πρόβατα ἴδια, οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ, ὅταν ἴδῃ λύκον ἐρχόμενον.» Ἐνταῦθα ζητεῖ ἡ Ἐκκλησία, εἰ ποιμὴν ὁ Κύριος, τίς μισθωτὸς ποιμήν; Μὴ ὁ διάβολος; Καὶ εἰ ὁ διάβολος μισθωτὸς ποιμήν, τίς ὁ λύκος; Ἀλλὰ λύκος μὲν ὁ διάβολος, τὸ ἀνήμερον θηρίον, τὸ ἁρπακτικόν, τὸ ἐπίβουλον, ὁ κοινὸς πάντων ἐχθρός. Ἐχέτω τοίνυν ἰδίαν προσηγορίαν μισθωτὸς ποιμήν. Μισθωτοὺς ποιμένας τότε μὲν πρὸς τοὺς τότε ἀποστρεφόμενος ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγεν. Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ νῦν, ὡς οὐκ ὄφελον, οἱ τὴν προσηγορίαν τῶν μισθωτῶν οἰκειούμενοι.

Τότε ἀρχιερεῖς ἐνεδείκνυντο καὶ Φαρισαῖοι, καὶ πᾶν ἐκεῖνο τὸ κόμμα τὸ Ἰουδαϊκόν. Ἐκείνους μισθωτοὺς ἔλεγε ποιμένας, τοὺς οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀληθές, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ αὐτῶν χρειῶδες τὴν τοῦ ποιμαίνειν ἐξουσίαν λαβόντας. Οἱ ἐπὶ προφάσει ματαίᾳ προσευχόμενοι, ἵνα κατεσθίωσι τὸν ἄρτον τῶν χηρῶν καὶ τῶν ὀρφανῶν, οὗτοι μισθωτοί. Οἱ τὴν χρείαν θεραπεύοντες, οἱ τὸ παρὸν διώκοντες, οὐ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἀτενίζοντες, μισθωτοί, καὶ οὐ ποιμένες εἰσίν.

Καὶ νῦν μισθωτοὶ πολλοὶ δοξαρίου δυστήνου τὴν ἑαυτῶν ζωὴν ἀποδιδόντες, οἱ καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσι τοῦ Κυρίου ῥήμασι σχίσμα ποιοῦντες. Εἰπόντος γὰρ ταῦτα τοῦ Κυρίου, σχίσμα ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐγένετο. Οἱ μὲν ἔλεγον· «Δαιμόνιον ἔχει»· ἄλλοι· «Δαίμων ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλοὺς βλέπειν ποιεῖν οὐ δύναται.» Ὁρᾷς πῶς παλαιὸν τὸ πάθος τοῦ σχίσματος; Εὐθὺς γὰρ τὸ πτύον διακρίνει μὲν τὸ ἄχυρον ἀπὸ τοῦ σίτου· καὶ τὸ μὲν κοῦφον καὶ ἄστατον ἀποσχίζεται τοῦ τροφίμου, τὸ δὲ πρὸς τροφὴν πνευματικὴν ἐπιτήδειον παραμένει τῶν γεωργούντων.

Διὰ τοῦτο σχίσμα ἐγένετο, καὶ οἱ μὲν οὕτω διέφερον, οἱ δὲ οὕτως. Ἰουδαίοις πρέπει τὸ σχίζεσθαι· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία, τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν ἄῤῥαφον, τὸν ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντόν, δεξαμένη, τὸν ἄσχιστον ὑπὸ στρατιωτῶν διαφυλαχθέντα, ἡ Χριστὸν ἐνδυσαμένη, μὴ σχιζέτω τὸ ἱμάτιον. «Καὶ γινώσκω τὰ ἐμά, καὶ γινώσκουσί με τὰ ἐμά.» Ἥρπασεν ὁ αἱρετικὸς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν κατασκευὴν τῆς βλασφημίας. «Ἰδοὺ,» φησίν, «εἴρηται, ὅτι Γινώσκουσί με τὰ ἐμά, καὶ γινώσκω τὰ ἐμά.»

Γινώσκειν ἄρα τί λέγει; Τὴν οὐσίαν νοεῖν; Τὸ μέγεθος ἐκμετρεῖν; Ἐκεῖνα κατανοεῖσθαι τῆς θεότητος, ἃ σὺ τῇ σεαυτοῦ θρασυστομίᾳ κατεπαγγέλλῃ; Ἢ ἐκ τῶν κατόπιν οὐ νοεῖς τὸ μέτρον τῆς γνώσεως;

Τί γινώσκομεν Θεοῦ; «Τὰ ἐμὰ πρόβατα τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούει.» Ἴδε πῶς νοεῖται Θεός· ἐκ τοῦ ἀκούειν ἡμᾶς τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ· ἐκ τοῦ ἀκούοντας ποιεῖν. Τοῦτο γνῶσις Θεοῦ, τήρησις ἐντολῶν Θεοῦ. Πῶς οὐ πολυπραγμοσύνη περὶ οὐσίας Θεοῦ; Οὐ ζήτησις τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων; Οὐκ ἐπίνoια τῶν ἀοράτων; «Γινώσκει με τὰ ἐμά, καὶ γινώσκω τὰ ἐμά.» Ἀρκεί σοι εἰδέναι, ὅτι ποιμὴν καλός· ὅτι ἔθηκε τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων. Οὗτος ὅρος τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιγνώσεως.

Πόσος δὲ Θεός, καὶ τί τὸ μέτρον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ποταπὸς τὴν οὐσίαν, τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπικίνδυνα μὲν τῷ ἐρωτῶντι, ἄπορα δὲ τῷ ἐρωτωμένῳ· σιωπὴ δὲ θεραπεία τῶν τοιούτων ἐστίν. «Τὰ ἐμὰ πρόβατα τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς ἀκούει,» εἶπεν, οὐ συζητεῖ. Τουτέστιν, οὐ παρακούει, οὐ φιλονεικεῖ. Ἤκουσας Υἱόν, μὴ μοι τρόπους γεννήσεως μήτε αὐτὸς τεχνολόγει, μήτε ὑπὸ αἰτίαν ἀνάγαγε τὰ μὴ αἰτιολογήματα, μὴ διὰ σχίσματος διόριζε τὸ συνημμένον. Διὰ τοῦτο προλαβὼν ἠσφαλίσατό σε ὁ εὐαγγελιστής.

Ἤκουσας πρῴην, καὶ δι’ ἀκούσεις· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, ἵνα μὴ τὸν Υἱὸν γέννημα ἀνθρώπινον νομίσῃς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος παρειληφθέντα. Λόγον σοι εἶπε διὰ τὸ ἀπαθές. Ἦν σοι εἶπε τὸ ἄχρονον. Ἀρχὴν σοι εἶπεν, ἵνα συνάψῃ τὸν γεννηθέντα τῷ Πατρί. Εἶδες πρόβατον εὐπειθὲς πῶς ἀκούει φωνὴν Δεσπότου. Ἐν ἀρχῇ, καὶ ἦν, καὶ Λόγος. Μὴ εἴπῃς τὸ, Πῶς ἦν; καὶ, Εἰ ἦν, οὐκ ἐγεννήθη, καὶ εἰ ἐγεννήθη, οὐκ ἦν. Οὐκ ἐστὶ πρόβατον τὸ ταῦτα λέγον. Προβάτου δέρμα ἔσωθεν δὲ λύκος ἐστὶν ὁ φθεγγόμενος. Ἐπίβουλος γνωριζέσθω. Τὰ ἐμὰ πρόβατα τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς ἀκούει. Ἤκουσας Υἱόν; Νόμισον τὴν πρὸς Πατέρα ὁμοιότητα. Ὡμοίωτα λέγω δι’ ἀσθένειαν τῶν δευτέρων σωμάτων. Ἐπεὶ τό γε ἀληθὲς (οὐ φοβοῦμαι γὰρ προσβαίνειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν), οὐκ εἰμὶ ἕτοιμος συκοφάντης. Ταυτότητα λέγω, φυλάσσων Υἱοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἰδιότητα. Ἐν ὑποστάσει Υἱοῦ, μορφήν νόησον πατρικήν, ἵνα μοι τὸν ἀκριβῆ τῆς εἰκόνος διασώσωσι λόγον, ἵνα μοι νοήσῃς θεοσεβῶς· Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρί, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί· οὐκ οὐσιῶν σύγχυσιν, ἀλλὰ χαρακτήρων ταυτότητα. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐκεῖνόν ἐστιν οὐδὲν, ἀγαπητοί, ὅπου γε καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀσθένειαν ἐξεβιάσατο τὸ εὐπειθὲς τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀκοῆς εἰπεῖν τί ἐν μέσῳ καὶ φθέγξασθαι, ἵνα ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ὀργάνου ἀσθενείᾳ μᾶλλον διαφανῇ.

Τάχα γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο ὑπερεπίεσεν ἡμῶν τὸ ἀσθενές, ἵνα ἐπὶ πλέον δοξασθῇ ὅ τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἐνισχύων. Ὁ δὲ περιαγαγὼν ἡμᾶς τὴν πανήγυριν ταύτην, καὶ πέρας δοὺς τοῖς ῥήμασιν εὐχῆς, καὶ κεφαλὴν ἔτι ἐπιτελεῖ τοῦ κύκλου (ἢ γὰρ αὕτη ἡμέρα ὁρίζει ἡμῖν τὸν παρελθόντα κύκλον, καὶ κεφαλὴ γίνεται πάλιν τῷ ἐπερχομένῳ), ὁ τοίνυν ἐπισυνάψας καὶ χαρισάμενος τοῦ μέλλοντος τὴν ἐνέργειαν, διαφυλάξαι ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀβλαβεῖς, ἀνεπηρέαστους, ὑπὸ τοῦ λύκου ἀδιάρρακτους· ἄσειστον τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ταύτην, φρουρουμένην τοῖς μεγάλoις πύργοις τῶν μαρτύρων διατηρήσαι. Πᾶσαν ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ προσβολὴν αἱρετικῶν μηχανημάτων ἀποστρέφειν· ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ δὲ πασῶν ἡμῖν διδασκέσθαι τὰ θεῖα λόγια, καὶ διδάσκεσθαι τὴν ἐπιχορηγουμένην χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος· ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Holy Martyr Mamas in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-02T16:29:58.283-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Mamas was from Gangra, a city of the Paphlagonians. His parents were Christians, and they were arrested for their faith in Christ and thrown into prison. There, in the bonds of imprisonment, the Saint was born. Because his parents died in prison, the infant was taken in by a Christian woman named Ammia, who raised him. The Saint continually called this foster mother of his “Mama,” and for this reason he was named Mamas. When he was fifteen years old, he was arrested as a Christian and beaten with rods; afterward they hung a heavy weight of lead around his neck and threw him into the sea. But by the power of God he was saved from the danger and hid in a cave, being nourished on the milk of deer. Yet again they arrested him, threw him into a furnace, and cast him to the wild beasts. Finally, they pierced him with an iron trident, and thus he departed from this life.

2. The grace possessed by Saint Mamas is threefold. First, because he was the child of martyrs, from whom, even though he never knew them, he surely received the continual blessing of their bold prayers before the Lord. Second, because he was brought up as a Christian by a devout woman, who imparted to him the streams of the Christian faith and surely never ceased speaking to him about his sanctified parents. Third, and most importantly, while still a child he himself became a confessor and martyr of the Christian faith, belonging to that distinguished company of the holy child-martyrs.

Our Church brings this particular grace of Saint Mamas before us especially through his service, as it compares him, because of the correspondence between their martyrdoms, both with the Three Holy Children in Babylon, who were cast into the fire because of their steadfastness in the faith, and with the Prophet Daniel, who endured the ordeal of being confined in a den of lions.

Moreover, the Holy Hymnographer sees him as a continuation of the righteous Abel as well. Just as Abel, as a shepherd of sheep, offered God the best that he had from his flock and thereby received the crown of spiritual combat, so too Saint Mamas: living among animals when he was shut up in the cave, he ultimately “offered himself as an acceptable sacrifice to Christ through his martyrdom.”

Among the other things we point out about Saint Mamas, what is important is the fact that he did not reject, but on the contrary made full use of, the grace that had been offered to him. What we mean is that the young Saint, a descendant of martyrs and raised as a Christian, did not react against this special grace that was given to him; that is, what we might call the “natural” rebelliousness of adolescence, as it is viewed today, did not operate in him.

For very often we observe that children of devout parents, when they enter adolescence, begin to rebel against their parents’ principles and values because they want to shape their own distinct life within a framework of freedom and therefore, in their view, outside the “oppression” of the faith handed down to them. And certainly, up to a point, it is natural for things to develop in this way, just as it is natural eventually to see these “rebellious” young people return to the traditions of their family as soon as they regain their balance after the storm of adolescence has passed.

In Saint Mamas, however, we do not see this “natural” course and development. He displays such exceptional maturity from childhood onward that he becomes a model not only for young people, but for all people of every age.

The hymnographer, evidently unable to understand rationally the astonishing wisdom and maturity of the child Mamas for one so young, attempts to explain it by attributing it to a special grace which God gave him, because He foresaw both the good disposition of his soul and the entire sanctified course of his life:

“The Word, who foresaw the nobility and perfection in every way of your mind, O Mamas, filled you with wisdom from your swaddling clothes, and adorned you in manifold ways with the thoughts of good things, O most renowned martyr and bearer of the prize.”

We do not wish to comment on this manner of God’s action - for who, after all, can become His counselor? — but we can all take example from Saint Mamas, trying, insofar as possible, not to become rebellious against the good things handed down to us by previous generations.

At some point, we all need, as individuals, as a society, and as a state, to become serious, choosing the maturity of accepting what is good rather than continually the immaturity of rejection. At some point, we need to leave behind the rebelliousness of adolescence and become adults.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 2

2026-09-02T15:45:20.508-04:00

The Month of September

Day 2

3. To Mothers Who Are Widows and Have Young Children

(From the Life of the Holy Martyr Mamas. September 2 in the Festal Menaion)

One often encounters in this world such a sorrowful sight: a widow dies surrounded by helpless young children. How terrible is her situation! Even as she struggles against death and grows weaker, you see that what torments her, what torments her beyond expression, is the grievous fate she imagines awaits her orphans after her death. “What will they do after I am gone? What will they live on? Who will need them?” such a woman thinks. And thus to bodily illness is added yet another torment, that of the soul; fear presses upon her heart, pity for her children strikes it with sorrow, and, looking ahead to the bitter fate of her children, who will then be complete orphans, the poor widowed mother gives herself over to boundless grief.

Widowed mothers who have young children! What do you think? Must all of you likewise look with such sorrow upon the future fate of your orphaned children without you? Is it really only left for you to think that without you your children will inevitably be both unhappy and helpless? And finally, is there truly no means by which you might in some way comfort and encourage yourselves when reflecting upon their future fate?

No. You should neither look upon the future fate of your children with hopeless grief, nor think that without you your children will inevitably remain unhappy and helpless. Finally, there is indeed a means by which you can comfort and encourage yourselves when reflecting upon the fate of your children. You will surely ask, “How can this be?” We shall give you the answer in an example.

The following is written in the life of the holy martyr Mamas. When the martyr’s father, Theodotos, was cast into prison for confessing the name of Christ, his wife, the blessed Ruffina, also followed him there. While in prison, Theodotos turned to God in fervent prayer, asking Him either to strengthen him for the torments that lay before him, or to take his soul to Himself even before those torments. Theodotos’s prayer was heard, and he died in prison.

His death affected his wife Ruffina so profoundly that she went into labor prematurely and gave birth to a son. Seeing on one side the dead body of her husband and on the other her newborn child, she likewise began, as her husband had, to ask God for death, saying:

“Lord, grant that I too may go by the same path by which my husband has gone; and, releasing me from this brief life, receive me also into the eternal dwellings. As for my newborn son, You Yourself raise him as it is pleasing to Your holy will, and Yourself be father to him and mother and guardian of his life.”

And this prayer of Ruffina, just like that of her husband, was heard, and the Lord also took her to Himself.

And so Mamas, the newborn infant, was left in the prison among the dead bodies of his father and mother. Whose heart would not tremble at seeing an infant in such a terrible and helpless condition, a child who had scarcely seen the light of day! But his mother had entrusted him to God, and God was with him.

On the night of Ruffina’s death, in Caesarea an angel appeared to a pious and noble woman named Ammia and told her to take Mamas’s parents from the prison and bury them with honor, and to take Mamas himself into her home and raise him as her own son.

Ammia immediately went to the prison, took from there the bodies of Mamas’s parents and buried them in her garden. Then she also took Mamas with great joy, since she was childless; she raised him and brought him up in piety. When he had grown older, she sent him to school, where in his studies he far surpassed all his peers. Finally, before her death, she made him heir, as it is said, to many of her estates on earth.

This example, it seems to us, should above all convince you, widowed mothers, that neither should you look upon the future fate of your children with hopeless grief, nor should you think that without you your children will remain unhappy and helpless. Finally, there is a means by which you can always encourage and comfort yourselves when reflecting upon the fate of your children.

And this means, as you see, consists in entrusting the fate of your children, as the mother of the holy Mamas did, to the common Father of all—God—and asking Him in faith to be the guardian of their lives. And if, as is evident from the example of Mamas’s mother, this means was beneficial for her son and ordered his destiny, then surely it should also encourage and comfort you and kindle in your sorrowful souls a bright hope that God, in answer to your prayer, will not abandon your children, but will Himself become their father; and under His all-powerful guidance they will be better preserved from every evil, both visible and invisible, will better grow in all that is good and beautiful, and will become heirs of the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, do not grieve excessively over the future fate of your children; do not despair; do not lose heart. Rather, entrust them in faith to the all-good Providence and guidance of God. And surely, according to your faith, so shall it be for you, and your children will always be happy and prosperous. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 3

1. What did Theodotos ask God for in his prayer while he was in prison?

2. How did the blessed Ruffina ask God to raise her son Mamas?

3. How did Ammia raise Mamas?

4. In what should the means of encouragement and consolation consist when reflecting upon the fate of one's children?

5. Under what condition will our children be happy and prosperous?

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 1

2026-09-01T17:29:23.656-04:00

The Month of September

Day 1

1. Without Labor One Cannot Enter the Kingdom of Heaven

(From the Life of St. Symeon the Stylite. September 1 in the Festal Menaion)

Some of those who are lazy in the work of their salvation deceive themselves with the hope that, despite their laziness, they will nevertheless be heirs of the Kingdom of God. Such people ordinarily say: “What can we do, since we are lazy? The Lord is merciful, and He sees that we live amid the cares and distractions of the world; therefore He will forgive us.” Is this so? No, brethren, the lazy merely comfort themselves in vain with such words; and let them know that if they do not cast off their laziness, God will neither forgive them nor admit them into His Kingdom. Why? Because there is no place there at all for the lazy, but only for those who labor, who do not yield to the temptations and seductions of the world, and who conduct themselves according to the commandments of the Lord.

Once, St. Symeon the Stylite began to ask God to show him the path to salvation. His prayer was heard, and Symeon was granted the following vision. It seemed to him that he was digging a pit. At the beginning of his work, he suddenly heard a voice: “Dig deeper!” And Symeon dug deeper. When he stopped, thinking that he had dug deep enough, he again heard a voice commanding him to dig still deeper. And once again he began to dig; and when he again decided to rest, for the third time he heard: “Dig deeper!” Finally, after Symeon had labored for a long time, the voice said: “Stop, it is enough. And now, if you wish, build, build, laboring diligently; for without labor you will accomplish nothing!” With this, the vision ended.

Hear, then, you who are lazy, what the Lord says: “Without labor you will accomplish nothing!” From this, of course, it is clear that without labor you too cannot be saved or enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But perhaps one proof that has been given will seem insufficient to you? In that case, we shall give another as well; but know that it will say nothing different from what the first one said. Thus, “once,” the monk Athanasius related, “a thought came to me: what awaits in the life to come those who labor here for the sake of their salvation? With this thought I felt as though I were in an ecstasy, and someone came to me and, saying, ‘Follow me,’ led me to some marvelous place filled with light and stood me before doors so wondrous that it is impossible to convey their beauty. And I heard that a multitude of people were behind the doors, continually glorifying God. When we [that is, he and the one who had appeared to him] began knocking on the doors in order to enter them, someone from within asked us: ‘What do you want?’ The guide answered: ‘We want to pass through the doors.’ But the voice from within said to us: ‘No one who remains in laziness enters here; but if you wish to enter, go back and strive, giving no thought whatsoever to the good things of this vain world.’” (The Prologue, September 7.)

So here is the second proof we have brought you concerning the fact that without labor, you who are lazy cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and, as you see, it says the same thing as the first. “No one,” we have just heard, “who remains in laziness enters here; but if you wish to enter, go back and strive.” And what, then, follows for you from this? Certainly the same thing that we told you at the beginning of this discourse: namely, that if you do not cast off your laziness, your hope in the mercy of God will remain vain, and you will not see the Kingdom of God. And besides us, a holy father will also confirm this truth to you. Listen, then, to what St. Tikhon of Zadonsk says:

“Farmers,” he teaches, “who are lazy and negligent, who do not sow at the proper time and do not gather fruit at harvest time, are like negligent and careless Christians, who now do not sow spiritual seeds, will reap no fruit at the end of the age and at the resurrection from the dead, but will appear before the Lord barren. And how will they gather then, when they have not scattered anything now? And how will they reap then, when they have not sown now?” (St. Tikhon, vol. X, p. 126.)

After these words of St. Tikhon, we shall no longer try to convince you that, in your laziness, your hope of the Kingdom of God is vain. Instead, from the heart, as we bring this discourse to a close, we shall advise you to cast off your laziness and take up the labors that lead to salvation. And in order that it may be easier for you to become accustomed to them, we advise you always to keep in mind and in your heart the following word of the Savior: “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence. And only those who are violent attain it” (Matt. 11:12). Amen.

Questions for Discussion 1

1.What did St. Symeon the Stylite ask God for before the vision?

2. Why, according to the words of the voice in St. Symeon the Stylite’s vision, must one build and labor diligently?

3. What did the voice tell the monk Athanasius to do in order to enter the wondrous doors?

4. What does it mean to strive?

5. According to the words of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, what should Christians do so that they do not appear barren before God?

The Same Day

2. There Is No Sin That Can Overcome the Mercy of God

(From the Life of St. Symeon the Stylite. September 1 in the Festal Menaion)

There are people who, knowing themselves to be guilty of many sins, come to the conclusion that God will not forgive them. This conviction is false. No matter how sinful a person may be, if he turns to God with true repentance and contrition of heart, gives a promise to amend his life in the future, and establishes in his soul the resolve to keep that promise, God will certainly forgive him and will undoubtedly show him His mercy.

In Antioch there was a robber named Jonathan. He killed many people on the roads and in their homes, and he plundered villages and the outskirts of cities. Driven to exasperation by his robberies, the people of Antioch sent an army against him. They defeated and scattered his band, and Jonathan himself was surrounded on all sides. In his desperate situation, he ran to the pillar on which St. Symeon was living his ascetic life, seized hold of the pillar, and began to weep bitterly. Symeon asked him: “Who are you, and where are you from, and why have you come here?” “I am Jonathan, a robber,” the man who had come to him replied, “who has committed many evils, and I have come here to repent of my sins.”

As the robber was saying this, the soldiers pursuing Jonathan approached the pillar and said to the holy man: “Give us our enemy, the robber, Father. In our city even the wild beasts are ready to tear him apart.” Symeon answered: “My children, it was not I who brought here the man you are pursuing, but God Himself brought him here, desiring to receive his repentance. Therefore I cannot give you permission to take him, for I fear God. But if you are determined to take him without my permission, then take him.”

Out of their great respect for the holy man, the soldiers did not take the robber, and he remained with Symeon. For seven days he spent his time in fervent prayer to God and in weeping, as it is said, greatly over his sins. After seven days had passed, Jonathan said to Symeon: “Father, is it not time for me to leave you?” The holy man answered: “Are you perhaps planning to take up your former deeds again?” “No, Father,” the former robber said, “but the time of my departure has come.” And having said this, he died.

Afterward, when Symeon’s disciples began preparing the dead man for burial, officials came from Antioch and began shouting at the holy man: “Give us our enemy quickly, Father, for because of him the whole city has been thrown into turmoil!” Symeon said to them: “Know that the One who brought the robber to me came here with a multitude of heavenly hosts and took to Himself his soul, cleansed by repentance. Therefore I ask you not to disturb me any further.”

When they heard this and saw the robber dead, the officials were seized with awe. They glorified God, who does not desire the death of sinners, and, returning to the city, told its inhabitants everything they had seen and heard.

Thus, it is an unquestionable truth that no matter how sinful a person may be, if he turns to God with sincere repentance and establishes in his soul the resolve to amend his life, then God will certainly forgive him, and the Lord will show him His mercy.

Therefore, you who know yourselves to be guilty of many sins, do not despair. Cast from your mind the false thought that God will not forgive you, and hasten to Him with repentance and tears. The Lord will not despise your heart when it is contrite and humble.

Listen to what St. Dimitri of Rostov says to sinners such as yourselves:

“Do not grieve, O man, beyond measure over your great sins before God. Even if your sin should surpass every other transgression, you must not nevertheless grieve in utter despair and forgetfulness, for there is no sin that can overcome the mercy of God. Our sins are equal to the abyss of God’s compassion, by which He freely saves us through His mercy.

God bears the sins of the whole world and forgives each one his sins through repentance. Yet you think that He will not bear the sins of you, one single person? For the whole world He poured out His blood; will He not grant forgiveness to you alone through His blood? Only cease from sin; only repent; simply tell your sins, so that you may be justified. Say: ‘I will confess my iniquity unto the Lord,’ and at once He will forgive the iniquity of your heart.” (St. Dimitri, Part I, 1857 edition, fol. 398.)

Do you hear, then, what the saint says? “There is no sin that can overcome the mercy of God; God bears the sins of the whole world; He poured out His blood for the whole world.”

After this, you must finally cast aside every doubt concerning God’s mercy toward you and hasten to the Lord, who suffered for all sinners, who calls all sinners to Himself, and who is always ready to forgive them. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 2

1. Why, according to Jonathan’s words, did he run to the pillar on which St. Symeon the Stylite was living his ascetic life?

2. How did St. Symeon the Stylite respond to the soldiers when they asked him to hand Jonathan over to them?

3. How did Jonathan spend the seven days after remaining with Symeon?

4. What kind of soul did the One who came with a multitude of heavenly hosts, according to Symeon’s words, take to Himself?

5. According to Dimitri of Rostov, under what three conditions can one attain righteousness, if the word точие means “only” and the word рцы means “say”?

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Two Churches Dedicated to Panagia Protoseptemvriani in Crete

2026-09-01T16:54:56.666-04:00

Panagia Protoseptemvriani at Kavousi

Within the sacred grove of Kavousi on the island of Crete, a short distance from the famous monumental olive tree, and situated along the road leading to the important archaeological site of Azoria, stands the Church of Panagia Protoseptemvriani, also known as Panagia sto Skali.

It is a single-nave, barrel-vaulted church, dated on the basis of its architecture and the embedded ceramic bowls (pinakia) in the western wall, above the doorway, to sometime between the 14th and 16th centuries.

During the period of Ottoman rule, a cemetery was in operation at the site where we now see the church. The existence of a small monastery here is also attested.

Between 1988 and 1996, an archaeological surface survey was carried out in the area by archaeologist Donald C. Haggis, who identified pottery and architectural remains belonging to a settlement dated to between 2100 and 1450 BC.

At a distance of 100 meters east of the church, remains of structures were found indicating continuous habitation from the Minoan period through the Ottoman period.

This church of the Panagia celebrates its feast on September 1, the Feast of the Indiction, that is, the Ecclesiastical New Year, as well as the Synaxis of Panagia Pammakaristos, the patronal feast of the monastery of that name in Constantinople, whose icon is kept in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the City.

Various legends are also associated with this church, the best known being that of the hidden golden bell, a legend that is also encountered in other parts of Crete. What should nevertheless be emphasized is that the site on which the church was built affords an extraordinary view over the Gulf of Kavousi, with the island of Psira standing out in the distance.

Panagia Trypiti or Protoseptemvriani in the Asterousia Mountains

At the southern edge of Heraklion Prefecture, in the rugged landscape of the Asterousia Mountains, the small church of Panagia Trypiti, also known as Panagia Protoseptemvriani, is built inside a natural cave shortly beyond the gorge of Trypiti and only a short distance from the sea. The gorge and the beach of Trypiti take their name from the little church, which is situated in the rock at the outlet of the gorge. The approach itself is particularly impressive, as the road from the area of Vasiliki passes through the narrow and imposing gorge before reaching the quiet beach at its mouth.

The church is an exceptionally simple cave sanctuary. The cavity in which it is built reaches approximately eight meters in height, while the natural floor of the cave has been left untouched, retaining its uneven rocky surface. A doorway has been fitted into the natural opening, above which a gap has been left that functions as both a source of light and ventilation; in the center of this opening is a white cross. Inside, the sanctuary and Holy Table are equally plain and unadorned, while beside the entrance stands a small, simple bell tower. Outside the chapel there is also a stone table, adding to the humble character of this secluded place of worship.

The setting of Panagia Trypiti is especially interesting because the Asterousia are renowned for their caves and for the ascetic tradition associated with them. Local accounts connect the cave in which the church stands with the residence of ascetics who came to the area and lived in the shelter of the rock. Recesses and niches can be seen within the cave and have traditionally been associated with this earlier eremitical use. Although the precise date of the present chapel cannot be established with confidence from the available evidence, its location within this distinctive landscape of caves, hermitages, and remote sanctuaries forms an important part of the religious character of the region.

The wider area of Trypiti is of considerable archaeological importance as well. On the rocky height of Adami Korfali, or Papouri, overlooking the gorge, lies an important Early Minoan settlement, excavated in the 1980s, while tholos tombs and other remains have also been identified in the surrounding area. Archaeological research has shown that the region was inhabited from prehistoric times, making the little cave church part of a landscape whose human history reaches back thousands of years. The church itself, however, should not be confused with these ancient monuments: the archaeological remains belong to the surrounding area rather than establishing an ancient date for the present sanctuary.

The church celebrates its feast on September 1, the Feast of the Indiction, that is, the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, from which it receives its name Panagia Protoseptemvriani. On the feast day, pilgrims make their way through the spectacular gorge to attend the Divine Liturgy in the small cave sanctuary. Afterwards, the nearby beach of Trypiti provides a natural continuation of the visit, with the rugged gorge opening onto the Libyan Sea. The combination of the cave, the ancient and ascetic landscape, the gorge, and the sea gives Panagia Trypiti a character quite unlike that of an ordinary village church: it is a small and secluded shrine of the Theotokos woven into one of the most remote and historically rich landscapes of southern Crete.

The New Ecclesiastical Year in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church (1)

2026-09-01T15:50:11.264-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Today, September 1, our Church celebrates the Beginning of the Indiction, that is, the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year. For this day, Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite writes in his Synaxarion:

“We must know, brethren, that the holy Church of God celebrates the Indiction today for three reasons. First, because this too is the beginning of the year. For this reason, among the ancient Romans it was also greatly honored from ancient times. Indiction, in the Roman, that is, Latin language, means ‘decree’ or ‘proclamation.’ And secondly, the Church celebrates it because on this day our Lord Jesus Christ went into the synagogue of the Jews, and the Book of the Prophet Isaiah was given to Him, as the Evangelist Luke writes (Luke 4). And when the Lord opened the Book - O the wonder! - He immediately found that passage, namely the beginning of the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, in which these words are written concerning Him:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

And after the Lord had read these words concerning Himself, He closed the Book and gave it to the attendant. Then, having sat down, He said to the people: ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ Therefore, when the people heard these things, they marveled at the gracious words that came from His mouth, as the same Evangelist Luke writes (ibid.).

There is also a third reason for which the Church of Christ commemorates the Indiction today and celebrates the beginning of the new year: namely, that through the hymns and supplications which we offer to God on this feast, God may be merciful to us, and may bless the new year and grant it to us prosperous and filled with all bodily goods. And that He may enlighten our minds, so that we may pass through the whole year purely and with a good conscience, and so that we may please God by keeping His commandments. And thus may we attain the eternal goods in Heaven.”

The beginning of the new ecclesiastical year is September 1, and therefore the entire Church service, apart of course from that which refers to the other saints whom we celebrate today, such as Saint Symeon the Stylite and the Holy Forty Women Martyrs, is in reality a prayer: that the Lord may bless this year — “Bless the crown of the year with Your goodness, O Lord” — which means that He may grant His grace, so that we human beings may live in peace and harmony, following His holy commandments.

It is very important that our Church considers this to be the only way in which there is blessing in the world: not simply if people prosper economically, not if everything comes easily to them, as we say, but if we are “in harmony and peace,” and above all, if we keep the holy commandments of God.

The priority of bringing ourselves into harmony with the will of God, the fulfillment, as the hymns today point out, of the petitions of the “Our Father,” in order that we may have the blessing of God, certainly does not mean belittling or downgrading economic realities as well: without them, a person cannot survive in this world. It means that economic matters do not have priority. The first thing in our life is “Thy kingdom come,” just as the Lord Himself taught the proper ordering of things: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things” — all material and earthly things — “shall be added to you.”

Unfortunately, in our time, this ordering of priorities has, to a great extent, been overturned. God and His holy will have been pushed to the margins, if not erased altogether, and the economic element has become the almost exclusive goal of man.

For many, the foolish rich man of the well-known parable appears to be an idol: yes, he rejoiced splendidly every day, but death came mercilessly and without warning into his life and… overturned his plans, plunging him into unspeakable anguish.

From this point of view, our age is an age of foolishness, one that includes not only many rich people, but also a very large part of the poor. For the poor as well, if they desire money and material possessions as the priority of their lives, even if they do not possess them, are regarded by the word of God as foolish rich men. It is the content of our heart that God always has before His eyes, according to the revelation of God Himself.

Our Church today, with the New Year that it celebrates, also reminding us of the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry, with His preaching in the synagogue of His own homeland, Nazareth, where among other things He reveals concerning Himself that He came “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” that is, to proclaim the beginning of a new age, acceptable and pleasing to God — our Church, then, brings us back into balance, because it proposes to us what constitutes the eternal will of God: to place precisely Him and His word above all.

Once again She opens our eyes, in an age of confusion and clouding of the mind, so that we may realize that we are in this life by the grace of God, that He prolongs the time of our dwelling here, as the Apostle says, having “appointed the times and seasons by His own authority,” so that we may live according to His will.

In other words, the Church reminds us that time is a gift from God, not so that we may squander it on foolishness and sins, but so that we may make use of it in an ever-upward journey toward Him, that is, in a journey of love toward our fellow man.

And then, She tells us, we shall see what the Lord promised: at the very moment when we establish His will as the foundation of our life, at that very moment His powers will also become active, on the one hand for overcoming whatever problems we may have, and on the other for restoring all of creation.

It is no coincidence that for quite a number of years now our Ecumenical Patriarchate has promoted the beginning of the ecclesiastical year as a day dedicated to the protection of the environment. And rightly so: the will of God, as we have said, when it is lived by the “king” of creation, man, has a direct reflection upon all of nature and upon all creation.

We have said it before: the solution to today’s economic crisis, which those in power and the mass media continually hold up before us as a “bogeyman,” will come as soon as we begin to live as real human beings, on the basis of the law of God.

In simple terms, the crisis is essentially spiritual.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily on the Beginning of the Indiction, or the Ecclesiastical New Year (St. Sergius Mechev)

2026-09-01T15:29:01.355-04:00

Homily on the Beginning of the Indiction, or the Ecclesiastical New Year

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

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

By the mercy of God, today we enter with you into a new ecclesiastical year. Each year, going from feast to feast, the Holy Church, together with all of nature, passes from beginning to end through the annual cycle of divine services.

For people living in the world, the arrival of a new year is usually associated with a burdensome feeling of regret over what one could have done and what has remained undone. Looking back upon the time that has been lived, a person inevitably thinks about what has been irretrievably lost in the past, what can no longer be returned or changed in the future.

For people who live a spiritual life, this feeling of the irretrievability of what has passed is foreign to them, because they live in a world where there are no temporal limitations, where the boundaries of the past, present, and future are overcome.

Recently we buried the Mother of God with you, and we did not merely “remember” Her burial, but truly buried Her; and in a few days we shall once again celebrate Her Nativity. This becomes possible because, when we celebrate the divine services, we enter a world in which the boundaries of time are abolished, because in the divine services we live in eternity. Through this participation in eternity, we can truly be present with events from which we, people of the twentieth century, are historically separated by a whole succession of centuries that have passed.

Overcoming the boundaries of time in the divine services and entering into the world of eternity, we do not enter it alone, but together with all creation. In the liturgical hymns there is constant mention of the participation of all creation in the joy experienced by a person as he partakes of eternity, and of its participation in the glorification of the Creator: “Let the heavens worthily rejoice, and let the earth be glad, and let the whole world, visible and invisible, celebrate” — thus it is said in the Canon of Pascha. And it is not only heaven and earth, but each of God’s creatures individually that participates in this universal hymn to the Creator.

In the “Psalms of Praise” (Ps. 148–150), which are read every day at Matins, we call upon the sun and moon, the stars and the light, the mountains and hills, the trees, animals, and birds, together with the heavenly angelic world, to take part in glorifying the Lord.

But nowhere, it seems, is this unity of man with all creation in the glorification of God expressed with such depth and power as in the “Song of the Three Youths,” which forms part of the last Old Testament reading appointed for Holy Saturday, each verse of which is accompanied by the refrain, “Sing praise to the Lord and exalt Him unto the ages.” Here creation is united and merges into one, in a single and eternal doxology: “…exalt Him unto the ages.”

Thus, every year, together with the whole world above and below, with the Church in heaven and with all of nature, we can be witnesses and participants in the events that took place “for us men and for our salvation.”

These events, pertaining to the divine economy of our salvation, although having occurred once in time, did not disappear irretrievably into the past. They took place when, in the words of the Apostle, “the fullness of time had come” (Gal. 4:4). In them the mystery of God’s love for man was fully revealed, the mystery of the redeeming sacrifice of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Therefore, in the temporal world they became immovable points of eternity, through which all creation passes, and to which we have the possibility of becoming participants through the divine services. In the divine services everything remains in the present, because in them everything is in eternity; therefore, there is no reason for us to grieve over the lost past.

Each such point in eternity, within our temporal world, is not only experienced by us at a definite moment in time, but also casts forth rays of its light, which are sometimes perceived long before the feast itself arrives and which continue to shine upon us after we have already passed through that luminous point.

In two weeks we shall celebrate the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. The feast has not yet arrived, but in the divine services we already sense the approach of this luminous point.

Beginning on August 1, we hear the katavasia for the Exaltation: “Having traced the Cross, Moses…” The same thing takes place, and with even greater fullness, as the feast of the Nativity of Christ approaches. An entire month before its arrival, the divine services begin to prepare us to pass through this luminous point of eternity. Beginning with the feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, we already sense that, together with the whole world, we are touching it, because on this day we sing the Nativity irmoi, “Christ is born.” And two weeks later, on the feast of the commemoration of Saint Nicholas, we sing the first stichera of the Forefeast: “Make ready, O cave,” “Rejoice, O Sion,” and “O Unwedded Virgin,” with which the stichera at “Lord, I have cried” and at the Aposticha of Great Vespers, as well as the Lity, conclude.

Particularly remarkable, in terms of preparing our souls to receive the coming feast, are the last two stichera. In the first of them we address the “city of Christ our God,” which is preparing to receive its Creator, “lying in a cave and in a manger,” and we ask it to open its gates to us, entering through which we may with spiritual eyes behold Him who “holds creation in His palm,” “wrapped in swaddling clothes as a newborn Child.” And in the second, as though having already entered through these gates and having seen the Unwedded Virgin, the Mother of God, the “Cause of our salvation,” we address Her directly, asking Her to reveal to us the great mystery of our salvation. The closer we come to the luminous point of the feast, the more brightly we are illumined by the light that radiates from it. Throughout the five days of the Forefeast, which conclude with the Eve of the Nativity of Christ, the divine services reveal to us with ever greater depth and fullness this great mystery into which the Holy Church is leading us, and finally the feast of the Nativity of Christ arrives, the point of eternity through which we pass. Here the boundaries of time are erased and the mystery of eternity is revealed, because, as Metropolitan Philaret says: “Christ even now descends from heaven, and in such nearness to us that we, like the shepherds or the Magi, may draw near to His divine manifestation.”

This point of eternity does not immediately leave us. Throughout the seven days of the Afterfeast, we continue to live by its reflected light. Moreover, if the light of eternity revealed in it has truly been reflected in our soul, then it becomes for us a step in our ascent toward eternal life, to which the Lord Jesus Christ calls us.

The Holy Church, through the temporal, brings us into communion with eternity. She leads each one of us along the path of his life, at the end of which he is to receive “in blessed repose eternal rest” and to enter into the eternal memory of God.

Let us therefore approach the divine services with greater attentiveness and reverence, and enter into them not as spectators or witnesses, but as participants. Then our entire life, too, will receive a new meaning and a new illumination. Truly living in the divine services, we may already here, on earth, possess “eternal rest”; we may be granted that, even during the days of our earthly life, the Lord will hold us in His eternal memory.

Our great happiness is that once again we enter into the annual cycle of the divine services and have the opportunity to pass through it once more together with the whole world. And our task is to make each year of life sent to us by the Lord truly a time of participation in eternity, an entry into that which, through the infinite love of God, was accomplished “for us men and for our salvation.”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

2026-08-30T12:06:52.627-04:00

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew,
or Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

On the Priesthood and Pastoral Ministry

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“There was a certain man, a master of his house, who planted a vineyard. He surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and gave it to the vinedressers…” (Matthew 21:33).

Beloved faithful,

In several places in Holy Scripture, the world created by God is compared to a vineyard. The Gospel reading today states this most clearly: “There was a certain man, a master of his house, who planted a vineyard.” This is God Himself, the Master of heaven and earth, who created all things visible and invisible and made the world as a vineyard of His house! Elsewhere the Savior says: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser… I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:1–5). The Prophet David likewise compares the world to a vineyard and prays for its perfection, saying: “Lord, Lord, look down from heaven and see, and visit this vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and perfect it” (Psalm 79:15–16).

Why does God compare the world to a vineyard or to wheat ready for harvest, and not to something else? Because both the vine and the grain are the two foremost fruits of the earth that sustain people's bodily life. Then, because bread and wine, through the Divine Liturgy, are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, which sustain the spiritual life of our souls. For just as bread and wine “strengthen man's heart,” so Holy Communion strengthens faith, forgives sins, and saves the soul of the faithful person. Bread and wine, along with the oil that is also often mentioned, are basic foods of humanity that possess a twofold sacred character, for they nourish both body and soul through the liturgical sacrifice.

But the vineyard, that is, the world planted by God, was not left to chance; it was not abandoned by Him. On the contrary, from the beginning the world has been held under divine providence; for after God planted it, “He surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a watchtower, and gave it to the vinedressers, and He went away” (Matthew 21:33). See the care of God for the world! He planted it with His own hands, making man according to His image and likeness; He fenced it in against thieves, that is, He enclosed the world with the commandments and teachings of the two Laws, of the Old and New Testaments, and with the canons and Ecumenical Synods that safeguard the unity and truth of the Orthodox faith. Then, in the midst of the vineyard, the Lord “dug a winepress,” that is, He established the sacrificial altar upon which, through Christ, the liturgical sacrifice is offered for the salvation of the whole world. Moreover, God “built a watchtower and gave the vineyard to the vinedressers, and He went away.” The watchtower is the Church founded by Jesus Christ as a tower of vigilance and defense against the demons, the sects, and all the temptations and sins that kill our souls.

Therefore, when all these things had been accomplished, that is, when the world had been redeemed and the Church established, our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted His vineyard, that is, the world, to the Church, and the gospel to the “vinedressers,” that is, to the Apostles, bishops, and priests. They are the workers in Christ's vineyard. To them was entrusted the entire work of preaching the gospel, serving the Church, celebrating the Divine Liturgy, teaching and defending the Orthodox faith, sanctifying people through the grace of the Holy Spirit, poured out through the ministry of the seven Holy Mysteries, guarding the vineyard through fulfillment of the evangelical commandments, and bringing forth its fruits in due season. And the fruits of the vineyard are souls saved through the working of good deeds. The ministers of the Church are workers of the gospel, that is, fellow workers with Christ, with the angels, with the Apostles, and with all the saints in the salvation and renewal of the world.

See how great the apostolic mission and the grace of the priesthood are! The ministers of the Church cooperate with God Himself, with the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, and with all the heavenly powers. Through the liturgical sacrifice they unite heaven with earth; they bring Christ down upon the holy altars and into the hearts of people. Through their words they bind and loose the sins of the world, bring souls out of hell, and drive demons out of people. Through the divine grace which they have received from Christ, they impart the Holy Spirit to the faithful through the seven Holy Mysteries; they sanctify, absolve, bless, guide people along the path of salvation, teach, and comfort souls that love God. What greater honor could we seek? Or what grace given to human beings is greater than that of the priesthood? The bishops and priests are the direct successors of the Holy Apostles. They are obliged to work, “in season and out of season,” in the vineyard of the Christian world and to gather as many fruits as possibl, that is, good works and pure souls worthy of the Kingdom of God.

Beloved faithful,

The first duty of a priest in his parish is to celebrate the holy services with complete reverence, beginning with the Divine Liturgy. The altar of the church in every village is symbolized by the “winepress” that God dug in His vineyard, as today’s Holy Gospel tells us. For just as grapes are transformed into wine in the winepress, so upon the Holy Table in the altar the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ during the Divine Liturgy. The more reverently and worthily he serves, the greater the grace he will receive from God; he will fill the church with faithful people and bring more souls onto the path of salvation.

The second duty of the priest is to teach the faithful the true faith, that is, to catechize them “in season and out of season,” through good and practical sermons that spring from the heart; through explaining Holy Scripture in the Orthodox spirit; through reading in church and at home patristic texts, books of spiritual guidance, and moral teachings necessary for everyone, especially children and young people. These teachings form the “fence” of the Church with which God enclosed His vineyard. Just as every vineyard without a fence is plundered and ruined by strangers, by the wild boar, that is, by the devil, as the Psalmist says, so the faithful of a parish, if they are not religiously instructed and accustomed to forgiveness, prayer, fasting, and the reading of holy books, grow cold in the faith, become indifferent toward the Church, become doubtful, unbelieving, drunkards, immoral, and some are deceived and drawn into sects.

The third great responsibility of the priest in the parish is to guard Christ’s vineyard. The watchtower built by God “in His vineyard” symbolizes the Church, this ship of salvation for the world, which carries us toward eternal things, delivers us from the evil spirits against whom we struggle until death, saves us from drowning in the sea of life, and sanctifies us through the seven Holy Mysteries, especially Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, and Holy Communion. Through her priests, the Church defends the true faith and helps raise souls from hell and those who have fallen into bondage to the passions and sins, lifting them toward Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven.

This, in brief, is the great evangelical duty of the priests and shepherds (bishops) of Christ’s Church. They are the gardeners of Christians. Upon the manner in which they fulfill their mission depends the bringing forth of the fruits that are required, that is, their own salvation and the salvation of the souls entrusted to them by Christ the Savior. For this reason, however, priests and shepherds must be called and chosen by Christ from their youth for the ministry of His gospel. Those who are not called and not sanctified through ordination, that is, through the laying on of the hands of bishops, have no place in the clergy, for the priesthood is a ministry and a grace, not an office pursued for the sake of “filthy gain” and pride. Furthermore, ministers should come from sound, Orthodox families devoted to the Church. At seminaries, it is good to choose young men from exemplary families in every respect, with written testimony from their respective spiritual fathers. During their studies, future candidates for the priesthood should love above all else prayer, the church, the divine services, study, moral life, liturgical practice, frequent confession every two or three weeks, and spiritual practice during their vacations at monasteries. For marriage, they should seek good, devout, and merciful wives, women who will be exemplary mothers in every respect. The priest’s family should be a living example to the parishioners: a household with many children, modest, blessed, and permanently bound to Christ, to the parishioners, and to the church.

Reverence, morality, prayer, theological education, regular attendance at the divine services in church, almsgiving, and zeal for Christ are the fundamental virtues of priests, without which neither ministers nor the faithful can be saved. “The priest,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “must sacrifice himself, not merely offer sacrifice”; that is, he must labor to hear the confessions of all his parishioners regularly during the four holy fasts; sacrifice himself day and night to maintain the divine services according to the proper order; visit everyone in their homes; reconcile all who are at odds with one another; comfort those who are sorrowful; help the poor and the sick; and nourish all his spiritual children with good sermons, filled with fatherly warmth, and with holy books of prayer and instruction.

Our Savior Jesus Christ says in the Holy Gospel: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Christ is the vine, the “trunk of the vineyard,” while the branches that grow from the trunk are the Apostles, bishops, and priests. Those so-called shepherds of souls who have severed their connection with the Church of Christ no longer possess the grace of salvation, for they have separated themselves from the body of the Church like branches from the vine, and they wither unto their eternal condemnation, because they no longer have communion with Christ, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, with the Mysteries of the Church, with the Divine Liturgy, with the Cross, with the saints in heaven, or with all the righteous. The true shepherds, however, are the priests who sanctify their ministry in the holy churches, who care for the flock entrusted to them by Christ, who pray with faith and live in the joy of the Holy Spirit, and who struggle for the gospel, for the faith, and for the salvation of their faithful. Blessed are the ministers whom Christ will find doing this, and woe to those whom He finds sleeping or growing idle!

But what are the fruits that Christ asks from the ministers of the Church? Just as the fruit of the branches of the vine is the grape, so the fruits of Christ’s branches—that is, of the shepherds—are souls saved. These are the Christians whom priests win through repentance and bring to Christ from taverns, from the courts, from fornication, from sects, from bondage to sins and death. Christians who obey their shepherds obey Christ, for the Lord says: “He who listens to you listens to Me; and he who rejects you rejects Me” (Luke 10:16). If the priest serves with reverence, teaches everyone, prays, and does everything he can, but the faithful do not follow him, he will receive the reward of the faithful worker, while they, the disobedient, will receive condemnation. They are like a barren vineyard, like the leaves of a vine struck by frost, which fall and are thrown into the fire.

Woe to the faithful who do not go to church through laziness or unbelief! Woe to those who sever themselves from the body of Christ’s Church and fall into sects, for sects do not lead to salvation, having been severed from the vine of life, which is Christ! Woe also to the shepherds who do not labor to bring forth fruits in due season from the vineyard entrusted to them! That is, they cause scandal among the flock, lose souls, and allow wolves in sheep’s clothing to enter their parishes, that is, sectarians. For Christ, the master of the vineyard, will come, and “He will put those wicked men to a miserable death, and He will lease the vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to Him the fruits in their seasons” (Matthew 21:40–41).

Beloved faithful,

Do you see how great the responsibility of priests is for your souls? Do you see how much they must sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the faithful? Yet many judge and condemn them, forgetting that they too are human beings, that they have families, and that they must care both for the parishioners and the house of God, as well as for their own households. You should know that priests could be much more devoted and much better if all the faithful of our villages and cities stood beside them. For when priests see the churches filled with faithful people, especially on feast days, their faith increases, grace works more powerfully through them, their sermons become more alive, and they penetrate more deeply into the heart of each person.

But when priests see more villagers in taverns, at fairs, and in the courts than in church during the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days, they become saddened and grow weaker spiritually. We believe that good priests are also the result of good faithful people, zealous for Christ; while priests who are less good are also the result of parishioners who are weak in faith and indifferent to their salvation. But each person will be judged by God, the Knower of our hearts, according to his own deeds.

Therefore, my brethren, I urge you to love God and His Church. Love the shepherds of the Church, obey them, and pray for them as spiritual children, “for they watch over your souls, as those who must give an account” (Hebrews 13:17). I also urge you not to absent yourselves from church on feast days, but to listen with reverence to the holy services, especially the Divine Liturgy. Christ is present in the Holy Altar, and we should be absent? The Mother of God, together with all the angels and saints, are in the church and glorify God together with the priest, and we go instead to pleasures and drunkenness? Do not forget to remember the priests in your prayers, out of love and out of duty, for they are sanctified by Christ and bear within themselves the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray to the great High Priest Jesus Christ, the Shepherd and Savior of our souls, that He may appoint the best possible shepherds and priests for His Church, and that He may grant us greater faith and good works for the attainment of the blessings of heaven. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. John of Kronstadt)

2026-08-30T11:27:42.481-04:00

Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew
(13th Sunday After Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

Today during the Divine Liturgy, beloved brothers and sisters, there was read from the Gospel the parable of Christ the Savior concerning the master of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and, having entrusted it to vinedressers, went away. When the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. But the vinedressers seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than before, and they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, “They will surely be ashamed before my son.” But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.” And having seized him, they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those vinedressers? The chief priests and elders, to whom this parable was spoken, said to Him, “He will bring those wicked men to a wicked end, and will give the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will render him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps. 117:22–23). Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits” (Matt. 21:33–43).

This concludes today's Gospel reading. What, then, does this parable mean? And first of all, whom does the master of the house who planted the vineyard represent? The master of the house is God, the Heavenly Father; the vineyard is the Jewish Church, that is, all the Jews who lived before Christ and during the time of Christ; the fence around the vineyard is the law of God given to the Jews; the winepress, or the trough in which grapes are trodden to extract their juice, signifies the altar beside which the animals brought for sacrifice were slaughtered, and upon which their blood was poured out, as a sign of the redeeming Blood of the Son of God, shed for the salvation of the world; the tower in the vineyard signifies the Jerusalem Temple; the vinedressers are the Jewish chief priests and elders; the fruits of the vineyard are the fruits of good works, which the Lord expected both from the chief priests and scribes themselves and from the common people, who had been entrusted by God to their guidance; the servants whom the master of the vineyard sent to the vinedressers for the fruits are the prophets of God, whose rebukes the Jews so disliked, and whom they beat, killed, and stoned; the son of the master is the Only-Begotten Son of the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, whom the chief priests, elders, and scribes, having delivered Him into the hands of lawless Gentiles, the Romans, and having had Him nailed to the Cross, killed.

The cornerstone, or the principal stone in the foundation of a building, rejected by the builders, is Jesus Christ, who became the Head of the Church of God and the true Shepherd, Redeemer, Savior, and Visitor of our souls. The taking away of the Kingdom of God from the Jews means the deprivation of the blessings of the true faith—the deprivation of their temple, priesthood, true worship, their homeland, and all the fruits of grace—which all came upon them and remains so to this day.

Yet this parable, in some of its parts or words, can and must also be applied to us; for the Gospel was given for all times and all peoples. And it must be applied, first of all, to us priests—I do not speak here of the other rulers and teachers of the people—and to the flock entrusted to us by God, for its guidance toward a virtuous life and toward salvation and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Christ's parable teaches that pastors, just as they themselves must offer to the Lord and to the Chief Shepherd the fruits of good teaching and every virtue, and must be for those entrusted to their care an example of faith, an image of meekness, temperance, mercy, freedom from attachment to possessions, sincere goodwill toward all, and concern for pleasing God and saving the soul, so also must they continually teach those whom God has entrusted to their guidance in faith and virtuous life the law of God and the Christian virtues, so that they too may bring to God the fruits of virtue and live in a manner pleasing to God, working out their salvation with fear, and awaiting the fulfillment of Christ's promise concerning His second coming, the resurrection of the dead, the fearful judgment, and eternal life or eternal torment.

It is well known that very much depends upon the pastor's way of life, upon his zeal or lack of zeal in fulfilling his high and holy pastoral duties: the faith or the lack of faith, and even the unbelief, of those entrusted to his care, as well as their life and conduct. As the popular saying goes, “As the priest is, so is the parish.” If the pastor is instructive and pious, then those entrusted to his care also become pious and God-fearing.

Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, if we do not wish the fearful word of the Savior, spoken to the Jewish chief priests and elders and to the Jewish people, to be fulfilled also upon us; if we do not wish the Kingdom of God to be taken away from us, that is, the gracious help of God that assists us in everything; if we do not wish to fall into the abyss of ignorance and corruption and every kind of vice, and to be deprived of the blessings of communal life and of every abundance and sufficiency, of earthly and heavenly blessings, and to fall into bodily and spiritual poverty and destitution, in which multitudes of people languish, then let us hasten to bring to God the fruits of true repentance, amendment of life, and continual concern for the one thing needful, that is, for the salvation of our immortal souls, redeemed by the Blood of Christ, and every virtue according to the measure of our strength. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost (St. Innocent of Kherson)

2026-08-30T11:08:58.665-04:00

Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost

By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride

Have you heard the thunder? Have you seen the lightning? This lightning flashed here; this thunder resounded in this very church. For was it not here, from this very sacred place, that the apostle’s lightning-like word was proclaimed today: “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be anathema!” (1 Cor. 16:22). What are all the thunders and lightnings compared with the one curse of God? Thunder and lightning strike at a particular time and in some particular place upon the earth; but the curse of God, once pronounced in Paradise, has continued to this day to make the whole earth bring forth thorns and thistles. Thunder and lightning may kill the body, may take away temporal life; but the curse of God may cast both soul and body forever into the fiery Gehenna. Therefore, we must look more carefully into ourselves: are we standing beneath this terrible thunder? Are we in some way drawing this unquenchable lightning down upon our own heads? Has someone perhaps already been struck by it? For this, too, may happen: someone may already have been struck by it and yet feel nothing of his affliction, just as one struck by physical thunder and lightning does not know his condition; and if he can be restored to life, it is through the help of a beneficent hand belonging to another.

“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be anathema!”

Thus, nothing more than a lack of love for the Lord Jesus is enough for the wrath of heaven to come crashing down upon us. Yet we ordinarily think that the curse of heaven strikes only the very worst of criminals, that for this one must be a Cain, a Judas, or an Arius the blasphemer. On what do we base such a thought? On this: that God is merciful, and that other people are not so bad or wicked. But where, and in whom, has all the mercy of God been revealed more fully than in the Person of His Only-Begotten Son, who died upon the Cross for us? If I do not love this very mercy, that is, the divine Person of my Redeemer, what remains for me but judgment, wrath, and punishment? “We are not yet so wicked as to be objects of heavenly wrath.” But where, and in whom, is all our righteousness and justification found, if not in that same Person of our divine Mediator? If I do not love this righteousness in His Person, what remains for me but my own unrighteousness, and consequently the wrath of heaven?

If the Person of our Savior were not, in Himself, so worthy of love, perhaps there might be some excuse for not loving Him. But now He is precisely such that, looking upon Him, one must say: our Savior “is altogether love!” How, then, can one not love this love? And what remains for the one who does not love it but wrath and judgment?

Therefore, even if the apostle had not spoken this fearful word concerning those who do not love the Lord Jesus, our own heart, which loves Him, ought to pronounce it. In such a case, there can be only one excuse—ignorance. But whoever knows the Lord Jesus, knows what He has done and suffered for us, and yet does not love Him, has no excuse for his sin; he is an open enemy of everything holy and therefore inevitably faces rejection.

“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be anathema!”

Who, then, loves the Lord Jesus, and who does not? This is an extremely important question, for with love is joined every blessing and, consequently, eternal life; while with the lack of love comes manifest condemnation and, consequently, eternal death.

The one who does not strive to know the Lord Jesus—does not love the Lord Jesus: to know what He has done and intends to do for us, and what He desires and requires from us.

The one who does not strive to keep His commandments, to imitate His example, to become like Him in his thoughts, character, and actions—does not love the Lord Jesus.

The one who does not love to think of Him, as often as possible, to picture His life as vividly as possible, to place himself in His invisible presence, and to give Him an account of his conduct—does not love the Lord Jesus.

The one who does not love His word, which He has left us in the Gospel; who does not love the Church established by Him; who does not love the Mysteries given by Him—does not love the Lord Jesus.

The one who is indifferent to His glory, who does not strive to spread knowledge of Him, who does not defend His name, who does not stand up for the holiness of His Gospel—does not love the Lord Jesus.

The one who does not wish to give up temporal blessings for His sake, to endure reproach and persecution from the world—does not love the Lord Jesus.

The one who does not await His glorious coming, who is not guided by the promises He has given, who does not sacrifice to them the vain hopes of this world—does not love the Lord Jesus.

You see for yourselves, brothers, that I am taking the most ordinary characteristics of love, and, so to speak, its unavoidable qualities—such qualities and signs without which even earthly love would be unworthy of its name. But when we gather even these few characteristics together into a single image and apply it to ourselves, how many will we find who love the Lord Jesus? It follows that scarcely any of us are not standing beneath the fearful word of the apostle of Christ! We stand beneath it and do not think about our danger! On the contrary, we think ourselves completely safe—and why? Because we bear the name (the name alone) of Christians, belong (also in name alone) to the Church of Christ, and perform (mechanically) some of its rites; that is, we place our hope in and consider ourselves safe precisely because of those things on account of which we ought to be afraid and tremble!...

May the attention of those who are still capable of being roused from spiritual sleep and carelessness be awakened! It was not without purpose that the apostle’s word struck my mind in the midst of the present service and compelled me to open my mouth to repeat it aloud to you, for I had not intended to speak with you today.

Perhaps there are among us precisely such souls for whom this awakening was necessary. And for whom is it not necessary? Who can boast of having such love for the Lord Jesus as we ought to have, as He has deserved from us?

Therefore, let us all receive the apostle’s word with fear, and, when we return to our homes, let us reflect: does it fall upon us also with all its weight? Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the Honorable Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (Gennadios Scholarios)

2026-08-29T18:02:10.104-04:00

Introduction

The following text, “Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the Honorable Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John,” was written by George Scholarios, who later became known as Gennadios II, Patriarch of Constantinople. Scholarios (ca. 1405–1472) was one of the most important Greek theologians and intellectuals of the fifteenth century. He was deeply involved in the theological controversies surrounding the Council of Florence and initially supported union with the Latin Church before becoming one of the most prominent opponents of the union. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he became the first Patriarch of Constantinople under Ottoman rule, taking the monastic name Gennadios. His patriarchates were troubled and relatively brief, and by the autumn of 1465 he had withdrawn permanently to the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mount Menoikeion, where he devoted himself to prayer, study, and writing. It was during this final period of his life that many of his most important surviving works were composed.

This homily is dated 15 June 1466. The manuscript heading itself identifies it as having been written at the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mount Menoikeion near Serres. It was therefore composed only a few months after Scholarios had made his final withdrawal from Constantinople and entered the more secluded monastic period in which he produced much of his later theological and ascetic writing. The editors of Scholarios's complete works specifically note that the homily was written to be read, rather than preached, and describe it as an expression of gratitude toward the Honorable Forerunner, combining historical reflection with ascetic exhortation.

The text is preserved in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Grec 1289, commonly referred to as Parisinus Graecus 1289. It occupies folios 218v–227 of the manuscript. The Biblissima and Pinakes catalogues identify Scholarios not only as the author but also as the scribe, and the manuscript is recognized as one of the important autograph witnesses to his works. The manuscript itself is a fifteenth-century Greek codex containing a substantial collection of Scholarios's writings, including theological treatises, homilies, hymns, and other works.

The homily itself is more than a retelling of the Gospel account of John's death. Scholarios moves between the biblical narrative, theological interpretation, moral exhortation, and praise of the Forerunner. Herod, Herodias, the Pharisees, John the Baptist, Christ, and the events surrounding John's martyrdom become occasions for examining obedience to divine law, repentance, the proper use of authority, the dangers of the passions, and the relationship between suffering and salvation. John is presented not merely as the prophet who announced Christ's coming, but as the Forerunner even in death, whose martyrdom is understood in relation to Christ's own Passion and to the salvation of humanity.

Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the

Honorable Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

1. The blessed John, the Forerunner and Baptist, having come to stand at the boundary between type and truth, and being, as it were, a bond between the two ages, naturally provides abundant material for those who wish to praise him. Some, according to the honors rendered to him throughout the year, each having its own particular occasion for the wonders associated with it, divide their discourses according to these occasions; while others, taking his entire history as their subject, attempt in a single discourse to encompass matters that require many discourses. But I, who owe him gratitude not only for the benefits bestowed upon all by nature, but also for many personal benefits, shall now make the end of his earthly struggles the subject of my contribution, insofar as I am able. This will not be altogether inappropriate to him, since I am not considering so much the order of the discourse as the intention of the speaker in a manner worthy of God; while for me it is also particularly fitting, since I am considering well both the present time of all things and my own circumstances, which aptly lead to this subject.

But let my own circumstances be left aside. For it is not fitting to become entangled in matters of such great magnitude. Since the beginnings of the second coming of Christ are becoming clearly manifest, what subject could be more fitting for the discourse than the death of the Baptist, and thereby also the sufferings of Christ Himself, if ever there has been a time when these things should be brought before the soul and tongue of those who care to be conformed to Christ and to prepare themselves for His coming? For just as He then rose after dying and suffering, was glorified and ascended into the heavens, having descended in soul even to Hades, so now also He suffers, dies, and is dishonored in the few souls devoted to life who direct everything toward Him. After a little while, as one may reasonably conjecture, He is destined to appear gloriously to the world, bringing judgment and bringing about the end of all human affairs and of all for which He has contended.

The one, therefore, who then went before Christ when He was born and died, and who now shares in the sufferings and death of pious souls, fittingly also goes before the second coming of Christ, and gives us material appropriate to the present time, bringing to its proper conclusion our hymns to Him; for whereas then he had suffered beforehand for Jesus, now he suffers together with those who nobly suffer for His sake.

2. My discourse, then, is for this reason. Hence it will require no assistance from those who hear it—for there will be few who are able to contribute, since I have already expressed the lament concerning this matter in a discourse of its own. Rather, as one who is well acquainted with you and well disposed toward you, I shall use every means at my command: with the voice of the Forerunner, with the sword wielded against him by truth, and with the power of the Gospel words, which derive their own strength from the divine Word, I shall display the weakness of those who oppose them.

And you, Forerunner of our salvation and herald of the good proclamation sent into the world, in return for your guidance, loosen for me, with God's help, the difficulties that stand in the way of my coming to your sacred mountain and the solitude there; and for the dreadful turmoil of the cities, grant me a second grace, so that I may approach the crowns prepared for you at your end, which we have fashioned for you from the words of the Gospel, and repentance and peace, those good provisions for the journey, so that I may order the remainder of my life, and, if it should be necessary, die with the truth, according to your will. Arm my heart with your zeal, that same zeal which imprisoned and slew tyrants and kings, and which, in all things, fittingly mirrors your own philosophy; and to all who honor your departure, or even to our present discourse, grant the same grace, that it may both be spoken and be of benefit.

3. The whole course of John's struggles had been brought to its fitting completion: some of them he undertook of his own will, being moved toward the good by his own choice and thirsting for God without restraint; others he endured because he was moved by God, in keeping with the purpose of the salvation of the whole world. These included his separation from his parents; his flight from the world and withdrawal to God—for the things that befell him by divine providence before his birth, at his birth, and during his upbringing were themselves a prelude to the good things that followed; his long dwelling in the wilderness; his unusual nourishment from trees and small creatures, accompanied by extraordinary austerity and every other form of hardship; the nakedness of his body, continually exposed to cold and heat—for with only his belt and his hair he scarcely covered the surface of his flesh, and not all of it, nor even thickly; his dwelling among the wild beasts, which at first he fought against relentlessly, but which afterward even left their tracks behind and returned to their natural timidity before the dominion of the one who had been restored to his natural mastery over them; and, amid such confinement of the body, the expansion of divine grace within his soul, his continual understanding of God, and the spiritual delight he received from the angels, which cannot be adequately expressed in words or measured against the divine ministry.

Then came his return to the world, bringing with him the discipline of the wilderness, under the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit; the turning of the people toward repentance, as they were baptized in water and laid aside their personal stains—for the ancestral stains transmitted along with nature, by which every misfortune was necessarily accompanied, were to be washed away through the baptism of Christ, which prefigured His death, accomplished for the release from these things. There was his clear prophecy concerning the One who was coming and had long been awaited from afar, confirming the proclamation made while he was still in the womb and unknown to the many; and there was also the testimony rightly given concerning his superiority over all those who had been born. For the prophets were greater than other men by many measures, yet John had prophesied in the same manner as they, while also being deemed worthy to see and baptize Him, laying his hands upon Him, receiving Him and not permitting Him to withdraw, and to see and hear the testimony from above, which made known not only to himself but to all who were present the One who until then had willed to remain hidden.

For he had foreseen and foretold that the One who would come was far greater and more divine than himself, while preserving the proper order of the Lord: eternally begotten and existing according to His divinity, yet according to the flesh and in His visible manifestation born and coming after him. Truly inspired, as was demonstrated by his very works, John foretold these things. Yet when Christ was present, he did not recognize Him merely because He was walking the same earth and appearing among the same people, since He still wished to remain hidden even from John himself. Then, for the first time, John recognized Him and ministered to Him, and was the first to enter into the order of those who would become His disciples, no longer announcing One who was yet to come, but exhorting them to receive Him who had already come. And the things that the prophets of old had long desired to see but had not seen—for the time had not yet come—he now witnessed as they were being accomplished in reality, and he rejoiced and ministered to them. By his testimony, some were persuaded to believe, being worthy of belief, while to others he was even offensive; and the works of the devil greatly labored against him, gratifying the father whom they had chosen in place of the true Father and Master. For John called them “offspring of vipers,” while the Savior gave them an even more explicit designation: He had come to save them as His own children, but found them rebellious and more devoted to the one who was destroying them.

When such struggles had been brought to completion by him, exceeding every measure of praise and every commendation, it remained that he should also be crowned, bringing his life to an end in a manner worthy of such a one.

4. It was necessary, then, that the death of Jesus should come first and that He should die first, so that the Forerunner might be not only a forerunner to those living in the common salvation, but also to those beneath the earth who were destined to be saved and to partake of the fruit of the economy; indeed, he was a forerunner in every respect, even of the order of the angels who minister to the divine dispensations, with the economy of life in the flesh according to the angels being rightly fulfilled. It was necessary also that he demonstrate his love for the Master as pure as he had shown it to be, yielding to none of the disciples in this respect. He was therefore to be the first to lay down his soul for the Master whom he loved, even before receiving the clearest manifestation of His divinity in Christ, which came to those others only later. It was necessary that the Baptist of Christ should also be conformed to Christ's sufferings; and just as He willingly went to His death, so he too should receive such a death as the reward for his advocacy of the laws—not being crucified as Christ was to be, nor mocked, nor having His side pierced (for such things were required by the purpose and work of the economy, and therefore had been foretold from afar in this very manner), but suffering pain in his head alone. Thus, while he grieved over what he knew was about to be revealed, he also rejoiced in another way, considering the benefit that would thereby come to the inhabited world.

Since these things, then, had to be so arranged, so they also came to pass; and these are the subject of this day's observance and of what is performed and spoken on it. The pretext, then, was not so much the punishment as the crowns: the longstanding hatred of Herodias and what had occurred at the banquet at that time. But the true cause was the plots of those guardians of the law who, while putting Jesus to death on the grounds that He was violating the laws—because they thought He was abolishing the Sabbath when He was not—allowed Herod to transgress the law without restraint. For they could not tolerate John proclaiming Jesus everywhere after that heavenly and glorious testimony, raising up the fame that was fitting for Him, while he himself continued to live and enjoy such great respect even with Herod. They feared that the whole multitude of Jews might also be drawn to Herod's side, and this fear was indeed quite reasonable, for they saw Herod paying very close attention to John, spending time with him gladly, listening to him with pleasure, and obeying him in many matters; for he knew him to be a holy and righteous man, and for that reason he held him in very high regard.

5. The fine guardians of the law, then, were flattering Herod and, although they had ample power to do so, were not cleansing him of the pollution of his transgression; rather, they wished in this way to set him against John, who was turning him away from it and seeking to break that goodwill. For how could they allow him to offer sacrifices on his birthday and have so many people dining with him? Why did they not exclude him from the sacred things, so that the adulteress might have a pretext, not only to prevent John, whom he loved, from thinking in this way, but much more to prevent the others, whom it would not be right to lead astray? But while they remained silent and tolerated the transgression, it was because they were lying in wait for the righteous and wise advocate of the laws, who had no need to defend the laws with the same zeal as they did, but was moved by God-loving goodwill and desired to save the souls of those around him. Herod, for his part, seemed even so to tolerate John when he advised him like a father, and the virtue of the man had advanced so far in opposing the passion of licentiousness that even the woman who shared in that passion was being driven not merely to disobey, but to kill him. When she attacked him with still greater violence, Herod restrained her, gratifying the righteous man, but he did not kill him, nor would he have been able to do so, had not everything that followed come together: the opportune day, on the one hand, being joined to the crown of the righteous man and, on the other, to the destruction of those who transgressed, so that they themselves might become guilty both of their shameless transgression and of the murder of the one who desired to save and cleanse them.

God could indeed have brought the drama to an immediate end, just as He could have sent legions of angels, had He wished, and overturned the entire city; He could even have caused the sun to be darkened without harming anyone, by having the moon, in a wondrous manner, move across it, and thereby caused the whole inhabited world to be plunged into darkness. But just as that drama had been written in this way and had to take place in this way, so also what had been ordained concerning John had long been determined; and by one and the same course of events, God was preparing for the prophet the prizes of virtue and for Herod the punishment befitting his wickedness, without forcing either the former toward piety or the latter toward the opposite disposition, but assigning to each what belonged to his own inclination and what each had chosen for himself.

For neither was Judas going to have a defense on the grounds that Christ had to suffer those things, nor on the grounds that His suffering was for the salvation of humanity, which was the Master's sole purpose. Rather, through wickedness, envy, love of glory, and love of money, he betrayed his Teacher, and, when he sat down to eat bread with Him, he received Satan as his companion—not one who was then attempting for the first time to enter him, but one who was then firmly established within him. This is what happens to all who partake unworthily of divine things: instead of receiving grace, they receive its opposite, if there is anything in them that has cast grace away. So here also, the necessity that John be crowned through martyrdom does not remove the punishment from the one who killed him.

6. All things, then, converge in due course by which what was destined to come might be accomplished. Our Lord Jesus, for His part, was about to become merely incidental to the murderers on the occasion of the great feast of Passover. For Pilate was not the one who was putting Him to death; indeed, he repeatedly wished to release Him and, when those wicked men would not consent, washed his hands with water. Our Lord Himself told him that those who handed Him over were guilty of the greater sin. For Pilate was a foreigner and served other religious practices, whereas they were Jews and devotees of Moses. And among them was the disciple who had devised the beginning of the drama, the one who said, “What will you give me, and I will hand Him over to you?” Perhaps, if he had not succeeded in this, and if he had been the one to make the offer, he might have said it differently: “What will you give me, and you will hand Him over to me?”

So here also, while a birthday was being celebrated and the banquet held for that occasion was taking place, the Prophet was merely incidental. And just as the disciple who was among those at the secret supper, consumed by anger against his Nourisher and Teacher, betrayed Him, so too Herodias, through the dancing of the girl, contrived the murder of the Prophet. The one valued his betrayal at thirty pieces of silver, while the other valued the girl's dancing at the golden head of the Prophet.

And if John is the Baptist, what gives you the audacity, woman, to kill the Baptist? And if, when half the kingdom was offered to you, you valued the head as its equal, why do you so readily take it away and declare dead a treasure worth so much? “At a time,” he says, “when everyone praised the Baptist and his baptism, and he was held in great esteem by all; but ever since he baptized Jesus, openly proclaiming Him and desiring to bear witness to Him, those who are guardians of our customs and laws are now being honored with the same punishments and have been judged worthy of the same penalties. Yet no teacher of the law has ever caused me such a great disturbance, nor has anyone made such an effort to dissolve the bond between me and my brother Philip. I do not, therefore, exchange the head for its worth, but for the passion that has seized me with such great force and that holds the queen as a slave."

7. It was rightly, then, that our Lord rebuked those who, while pretending to observe the law, were violating it: they strained out gnats while swallowing camels, and their own transgressions were far greater, since they sinned with greater knowledge while allowing others to do what they themselves were able to prevent. They even went so far in their zeal for the law that, from the tithe of the law down to the smallest fruits, they exacted penalties exceeding the measure of the offenses, stripping the homes of the poor, the orphans, and the widows, and plundering them like enemies. O wise champions of strict observance of the law! You cry out against Christ for releasing the Sabbath restriction, because He cleansed a leper, gave sight to a blind man on the Sabbath, and restored the power of walking to a man who had long been confined to his bed; yet you indulge Herod, flattering him shamelessly while he transgresses the law so greatly and destroys both himself and the woman he loves. Do you permit him to live with her in violation of the law of marriage, or, while he violates the law before your eyes, do you neither become indignant nor exclude him from the fellowship of the pure, but even share his table and his salt? Is this, O wretched men, a relaxation of the law concerning the Sabbath, or the restoration of those who are in a bad state? Surely Moses himself, who legislated the observance of rest on the Sabbath, would not have relaxed the law in such a way, would he? For under such an understanding he would have established the law for no other purpose than to make people inhuman instead of God-loving; and Moses would then have been neither divine nor even Moses. If he had not added, “unless someone is able to give sight to a blind man and thus do good to those in need,” this is precisely what all lawgivers do: they leave it to those who are willing and able to judge rightly to apply the laws according to circumstances, circumstances which, being many and innumerable, they could neither gather together nor properly set down in writing.

Therefore those who know how to judge rightly, and who are guided by necessity, make good use of the strictness of the laws for the sake of doing good. They do not invalidate the laws or find fault with those who established them, but where the letter of the law cannot agree with what is according to nature and reason, and with what is simply good and beneficial, they give precedence to these things instead—as the one who established the law himself would have done had he been present, and as he would have been grateful even if absent to one who judged so humanely and wisely. But let us leave aside the Lord's other superiority and the proper order of the two laws; you would hardly learn this from people such as these, in whom it is least apparent. Let them, then, reproach the very one who gave and guarded the law in this manner. But you, clinging to the literal words of the law precisely where you least ought, display an irrational zeal before the multitude, who praise your stubbornness without perceiving the passion behind it; and, envying those who are treated with leniency, you cling to the letter of the law. Yet where there was a need either to profit through transgression, or to submit through fear, or to show favor through friendship and personal advantage, there you set aside both the letter and the purpose of the lawgiver, and natural justice itself disappears.

Thus also you tolerated Herod when he took his brother's wife contrary to the law, even though she had children by him. Does this not seem to you something dreadful and utterly incongruous? And then, when he proceeds unlawfully to kill the Baptist, you are delighted, no doubt, with the killing of the man whom you had previously favored, although he had done no wrong, adding evil to evil in a far more grievous manner—defending the Baptist, who was united to Christ both by birth and by choice, while at the same time grieving Jesus Himself and opening a door to the murder being plotted against Him.

Or perhaps you claim necessity as your excuse, while attributing everything to the adulteress—the banquet, the dancing, the promises of a reward, and the oath made upon them—and, being completely overcome by the passion of licentiousness, you remove from your midst the one who was turning you away from it and admonishing you, thereby making yourself worse even than another.

8. Having thus treated those who were near to him and even his whole race with such favor, the king became guilty of a much greater crime through his oath and those who were dining with him. “You are worthy,” they said, “of such oaths, you who are guarded by your companions at table. To break an oath in fear, and to kill an innocent man—do you not fear the judgment? If you were ashamed of the one whom you formerly approached as a holy man and to whom you often gave orders, what has now happened to you? Why do you not rather expose the wickedness that has long been concealed under royal authority? For you will suffer more on your own account, even if you should have the opportunity to do good to such a man again through goodwill. But if you have no excuse to offer, how can you kill one who has done no wrong and who has previously been treated with such honor? Or will you invoke necessity, while the girl takes everything upon herself—the banquet, the dancing, the anger, the promise of the reward, and the oath made concerning them—and while the passion of licentiousness has completely mastered you, you remove from your midst the one who turns you away from it and admonishes you, making yourself even worse?

What excuse could you possibly have, or what sort of madness of mind, that you should be persuaded by such arguments to stretch the laws so tightly that they serve as an excuse for committing evil, while you honor those who violate them and reproach those who guard them? You were accustomed to observing the laws properly, not to abolishing them; you honored the sacred things, you respected the priests, and you reproached those who transgressed the laws. Yet now, when something contrary to nature, contrary to reason, and simply evil and harmful has arisen, you make this your pretext, whereas you ought rather to have done what the lawgiver himself would have done had he been present and had he judged the matter with understanding. We have already demonstrated elsewhere the whole superiority of the Lord and the perfection of His laws. You would never have been able to discover such things in this way.

But you, who are so exacting in matters of the law where it is least necessary, display an irrational zeal before the multitude, who praise your stubbornness without understanding the passion that possesses you; and while you hate those who are treated with leniency, you cling to the letter of the law. Yet where there is a need either to profit through transgression, to submit through fear, or to grant favors through friendship and personal advantage, there you set aside both the letter and the purpose of the lawgiver and disregard what is just. Thus you also tolerated Herod when he unlawfully took his brother's wife, although offspring had been left behind. Does this seem to you a small matter, or even something harmless? And then, contrary to all reason, you proceed to kill the Baptist, whom you had previously honored and whose counsel you had followed, adding evil to evil and making the latter more grievous than the former, while you are able to restrain the Baptist, who is united to Christ both by birth and by his ministry, and yet grieve Jesus Himself and open the way for the murder that is being plotted against Him."

9. Herod, then, did such things at the banquet and appeared as such a man to those who were present and dining with him, and so the story has been handed down. For the account of history, being truthful and just, cannot proceed beyond what has happened and what is seen. But the blessed John, having been conceived, born, and brought up for the service of the mystery concerning Jesus, and having dwelt for many years in the wilderness, was sent forth from there to announce the presence of the Lord and to cry out, “Prepare His way,” being the voice that runs before the Word and the lamp before the Light. In this respect also he surpassed all the prophets, for he alone, together with Christ and because of Christ, had been prophesied of in such a glorious manner. He fulfilled his entire ministry as was fitting, and then, because of Him, he was sacrificed and offered up. An executioner, sent from the banquet, draws the angel-like soul from that sacred flesh and brings back the head, bearing it to the girl as the prize of her dancing; and she, in turn, gives it to her mother as a delightful spectacle, so that from then on she might sin without rebuke, with everyone knowing what she had done and no one turning her away.

O blessed life, and more blessed still its end! For having nothing with which to reproach him, yet unable to endure his instruction—for the scheme of the Pharisees and lawyers against Herod and his consort was known only to them—they kill the noble man, or rather, they transfer him from this life, whom Herod had loved so greatly. For what could be more delightful to a soul devoted to philosophy than to die, and to die with virtue? O what joy was his when he saw the executioner and the sword being prepared, and, before he had clearly perceived the blow descending, he was released on a light wing, carrying away no burden from his union with the body. Thus, if the ancestral impediment had not dragged him down to Hades, he would have dwelt there together with Moses and the others, although far more fortunate than they, because his hopes were clearer and the expectation of his return from there was nearer; and he might even have gone directly to heaven. But the path to heaven was still entirely untrodden, since he remained the Forerunner of the Master of all. For this very reason he had also descended there in the manner of the fathers, so that, finding some of the true children ready, and receiving others who were to be brought up in due order, with birth itself assisting the process, he might gather them together until he should come again and, restoring their bodies in far greater splendor, bring about the perfection of their nature and thereby accomplish for them the perfection of blessedness, so that thereafter they might rejoice in double garments and receive double crowns for their contests.

As for the other prophets, as many as the Jews repaid with a similar recompense, the people put them to death with great shamelessness and even greater bitterness. John, however, was released from prison by the executioner alone, who thereby gave him an end suited to his dwelling in the wilderness. For the wilderness differs in no way from a prison for those who know how to treasure up their riches there; nor is a prison any less capable of giving delight to one who knows how to philosophize and is accustomed to it than the broadest wilderness. And when the limits of life have been fulfilled, it makes no difference to those who philosophize well whether they are released by a beast devouring them in the wilderness or by an executioner killing them in prison.

The excess, then, of the Jews' shamelessness toward Jesus after these things was an excess of wretchedness for those who committed them; an excess of humiliation, in human terms, for Him who was humbled by such and so great contests; an excess of goodness in Him who assumed human nature in order to save it by such means; and an excess of good fortune for those who were destined to be saved through these things and who would not be saved without them. For, since all these things were necessary, they had been foretold from afar according to the purpose and end of the Savior, and it was permitted that they should come to pass in this way, as I have said. Moreover, for those who were destined to show piety toward Christ through many kinds of suffering, there needed to be a great force within their reasoning, persuading them both to be courageous and to endure nobly, since nothing could be stronger than the thought that the Master Himself had endured these things on their behalf, so that they too might be hung upon crosses like the thieves and receive such rewards for their sufferings.

And thus they themselves, being first well fortified in their thoughts by such examples, might immediately receive from heaven the extraordinary philosophy, so that what remained would no longer be endurance but contempt for every disposition toward the things that would follow.

10. For these reasons, O blessed Baptist and Forerunner of Christ, we who have heard your voice come together today, and before hearing the Word, we who have raised our eyes toward the truth look to you, the lamp, before being wholly seized by the Light. We do not regard you as having passed away, but as being present to all; and since we have already come to you as you complete your noble transition, we are here—not keeping company with Herod and his companions at the banquet, nor dancing before the executioner, nor receiving the gift of your head, the reward of an age-long iniquity (far be such things from us), but accompanying your disciples and following along as they cover your body with earth, while we gather together, mourning with those who are terribly afflicted by the manner of your unjust death, those who became nourished by your baptism and by your words concerning the Master, as they proclaim salvation from God throughout all the earth, where they have heard and seen Him and have rightly proclaimed Him, being deprived of such a great treasure, you who were so beautiful, and now mourning with those who, because of their sacred love for you, are moved by the grief that comes from your death. We come together with you as sharers in the most blessed lot of both your birth and your life and your death, since all these things were exceedingly useful according to God and for the common good of humanity; and through them we too rejoice in such instruction and guidance, and we regard your death as the final work of your children. For we have been made your children no less than they, and, through your accounts of these things, you delight us as though you were present and living among us; and from above you look upon us and guide us, having the authority, with good reason and great boldness, to persuade Him who is capable of all things. For these reasons we honor this day, and for these reasons the discourse being offered here has also been brought forward.

11. Do not let us, then, fail to offer you whatever you might wish to receive from us, your children, in these very songs and hymns, without which you would not have been pleased even with what is now being offered to you. You therefore desire that those who are devoted to this present life neither transgress wantonly, nor enter into unlawful marriages, nor, giving themselves over to their natural passions, become enslaved to them; rather, that they should have a vigilant reason and a sober mind, not clouded by the smoke of the passions of the flesh, and that they should not allow themselves to be enslaved, some to desire, others to anger, and to the offspring of these passions, thereby destroying their love for God and for their neighbor. Nor do you wish them to bind themselves by oaths, but to do what is good without oaths, so that their willing obedience may be all the more honorable, and, when it comes to evil, to be even more sparing with the tongue, so as not to bring themselves through rashness into a position of necessity, either by willingly transgressing or, while unwilling to do what is wrong, by acting impiously in some other way, or by thinking that those who govern such matters do not know how to judge rightly and judging them unjustly.

And these things you especially desire them to observe who differ from the multitude by the order of their calling; while those appointed over sacred matters you desire neither to permit them to transgress nor to cease trying by every means to bring them back, without being concerned for their own safety, enslaved to necessity, or fearful for their lives. For when truth and justice are extinguished by such toleration, and souls are destroyed by those who commit these things, those who have the power to save and deliver them will have to give account to God if they treat His word lightly. But if, after they have done everything that ought to be done, those people are unwilling to be persuaded, let them have nothing further in common with them, but let them withdraw from them as they would from the heathen and from tax collectors. Let them themselves uphold the Gospel law of their own life, and become for others what they themselves wish to be: corrective to those who have gone astray, moved by divine love and by no passion; and, when others do things to them out of love, let them not become angry, nor, instead of being grateful, slander them, nor, when the passion of envy conceals itself beneath the appearance of truth, approach it and become a stumbling block both to themselves and to those who are outside.

Yet you desire that they should yield to their children wherever necessity and good reason require it, taking into account the necessities imposed by circumstances and knowing well how to preserve the distinction between divine laws and human ones, doing everything that is good, though not judging everything in the same way, but regarding the divine laws as eternal and everlasting, while assigning human laws to their proper times. Nor should they be equally rigid in both cases or, in every instance, insist upon strictness rather than exercising leniency. For just as those who are quick to abandon the divine commandments are called by everyone, after Paul, profane traffickers in sacred things, so those whose consciences have been hardened are called by everyone among the more lenient ones without mercy.

You desire all of them to make the common things their own, to place deeds above words, to regard circumstances as saying nothing, to show gentleness in their zeal, to prefer suffering wrong to doing wrong, to place God before everything, and, regulating both speech and life according to the divine rule, to live securely.

12. You love those who repent when they sin; for you yourself went about preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, since it was neither possible for people to be saved without repentance, nor possible, if they truly repented, for them not to be saved. For our Jesus, whose Forerunner you came in life, did not come to call the righteous, those who are ready for salvation, but sinners to repentance, and through it to lead them to salvation; He did not come to judge the world, but to save it. And He Himself, with the Kingdom already opened, now admits those who repent to it. You, however, prepared them for repentance by announcing that the Kingdom would immediately be opened to them. For previously repentance did not immediately bring with it the Kingdom, nor did it achieve the precise fulfillment of the end—for the road to it had been closed by a most formidable barrier, the transgression of our forefathers. Rather, it was like an appeal made by those who had lived virtuously to the goodness of the justly disciplining God, asking that He not disregard the personal righteousness found in them on account of the common sin of the human race, in which even those not yet born were destined to share, since they were to spring from such seeds. And rightly did they think in this way, becoming even prophets, when divine clemency revealed these things in deed. As David says, “Mercy and truth have met one another; righteousness and peace have kissed one another,” which had been separated from one another in former times. But once the barrier had been removed through the divine Incarnation and the exceedingly powerful and wise economies concerning it, the possession of the Kingdom is now near at hand for those who repent, and attaining it is placed in the hands of each according as he desires to repent. For this reason you proclaimed to all the nearness of the Kingdom, so that they might be more eager for repentance, since there would no longer be any delay in receiving the blessings that come from it.

And repentance, whenever it follows immediately upon a transgression, not only releases one from guilt and opens the door of salvation—when everything required for true repentance is rightly brought about—but also makes one more secure for the future, as divine grace fortifies those who have been cleansed by its presence, just as it withdraws when someone, remaining unrepentant, persists in serving evil. Such a person inevitably falls into evils that are many times worse. This is evidently what happened to Herod. For if he had fled headlong from the pollution of licentiousness by heeding your counsels, he would not, once abandoned to himself, have been overtaken by such a multitude of evils.

13. You desire that everyone, if it were possible, should attain the surpassing life of perfection and wisely undertake, according to his own will, what has been entrusted to him—for He says, “If anyone wishes to follow after Me”—and, if it were possible, that all should choose this of necessity, entrusting the difficulty that accompanies such a way of life to the providence of God. But if it is not possible for everyone to have such courage, at least let those who have been specially chosen, who have consecrated themselves, fulfill their promises in deed and, having put their hand to the plow, not turn back. For such people are held accountable not because they did not put their hand to the plow, but because, having put it there, they turned back. And even if they are unable to cultivate your field with the utmost care and gather its fruit in abundance for the benefit of the whole world and of the body—for yours are better than every imitation—let them nevertheless bring forth as much fruit as their way of life permits, and let them not merely have the appearance and order of those who have chosen this way of life, while being abandoned when they ought to repent and left empty of the fruits of repentance, nor let them be adorned merely with the virtues of their teachers, as the Pharisees once laid claim in words to Abraham and to their kinship with him, while in their deeds they were like illegitimate children and had no concern for him.

Simply put, you desire and pray that we should observe the laws of the common Father and Master, for you came as our Forerunner and in your own deeds gave us the example of obedience to those laws; that we should willingly lay down our lives for Him, not merely turning away from the destruction of our bodies and this present life, but from the destruction of our souls. Such are the deeds in which you rejoice, and such are the songs with which you delight; such are the fruits of your struggles on our behalf that we all ought to bring to you, and all of us do bring them, since the end is near and everything appropriate to the end.

But I, O divine and sacred head, O blessed soul who shines among the choir of spirits from the earth, concerning this boldness of mine, I have defended some things and offered supplications in the preface; I shall add nothing further. As for everything else, it is enough for me that God knows, even in silence, and that you add your prayers for us; for to Him belongs glory unto the ages. Amen.

Source: Oeuvres complètes de Georges Scholarios / publiées pour la première fois par Louis Petit, X. A. Siderides, Martin Jugie v.1. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Community of Saint John the Forerunner on Antigone Island

2026-08-29T12:17:24.919-04:00

Antigone is the second inhabited island of the Propontis after Prinkipo (Büyükada), when coming from Istanbul, and is the second in size in the group. It is covered with pine trees and has an area of approximately 1,500 square meters. Its Turkish name is “Burgaz,” meaning “fortress” or “wall.”

In the center of the island's inhabited area stands the magnificent Church of Saint John the Forerunner. According to tradition, it was built around 841 by the Empress Theodora over the crypt of Saint Methodios the Confessor. Following the Fall of Constantinople, the church was renovated twice, in 1759 and again in 1817. On June 28, 1894, during the great earthquake, the church was split in two and could no longer be repaired. The people of Antigone undertook a major effort to rebuild their church and organized a collection among themselves. Eventually, through the generous donation of the great benefactor Demetrios Pantziris, and with his son-in-law Nikolaos Dimadis serving as architect—he was the son of Konstantinos Dimadis, the architect of the Great School of the Nation—the magnificent Church of Saint John the Forerunner was erected. The church was consecrated on July 11, 1899, with the Patriarch of Constantinople Neophytos presiding over the ceremony; he was serving at Antigone at the time.

In 1999, under the presidency of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the centennial of the church's construction was celebrated. Unfortunately, another powerful earthquake once again caused serious damage to the church.

The church was subsequently thoroughly repaired through donations and financial contributions, restoring its former splendor.

Near the church is the holy spring of Saint John the Forerunner, which, according to tradition, was once connected to the crypt of Saint Methodios. August 29th is the feast day celebrated at the holy spring.

Saint Methodios the Confessor, during the period of Iconoclasm, came into conflict with the Emperor Theophilos and was exiled to Antigone in 833, where he was confined in an underground prison. Methodios remained imprisoned here for approximately seven years. His crypt survives to this day beneath the Church of Saint John.

The second-largest church on the island is the Church of Saint George the Trophy-Bearer, which is the katholikon of the Monastery of Saint George Karypis, which was dependent upon the Monastery of Great Cave (Mega Spelaio) in Kalavryta. It was probably built in the seventeenth century and was thoroughly renovated, according to an inscription in the church, on March 12, 1805.

At the island's panoramic summit stands the Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ the Savior, later known as the Monastery of Theokoryphotos. In earlier times, there was an ancient temple of Zeus at this location, and the katholikon of the monastery was built upon it. According to tradition, the monastery was destroyed by order of the Sultan after a Jewish physician who had been appointed to serve at the palace failed to cure a woman of the palace. He claimed that she had been frightened to death by a great fire that the monks had lit to burn an effigy of Judas. The present surviving church was built on part of the old temple. Its consecration took place on June 22, 1869.

Next to the monastery is the cemetery of the Community of Antigone, within which is the Chapel of the Prophet Elias.

THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL

The elementary school of Antigone was founded in 1891 and operated as separate schools for boys and girls. It was destroyed in the earthquake of 1894 and was re-established at its present location in 1905 on land donated by the community's great benefactor, Maria Chatzilouka. It continued to operate normally until 1974, after which it remained closed because of a lack of students.

THE ISLAND TODAY

Today, approximately fifteen members of the Greek community are permanent residents of the island. During the summer months, however, together with vacationers, their number rises to approximately 250.

During the summer months, the Church of Saint John operates regularly every Sunday and on certain feast days. The priest serving as head of the Community is the Very Reverend Archimandrite Father Stefanos Nousis, a graduate of the Holy Theological School of Halki. During the summer months, Mr. Antonis Parizianos serves as the chanter, while Mrs. Maria Lorentzou serves as the church's superintendent and caretaker. After each service, the Committee welcomes the entire congregation in the church's beautiful garden, planted with flowers of various colors and featuring a marble fountain in the center, offering refreshments, hot beverages, sweets, and other treats.

Every four years, in rotation with the other churches of the four islands, an evening Divine Liturgy is celebrated on Christmas and Theophany. On latter feast, the Holy Cross is immersed in the waters at the island's pier, and many devout pilgrims attend.

Antigone is exceedingly beautiful and offers its inhabitants a peaceful and idyllic way of life. Especially during the summer months, the island comes alive with vacationers and takes on a vibrancy that disappears during the winter.

“The Honorable Forerunner is Gentle, Lovely, Exceedingly Beautiful”

2026-08-29T10:58:20.310-04:00

Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis would say about Saint John the Forerunner, while pointing to his icons:

“The Honorable Forerunner is not so stern and fierce! He is gentle, lovely, exceedingly beautiful.”

And when he was asked whether he had seen him, he replied:

“I have seen him; that is why I tell you that he is gentle. Indeed, he told me that he would be my protector in this life and the guarantor of my salvation!”

Source: From the book Taught by God published by the Metropolis of Veria, Naoussa and Campania in 2023, which contains the file for the canonization of Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

New Archaeological Discoveries Beneath the Holy Sepulchre Strengthen the Case for Jerusalem’s Traditional Tomb of Christ

2026-08-28T16:39:13.870-04:00

New archaeological discoveries beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are shedding important new light on one of the oldest and most disputed questions in Christian archaeology: whether the traditional site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and Resurrection is historically credible.

The discoveries do not provide an inscription identifying the tomb as that of Jesus, nor do they constitute definitive proof that the tomb preserved within the Holy Sepulchre is the tomb in which Jesus was buried. What they do provide, however, is a remarkably detailed picture of the landscape that existed beneath the church during the first century. That landscape—a disused quarry subsequently used for cultivation and burial—fits important elements of the Gospel accounts and provides new archaeological context for the traditional identification of the site.

The excavations, directed by Francesca Romana Stasolla of the Sapienza University of Rome, have been conducted since 2022 as part of restoration work involving the floor of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The preliminary results of the 2025 campaign have now been published in Liber Annuus, the archaeological journal of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. The research represents the culmination of investigations in several areas of the complex and provides a broader topographical reconstruction of the site.

What existed here in the time of Christ?

One of the most significant conclusions of the excavations is that the area beneath the present church was originally part of a large quarry on what the researchers identify as Gareb Hill. The quarry was exploited in several phases and was subsequently abandoned. Afterward, portions of the landscape were reused for agricultural and funerary purposes.

This is important because the Holy Sepulchre does not stand today in anything resembling the landscape that existed during the ministry of Jesus. The modern church is surrounded by the densely built Old City of Jerusalem. In the first century, however, the area appears to have been quite different.

Archaeological research has long indicated that the site was outside the city at the time of Jesus. The traditional location therefore possesses an important geographical advantage: it is consistent with the New Testament's presentation of the crucifixion and burial as taking place outside Jerusalem.

A scholarly reassessment by Joan E. Taylor, for example, has examined Golgotha as an area associated with a disused quarry west of first-century Jerusalem. Although Taylor distinguishes the precise location of the crucifixion from the burial place within the wider area, she ultimately concluded that the traditional tomb may well be authentic.

The new excavations now give archaeologists a much more detailed picture of that quarry landscape.

A quarry transformed into a landscape of cultivation and burial

The quarry was not simply abandoned and forgotten. According to the archaeological team, parts of it were subsequently filled with soil and reused for agriculture. Archaeobotanical investigations have identified evidence associated with cultivated plants, including olive and grapevine. Stasolla has emphasized that the evidence demonstrates both agricultural and funerary use of the area before the major Roman restructuring of the site.

That discovery is particularly interesting in light of the Gospel according to John.

John states:

“Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid.”
—John 19:41

The excavation does not prove that this was the particular garden mentioned by John. Nor can the presence of ancient plants establish the identity of an individual buried nearby. But it demonstrates that the landscape beneath the Holy Sepulchre did indeed contain cultivated areas and funerary installations in antiquity.

Stasolla summarized the significance of the discovery by noting that the Gospel describes a green area between Golgotha and the tomb, while the excavation has revealed cultivated areas in the archaeological landscape.

The correspondence is therefore not a proof of the Gospel account, but it is certainly compatible with it.

Rock-cut tombs

Perhaps even more important are the funerary remains.

The excavations have documented rock-cut tombs within the ancient landscape. This is precisely the type of burial environment one would expect in first-century Jerusalem and corresponds with the Gospel descriptions of Jesus being placed in a tomb cut into rock.

Matthew describes Joseph of Arimathea as placing Jesus in “his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock” (Matthew 27:60). Mark likewise describes a tomb “which had been hewn out of the rock” (Mark 15:46), while Luke speaks of a tomb “where no one had ever yet been laid” (Luke 23:53).

Again, archaeology cannot establish that any particular one of these tombs belonged to Jesus. But the discovery establishes something historically important: the traditional Holy Sepulchre site actually possessed the kind of funerary landscape that the Gospel narratives presuppose.

This is more significant than simply discovering an ancient tomb beneath a Christian church. The question is whether the archaeological character of the location makes the traditional identification plausible. The new evidence suggests that it does.

The question of the city walls

Another important issue concerns the location of Jerusalem's walls.

One traditional objection to the Holy Sepulchre has been that Jesus was crucified and buried outside the city, whereas the present church lies within the walls of Jerusalem.

But the walls visible today are not the walls that existed in the first century.

The archaeological evidence indicates that the Holy Sepulchre area lay outside the city during the time of Jesus. This is consistent with the Gospel accounts and with the description in Hebrews that Jesus “suffered outside the gate” (Hebrews 13:12).

This geographical point has long been central to discussions of the Holy Sepulchre. Modern Jerusalem can easily create the misleading impression that the traditional site must always have been inside the city. Archaeology shows that this is not the case.

The significance of the recent excavation is therefore not that it newly “discovers” the site was outside the city, but that it provides a much richer archaeological reconstruction of what that peripheral landscape actually looked like.

What happened to the site after the time of Jesus?

The subsequent history of the location is equally important.

According to the archaeological reconstruction, the quarry and funerary landscape were later incorporated into the changing urban landscape of Jerusalem. In the second century, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, the area underwent major Roman restructuring. The 2025 excavation report specifically examines the transformation of the quarry into the Roman city and documents the relationship between the quarry, later agricultural and funerary use, and subsequent monumentalization.

This provides an important archaeological background to the fourth-century construction of the Constantinian church.

The Christian tradition concerning the site was therefore not preserved in an untouched landscape. The location underwent substantial transformation during the intervening centuries.

That makes the evidence surrounding the Constantinian discovery particularly important.

Constantine and the discovery of the tomb

The traditional identification of the Holy Sepulchre is not a modern invention.

The fourth-century historian Eusebius of Caesarea describes Constantine's construction of the church over what Christians identified as the place of Christ's Resurrection. According to Eusebius, the site had previously been covered over and a pagan sanctuary had been constructed above it. Constantine ordered the structure demolished and the ground excavated. Eusebius then says that the original surface was uncovered and that the “most holy cave” associated with Christ's Resurrection was discovered.

Eusebius subsequently describes Constantine's construction of a magnificent church around the sacred tomb. He also explicitly identifies the site as the place of the Lord's sepulchre.

The church was eventually dedicated during Constantine's reign, with Eusebius recording the dedication in connection with the emperor's thirtieth year.

The archaeological discoveries do not independently verify every detail of Eusebius's narrative. Eusebius was a Christian bishop writing from a theological perspective, and his account must therefore be evaluated as an ancient historical source rather than treated as a modern excavation report.

Nevertheless, the archaeology has now established an important part of the physical setting underlying his account: there really was an ancient quarry beneath the Constantinian complex, and that quarry had been reused for agricultural and funerary purposes.

That correspondence is significant.

Was the Christian tradition simply mistaken?

This is where the new evidence becomes particularly interesting.

A major alternative to the Holy Sepulchre is the so-called Garden Tomb, located north of the Old City. But archaeological research has shown that the Garden Tomb itself is much older than the first century and therefore cannot readily be identified as the tomb of Jesus. Taylor notes that the Garden Tomb has been demonstrated to date to the Iron Age.

The Holy Sepulchre, by contrast, now has archaeological evidence for a first-century landscape containing quarrying, cultivation, and rock-cut burial.

This does not prove that Jesus was buried there. But it means that the traditional site has a stronger archaeological correspondence with the Gospel descriptions than the popular alternative sometimes assumed.

The question therefore becomes less a matter of choosing between a “biblical” and an “archaeological” location. The traditional Holy Sepulchre itself is supported by an archaeological setting that is compatible with the Gospel narratives.

The most important discovery may be the landscape itself

The tendency of modern headlines is to reduce the discovery to a single sensational question:

“Have archaeologists found the tomb of Jesus?”

That is not what the excavation demonstrates.

No archaeological evidence discovered so far can establish that the individual buried in the particular tomb was Jesus of Nazareth. There is no surviving inscription naming him, nor is there an identifiable human skeleton that could be associated with him.

But this limitation should not obscure the actual importance of the discovery.

The excavation has revealed a landscape beneath the Holy Sepulchre that had several characteristics expected of the place described in the New Testament: a quarry outside the first-century city, later agricultural cultivation, rock-cut tombs, and evidence of a landscape that could indeed have included a garden.

The archaeological evidence therefore supports the plausibility of the traditional location without providing absolute proof of the identity of the tomb's occupant.

A tradition with deep historical roots

There is another dimension that archaeology alone cannot answer: the history of Christian memory.

The Holy Sepulchre became a major Christian shrine in the fourth century, but the question is how and why that particular location was identified.

Eusebius's account indicates that Constantine's builders believed they were recovering a pre-existing sacred site associated with Christ. The excavation now demonstrates that the location contained a genuine ancient funerary landscape beneath the later structures.

This does not establish an uninterrupted chain of documentation from the first century to Constantine. The historical evidence is not that simple.

But neither is the traditional identification an arbitrary medieval invention.

There was a real first-century burial landscape at the location. It was subsequently transformed by Roman construction. And in the fourth century, Christians deliberately excavated and monumentalized a particular location as the place of Christ's tomb.

The archaeological evidence therefore provides an important physical context for understanding how the traditional site could have been identified.

What does this mean for the traditional tomb of Christ?

The most responsible conclusion is a nuanced one.

The excavation does not prove that the Holy Sepulchre contains the tomb of Jesus. But it strengthens the archaeological case that the traditional site is historically plausible.

Indeed, several previously separate pieces of evidence now converge:

The site was outside the first-century city, consistent with the Gospel accounts of the Passion occurring outside Jerusalem.
The area was a quarry, explaining why the location could have remained relatively undeveloped and suitable for execution and burial.
The quarry was later reused agriculturally, providing a physical context for John's reference to a garden near the place of crucifixion and burial.
Rock-cut tombs existed in the area, corresponding to the Gospel descriptions of Jesus' burial.
The area underwent major Roman transformation in the second century, explaining why the original landscape was substantially altered before Constantine's intervention.
Constantine's builders deliberately excavated and monumentalized the location, preserving a specific tomb as the center of a Christian sanctuary. Eusebius explicitly describes the discovery of the sacred tomb after the removal of the material covering the site.
The archaeological investigation now confirms that the Constantinian complex was built over a genuinely ancient funerary landscape, rather than over an arbitrary or obviously unsuitable location.

Taken individually, none of these points proves that Jesus was buried there. Taken together, however, they make the traditional identification increasingly difficult to dismiss as merely a late or arbitrary Christian tradition.

The discovery therefore does not overturn the traditional identification of the Holy Sepulchre. If anything, it gives that tradition a richer archaeological foundation.

The real significance of the excavation is consequently not that archaeologists have suddenly “found Jesus' tomb.” The tomb has been identified and venerated at the Holy Sepulchre since Christian antiquity. The significance is that modern archaeology is now revealing, layer by layer, what the site actually looked like when Jesus lived—and that ancient landscape bears a striking resemblance to the kind of place in which the Gospel accounts locate his crucifixion and burial.

As Stasolla herself has emphasized, the excavation is ultimately revealing the history of the people who transformed this place through their faith. Whether one approaches the Holy Sepulchre as a believer or as a historian, the archaeological evidence demonstrates that the site possesses a remarkably deep and complex history of quarrying, burial, cultivation, Roman transformation, and Christian veneration.

For Christians, therefore, the discovery is significant not because archaeology has “proved the Resurrection”—which is not something archaeology can do—but because the physical setting traditionally associated with the Passion and Resurrection of Christ continues to correspond in important ways with the historical and archaeological evidence of first-century Jerusalem.

Sources and further reading

The most important source is the 2025 preliminary archaeological report itself, rather than the sensational headlines derived from it. The report was published in Liber Annuus, vol. 75 (2025), pp. 619–716, by Francesca Romana Stasolla and colleagues.

The 2024 preliminary report is also useful because it documents the earlier stages of the excavation and notes that the quarry extends beneath much of the present church complex and that its exploitation continued over an extended period, followed by later reuse.

For the historical tradition concerning Constantine's identification of the site, Eusebius's Life of Constantine, Book III, chapters 26–29, is the essential ancient source.

And for the broader question of Golgotha and the traditional tomb, Joan E. Taylor's scholarly reassessment is particularly useful because it argues that the traditional tomb may well be authentic while distinguishing the precise locations of the crucifixion and burial.

The Revealed Path: Saint Phanourios and the Memory of Nafplio’s Liberation

2026-08-27T11:46:14.743-04:00

The veneration of Saint Phanourios occupies a unique space within Greek Orthodox folklore. Unlike many military, clerical or monastic saints whose legacies were codified in homilies or formal ecclesiastical historiography, Saint Phanourios exists primarily through the lens of lived experience and communal practice. The hallmark of his devotion is the baking of the phanouropita, a vegan cake made with seven or nine ingredients, which functions as a domestic ritual of intercession, traditionally associated with the recovery of lost objects, opening of closed paths, or offering prayers for his legendary, unrepentant mother. Alexandros Papadiamantis beautifully preserved this folklore and act of piety in his 1899 short story, Goutou Goupatou, recording the custom of offering a cake while quietly praying, "God forgive the mother of Saint Phanourios." Yet, when this same underlying folklore interacted with the localized realities of Nafplio, the concept of a saint who "reveals" (phaneronei) underwent a profound, civic transformation, shifting from a private domestic prayer into a literal catalyst for the Greek War of Independence.

To understand how Nafplio adapted this devotional framework into a pillar of its own historical narrative, one must look to the strategic crisis facing the Greek forces in late November 1822. For months, the revolutionary army under the supreme command of Theodoros Kolokotronis had laid siege to the city, stymied by its formidable crowning defense: the Palamidi Fortress. Engineered by Venetian builders with eight self-contained bastions atop a steep, 216-meter cliff, the citadel was structurally designed to be entirely impregnable to direct frontal assault. The rebel forces commanded by Staikos Staikopoulos faced dwindling provisions, bitter winter conditions, and an architectural barrier that defied conventional nineteenth-century military mechanics.

Under the cover of a severe storm on November 29, 1822, an operational reconnaissance group managed to identify an unmapped vulnerability—a steep, treacherous, and unguarded mountain fissure winding through the sheer rock toward the Achilles bastion. While modern military history records this as a lucky break coupled with an oversight by a complacent Ottoman garrison, the deeply pious Greek soldiers interpreted the event through their faith. Because the name Phanourios was etymologically and culturally bound to the Greek verb for "to reveal" (phanerono), the sudden uncovering of this invisible pathway was perceived not as strategic chance, but as a divine act of illumination by the Saint himself, answering their collective prayers by revealing a hidden path to freedom.

Staikopoulos and an eighty-man army scaled the precipice in total darkness, caught the guard force entirely by surprise, and secured the unconditional surrender of the fortress by the morning of November 30. Because the final surrender coincided precisely with the feast day of Saint Andrew, the central chapel within the fortress walls was immediately re-consecrated in his honor, permanently securing Saint Andrew's place in official city historiography. Popular devotion, however, retained its own parallel collective memory. While state chronicles celebrated the victory on November 30, the families of the combatants and the citizens of the newly liberated capital focused heavily on the crucial hours preceding the breach, attributing the terrifying night climb and the revelation of the path itself to the spiritual oversight of Saint Phanourios.

Over the next two centuries, the citizens of Nafplio never ceased to show gratitude for the salvation of their city. Rather than allowing the memory to fade into abstract folklore, the community institutionalized it by constructing a dedicated chapel to Saint Phanourios at the historic Evangelistria Church, which stands on a high ridge overlooking the Argolic Gulf. The archives and parish registers curated by the local Metropolis serve as a repository for these localized testimonies, ensuring that the intersection of military history and folk belief remained unbroken. Even today, small cliffside icons dot the lower pathways around the Palamidi Fortress, serving as physical markers of the vertical ascent that redefined modern Greek history.

This rich heritage culminates in a vibrant communal ritual every August 26-27. On the eve and morning of the feast day of Saint Phanourios, the steep walkways leading to the Palamidi foothills and the courtyard of Evangelistria fill with dozens of local families carrying beautifully decorated, homemade phanouropites to be formally blessed by the clergy. The aroma of cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest rises against the stark backdrop of the Venetian stone walls. As neighbors share slices of the cake and repeat the traditional, enigmatic phrase—"God forgive his mother"—they are engaging in an act of historical remembrance unique to their city. For Nafplio, the phanouropita acts as a living memorial, offering an annual thank-you to the Saint who the soldiers believed pulled back the darkness and revealed the path to national rebirth on a rainy night in 1822.

The Teaching on Weeping of Venerable Poemen the Great

2026-08-27T09:42:08.787-04:00

A brother asked Abba Poemen what kind of spiritual labor a monk ought to undertake. The Abba replied: “When Abraham came into the Promised Land, he purchased a tomb for himself, and from the tomb he began to take possession of the Promised Land.” The brother asked: “What does the ‘tomb’ signify?” The Abba replied: “It is a place of weeping and lamentation.”

The following saying also belongs to Abba Poemen: “Weeping is twofold: it brings about and preserves.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my passions, which trouble me?” The Elder said to him: “Let us weep with all our strength before the goodness of God, until He has mercy upon us.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my sins?” The Elder said: “He who desires to be freed from the sins that dwell within him is freed from them through weeping; and he who desires not to fall into sin again avoids falling through weeping. This is the path of repentance handed down to us by Scripture and the Fathers, who said: ‘Weep!’ There is no other path apart from weeping.”

Once, as Abba Poemen was passing through Egypt, he saw a woman sitting upon a tomb and weeping bitterly. He said: “Even if all the consolers in the world were to gather around her, they would not be able to turn her soul away from her weeping. So also, a monk must continually have weeping within himself.”

Once Venerable Poemen was walking with Abba Anoub in the vicinity of the city of Diospolis. There they saw a woman suffering terribly and weeping bitterly over a grave, so they stopped to listen to her. Afterward, having gone a little farther, they met a passerby, and Venerable Poemen asked him: “What has happened to this woman? Why is she weeping so bitterly?” The passerby replied: “Her husband, son, and brother have died.” Then Abba Poemen, turning to Abba Anoub, said: “I tell you: unless a man puts to death all his carnal desires and acquires such weeping, he cannot be a monk. The whole life of a monk is weeping.”

The Elder said: “Weeping constitutes the spiritual exercise of the monk. If there is no weeping, it is impossible to preserve oneself from disorder and turmoil.” I replied: “When I am in my cell, weeping remains with me; but if someone comes to me, or if I leave my cell, I no longer find it.” The Elder said to this: “This is because weeping has not yet become your own, but is as though it has been lent to you.” I asked him to explain these words to me. The Elder said: “If a man labors with all his strength to acquire weeping, he will come to possess it as his own, so that he may have recourse to it whenever he wishes.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “Toward what should the attention of one practicing stillness in his cell be directed?” The Elder replied: “I am like a man sunk in a swamp up to his neck, with a burden upon his neck, crying out to God: ‘Have mercy on me!’ ‘Have mercy on me!’ This is the expression of the weeping that has taken root in the soul. When weeping reaches maturity, it cannot be expressed through a multitude of thoughts and words; to express its immeasurable spiritual experience, it is content with the briefest of prayers.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen about the spiritual labor of the monastic life. The Elder said: “When God visits us by calling us into eternity, what will concern us then?” The brother replied: “Our sins.” The Elder said: “Then let us enter our cells; having withdrawn into them, let us remember our sins, and the Lord will hear us.” Here we must understand not a superficial and cold remembrance of our sins and our sinfulness, but a remembrance joined with repentance and weeping.

When Abba Arsenios the Great died, Venerable Poemen, upon hearing of the death of the Great One, shed tears and said: “Blessed are you, Abba Arsenios! For you wept over yourself in this present life. He who does not weep here will weep eternally. It is impossible not to weep either willingly here, or unwillingly there, amid the torments.”

Source: From the book by Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov called Ascetic Experiences, Part 1. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.