MYSTAGOGY RESOURCE CENTER

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST - SUNDAY OF ALL SAINTS

2026-06-09T02:33:13.248-04:00

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

How Can We Be Saved?

Many people sometimes say: “How can we be saved? We are worldly people, sinners; all our lives we bustle about and sin: cares and concerns have overwhelmed us.” It is sad, brethren, to hear such words from an Orthodox Christian. Pagans who lived before the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, who did not know His teaching, had not been baptized into the Orthodox faith, and had not partaken of the Holy Mysteries, might have spoken in this way. But we, the beloved children of Christ, ought neither to think nor to speak thus, for the path to salvation has been shown to us. It is spoken of, for example, in the Gospel that you heard today during the Liturgy. Let us read it once more and reflect upon what we have read:

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I also will confess before My Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32–33).

Do you hear? The Lord requires of the one who seeks salvation that he be His confessor before men. But what does this mean? To understand this, listen to how the Holy Apostle Paul speaks of the same thing: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9). This, first of all, is what it means to be a confessor of Christ: not only to believe in Him in your soul, but also openly to declare with your lips that you believe in Him; not to conceal your faith from others, not to be ashamed of it, but boldly and openly to show yourself to be a Christian. We speak plainly and fearlessly that our earthly fatherland is Orthodox Russia. In the same plain and fearless manner, confess that you believe also in another Fatherland—the Heavenly One—and that you walk under the protection of the Lord who is in heaven. Yet this alone is not enough to be a true confessor of Jesus Christ. He Himself said elsewhere: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Therefore verbal confession alone is not enough for the Lord—He also expects from us confession in deed, so that all our actions may accord with His will, and so that we may likewise openly and boldly show ourselves everywhere and always to be Christians by our deeds. Judge for yourselves: if one of you had a son who praised his father with words but offended him by his actions, would not his father say to him, “My son, your affectionate words are not enough for me; prove by your deeds that you love me”? So too we say: “We are an Orthodox people; we are not Jews or Tatars,” but we must demonstrate by our deeds that we are an Orthodox people, enlightened by the light of Christ’s gospel. A living example for us in this regard is the holy confessors of Christ. They lived long ago, in those centuries when the Church of Christ was still persecuted by pagan emperors. These pagan emperors searched everywhere for Christians and brought them before their tribunals. “Who are you?” they asked the Christian. “What is your name?” “I am a Christian,” the holy champion of the faith of Christ courageously replied, and fearlessly went to the most cruel tortures and to death itself for his Orthodox faith. This is what it means to be a confessor of Christ.

“I also will confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” Such is the reward that the Lord promises to His confessors. He Himself will bear witness before His Heavenly Father to the love of His confessors for Him. For love He promises love; for our earthly confession, His heavenly confession. If in earthly life you sometimes say, “You may ask anyone about me; everyone will tell you that I am an honest man”; if a servant proudly displays a written commendation given to him by his master, should we not all the more seek and desire heavenly testimony concerning ourselves—the testimony of Jesus Christ regarding our virtues before His Father who is in heaven? And if we believe human promises, can we doubt the promise of the Lord? “Where I am,” He said, “there My servant will be also” (cf. John 14:3); “I go to prepare a place for you” (cf. John 14:2). That is why we should never lose heart if good is repaid with evil, truth with falsehood, or love with malice. Only remember always that we have in heaven a true Witness of our good, who sees everything and hears everything, and who has prepared blessed dwellings for those who love Him. The holy martyrs who shed their blood in His name placed their hope in Him, and He wondrously helped them during their sufferings. Recall the sufferings of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon. He was thrown to wild beasts, but they fell at his feet; he was cast into the sea, yet he walked upon it as upon dry land. The Holy Martyr Boniface had molten tin poured down his throat by his tormentors, yet he remained unharmed; he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch, yet he emerged from it safe and sound. Thus even on earth the Lord glorifies His confessors. What joy, then, awaits them in the Kingdom of Heaven!

But just as one may confess the Lord by word and deed, so one may deny Him by word and deed. If a man does not live according to the commandments; if foul language never leaves his lips; if he indulges excessively in wine; if he sows discord within his family; if he drives the poor away from his windows; if he oppresses orphans—then all such people deny Christ, and He will deny them before His Heavenly Father. But consider what could be more grievous than this. If it is bitter for a man, even a criminal, when all people reject him and send him away in chains to Siberia and beyond, how much more bitter will it be for us when the Lord Jesus Christ renounces us? What shall we feel when we hear His terrible voice: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire” (Matt. 25:41)? We shall stand before the Lord and Judge, tormented by conscience, with all the evil we have done set before our eyes, down to the smallest detail. A fire caused by arson will reveal who the arsonist was; a theft in a church will reveal the thief; if someone accepted a false oath for money, to the ruin of an innocent person, that too will be revealed. Every evil deed will be exposed before the whole world to our shame. Then the gates of Paradise will be closed to us, and the torments of hell will receive us. Let us therefore strive to amend our lives while the sentence has not yet been pronounced and the eternal gates have not yet been closed behind us.

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37).

Here is yet another commandment that the Lord gives. For us He must be dearer than what is dearest to our hearts: children, wives, and parents. Love Him more than you love your family; think of Him more than of your family; submit to His laws more than you submit to the feelings of parental and family affection. Listen to how holy people fulfilled this commandment.

You have probably heard that the relics of Saint Theodosius the Abbot repose in the Kiev Lavra. When this Saint was still a youth, he already loved God more than anything in the world. His mother loved him dearly, made beautiful clothes for him, and tried to feed him the finest foods. But, to his mother's sorrow, he gave his clothes to the poor, fasted, and wore chains. In vain she urged him to associate and play with children his own age—he knew only the road to the church. Several times, to his mother's alarm, he disappeared from home, departing with pilgrims for monasteries. But his mother would find him and bring him back. At last he received the monastic tonsure in the Kiev Caves Monastery. There too his mother found him and long implored him to return home, but the Saint refused even to see her, having loved Christ more than her.

You may think: “But a saint could overcome himself in this way; how can we possibly stand as firmly?” Yet the saints were people just like us. They had the same weak bodies, endured greater temptations from Satan than we do, and at times even fell into sins, just as we sinners do. For example, the Venerable Erasmus, another Saint of God from Kiev, had formerly been a merchant. Later he entered a monastery and devoted all his wealth to the adornment of the monastery church. But the devil began to suggest to him that he had wasted his riches to no purpose, that it would have been better to distribute them to the poor. Erasmus fell into despondency and even became seriously ill. But the Lord had mercy on him: in a dream the Venerable Anthony and Theodosius appeared to him, together with the Most Holy Theotokos, and assured him that he had not used his wealth in vain, but for the benefit of his soul. So you see that the saints also fell, just as we do; only they wept over their sins and did not remain indifferent as we do. And God, seeing their sorrow and repentance, manifested His power in them. Therefore we should not say: “Those were holy people; we can never attain to them.” Such despondency is inspired by the devil. No, with God's help we too can accomplish much.

Do not allow your heart to grow cold. Struggle against the temptations of the devil, call upon the Lord for help, cleanse yourself more often from sins through confession, and nourish your soul with the Body and Blood of Christ—and then you will become an imitator of the saints.

The Venerable Theodosius placed his love for Christ above his love for his mother. In our own lives there are often occasions when we too should follow his example. Let me point out first an ordinary situation that may seem hardly worth mentioning. Your children, while playing outside, quarrel with the children of your neighbor. Has it never happened that you, as a father, or you, as a mother, without first looking into the matter, immediately rush upon the neighbor's children, scold them in anger, and perhaps even rebuke their parents: “Just look at the rascals they are raising,” and so forth? What can come of this? A quarrel between you, the parents. But if you wish to act as a Christian, then calmly reconcile the children, examine their dispute, and if your own children are at fault, instruct them, require them to ask forgiveness from those they have wronged, and correct them. This will not be a humiliation either for you or for them; it will simply be justice, the fulfillment of God's law, and in accordance with Christ's commandment you will have preferred love for Him above love for your children. Perhaps you think this is a small matter, unworthy of attention, but consider that always indulging children means corrupting them; secondly, disputes such as these often give rise to quarrels among parents; and thirdly, it is from such small things that our entire life is formed.

I think you have seen how beads are strung on a thread: one small bead after another is threaded onto it, and in the end a large necklace is formed. So it is with our lives: day after day passes through countless little incidents, and blessed is the one who watches over his soul in all these small things.

Yet there are also not infrequently more serious situations in which love for God must be placed above family affection. Your father, your brother, or another close relative has fallen, through human weakness, into wrongdoing and asks you to testify that he is innocent; or he is selling some object to an inexperienced person and asks you to praise it; and how many similar situations arise in life! Do not become accomplices of sin and deceit. Remember that the Son of God loved us to such an extent that He did not spare Himself for our salvation; and therefore He requires from us a love that is whole and undivided—with all our soul and with all our mind.

“And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:38).

To be a confessor of Christ means to show oneself everywhere by word and deed to be a keeper of His law; it means to love Him above everything in the world. But this is often difficult and painful. These very sorrows, which are always inseparable from a virtuous life, are what the Lord compares to the cross that a man bears upon himself. In the time of Jesus Christ, criminals were crucified upon crosses. Christ Himself was crucified among criminals. The cross was then an instrument of shame, and carrying it was both humiliating and burdensome, since crosses were made very heavy. For the follower of Jesus Christ, it is necessary to overcome love of self; sometimes even love for family, parents, and children. It is not uncommon for a Christian to incur the hostility of neighbors or even of an entire community; or to forgo an obvious advantage, even great wealth that could easily have been acquired by dishonest means. Mockery, reproaches, persecutions—all these must be endured. One must carry upon his shoulders this sorrowful cross in order to remain a confessor of Christ.

But as the Teacher is, so also should His disciples be. Jesus Christ, though guilty of no sin, endured for our sake spitting, beatings, blows, and crucifixion upon the Cross. We, His followers, must likewise courageously endure temporal afflictions for His name's sake. “Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). But will we have the strength to bear these sorrows? you may ask. Brothers, the Lord sends every trial according to our strength, for He is longsuffering and abundant in mercy. He does not desire that the affliction He sends should crush a person’s strength as a hammer shatters glass, but rather that, by enduring sorrows, a person may grow stronger in love for God, just as iron is strengthened when it is forged. And by overcoming temptations and courageously bearing afflictions, we shall find them increasingly light, thus proving true in ourselves the words of the Lord: “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). Remember the story of the righteous Job. At first the Lord struck him by taking away part of his possessions: raiders carried off his oxen and donkeys. Job endured this loss courageously. Then further losses followed: his sheep and camels perished, and Job endured this as well. Then his children died, yet even then Job did not murmur against God. Finally, a terrible disease afflicted his body, and at the same time his companion in life, his wife, lost heart, leaving him alone in his struggle with grief. Yet Job remained steadfast in his love for God. The same happens in our lives. Misfortune may come upon a person: a fire, a failed harvest, theft, or some other calamity. But do not lose heart—this is the hand of God. God sees that you are able to bear all these things; otherwise the righteous Lord would not have tested you in this way, but would have sent a trial suited to your strength.

Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:27–28).

Up to this point we have spoken about what the Lord requires of us; now He points to the reward we shall receive if we are His confessors. It was the Apostle Peter who asked Him about this reward, and therefore the Lord first speaks of the reward of the apostles. He promises them great glory and honor: when He comes to judge the world, they too will judge the universe together with Him. Great is the reward, but great also were the labors borne by the holy apostles! When the Lord called them, He promised them no earthly joy—neither wealth, nor human honor, nor rest—but rather labor, afflictions, persecutions, sufferings, and death. “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33), He told them; “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” (John 16:2). Yet the apostles were not afraid of the world. They left everything behind, because they loved Christ more than their wives and children. They followed Him and courageously endured every sorrow and persecution for His name's sake. As with them, so with us: a great reward awaits us in heaven if we walk in their footsteps. Listen to what the Lord says next.

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:29).

Perhaps you may think that, according to these words of the Lord, one can be saved only by entering a monastery and renouncing everything—family, possessions, acquaintances, and the like. But this is not how we should understand them. The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is one, yet each person walks it in his own way. These words of the Lord can be fulfilled while living in the world, within a family, and possessing property. Each of us undertakes only the work that he is capable of performing. So it is in the spiritual life: take upon yourself only those labors and vows that are within your strength. The Lord Himself teaches this: “Not all can receive this saying, but only those to whom it has been given... He who is able to receive it, let him receive it” (Matt. 19:12). That is, whoever recognizes himself to be strong enough in spirit to bear all the labors of the celibate life may take such a vow upon himself; but from one who is unable to do so, it will not be required. Live in the world, live in a family, acquire possessions—but do not imitate those people who forget God because of these things. There are people who know neither fasts nor feast days; there are those who, when the church bell rings for the Divine Liturgy, set out for work instead. But you must place God's law above everything else. Do not concern yourself with excessive gain—the Lord feeds even the birds. Love God, as we have already said, more than wife and children. Visit God's house more frequently, read the Holy Gospel more often, do not begrudge alms to the poor. By purifying your soul through repentance and nourishing it with the Body and Blood of Christ, you will fulfill the Lord's words by preferring love for Him above love for the world.

One can be saved everywhere, and one can perish everywhere. David was saved while seated upon a royal throne; Judas was an apostle, and he perished. The Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer and the Martyr John the Soldier were soldiers; Saints Vladimir, Boris, and Gleb were princes; the Righteous Philaret the Merciful was a farmer—all of them were laypeople, and they were saved. Saint Macarius of Egypt was a great desert ascetic and a saint of God, yet once the Lord revealed to him that two women living in the world surpassed him in virtue. Macarius went to them in order to learn from them. Having found them, he asked what good works they performed that had so pleased God. They answered that they were sisters-in-law who had desired to enter a monastery, but their husbands would not allow it; therefore they had resolved to serve their husbands until death, and they never quarreled or engaged in idle talk. Thus, even while living in the world, one can become a great ascetic.

“But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matt. 19:30).

We shall receive a hundredfold in heaven for what we endure on earth, and this reward will be given without distinction to all who fulfill the law of Christ. On earth there are rich and poor, noble and common, educated and uneducated. But beyond the grave there are only the righteous and sinners. There the rich man, to whom everyone flattered on earth, goes to hell, while the beggar despised on earth rejoices in the Kingdom of Heaven. Truly, we shall take nothing there with us except the good and evil we have done.

This is the path that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. Be everywhere and always a Christian not merely in name but in deed, and you will be saved. The true Christian loves God above all things in the world and gladly bears the Cross of Christ. Rank does not save; only a virtuous life saves, and such a life will be rewarded a hundredfold in heaven for all the righteous without distinction. May God grant that the doors of His glorious Kingdom may not be shut against us.

Parental Love for Their Children Through Love for God

“He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37). Parental love for children often, without any intention on the part of father and mother and unnoticed even by themselves, loses its Christian character. While exercising the rights of lawful love for their children, it can at the same time become hostility toward God and His holy law, making Christian parents with such feelings toward their children unworthy and deceitful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. To love a son merely out of natural affection, without paying attention to who is growing up and maturing under the shelter of parental love—whether an honorable man or a libertine, a faithful servant of his country or a rebellious agitator and enemy of all order, a true Christian or a man without faith and good convictions, a defender of the gospel and truth or a betrayer of the faith and a traitor to the truth—is such love worthy of a Christian father? Is it the kind of love that the duty of a Christian father and the clear law of the gospel require of him? No. This is to love only the flesh and blood of one's son, while failing to love his soul and rational life. It is an animal love, not a human one, and still less a Christian love, which acts according to the spirit of Christ's love and the law of the gospel. Such love is contrary to love for the Lord and to the demands of His holy law; such love is enmity against God. Amid examples of this kind of paternal affection, it is refreshing, for its rebuke and correction, to encounter in the history of the ancient Christians examples of true parental love—parents who selflessly sacrificed every natural attachment to their children for the sake of love for the Lord and His holy faith whenever the former became sinful in relation to the obligations of the latter.

Here is one such example. The apostasy of the Roman Emperor Julian found many followers among Christians who were weak in faith and fainthearted. One such follower of the apostate was a young man, the son of a noble citizen of the city of Beroea, a high-ranking state official who was pious and devoted to the Christian faith. When the son revealed to him his unbelief and his fall, the pious father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, spared neither his son's honor nor his name nor even his own affection for him: he deprived him of all rights of inheritance and publicly disowned him.

The ambitious young man went to the apostate emperor seeking his protection, defense against his father, and rewards and honors for renouncing Christianity in order to please the emperor, an enemy and persecutor of the name of Christ. Julian, who dreamed of converting the whole world back to the ancient pagan idolatry that was then in decline, was greatly pleased by every example of apostasy and spared no rewards or favors to increase the number of people like himself. He welcomed the young man, reassured him, and promised through his own mediation to restore his father's favor and his inheritance rights.

Upon arriving in Beroea, Julian invited many of the city's distinguished citizens to dine with him, including the pious father and his apostate son. During the meal Julian addressed the father of the rejected son with these words: “It seems to me unjust to use force against people who think differently and to compel someone against his will to adopt another's opinions. Therefore, do not force your son to follow your teaching when he does not wish to do so. After all, I do not compel you to follow mine, though it would be very easy for me to do so!” “Are you speaking, O Emperor, about that lawless man who preferred falsehood to truth?” the pious father replied, filled with indignation against his apostate son.

There was such unconquerable zeal in the Christian father's defense of the holy faith of Christ, and at the same time such fearless indignation at his son's apostasy, even though the son stood under the protection of the emperor himself, that the traitor to faith and conscience could find no boldness within himself to defend falsehood against truth. Realizing his own helplessness before the holy zeal of Christianity's defender, Julian assumed an appearance of feigned gentleness and, turning the matter into a joke, said to the young man: “I myself will take care of you, since I could not persuade your father to do so.”

Indeed, the father of the young apostate did not abandon his righteous anger toward his lawless son. Neither the flatteries nor the threats of the wicked emperor had any effect upon him. For him there was nothing more fearful than the judgment of the Lord Jesus: “He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

One Can Please God in Every Calling

Many people, especially among the common folk, complain that with their occupations it is impossible to please God. Such a complaint is unjustified. The Lord God, in His boundless mercy, calls everyone to salvation, provided only that there is a desire for it on our part. The lives of the saints contain many examples of this.

Many are probably familiar with the Holy Unmercenary Martyrs Florus and Laurus, who lived in the fourth century. They were simple stonemasons, yet their profession did not prevent them from living pious lives and benefiting others. The Lord rewarded these laboring brothers with the gift of working miracles. In a neighboring province, it was decided to build a magnificent pagan temple, and the governor sent Saints Florus and Laurus there because they were known to all as the finest craftsmen in their trade. While they were cutting and shaping stone, the son of the chief pagan priest approached them. Suddenly, a fragment of stone flew into his eye. The injury was so severe that it threatened to cost the boy his sight. When the father angrily cried out and reproached them, the Saints calmly replied that they would heal the innocent child’s eye if his father would allow the boy to stay with them for a time. With the father's consent, they took the boy to their humble hut, prayed for him throughout the night, and instructed him in the Christian faith. In the morning they made the sign of the Cross over him. Immediately the child's eye was restored, and he could see as before. This miracle affected the priest so deeply that he and all his household believed in the One True God and joined the Orthodox Church. For their miracles and virtuous lives, the holy unmercenary physicians Florus and Laurus were granted the crown of martyrdom—they were thrown into a dry well and buried alive under earth. Many years later, the bodies of the Holy Martyrs were found incorrupt and were transferred to Constantinople. The Lord granted their relics the power of healing.

Here is another remarkable man—Saint Mark of the Caves. The most astonishing thing about him was the simplicity of his ascetic struggle. He did not lead a lofty contemplative life. His occupation was very ordinary: he dug the earth. Living in a cave, Mark dug out many caves with his own hands and carried away the soil on his shoulders, laboring day and night for the Lord. He dug many graves for the burial of the brethren and accepted no payment for it, except what someone might voluntarily offer, and even that he distributed to the poor. Through such labor Mark attained a high degree of spiritual perfection, one achieved by only a few. He is the most convincing example of how, in the midst of physical labor, the soul can advance spiritually when the spirit labors for the Lord, drives away all impurity from the soul, fills it with holy thoughts and sighs, and carefully guards it through humility and meekness.

One Saint, in order more surely to attain the Kingdom of Heaven, became a stonemason. This is what we know about him from the life of Saint Ephraim, governor of the city of Antioch. Ephraim had been entrusted with rebuilding the city after an earthquake. Many laborers were hired, and the work proceeded energetically, but among all the day laborers one man stood out: his clothing was worn and tattered, his face gaunt, and he worked more diligently than anyone else. One day Saint Ephraim saw a vision in which a pillar of fire rose above this laborer while he slept. Astonished by the vision, the blessed Ephraim asked the remarkable worker who he was, from what city he came, and what his name was. The man replied, “I am a poor resident of Antioch and support myself by daily labor.” Not believing him, Saint Ephraim urged him to reveal the truth. “Believe me,” said the governor, “I will not let you go until you tell me the whole truth.” Unable to conceal himself any longer, the supposed laborer replied: “I was a bishop, but for the Lord's sake I left my episcopate and came here to a foreign land, where I work and earn my daily bread through my labor.”

These examples clearly show that no occupation—provided it is honorable—prevents a person from pleasing God. Therefore, it is a poor excuse to say that one cannot please God while engaged in difficult labor. On the contrary, in such labors it is easier to be saved than to perish. Labor is a great and good thing; labor is a blessing, while idleness is a misfortune for man. “There is nothing,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “truly nothing in human affairs that idleness does not ruin. Water, if it stands still, becomes corrupted; but if it flows, it retains its nature. Iron, if left unused, becomes covered with rust; but when it is forged into something useful, it benefits others and shines like silver.” It is not without reason that people say, “God loves labor.” Why does God love labor? Because labor leads to goodness and happiness, whereas idleness—the mother of all vices—destroys a person and makes him miserable. The Apostle Paul says that “if anyone is not willing to work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). Yet while you labor, ask God to bless your undertaking, and when it is completed, give thanks again to God the Creator and Benefactor, for every perfect gift and every good gift comes from Him. When you are free from work—on a Sunday or feast day, for example—go to the church of God. There you will receive both sanctification and enlightenment for your soul. And when you return home, do not give yourself over to revelry, drunkenness, quarrels, or, even worse, fighting. If you fear being bored, read some spiritually beneficial book. If you spend your time in this way, you will rise the next day with renewed strength and easily return to your ordinary labor. Is it not possible to please God while living in such a manner? Of course it is. Our righteous saints are living proof of this.

Therefore, no occupation, however humble it may seem, can prevent us from pleasing God if there is a sincere desire for it in our souls. Follow the command of Christ's Apostle: “Let each one remain in the calling in which God has assigned him, and in which the Lord has called him” (cf. 1 Cor. 7:17).

All Christians Are Called to Holiness

If a citizen or a peasant were told: “Do this and that; become a close servant of the king, who grants you the right to this privilege and calls you to it,” with what eagerness and zeal would he undertake the tasks required of him, even if the undertaking were difficult and the labor prolonged! But now the herald of the will of the Heavenly King says to us, who are unworthy even in the smallest degree of citizenship in that Kingdom: “Be holy”—be morally holy, and afterward you shall be blessed; live piously and virtuously, and you shall become close to the Heavenly King, who permits you not only to draw near to Him but even to abide in Him, and who Himself desires not only to draw near to you but to dwell within you. What then? How is this calling received? Do all—or at least many—follow it with readiness, fervent zeal, unflagging devotion, and complete self-surrender? Do we not more often think and say: “How can we be saints? We are sinful people; it is enough if somehow we are saved through repentance.”

“How can we be saints?” But have we considered what we shall be and what will become of us if we do not strive to become holy? There are higher degrees of holiness in which especially chosen and grace-filled souls shine brightly, but holiness in general is not merely a special distinction among Christians, commendable for some to possess while others can easily do without it. According to the apostolic teaching, everyone called by the Holy God into the Kingdom of God—that is, every Christian—must find in this very calling and in the thought of the God who called him both a law, a duty, and a motive compelling him to be, or to become, holy. “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written: ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:15–16). If, however, you live without striving and without hope of becoming holy, then you do not live in accordance with the Holy One who called you, nor do you correspond to the dignity of those called by God and made sons of His covenant—you are Christians in name only. Where such a life leads can be seen from another apostolic saying: “Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). More plainly: have peace with all, possess holiness; for without peace and without holiness no one will see the Lord, that is, no one will attain eternal blessedness.

Therefore, if we carelessly and thoughtlessly assume that we are not meant to be saints, we are in effect writing our own sentence—that we shall not see the Lord and shall remain strangers to eternal blessedness.

“We are sinful people,” some say. This seems undeniable. For, on the contrary, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But if we call ourselves sinners without contrition of heart, without hatred of sin, with indifference, slyly implying that everyone else must admit the same thing and therefore there is no shame in confessing it and no danger in remaining after the confession exactly what we were before it, then such an acknowledgment of sinfulness will certainly not lead to holiness. In that case, even while speaking the truth that we are sinners, we deceive ourselves, because there is no truth in our hearts and in our lives, though our lips may confess our sinfulness. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we imagine that we shall be saved while remaining the same kind of sinners. Christ saves sinners by giving them the means to become holy.

“We shall somehow be saved through repentance,” people say. Yes, repentance belongs among the means of salvation that Christ gives to sinners when He proclaims: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). But if we think we can somehow repent and somehow be saved, then we judge too lightly a matter of the highest importance. Would a servant please his master if he performed his work carelessly rather than as well as possible? Certainly not. How much less will a person please God if he performs the work of God—which is our salvation—in a careless manner. Moreover, the perfect teacher of repentance, John the Baptist, says that true repentance requires something further. “Bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8), he says. Repentance clears the soil of the heart of thorns, cultivates it, and softens it; faith sows within it the heavenly seed; the growth of this new plant is the keeping of the commandments and the doing of good works; its blossom is spiritual inner illumination; and its ripe, perfect fruit is holiness. Wheat must reach maturity before it can be gathered into the granary. A person must attain holiness before he can be brought into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Indeed, if we were required to attain holiness by merely human and natural powers, it would be reasonable to say that it lies beyond our ability. But when we possess the grace of God, which goes before us, enlightens us, strengthens us, assists us, and guards us, no one should lose hope of attaining that for which “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” And He chose us “that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love” (Eph. 1:3–4).

Examples of the Intercession of the Saints

Who among you, Orthodox Christians, doubts that the saints of God can obtain from God this or that gift for us sinners? Here is the teaching of the Eastern Church: “We invoke the saints as mediators between God and ourselves, that they may pray to Him for us. We do not invoke them as gods, but as His servants, who glorify, praise, and worship Him. We seek their help not because they can aid us by their own power, but because through their intercession they obtain for us grace from God... Although the saints do not of themselves know or understand our prayers, they know and hear them through divine revelation... Therefore we rightly honor them and seek through them help from God... We do not render to them divine worship, but entreat them as our brethren and fellow servants, that they may obtain help for us from God and intercede for us before Him.” Nor are our prayers to the saints of God sometimes offered in vain. Here are examples.

In the Life of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew it is related that Saint Joseph the Hymnographer held the memory of the Apostle Bartholomew in special honor. He obtained a portion of the Apostle’s relics, built a church in his monastery in honor of the Apostle, and placed the relics in the newly constructed temple. He was often granted the grace of seeing the Apostle in dreams. Saint Joseph desired to adorn the feast of the Apostle with special hymns, but he did not know whether this would be pleasing to Saint Bartholomew. Therefore he began to pray fervently to God and to the Apostle that he might receive an answer concerning it. Forty days of earnest and tearful prayer passed, and on the eve of the feast of Saint Bartholomew, Joseph saw him in the altar clothed in white garments. The Apostle drew back the altar curtain and called Joseph to him. When he approached, Saint Bartholomew took the Gospel from the Holy Table, placed it upon Joseph’s breast, and said: “May the right hand of the Almighty God bless you, and may the waters of heavenly wisdom flow upon your tongue. May your heart become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and may your hymns delight the whole world.” Having said this, the Apostle disappeared. Filled with inexpressible joy, Saint Joseph began composing church hymns and canons. He composed not only canons in honor of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew, but also in honor of the Mother of God, Saint Nicholas, and other saints, for which he received the title “the Hymnographer.”

Here is another example from the life of Saint Theodore of Sykeon. Once this Saint fell gravely ill and despaired of life itself. He already saw the holy angels who had come for his soul, and therefore he wept and lamented, considering himself unprepared for death. Above his head hung an icon of the Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian. They appeared to him in a dream and, feeling his pulse, conversed for a long time with one another, as though uncertain of the outcome of his illness. Then the holy physicians asked him: “Brother, why do you weep and grieve?” “Because,” answered the Saint, “I have not sufficiently repented before God, nor have I properly ordered my flock.” Then the Holy Unmercenaries asked him: “Would you like us to entreat God to prolong your life?” The sick man replied: “If you do this, you will become the cause of much good and will receive a reward for my repentance.” Turning to the angels, the Saints asked them to wait a little while as they went to the King and God to plead on Theodore’s behalf. The angels agreed to wait, and Saints Kosmas and Damian went to Christ God, the Almighty King, and obtained from Him an extension of years for Saint Theodore. Soon they returned, bringing with them a youth who resembled the angels but was far more radiant than they. This youth said to the angels: “Leave Theodore alive. The Lord and King of Glory, Master of all, has been entreated concerning him.” Immediately the holy angels and the radiant youth departed into heaven, while Saints Kosmas and Damian said to Theodore: “Rise, brother, and attend to yourself and to your flock, for our good and merciful Master has accepted our prayers for you.” Theodore arose from his bed, and the Holy Unmercenaries disappeared.

Finally, who among us does not know and honor Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, our fervent intercessor and mighty helper in every affliction? How many times has he appeared to those who sought his help, sometimes in dreams and sometimes openly? One such instance concerns a Greek military commander named Peter, who was once captured by the Saracens and imprisoned. There he lamented not so much his bitter fate as his own conduct. “A similar thing happened to me before,” he said, “and I prayed to Saint Nicholas to deliver me from my enemies, promising to receive the monastic habit in Rome. He fulfilled my request and freed me from captivity, but I, ungrateful man that I am, forgot my promise. For this I now suffer here. O Saint of Christ, save me, and I will certainly fulfill my vow!” Saint Nicholas appeared to him in a dream and said: “I have heard your prayer, but God has not yet appointed the time for your deliverance. Nevertheless, do not lose heart and do not cease praying. ‘Knock, and it shall be opened unto you’ (Matt. 7:7).”

After some time, the Saint of God appeared to him again and said: “I have prayed to God for you, but I do not know how He will dispose of the matter. However, I shall point you to a most worthy intercessor—Saint Symeon the God-Receiver. Pray to him continually. He is powerful before God and, together with the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint John the Baptist, stands nearest of all to the Throne of God.”

At last Saint Nicholas appeared to him openly, together with the righteous Symeon, and both said: “Take courage, Peter, and call upon the Lord in your affliction.” Then they made him swear that he would fulfill his promise. Afterward, righteous Symeon touched his chains with his staff, and they fell apart. He led Peter out of the prison, and Peter received complete freedom. At that same time Saint Nicholas appeared to the Bishop of Rome, holding Peter by the hand. He recounted Peter’s story, instructed the bishop to tonsure him a monk, and then disappeared. When Peter arrived before the Bishop of Rome, the latter immediately recognized him and related what Saint Nicholas himself had told him. Having received the monastic habit, Peter spent the remainder of his life on Mount Athos in great ascetic labors.

Another account is told concerning Saint Bassian. Into the city of Ravenna, where the man of God lived, there came an imperial order commanding the execution of an official named Vithimnius, who had been falsely accused. He was immediately seized, bound in chains, and brought to the place of execution. Knowing himself to be innocent, Vithimnius remembered the holy servant of God, Bassian, and, bowing his head beneath the executioner’s axe, prayed: “Saint of God, by the grace given to you by God, be my helper this day.” And what happened? The moment the executioner raised his axe, it slipped from his hands and fell to the ground. Taking hold of the deadly weapon again, he attempted to strike, but the axe fell from his hands a second time. The same thing occurred a third time. The governor, suspecting deliberate negligence on the executioner’s part, summoned another man to carry out the sentence. Yet the axe likewise slipped from his hands three times. The people, witnessing so extraordinary an event, recognized in it the invisible protection of God and demanded the prisoner’s release. When the emperor was informed of what had happened, he ordered a thorough investigation into Vithimnius’ case. It was discovered that he had indeed been the victim of slander. The emperor commanded that he be freed and restored to all his offices and honors. Vithimnius publicly glorified the servant of God, Bassian, through whose prayers he had been delivered from an unjust death.

Therefore, as we listen with living and heartfelt faith to these ecclesiastical accounts of the heavenly intercession of the saints of God on our behalf—saints who are always ready to help and console us in the sorrows and trials of life—let us give thanks to the all-merciful God, who grants to us earthly creatures, through the mediation of the saints, greater boldness and strength in prayer.

"O Lord! If we did not have Your saints as intercessors and Your goodness showing mercy toward us, how would we dare, O Savior, to sing unto You, whom the angels glorify unceasingly?"

Because of the multitude of our sins, both our body and our soul are weakened. As grievous offenders, we would not dare lift our eyes to the throne of God the Judge were we not encouraged by faith in the intercession of the saints, who, being near to God as His friends and initiates of His grace, possess great power before the Heavenly King. At the same time, they can fully sympathize with our infirmities, since they were human beings like ourselves and experienced the whole burden of life in its struggle against sin.

Let us therefore not grow cold in our prayers to the saints of God, especially to those whose names we bear and to whom the churches in our own communities are dedicated. “The fervent prayer of a righteous man availes much” (James 5:16).

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

On the Observation the Apostles’ Fast

2026-06-08T18:00:24.997-04:00

When Was the Apostles’ Fast Established?

The institution of the Apostles’ Fast dates back to the earliest times of the Orthodox Church.

The ecclesiastical establishment of this fast is mentioned in the Apostolic Constitutions:

“After Pentecost, celebrate one week, and then fast; for justice requires both rejoicing after receiving the gifts of God and fasting after the relaxation of the flesh.”

This fast became especially established when churches dedicated to the Foremost Apostles Peter and Paul were built in Constantinople and Rome, which at that time had not yet fallen away from Orthodoxy. The consecration of the church in Constantinople took place on the feast of the Apostles, June 29, and from that time the day became especially solemn both in the East and in the West. In the Orthodox Church, the custom became established for pious Christians to prepare for this feast through fasting and prayer.

From the fourth century onward, references to the Apostles’ Fast become increasingly frequent in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. It is mentioned by Saint Athanasios the Great, Saint Ambrose of Milan, and, in the fifth century, by Saint Leo the Great and Theodoret of Cyrrhus.

Saint Athanasios the Great, describing in his defense before Emperor Constantius the sufferings inflicted upon Orthodox Christians by the Arians, writes:

“The people, having fasted during the week following Holy Pentecost, withdrew to the cemetery for prayer.”

Why Is This Fast Called Apostolic?

This summer fast, which is now commonly called the Peter Fast or Apostles’ Fast, was formerly known as the Fast of Pentecost.

The Church calls us to this fast following the example of the Holy Apostles, who, after receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, prepared themselves through fasting and prayer for the universal preaching of the gospel. As the Apostle Paul says, they labored “in toil and hardship, often in vigils, in hunger and thirst, often in fastings” (2 Cor. 11:27).

The Apostles of Christ always prepared themselves for ministry through fasting and prayer:

“And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:3).

According to Saint John Chrysostom:

“Fasting, when joined with faith, greatly increases strength; for it teaches profound wisdom, makes a man like an angel, and strengthens him against the bodiless powers. He who prays as he ought and also fasts requires little; and he who requires little will not be greedy for money; and he who is not greedy for money loves to give alms. He who fasts becomes light and takes wing, praying with a vigilant spirit, extinguishing evil desires, appeasing God, and humbling his proud soul. Therefore the Apostles almost always fasted.”

Why Does the Apostles’ Fast Follow Pentecost?

The Day of Pentecost, on the fiftieth day after the Lord's Resurrection and the tenth day after His Ascension, when He was seated at the right hand of the Father, and sent down the Most Holy Spirit upon all His disciples and Apostles, is one of the greatest feasts of the Church.

It is the fulfillment of the new and eternal covenant foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah... I will put My law within them and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people... for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest... for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:31–34).

The Holy Spirit, who descended upon the Apostles — the Spirit of truth, wisdom, and revelation — inscribed a new Zionic law in place of the Sinai law, not upon tablets of stone but upon the fleshy tablets of the heart (2 Cor. 3:3). The grace of the Holy Spirit replaced the Sinai law, giving strength to fulfill God’s commandments and granting justification not by works but by grace.

We do not fast during Pentecost because in those days the Lord is with us. We do not fast because He Himself said:

“Can you make the sons of the bridal chamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them?” (Luke 5:34).

Communion with the Lord is itself food for the Christian. Thus during Pentecost we are nourished by the Lord who dwells among us.

Saint Leo the Great writes:

“After the prolonged feast of Pentecost, fasting is especially necessary, so that by its discipline we may purify our thoughts and become worthy of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. After the present festival, sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit, there customarily follows a public fast, beneficially established for the healing of soul and body, and therefore requiring us to observe it with proper devotion. For we do not doubt that after the Apostles were filled with the promised power from on high and the Spirit of Truth had entered their hearts, among the other mysteries of heavenly doctrine there was also imparted, by the inspiration of the Comforter, instruction concerning spiritual self-restraint. Through fasting the heart is purified and made more capable of receiving gracious gifts.

One cannot contend against the assaults of persecutors and the furious threats of the wicked with a body softened by indulgence and a flesh made fat; for what delights the outward man destroys the inward, while the rational soul is purified all the more as the flesh is mortified. Therefore the teachers who enlightened all the children of the Church by their example and instruction marked the beginning of their warfare for Christ by holy fasting, so that, entering into battle against spiritual corruption, they might possess in self-restraint a weapon by which sinful desires could be slain. Our invisible adversaries and bodiless enemies cannot overcome us if we do not surrender ourselves to fleshly lusts. Though the tempter’s desire to harm us remains constant, it is powerless when he finds within us no opening through which to attack.

For this reason the unchanging and saving custom was established: after the holy and joyful days celebrated in honor of the Lord who rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and bestowed the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are to run the course of fasting. This custom must also be diligently observed so that the gifts bestowed by God upon the Church may remain within us. Having become temples of the Holy Spirit and having been filled more abundantly than ever with divine waters, we must not submit to any lusts nor serve any vices, lest the dwelling place of virtue be defiled by anything ungodly. With God’s help and cooperation we can attain this, provided that through fasting and almsgiving we strive to cleanse ourselves from the stains of sin and bring forth abundant fruits of love.”

Saint Leo of Rome further writes:

“From the apostolic ordinances inspired by God Himself, the leaders of the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, established first of all that every labor of virtue should begin with fasting. They did this because the commandments of God can be fulfilled properly only when Christ’s army is protected from all the temptations of sin by holy abstinence. Therefore, beloved, we ought especially at this time to devote ourselves to fasting, for it is now commanded after the completion of the fifty days extending from Christ’s Resurrection to the descent of the Holy Spirit, days which we have spent in special festivity. This fast was ordained to protect us from the carelessness into which we can easily fall because of the long period of unrestricted eating that we have enjoyed. If the field of our flesh is not continually cultivated, thorns and weeds readily spring up, producing a crop fit not for the granary but for burning. Therefore we are now obliged to guard with all diligence the seeds placed in our hearts by the heavenly Sower and to beware lest the envious enemy somehow spoil what God has given and cause the thorns of vice to grow in the paradise of virtue. This evil can be driven away only by mercy and fasting.”

Blessed Symeon of Thessaloniki writes that the fast was established in honor of the Apostles, “because through them we have been deemed worthy of many blessings, and because they became for us the workers and teachers of fasting, obedience, and self-restraint. Even the Latins bear witness to this against their own will by honoring the Apostles with a fast in their memory. But we, according to the Apostolic Constitutions compiled by Clement, celebrate for one week after the descent of the Holy Spirit, and then beginning with the following week honor the Apostles who handed down to us the practice of fasting.”

Why Are the Apostles Peter and Paul Called the Foremost Apostles?

According to the testimony of the word of God, the Apostles occupy a special place in the Church:

“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1).

Clothed with equal power from above and the same authority to forgive sins, all the Apostles will sit upon twelve thrones beside the Son of Man (Matt. 19:28).

Although certain Apostles are distinguished in Scripture and Tradition — Peter, Paul, John, James, and others — none of them was the supreme ruler or superior in honor to the rest.

However, because the Acts of the Apostles chiefly recount the labors of Peter and Paul, the Church and the Holy Fathers, while reverencing the name of every Apostle, call these two the Foremost Apostles (Protokoryphaioi).

The Church glorifies the Apostle Peter as the first among the Apostles to confess Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, and Paul as the one who “labored more abundantly than they all” and was numbered among the foremost Apostles by the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 11:5). One is honored for his steadfastness, the other for his radiant wisdom.

By calling these two Apostles “foremost,” on account of the primacy of their order and labors, the Church teaches that her only Head is Jesus Christ, while all the Apostles are His servants (Col. 1:18).

Saint Peter the Apostle, before his calling, bore the name Simon. He was the elder brother of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called and was a fisherman. He was married and had children. According to Saint John Chrysostom, he was a fervent, uneducated, simple, poor, and God-fearing man. He was brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew, and at the very first glance at the simple fisherman, the Lord gave him the name Cephas in Syriac, or Peter in Greek, meaning “rock.” After Peter was chosen among the Apostles, the Lord visited his humble home and healed his mother-in-law of a fever (Mark 1:29–31).

Among the three closest disciples, Peter was deemed worthy to witness Christ’s divine glory on Mount Tabor, His divine power in the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), and His humiliation according to the flesh in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Peter washed away his denial of Christ with bitter tears of repentance. He was the first of the Apostles to enter the Savior’s tomb after the Resurrection and the first to behold the Risen Lord.

Peter was an outstanding preacher. The power of his words was so great that three thousand and even five thousand people at a time were converted to Christ. At Peter’s word, those convicted of wrongdoing fell dead (Acts 5:5, 10), the dead were raised (Acts 9:40), and the sick were healed (Acts 9:32–34), even by the shadow of the passing Apostle (Acts 5:15).

Yet he possessed no supremacy of authority. All ecclesiastical matters were decided by the common judgment of the Apostles and presbyters together with the whole Church.

Saint Paul the Apostle, speaking of those Apostles who were considered pillars, places James first, then Peter and John (Gal. 2:9), while counting himself among them (2 Cor. 11:5) and comparing himself with Peter. The Council sent Peter on missions just as it sent the other disciples of Christ.

Peter made five missionary journeys, preaching the gospel and bringing many to the Lord. His final journey ended in Rome, where he proclaimed the faith of Christ with great zeal, increasing the number of disciples. In Rome, Peter exposed the deceit of Simon Magus, who claimed to be Christ, and converted to Christ two women beloved by Nero.

By Nero’s command, on June 29, A.D. 67, the Apostle Peter was crucified. He asked his executioners to crucify him upside down, wishing thereby to show the difference between his sufferings and those of his Divine Master.

The story of the conversion of the Holy Apostle Paul, formerly known by the Hebrew name Saul, is marvelous indeed.

Saul, educated in the Jewish Law, hated and persecuted the Church of Christ and even obtained authority from the Sanhedrin to seek out and persecute Christians everywhere. “Saul was ravaging the Church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women and committing them to prison” (Acts 8:3).

One day, “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and asked of him letters to Damascus unto the synagogues, that if he found any belonging to this Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem...” (Acts 9:1–9).

As he approached Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly shone around him. Falling to the ground, he heard the voice of Christ: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” Trembling and astonished, he was led into Damascus, where for three days he neither saw, nor ate, nor drank.

The relentless persecutor of Christianity became the tireless preacher of the gospel.

Paul’s life, deeds, words, and epistles all testify that he was a chosen vessel of God’s grace. Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword, nor even death itself could weaken the love of God in his heart.

He undertook continual journeys to many lands, preaching the gospel to Jews and especially to the Gentiles. These journeys were marked by extraordinary power in preaching, miracles, unceasing labor, inexhaustible patience, and a life of great holiness. The labors of Paul’s apostolic ministry were without parallel. He himself said:

“I labored more abundantly than they all” (1 Cor. 15:10).

For these labors the Apostle endured countless sufferings. In the year 67, on June 29, at the same time as the Apostle Peter, he suffered martyrdom in Rome. As a Roman citizen, he was beheaded with the sword.

The Orthodox Church honors the Apostles Peter and Paul as those who enlightened the darkness of the West. She glorifies the steadfastness of Peter and the wisdom of Paul, and sees in them the image of the conversion of sinners and their correction: in Peter, the image of one who denied the Lord and repented; in Paul, the image of one who resisted the preaching of Christ and afterward believed.

How Long Does the Apostles’ Fast Last?

The Apostles’ Fast depends upon the date of Pascha; therefore its duration varies. It always begins after the Sunday of All Saints (the week following Pentecost) and ends on June 29, unless the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul falls on a Wednesday or Friday.

The longest Apostles’ Fast lasts six weeks, while the shortest lasts one week and one day (according to Julian Calendar).

Patriarch Theodore Balsamon of Antioch (12th century) writes:

“All the faithful, both laity and monks, are obliged to fast for seven days or more before the feast of Peter and Paul; those who do not fast are to be excluded from communion with Orthodox Christians.”

How Should One Eat During the Apostles’ Fast?

The discipline of the Apostles’ Fast is less strict than that of Great Lent.

During the Fast of Peter and Paul, the Church Typikon prescribes that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays one abstain from fish, wine, and oil, and practice xerophagy (dry food) after the Ninth Hour and Vespers. On the remaining weekdays, one abstains only from fish while wine and oil are allowed.

On Saturdays and Sundays during the fast, as well as on the feast days of a great saint or on a parish patronal feast, fish is permitted.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily for the Sunday of All Saints (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

2026-06-08T17:18:21.452-04:00

Homily for the Sunday of All Saints

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

Today is the Sunday of All Saints! After the Lord's Feast of Pentecost, All the Saints come before us as vessels of Grace, as fruits of the All-Holy Spirit. All Saints! The known and the unknown. Unknown, of course, to us, but known to God — known by God. All the Saints stand before us. We venerate them, honor them, and glorify them today, on the Sunday of All Saints.

And these Saints are from the earliest centuries, from that Protomartyr Saint Stephen, all the way to the Saints of our own century, to Saint Luke the Surgeon, Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol. Saints of every age, of every level of education; holy men and women who received the titles Apostles, Missionaries, Fathers, Teachers, Martyrs, New Martyrs, Venerables, and Confessors. A “cloud of witnesses,” as the Apostle Paul tells us. And as we hear so beautifully in the hymn, we ought to cry out and say: “Rejoice, assembly of the Prophets!... Rejoice, choir of the Apostles!... Rejoice, multitude of the Martyrs!... Rejoice, swarm of the Fathers!” All the Saints stand before us.

Yet, my brethren, have we ever stopped to think, when we stand before the icon of a Saint, what thoughts may perhaps pass through our minds? Perhaps some, when standing before a Saint, before the icon of a Saint, simply come and go, passing by either with contempt or with indifference. Others stand before the icon and think about the iconography itself, that is, its artistic style —w hether it is Byzantine or Western. Perhaps they think about the century in which the icon was painted. They may see only the outward appearance and never proceed to the depth of its meaning.

And yet, the presence of a Saint, the presence of an icon, conceals something deeper. First of all, the presence of a Saint comes and judges every person. The presence of a Saint exposes our sinfulness; it examines our deeds; it comes and cuts into our very being and lays open our inner world. It comes and reminds us of our sins, our passions, all those things which the Apostle Paul notes in his Epistles to the Galatians and the Corinthians — those passions of the flesh and all the other things that prevent a person from inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. The Saints come and judge us; they examine the three powers of our soul — the rational, the incensive, and the appetitive. They examine our actions.

But the presence of the Saints does not remain only at the level of judgment. At the same time, the presence of the Saints consoles mankind. The Saints console us. For as we look upon and enter into the life of each Saint, we ourselves begin to acquire those characteristics and virtues. We strive to struggle and to attain the holiness possessed by that person, that holy figure. The presence of the Saints sweetens and comforts our lives amid pain, trials, and afflictions, whether spiritual or physical. Near a Saint you find peace. For although the Saint judges you, he judges you with love. This is why the Saints intercede for us; this is why we stand together with the Saints at the Proskomede, there upon the holy Diskos. The Saints intercede on our behalf; they pray for us; they hear our supplications. They come alongside us as helpers and advocates. And through Jesus Christ they perform miracles for our salvation. Truly, the Saints console us and bring us peace.

But there is also a third point: the presence of the Saints inspires our lives. Their marvelous writings, their wisdom, the texts composed by the God-bearing Fathers and the Saints, but also their very lives, inspire mankind and the faithful. They inspire us to good works, which they themselves first accomplished, to missionary labors and to works of charity and beneficence.

The presence of the Saints judges, consoles, and inspires. And this is because the presence of every Saint is a radiance of the Holy Spirit. For they were the first to love Christ; for Christ they suffered martyrdom; and for the glory of Christ they offered their very being, their ascetic labors, and their lives. The Name of Christ upon the lips of every Saint was nectar; in their mouths it was honey; and in their souls it was ambrosia. It was the Name “which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9), the Name of the Lord.

My brethren, when you stand before the icon of a Saint, you ought to pause, to reflect, and not simply pass by. Then you will learn what a Saint is and what he expresses — that reality which is called holiness, holiness of life. And when you stand, reflect, and learn, then you will venerate. And when you venerate, you come to understand that the workshop of holiness — the place where that holiness was acquired by one who was a human being just like us — is the Church. It is the Church that transforms man, every sinner, no matter how sinful he may be, and brings him to amendment of life and to holiness of life.

We live in an age of moral alienation, in an age of lawlessness and impiety, often of depravity and corruption of morals. Yet in this age of inhumanity we should know that there always remains the host of the Saints. The Saints exist — the known and the unknown. Perhaps the unknown Saints are even more numerous, those Saints who surround us and who are, in the end, the salt of society and of the world. Therefore we too have always been called to holiness. Is this not the divine invitation, repeated unceasingly throughout the ages to all mankind? What invitation? “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Become holy yourselves; be holy. This is the divine invitation addressed to each one of us.

Let us not think, therefore, that holiness belongs only to the past or that it is some unattainable ideal. That is a mistake. For we believe not in the words of a false and imaginary god, but in the true and living God. And all of us are called to holiness.

My brethren, the Saints have passed into eternity. The great question is this: what will become of us? Shall we desire holiness for the sake of eternity? Let each one of us reflect upon this great question.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Translation of the Relics of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Stratelates in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-06-08T15:43:25.041-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Theodore lived during the time of Licinius. He was born in Euchaita and was from there by origin, though he lived in Heraclea of Pontus. He was handsome in body, but even more beautiful in soul, adorned with eloquence, knowledge, and every other kind of wisdom; for this reason some called him Vryorhetor (‘the Powerful Orator’). After passing through every kind of torture, the Saint left his blessed body upon the earth, a body which pours forth streams of healings upon all who approach it with faith. His holy spirit, however, dwells in the heavens. It is the translation of this precious and holy body that we celebrate today.

2. As is often the case, the feast of the translation of the relics of the Great Martyr Theodore contains virtually nothing concerning the actual event of the translation itself. The entire Service is devoted instead to the exaltation of the Saint’s holiness and virtues. Here the hymnographer, Saint Theophanes, repeatedly makes use of the Saint’s very name in order to emphasize that he is “one who bears the name of the gifts of God” (Ode I and elsewhere). He also focuses on the martyrdom that Theodore endured.

Indeed, the dreadful martyrdom of Saint Theodore provides Theophanes with the occasion to set forth, albeit briefly, a theology of martyrdom that deserves particular attention once again. Martyrdom is not merely a series of sufferings endured by a martyr through some extraordinary transcendence of human nature, elevating him into a superhuman condition and making him a model of heroism and courage. Such a view represents a merely horizontal and worldly understanding of what he suffered.

Christian martyrdom is rather a charismatic event, something that exists and is endured through the power of Christ as participation in His sufferings. In other words, the martyrdom of a Christian saint, such as Saint Theodore in this case, is an extension of the martyrdom of Christ Himself; it is the co-crucifixion of a member of Christ with the crucified Lord. Just as the Lord endured the Passion of the Cross — the culmination of the entire suffering of His earthly life — so too the martyr of Christ, when the opportunity is given, undergoes various torments as though he himself were lifted up upon the Cross. As a result, of course, through the grace of God he also receives the power of the Resurrection, which always follows the Cross.

“O most wise one, you were beautified by joining your venerable sufferings to the sufferings of the Master, and by being deemed worthy of His brightness and the desired gladness" (Ode IV).

“Trusting in You, who for my sake endured the Cross and death, I am hung upon a cross, O Master; I am pierced by arrows and subjected to grievous torments, O Lord, cried the courageous-minded martyr Theodore as he struggled in the contest" (Ode VIII).

Thus martyrdom for Christ constitutes the supreme act of faith in Him. A Christian reaches the highest point of faith when he is willing to give even his very life in order to remain steadfast in the will of Christ.

We have repeatedly noted, however, that in the martyrdom of a believer there is usually another Christian — or several Christians — who strengthen him and act as his encouragers and spiritual supporters. In the case of Saint Theodore, no such human encourager appears to be present.

And yet there was one.

Saint Theophanes reminds us that this role was assumed by the Lord Himself. While Saint Theodore was in prison, Christ appeared to him, strengthening him to endure the tortures and urging him onward in his struggle against the enemy.

“As you were lawfully contending, Christ appeared to you while imprisoned, anointing and encouraging you like an organizer of the games toward the contests and the wrestling matches against the enemy, O glorious one" (Ode VI).

God never leaves us without assistance. Whether through His faithful servants or through His own personal presence, He always comes to our aid in our difficulties, especially when those difficulties are endured out of obedience to His holy will.

This is a reality we should never forget, provided that within us there remains even a spark of true faith.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Prologue in Sermons: June 8

2026-06-08T14:57:11.580-04:00

The Pious Should Not Despair When They Suffer Without Fault

June 8

(The Martyrdom of the Holy and Glorious Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

During times of severe affliction, many even among the pious lose heart, become faint in spirit, and say: “God has abandoned me; otherwise He would see what I am suffering and would come to help me!”

Is this so? No. The Lord sees everything, knows everything, and will never allow His servants to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear. And if He does permit afflictions to come upon them, sometimes very grievous ones, it is solely in order to grant them a higher reward in heaven as those who have endured to the end.

As proof of this, let us take something from the account of the sufferings of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates. When he had been crucified and, besides the terrible agony of being nailed to the cross, endured other dreadful tortures as well, he finally, exhausted in both body and spirit, cried out:

“Lord, Lord, You foretold to me that You would be with me; why then have You now abandoned me? The time for help has come! Help me, for I endure all these sufferings for Your sake and out of love for You I bear this torment. Strengthen me, O Lord, or take my soul from me, for I can endure no more.”

Having said this, the Martyr fell silent. From this silence the persecutor Licinius concluded that the Saint had died and, after ordering that his body remain upon the cross until morning, departed from the place of execution. But at midnight an Angel appeared, loosed the Saint’s body from the cross, embraced him, and said:

“Rejoice, Theodore, soldier of Christ! Take courage and be strengthened in the name of Christ, the true God; behold, God is with you. Why then did you say that He had abandoned you? Complete your contest, and you shall come to the Lord to receive the crown prepared for you.”

Having spoken these words, the Angel became invisible, and the Saint began to praise and thank God.

Therefore, pious Christian, no matter how severe your trials or sufferings may be, never say that God has abandoned you.

“Where were You, Lord,” said the Great Martyr Katherine when the Lord appeared to her, “that during such terrible sufferings You did not come to comfort me?”

“I was here, in your heart,” the Lord replied.

Remember this word of the Lord, you suffering Christian, and never think that your sorrows are hidden from God. No, He sees them and knows them; and the more burdened your spirit becomes, the nearer He, the Merciful One, is to you.

“And know, beloved,” we conclude with the words of Saint Demetrius, “that in all troubles, afflictions, sorrows, and temptations there is great consolation whenever a man entrusts himself entirely to the will of the Lord, which by its very nature is good, always desiring our welfare and ordering all things for our benefit. For everything that He ordains for us, although it may seem contrary to us, nevertheless He arranges for our greater good. God permits afflictions not for our harm, but that He may enrich us with spiritual fruits; and when He sees us enduring and submitting ourselves to His will, He transforms misfortunes into prosperity and sorrows into rejoicing. Therefore let us commit ourselves to His holy will” (Works of St. Demetrius, Part I, p. 183). Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily for the First Sunday After Pentecost, or Sunday of All Saints (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

2026-06-07T16:45:05.760-04:00

Homily for the First Sunday After Pentecost, or Sunday of All Saints

On the Veneration of the Saints and the Angels

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

"God is wondrous in His Saints, the God of Israel" (Psalm 67:35 LXX).

Beloved faithful,

You have heard in the Holy and Divine Scriptures the words: "As for the saints who are upon His earth, the Lord has made all His desires wondrous in them" (Psalm 15:3 LXX). For this very reason we Orthodox Christians honor the saints of God, knowing that God accomplishes His will in a wondrous manner through them.

From the beginning I must tell you that the Orthodox Church distinguishes between worship, which is due to God alone, and veneration or honor, which we offer to His saints and angels who minister to the salvation of our souls. The Holy Apostle Paul teaches us this when he says: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14).

The purpose of the veneration of the saints is to glorify God through them, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture which exhorts us: "Praise God in His saints" (Psalm 150:1 LXX).

Therefore, we honor the saints and offer praise to God both directly and indirectly. Our Savior Jesus Christ shows us that whoever honors the saints honors Him, for He said: "He who receives you receives Me" (Matthew 10:40).

We venerate the saints because they are friends of God, according to the testimony of the Savior who said to His holy disciples: "You are My friends" (John 15:14). Elsewhere Holy Scripture shows that the saints are friends of God, saying: "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23; Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6; Psalm 138:17; Isaiah 41:8).

We honor God's saints and ask God's help through them, because "the saints shall judge the world" (1 Corinthians 6:2). By saints we do not mean those who are called Christians only in name, but those who have been perfected through good works and have followed Christ completely.

For the Savior said only to the Apostles and those like them: "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28).

We honor the saints of God because, by the power of God, they perform great and glorious miracles, as did Moses, Elijah, Daniel, the Holy Apostles Peter, Paul, John the Evangelist, and all the other Apostles and saints, whose deeds and miracles are recorded in Holy Scripture and the Holy Tradition of Christ's Church.

We honor the saints and ask their help in our afflictions because they pray for us, and their prayers are accepted by God.

Hear what God said to Abimelech, King of Gerar, when, in ignorance, he intended to take Abraham's wife as his own: "Restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours" (Genesis 20:7).

Hear also what God said to Eliphaz the Temanite and his two friends, who had grieved the holy and righteous Job: "Now therefore take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job shall pray for you; for him I will accept, lest I deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken rightly of Me as My servant Job has." And they did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer (Job 42:8–9).

See what the Holy Apostle Paul says: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy" (Philippians 1:3–4).

At another time he says: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith before God and our Father" (1 Thessalonians 1:2–3).

Elsewhere he says: "For this cause also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of His calling" (2 Thessalonians 1:11).

And again: "I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that God... may give unto you the spirit of wisdom" (Ephesians 1:16–17).

Or again: "This also we pray for, even your perfection" (2 Corinthians 13:9).

The same Apostle Paul writes to Timothy: "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience, that without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day" (2 Timothy 1:3).

Therefore, my brethren, how great is our obligation to honor and pray to the saints and angels, since they are friends of God (John 15:14), fellow citizens of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19), servants of God (2 Timothy 1:3; Psalms 102:21; 103:4; Luke 16:22; Hebrews 1:7), and have received power from God to perform great and awesome miracles (Exodus 7:10; Hebrews 11:29, 35; Luke 9:1–2).

The angels announced to mankind the conception and birth of the Savior (Matthew 1:20–21; Luke 1:30), the Resurrection of the Lord (Matthew 28:5–7), His Ascension and Second Coming (Acts 1:11), the conception of Saint John the Baptist (Luke 1:13–17), and countless other mysteries of God for the human race.

The saints and angels pray for us (Exodus 32:31–32); they hear our prayers (2 Peter 1:15; Daniel 10:11; Luke 16:27); they present our prayers before God on our behalf (Revelation 5:8–14).

The saints in heaven are able to minister before God for mankind and contribute to their salvation. Holy Scripture clearly shows this, saying:

"And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having harps and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8).

Therefore, my brethren, one must be exceedingly darkened in mind and blinded in understanding not to realize how great is our duty as Christians to pray to, honor, and call upon the saints and angels of God in our prayers which we offer day and night before Him.

Let us ask a question: Is the number of the saints known? Or the number of the angels?

No one knows the number of the saints or of the angels.

Concerning their number, Holy Scripture says: "I will count them, and they shall be multiplied more than the sand" (Psalm 138:18 LXX). Speaking also of their power over the demons and the passions, it says: "Their dominion has been greatly strengthened."

The number of God's angels is likewise unknown, as Holy Scripture declares: "Can anyone number His armies?" (Job 25:3; Psalm 67:17; Daniel 7:10).

If "the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16), how much more powerful must be the prayers of millions of saints before God, those who confessed Him before men and laid down their lives for Him?

If Abraham alone, a friend of God, had such boldness before Him that he interceded for Lot his nephew and for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:30–33; 19:1–28), how much greater is the boldness before God of all the saints who loved Him, served Him, and laid down their lives for His sake?

Therefore blessed, and thrice blessed, are those Christians who honor the saints of God, ask their help in prayer, and make them their intercessors before God in this earthly life.

Likewise, woe to those Christians who have wandered from the true faith and neither honor the saints nor seek their intercessions, nor ask the angels to pray for them before the eternal and merciful God.

Such people will experience great shame and bitter sorrow when our Savior Jesus Christ comes, surrounded by all His angels and saints, to judge the living and the dead and to reward each person according to his works (Zechariah 14:5; Matthew 16:27; Psalm 61:11; Psalm 27:6; Proverbs 24:12; Romans 2:6; Jeremiah 17:10; 32:19; Sirach 17:18; Matthew 25:31).

Beloved faithful,

The Orthodox Church gives special honor to the saints and angels, assigning to them annual feast days in the calendar, special services in the church, prayers, and icons painted with their likenesses and names. The most renowned among the saints — such as the Mother of God, Saint John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, the Three Holy Hierarchs Basil, Gregory, and John Chrysostom, the Holy Hierarchs Nicholas and Spyridon, great wonderworkers, the Holy Great Martyrs George and Demetrios, Barbara and Katherine, and many others — enjoy a particularly distinguished veneration. Their services are more elaborate, with vigils, processions, and akathists, and their feast days are celebrated with great devotion. Churches are built in the names of the great saints, who thereby become the patrons and protectors of those churches and local communities. Likewise, the majority of our faithful bear the names of saints, which they receive at baptism, and from childhood they are entrusted to the care of those saints, whose help they seek in all the trials of life.

But since a great number of saints and righteous ones have remained unknown, not having been recorded in the ancient synaxaria and Christian martyrologies, the Orthodox Church has ordained that once each year, on the first Sunday after Pentecost, honor should be given to all the saints, known and unknown, from the time of Christ until today. This common celebration of all the saints is observed on the present Sunday, called the Sunday of All Saints. Among them are honored many hundreds of Romanian saints and righteous ones, the majority of whom remain unknown.

Having shown at the beginning why we must honor the saints, let us now consider who may be honored as a saint. Since the saints are Christians perfected in prayer, humility, self-restraint, and above all in divine love, many of them received special spiritual gifts even during their earthly lives. Some possessed the gift of the prayer of the heart, the highest form of Christian prayer. Others possessed the gift of tears, of ascetic self-control, of spiritual silence, of humility, and of perfect love for all creation. Other saints were deemed worthy of visible miraculous gifts, such as the healing of diseases, knowledge of future events, discernment of thoughts, and the casting out of unclean spirits. Even after their departure from the body, their relics often remain whole and incorrupt and perform miraculous healings for the sick. Therefore the relics of the saints are venerated by the faithful, who receive health, blessing, and help through them.

Thus, saints are those who possess the Orthodox faith, who live entirely holy lives upon the earth, who love God and mankind perfectly, who pray unceasingly with profound humility, and who are ready even to lay down their lives for the Church. Signs of sanctity include the gifts of miracle-working.

The Holy Angels also enjoy this same honor in the Church and in the homes of our faithful. Especially the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel are greatly venerated. Throughout villages and cities there are many Christians who bear their names, as well as churches erected in their honor.

In the Orthodox Church the saints are divided into several ranks: the rank of the Apostles, who proclaimed the gospel of Christ throughout the world; the rank of the Prophets and Righteous Ones of the Old Testament; the rank of the Hierarchs and Teachers of the whole world, who defended the Church and the dogmas of the Orthodox faith; the rank of the Martyrs, those who shed their blood for the true faith in Christ; the rank of the Venerable Fathers, that is, the holy monks and God-bearing hermits who struggled in monasteries, caves, and deserts through fasting and unceasing prayer. The final rank is that of the blessed and all the righteous, who pleased God upon the earth — orphans, widows, innocent children, devout monks and priests, Orthodox believers who courageously endured the sorrows, illnesses, and temptations of earthly life.

But the holiest in the Kingdom of God are the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who receives a unique veneration above all other saints, and Saint John the Baptist. According to Orthodox teaching and iconography, the Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist stand before the Most Holy Trinity, at the right and left of the Savior, interceding unceasingly for the salvation of the world.

All the saints in heaven, known and unknown, together with the ranks of the heavenly angels, constitute the Church Triumphant in heaven. The totality of Orthodox believers upon the earth, who struggle against the temptations that come from the devil, the world, and the flesh, constitute the so-called Church Militant.

The saints and angels in heaven have the mission of glorifying God unceasingly and of praying for the victory of the Church Militant upon earth, contributing above all to the salvation of human souls. According to the words of the Savior, “There is great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10), we must understand how greatly all the saints and angels rejoice for every sinner who repents.

But let us also say a few words about the Romanian saints who have flourished upon the soil of our country from the earliest Christian centuries until our own day.

Although it is often said that the Romanian Orthodox Church has officially canonized only a small number of local saints throughout its history because of the hardships of the ages, we should remember that among us it was first the people and the faithful who canonized the saints and honored them fittingly, while the Church later recognized them formally. We must know, however, that by the mercy of God we too have many saints: chosen priests, Christ-bearing hierarchs, rulers who defended Christianity — foremost among them Stephen the Great and many martyred soldiers who sacrificed themselves to defend the Orthodox faith on the soil of our homeland.

From the first holy bishops of Tomis in the fourth century, to the Holy Hierarchs Calinic of Cernica (†1868) and Joseph the New of Partoș (†1656), canonized in 1955–1956; from the holy martyrs Zoticus, Attalus, Camasius, and Philip of the fourth century, whose relics were discovered in 1971 at Niculițel in Dobrogea, to the great martyred ruler Constantine Brâncoveanu and his four sons, beheaded for Christ on August 15, 1714; from the first venerable monks of Dobrogea and the Buzău Mountains, beginning with Saint John Cassian (c. 360–c. 435), to Venerable Jacob of Hozeva (†1960), the anonymous hesychast discovered in May 1968 within the precincts of Neamț Monastery, and Venerable Paisius of Neamț (†1794), recently canonized — e see that we possess hundreds upon hundreds of native saints, many unknown to us, whose names are written in the heavenly calendar of the saints and who pray to God for us all.

Beloved faithful,

The Church of Christ is the Church of the saints and martyrs. It was founded upon the sacrifice of the Lord on the Cross, upon the teaching of the Apostles, and upon the blood of more than ten million martyrs. The Church has always brought forth saints and has always been served by saints. The Church today likewise needs saints — shepherds who are as holy as possible and faithful Christians who lead holy lives.

Among these we too must be counted. As children of God by grace and members of the Church Militant upon earth, we are called to be “followers of Christ,” to live spiritually in this world, and to make ourselves worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As spiritual children of the saints who have begotten us in Christ, we are obliged to imitate their Orthodox faith, their holy lives, their love for God, their zeal for the gospel, and their devotion to holy prayer. We cannot be saved unless, according to our ability, we imitate the lives of the saints: the humility of the venerable ascetics, the courage of the martyrs, the prayer of the hermits, the holiness of the righteous, the steadfastness and firmness in faith of our forefathers, the patience of the fathers who begot us, and the gentleness of the mothers who raised us.

Let us strive earnestly for these saving Christian virtues. We do not consider ourselves saints, but we live and seek salvation in the Church of the saints. They are our fathers, our intercessors, our helpers in affliction, and our examples to follow. Let us abandon pride, malice, and unbelief, which destroy the soul, and let us seek the help of all the saints in heaven, headed by the Mother of God, whom we honor today. They kept everything pure and holy: their bodies, their minds, their speech, their senses, and their souls. For this reason they worked miracles; for this reason they cast out demons; for this reason their bodies remain incorrupt and bring healing to many who are sick.

Therefore, let us repent of our sins, imitate the saints, live pure lives, and always ask their help through this short prayer:

“All Saints, pray to God for us!” Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily Two for the First Sunday After Pentecost, the Sunday of All Saints (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

2026-06-07T16:09:44.165-04:00

Homily Two for the First Sunday After Pentecost, the Sunday of All Saints

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1964)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, which concludes all the great feasts — the Bright Resurrection of Christ, the glorious Ascension of the Lord, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles — the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of all the saints who have pleased the Lord throughout the ages and who now triumph in Heaven in their victory over sin and evil. They are, as it were, the firstfruits of humanity, redeemed by the Most Pure Blood of Christ and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit of God, brought to God the Father through Jesus Christ. They are the blessed fruits of the sufferings, the crucifixion, the glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the descent of the Holy Spirit of God, and His abiding presence in the Church.

Among the saints glorified today by the Church are people from every land and every age, of every rank and station, every calling and condition, every office, sex, and age. There are kings and commoners, masters and servants, clergy and laity, soldiers and civilians, peasants and craftsmen, husbands and wives, young men and maidens, rich and poor, noble and humble, learned and unlearned — and all of them lived upon the earth just as we do.

All the saints were people subject to the same passions as ourselves (cf. Acts 14:15). Like us, they possessed flesh and shared in human weakness. Like us, they were conceived and born in sin; they felt the movements of fleshly passions and desires and were often subjected to temptations and seductions even greater than those we endure. Yet despite every temptation and stumbling block, they courageously resisted them. They did not yield to the evil impulses of soul and body, but guarded themselves against sins and vices, advanced in virtue, and attained great moral perfection and salvation.

In the work of salvation, the saints were helped by the same almighty grace of God and the same grace-filled means that have also been given to us. For, as the Holy Apostle Paul says: “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). The saints, like us, carried out various worldly responsibilities and often bore the burden of difficult duties — ecclesiastical, civil, social, familial, and many others. Yet these concerns did not extinguish their concern for the soul. On the contrary, all their earthly labors were permeated by this concern. Therefore, their many cares and obligations did not become an obstacle to growth in godliness and the attainment of salvation.

Once a townsman said to Saint Nephon: “It is impossible to be saved while living in the world. Even if a man is pious himself, others lead him into temptation. Besides, there is so much conversation and criticism! Some think that virtuous and pious people are overly intellectual; others dislike their way of life because it differs from that of everyone else. Some call them unsociable, and all of this is very dangerous for the human heart. Whoever wishes to be perfect must live in a monastery or in the desert.”

After listening to him, the Saint replied:

“My child, neither a place saves a man nor destroys him; only his deeds save him or destroy him. Neither a holy rank nor a holy place is of any help to the one who does not keep the commandments of God. Saul lived amid royal splendor — and perished. David lived amid that same royal splendor — and received a crown. Lot lived among the lawless Sodomites — and was saved. Judas was among the company of the Apostles — and inherited Gehenna.

Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved in the world while having a wife and children is flattering his own foolishness and passions. Abraham had a wife and children, servants and maidservants, and great wealth; yet this did not prevent him from acquiring the title of the friend of God.

How many ministers of the Church and lovers of the desert have been saved! How many nobles and soldiers! How many craftsmen and farmers! How many people have been saved amid the noise of great cities and in the silence of the wilderness! Read the lives of the saints, and you will see the names of God's holy ones. On the other hand, within these same ranks and stations, in these same places, and at the same times, countless multitudes have perished. From kings to slaves there are children of the Kingdom of Heaven, and from kings to slaves there are children of perdition.

Child of the Church of Christ! Do not deceive your mind: the salvation of God may be found in every place if you fulfill the will of your Lord. The Lord receives a righteous soul into His embrace equally from a throne and from a plow, from the altar and from the battlefield. Therefore, if anyone lives in the world, let him not despair. If he falls into sin, through repentance he can draw near to God once more. Let each person practice the virtues appropriate to the calling God has given him, and he will be saved. But if someone withdraws into the silent wilderness and yet does not put away his evil deeds, he will inevitably perish there as well.”

Yes, dear brothers and sisters who live in the world, you must firmly believe that worldly cares and concerns cannot become an obstacle to salvation if we seek it with all our heart and pursue it at every step of our lives, according to the commandment of the Savior:

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

The saints whom we honor today assure us of this. For just as the stars of heaven illuminate all the ends of the earth and show the way to travelers, so the struggles of the saints shine forth, enlightening us spiritually and showing the path to those who desire salvation.

They look upon us with love. They know our lives, hear our prayers, and willingly help those who turn to them. In them we have heavenly intercessors and protectors, and in this we find our greatest consolation and joy.

Let us pray to them and ask that through their intercessions they may shield us from every evil and strengthen us on the path of growth in a godly life, so that we too may attain eternal salvation.

All ye Saints, pray to God for us! Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily for the Sunday of All Saints (St. Sergius Mechev)

2026-06-07T15:39:25.665-04:00

Homily for the Sundal of All Saints

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

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

On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Holy Church commemorates all the saints, honoring the martyrs, the blessed, the venerable ascetics, and all the righteous who have shone forth throughout the ages.

If on the day of Holy Pentecost we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit, if we celebrate the day of the Church's foundation — for from that moment the life of the Church begins — then on the first Sunday after Pentecost the Holy Church continues this celebration of the Holy Spirit, for today she commemorates those who have constituted and continue to constitute the Body of the Church. She commemorates the true members of the Body of Christ, those who, while still alive and still upon the earth, acquired within themselves the Holy Spirit of God.

When our Lord Jesus Christ was on earth, He did not leave His disciples any written teaching. He came in order to create the Church as His own Body. “I will build My Church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.” He came in order to give life to mankind: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Christianity is not a dogma — we have made it into a dogma. Christianity is above all life. Therefore Christ was not here as a teacher, but as the One who first manifested the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth. And His Church follows the same path. She likewise is that which manifests the Kingdom of Heaven. She also is not a dogma but life. She lives first and teaches afterward; and if she teaches, she teaches through life.

When Christ departed from His disciples, when He left this earth in human form, He did not say to them, “Write down everything that I taught,” or, “Let Me write it down for you.” Rather, He said: “I will send you the Comforter, who will guide you into all truth.” He, the Comforter, “will bring all things to your remembrance”; He will make you remember everything.

Illumination by the Holy Spirit, life through Him and in Him — this is the life of the Church. Only insofar as the Holy Spirit lives within us and teaches us do we, brothers and sisters, belong to the Orthodox Catholic Church, and only insofar as this is true does Christian life and labor exist upon the earth.

When the Lord departed from us, He promised us the Holy Spirit, and the fulfillment of that promise took place on the Day of Holy Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and first of all transformed their lives. They did not begin by teaching differently; rather, they first began to live differently, and only then, from that life, did they teach. We see this in the example of the Apostle Peter.

To the extent that we live and strive to acquire the Holy Spirit, to that extent we are members of the Body of Christ.

If we remember that the Gospel appeared much later than the Day of Holy Pentecost, that it was written only toward the end of the Apostles’ lives and after Christianity had already spread considerably, then it becomes clear how extraordinary was the illumination of the Holy Spirit among the first Christians. The Apostles preached on the Day of Pentecost, enlightened by Him. There was no need for books, for the grace of the Holy Spirit spoke through their mouths. According to Saint John Chrysostom, the written Gospel itself was a sign of decline. It appeared when the illumination of the Holy Spirit was no longer commensurate with those receiving it, when there occurred once again what had happened in the Old Testament, where after the Fall a written law became necessary, the Law of Moses.

In the patristic way we see above all the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. Every human being is an image of God, but a saint is one who has acquired the Holy Spirit within that image, and acquired Him first and foremost through life. Concerning this life, I wish today to tell you about the action of the Holy Spirit as it is manifested in a person who is making spiritual progress.

Here is what Saint Anthony the Great says:

“It is necessary, striving in harmony and equally for perfect purity, to undertake the labors of repentance both in soul and body. And when the mind is granted such grace that, without self-pity or indulgence, it enters into battle against the passions, then it receives the inspirations, guidance, and strengthening of the Spirit, through whose help it successfully begins to repel from the soul all impure assaults arising from the desires of the heart. This Spirit, united with the mind or spirit of man because of the latter’s determination to fulfill the commandments, directs him to drive away from the soul all passions, both those that come to it through the body and those which dwell within it independently of the body. He teaches him to keep the body in order from head to foot: the eyes, that they may look with purity; the ears, that they may hear what is good and not delight in gossip, slander, or reviling; the tongue, that it may speak after weighing every word and not permit anything impure or passionate to enter speech; the hands, that they may be moved only for prayer and for works of mercy and generosity; the stomach, that it may remain within proper limits in food and drink, taking only what is necessary to sustain the body and not allowing desire and love of pleasure to exceed that measure; the feet, that they may walk uprightly and according to the will of God, directing themselves toward the service of good works. Thus the entire body becomes accustomed to every good thing and, submitting to the authority of the Holy Spirit, is so transformed that it eventually becomes, to some degree, a participant in those properties of the spiritual body which it is to receive in the resurrection of the righteous” (Philokalia 1:20).

The Holy Spirit is life, and above all He gives us life. If our bodily senses are often what prevent us from entering upon the true path, then the Holy Spirit enables us to keep the body in order, so that a person gradually begins to repel from the soul every impure assault. This purification is not only for the soul, but extends also to the body. The body itself is purified and raised up toward the soul.

This is what faith in Christ gives us above all. We must walk not only the path of struggle against the passions, but also the path of acquiring the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As we ourselves seek within this purification the image of God, the Holy Spirit also leads us to likeness with God. He is that power which, as Saint Makarios the Great says, gives us new spiritual senses:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ came in order to change, transform, and renew human nature, and to recreate this soul, which through transgression had been cast down by the passions, by mingling it with the Divine Spirit. He came to make those who believe in Him a new mind, a new soul, new eyes, a new hearing, a new spiritual tongue — in a word, new people” (Philokalia 1:58).

Everything proceeds not from dogma but from life. One may know the Gospel magnificently and yet possess nothing of what the Holy Fathers speak about. But the saints of God became new people while still here on earth. “Whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven...”

The saints did not teach us merely with words. They showed us. They gave us their very lives. Only within one’s own soul is the Kingdom of God revealed through the gradual acquisition of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And so today we have gathered to honor the true members of the Body of Christ, those who here on earth built the Kingdom of God and who here, and not somewhere in another world, acquired the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There have been, and there are, many servants pleasing to God in this world, and we have the great joy of knowing and glorifying only some of them. The Holy Church glorifies them not for their teaching, but for their lives. Indeed, she glorifies not even them themselves, but through them the Holy Spirit. Today she tells us that the Lord did not promise us the Comforter in vain, that there have been and there will continue to be people who seek to acquire Him within themselves, and that these are the very ones upon whom the Church stands — the true members of the Body of Christ. It is to them, and not to us, that the promise applies that the gates of hades shall not prevail against them, they who upon the Blood of the Lord have built His Church through their ascetic struggles and their love.

If this is so, and if we must learn from someone how to interpret and understand Holy Scripture, then it is to them that we shall go. For they acquired the Holy Spirit through their lives, and the Lord Jesus Christ said that He, the Holy Spirit, would guide us into all truth.

This feast is the feast of Christ’s disciples and saints, a feast in which we glorify the great and greatest teachers of the Church, the Fathers of the Ecumenical Synods who revealed to us the truths of the Orthodox faith, those who acquired the Holy Spirit in their souls. If every human being is an image of God, then a saint is one who has acquired the likeness of God through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily One on the Sunday of All Saints (St. Justin Popovich)

2026-06-07T10:11:23.274-04:00

Homily One on the Sunday of All Saints

By St. Justin Popovich

(Delivered in 1965 at Ćelije Monastery)

Today is the Sunday of All Saints. Today the Church celebrates all the Saints from time immemorial, all holy beings, beginning with the Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, and Seraphim, and then all the holy people from the beginning of the world until this very day.

Why does the Church celebrate All Saints today? On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the first Sunday after the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the Church celebrates All Saints in order to show that the Saints are confessors of the Holy Trinity, that their entire life in this world was from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit; that this world was created to become the Kingdom of God.

Today the Church unveils the souls of all the Saints and tells us their secret: by what they lived, for what they lived, how they lived in this world, and how they became sanctified. Through them the Church has revealed to the world the mystery of the human person, showing that man was created to become a temple of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Man was created to become the dwelling place of the Lord Christ in the Holy Spirit together with God the Father.

That is why the Savior told His disciples at the Secret Supper, revealing to them the mystery of man and of this world, that He would come and dwell within them — within everyone who loves Him and keeps His commandments — together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is the meaning of the gospel of Christ: it is nothing other than life in the Most Holy Trinity and deification through the Most Holy Trinity. It is life in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This is the ultimate goal, the final purpose of human life in this world: that a person, in both body and soul, may become the dwelling place of the Most Holy Trinity. This is what the Saints of God achieved in the highest degree, every Saint from the first to the last, and this is our goal as well. This is the chief task of every Christian in this world: to make of himself, of his soul, a dwelling place of the Lord Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of God the Father.

For this reason the gospel of Christ exists in this world. For this reason the Lord founded the Church. For this reason the Holy Trinity descended into our earthly human world — to show us and to grant us the power truly to become, and indeed to become, a dwelling place of the Most Holy Trinity.

The proof? Every Saint.

The first proof is the Holy Apostles. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended upon them — the heavenly Power, the Power from on high, the Power of God — and transformed them into all-powerful men, all-powerful beings, and all-wise men. All-powerful and all-wise: that is what the Holy Apostles became on the day of Pentecost. And after them, all the Saints of God became the same. Through the Holy Spirit they all became holy, powerful, wonderworking, and divinely wise.

Everything comes from the Holy Spirit, from that heavenly divine Power; everything comes from the Holy Trinity. “There are different gifts,” says the Holy Gospel, “but the same Spirit.” There are different powers, but it is God who works all things in all.

Everything in the Holy Church takes place according to the Holy Trinity: from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. No one can call the Lord Christ God except by the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Gospel declares. Everything the Lord gave, everything that the Lord Jesus Christ brought as God who became Man, is the power of God; everything is a means by which we may become holy, sanctify ourselves, and live in this world for the sake of the Lord.

Today's Holy Gospel is nothing other than a portrait of every Saint. Indeed, today's Gospel is the life of every Saint, because it reveals the mystery of how each of them became holy. How does a sinful person, a fornicator, a murderer, a thief, become a holy man? What path does he travel? What means does he employ? What happens within him, so that from the greatest sinner he becomes the greatest righteous man, from an unholy man a holy one?

The Lord reveals this mystery to us through His Holy Gospel.

The first power, the first means by which every person becomes holy — and scarcely any Saint became holy without it — is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, and the confession of that faith before all people in this world filled with false gods.

To believe in Christ — that is the first means, the first power that sanctifies and enlightens a person.

You heard the Lord say in today's Gospel:

"Whoever confesses Me before men, I also will confess before My Father who is in heaven."

Faith in Christ is the beginning of your sanctification and mine. It is the foundation of every Saint of God. To confess the true God is something the human soul can do fully only when the Holy Spirit descends upon it with power and fills it. No one can call Jesus Lord or true God apart from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that power which reveals Christ and makes Him dwell within our souls.

If a person does not believe in Christ, if he denies Him — woe to him! "Whoever denies Me, I also will deny." A man ceases to be truly human without Christ. In fact, he is not fully human if he does not believe in Him.

You do not believe in the true God? Then by what do you live, O man? Upon what is the foundation of your house, your body, your soul, your conscience? Without faith in Christ you cease to be truly human. Without the God-man you cannot become what man was created to be. You remain an unfinished being.

A person who does not believe in Christ and does not live according to His Holy Gospel is always only on the way to becoming a man, but never truly becomes one. He never completes himself. He never fulfills the divine purpose for which he was created. Such a person usually falls away and perishes, ending as something less than human, even inhuman.

Thus faith in Christ, the true God, is the first and fundamental power that raises a man from the abyss of sin, from the abyss and darkness of ignorance, and leads him into the light of true knowledge of God. It teaches him that Christ is the only true God in all worlds and that the destiny of every human being in all worlds depends upon Him.

Following this initial power — faith — comes love.

You heard the Savior's words today:

"He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."

Difficult and terrible words!

What does this mean? By what right does Jesus of Nazareth demand of me and of you that we love Him more than those whom we naturally ought to love most in this world — our parents, our brothers, our sisters?

Is our love for parents and children worthless unless our love for Christ stands above it?

This is the truth proclaimed by today's Holy Gospel.

A true man, one who understands the meaning of human existence in this world, the divine purpose of human life, is obliged to place Christ above everything: above sister and brother, above friends, above nature, above the sun and the moon, above all and everything. Every creature and every created thing must come after Christ, and He must be loved more than anyone and anything in this world.

Why? By what right does Christ ask this of you and me and every human being?

What do parents give us? What do brothers and sisters give us? And what does Christ give us?

Can parents, brothers, and sisters give us eternal life? No. Only Christ gives eternal life.

Can they give us eternal truth? No. Only Christ gives eternal truth.

Can they give us the eternal good? No. Only Christ gives the eternal good.

Can they give us the Kingdom of Heaven and all its treasures? No, no, no! Only Christ grants these things to those who believe in Him and love Him.

Therefore the Lord rightly asks each of us to love Him more than any human being and more than any created thing.

Everything in this world — parents, brothers, sisters, the sun, the moon, the stars — without Christ is a corpse, a heap of corpses. What use are these corpses to me if one day death grinds me down, sin grinds me down, the devil grinds me down?

That is why He demands from the Holy Apostles, and from every human being, that we love Him more than any creature.

And all the so-called loves of this world — love for children, friends, spouse, family, nature — if they do not spring from our love for Christ, from our Christ-loving heart, they are false loves. They are mortal loves. For none of these loves is sanctified unless it flows from Christ's love and is blessed by the Lord.

Without Christ these loves are mortal. And what does that mean? They turn our body and soul into a menagerie, into a stench, into the odor of death.

Smell such a man — he smells of death.

But the man of Christ — his soul smells of immortality.

And in the Saints even the body smells of immortality, a body from which every sin has been driven out. Sin is a stench before the Lord. That is why the holy relics of God's Saints are fragrant.

Our love — every earthly love — is corrupted by sin and subject to death. Love for our children, if it does not arise from our love for Christ, what does it ultimately give them? What does it offer? Again death, again sin, again hell. Do parents desire that for their children? No. But if parents love their children with Christ's love, with evangelical love, if they desire eternal life for them, then they teach them faith in Christ and teach them to live according to Christ's gospel.

Thus the second power, the creative and active power constantly at work in every Saint, is love — love for Christ. Christ-love, and within it every other kind of love, a love that has been sanctified.

And there is yet another creative power formed in the soul of every Saint, every holy person. Christ reveals this power in today's Gospel.

Every Saint is a bearer of the Cross, and therefore a bearer of Christ. For to follow the Lord Christ continually means to carry the cross: the cross of suffering, the cross of struggle, the cross of unceasing warfare with oneself.

For what is the struggle against sin?

Every Saint wages continual war against sin. Throughout his life he strives to save himself from temptations and stumbling blocks. This is suffering; this is labor; this is spiritual struggle. A sin that has become dear to you cannot easily be torn from your heart unless you take up the cross, unless you fast, unless you suffer, unless you rip out from within yourself the terrible passion that enslaves you.

"Their own flesh with its passions and desires they have crucified," says the Holy Apostle Paul. They have crucified their flesh.

You are proud and arrogant? That is a terrible sin. If you desire the Kingdom of Heaven, you must crucify yourself, that is, crush your pride. You must crucify yourself upon the cross of humility.

Try it. It is painful. It is labor. It is struggle. It is suffering. Yet it is saving suffering, because only in this way does one follow the Lord Christ, carrying one's cross.

You follow Him because you wish to become a bearer of the Cross; and you can become one only through cross-bearing.

The struggle against sins and passions is in reality a struggle against demons, for behind all our passions stand demons. Therefore the Apostle proclaims to all Christians that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the spirits of evil under heaven, against the rulers of darkness, against demons, against Satan.

Such is the terrible nature of our struggle.

And if you wish to conquer these terrible enemies, arm yourself with the whole armor of God, as the Holy Apostle says. Take up the breastplate of faith. Take up the sword of prayer. Clothe yourself in every virtue. For behold, every evangelical virtue is a weapon — a victorious weapon that conquers every enemy and every devil.

And this struggle against sins, against passions, against demons — how many wounds a person receives in it! How many wounds! Often he falls like a wounded soldier. But then he cries out:

"Lord, forgive me and help me!"

And the power of God will surely come. The power of God will help him, and he will overcome even the most terrible devil and his most terrible passion.

When Saint Andrew the Fool-for-Christ was asked what the devil looks like, he replied:

"The devil only appears frightening; he only seems terrible. But he is weak. He is powerless before the Cross of Christ and before the man of Christ. Fight him through your struggle against sins. Wrestle with him. Only stretch out your arms," he said, "and behold, you become a cross. Rush against the devil, rush against the demons, rush against Satan, and he will flee from your cross."

Faith in the omnipotence of the Lord Christ, faith in the Holy Spirit. When you possess that Power from on high, every sin before you becomes a helpless blind beggar; it becomes a corpse. And you gain victory over every enemy of your salvation.

Thus, when you stand in prayer and grow weary in prayer, that too is a cross. It is the cross that you carry while following the Lord Christ.

Or perhaps in the monastery you have fulfilled an obedience. You have become exhausted, even collapsing from weariness. Yet the cross that you carry while following Christ leads directly to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Therefore accept the cross through service to the Lord Christ, for there is no resurrection without dying for Christ's sake.

"If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in His resurrection," proclaims the Holy Apostle.

But in order to pass through His death, you must accept all the sufferings of Christ, all the sufferings that accompany salvation.

"All who desire to live godly in this world will suffer persecution," says the Holy Apostle.

Will suffer persecution.

You wish to conquer your sins and passions? Then all the demons will fiercely attack you.

People cannot see this and do not understand it. But know this: if you are a true Christian, the demons strike you continually, both in sleep and while awake. In this lies the fundamental suffering and struggle of Christians in this world.

All who seek victory in the living Christ Jesus will be persecuted by the unclean powers that work invisibly and act through human beings.

Never weaken in faith. Know that the Cross of Christ is always stronger than every evil, stronger than every demon in all worlds.

When monks once asked Saint Barsanuphios the Great:

"Which visions should we believe? Which revelations? Which dreams? Should we trust them or not? What should we do, Father?"

He answered:

"Believe no vision whatsoever. Even if the Lord Christ Himself appears to you, know that it is the devil appearing in the form of Christ. Even if all the Saints appear to you, whether in a dream or while awake, do not believe them. Believe only that vision, only that dream, in which the Cross of Christ is present. For the devil flees from the Cross both in dreams and while awake."

If you dream something and the Cross is not there, God is not there.

If there is no Cross, do not believe it.

If you have some vision or revelation, whether awake or asleep, do not believe it if the Cross of Christ is absent.

Such is the power of the Cross of Christ.

You will find this power of Christ's Cross in the soul of every Saint. Behold, the Cross shines forth from the soul of every Saint!

Christians are, in truth, cross-bearers in this world. They bear the Cross because through the Cross Christ rose from all deaths.

Yes! This is the soul of all the Saints: faith, love, and the Cross.

Within these are all virtues and all powers.

That is the message of today's Gospel concerning the Saints, but not only concerning All Saints. You heard that this Gospel applies to every one of us.

The Saints were not different from us by nature. They possessed the same human nature we possess. They had the same body with the same senses. They had souls, consciences, and wills just as we do.

In what, then, do they differ from us?

In their will. In their determination. In their desire to belong wholly to Christ.

The Apostle Peter says to the Lord Christ:

"Since You demand that we leave everything and follow You, behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then shall become of us?"

The Savior answers that His twelve disciples, when the Day of Judgment comes, will sit upon twelve thrones and judge the world. And everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or land for His sake shall receive a hundredfold, and in the age to come eternal life.

This is His promise — the promise of the true God.

What He gives to the Saints, He offers to every one of us. "Everyone," He says, "shall receive eternal life."

When Saint Seraphim of Sarov, the great Saint of the Russian Church, was asked why there are not as many ascetics and Saints today as there were in ancient times, the Saint replied:

"Because our faith is weak and our will lacks determination."

One must be resolute. One must command oneself. One must compel oneself to every good thing.

"There is no salvation," says Saint Makarios the Great, "unless a person compels himself to every good work; unless a Christian compels himself to every good thing."

When you pray but do not feel like praying — when your will is weakened, your soul is weakened, your conscience has grown sluggish — then compel yourself. Force yourself. Break your own will.

God, who watches and asks only for your effort, your small earthly effort, when He sees that you force yourself to pray even though prayer does not come easily to you, then you receive from Him heavenly power. He grants you grace-filled powers from on high, and prayer becomes easy for you. You begin to love prayer more and more, until one day you love it completely and it flows unceasingly from your heart.

This applies not only to prayer but to every holy evangelical virtue.

It applies to humility as well.

You do not possess humility. You think highly of yourself:

"I am this."

"I am that."

"I can do this."

"I am better than him."

"I am better than her."

Pride stinks throughout your soul. It kills everything living within it.

What should you do?

Force yourself to humility.

Look carefully at yourself. Examine all your sins. What stench! What horror! You have sins both public and hidden. Then cast them before yourself and humble yourself before the Lord.

When you humble yourself before Him, it becomes easy to condemn yourself and to cover the sins of your brother and your sister.

"Love covers a multitude of sins."

Why?

Because the man of Christ sees all his own sins. He continually condemns himself, continually judges himself, and not others. He does not consider himself worthy to judge anyone, nor does he think he has the right to do so.

And when the Lord sees that you compel yourself to humility, He grants you heavenly powers, and gradually you truly acquire a humble heart. You truly begin to feel more and more deeply how sinful you are.

A holy person increasingly feels his own sins.

The Saints always regarded themselves, and always confessed themselves, as the greatest of sinners, as profoundly sinful people.

This is the experience of all the Saints, and it is one of the secrets of the Christian faith.

The holier a person becomes, the more humble he becomes. The more he humbles himself before others, the more he condemns himself rather than his neighbors.

Let us compel ourselves, for we have become weakened by our passions and pleasures, and we often do not wish to labor in one virtue or another.

But there is a remedy:

Force yourself.

And when you force yourself, the Lord will give you the strength to acquire that virtue with joy, and to make it immortal and eternal within your soul.

Do not say:

"Ah, it is impossible!"

Look at the Saints.

What are the Saints?

They are examples of how sin is conquered.

They are examples for me and for you, showing that we too can conquer every sin in the same way.

They are examples of how demons are conquered — all the demons of this world.

They are examples for me and for you, examples shown by human beings who proved that we too can do the same.

How?

Through faith in the Lord Christ, through love for Him, and through the Cross of Christ.

We Christians in the Church of Christ live constantly with all the Saints.

Today we glorify them. Today is their Sunday. Yet every day the Church celebrates many Saints.

All the Saints live together with us in the Church of Christ, which is the spiritual Body of Christ, and all of them are our contemporaries.

Today the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints are here beside us.

They are contemporaries of us and of every Christian generation.

All of us constitute one reality in the eternal life of the Church of Christ.

All of us live constantly with all the Saints.

That is why the Apostle Paul never ceases urging Christians to be continually with all the Saints, so that they may learn the great mystery of the Church of Christ and the holy life.

You hear several times each day that beautiful prayer addressed to the Most Holy Mother of God and to the Lord Christ:

"Commemorating our most holy, most pure, most blessed and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, together with all the Saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life unto Christ our God."

We cannot attain eternal life unless all the Saints guide us, unless we live together with them in fasting, prayer, and all the holy virtues; unless the Most Holy Mother of God and all the Saints go before us, before all our desires, leading us to her Son, so that we may surrender our entire life to Him.

Indeed, you are a Christian, and I am a Christian, and every person becomes a Christian only when the Most Holy Mother of God and all the Saints lead him through all the Holy Mysteries of the Church of Christ and through all the holy virtues; when they guide him, direct him, and lead him into the Kingdom of Heaven, into eternal life, where our wondrous Lord reigns, the Lord of love, Christ, to whom be honor and glory, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily Four for the Sunday of All Saints (St. John of Kronstadt)

2026-06-07T09:32:44.436-04:00

Homily Four for the Sunday of All Saints

By St. John of Kronstadt

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).

What are You saying, Lord? Whoever wishes, You say, to follow You must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow You? Every one of us would like to be where You are, yet not everyone wishes to walk the path that You walked, that is, the narrow, sorrowful, and suffering path. Most especially, very few, very few indeed, are willing for Your sake to deny themselves, to deny their sinful and corrupted will, their passion-ridden heart, or their passions and lusts. Although these have wearied us, although they are destructive to us, they still somehow remain dear to us, and it is painful and difficult to part with them completely. No, the sinner does not desire to follow after You, Lord, but rather after his own heart, after its ruinous inclinations, and after the world which lies in evil.

But the word of the Lord is true and unchangeable. Whoever desires to follow the Lord, that is, to walk the path of righteousness and truth, the path leading to eternal life, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him.

But why does the Lord say, “if anyone desires”? Because He compels no one by force to follow Him, but leaves each person free to choose the path of salvation. To every person has been given the freedom to choose good or evil, life or death.

It is said: “let him deny himself.” What does this mean? It means to reject everything evil and wicked within oneself; to renounce all fellowship with sin, which has penetrated our soul, our mind, our heart, our will, our body, all our senses, and all our actions; to declare war against oneself; to wage continual battle against one's sinful inclinations, passions, habits, and unrighteousness; to hate one's own soul for its continual transgressions of the law of God, for its deceitfulness, for its entire inner disposition that opposes God, for all the evil thoughts of this visible life, and for its neglect of concern for the life of the age to come.

This demand is entirely just. The human soul is full of every kind of unrighteousness: vanity, partiality, self-will, self-love, lack of faith, pride, envy, hostility, malice, delight in another's misfortune, resentment, blasphemy, complaining, impatience, greed, false swearing, injustice, injury and oppression of one's neighbor, love of pleasure, lack of self-control, and every kind of impurity. At times it is difficult to recognize in man the soul created according to the image and likeness of God; so greatly has sin disfigured it! Yet man, by his own free will, deforms and destroys himself.

It is evident, therefore, that he must also save himself voluntarily, with the help of God. For this reason the Lord entrusts salvation to our free will. “Whoever desires,” He says, “to follow Me, let him deny himself” — that is, cast away sin, hate the sin that you have chosen and come to love.

But since it is difficult for you to abandon sin, because it has become habitual and seems almost a second nature, and since evil people will persecute you if you withdraw from their company, and the devil will fiercely pursue you, you will necessarily have to endure sorrows, troubles, insults, labors, struggles, and conflicts. It will be as though you are being crucified upon a cross. It is in this sense that the Lord said that whoever wishes to follow Him must take up his cross.

Everyone has his own cross. Who is without some infirmity of soul or body? Who is without sorrow, illness, or enemies, whether visible or invisible, hidden or manifest? Pray, and endure everything unpleasant, sorrowful, and burdensome without complaining. This is your cross.

But having taken up your cross, follow after the Lord, that is, bear it patiently, without complaint, steadfastly, and to the end. Hold fast to righteousness to the end and hate unrighteousness to the end. Expose falsehood, contend for truth to the end, and the crown of righteousness shall be given to you by the Righteous Judge. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily One on the Sunday of All Saints (St. Innocent of Kherson)

2026-06-07T09:16:25.566-04:00

Homily One on the Sunday of All Saints

By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride

Today is the feast in honor of All Saints, and we have gathered to celebrate it in the midst of the dwelling place of all — the dead! Is this a fitting place for a feast? I think it is most fitting indeed; for the dead are closer to the saints than we are, if only because, having been released from the bonds of the flesh, they dwell with them in the same invisible world. The dead are also closer to the saints than we are because, like the saints, they no longer sin — or at least they do not sin as we sinners do. Looking at the matter from this perspective, I do not even know, brethren, which place ought more properly to be called a cemetery: the place where the departed rest, or the place where we, the living, are gathered. For here, among so many who have died according to the flesh, there are without doubt not a few who are alive in spirit; while among us, who live according to the flesh, God alone knows whether there are any who are not dead in spirit.

Thus, the place of our celebration is most appropriate to the feast; and those acted most wisely who dedicated this church, intended especially for prayers on behalf of the departed, to the memory of All Saints. For by doing so, the souls of those who rest here have been entrusted to the powerful protection of All Saints, so that every soul may have among them a special intercessor suited to itself. You also acted wisely, brethren, in gathering here in such numbers, in this place of all the departed, to celebrate the feast of All Saints; for both the saints and the dead teach us who are living one and the same important truth: “Mortals, live for God and for virtue; without this, whatever you do, whatever you acquire, whatever distinction you attain, all is vanity and nothingness.”

This is what All Saints tell us. How do they tell us? By the very manner of their lives and by their calling. Indeed, brethren, there have been many famous and powerful people in the world who shook kingdoms and nations; many rich people who could not count their treasures; many wise and learned people who knew everything — from the cedar to the hyssop, from the sun to the grain of sand. And yet we celebrate the feast of none of these. In whose honor do we celebrate? In honor of those whom the world for the most part either did not know, or, knowing them, considered foolish, or even persecuted and put to death. Of them, as the Apostle says, some “were stoned,” others “were sawn in two,” others “died by the sword”; nearly all were “destitute, afflicted, tormented... wandering in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:37–38).

It is such people — not the renowned, not the great in the eyes of the world — whose memory we celebrate. What does this mean? It means that power, wealth, glory, and earthly wisdom do not constitute a person's eternal worth; all these have significance only up to the grave, and beyond it something entirely different is required. What is that? Precisely what makes the saints blessed. As you heard in today's Epistle, it is humility, patience, purity of soul and body, love for God and neighbor, virtue, and likeness to God. Whoever succeeds in enriching and adorning himself with these precious qualities, even if he is nothing in the eyes of the world, even if he possesses nothing, even if he spends his entire life in contempt, slavery, and poverty, will be great before God and will receive that with which no earthly glory and no temporal happiness can compare.

This is what all the saints teach us.

The same thing is impressed upon us by all the dead. How? By their present condition itself.

Indeed, consider this. Among those buried here are not a few who were honored, who occupied important positions, who had influence over many. Go now and ask any one of them whether his importance helped him at death, whether it protected him from the diseases of the body or from the terrors and agonies of the soul. If not for a cross or a stone above his grave, his resting place could not be distinguished from that of the poorest beggar.

Thus death humbles our pride and greatness, for honors and distinctions without faith and virtue are vanity.

Among those who rest here are also many who possessed great wealth and were the envy of many. Go and ask any one of them what he took with him from all his treasures. Alas! Naked we all came from our mother's womb, and almost naked we depart into the womb of the earth. Death takes away everything, for possessions and riches without the fear of God and works of mercy are vanity.

And what if, by some miracle, all who rest here were permitted to rise from their graves and return to their former occupations? How many would return to them? Do you think the ambitious man would once more pursue honors? That the lover of money would again bury his heart together with his gold in chests? That the sensualist would once more wallow in the mire of bodily pleasures? No. Taught by experience, I think they would not even look at what once occupied them so greatly. Each one would hasten to a solitary place in order to weep for his sins and prepare himself for eternity.

What the dead can no longer do, brethren, is still entirely possible and easy for us. Since we still possess all the means of grace, we can easily cleanse ourselves from every stain of sin and thus prepare ourselves for passage into the next world, entering it not as prisoners who are forcibly transferred from one place to another, but as children who joyfully return from a distant land to their father's house.

Let us therefore, brethren, make use of this precious opportunity to secure the work of our eternal salvation. Let us take advantage of it and return to our homes with a sincere and firm resolve to live the remainder of our lives not for the lusts of the flesh, not for the pleasures of the world, but for God and for virtue.

This will be a truly great feast, not only for us, but also for All Saints and for all the dead. For neither the saints nor the departed desire anything so much for us who are living as our eternal salvation. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Discourse Against the Accusers of the Clergy (St. Gregory of Derkoi)

2026-06-03T18:17:38.144-04:00

Saint Gregory, Metropolitan of Derkoi, who is commemorated on June 3rd, was hanged in Constantinople together with Patriarch Gregory V in 1821, in retaliation for the proclamation of the Revolution in the Morea. On Sunday, July 13, 2014, the residents of the village of Zoumbata (the settlement of Moira, Patras), his birthplace, erected a bust in honor of their fellow countryman and ethnomartyr, the unveiling of which was performed by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras. Today, I am translating from the booklet Gregory, Metropolitan of Derkoi: Sermons and Hymnographic Compositions, published by the Patras newspaper O Ekklisiologos, no. 365, June 21, 2014, and edited by the monks of Nezerita, his discourse against those who slander the clergy. The booklet has one more sermon and a poem by the Holy Metropolitan.

Discourse Against the Accusers of the Clergy

Composed and delivered by Saint Gregory, Metropolitan of Derkoi,
on the day when the memorial services were being held
for his departed predecessor, the blessed Ananias.

“Why does this man speak blasphemies in this manner?

Who can forgive sins except God alone?” (Mark 2:7)

I do not know, my Christians, whether you have ever taken notice of this, whether you have ever reflected that when our Lord first began to dwell among men in this world—when, having gathered His disciples and apostles, He went forth to preach the Gospel, when He began to work miracles and teach the divine truths of the heavenly kingdom—there immediately arose so many opinions concerning Him, so many diverse judgments among men regarding His person. Some praised Him and exalted Him to the heavens, while others accused Him and cast Him down to the depths. Some worshiped Him as the true Son of God, while others avoided Him as a companion of Beelzebul. Some wished to crown Him King of Israel, while others ran to stone Him as an enemy of God and a deceiver. Some hastened to hear Him as a glorious prophet, while others desired to bind Him as one who led the people astray and corrupted their minds. Some, seeing Him, rejoiced in Him and loved Him, while others, seeing Him, hated Him and became His enemies. Some proclaimed Him holy, while others reviled Him as a blasphemer.

This is evident also from the scribes and Pharisees, who, when they heard Him say to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven,” immediately burst into the dreadful flames of envy and, without the least restraint, openly rebuked and denounced Him as a blasphemer, saying, “Why does this man speak blasphemies in this manner? Who can forgive sins except God alone?” (Mark 2:7). In short, as the Evangelist John also says, “There was much murmuring among the crowds concerning Him; some said, ‘He is a good man,’ while others said, ‘No, but He deceives the people’” (John 7:12).

Yet do not be surprised by this. For if we reflect carefully and wisely, we shall discover that such is the common fate of all great, extraordinary, and wondrous things. Men, always divided and at variance with one another, are never united in their judgment concerning such matters. Some regard them with the utmost hatred and aversion. This arises from nothing other than the fact that human desires and inclinations are fond of contention, and for that reason they excessively hate whatever is pleasing and beloved by others. Or else they envy whatever has attained great advancement, growth, honor, glory, and magnificence. This, indeed, was the principal reason why there were so many differing opinions and judgments concerning our Lord.

The order of the clergy has experienced the very same fate that we observed in our Lord. For it too contains great and extraordinary privileges and excellences. Therefore, from the beginning and throughout all ages, it has had ardent friends and devoted defenders who upheld it with great strength and zeal; yet it has also had enemies and adversaries who persecuted it with violence and fury.

But why did I say that it had them? It has them! To this very day it has both loyal friends and admirers, and fervent enemies and persecutors. And I am compelled to say that even you who are listening to me now—you, my very hearers—are divided and not of one mind. Some of you are its friends and supporters; others are its enemies and accusers.

Nevertheless, while I hope to receive from its friends a favorable and kindly hearing, I also hope for complete and impartial justice regarding the discourse I deliver today. In it I intend to show you briefly that you ought not to accuse the clergy—that is, the bishops and ministers of the Most High God—for by doing so you commit a grievous and inexcusable sin and bring the worst consequences upon yourselves.

I ask you, therefore, to give me your attention.

All rhetoricians commonly make it their practice to win the favor and secure the compliance of their hearers by artfully employing carefully devised methods, pretending that whatever they advocate—though in reality it serves either some personal passion or particular advantage of their own—proceeds from sincere love and fervent concern for those who listen to them. But far, very far be such rhetorical devices from me! For I have absolutely no need of them in support of the straightforward cause which my discourse today defends. I do not deny it, but openly confess it: today I am speaking on a matter in which I am deeply invested, and whose benefit extends in part even to myself. Therefore I tell you plainly that you ought to believe nothing except that which I shall enable you to see with your own eyes and touch with your own hands. I do not ask you to show me respect, reverence, or favor; I ask only that, by carefully considering the truth of my words and judging rightly, you may correct yourselves and cease committing an inexcusable sin. I assume—and this is the first point that we must carefully consider—that all of you are pious and Orthodox Christians, and therefore that there is nothing in which you take greater joy than in the glory, honor, and splendor of the Church. But if you are not such people (which God forbid), then I assure you that there is nothing you ought to hate and abhor more than the order of bishops and priests—that is, the clergy. Against this very order the unbelievers, the impious, the atheists, and indeed all the pagans and idolatrous Greeks raged at various times; and likewise those infamous heretics, like mad dogs, raged against it and poured out in torrents the poison of their black bile.

It is acknowledged, however, that you are certainly not such people, but are indeed Orthodox and sincere Christians. Therefore you ought not merely to refrain from hating and accusing our clergy, but you ought also to revere them, love them, and honor them. For those who raised the Church of God to that supreme and exalted degree of honor, glory, dignity, and greatness in which you now behold her; those who brought under her authority so many nations, nations barbarous and foreign, and so many innumerable islands—or rather, almost the entire inhabited world—were none other than the ministers of the Most High God. They were the ones who, soaring like eagles, flew higher than the Evangelists throughout the whole world and even into regions where men were not yet certain whether the inhabited world extended so far.

And consider, I beg you, who it was that, after the holy Apostles, converted all of Europe to the faith of Christ; all of Epirus; all of Greece; and, as I have said, so many countless islands, if not the ministers of the Most High God, who, departing from their homeland at the divine command, planted the standards of Jesus Christ even in the farthest regions of Europe?

Who enlightened the Muscovites? Who instructed the Scythians? Who preached the crucified Jesus as the true God even amid the harsh and inaccessible frozen lands of the northern nations, if not the bishops and ministers of the Most High God? It was the bishops who brought so many provinces of Asia, so many regions of Libya, and so many parts of Africa to the knowledge of God; and by means of the seeming foolishness of evangelical preaching—which is in truth the wisdom of our God-man and Savior—they overthrew the myths of the Arabs and dismantled the sophistries and rhetoric of the Greeks. And they accomplished all these things not without labor or suffering, as speech may easily recount them, but through many toils, through extraordinary struggles and hardships, through unceasing sweat and continual dangers. These noble men nobly achieved such deeds, traversing the whole inhabited world like other Spirit-bearing giants, the entire earth beneath the heavens; and, according to the Prophet-King, “their going forth is from the end of heaven, and their circuit unto the ends of it” (Ps. 18:7 LXX), and there was no one who could ever hide himself from the warmth of their teaching and the truth of their doctrine, so that “their voice went forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world” (Ps. 18:5 LXX). For this reason they were worthily deemed worthy to inherit both the name and the reality of the apostolic mission and to be called Equal-to-the-Apostles. Therefore, I now leave it to you yourselves to reflect upon all that the clergy have accomplished for the common benefit and salvation of mankind.

I do not wish to enumerate the many other good things which the clergy have accomplished throughout the ages, lest I prolong my discourse upon a matter so evident. I will say only this: all those things that are greatest, most splendid, and most glorious, which history presents to you or experience itself proves and confirms concerning the Church of God and the salvation of mankind, are the works, achievements, and noble deeds of the bishops and ministers of the Most High God, especially of those among them who united the theoria of divine things with practical life.

And consider who else served as the common teachers of both the Eastern and Western Church besides Athanasios, Basil, Gregory, Chrysostom, Cyril, Epiphanios, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and so many others—all of them bishops and ministers of the Most High God.

That secret and dogmatic theology—which, after John the Theologian and Apostle, had as its interpreters and teachers none other than the Theologian from Athens, the Theologian of Nazianzus, the Theologian of Damascus, and the Theologian of our own day, the Archbishop of Thessaloniki?

From where did Holy Scripture obtain its wise and faithful interpreters if not from the bishops and ministers of the Most High God?

From where did the spiritual life and the monastic way receive their unfailing guides and trustworthy instructors if not from those bishops who lived in stillness and composed their writings in the sacred monasteries throughout the ages? From where did the canons receive their illustrious codifiers if not from the bishops and ministers of the Most High God?

The heretics truly tremble and are struck with fear when they consider that whenever they dared to rise up against the Church, they were just as often defeated and put to shame by the bishops. And consider, among the whole body of Christians, who proved more prudent and learned in recognizing heretics, more courageous and valiant in resisting them, or more successful and skilled in overthrowing and crushing them, than the bishops and ministers of the Most High God?

It is evident, my Christians, that whenever some new heresy arose to corrupt and destroy the Church of God, there immediately stood opposed to it, on the other side, a newly assembled synod of clergy to uphold and protect her, as though it were a fresh army, armed, prepared, and appointed for the defense of the holy faith of Christ.

What did not the Athanasioi, the Basils, the Gregories, the Chrysostoms, the Cyrils, the Epiphanioi, the Ambroses, the Jeromes, and the Augustines accomplish? Together with them also the Antonioses, the Euthymioi, the Savvases, the Theodosioi, the Isidores, the Metrophanes, the Theodores, and the Maximoses, and so many countless others? Of these, the former, as generals of the heavenly King, advancing bravely and marching boldly at the front with the two-edged sword in their hands, were the bishops. The second group, as commanders and officers, girded with the sword of the Spirit, were the hieromonks. The third, as regular soldiers and experienced and skillful warriors, wearing the helmet of the All-Holy Spirit, clothed in the breastplate of faith and armed with the power of the honorable and life-giving Cross, were the holy fathers and monks dwelling in the monasteries. Together all of them crushed and utterly destroyed the battalions of the heretics and all the assaults and formations of the impious. And this despite the fact that their opponents were at various times armed even with the very scepters of the imperial power and with the many forces of the civil authority.

Who subdued, I ask you, the iconoclasts and fighters against the holy icons, those dreadful monsters of impiety who polluted nearly the whole East with the abomination of their Jewish and atheistic doctrines, if not the bishops and ministers of the Most High God? Indeed, it is evident how greatly the Church of God owes the clergy gratitude and honor above all others for the triumphs and victories they won against the heretics. For wherever the heretics did not encounter our clergy standing against them, there they erected the trophies of their impiety and maintained them for a longer time, as we see plainly in those regions and among those peoples where heresy and false doctrine, alas, continue to reign even to this day.

What do you say to these things now, my Christians? Can you perhaps say that I am out of my mind or speaking irrationally? Can you oppose anything that I have said to you thus far? Are not these things clearer than the sun itself, tangible and certain? And if this is indeed so, as in truth it is, why is it that on the one hand you rejoice, delight, and take pleasure in the good things of the Church, while on the other hand you are grieved and troubled by the slanders and accusations directed against those who have accomplished them for you? Or do you wish in this matter also to imitate those ancient Egyptians who on the one hand rejoiced in and loved having many sheep, tended and shepherded by shepherds, so that they might be nourished by their milk and cheese and clothed with their skins and wool, yet on the other hand loathed and despised as filthy those very shepherds who labored for their benefit?

But I can already infer what answer you wish to make to me. “Master, we neither hate nor despise nor condemn the clergy of old. On the contrary, we revere them and honor them for the many good things they accomplished for the Church. It is the clergy of the present day whom we dislike, accuse, and blame, because they have altogether degenerated and bear no resemblance whatsoever to their predecessors. Some of them are scandal-makers and disturbers of the Church; others are useless and unprofitable in their dioceses. Some are insatiably greedy in their pursuits; others are gluttons and slaves to their appetites at their tables. Others are wasteful and given to abuses in their residences; still others are openly wicked and evildoers. Being such men, they ought not to enjoy either the honors or the revenues which the clergy of old possessed as the reward of their labors. For the clergy of today squander and misuse them in extravagance and luxury born of their corrupt idleness.”

Are these not the very refrains that you are able to sing to me, my Christians? Yet I thank you for at least acknowledging the merits of the clergy of old. And I tell you with complete certainty that even those clergy of former times, those truly most holy bishops and ministers of the Most High God, were themselves accused—not less, but, if I may say so, far more. Did not your ancestors and predecessors, that is, the Christians of those times, say of them that they spent their days in the courts of rulers? Did they not accuse them of making use of all that was splendid, great, and glorious with calculated craftiness and deliberate malice? Did they not slander them even before public tribunals, alleging that they misused and embezzled ecclesiastical and monastic properties and revenues? Did they not accuse them of being headstrong and stubborn? Of being proud and inaccessible? Of being ambitious and power-loving? Of being contentious and sophistical? Of being ruled by passions and greedy for gain? And countless other, even harsher, crimes and accusations they recklessly heaped upon them—charges which I am ashamed even to mention to you. And whoever does not believe this, let him read the ecclesiastical histories; let him study the Divine Fathers, both Eastern and Western; let him examine the Lives of the Saints; let him consult the many vigorous defenses written by the accused clergy. Then he will see and understand how greatly those ever-memorable bishops and ministers of the Most High God labored to vindicate themselves against so many such accusations and slanders, and against others even worse than these, which, as I have said, I am ashamed even to mention to you...

But I can already infer what answer you would make to me on these matters: "We, Master, if we had lived in those times, in those days when our predecessors did what they did against the bishops of that age, certainly would not have agreed with them, nor would we have spoken against those clergy as they did. 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets' (Matt. 23:30)..."

But do you know, my Christians, what the Lord replies to this line of reasoning of yours? To this excuse? He replies with the very words that He addressed to the scribes and Pharisees of that time: “Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets; and you fill up the measure of your fathers. Serpents, brood of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?” (Matt. 23:31–33). And elsewhere again: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! Behold, your house is left to you desolate, and your dwellings laid waste, and there shall be no one dwelling in your tents...” (Matt. 23:37; Ps. 68:26).

These are the words of our Lord, my Christians—words as decisive as they are inescapable and irrevocable...

Ah, my Christians! But what do you expect the clergy to be? Do you wish them to be composed of a sinless nature? Why, that is impossible! For they too are human beings, born of human beings, and, because of the inclination of their wounded hearts, they too naturally tend toward falling away. But even if they were not descended from men and all of them were descended from angels, what would be strange if some among them were found to be evil? Was there not once a time when Lucifer himself fell? And together with him so many of his followers and attendant angels? If we consider the household of Abraham, we see that together with the most pious and obedient Isaac there was also a bold, insolent, presumptuous, and reckless Ishmael. If we consider again the household of Isaac, we see that together with his beloved Jacob there was also a blameworthy Esau. If we consider the household of Jacob, we see that together with the most chaste Joseph there was also a defiled and lawless Reuben. If we consider the family of the Prophet-King David, we see that within it there was both an ungrateful Amnon and a rebellious Absalom. If we consider even the most holy company of the all-renowned Apostles, we find among them a Judas, a fighter against Christ and a traitor. If we consider the apostolic school of the Divine Paul, we learn that from it emerged four dreadful heresiarchs: Phygellus, Hermogenes, Philetus, and Hymenaeus. What, then, is strange if among the order of the clergy there are found both good and evil men? Indeed, I say that it is impossible that there should not be such men among them, because the conditions and rules of this sacred order are so strict and demanding that it is impossible that there should not be some who become negligent and desert their duty. And do you not see that even the lighter laws which the Lord has given to you who live in the world have always found, and continue to find, and will continue to find many among you who transgress them?

But do you know what order has followers who so readily observe it with exactness? It is the order of the Saracens, which permits every kind of indulgence to the bodily senses and grants complete license and freedom to every pleasure, fleshly appetite, passionate desire, and sensual enjoyment. Such also is the order of our civil society, which determines every action and decides every matter according only to the rule of self-interest. But that the order of the clergy is not such a thing, who does not know? What, then, is strange in the fact that there are found among them some who are slothful and who desert their duty?

The more demanding the sacred order of the monastic life and way of living is, the fewer are those who are able to attain it. Certainly there are fewer who excel in the art of embroidery than in the art of simply sewing garments. Fewer excel in rightly understanding, and in composing and writing wisely and eloquently, than in merely reading and reciting what has been written. Yet despite all this, my Christians, however bad some clergy may be, they are nevertheless dedicated to the worship of the Most High God. They are ministers of His mysteries. They are consecrated servants of Jesus Christ. They wear His holy schema. They dwell in His sacred temples. They perform those things that contribute to your salvation. They have the privilege of being mediators between God and men. On the one hand, they bring down and convey from heaven the divine gifts and graces, namely the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your souls; on the other hand, they lift up and offer your prayers and supplications, beseeching God for the peace of the whole world and the stability of the holy Churches of God; for favorable weather and the fruitfulness of the earth; for those who travel by sea, those who journey, the sick, the suffering, the captives, and for their salvation; and for every Orthodox Christian soul, both living and departed. And they do these things not without labor, not without tears and fervent sighs, and at every time and in every place, since they have been dedicated precisely for this purpose to the Most High God. How then do you dare to accuse them, being such benefactors and saviors of yours? How do you make them the subject of ridicule in your gatherings, in your social conversations and discussions, in your reception rooms and homes, at every time and place, and often even in the very sacred Church of God itself, and at the very hour when, alas, they are tirelessly offering their worship to God on your behalf and for the sake of your souls, as we have said?

My Christians, the bishops are the true successors of the holy Apostles, who built this Church upon the unshakable foundation of Christ. Consequently, the bishops are the universal representatives of Jesus Christ Himself, who is the one and only Head of the mystical Body of the Church. Therefore, true Christians ought not only to refrain from dishonoring them, accusing them, unjustly despising them, and making spectacles of them, but they must also render to them the honor, reverence, and respect that are rightly due to them without diminution. For otherwise they sin inexcusably and suffer the gravest consequences if they do not approach them piously and reverently as faithful Christians.

Offenses committed by subjects against the representatives of earthly kings—such as insubordination and disobedience—are punished most severely as offenses directed against the kings themselves, whether through the confiscation of their property or even through the miserable deprivation of their very lives. How much more, then, should the offenses of Christians against the holy bishops, the universal representatives of the heavenly King—namely negligence, contempt, and various other forms of ill will—be punished by complete severance from the fullness of the Church’s mystical Body. Such persons ought to be condemned to the eternal death of their souls, as useless and decayed members, no longer receiving life from the dew-bearing graces of the All-Holy Spirit, which ineffably irrigate and sustain this mystical organism of the Church.

God Himself, with all His severity and dreadful indignation, has at various times chastised those who have shown greater or lesser contempt toward His holy bishops. Read the ancient histories, and you will see that He punished the accusers of the clergy with greater severity than those who sinned against God Himself. How many times did the people of Israel sin against God, and yet, through the intercession of their chief ministers—of Moses and Aaron, I mean—He continually forgave them? But when Dathan and Abiram and the two hundred and fifty men who followed Korah behaved arrogantly toward those very leaders, Moses and Aaron, then indeed the just God, both because there was no mediator for them and to demonstrate His love for His appointed servants, split the earth into dreadful chasms and caused whirlwinds of fire to burst forth and miserably consume all those who were with Korah. “The earth opened and swallowed Dathan and Abiram, and fire consumed all those who were with Korah, the two hundred and fifty men” (Ps. 105:17–18 LXX; Num. 16:32, 35).

And what more do you require, my Christians? Miriam the prophetess, that holy, righteous, and God-pleasing sister of Aaron and Moses, merely because she criticized and spoke against Moses for having taken Zipporah the Ethiopian woman as his wife rather than a Hebrew woman from among his own kin, according to customary practice, was immediately struck with leprosy and punished. At once she was afflicted with a grievous plague from head to foot, and for seven full days the prophetess Miriam became excluded from the congregation. She was expelled, cast out, and driven away from the assembly and even from her own sacred fellowship, she, the holy Miriam. Only when the very Moses whom she had spoken against offered fervent supplications, prayers, and petitions to God on her behalf did she receive her vindication and obtain forgiveness.

Therefore, for these parricides, for these rebels and insolent men, these followers of the accursed Ham who, upon seeing his father's nakedness, shamelessly mocked him—for these accusers of the clergy, I say, these truly reckless men—Solomon also pronounced judgment: “The eye that mocks a father, let the ravens of the valleys pluck it out, and let the young eagles devour it” (Prov. 30:17). And again elsewhere: “For him who mocks his father, his lamp shall be extinguished, and the pupils of his eyes shall behold darkness...” (Prov. 20:20).

The accusers of the clergy are truly worthy of condemnation and are, in fact, abominations, just as are those who spit in the face of those by whose food they are nourished. The accusers of the clergy are worthy of condemnation and utterly profane, just as are those who blaspheme the All-Holy Spirit. For the clergy are instruments of the All-Holy Spirit. They are appointed ministers of the Son and Word of God, who sovereignly commands and exhorts, declaring: “Touch not My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm” (Ps. 104:15).

Therefore, my Christians, both as pious and as prudent and sensible people, flee from this soul-destroying and body-destroying vice, lest you appear here as abominations before God and men, and there as combustible fuel for eternal punishment. Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by certain vulgar and insignificant men, corrupted in soul and understanding, lest you become participants in that unforgivable sin and kindle upon your own heads the indignation and wrath from heaven of those ancient clergy, by accusing their true successors, who benefit you spiritually and daily do good to you bodily as well, following the example of those predecessors. For even if the clergy of today are not saints, as those ridiculous marketplace babblers prattle on about, they are nevertheless just as necessary, just as beneficial for salvation, and just as useful to all of you as the clergy of old were to your forefathers.

For through them the splendor and glory of the Church are preserved and manifested by their sacred hymns and their angel-like doxologies. Through them, as we have said, your spiritual and bodily salvation, and even the repose of your departed, are abundantly provided through their daily liturgies and extended services. Through them divine assistance, protection, and support are granted and bestowed upon every city, province, town, village, and settlement. For they pray, keep vigil, liturgize, and make supplication to the Lord night and day for mercy, life, and the forgiveness of your sins; for the peace of the whole world and the union of all; according to the sacred ordinance of the Holy Church. But if they too should disappear from the world without cause (which God forbid), how great would your misery be, and how great the loss of your souls! Consider it for yourselves. You would all remain without the blessing of marriage. Your children would remain entirely unbaptized. The young would lose the saving guidance and pious formation of their lives. Christian conduct and way of life would altogether vanish from among you. In the synods there would no longer reign that sacred and theological wisdom which teaches the heavenly dogmas and hands down the divinely transmitted mysteries. The sacred pulpits, and even our episcopal thrones themselves, would become voiceless, inactive, and silent. The villagers and ordinary people would remain utterly destitute. For who would hasten to correct them? The tailors or the shoemakers? The furriers or the goldsmiths? The cloth merchants or the sandal makers? The butchers or the bakers? The money traders or the verbose talkers? And the sick as well, both within and without, in cities and towns and villages, would remain entirely without hope. For who would provide them with guidance concerning what ought to be done, correction concerning how they had lived, or courage and consolation amid those fears and terrors experienced by every soul when it spreads its wings to depart from this temporal world to that eternal one?

But who does not know that all these things are the works, actions, and daily accomplishments of the clergy of the present day? All Greece proclaims it. Europe announces it. Asia bears witness to it. The whole world perceives it and acknowledges it. Only the spiritually blind and those whose hearts have been hardened fail to perceive it—those absurd marketplace babblers, I say, who chatter on and dare to think, say, and write the most shameful and unjust things against the bishops, priests, and ministers of the Most High God.

But we, the Orthodox and faithful Christians, rightly considering all these things, together with all the other good, beneficial, and soul-profiting things which the bishops, priests, and ministers of the Most High God do and accomplish for us, should weigh with a conscientious mind the immeasurable debt we owe them. Then it will most certainly become evident that all clergy alike are worthy of the highest honor, the deepest reverence, complete obedience, and the greatest care and respect...

Λόγος κατὰ τῶν ἱεροκατηγόρων

Ποιηθείς καὶ προσφωνηθείς παρὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου Δέρκων κυρίου Γρηγορίου
τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν ᾗ ἐπετελοῦντο καὶ τὰ μνημόσυνα
τοῦ προτεθνεῶτος προκατόχου μακαρίτου Ἀνανίου.

«Τί οὗτος οὕτω λαλεῖ βλασφημίας;

τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας,
εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ Θεός;» (Μάρκος β΄)

Δὲν ἠξεύρω, Χριστιανοί μου, ἂν ποτέ ἐσημειώσατε μὲ τὸν νοῦν σας, ἂν ποτέ ἐστοχασθήκατε ὅτι, ὅταν ἄρχισε ὁ Κύριός μας νὰ συναναστρέφεται μὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν κόσμον, ὅταν δηλαδή συναγαγὼν τοὺς αὐτοῦ μαθητὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους ἐξῆλθεν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὅταν ἤρξατο νὰ θαυματουργῇ καὶ νὰ διδάσκῃ τὰ θεῖα μαθήματα τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας, τότε δὴ τότε ἐστάθησαν τόσαι πολλαὶ γνῶμαι περὶ αὐτοῦ, τόσαι πολλαὶ καὶ διαφορετικαὶ δόξαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἐξ ὧν οἱ μὲν τὸν ἐπαινοῦσαν καὶ τὸν ἀνεβίβαζαν ἕως εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, οἱ δὲ τὸν ἐκατηγοροῦσαν καὶ τὸν κατεβίβαζον ἕως εἰς τὰς ἀβύσσους. Ἄλλοι τὸν προσεκυνοῦσαν ὡς ἀληθινὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἄλλοι τὸν ἀπέφευγον ὡς φίλον τοῦ Βεελζεβούλ. Ἄλλοι ἤθελον νὰ τὸν στεφανώσουν ὡς βασιλέα τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἄλλοι ἔτρεχον νὰ τὸν λιθοβολήσουν ὡς ἀντίθεον καὶ ὑποκριτήν. Ἄλλοι ἔσπευδον νὰ τὸν ἀκούσουν ὡς ἔνδοξον προφήτην καὶ ἄλλοι ἐπιθυμοῦσαν νὰ τὸν δέσουν ὡς λαοπλάνον καὶ παραλογιστήν. Ἄλλοι βλέποντές τον τὸν ἐχαίροντο καὶ τὸν ἀγαποῦσαν καὶ ἄλλοι βλέποντές τον τὸν ἐχθρεύοντο καὶ τὸν ἐμισοῦσαν. Ἄλλοι τὸν ἐκήρυττον ὡς ἅγιον καὶ ἄλλοι τὸν ὠνείδιζον ὡς βλάσφημον, καθὼς τοῦτο εἶναι φανερὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τοὺς σημερινοὺς Γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαίους, οἵτινες ἀκούοντές τον νὰ εἴπῃ εἰς τὸν παραλυτικόν· «τέκνον, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου», ἄναψαν εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τὰς φοβερὰς τοῦ φθόνου φλόγας, καὶ χωρὶς καμμίαν συστολὴν παρρησίᾳ τὸν ἐλέγχουν καὶ τὸν ὀνειδίζουν ὡς βλάσφημον· «τί οὗτος οὕτω λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεός;» (Μάρκ. β΄ 7). Τέλος πάντων, καθὼς λέγει καὶ ὁ Εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἰωάννης ὅτι, «γογγυσμὸς ἦν μέγας ἐν τοῖς ὄχλοις περὶ αὐτοῦ· οἱ μὲν ἔλεγον ὅτι ἀγαθός ἐστι, ἄλλοι δὲ οὔ, ἀλλὰ πλανᾷ τὸν κόσμον» (Ἰωάν. ζ΄ 12). Ὅμως μὴ θαυμάσητε εἰς τοῦτο. Διότι ἂν στοχασθῶμεν καλῶς καὶ συνετῶς, θέλομεν καὶ εὕρῃ ὅτι εἶναι μία κοινὴ τύχη τῶν μεγάλων ἐξαισίων καὶ θαυμαστῶν πραγμάτων, εἰς τὰ ὁποῖα οἱ ἄνθρωποι, πάντοτε ἀσύμφωνοι καὶ διηρημένοι, δὲν εὑρίσκονται ἐπίσης εἰς αὐτά. Ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν τὰ ἀναφέρουσι μὲ ἄκρον μῖσος καὶ ἀποστροφήν μεγίστην, τὸ ὁποῖον δὲν προέρχεται ἀπὸ κανένα ἄλλο, εἰ μὴ ἢ διότι αἱ ὀρέξεις καὶ οἱ στοχασμοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀγαποῦν τὴν φιλονεικίαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καθ' ὑπερβολὴν μισοῦν ὅ,τι εἶναι εἰς ἄλλους ἀρεστὸν καὶ ἀγαπητόν, ἢ διὰτὶ ἐκεῖνο τὸ ὁποῖον εἶναι εἰς μεγάλην προκοπὴν καὶ αὔξησιν καὶ ἄξιον δόξης, τιμῆς καὶ μεγαλειότητος, ἐκεῖνον τὸν μισοῦν ἀπὸ τὸν φθόνον τους. Καὶ τοῦτο ἐστάθη ἡ καθ' αὑτὸ αἰτία τοῦ νὰ εἶναι τόσαι γνῶμαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαφορετικαὶ καὶ τόσαι δόξαι περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου μας. Καθὼς καὶ τὸ τάγμα τῶν ἱερωμένων ἔχει τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνην τύχην, τὴν ὁποίαν εἴδαμεν εἰς τὸν Κύριόν μας. Διὰτὶ καὶ αὐτὸ ἐμπεριέχει μεγάλα τινα καὶ ἐξαίσια πράγματα καὶ προτερήματα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀνέκαθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἶχε καὶ φίλους διαπύρους καὶ θερμοὺς προστάτας, οἵτινες τὸ ὑπερασπίζοντο μὲ πολλὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ δύναμιν, εἶχε δὲ καὶ ἐχθροὺς καὶ πολεμίους, οἵτινες τὸ ἐκατέτρεχον μὲ πολλὴν βίαν καὶ ὁρμήν. Ἀλλὰ τί εἶπον, ὅτι εἶχεν; Ἔχει! Ἔχει μέχρι καὶ τῆς σήμερον καὶ ἀχρόνους φίλους καὶ ἐπαινέτας του καὶ διαπύρους ἐχθροὺς καὶ διώκτας του· καὶ εἶμαι ἀναγκασμένος νὰ εἴπω ὅτι καὶ ἐσεῖς, ὁποῦ τώρα, τώρα μοῦ ἀκούετε, ἐσεῖς, λέγω, οἱ ἴδιοι ἀκροαταί μου, εἶσθε βέβαια διηρημένοι καὶ ἀσύμφωνοι. Καὶ οἱ μὲν εἶσθε φίλοι του καὶ ἐπαινέται του, οἱ δὲ εἶσθε ἐχθροί του καὶ κατήγοροι. Ὅμως μὲ ὅλον τοῦτο, ἐγὼ καθὼς ἐλπίζω ἀπὸ τοὺς φίλους του μίαν ἀγαθὴν καὶ εὐμενῆ ἀκρόασιν, ἔτζι ἐλπίζω καὶ μίαν ἄκραν καὶ ἀδέκαστον δικαιοσύνην εἰς τὸν σημερινόν μου λόγον, εἰς τὸν ὁποῖον θέλω σᾶς ἀποδείξει συντόμως ὅτι δὲν πρέπει νὰ κατηγορῆτε τοὺς ἱερωμένους, τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς δηλαδὴ καὶ λειτουργοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, διὰτὶ ἁμαρτάνετε ἀσυγγνώστα, καὶ παθαίνετε τὰ χείριστα. Δώσατέ με παρακαλῶ τὴν προσοχήν σας.

Συνηθίζουν ὅλοι κοινοῦς οἱ ῥήτορες νὰ τραβοῦν τὴν εὔνοιαν καὶ νὰ κερδίζουν τὴν εὐπείθειαν τῶν ἀκροατῶν, ὑποκρινόμενοι μὲ τέχνην εὔμεθοδον καὶ ἐπιτετηδευμένην ὅλον ἐκεῖνο, εἰς τὸ ὁποῖον ἔχουν αὐτοὶ ἢ πάθος ἴδιον ἢ ὄφελος ξεχωριστόν, διαβεβαιώνοντας τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ὅτι εἶναι μία εἰλικρινὴς ἀγάπη καὶ ἕνας ζῆλος ἔνθερμος πρὸς αὐτούς. Ὅμως μακράν, μακρὰν ἀπὸ ἐμὲ τέτοιοι τεχνικοὶ τῆς ῥητορικῆς κανόνες, μακράν! Καθ' ὅτι παντελῶς δὲν μοῦ εἶσθε ἀναγκαῖοι εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν εὐθείαν, τὴν ὁποίαν πρεσβεύει σήμερον ὁ λόγος μου. Ἐγὼ δὲν τὸ ἀρνοῦμαι, ἀλλὰ παρρησίᾳ τὸ ὁμολογῶ, ὅτι πραγματεύομαι σήμερον μίαν ὑπόθεσιν εἰς τὴν ὁποίαν εἶμαι ὅλος πάθος, καὶ τὸ ὄφελός της ἀνάγεται κατὰ μέρος καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ τὸν ἴδιον. Διὰ τοῦτο παρρησίᾳ σᾶς λέγω, ὅτι δὲν πρέπει νὰ πιστεύητε εἰς κανένα ἄλλο, παρὰ ἐκεῖνο ὁποῦ θέλω κάμη νὰ ἰδῆτε μὲ τὰ ὀμμάτιά σας καὶ νὰ ψηλαφήσητε μὲ τὰ χέρια σας. Ἐγὼ δὲν θέλω νὰ φυλάξητε μήτε σέβας, μήτε εὐλάβειαν ἢ χάριν εἰς ἐμέ, ἀλλὰ μόνον τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν λόγων μου καλῶς διανοούμενοι καὶ κρίνοντες ὀρθῶς, νὰ διορθωθῆτε, διὰ νὰ μὴν ἁμαρτάνητε ἀσυγγνώστα. Ἐγὼ ὑποθέτω (καὶ τοῦτο ἀναγκαιότατον κατὰ πρῶτον καλῶς νὰ στοχασθῶμεν) ἐγὼ ὑποθέτω ὅτι ἐσεῖς ὅλοι εἶσθε εὐσεβεῖς καὶ ὀρθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δὲν χαίρεσθε εἰς κανένα ἄλλο τόσον, ὅσον χαίρεσθε εἰς τὴν δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ λαμπρότητα τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δὲν εἶσθε τοιοῦτοι (ὃ μὴ γένοιτο) ἐγὼ σᾶς βεβαιῶ, ὅτι δὲν πρέπει νὰ μισῆτε καὶ νὰ ἀηδιάζητε κανένα ἄλλο πρᾶγμα περισσότερον, ὅσον τὸ τάγμα τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ ἱερέων, ἢ ἐστὶ τῶν ἱερωμένων. Κατὰ τοῦ ὁποίου τούτου τάγματος καὶ οἱ ἄπιστοι καὶ οἱ ἀσεβεῖς καὶ οἱ ἄθεοι καὶ ἁπλῶς ὅλοι οἱ ἐθνικοὶ καὶ οἱ εἰδωλολάτραι Ἕλληνες κατὰ καιροὺς ἐφρίαξαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ δυσώνυμοι αἱρετικοί, ὡς ἄλλοι σκύλοι κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐλύσσαξαν, καὶ τὸ φαρμάκι τῆς μελαίνης των χολῆς ποταμηδὸν ἐξέρασαν. Εἶναι ὅμως ὁμολογούμενον, ὅτι ἐσεῖς δὲν εἶσθε βέβαια τοιοῦτοι, ἀλλ' εἶσθε ὀρθόδοξοι τῷ ὄντι καὶ εἰλικρινεῖς Χριστιανοί, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρέπει ὄχι μόνον νὰ μὴ μισῆτε καὶ νὰ μὴ κατηγορῆτε τὸν κλῆρον μας, ἀλλὰ πρέπει καὶ νὰ τὸν εὐλαβῆσθε καὶ νὰ τὸν ἀγαπᾶτε καὶ νὰ τὸν περιποιῆσθε. Διατὶ ἐκεῖνοι ὁποῦ ὕψωσαν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν ὑπέρτατον καὶ ἀνώτατον βαθμὸν τῆς τιμῆς, τῆς δόξης, τῆς ἀξίας καὶ τῆς μεγαλειότητος, καθὼς ἤδη τὴν βλέπετε, ἐκεῖνοι οἵτινες ὑπέταξαν εἰς αὐτὴν τόσα καὶ τόσα ἔθνη, καὶ ἔθνη βάρβαρα καὶ ἑτερογενῆ, καὶ τόσας πολυαρίθμους ἢ μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν ἀναριθμήτους νήσους καὶ ὅλην σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην, δὲν ἐστάθησαν ἄλλοι εἰ μὴ οἱ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, οἱ ὁποῖοι ἐπέταξαν ὡς ἀετοὶ ὑψότερον πτητότητες τῶν Εὐαγγέλων ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἕως ἐκεῖ ὁποῦ δὲν ἦσαν βέβαιοι ἂν εἶναι οἰκουμένη.

Καὶ στοχασθῆτε, σᾶς παρακαλῶ, ποῖοι μετὰ τοὺς ἁγίους Ἀποστόλους ἐγύρισαν εἰς τὴν πίστιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὅλην τὴν Εὐρώπην· Ὅλην τὴν Ἤπειρον· Τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὅλην, καὶ τόσας καὶ τόσας, ὡς εἶπον, ἀναριθμήτους νήσους, εἰ μὴ οἱ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, οἱ ὁποῖοι κατὰ νεῦσιν θείαν εὐγαίνοντες ἀπὸ τὴν πατρίδα των ἔστησαν τὰς σημαίας τοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἕως καὶ εἰς αὐτὰς τῆς Εὐρώπης τὰς ἐσχατιάς;

Ποῖοι ἐφώτισαν τοὺς Μόσχους; Ποῖοι ἐδίδαξαν τοὺς Σκύθας; Ποῖοι ἐκήρυξαν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον Ἰησοῦν Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἕως καὶ εἰς αὐτοὺς τοὺς σκληροὺς καὶ ἀβάτους παγετοὺς τῶν ὑπερβορείων Ἐθνῶν, παρὰ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου; Οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς ἔφερον εἰς Θεογνωσίαν τόσας ἐπαρχίας τῆς Ἀσίας, τόσους τόπους τῆς Λιβύας καὶ τόσα μέρη τῆς Ἀφρικῆς· καὶ μὲ τὴν μωρίαν τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ κηρύγματος, ἥτις εἶναι ἡ ἀληθινὴ σοφία τοῦ Θεανθρώπου Σωτῆρος μας, καὶ τὰς μυθολογίας τῶν Ἀράβων κατήργησαν καὶ τὰς σοφιστικὰς καὶ ῥητορικὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων διέλυσαν. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ὄχι ἀκόπως μήτε ἀπόνως τὰ παρῆλθον, καθὼς ὁ λόγος τὰ διεξέρχεται, ἀλλὰ μὲ κόπους πολλούς, μὲ ἀγῶνας καὶ καμάτους ὑπερβολικούς, μὲ ἱδρῶτας ἀτρύτους καὶ μὲ κινδύνους ἀλλεπαλλήλους γενναίως οἱ γενναῖοι τὰ ἐκατόρθωσαν, διαδραμόντες ὡς ἄλλοι γίγαντες πνευματοφόροι πᾶσαν τὴν ὑφήλιον, ὅλην τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανόν· καὶ κατὰ τὸν Προφητάνακτα, «κατ' ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἡ ἔξοδος αὐτῶν, καὶ ἕως ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ κατάντημα» (Ψαλμ. ιη΄ 7), καὶ οὐχ ἔστιν ὅστις ἠδυνήθη ποτε νὰ ἀποκρυβῇ ἀπὸ τῆς διδασκαλικῆς αὐτῶν θερμότητος καὶ ἀληθοῦς δογματολογίας, εἰς τρόπον ὥστε «εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν» διεχύθησαν (Ψαλμ. ιη΄ 5). Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὡς ἄξιοι ἀξίως ἠξιώθησαν τὸ νὰ κληρονομήσουν καὶ τὸ ὄνομα καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα τῆς ἀποστολῆς καὶ ἰσαπόστολοι νὰ ὀνομάζωνται. Ὅθεν τώρα σᾶς ἀφήνω, ὥστε καὶ μόνοι σας νὰ στοχασθῆτε ὅσα οἱ ἱερωμένοι ἐκατόρθωσαν διὰ τὴν κοινὴν ὠφέλειαν καὶ σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

Ἐγὼ δὲν θέλω νὰ σᾶς ἀπαριθμήσω τόσα καὶ τόσα ἄλλα καλά, ἅτινα οἱ ἱερωμένοι κατὰ καιροὺς ἔκαμαν, διὰ νὰ μὴν ἐκτείνω τὸν λόγον μου εἰς μίαν ὑπόθεσιν τόσον φανεράν. Τόσον μόνον σᾶς λέγω, ὅτι ὅλα ἐκεῖνα τὰ πλέον μεγάλα, τὰ πλέον λαμπρὰ καὶ τὰ πλέον ἔνδοξα, τὰ ὁποῖα ἡ ἱστορία σᾶς προβάλλει ἢ ἡ δοκιμὴ καὶ ἀπόπειρα σᾶς ἀποδεικνύει καὶ σᾶς βεβαιώνει διὰ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, διὰ τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅλα εἶναι ἔργα, κατορθώματα καὶ ἀνδραγαθήματα τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ λειτουργῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, καὶ μάλιστα ὅσοι ἐξ ἐκείνων ἥνωσαν τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν θείων μὲ τὴν πρακτικὴν ζωήν.

Καὶ στοχασθῆτε ποῖοι ἄλλοι ἐστάθησαν οἱ κοινοὶ διδάσκαλοι τόσον τῆς Ἀνατολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὅσον καὶ τῆς Δυτικῆς παρὰ ὁ Ἀθανάσιος, ὁ Βασίλειος, ὁ Γρηγόριος, ὁ Χρυσόστομος, ὁ Κύριλλος, ὁ Ἐπιφάνιος, ὁ Ἀμβρόσιος, ὁ Ἱερώνυμος, ὁ Αὐγουστῖνος καὶ τόσοι ἄλλοι, ὅλοι ὅμως ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Ὑψίστου Θεοῦ;

Ἡ μυστικὴ ἐκείνη καὶ δογματικὴ θεολογία, ποίους μετὰ τὸν Θεολόγον Ἰωάννην τὸν Ἀπόστολον, ποίους εἶχεν ἐκφάντορας καὶ διδασκάλους της παρὰ τὸν Θεολόγον τὸν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, τὸν Θεολόγον τὸν Ναζιανζηνόν, τὸν Θεολόγον τὸν ἐκ Δαμασκοῦ καὶ τὸν Θεολόγον τὸν σημερινόν, τὸν τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης πρόεδρον;

Ἡ ἁγία καὶ ἱερὰ Γραφὴ πόθεν εὕρισκε τοὺς σοφοὺς καὶ πιστοὺς ἐξηγητάς της παρὰ ἀπὸ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου;

Ἡ πνευματικὴ διαγωγὴ καὶ μοναδικὴ πολιτεία πόθεν εὗρῆκε τοὺς ἀπλανεῖς ὁδηγοὺς της καὶ ἀσφαλεῖς ποδηγέτας της παρὰ ἀπὸ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς τοὺς ἐφησυχάσαντας καὶ συγγράψαντας κατὰ καιροὺς εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ μοναστήρια; Πόθεν οἱ κανόνες παρέλαβον τοὺς ἐνδόξους κανονιστὰς των παρὰ ἀπὸ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου;

Φρίττουν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ τρομάζουν οἱ αἱρετικοὶ στοχαζόμενοι ὅτι, ὁσάκις φορὰς ἐτόλμησαν νὰ κινηθοῦν κατὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἄλλαις τόσαις φοραῖς ἔπεσον νενικημένοι καὶ κατησχυμμένοι ἀπὸ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς. Καὶ στοχασθῆτε μεταξὺ ὅλου τοῦ συστήματος τῶν Χριστιανῶν ποῖοι ἐστάθησαν οἱ πλέον φρόνιμοι καὶ πεπαιδευμένοι εἰς τὸ νὰ γνωρίσουν τοὺς αἱρετικούς ἢ οἱ πλέον γενναῖοι καὶ ἀνδρεῖοι εἰς τὸ νὰ τοὺς ἀντισταθοῦν ἢ οἱ πλέον εὐτυχείς καὶ εὐμαθεῖς εἰς τὸ νὰ τοὺς καταβάλουν καὶ νὰ τοὺς κατατροπώσουν παρὰ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου;

Εἶναι φανερόν, Χριστιανοί μου, ὅτι εἰς κάθε νέαν αἵρεσιν τῶν αἱρετιζόντων, ὁποῦ ἐσηκώθη νὰ διαβλάψῃ καὶ νὰ διαφθείρῃ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀντέστη ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀπὸ τὸ ἄλλο μέρος, εἰς τὸ νὰ τὴν βαστάξῃ καὶ νὰ τὴν φυλάξῃ, μία νεοσύλλεκτος Σύνοδος ἱερωμένων, ὡσὰν νὰ ἦτον νέα τινα στρατεύματα ἐξοπλισμένες προητοιμασμένα καὶ ἀσθενῶς περιφυλαγμένα καὶ διωρισμένα εἰς τὸ νὰ διαφενδεύσουν τὴν ἁγίαν πίστιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

Τί δὲν ἔκαμαν, σᾶς παρακαλῶ, οἱ Ἀθανάσιοι, οἱ Βασίλειοι, οἱ Γρηγόριοι, οἱ Χρυσόστομοι, οἱ Κύριλλοι, οἱ Ἐπιφάνιοι, οἱ Ἀμβρόσιοι, οἱ Ἱερώνυμοι, οἱ Αὐγουστῖνοι, σὺν τούτοις καὶ οἱ Ἀντώνιοι, οἱ Εὐθύμιοι, οἱ Σάββες, οἱ Θεοδόσιοι, οἱ Ἰσίδωροι, οἱ Μητροφάνες, οἱ Θεόδωροι καὶ οἱ Μάξιμοι, καὶ τόσοι ἄλλοι πάμπολλοι; Ἐξ ὧν οἱ μὲν πρῶτοι ὡς στρατάρχαι τοῦ οὐρανίου βασιλέως, γενναίως προηγούμενοι καὶ εὐθαρσῶς προπορευόμενοι μὲ τὴν δίστομον ῥομφαίαν εἰς τὰς χεῖρας, ὁποῦ ἦτον οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς. Οἱ δὲ δεύτεροι, ὡς ταξίαρχοι καὶ ὀφφικιάλιοι, μὲ τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος περιζωσμένοι, ὁποῦ ἦτον οἱ ἱερομόναχοι. Οἱ δὲ τρίτοι, ὡς στρατιῶται τακτικοὶ καὶ πολεμισταὶ δόκιμοι καὶ τεχνικοί, μὲ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ Παναγίου Πνεύματος, ἐνδεδυμένοι τὸν θώρακα τῆς πίστεως καὶ καθωπλισμένοι μὲ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ τιμίου καὶ ζωοποιοῦ Σταυροῦ, ὁποῦ ἦτον οἱ ὅσιοι πατέρες καὶ μονάζοντες εἰς τὰ μοναστήρια. Οἱ ὁποῖοι συνάμα ὅλοι των συνέθλασαν εἰς τέλος καὶ ἐξηφάνισαν κατὰ κράτος τῶν αἱρετικῶν τὰς φάλαγρας καὶ πάσας τῶν δυσσεβῶν τὰς ὁρμὰς καὶ παρατάξεις. Μὲ ὅλον ὁποῦ οἱ ἀντικείμενοι ἦτον κατὰ καιροὺς καθωπλισμένοι καὶ μὲ αὐτὰ τὰ σκήπτρα τῆς τότε βασιλείας καὶ μὲ πολλὰς δυνάμεις τῆς τότε ἐξουσίας.

Τίς ἐκαταδάμασε, σᾶς παρακαλῶ, τοὺς εἰκονοκλάστας καὶ εἰκονομάχους, τὰ φοβερὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας τέρατα, ὁποῦ κατεμόλυναν ὅλην σχεδὸν τὴν Ἀνατολὴν μὲ τὴν βδελυρίαν τῶν ἑβραϊκῶν καὶ ἀθέων τους δογμάτων, παρὰ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου; Καὶ ἀληθινὰ τὸ πῶς ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔχει χρέος ἄφευκτον πρὸς τοὺς ἱερωμένους νὰ τοὺς εὐχαριστῇ καὶ νὰ τοὺς περιβάλλῃ περισσότερον ἀπὸ κάθε ἄλλον διὰ τοὺς θριάμβους καὶ τὰς νίκας, ὁποῦ ἔκαμαν κατὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν, εἶναι φανερόν. Καθότι, ὁποῦ οἱ αἱρετικοὶ δὲν ἀπήντησαν, δὲν εὑρῆκαν ἐναντίον των τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱερωμένους, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἐπιπλέον καὶ εἰς περισσότερον καιρὸν ἔστησαν τῆς ἀσεβείας των τὰ τρόπαια, καθὼς βλέπομεν ὀφθαλμοφανῶς καὶ εἰς ἐκεῖνα τὰ μέρη, καὶ εἰς ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἔθνη, ὁποῦ βασιλεύει μέχρι καὶ τῆς σήμερον ἡ αἵρεσις, φεῦ, καὶ κακοδοξία.

Τώρα τί λέγετε εἰς αὐτά, Χριστιανοί μου; Ἠμπορεῖτε τάχα νὰ εἴπῃτε ὅτι ἐγὼ παραφρονῶ ἢ παραλογίζομαι; Δύνασθε νὰ μοῦ ἐναντιωθῆτε εἰς ὅσα ἕως τώρα σᾶς ἐλάλησα; Δὲν εἶναι τάχα αὐτὰ καὶ φανερώτερα ἡλίου καὶ ψηλαφητὰ καὶ βέβαια; Καὶ ὅταν εἶναι ἔτζι, καθὼς καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ εἶναι, διατὶ ἀπὸ τὸ ἕνα μέρος χαίρετε, τέρπεσθε, ἠδύνεσθε εἰς τὰ καλά τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, καὶ ἀπὸ τὸ ἄλλο μέρος λυπῆτε καὶ θλίβεσθε μὲ τὰς δυσφημίας καὶ κατηγορίας ἐκείνων, ὁποῦ σᾶς τὰ κάμνουν; Ἢ θέλετε καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο νὰ μιμήσθε τοὺς παλαιοὺς ἐκείνους Αἰγυπτίους, οἱ ὁποῖοι ἀπὸ τὸ ἓν μέρος ἐχαίροντο καὶ ἀγαποῦσαν τὸ νὰ ἔχουν πρόβατα πολλά, φυλαττόμενα καὶ ποιμαινόμενα ἀπὸ τοὺς τζοπάνηδες, διὰ νὰ τρέφωνται μὲ τὸ γάλα των καὶ μὲ τὸ τυρί των, καὶ νὰ ἐνδύνωνται μὲ τὰ δέρματα καὶ μὲ τὸ μαλλί των, ἔπειτα δὲ ἀπὸ τὸ ἄλλο μέρος ἀηδίαζον καὶ ἐσυχναίνοντο ὡς βρομεροὺς ἐκείνους τοὺς τζοπάνηδες, ὁποῦ ἐκοπίαζον διὰ τὸ καλόν τους;

Ἀλλ' ἐγὼ συμπεραίνω τί ἔχετε νὰ μοῦ ἀποκριθῆτε εἰς αὐτά· Ἡμεῖς, Δέσποτα, τοὺς παλαιοὺς ἱερωμένους μήτε τοὺς μισοῦμεν, μήτε τοὺς ἀηδιάζομεν, μήτε τοὺς κατακρίνουμεν, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα καὶ τοὺς εὐλαβούμεθα, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦμεν διὰ τὰ τόσα καὶ τόσα καλὰ ὁποῦ ἔκαμαν εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Ἡμεῖς τοὺς τωρινοὺς ἱερωμένους καὶ ἀηδιάζομεν καὶ κατηγοροῦμεν καὶ μεμφόμεθα, ἐπειδὴ ἐκδιόλου ἐνθεύθησαν καὶ παντελῶς δὲν ὁμοιάζουν μὲ τοὺς προγενεστέρους των. Ὡσὰν ὁποῦ ἄλλοι ἐξ αὐτῶν εἶναι σκανδαλοποιοὶ καὶ ταραχώδεις εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἄλλοι ἀνωφελεῖς καὶ ἀχρήσιμοι εἰς τὰς ἐπαρχίας των· ἄλλοι ἀχόρταγοι καὶ ἀχόρταγοι εἰς τὰ ἐπαγγέλματά των· ἄλλοι λαίμαργοι καὶ κοιλιόδουλοι εἰς τὰ τραπέζιά των· καὶ ἄλλοι ἄσωτοι καὶ μὲ καταχρήσεις εἰς τὰ κονάκιά των· καὶ ἄλλοι φανεροὶ κακοήθεις καὶ κακοεργάται. Καὶ τοιοῦτοι ὄντες δὲν πρέπει νὰ ἔχουν μήτε τὰς τιμάς, μήτε τὰ εἰσοδήματα ἐκεῖνα, ὁποῦ εἶχον οἱ παλαιοὶ διὰ μισθὸν τῶν κόπων τους. Ἐπειδὴ οἱ τωρινοὶ τὰ ἐξοδεύουν καὶ τὰ καταχρῶνται εἰς σπατάλας καὶ τρυφὰς τῆς κακοήθους ὀκνηρίας των.

Δὲν εἶναι αὐτά, Χριστιανοί μου, τὰ κάλανδά μας ὁποῦ ἠμπορεῖτε νὰ μοῦ ψάλλῃτε; Ἐγὼ δὲ σᾶς εὐχαριστῶ, ὁποῦ ὁμολογεῖτε κἂν τὰ ἀξιώματα τῶν παλαιῶν ἱερωμένων. Σᾶς λέγω δὲ μετὰ πάσης βεβαιότητος, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ ἱερωμένοι, οἱ τῷ ὄντι ἁγιώτατοι ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Ὑψίστου Θεοῦ, καὶ αὐτοί, αὐτοὶ ἐκατηγορήθησαν ὄχι ὀλιγότερον, διὰ νὰ μὴ εἴπω καὶ πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ περισσότερον. Δὲν τοὺς ἐφώναζαν οἱ πρόγονοί σας καὶ προγενέστεροι, οἱ τότε δηλαδὴ Χριστιανοί, ὅτι διέτριβον εἰς τῶν ἀρχόντων τὰς αὐλάς; Δὲν τοὺς ἐκατηγοροῦσαν πὼς ἐχρησιμοποιοῦσαν μὲ πονηρίαν ἐποχετευομένην καὶ μὲ κακοήθειαν ἐπιτετηδευμένην ὅλα τὰ λαμπρά, ὅλα τὰ μεγάλα καὶ τὰ ἔνδοξα; Δὲν τοὺς διέβαλλον καὶ εἰς αὐτὰ ἀκόμη τὰ δημόσια κριτήρια πὼς ἐκαταχρῶντο καὶ διενoσφίζοντο τὰ ἐκκλησιαστικὰ καὶ μοναστηριακὰ κτήματα καὶ εἰσοδήματα; Δὲν τοὺς ἐκατηγοροῦσαν πὼς ἦσαν ἰσχυρογνώμονες καὶ πεισματικοί; Πῶς ἦτον ὑπερήφανοι καὶ ἀκατάδεκτοι; Πῶς ἦτον φιλόδοξοι καὶ φιλάρχοι; Πῶς ἦτον φιλόνεικοι καὶ σοφισταί; Πῶς ἦτον ἐμπαθεῖς καὶ αἰσχροκερδεῖς; Καὶ ἄλλα πάμπολλα καὶ σκληρότερα ἐγκλήματα καὶ κατηγορήματα κατ' αὐτῶν ἀσυνειδήτως ἐπεσώρευον, ὁποῦ καὶ ἐντρέπομαι κἂν νὰ σᾶς τὰ ἀναφέρω. Καὶ ὅποιος δὲν πιστεύει, ἂς διαβάσῃ τὰς ἐκκλησιαστικὰς ἱστορίας, ἂς ἀναγνώσῃ τοὺς Θείους Πατέρας, Ἀνατολικοὺς καὶ Δυτικούς, ἂς περάσῃ τοὺς Βίους τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν, ἂς μετέλθῃ τὰς τόσας καὶ τόσας σφοδρὰς ἀπολογίας τῶν κατηγορηθέντων ἱερωμένων, καὶ τότε θέλει ἰδῇ, θέλει καταλάβῃ πόσον ἐκοπίασαν ἀπὸ τότε οἱ ἀοίδιμοι ἐκεῖνοι ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου εἰς τὸ νὰ ἀθωώσουν τὸν ἑαυτόν τους ἀπὸ τοσαύτας καὶ τοιαύτας παρομοίας καὶ ἔτι χείρονας κατηγορίας καὶ συκοφαντίας, ὁποῦ ἐντρέπομαι, ὡς εἶπον, κἂν νὰ σᾶς τὰ ἀναφέρω...

Μὰ ἐγὼ καὶ εἰς αὐτὰ συμπεραίνω τὸ τί ἔχετε νὰ μοῦ ἀποκριθῆτε· Ἡμεῖς, Δέσποτα, ἂν εἴμεθα κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρόν, κατ' ἐκείνας τὰς ἡμέρας, ὁποῦ οἱ προγενέστεροί μας ἔκαμαν τὰ ὅσα ἔκαμαν κατὰ τῶν τότε ἀρχιερέων, δὲν ἠθέλαμε μὲ αὐτοὺς συμφωνήσει βέβαια, καὶ δὲν ἠθέλαμε κατενεχθῇ κατὰ τῶν τότε ἱερωμένων, καθὼς ἐκεῖνοι κατηνέχθησαν. «Εἰ ἤμεν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἤμεν κοινωνοὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ αἵματι τῶν προφητῶν» (Ματθ. κγ΄ 30)...

Ἀλλ' ἠξεύρετε, Χριστιανοί μου, τί σᾶς ἀποκρίνεται ὁ Κύριος εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν εὐρησιολογίαν σας; Εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν πρόφασίν σας; Σᾶς ἀποκρίνεται ἐκεῖνα, ὁποῦ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτολεξεὶ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς τότε Γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαίους· «ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς, ὅτι υἱοί ἐστε τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεέννης;» (Ματθ. κγ΄ 31-33). Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ· «Ἱερουσαλήμ, Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν. ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος, καὶ αἱ ἐπαύλεις ὑμῶν ἠρημωμέναι, καὶ ἐν τοῖς σκηνώμασιν ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔσται ὁ κατοικῶν.... (Ματθ. κγ΄ 37, Ψαλμ. ξη΄ 26)

Εἶναι, Χριστιανοί μου, λόγοι τοῦ Κυρίου μας, ὅσον ἀποφασιστικοί, τόσον ἀναπόδραστοι καὶ ἀνέκπτωτοι...

Ἄχ, Χριστιανοί μου! Μὰ τί ζητεῖτε νὰ εἶναι οἱ ἱερωμένοι; Θέλετε νὰ εἶναι συνθεμένοι ἀπὸ μίαν φύσιν ἀναμάρτητον; Μά, τοῦτο εἶναι ἀδύνατον! Διατὶ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι καὶ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γεγεννημένοι, καὶ ἄνθρωποι ὁποῦ διὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς πληγωμένης των καρδίας ῥέπουν καὶ αὐτοὶ φυσικῶς εἰς τὴν λιποταξίαν. Μά, ἂν καὶ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων δὲν ἦτον, καὶ ἦτον καταγόμενοι ὅλοι των ἀπὸ ἀγγέλους, τί παράδοξον ἂν εὑρίσκοντο μεταξὺ των κακοὶ καὶ κακοί; [σ. 5β] Τάχα δὲν ἐστάθη μίαν φοράν, ὁποῦ ἐξέπεσε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἑωσφόρος; Καὶ μὲ αὐτὸν μαζῇ τόσοι ὀπαδοί του καὶ τόσοι ἀκόλουθοί του ἄγγελοι; Ἂν στοχασθῶμεν τὸ ὀσπήτιον τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, βλέπομεν ὅτι μὲ τὸν εὐλαβέστατον καὶ εὐπειθέστατον Ἰσαὰκ εἶχε καὶ ἕνα θρασὺν, τολμηρὸν καὶ αὐθάδη καὶ προπετῆν Ἰσμαήλ. Ἂν στοχασθῶμεν πάλιν τὸ ὀσπήτιον τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, βλέπομεν ὅτι μὲ τὸν ἀγαπητόν του Ἰακὼβ εἶχε καὶ ἕνα ἀξιοκατάκριτον Ἠσαῦ. Ἂν στοχασθῶμεν τὸ ὀσπήτιον τοῦ Ἰακώβ, βλέπομεν ὅτι μὲ τὸν σωφρονέστατον Ἰωσὴφ εἶχε καὶ ἕνα Ῥουβεὶμ μεμολυσμένον καὶ παράνομον. Ἂν στοχασθῶμεν καὶ τοῦ Προφητάνακτος Δαβὶδ τὴν φαμιλιὰν βλέπομεν ὅτι καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ἦτον καὶ ἕνας ἀχάριστος Ἀμνὼν καὶ ἕνας ἀποστάτης Ἀβεσσαλώμ. Ἂν στοχασθῶμεν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἀγιώτατον τάγμα τῶν πανευφήμων Ἀποστόλων εὑρίσκομεν καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἕνα χριστομάχον καὶ προδότην Ἰούδαν. Ἂν στοχασθῶμεν καὶ τοῦ Θείου Παύλου τὸ ἀποστολικὸν σχολεῖον, μανθάνομεν ὅτι τέσσαρες φοβεροὶ αἱρεσιάρχαι εὐρῆκαν ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἕνας Φάγγελος, ἕνας Ἑρμογένης, ἕνας Φιλητός, καὶ ἕνας Ὑμέναιος. Τί λοιπόν παράδοξον, ἂν καὶ εἰς τὸ τάγμα τῶν ἱερωμένων εὑρίσκονται ἀναμεταξὺ των καλοὶ καὶ κακοί; Ἐγὼ μάλιστα λέγω, ὅτι εἶναι ἀδύνατον νὰ μὴ εὑρίσκωνται, διότι μὲ τὸ νὰ εἶναι τῆς ἱερᾶς ταύτης τάξεως οἱ ὅροι καὶ κανόνες τόσον στενοὶ καὶ τόσον σφιχτοί, ἀδύνατον εἶναι τὸ νὰ μὴ εὑρίσκωνται καὶ τινες ὀκνηροὶ καὶ λιποτακτοῦντες. Καὶ δὲν βλέπετε πὼς καὶ οἱ ἐλαφρότεροι νόμοι, ὁποῦ ὁ Κύριος μᾶς ἔδωκεν πρὸς ἐσᾶς τοὺς κοσμικούς, εὐρῆκαν καὶ εὑρίσκουν πάντοτε, καὶ θέλουν εὑρῇ πολλοὺς ἐξ ὑμῶν τοὺς παραβάτας;

Ἀλλ' ἠξεύρετε ποία τάξις ἔχει τόσον εὔκολα τοὺς ἀκολούθους της, ὁποῦ νὰ τὴν φυλάττουν ἀκριβῶς; Εἶναι ἡ τάξις τῶν Σαρακηνῶν, ὁποῦ συγχωρεῖ κάθε λογῆς αἰτίαν εἰς τὰς σωματικὰς αἰσθήσεις, καὶ δίδει ὅλην τὴν ἄδειαν καὶ ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ὅλας τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ σαρκικὰς ὀρέξεις καὶ ἐμπαθεῖς ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ἡδυπαθείας. Εἶναι καὶ ἡ τάξις καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πολιτικοῦ μας, ὁποῦ διορίζει κάθε λογῆς πρᾶξιν καὶ ἀποφασίζει κάθε λογῆς ὑπόθεσιν μὲ μόνον τὸν κανόνα τῆς ἰδίας ὠφελείας. Μὰ ἡ τάξις τῶν ἱερωμένων πῶς δὲν εἶναι τοιαύτη, τίς δὲν τὸ ἠξεύρει; Τί λοιπόν παράδοξον εἶναι τὸ νὰ εὑρίσκωνται καὶ τινες ῥάθυμοι καὶ λιποτακτοῦντες;

Ὅσον σκληρὰ εἶναι ἡ ἱερὰ τάξις τῆς μοναδικῆς ζωῆς καὶ πολιτείας, τόσον ὀλιγώτεροι εἶναι οἱ δυνάμενοι νὰ τὴν ἀποκτήσουν. Ὀλιγώτεροι εἶναι βέβαια οἱ ἐξαίρετοι εἰς τὴν τέχνην ὁποῦ κεντᾷ τὰ ροῦχα, παρὰ εἰς τὴν τέχνην ὁποῦ ἁπλῶς τὰ ῥάπτει. Ὀλιγώτεροι εἶναι οἱ ἐξαίρετοι εἰς τὸ ὀρθῶς νὰ ἐννοήσουν, καὶ σοφῶς καὶ ῥητορικῶς νὰ συνθέσουν καὶ νὰ γράψουν, παρὰ νὰ τὰ ἀναγνώσουν καὶ νὰ τὰ διαβάσουν. Ἀλλὰ μὲ ὅλα ταῦτα, Χριστιανοί μου, ὅσον κακοὶ καὶ ἂν εἶναι οἱ ἱερωμένοι, εἶναι ὅμως ἀφιερωμένοι εἰς τὴν λατρείαν τοῦ Ὑψίστου Θεοῦ. Εἶναι ὑπηρέται τῶν μυστηρίων Αὐτοῦ. Εἶναι ἐξιδιασμένοι δοῦλοι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Φοροῦν τὸ ἅγιόν Του σχῆμα. Κατοικοῦν τοὺς ἱεροὺς ναοὺς Του. Συντελοῦν, ἐνεργοῦν τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν σας. Πλοῦτοῦν τὸ νὰ εἶναι μεσῖται Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἐκεῖθεν μὲν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν κατάγουν καὶ καταβιβάζουν τὰς θείας δωρεὰς καὶ χάριτας, ὁποῦ εἶναι ἡ ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν σας καὶ ἡ σωτηρία τῶν ψυχῶν σας, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἀνάγουν καὶ ἀναβιβάζουν τὰς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν εὐχὰς καὶ ἱκετηρίους ἐντεύξεις, δεόμενοι ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου καὶ εὐσταθείας τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησιῶν· ὑπὲρ εὐκρασίας ἀέρων, εὐφορίας τῶν καρπῶν τῆς γῆς· ὑπὲρ πλεόντων, ὁδοιπορούντων, νοσούντων, καμνόντων, αἰχμαλώτων καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν· καὶ ὑπὲρ πάσης ψυχῆς Χριστιανῶν ὀρθοδόξων, ζώντων τε καὶ τεθνεώτων. Καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἀκόπως, οὐχὶ χωρὶς δάκρυα καὶ θερμοὺς ἀναστεναγμούς, καὶ ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ καὶ τόπῳ, ὡς ἐπ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀφιερωθέντες τῷ Ὑψίστῳ Θεῷ. Πῶς λοιπόν ἀποτολμᾶτε καὶ τοὺς κατηγορεῖτε, τοιούτους ὄντας εὐεργέτας καὶ σωτῆρας σας; Πῶς τοὺς κάμνετε γέλωτος ὑπόθεσιν εἰς τὰς συνελεύσεις σας, εἰς τὰς συναναστροφάς σας καὶ συνομιλίας σας, εἰς τοὺς ὀντάδες σας καὶ ὀσπήτιά σας, καὶ εἰς κάθε καιρὸν καὶ τόπον, καὶ πολλάκις καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἱερᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ καθ' ἣν ὥραν, φεῦ! αὐτοὶ ἀκωπῶς ἀναφέρουν τὰς λατρείας των πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν σας, ὡς προείπομεν;

Οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, Χριστιανοί μου, εἶναι οἱ γνήσιοι διάδοχοι τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων, οἱ ὁποῖοι ᾠκοδόμησαν αὐτὴν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν εἰς τὸ ἀρραγὲς τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεμέλιον. Καὶ ἐπομένως οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς εἶναι οἱ καθολικοὶ τοποτηρηταὶ τοῦ ἰδίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅστις εἶναι ἡ μόνη καὶ κυρία κεφαλὴ τοῦ μυστικοῦ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Σώματος. Λοιπὸν οἱ ἀληθεῖς Χριστιανοί, ὄχι μόνον νὰ μὴ τοὺς ἀτιμάζωσι καὶ νὰ μὴ τοὺς κατηγορώσι καὶ ἀδικώτατα νὰ τοὺς ἐξουθενῶσι καὶ νὰ τοὺς θεατρίζωσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀνήκουσαν εἰς αὐτοὺς τιμὴν καὶ ὀφειλομένην εὐλάβειαν καὶ εὐταξίαν ἀπαραμειώτως πρέπει νὰ προσφέρωσι, διατὶ καὶ ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἀσυγγνώστως καὶ παθαίνουσι τὰ χείριστα, ἂν δὲν προσενεχθῶσιν εὐσεβῶς καὶ εὐλαβῶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὡς εὐσεβεῖς Χριστιανοί.

Τὰ εἰς τοὺς τοποτηρητὰς τῶν ἐπιγείων βασιλέων σφάλματα τῶν ὑπηκόων, οἷον ἀνυποταξία καὶ ἀπείθεια, ὡς πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἰδίους βασιλεῖς ἀναφερόμενα παιδεύονται αὐστηρότατα, καὶ μὲ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων τους τὴν δήμευσιν, καὶ μὲ αὐτὴν τῆς ἰδίας των ζωῆς τὴν ἐλεεινὴν ἀφαίρεσιν. Πολλῷ δὴ μᾶλλον τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἁγίους ἀρχιερεῖς, τοὺς καθολικοὺς τοποτηρητὰς τοῦ ἐπουρανίου Βασιλέως, παραπτώματα τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὀλιγωρία δηλαδὴ καὶ ὑπεροψία καὶ ἄλλαι κακοήθειαι διάφοροι, πρέπει νὰ παιδεύωνται μὲ τελείαν ἐκκοπὴν ἀπὸ τὴν ὁλομέλειαν τοῦ μυστικοῦ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Σώματος. Πρέπει νὰ καταδικάζωνται τὸν αἰώνιον τῆς ψυχῆς των θάνατον, ὡς μέλη ἄχρηστα καὶ σεσηπότα, καὶ νὰ μὴ ζωογονοῦνται πλέον ἀπὸ τὰς ἐνδρόσους χάριτας τοῦ Παναγίου Πνεύματος, ὁποῦ ἀῤῥήτως καταρδεύουσι τὸ μυστικὸν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦτο σύστημα.

Ὁ ἴδιος Θεός, μὲ ὅλην Του τὴν αὐστηρότητα καὶ φοβερὰν ἀγανάκτησίν Του ἐπαίδευσε κατὰ καιροὺς τοὺς πολλὰ ἢ ὀλίγον καταφρονεμένους καὶ καταφρονοῦντας τῶν ἁγίων Του ἀρχιερέων. Διαβάσατε τὰς παλαιὰς ἱστορίας, καὶ θέλετε ἰδῇ, ὅτι μὲ περισσοτέραν αὐστηρίαν ἐπαίδευσε τοὺς ἱεροκατηγόρους, παρὰ ἐκείνους ὁποῦ ἔσφαλαν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν ἴδιον Θεόν. Ποσάκις φορὰς ἥμαρτεν εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ὁ λαὸς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ ὅμως μεσιτευόντων τῶν ἀρχιερέων του — τοῦ Μωϋσέως, λέγω, καὶ τοῦ Ἀαρών — πάντοτε τοὺς ἐσυγχώρει. Ὅταν ὅμως οἱ Δαθὰν καὶ Ἀβειρὼν καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν Κορὲ διακόσιοι καὶ πεντήκοντα ἄνδρες αὐθάδιασαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἰδίους ἀρχιερεῖς, τὸν Μωϋσῆν καὶ Ἀαρών, τότε δὴ τότε ὁ δίκαιος Θεός, καὶ διὰ ἔλλειψιν μεσίτου καὶ διὰ ἔνδειξιν τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς ἀγάπης Του, ἔσχισε τὴν γῆν εἰς τόσα χάσματα φρικτά, καὶ ἔκαμε νὰ ξερασθοῦν τόσοι στρόβιλοι πυρός, καὶ ἐλεεινῶς τοὺς κατέφλεξαν ὅλους ἐκείνους τοὺς περὶ τὸν Κορέ. “Ἠνοίχθη ἡ γῆ καὶ κατέπιε Δαθὰν καὶ Ἀβειρών, καὶ πῦρ κατέφλεξε πάντας τοὺς περὶ τὸν Κορὲ διακοσίους καὶ πεντήκοντα ἄνδρας”... (Ψαλμ. ρε΄ 17-18, Ἀριθμ. ις΄ 32, 35)

Καὶ τί περισσότερον, Χριστιανοί μου, θέλετε; Ἡ Μαριὰμ ἡ προφῆτις, ἡ ἁγία, ἡ ὁσία καὶ εὐάρεστος αὐτάδελφη τοῦ Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως, μὲ τὸ νὰ κατέκρινε καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως κατελάλησε, ὡς λαβόντος εἰς γυναῖκα Σεπφώραν τὴν Αἰθιόπισσαν καὶ ὄχι Ἑβραίαν ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς συγγενείας του, κατὰ τὴν νόμιμον συνήθειαν, ἐλεπρώθη παραυθὺς καὶ ἐτιμωρήθη. Ἐλαβώθη ἐν τῷ ἅμα μὲ μίαν πληγὴν ὀδυνηρὰν ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἕως ποδῶν, καὶ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ὁλοκλήρους ἔγινε ἀποσυνάγωγος ἡ προφῆτις Μαριάμ, καὶ ἐξώσθη, ἀπεβλήθη, ἀπεδιώχθη ἀπὸ τὴν συναγωγὴν καὶ ἀπὸ αὐτὴν τὴν ἱερὰν ἀδελφότητά της ἡ ἁγία Μαριάμ. Ἕως ὅτου μὲ θερμὰς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν παρακλήσεις, ἱκεσίας, καὶ δεήσεις τοῦ ἰδίου καταλαληθέντος Μωϋσέως ἔλαβε τὴν ἀθώωσίν της, ἔλαβε τὴν συγχώρησίν της.

Ὅθεν δι’ αὐτοὺς τοὺς πατραλοίας, δι’ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀντάρτας καὶ αὐθάδεις καὶ ἀκολούθους τοῦ ἐπαράτου Χάμ, ὁποῦ τὴν γύμνωσιν ἰδὼν τοῦ πατρός του ἀναιδῶς ἐγέλασε, δι’ αὐτοὺς λέγω τοὺς ἱεροκατηγόρους καὶ τῷ ὄντι ἀπονενοημένους, ἐξυφάνισε καὶ ὁ Σολομών· “Ὀφθαλμὸν πατρὸς καταγελῶντα, ἐκκοφάτωσαν οἱ κόρακες ἐκ τῶν φαράγγων, καὶ καταφάγοισαν αὐτὸν νεοσσοὶ τῶν ἀετῶν” (Παροιμ. λ΄ 17). Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ· “καταγελῶντος πατέρας σβεσθήσεται λαμπτήρ, οἱ δὲ κόραι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ ὄψονται σκότος...” (Παροιμ. κ΄ 9).

Ἀξιοκατάκριτοι ἀληθινὰ καὶ αὐτόχρημα βδελύγματα εἶναι οἱ ἱεροκατήγοροι, καθὼς εἶναι ἐκεῖνοι ὁποῦ πτύουν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον ἐκείνων, ὁποῦ ταῖς βρώμαις των παστρεύουν. Ἀξιοκατάκριτοι καὶ παμβέβηλοι εἶναι οἱ ἱεροκατήγοροι, καθὼς εἶναι ἐκεῖνοι ὁποῦ βλασφημοῦν εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Πανάγιον. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἱ ἱερωμένοι εἶναι ὄργανα τοῦ Παναγίου Πνεύματος. Εἶναι ψηφισμένοι ὑπηρέται τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅστις δεσποτικῶς προστάζει καὶ προτρέπει πὼς ἀποφαίνεται· «μὴ ἅπτεσθε τῶν χριστῶν μου, καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις μου μὴ πονηρεύεσθε» (Ψαλμ. ρδ΄ 15).

Ὅθεν ἐσεῖς, Χριστιανοί μου, καὶ ὡς εὐσεβεῖς, καὶ ὡς φρόνιμοι καὶ νουνεχεῖς, φύγετε, λείψατε ἀπὸ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχοφθόρον καὶ σωματοφθόρον κακοήθειαν, διὰ [σ. 7β] νὰ μὴ φανῆτε ἐδῶ μὲν ὡς βδελύγματα ἐνώπιον Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἐκεῖ δὲ ὡς πέτευρα πυρίκαυστα τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως. Μὴ καταδεχθῆτε νὰ ἐξαπατᾶσθε ἀπὸ κάποια ἀγοραῖα ἀνθρωπάρια, μηδαμινὰ καὶ βεβλαμμένα κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ αἴσθησιν, διὰ νὰ μὴ συγκοινωνήσητε εἰς τὴν ἀσυγχώρητον ἐκείνην ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ διὰ νὰ μὴν ἐξάψητε κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς σας καὶ τὴν ἀγανάκτησιν καὶ ὀργὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τῶν παλαιῶν ἐκείνων ἱερωμένων, ὡς κατηγοροῦντες τοὺς γνησίους διαδόχους των, οἱ ὁποῖοι καὶ ψυχικῶς σᾶς ὠφελοῦν καὶ σωματικῶς καθ’ ἑκάστην σᾶς εὐεργετοῦσι κατὰ μίμησιν τῶν παλαιῶν ἐκείνων προκατόχων τους. Διατί, ἂν καὶ ἅγιοι δὲν εἶναι οἱ τωρινοὶ ἱερωμένοι, καθὼς φλυαροῦν οἱ τραγέλαφοι ἐκεῖνοι ἀγοραῖοι, εἶναι ὅμως τοσοῦτον ἀναγκαῖοι, τοσοῦτον σωτηριώδεις καὶ ὠφέλιμοι εἰς ὅλους σας, ὅσον ἦτον καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ εἰς τοὺς προγενεστέρους σας.

Ἐπειδὴ δι’ αὐτῶν τούτων καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡ λαμπρότης καὶ ἡ δόξα διασώζεται καὶ χαρακτηρίζεται μὲ τὰς ἱεροπρεπεῖς ψαλμωδίας των καὶ μὲ τὰς ἀγγελομιμήτους δοξολογίας των. Δι’ αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ ψυχικὴ καὶ σωματικὴ σας σωτηρία, ὡς προείπομεν, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀποθαμένων σας ἡ ἄνεσις ἐπιδαψιλεύεται μὲ τὰς καθημερινὰς των λειτουργίας καὶ ἐκτενεῖς ἀκολουθίας των. Δι’ αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ κατὰ πάσας πόλεις, χώρας καὶ κώμας καὶ χωρία καὶ πολυχνία θεία ἐπικουρία καὶ ἀντίληψις καὶ προστασία ἐπιχορηγεῖται καὶ βραβεύεται. Ὡσὰν ὁποῦ αὐτοὶ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐλέους, ζωῆς καὶ ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν σας, καὶ ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου καὶ τῆς τῶν πάντων ἑνώσεως, καὶ παρακαλοῦσι καὶ ἐπαγρυπνοῦσι καὶ λειτουργοῦσι καὶ δέονται πρὸς Κύριον νυκτός τε καὶ ἡμέρας, κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν διάτυπωσιν τῆς Ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας. Ἂν ὅμως καὶ ἀναιτίως ἤθελαν λείψῃ καὶ αὐτοὶ (ὃ μὴ γένοιτο) ἀπὸ τὸν κόσμον, πόση ἄραγε ἡ δυστυχία σας, καὶ πόση τῶν ψυχῶν σας ἡ ἀπώλεια ἤθελε σᾶς γένῃ; Στοχασθῆτε το καὶ μόνοι σας. Ἐσεῖς ἤθελε εἶσθαι ὅλοι ἀστεφάνωτοι. Τὰ τέκνα σας ἤθελαν μείνῃ ἄπαντα ἀβάπτιστα. Οἱ νέοι ἤθελαν χάσῃ τὴν σωτή- [σ. 8α] ριώδη ὁδηγίαν τῶν καὶ εὐσεβῆ διαίτησίν των. Ἡ χριστιανικὴ διαγωγὴ καὶ πολιτεία ἤθελεν ἐκλείψῃ διόλου ἀπὸ ὅλους σας. Εἰς τὰς συνόδους δὲν ἤθελε πλέον βασιλεύῃ ἡ ἱερὰ ἐκείνη καὶ θεολογικὴ σοφία, ἡ διδάσκουσα τὰ οὐράνια μαθήματα καὶ παραδίδουσα τὰ θεοπαράδοτα μυστήρια. Οἱ ἱεροὶ ἄμβωνες, καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἀρχιερατικοὶ μας θρόνοι, ἤθελαν εἶσθαι ἄφωνοι, ἄπρακτοι καὶ ἄλαλοι. Οἱ χωρικοὶ καὶ οἱ χυδαῖοι ἄνθρωποι ἤθελον ἀπομείνῃ παντελῶς δυστυχισμένοι. Διατί τίνος ἤθελε τρέξῃ νὰ τοὺς διορθώσῃ; Οἱ ῥαπτάδες ἢ οἱ παπουτζῆδες; Οἱ γουναρᾶδες ἢ οἱ κουϊμτζῆδες; Οἱ τζοχατζῆδες ἢ οἱ σαδαλτζῆδες; Οἱ κασαπῆδες ἢ οἱ σιμιτζῆδες; Οἱ φραγκοπραγματευτάδες ἢ οἱ φλύαροι λογάδες; Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς, καὶ μέσα καὶ ἔξω καὶ εἰς τὰς πόλεις καὶ χώρας καὶ κώμας, ἤθελον μείνῃ παντελῶς ἀπηλπισμένοι. Διατί ποῖος ἤθελε τοὺς δώσῃ ἢ ὁδηγίαν εἰς τὰ πρακτέα ἢ διόρθωσιν εἰς τὰ βεβιωμένα ἢ θάρρος καὶ παρηγορίαν εἰς τοὺς φόβους καὶ τρόμους ἐκείνους, ὁποῦ δοκιμάζει κάθε ψυχὴ, ὅταν ἀνοίγῃ τὰ φτερὰ της νὰ πετάξῃ ἀπὸ τὸν πρόσκαιρον τοῦτον κόσμον εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν αἰώνιον;

Μά, πῶς ὅλα ταῦτα εἶναι ἔργα, πράξεις καὶ καθημερινὰ ἀποτελέσματα τῶν τωρινῶν ἱερωμένων τίς δὲν τὸ ἠξεύρει; Ἡ Ἑλλὰς ὅλη τὸ φωνάζει. Ἡ Εὐρώπη τὸ κηρύττει. Ἡ Ἀσία τὸ μαρτυρεῖ. Ὁ κόσμος ὅλος τὸ αἰσθάνεται καὶ τὸ ὁμολογεῖ. Μόνον, ὅμως, μόνον δὲν τὸ αἰσθάνονται οἱ κατὰ ψυχὴν τυφλοὶ καὶ πεπωρωμένοι τῇ καρδίᾳ, οἱ τραγέλαφοι, λέγω, ἐκεῖνοι ἀγοραῖοι, οἱ ὁποῖοι φλυαροῦσι καὶ τολμοῦσι νὰ ἐπιτολμοῦν νὰ φρονοῦν, νὰ λέγουν, καὶ νὰ γράφουν ὅσα αἴσχιστα, τόσον ἀδικώτατα κατὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ ἱερέων καὶ λειτουργῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου...

Ἡμεῖς ὅμως, οἱ ὀρθόδοξοι καὶ καλοὶ Χριστιανοί, ὀρθῶς διανοούμενοι ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα καλά, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα βιοφελῆ καὶ ψυχωφελῆ σᾶς κάμνουν καὶ σᾶς ἐκτελοῦν οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, ζυγιάσατε τὸ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἄπειρον χρέος σας μὲ τρόπον εὐσυνείδητον, καὶ τότε βεβαιότατα θέλει σᾶς φανῇ ὅτι ὅλοι κοινοῦ οἱ ἱερωμένοι εἶναι ἄξιοι μεγίστης τιμῆς, μεγίστης εὐλαβείας, ἄκρας ὑποταγῆς, καὶ ὅτι πλείστης θεραπείας καὶ περιποιήσεως...

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily on the Feast of Pentecost (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

2026-06-03T17:02:37.410-04:00

Homily on the Feast of Pentecost

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles describes with precision the historical event of the descent and visitation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Specifically, it states:

“When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared unto them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1–4).

All the faithful were gathered together with one soul in the same place, in Jerusalem, and suddenly, without anyone expecting it, there came a sound from heaven like the roar of a mighty wind. This sound filled the entire house where all the disciples were gathered. Then tongues appeared to them, as though flames of fire were being distributed, and upon the head of each one of them rested a single tongue. Thus the whole of their being, their entire inner world, was filled with the Holy Spirit.

More specifically, when the day of Pentecost was about to be fully completed according to the Jewish reckoning, as prescribed, all were gathered together in the same place, as the sacred Luke writes, that is, the Apostles, the disciples, and the faithful. It should be noted in passing that Pentecost, as is well known, was one of the three great annual feasts of the Jews. It was called Pentecost because the feast was appointed to be celebrated after seven weeks had elapsed from the second day of Passover. It was a feast of thanksgiving for the harvest; for this reason it was also called the “Feast of Harvest” and the day of the new fruits, the “firstfruits.” Moreover, on the day of Pentecost they also commemorated the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai.

All, therefore, were gathered there in the upper room in Jerusalem, as the author of Acts writes, and specifically “with one accord,” that is, in the sense of unanimity, communion of souls, and feelings of love, peace, and concord. Then “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.”

This “suddenly,” this unexpectedness, naturally points to the Second Coming of Christ, “as the lightning comes from the east and shines even to the west” (Matt. 24:27), and “of that day and hour no one knows” (Matt. 24:36). What followed was that the sound which came from heaven was not like a wind gradually increasing from a gentle breeze to a violent storm; rather, from the very beginning it was like the blast of a powerful and mighty wind. It was somewhat similar to a sound that many of us have experienced, one which occasionally precedes an earthquake by a short time.

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It was a sound from heaven, as Revelation describes it, “like the voice of thunder” (Rev. 6:1), and without any knowledge of where it came from, as the Evangelist John writes: “The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8).

As Saint John Chrysostom beautifully explains the words “as” and “as if” in this passage regarding the sound and the fire, this is done “so that you may not think anything material concerning the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is neither the sound of a mighty wind nor tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit is not confined or defined by these natural phenomena, but is entirely above them. Such expressions are used because of our weakness and in order to provide some approximation of the descent of the Holy Spirit. The signs of His visitation were twofold: for hearing, a sound like that produced by a violent wind; and for sight, tongues as if of fire. They both heard and saw the mystery of the descent of the Holy Spirit.

This mighty wind had been prefigured in the Old Testament when the mother of the Prophet Samuel said: “The Lord ascended into heaven and thundered” (1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 2:10). Likewise, upon Mount Sinai God descended amid a storm: “And the mountain burned with fire up to heaven, with darkness, gloom, tempest, and a great voice” (Deut. 4:11). This occurred in order to convey a sense of the divine presence of the Holy Spirit.

Concerning this, the sacred hymnographer of the prose Canon of the feast, Kosmas the Melodist (8th century), writes in the Eighth Ode:

“When the life-giving and mighty breath of the all-holy Spirit came down from on high with a resounding sound, and in the form of fiery tongues, the fishermen proclaimed the mighty works of God.”

That is, when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven upon the Apostles with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and in the form of fiery tongues, the Holy Spirit revived and encouraged their souls so that they might thereafter proclaim the mighty works of God. This mighty breath did not cause terror or fear in the Apostles. Rather, because it was life-giving, it granted them courage, strength, and holy enthusiasm. These Apostles, who had been weak, were made strong.

For this reason Saint Basil the Great says:

“For just as the rays of the sun illuminate a cloud and cause it to shine with a golden appearance, so also the Holy Spirit, coming upon the body of a man, gave life, gave immortality, gave sanctification, and raised up what had lain fallen. And that which had been set in motion by the eternal motion of the Holy Spirit became a living and holy being. Man received the dignity of prophet, apostle, and angel of God through the indwelling of the Spirit, though before this he was merely earth and ashes” (PG 29, 769).

And according to Saint Gregory Palamas, this breath is called “mighty” precisely because it conquers all things.

And at the same time, “there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3). Indeed, the sacred hymnographer in the Pentecostarion writes the highly characteristic phrase: “A mighty breath distributes itself in fiery tongues.”

The presence of the Holy Spirit, therefore, was clearly visible in the form of fiery tongues, which were distributed upon the heads of the Apostles. They appeared specifically as “tongues,” because the organ most closely related to speech is the tongue, and thus the intimate association of the Holy Spirit with the Word of God is indicated. Moreover, through their mouths, “in articulate speech,” they would proclaim the divine teaching, “being moved by the Holy Spirit.” In this regard, the wise hymnographer recalls the confusion of tongues at the building of the Tower of Babel and writes beautifully in the Third Ode:

“The power of the divine Spirit, having come among us, divinely united into one harmony the speech that had formerly been divided among those who had wickedly agreed together, instructing the faithful in the knowledge of the Trinity, in whom we have been established.”

In other words, Pentecost, as an “anti-Babel,” comes and overthrows confusion, human folly, arrogance, and pride, dissolving the confusion brought about by the Fall. Indeed, the Holy Spirit unites and enlightens. Through the spiritual harmony that He brings, He teaches the faithful the knowledge of the Holy Trinity, in whom we have been firmly established.

Saint John Chrysostom writes concerning this:

“For because in ancient times men, having fallen into arrogance, desired to build a tower reaching to heaven, and because God shattered their wicked agreement through the division of tongues, for this reason the Holy Spirit now descends upon them in the form of fiery tongues, in order to unite through Himself the world that had been divided.”

But they also appeared as “tongues as of fire.” The manifestation of fiery tongues, rather than some other form, further signifies the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, since God is “a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24). Fire also appeared upon Mount Sinai (Exod. 19:18). In this way it is shown that the Holy Spirit possesses the same nature and energy as the other two Persons of the Holy Trinity.

Kosmas the Melodist expresses this beautifully and theologizes through his hymnography in the Fourth Ode:

“Bearing the sign of divinity, the Spirit was distributed among the Apostles in fire, and revealed itself in foreign tongues, showing that it comes from the Father as divine power, proceeding by its own authority.”

The sacred poet here explains why the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles “as tongues of fire.” Yes, it came in fire because it bore the sign of divinity, for fire symbolically signifies the divine nature, thus revealing that the Holy Spirit is God. Furthermore, through the miraculous gift of tongues it manifested that it proceeds from the Father as a divine power. Moreover, it “comes by its own authority,” meaning that it is not inferior, but self-acting and self-governing, equal in honor with the Father and the Son.

For “strength” and “power” are not attributes applied only to the Son, as in the words “Christ the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:24), but also to the Holy Spirit, according to “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). Likewise, the Father is called power in the words: “From now on you shall see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power” (Matt. 26:64).

And of course, the sacred text does not simply say “fire,” but “as of fire,” because, “what appeared was not fire, though it seemed to be fire.” Likewise, at Theophany, at the Baptism of the Lord, Scripture says: “And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove upon Him” (Luke 3:22). Therefore, the expression “as of fire” is used so that we do not think of the Holy Spirit as something material.

Saint Augustine says that “we cannot call the Holy Spirit a divine dove or a divine fire.” And certainly, the Holy Spirit, as “another kind of fire,” signifies that:

“It melts and softens hardened hearts, reshaping them; it separates and burns away the dross; it kindles within human beings pious and devoted feelings; it transforms souls into a living and rational altar upon which spiritual and rational sacrifices are offered” (P. Trembelas, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Athens, 1955, p. 78).

We should further add that these fiery tongues rested upon the heads of the Apostles, a fact that signifies the sovereign and royal authority, dignity, and unity of the Holy Spirit. The sacred text specifically states that “it sat upon each one of them” (v. 3), using the singular number in order to indicate that a single tongue rested upon each individual, and not that all the tongues descended successively upon each person. The head, moreover, is the highest and most honored part of the human body, and this carries particular significance.

In conclusion, one final reminder is especially noteworthy and deserves mention. In the Church’s hymnography, Pentecost is called the final feast. Specifically, it is written:

“Let us, the faithful, joyfully celebrate the afterfeast and final feast; this is Pentecost, the fulfillment of the promise and the appointed completion” (Monday after Pentecost).

This means that with Pentecost the saving work of the Divine Economy was brought to completion. It is the “end,” because through the Holy Spirit, whom the believer receives by grace, he becomes a member of the risen Body of Christ. In this way it is demonstrated that indeed “all things were created in order to become one body with Christ as their Head” (see Basil Tsingos, Topics in the Dogmatics of the Orthodox Church, Thessaloniki, 2014, p. 322). That is, all things are meant to become the Church, and thus the ultimate purpose of the Christian life is fulfilled. Therefore: “Let every breath praise the Spirit of the Lord.”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Martyr Loukilianos and Those With Him in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-06-03T16:31:40.859-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Loukilianos became known to the broader Church through the renowned and holy Elder of our times, Father Paisios the Athonite. Shortly before 1980, when he moved to the Koutloumousiou Cell of Panagouda, and before he had even unpacked his few belongings and ecclesiastical books from their boxes, he decided to perform the service of the day, June 3, using his prayer rope. When the time came to commemorate the saint whose feast was being celebrated, he became perplexed because he could not remember which saint it was. Then, to his amazement, he saw two men appear in his cell, one younger and the other older. He immediately recognized the younger one: it was Saint Panteleimon. The other, however, he did not recognize. When he asked who he was, the second Saint replied, “I am Saint Loukilianos.” The Elder did not hear clearly and asked again, “What? Saint Loukianos?” “No,” repeated the Saint, who was unknown to him, “Saint Loukilianos.” Then the Saints disappeared.

The Elder was deeply moved that God had responded even to an unspoken thought of his. Yet he wished to verify the vision. He searched through the boxes, found the June Menaion, and saw with great emotion that indeed, on June 3, our Church celebrates Saint Loukilianos. From that time on, the Elder honored this Saint in a special manner and kept an icon of him in the humble chapel of Panagouda.

The incident is, of course, trustworthy because the holy Elder himself is trustworthy. Yet it also helps us understand once again how truly alive our saints are, even though with our bodily senses we are unable to see or hear them. It is the saints of every age, such as the sanctified Father Paisios, who become the channels through which we too, miserable because of our many sins, which have closed even our spiritual senses, are able to perceive something of the immediacy of their presence. In this way we increase our faith in what the Church calls us to do every day: to turn to the saints and speak to them as living persons and not as myths or products of the imagination.

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This, indeed, is the fundamental truth of our faith: that the Church is the Body of Christ, having Christ Himself as its Head, and consisting both of her militant and her triumphant dimensions. One could confidently say that the saints of the triumphant Church are far more alive than we who still remain in this world, a world that in many respects lacks true existence because of the darkness of its sins. What else does our Church testify when, for example, in today’s Apolytikion of the Holy Martyrs she calls us to beseech them because they pray to God for our salvation? “Let us all entreat the martyrs of Christ, for they intercede for our salvation.”

Indeed, the Holy Hymnographer grants us a glimpse of their spiritual vision: not only are they alive and interceding for us and for our salvation, but in their own age and in every age they are like the sun, shining and enlightening mankind. “Having truly appeared as morning stars in the Church of Christ God, the martyrs shine forth with the light of their confession” (Ode 9).

And elsewhere: “You became a most radiant lamp to those who struggled together with you” (Ode 3).

And again: “You shine forth by your words and enlighten the world through your contests” (Ode 4).

And this means, of course, that our saints, both through their words and, above all, through their lives, are our guides and examples. Particularly in a disoriented world such as the present one, where people afflicted by every kind of passion and perversion are held up as role models, the Church continues to insist upon the truth: our saints are the true models and luminous guides. And why is this so? Because they followed, with the greatest possible consistency, the very Founder of our faith, Jesus Christ Himself, proving that their highest priority was their love for Him.

In the case of Saint Loukilianos, the ecclesiastical poet Ignatios does not hesitate to compare him to Christ’s own chosen vessel, the Apostle Paul: “Together with Paul you cried out: ‘Neither danger nor sorrow, neither famine nor the sword shall separate me from the love of Christ, O martyr’” (Ode 7).

And it is this truth that explains the power possessed by our saints. Living in the love of Christ, chiefly by preserving His word within their hearts — for this is the proof of love for Christ according to His own saying, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” — they possess Him fully alive within their being and His power active within them. Does not the Lord Himself also assure us: “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”? (That is, if you remain united to Me and keep My words within your being, ask whatever you desire and it will be granted to you.)

This is precisely what the Holy Hymnographer also notes: “Having acquired within your heart the words of life, O wise one, you put to death through your steadfast resistance the flatteries of the tyrants, O ever-memorable one” (Ode 5).

Through the intercessions of Your Saint, O Christ God, save our souls.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Prologue in Sermons: June 3

2026-06-03T15:38:08.526-04:00

To Those Who Cannot Get Along in One Place and Are Looking for Something New

June 3

(The Teaching of Saint Ephraim on the Impropriety of a Monk Moving from Place to Place)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

There are many, very many people in the world who live by the proverb, “It is better where we are not,” and who continually move from one place to another. In most cases, this is not praiseworthy. What most often compels us to change our place of residence? General dissatisfaction with life, laziness, the pursuit of gain, an inability to get along with others, or, finally, envy of our neighbors. All these are blameworthy motives. Only pressing necessity can justify the desire to change one's place. Therefore, if you wish to leave where you now live, first examine whether your motives are pure and whether necessity truly compels you to do so. Reflect carefully, reflect as a Christian; and if your motives are indeed pure and necessity genuinely requires it, then go. But if not, it is better to remain where you are, for otherwise you will not avoid sin, and you certainly will not receive God's blessing or happiness in a new place.

“We must,” says Saint Ephraim to the monks, “follow Christ alone, live in obedience, and not wander from place to place. Above all, if anyone desires to leave his place, let him examine himself: why does he wish to depart? Is it laziness that compels him? Is it the hope of finding better people than those among whom he now lives? Is it envy? Is it spiritual negligence? Is it a desire to avoid obedience? Or is it the love of wealth that drives him to leave his place? And if reflection reveals any of these motives, and if, upon self-examination, we discover that passions alone are urging us to flee, then let us strive through humility and patience to overcome this desire and remain where we are, in order to escape the snares of the enemy.”

Yes, brethren, if caution is required in all things, then it is especially necessary when changing one's place of residence. For a person who moves from place to place for impure reasons places himself in danger of spiritual ruin. The desire to relocate becomes a passion; dissatisfaction increases; laziness follows; and thus the person is lost. Therefore, unless there is a compelling necessity, it is better to remain where we are. “It is difficult,” some lazy person may say; but for such a person, wherever he goes, everything will remain difficult. “People are bad,” another may complain; yet people are people everywhere, not angels. Let us always remember that the earth is not paradise but an exile from paradise, and that true and everlasting peace exists only in heaven. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily on the Day of the Holy Trinity, or Pentecost (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

2026-06-02T17:41:52.811-04:00

Homily on the Day of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost)

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

I congratulate all of you on the feast of Pentecost, on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, on the day of the manifestation of the Consubstantial and Indivisible Holy Trinity!

On the day of Pascha, the Lord granted His disciples a gift from His Spirit. This was not yet the fullness of that gift; nevertheless, it foreshadowed today's feast, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire and thereby transformed them, remade them, leavened them anew, made them new beings, participants in a new life, and brought them — and through them all of us — into the Kingdom of God on earth.

It is noteworthy to recall the Resurrection of Christ. The Apostles were sitting in a small locked room, “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19), discussing the disappearance of the body from the tomb. Suddenly Christ passed through the locked doors and gave them the Life-Giving Spirit, who delivers them from their sins. By His breath Christ dispelled the stale air of that room. In reality, this entire world is one vast stale room in which mankind lives under the oppression of death, bound by space and time, shackled by corruption and decay. Wherever a person goes, he carries destruction and corruption with him.

Man, living within this little room, is compelled to spend his life struggling for a tiny piece of land upon which he dwells. It is no accident that humanity, ever since the Fall, has occupied itself with divisions. First, husband and wife became divided, becoming ashamed before one another; the husband shifted the blame onto the wife, and the wife became estranged from her husband. This division continued further: brother rose against brother. After the Flood came races; after the Tower of Babel came nations, as a great judgment of God. Man began to fight over borders, resources, and wealth. From this arise the wars, hatred, and cruelty that reign in the world. Nations were established by God as a protection against a greater evil — the united rebellion of mankind against God. Yet nations did not allow man fully to recognize in another human being his brother, who is likewise created in the image of God and who is likewise called to become a child of the Heavenly Father.

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And into this stale atmosphere bursts the hurricane of the Holy Spirit, who came through the mediation of Jesus Christ, who entreated the Father to give mankind the Comforter: “But when the Comforter comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me” (John 15:26).

The Holy Spirit is poured out upon us. Like a river of grace descending from heaven, He washes away the defilement of sin, cleanses impurity, and fills us with strength and life. He drives out from us the foul odor of self-love, nationalism, and selfishness. The Holy Spirit makes human beings children of one Father, members of one people speaking many different languages.

The Holy Spirit granted the gift of Pentecost — the gift of many tongues — as the overcoming of the division of Babel. This gift consists in the proclamation, in many languages, of one and the same message concerning the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity, who did not remain in transcendent remoteness, but came to us, because through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, we have access to the Father.

We are no longer Russians, Tatars, Jews, or Chechens, but Orthodox Christians — the people of God, glorifying the one God! Throughout the entire world there resounds a many-voiced yet single hymn in honor of the Holy Trinity. This wondrous unity is not created by man but by God. God creates the great unity of mankind. He overcomes the divisions and fragmentation that once served a useful purpose in restraining humanity's march toward Satan, but which became harmful when they began to hinder the spread of the gospel.

Today, on the feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the birthday of our Mother, the Orthodox Church, which was born in the fire of the Holy Spirit, in the great Upper Room on Mount Zion. The Orthodox Church, embracing all nations within herself, gathers them together for the greatest of journeys, as the Lord foretold: “He who believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24). The Church gathers us to Christ. Through Baptism we enter into unity with Christ; we are transformed according to Christ and become Christ-like through the power of the Holy Spirit, who crowns us and leads us out of this world.

Thereafter we arrive at the gathering place, where we await those who were born later and labored longer in order to be transformed. And when our entire army has assembled together, the Holy Spirit will take us to our homeland. We shall flee to Heaven. Our homeland lies beyond the cosmos, where God dwells. We shall find our homeland there, where God the Father gathers to Himself those who have been united together, regardless of skin color, origin, wealth, or sinful past—provided only that a person has changed, been transformed, and become fragrant with the Life-Giving Spirit; provided only that he has blossomed.

The Holy Spirit is the source of all life and all transformation. To Him belongs the “responsibility,” if one may so speak, for every salvation, because whoever is found worthy to receive His breath swiftly rises from the earth, grows wings, and ascends to Heaven.

This Spirit, who gives wings and lifts us on high, has come to us today, and we stand before Him awaiting His breath. He is already with us, for in the Mystery of Chrismation we received the Spirit. We partake of the Holy Spirit and were sealed by Him on the day when we were baptized and received His seal. Yet we pray that He may act within us, that He may come and pitch His tent within us. Just as God once dwelt among Israel in the Tabernacle, so may the Holy Spirit enter into our hearts and establish His dwelling there.

And may we all become singers in the great choir whose steward, conductor, and guide is the Holy Spirit, who leads us and enables us to sing to God the Father and to His Son, Jesus Christ. In the Holy Spirit we have come to know the mystery of the Trinity; through Him we are sanctified, partake of Holy Communion, and are united with the angels. The Holy Spirit is the source of life both for angels and for men.

May none of us remain spiritually dead. May the Holy Spirit breathe upon us and drive out everything dead from our souls and our bodies. And may it be that on the day of our great gathering, when the Lord comes to assemble His own, the Holy Spirit will raise us up, transform us, and make us alive, so that we may live forever in the Kingdom of the Holy Spirit, where the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit reign eternally — the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity, whom we praise, whom we bless, whom we thank, whom we magnify morning, noon, and evening, and before whom, bending the knee, we offer our prayers of thanksgiving.

May the Almighty Lord help us in this!

May the Lord preserve you!

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily One on the Third Day of Pentecost (St. Justin Popovich)

2026-06-02T14:59:05.921-04:00

Homily One on the Third Day of Pentecost

By St. Justin Popovich

(Delivered in 1965 at the Ćelije Monastery)

There would be no Lord Christ in this world after His Crucifixion and Resurrection if the Holy Spirit had not descended upon the Apostles and founded the Church of Christ. What is the Church of Christ? The Church of Christ is nothing other than the testimony to the Risen and Ascended Lord Jesus, a testimony given by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Apostles, through holy men. Such is the Church of Christ in this world. More than that, the Church is Christ's unceasing testimony through all Christians of every age, a testimony concerning the Risen and Ascended Lord Christ.

Therefore, today it was said in the Holy Gospel that the Lord Christ was powerfully declared to be the Son of God by the Holy Spirit through the Resurrection from the dead.¹ He was powerfully declared indeed—by Him alone, only by Him. For what kind of testimony could have been given by the frightened disciples who hid themselves from the Jews? They had scattered; there were many doubts and much unbelief concerning Christ's Resurrection. They did not want to believe.² Thomas demanded to touch the Risen Lord³—he was full of fear and trembling. But when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Holy Apostles on the day of Holy Pentecost, then the Heavenly Power, all the Heavenly Powers, filled the souls of the Holy Apostles, filled all the faithful, filled the Church of Christ, and laid the Holy Trinity as its foundation, for the Holy Trinity is the foundation of the Church.

The Lord was powerfully proclaimed—but by whom? First, by fishermen, by simple men. No one could say: "Look, they attended great and lofty schools, studied philosophy and science; that is why they are so mighty and powerful, why they testify so forcefully." What do you expect from fishermen? What from farmers? Profound words of wisdom? No, such things were not found among them. "What we have seen and heard, that we testify," proclaims the Holy Apostle Peter together with all the Holy Apostles.⁴ "What we have seen and heard, what our hands have touched, what our eyes have beheld, what our ears have listened to—that is what we preach: Christ the Lord, Risen from the dead."

Yes, we do not preach ourselves; we preach nothing of our own. But then there comes the great witness, glorious and splendid, highly educated and the most learned of all—Saul, who through the Holy Spirit became Paul. What do we hear from him? What testimony does he give? What strength, what power! Yet he too renounces himself: "I am nothing. I am the greatest and foremost of all sinners."⁵ I know only one thing: that the Lord came into this world, was crucified for me, rose again, and ascended into heaven in order to give me Eternal Life. Yes, that alone He grants; only the Lord Christ grants Eternal Life. Even if you are a great sinner, faith—faith in Him—saves you. You have heard the wondrous Good News of Saint Paul, who says: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes."⁶ I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

What are the philosophers of this world? What are the sciences? How does the scientist end his life? The philosopher? The sage? In a grave, in death—which means in corruption, worms, and decay. Therefore I am ashamed of every philosophy, of every science; I am ashamed of everything that does not conquer death in this world.

The Good Lord, the Risen Christ, through the Holy Spirit grants us eternal salvation, grants eternal goodness, grants the true Gospel—the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of Eternal Truth. Eternal Truth came into our earthly world and proclaimed: "I am the Truth."⁷ I am the Way to Eternal Truth, the Way to Eternal Life. "I am the Light of the world,"⁸ the righteousness of this world, the righteousness of God in this world. People, has any greater gift ever visited you? Has the earth, has any human being, ever been gladdened by such wondrous tidings? No! Certainly not!

Therefore, therefore I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, says the Holy Apostle, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

The power of God: every sin flees from that power; every death flees from that power; every devil flees from that power. It is the power of God unto salvation for everyone—not human power. There are many powers, but the Spirit is one. God is one, who works all things in all.⁹ God—the Holy Trinity.

What are the powers that the Holy Spirit grants? They are powers that destroy and annihilate every sin, every death, every devil, every hell, every torment, every affliction of this world. When they cleanse a human soul, when they drive out from it death and sin and every devil and every demon, then these divine powers of the Holy Spirit fill our souls with the Truth of God, the Righteousness of God, the Goodness of God, the Beauty of God, the Joy of God, and the Eternal Life of God. Such are the powers that the Lord Christ has given us through His Holy Spirit. What is that Power with which the Church of Christ was clothed on the day of Holy Pentecost—the Power from on high?¹⁰ Those divine powers become ours; they become mine, and yours, and every person's, on one condition: that we believe in the Lord Christ, in the Holy Trinity—the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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These holy powers, these divine powers, the Lord has left to His Church, and each of us can receive them through the Holy Mysteries and the holy virtues. Every Holy Mystery—Holy Baptism, for example—and indeed the entire Holy Trinity participates in our salvation.¹¹ We are baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and everything demonic flees from us, while we are filled with God, with God Himself, with all the divine powers. In Holy Communion, we are filled with the whole Lord Christ. What sort of Power, then, is within us? A holy Power! It comes from the Lord; it is His gift. But how we receive these holy powers depends upon us.

What must we do in order to bring these divine powers into our souls, to cleanse ourselves from every sin, and to fill ourselves with every divine Power: Eternal Life, Eternal Truth, Eternal Righteousness? Today we heard in the Holy Gospel the Gospel of the Beatitudes. This holy Gospel tells us that we Christians are filled with divine powers, with holy divine powers, when we practice the holy virtues in our lives. In the nine Beatitudes the Lord has encompassed all the virtues of the New Testament, all the virtues of heaven.¹²

The first virtue is humility: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”¹³ The poor in spirit are those who humble their earthly spirit before the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and who feel and affirm: My spirit is nothing compared to the Spirit of God; my spirit, if it is to become something, if it is to be perfected, must be completed by the Holy Spirit, must be perfected by Him, must be filled with Him. And the path to this is humility. To humble one's mind, one's entire self before the Lord Christ, before the Holy Trinity, and to live according to the Holy Gospel: Blessed are the humble, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. And when you humble yourself, you often endure great suffering. You may have to humble yourself before a person who is perhaps quite unworthy, but for Christ's sake you do it, and you do so with great struggle and effort. Yet the Lord grants wondrous consolation; the Comforter Spirit fills your soul with blessedness. That is why the Savior placed as the first condition, as the first call to holy virtue—what? Humility.

Blessedness would not be blessedness if you did not humble yourself. By humbling yourself before the Lord Christ, before His Holy Gospel, receiving Him wholly and entirely, together with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity through faith and humility—behold, the Kingdom of Heaven is yours. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Behold how seemingly small a virtue humility is, and yet you have brought the entire Kingdom of Heaven into your soul. What mercy! What a gift from the wondrous Lord Jesus, the only Lover of mankind! The holy virtue of humility, and within it the holy divine power that is invincible and all-conquering, cleansed of every sin, every death, every devil, fills the soul with Eternal Divine Truth, Eternal Righteousness, Eternal Life—with the entire Kingdom of Heaven. O man, what more could you ask of the Lord Christ? What more could you ask of the only true God? Behold, for one virtue, for one small effort, He gives you the whole Heavenly Kingdom.

And now the Good Lord speaks to you of a second virtue: “Blessed are the meek,”¹⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”¹⁵ Penitential mourning is the first characteristic of a true Christian. When, in the light of the Holy Spirit, a person examines himself and his soul, what does he see within himself? Weaknesses, infirmities, sins, defeats, falls. Then his eyes become fountains of tears; then they weep tears of repentance and contrition. The heart repents, the soul repents, the conscience repents, and the eyes pour forth tears.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Yes, the Comforter stands beside you and gathers your tears of repentance. Believe, believe that there is no sin, no multitude of sins, no collection of all the sins of this world, that cannot be washed from your soul and mine by tears of repentance. The gracious Comforter so wondrously stirs the soul and sets it in motion that tears begin to flow, flooding all the abysses of your soul, all the mountains and fires of your soul, and you wash away your sins through your penitential weeping. In this holy virtue you feel yourself to be a suffering sacrifice. In our afflictions He gives us blessedness; through the pangs of repentance, through tears of repentance, through the sufferings of repentance, He grants us tears of blessedness. You repent and feel how the Lord gently caresses your repentant soul. The gracious Comforter refreshes it with the dew of heavenly grace... And then, one after another, come all the Beatitudes.

Then there is the Beatitude concerning mercy—what a wondrous holy virtue, what a holy power! The heart of a Christian is full of the Savior's mercy, full of the goodness of the Comforter. The more a Christian labors over himself, the more merciful his soul becomes. “What is a merciful heart?” asks Saint Isaac the Syrian. “A merciful heart is a heart that prays for all creation, for every human being, for every sufferer, for every person. More than that—for every blade of grass, for every little plant, and even for the demons, that the Lord may save them...”¹⁶ Such is the tenderness of the heart of every true and holy Christian; such is the heart of God's saints, and of all Christians to a lesser degree. The more you strive for your heart to become merciful, the more you feel an ever greater blessedness spreading throughout your soul. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” And again, in your efforts to transform yourself into a merciful being, the Good Lord, the Holy Comforter, pours forth mercy through divine power, through holy and all-conquering power, and you become a hero, an invincible hero, whom nothing can harm. And so it is with all the Beatitudes.

These are the holy virtues, and through them the holy powers descend into our souls, and we ourselves are filled with God as we are filled with the holy virtues. This glad tidings is proclaimed to the world by the Chief Apostle Peter. In his Epistle he writes to Christians—to Christians of all times—and says: “All divine powers have been granted to us by the Lord Christ, all divine powers necessary for life both in this world and in the next,”¹⁷ both in this world and in the next. In the Church holy divine powers are bestowed, and therefore the Holy Apostle says that we must receive these powers.

How can we obtain them—you and I, Peter, Paul, John, Mark? How shall we acquire them, gain them, bring them into our souls? How? Through virtue, through labor, fleeing the corruption of this world, the pleasures of this world, the passions of this world, so that we may show, as he says, “in faith virtue, in virtue knowledge, in knowledge self-control, in self-control steadfastness, and in steadfastness love.”¹⁸ Thus all the virtues draw one another along, are bound together, and proceed one from another. And when we possess them, says the Holy Apostle, we become “partakers of the divine nature.”¹⁹ That means that we are deified; we fill ourselves with divine powers. Instead of sin and death and the devil dwelling within us, behold, there are divine powers, and through them and in them the Most Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! This is the goal of our life. This is the goal of every human being: to deify himself, to fill himself with divine powers. As the Holy Apostle Paul says in the Epistle to the Colossians: “that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.”²⁰

That is why the Lord came into this world. That is why He took flesh upon Himself: to show that the little human body can contain the whole God and live by God in this world. Therefore we are obliged to fill ourselves with all the fullness of God. Divine holy powers are given to us through the divine holy virtues and the divine Holy Mysteries. Every holy virtue is accessible both to me and to you. What, then, depends upon us? Effort, labor, work, vigilance, growth in the virtues. None of us possesses perfect faith; we must strive for our faith to grow within us. None of us possesses perfect evangelical love; we must labor continually so that divine love may increase within us. None of us possesses perfect prayer; we must strive so that evangelical prayer may grow within us, that it may increase without ceasing.

A Christian is always growing, always striving, always advancing; he never stands still. Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: “A Christian never stands still. If he stops, he has already begun to go backward.” We are always moving forward. Before us lies Eternal Life, Eternal Divine Truth, and these must be acquired continually; they require unceasing labor. Never forget: blessed are those who fulfill the Gospel of Christ, the commandments of Christ. And all who labor in any virtue, who seek to strengthen it within themselves, and amid all trials and afflictions...²¹

Notes:

1 Romans 1:4

2 Mark 16:11

3 John 20:25

4 2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1–2

5 1 Timothy 1:15

6 Romans 1:16

7 John 14:6

8 John 8:12

9 Ephesians 4:4–6; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6

10 Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4–8; 2:4

11 A few words are inaudible on the tape. — Transcriber's note

12 Matthew 5:3–11

13 Matthew 5:3

14 Here, apparently by accident, the preacher had begun the third Beatitude (Matthew 5:5), but then returned to the second. — Editor's note

15 Matthew 5:4

16 See Fr. Justin's study, The Gnoseology of Saint Isaac the Syrian. — Editor's note

17 2 Peter 1:3

18 2 Peter 1:4–7

19 2 Peter 1:4

20 Colossians 1:10

21 The sermon is unfinished; the tape ended. — Transcriber's note

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Saint Nikephoros the Confessor of Constantinople in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-06-02T14:34:07.610-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Theophanes, the hymnographer of Saint Nikephoros, with a verse that is at once bold and realistic, reveals to us the spiritual stature of the Saint whose feast is being celebrated:

“As Patriarch you stand next to the Patriarch, the divine elder Abraham O Nikephoros. On the second, Nikephoros found his allotted portion in Eden.” (Verses from the Synaxarion)

And he does not stop there. Not only Abraham, but all the great Patriarchs of the Old Testament, such as Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, honor Saint Nikephoros with odes and hymns, considering that he has been added to their own heavenly choir.

“The choirs of the Patriarchs honor your holy memory, O Nikephoros, with hymns and songs; for they have received your glorious soul as an addition to their ranks.” (Kathisma at Matins)

Why is this so? We might have expected the Holy Hymnographer to tell us first of all that he was the child of a martyr — his father Theodore was a martyr. And yet, not a single reference is made to the saintly father. The Hymnographer, one might say, is dazzled by the holy life of Saint Nikephoros, and it is upon this that he focuses both his own attention and ours.

And indeed, it seems that there is hardly a word that Theophanes did not employ in order to present to us the life of Nikephoros, founded upon the Lord from the very moment of his birth until the hour of his departure from this world. He is “the divine imprint” — in his person we behold God Himself (Sticheron at Vespers). He is “the one who made the practice of asceticism a stairway by which he ascended to the vision of God” (Ode One). He is “the one whose speech was adorned by his virtuous deeds, and whose life in turn was filled with the beauty of the word of God” (Ode One).

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In other words, according to the Holy hymnographer, his entire life was a struggle sustained by the martyrdom of conscience: how to keep unfailingly the commandments of the Lord Jesus. “For you endured the martyrdom of conscience” (Ode Eight). For this reason he was illumined by the Spirit of God, so that not only his life but also his words and his preaching truly manifested what the Spirit reveals to the Church.

“Radiant with the rays of the Spirit, shining forth among the Churches, O God-minded one, you were revealed as a pillar stretching to heaven.” (Ode Six)

And it should be noted that Theophanes devotes a large part of his Canon for the Saint to the proclamation of the word of God, because in his own time the Orthodox faith was being persecuted by Emperor Leo, who regarded the veneration of icons as an act of idolatry. Saint Nikephoros, therefore, was among those Fathers who demonstrated that the icon is a practical expression of faith in Jesus Christ as both God and man. To refuse to honor the icons means to deny the reality of God's Incarnation, to distort faith in Him, and therefore constitutes a Christological heresy that diverts a person from a living relationship with God.

“By your love of wisdom you searched out the depth of Wisdom, and with the woven strands of your dogmas you clearly utterly defeated those who reject the image of Christ.” (Ode Three)

As is always the case when speaking of a Saint, Saint Theophanes also “opens” the heart of Saint Nikephoros in order to reveal to us the meaning of his entire course of life. His words move us deeply:

“Possessing your heart as a paradise, with the Tree of Life planted in its midst, you revealed to all the word of the Faith, O divinely-inspired Father Nikephoros.” (Ode Four)

In order for someone to speak about the faith, and for his words and preaching concerning Christ and His holy Church to be convincing, he must be inspired by the Spirit of God. Yet such inspiration presupposes the struggle to keep Christ at the center of one’s heart — to activate and live out one’s holy baptism. And this is accomplished in only one way, according to the word of the Lord Himself: by keeping His holy commandments.

“Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.”

The Holy Hymnographer places before us with complete clarity the Saint himself and his journey in Christ. Through Saint Nikephoros we see that true theology is not merely a matter of learning or eloquence, but of a heart transformed into a paradise in which Christ dwells as the Tree of Life. From such a heart proceed both right faith and authentic witness. Illuminated by the Holy Spirit, steadfast in the martyrdom of conscience, unwavering in his defense of the holy icons and of the truth of the Incarnation, Saint Nikephoros became a living pillar of the Church. For this reason, Theophanes presents him not simply as a distinguished patriarch, but as one worthy to stand among Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the righteous Patriarchs in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Prologue in Sermons: June 2

2026-06-02T12:53:41.404-04:00

On the Fear of God and on the Fact that the Lord Receives Our Prayers in Every Place

June 2

(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

In order that the virtuous life may not seem difficult to us, we must hold fast to the following: we must have the fear of God in our hearts, and we must pray more fervently, not being constrained by any particular place for prayer. This is evident from the following.

Saint Chrysostom says:

“If you have learned to sin, then impose upon yourself the fear of God, and you will overcome the habit of sin. Then it will not be difficult for you to conquer anger within yourself and forgive the one who has grieved you. Then it will not be difficult for you to pray to God and ask His mercy. Then you will speak no evil words against anyone. Then you will not envy your neighbor. Then you will learn to love everyone. Then it will be easy for you to avoid foul speech and slander, and you will not trouble others. Then you will not swear oaths. Then you will be merciful toward people.

But together with this, of course, show the deed itself. If you see a hungry man, feed him. If you see a poor man, have mercy on him. If you have an enemy, be reconciled with him. If you see someone living prosperously, do not envy him. If you see a beautiful woman, turn away from her. Restrain not only your mouth, but also your eye, your hearing, your feet, your hands, and all the members of your body.

And when you pray, do not be restricted by place, but lift up your mind and heart to God. Jeremiah was in a pit, and he entreated God. Daniel also was in a pit, only it was a lions’ den, and there too he called upon God. The three youths prayed in the fiery furnace, and they too were heard. Job sat upon the dung heap, yet there also he beheld the Lord. Moses was at the sea, and the Lord said to him: ‘Why do you cry to Me?’ The thief opened Paradise for himself from the Cross.

And you, whether you are on a journey, or at sea, or in the marketplace, or in the church, or in any other place, pray with a pure conscience, and God will hear you. For the earth and its farthest bounds are His, and His dominion is in every place.”

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Thus, from the words of Saint Chrysostom we have taken two lessons.

The first is that, in order that the virtuous life may not seem difficult to us, we must possess the fear of God.

The second is that, in order for the work of our salvation to proceed successfully, we must pray to God more fervently, not being constrained by place, remembering that God’s dominion is present everywhere.

Let us take these two teachings of the universal teacher to heart, and let us order our lives according to them.

And let us conclude with the words of the same teacher:

“If,” he says, “we establish the fear of God in our hearts, if we remember that God stands everywhere present, hears all things, and sees all things — not only our deeds and words, but also our intentions and our thoughts — then in such a case we shall not dare to do, to say, or even to think anything unlawful.” Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

SUNDAY OF HOLY PENTECOST

2026-06-02T03:04:46.627-04:00

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

Jesus Christ on the Last Day of the Feast of Tabernacles

The Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorated the people's rest in the Promised Land after the labors of their wanderings, was a feast of the Law, since at that time special attention was given to its reading. In the prophecy of Zechariah it symbolically signified the time when all nations would gather in Jerusalem to worship the true God. On the last day of this feast, according to custom, there took place a symbolic pouring out of water from the Pool of Siloam (this water is mentioned in the same chapter of Zechariah and also by Ezekiel), which flowed beneath the Temple Mount, while the words of the Prophet Isaiah were sung: “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” (cf. Isaiah 55:1).

It was probably in reference to this meaning of the feast and its ceremonies that the Lord, appearing on that day in the assembly of the people, proclaimed: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (cf. John 7:37). And comparing Himself to the Temple from beneath which living water flows, He applies the same image to those who believe in Him. Just as He pours forth living water, so those who believe in His name, having received the Spirit, will not only possess this water within themselves, in their own hearts, but will also pour it out for others, spreading everywhere the light of the knowledge of God.

The divine voice fell silent. Once again discussions and disputes about Jesus arose. Some saw in Him a prophet; others, the Messiah Himself. At the same time, certain people argued that the Messiah, being the Son of David, ought to come not from Galilee but from Judea, specifically from Bethlehem. They also claimed that no prophets had ever come from Galilee. There were even some who wished to seize Him. Yet the Temple officers, who had been sent by the Sanhedrin for this very purpose, returned after the feast without accomplishing their mission, declaring that they could not arrest Him because “never has any man spoken like this Man.”

Finally, even within the Sanhedrin itself, while discussing these events, a division arose that would only further inflame Christ's enemies against Him. Having heard the report of the officers with indignation, they replied:

"Have you also been deceived? Has any one of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in Him? As for this crowd that does not know the Law, it is accursed" (cf. John 7:47–49).

At this point Nicodemos dared to remark to the members of the Sanhedrin that they were acting unjustly by passing judgment upon a Man whose deeds they had not properly examined and whom they had not even heard.

"But what is there to investigate?" the others replied. "No prophet has ever arisen out of Galilee," forgetting in the darkness of their minds that Elijah, Jonah, and perhaps even Nahum had come from that region.

And with mockery they said to him:

"Are you also from Galilee, that you take the side of this Galilean?"

Thus, without undertaking any further examination of the matter, they resolved to expel from the synagogue anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Jesus Christ chose His disciples from among poor and uneducated people; some were fishermen who earned their living by their trade. The Lord commanded them to preach His word throughout the whole world. They were to convert both Jews and Gentiles, to speak with the learned and the wise, with powerful and noble men. The task entrusted to them was difficult. It could not be accomplished without God's help. And this help had been promised to them by Jesus Christ, who commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. He promised them the gift of working miracles, the knowledge of languages, and His continual presence with believers. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18–20). After these words the Lord ascended into heaven. His disciples returned to Jerusalem, where they remained in the upper room on Mount Zion, continually praying and joyfully awaiting with hope the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit. With them were the Mother of Jesus, certain women who had believed in the Lord, and other faithful followers.

The day of Pentecost was approaching. This feast was celebrated solemnly in Jerusalem on the fiftieth day after Passover. It commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Homes and synagogues were adorned with branches of trees, and great crowds came to Jerusalem from all parts of the world. The Gospel narrative tells us that the Apostles were praying with one accord in the upper room on Mount Zion when suddenly, at the third hour of the day — which corresponds to about nine o'clock in the morning according to our reckoning — there came a great sound from heaven, like the rushing of a mighty wind. The Holy Spirit, in the form of tongues of fire, descended upon each of those who were praying. They were all filled with divine power and wisdom. Suddenly they received a great gift from above, the knowledge of languages, which would enable them to preach the gospel to all nations.

Hearing the sound, a multitude gathered around the house where the Apostles were staying. Among them were many foreigners and many Jews who lived in distant lands and had come to Jerusalem for the feast. The Apostles went out to them and began speaking to each person in his own native language, proclaiming the mighty works of God. Everyone was astonished. Then Peter stood up and explained the prophecies that had foretold the coming of Jesus Christ. He declared that these prophecies had now been fulfilled: that Christ had been born, crucified, and raised from the dead, and that He had now poured out His Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. Those who heard this were deeply moved in heart and asked:

"What shall we do?"

Peter answered:

"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For this promise is given to you and to all whom the Lord shall call. Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (cf. Acts 2:37–40).

On that day about three thousand people were converted to Christ and received baptism. They lived together with the Apostles, held all things in common, and continually devoted themselves to prayer and the breaking of bread, that is, they celebrated the Mystery of the Eucharist instituted by the Lord.

The Holy Church solemnly commemorates the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This feast is called the Day of Pentecost and also the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Churches and homes are decorated with branches and flowers in remembrance of the fact that the Jews celebrated the giving of the Law beneath green booths and leafy shelters. In glorification of the new grace poured out upon the Apostles, the Church sings:

"Blessed are You, O Christ our God, who made the fishermen wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit, and through them drew the whole world into Your net. O Lover of mankind, glory to You!"

The phrase "drew the whole world into Your net" means that He brought the whole world to the true faith. The image of drawing into a net is used because the Apostles had been fishermen, and the Lord had told them: "I will make you fishers of men."

The Divine Liturgy on this feast is distinctive because it is immediately followed by Great Vespers with the three kneeling prayers.

The day following Pentecost is called the Feast of the Holy Spirit. It is a continuation of the same great celebration.

On the Custom of Decorating Churches and Homes on the Feast of the Holy Trinity

As we commemorate today the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, we have the custom of decorating God's churches and our homes with grasses, flowers, and green branches. We stand in church holding green branches from trees and fragrant flowers, and everywhere, in the streets, public squares, and homes, we see the same decorations of flowers and branches.

Where did this custom come from? How was it established in our Church, and why is it still observed today? Nothing in our Orthodox Church is done without purpose. If we reflect deeply on the meaning and significance of this pious custom, we will see that it was not established in ancient times without reason. It is true that this custom is found neither in Holy Scripture nor in the Church Typikon. Yet there are many pious customs of the Orthodox Church that are established neither by Scripture nor by Church canons and regulations, but have been handed down from generation to generation through Tradition. Among these customs is the practice of adorning churches and homes on Pentecost with green branches, grasses, and flowers. This custom originates from apostolic times and has been sanctified by the example of the holy men of the earliest Christian centuries. Blessed Augustine already bears witness to it in the fifth century. Such is the antiquity of this custom.

Let us therefore consider the origins of this pious practice and its meaning and significance. First of all, the custom of adorning churches and homes on Pentecost comes from the example of the Patriarchal Church. Thus Abraham, at the Oak of Mamre, saw three travelers and invited them to rest with him, offering them generous hospitality. According to the understanding of the God-bearing Fathers, it was the Lord Himself, in three Persons, who appeared to Abraham in the form of those three travelers. From ancient times, therefore, the Persons of the Holy Trinity have been depicted in icons as three travelers being entertained by Abraham beneath the shade of one of the trees of Mamre. Decorating churches and homes with leafy branches and flowers on Pentecost is done in remembrance of the appearance of the Holy Trinity to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. The churches and homes of Orthodox Christians thus become an image of Abraham's tent, where beneath the shade of the oak the three Divine Visitors rested. Therefore, when we look upon the plants and grasses surrounding us in church and at home during this feast, our thoughts are carried back to the appearance of the Triune God to Abraham. Give reverent thanks to the Lord God, who reveals Himself to us in forms accessible to our senses and who draws so near to us sinners with such condescension — that a man like ourselves was able to converse with God face to face! At the same time, strive to cultivate within yourselves the same disposition that Abraham had when he welcomed the Lord. Seek to imitate his unwavering faith in God, his profound humility, his love for others, and his other virtues. In this way you will become like Abraham, who received the Lord into his home, and you will attract upon yourselves God's blessing and love just as he did.

We find another example of this custom in the Old Testament Church. The Jews decorated their synagogues and homes on Pentecost in remembrance of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, when all of nature was clothed in greenery. In addition, during their wanderings in the wilderness, the Israelites lived in shelters made of branches. The Ten Commandments given at Sinai remain binding and necessary for us Christians as well. Therefore the pious custom of the Old Testament Church of decorating homes and places of worship with plants could easily be retained in the Christian Church, especially since the Upper Room on Mount Zion, where the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost, was itself, according to Old Testament custom, adorned with branches and flowers. It was not by chance that the Apostles and the first Christians preserved this custom in the Christian Church. It has come down to us in essentially the same form in which it existed during apostolic times.

We find yet another Old Testament basis for decorating our homes with grasses and flowers on Pentecost. On that feast, the Law prescribed that the first fruits of the harvest, which in Palestine was already ending by that time, should be offered to God in thanksgiving. Likewise, in the Christian Church the custom has been preserved of bringing the first fresh shoots of trees and spring flowers into the church. This beautiful custom testifies to our desire to offer God a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the renewal of nature in the springtime.

The Church's liturgical books do not prescribe a special feast dedicated to the renewal of visible nature. Yet Pentecost falls at a season when plant life appears in renewed vigor and freshness. Therefore the remembrance of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles naturally leads us to think about the action of that same Spirit in visible creation. Just as in the beginning, at the creation of the world, "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2), imparting His life-giving power to the unformed matter of creation, so also in the created world everything that grows and lives does so by the power of that same All-Holy Spirit. As the Psalmist says: "You send forth Your Spirit, and they are created; and You renew the face of the earth" (Psalm 103:30). Therefore the custom of decorating churches and homes on Pentecost with tender green branches and flowers expresses more eloquently than words our praise and thanksgiving to the Spirit of God, who renews the face of the earth. Whenever we look at these branches and flowers, let us remember that through them we offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving worthy of the God who renews nature after the long sleep of winter.

Finally, the custom of adorning homes with branches and flowers on Pentecost has a moral meaning for us as well. These flowers and branches point to ourselves and to the spiritual condition that we should possess in our lives. Look at the flowers. They are green, blooming, and fragrant. Such should be the life of every Christian. A Christian should flourish and be adorned with good and godly deeds. Just as flowers attract everyone's gaze through their beauty and fragrance, so faith, piety, and love draw people's hearts toward themselves. Our lives should shine and blossom with virtues, becoming an example for others and bringing glory to God. As the Savior said: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Therefore, brothers and sisters, as you hold fragrant flowers in your hands during this feast, strive to acquire some virtue that you may not yet possess.

Look: among your flowers there may be a forget-me-not. As you admire it, do not forget the Lord God and the Mother of God, who loves you, protects you, and prays to God on your behalf. Perhaps you have a lily. Looking upon it, remember God's command not to be overly concerned with adornment and outward appearance, but rather to keep your heart pure and undefiled from vanity and impurity. Perhaps you have cornflowers; let them remind you that sin must not reign within us, but that the spirit should rule over the flesh and its passions.

In the same way, reflect upon the other flowers and seek in them lessons of faith and morality. Every green branch with its fragrant leaves should teach us about the abundant and life-giving fruits of virtue. A dry and lifeless branch, on the other hand, should remind us of the sad image of the sinner who bears no living fruits of virtue and is spiritually dead.

Observe also how trees, deprived of the sun's influence during winter and affected by the cold, appear to die, standing bare and leafless. The same condition exists in the soul of a sinner. Without the life-giving breath of the Spirit of God, the soul dies spiritually. Then, although the soul may appear outwardly to live, think, feel, and act, its actions without the cooperation of God's Spirit are dead and lifeless, producing no fruits of virtue. By contrast, the person in whom the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit shines forth bears beautiful fruits of virtue, each more attractive and excellent than the last. According to the Apostle, these fruits are: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).

Therefore let us strive to attract the grace of the Holy Spirit. How? Through a pious and blameless life, through faith, prayer, humility, and every other good virtue. Thus, by reflecting upon the branches and flowers brought for this feast, each of us can learn lessons that lead to growth in faith and godliness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have seen where the pious custom of decorating our churches and homes with flowers and branches on Pentecost came from and how it reached us. Therefore let us preserve it. But at the same time let us draw from it lessons of faith and morality. Then this custom will truly benefit our souls and help us grow in virtue, preparing us for the life to come.

✠

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"If Anyone Thirsts, Let Him Come to Me and Drink"

"On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink'" (John 7:37). These are the words of the Gospel read today.

That final day of the Jewish eight-day Feast of Tabernacles foreshadowed the present feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and upon all Christians. On that day, the high priest, accompanied by priests and the people, solemnly went out from the Temple in Jerusalem to the Pool of Siloam. Drawing water in a golden vessel, he brought it into the Temple and poured it upon the altar.

This water symbolized the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon humanity when the Messiah Christ would come into the world. While the high priest was performing this ritual of pouring out water, Jesus Christ, the true Messiah long awaited by the world, stood in a prominent place within the Temple and proclaimed with a loud voice to the Jews:

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37).

In other words: If any of you sincerely longs and thirsts for the coming of the Messiah in order to receive from Him the abundant grace of the Holy Spirit, behold, I am that Messiah whom you await. Come to Me, and draw from Me, as from an inexhaustible fountain, as much grace as you desire. Open wide the thirsty mouth of your soul and drink as much as you wish.

These same words the Lord addresses to us today: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."

To whom among us does the loving Lord direct these remarkable words? Who are the thirsty ones whom He calls to Himself?

First, they are those sorrowful and afflicted people who suffer from extreme poverty, homelessness, mistreatment by others, family conflicts, illness, separation from loved ones, or any other kind of misfortune, and who long for relief and consolation. Lift up your downcast heads, you sufferers of this life! Incline your weary ears to the Lord's invitation. He calls you to Himself. Draw near to Him, fall before Him in tearful prayer, tell Him your grief and sorrow, and, laying aside all complaints about your fate, place all your hope in Him. Then you will truly drink of the grace flowing from His loving heart. He Himself will comfort your soul, give you peace, and soothe your wounded heart that thirsts for consolation. Be assured of this by His unfailing words: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Second, the thirsty ones whom the Savior calls today are those among us who are burdened by sins and passions and sincerely desire to repent, cleanse their souls, and quiet their consciences. Why do you delay, O sinful souls seeking repentance? You hear the sweet voice of the Merciful Savior: "If anyone thirsts" for the forgiveness of sins, "let him come to Me and drink" the grace of pardon. He has long been calling you to Himself. He has long awaited your sincere repentance. Rise up, take courage, and come to Him today with a broken and humble heart. Confess all your sins before His minister, the priest, and you will surely receive from Him the grace of mercy and forgiveness. Without doubt He will cleanse your soul and calm your troubled conscience. For our loving Savior receives every sinner with love and forgives every penitent, no matter how great the sins may be. As He Himself declared: "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13).

Third, the thirsty are those Christians who find within themselves little that is truly good — neither sufficient love for God and neighbor, nor fervor in prayer, nor meekness and humility, nor a firm resolve to flee sin and live according to God's commandments. Seeing this poverty within themselves, they are dissatisfied with their spiritual condition and thirst to live as true Christians. They long to kindle love for God and neighbor in their hearts, to love prayer, to flee every sin, and to become established in virtue.

Christians who are tormented by this saving thirst for holiness and virtue, listen carefully! Is it not especially you whom the Savior calls to Himself today in order to satisfy your spiritual thirst? Open wide the thirsty mouth of your soul and hasten to the Life-Giving Fountain, the Sweetest Jesus. Through communion in His Body and Blood, drink from Him the abundant waters of the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will strengthen your weak powers for every good work. He will inflame your heart with love for God and neighbor. He will kindle within you the spirit of constant prayer and grant you strength to overcome every sin.

Therefore, all who thirst for consolation amid life's sorrows, all who thirst for the cleansing of sins, all who thirst for holiness and virtue — come to your Savior, who now calls you to Himself. Receive from Him, through your tearful prayers, the grace of consolation in your afflictions; through sincere repentance, the grace of forgiveness for your sins; and through Holy Communion, the grace of sanctification, strength, and love for virtue.

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37).

Love for God's Truth

God's Law commands us to preserve truthfulness in all our words and actions, never lying or deceiving under any circumstances. Truth, when established within human society, strengthens its well-being. It gives rise to mutual trust, nourishes love, and, by inspiring people to work together in harmony, brings success to all our endeavors.

If we all strove to live truthfully, avoiding lies and deception, our lives would be more peaceful, secure, and tranquil. Nothing causes as much evil among people as falsehood. Deceit, cunning, and dishonest gain undermine the common welfare. Everyone suffers because of them — the honest laborer and the dishonest profiteer alike.

Those who resort to dishonesty in order to gain advantages usually fall into even greater misfortunes. Once exposed, they lose honor, trust, and often their social standing, upon which their livelihood may depend. Thus the path of falsehood, deceit, cunning, and fraud is a direct road to poverty and ruin.

Even when some people seem to increase their prosperity through dishonest means, it never lasts long. What is easily acquired is easily lost. Ill-gotten gains perish badly. The tears of those who have been wronged by unjust people rise to the righteous God and call down His judgment upon human injustice.

Can a person's prosperity truly endure when God's anger rests upon it, when it lacks His blessing?

Sadly, many fail to recognize the evident signs of God's displeasure toward falsehood. Despite its destructive consequences, many people continue to serve unrighteousness. To lie, deceive, or conceal the truth — especially when some advantage may be gained — is often not even considered sinful. And if it is regarded as a sin, it is thought to be only a small and pardonable one.

Such careless attitudes toward wrongdoing allow sinful inclinations to become firmly rooted in the soul, eventually growing into powerful passions that a person can no longer control.

The danger is especially great when someone grows up surrounded by examples of lying, deception, and cunning, becoming accustomed to such behavior from an early age, with no one to correct these bad habits. It is difficult to straighten a tree once it has grown crooked.

In the same way, the habit of living dishonestly, of lying and deceiving, once rooted in the soul, becomes like a second nature. Therefore, if we wish to guard ourselves from hypocrisy and deceit, if we desire to stand firmly on the path of truth, we must correct every inclination to depart from the truth at its very beginning.

Our God is Absolute Truth. Everything that departs from truth is displeasing to Him. No circumstance can justify a lie before the face of God. Only unconditional truth receives God's approval.

How carefully we must preserve the truth and avoid every lie, even in situations that seem excusable, is shown by the following example from the life of Saint Anthimos, Bishop of Nicomedia.

Saint Anthimos lived during the reign of Diocletian, the fierce persecutor of Christians. During that time the persecutors especially sought out bishops and church leaders in order to deprive Christians of their shepherds and teachers.

By a special inspiration from God, Saint Anthimos temporarily left the city and hid in a nearby village. From there he sent letters and messages of encouragement to Christians who had been arrested, imprisoned, and brought to trial, strengthening them for the coming struggle of martyrdom. This became known to the emperor, who sent soldiers to search for him.

After a long search, the soldiers, exhausted from their efforts, stopped in the very village where Anthimos was living. There they encountered the Saint himself and asked him:

"Where is Anthimos, the teacher of the Christians, hiding?"

Realizing that the hour of his martyrdom had arrived, Saint Anthimos replied:

"Come into my house and rest yourselves. Then I will tell you where the man you seek is hiding."

The Saint welcomed the soldiers into his home, prepared a meal for them, and treated them with sincere kindness and hospitality. After they had eaten, Saint Anthimos stood before them and said that he himself was Bishop Anthimos, the man they had been sent to arrest.

"Take me and lead me to those who sent you."

The soldiers were deeply moved by the generosity, gentleness, and goodwill of the elderly bishop who had welcomed and entertained them so sincerely. They urged him to flee and promised to report to the authorities that they had been unable to find him.

"No," replied the Saint. "It is a great sin before God to violate the truth. It is wrong to deceive anyone, and especially one's ruler. It is sinful to allow falsehood in the fulfillment of duty. Carry out your duty honestly. You are not guilty for obeying the orders that have been given to you."

With these words he set out for the city. And what occupied him on his journey toward death? All along the road he spoke with the soldiers about the Christian faith. He instructed them so effectively that he baptized them in a river on the way, making them children of grace and beloved of God. When brought before his persecutor, Saint Anthimos fearlessly confessed his faith in Christ. After enduring terrible tortures, he was finally beheaded with the sword. Therefore, Christians, guard the truth as the apple of your eye. Never betray it under any circumstances.

Whoever begins to compromise the truth for personal gain or selfish advantage will gradually and almost imperceptibly reach a dreadful condition in which, blinded in mind and hardened in heart, he tramples upon the truth without fear. Such a person becomes guilty before both human judgment and the judgment of God, storing up for himself the wrath of God, which is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness (cf. Romans 1:18).

The Light of Christ

"I am the Light of the world" (John 8:12), says the Savior of the world concerning Himself. There was a time when this Light visibly shone upon the earth, illuminating minds with His life-giving word, penetrating the hardest hearts, healing the sick, and raising the dead. There was a time when this Light shone on Mount Tabor like the sun, and on Golgotha it was hidden from the eyes of the world, turning day into deep night. "The earth trembled and the sun was darkened, O Savior, when You, O Christ, the Unwaning Light, descended bodily into the tomb," sings the Church.

Since that time this Unwaning Light is no longer visible to bodily eyes, yet it continues to shine and to act life-givingly within the human race. Wherever Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is present, there is divine light. But where on earth is our Lord Jesus Christ present? He is wherever two or three gather together and pray in His name. He Himself says: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

And where does this happen? In the church of God. Yes, during the divine services Jesus Christ is present with us in the church. Therefore it is here above all that the divine light shines. Here, more than anywhere else, His light can dawn upon us. Here, more than anywhere else, we can partake of His ineffable glory. The divine light shines here, and we experience its radiance. That is why it feels so good and comforting to be in God's house.

Therefore, Christian, always — and especially when your heart is burdened by sorrow, when troubles threaten you, when doubts and perplexities trouble your mind, when poverty and hardship weigh upon you, when despondency and weariness overtake you — hasten to the house of God. There your soul will find rest. There you will find peace. There you will feel comfort. Only remember from whom this comfort comes, from whom this joyful and calming light shines. Do not forget Jesus Christ. Without thoughts of the Sweetest Jesus, nothing in the church will truly gladden you, and nothing will bring you peace.

Furthermore, just as the sun not only shines by itself but also gives its light to lesser heavenly bodies such as the moon and stars, so our Lord Jesus Christ, the Unwaning Light, not only shines Himself but also imparts His light to others, especially to the shepherds of the Church. "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14), Jesus Christ said to the Apostles and to their successors, the shepherds of the Church. The shepherds of the Church, having received grace from God, enlighten us through Holy Baptism, teach us the truths of the Gospel, and guide us toward eternal salvation throughout every stage of our lives. It is our duty to listen to our spiritual shepherds and to trust their guidance.

Finally, the light of Christ can also be reflected in all of us. Live with one another in love and harmony, and you will live in the divine light. "He who loves his brother abides in the light," says the beloved disciple of Christ (1 John 2:10). God's blessing rests upon those who live together in peace and love. Even an observer rejoices when he sees people living in harmony with one another. How much greater, then, must be the joy that they themselves experience!

Sadly, such families and such people are rare. Many of us bear the name of Christians and are called children of the Light, yet we are unworthy of such a lofty title. This is true of all who hate their neighbors. "He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness" (1 John 2:11), says the Apostle John the Theologian. Yet the sin of hatred toward one's neighbor is one of the most common and frequently repeated sins among us. And how many forms does this sin take? Do not envy, slander, speak maliciously, murder - and countless other evils all spring from the same root of hatred? Yes, these sins hold great power over the human race.

Love for one's neighbor is inseparably connected with love for God. According to the Apostle, the person who does not love his brother cannot love God (see 1 John 4:20). It is therefore clear that all who hate their neighbors remain in darkness. What a fearful truth!

What then must we do in order to become children of the Light? What remedy shall we choose? Spiritual illnesses, like bodily illnesses, are often healed by remedies opposite to the disease itself. Therefore this illness of hatred can and must be cured in the same way. If hatred for our neighbor causes us to remain in darkness, then love — the virtue completely opposed to hatred — can place us in the light. Love is the beginning and soul of all virtues. Therefore whoever possesses love will do everything necessary to remain in the light. He will fulfill the whole law, because, as the Apostle Paul says, "Love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10). And whoever fulfills the law of Christ is a child of God by grace and therefore a child of the divine Light.

O Christ our King, Holy Light, You have turned those who sing to You in faith from the darkness of ignorance. Enlighten us with the light of Your countenance, and grant us Your peace, as we cry to You from the darkness of sin.

The Salvation of a Sinner by the Grace of God

"I have now been a priest in this village for three years," writes a certain shepherd, "and it has been a year since I became acquainted with a gentleman about whom I wish to speak. In the year 186..., during the summer, a young man of about twenty-five years of age came to our village and settled in a neat little house standing on a hill and surrounded by a dark, impassable forest. This house had first belonged to a landowner, then had passed into the possession of the peasants, and now had been sold to the newly arrived gentleman. The peasants, as they called him, at first never went anywhere; then, about two weeks later, I saw him in church. His appearance was of the sort that catches one's attention at first glance and arouses curiosity in everyone who sees him. Despite his youth, his face was worn, wrinkles lay here and there in deep folds, and involuntarily spoke of a youth that had not passed without upheavals and storms. He began to attend our church frequently, and not only on feast days; even on weekdays one could see him praying somewhere in a corner by the faint flickering of a lamp. He always arrived early, left late, and every time kissed the cross with a certain special reverence and received the antidoron from me. The appearance of such a gentleman, who had come from I knew not where, for I knew not what reason, and who, as people said, intended to remain among us forever, together with his unsociable manner and especially his piety — all this interested me greatly, and I resolved somehow to make his acquaintance. Yet becoming acquainted with him proved rather difficult.

Summer passed, and winter too was already drawing to its close... The life-giving rays of the February sun had begun to disturb the icy crust of the earth. Holy Lent had arrived. The church bell sounded mournfully and infrequently, calling sinful souls thirsting for purification to repentance, and these tolls echoed in a particularly moving way within the soul of a true Christian. The Friday of the first week had already come, and I, considerably exhausted after hearing the confessions of my parishioners, was returning home when I learned that I had received a note from the gentleman: 'I ask you, unknown yet respected Father, to honor me with a visit to my residence this evening.' This brief note greatly interested me, and I hastened to visit the unknown gentleman.

At my light knock, the door of the secluded little house opened, and I saw the smiling gentleman standing on the threshold.

'Please come this way, Father, into this room, and I shall join you immediately,' he said to me.

The room into which I entered was small. The walls, covered with violet wallpaper, had grown dark with age; the curtains, drawn over the windows and allowing no light into the room, made the little chamber quite gloomy. In front stood a carved crucifix, and before it lay an open prayer book. On the table beside the sofa there lay a Gospel in Russian translation, several religious journals, a huge artificial skull, and some scattered papers. I walked about the room for a while and then seated myself in an armchair to await the host.

'Good evening, Father,' he finally said as he entered the room and approached me for a blessing.

'Good evening,' I replied, blessing him.

'Please forgive me for troubling you at such an hour. It is already eleven o'clock, and perhaps you had wished to retire for the night...'

'Come now... why such apologies?' I replied. 'As a man, I am very interested to become acquainted with you, for there is no one here with whom one can speak about anything serious. Moreover, as a shepherd, it is my duty to come to you, because perhaps you need me as a shepherd, as a physician of the soul.'

'Exactly so. I need you as a physician... I need your instruction, your warm, sympathetic, pastoral word.'

'I am very, very glad that I may be of service to you! Please tell me everything that lies upon your soul. My task is to share the burdens of my flock, to heal their wounds, and to lead them to the Heavenly Father...'

'Thank you, thank you, Father... Then allow me to ask for your attention and patience as you listen to the story of my short but wicked life. When you know it, it will be easier for you to prescribe the proper remedy for my healing.'

'I am listening.'

'My father,' he began, 'was a small landowner. In the Y... province, in the D... district, he owned a little village. In that village my father had a large house in which he lived constantly, and where I received my first upbringing. My father was always at home, and together with my mother he tried to instill in me the foundations of every good thing and of Christian piety. Both of them loved to tell me various sacred stories, and it often happened that while listening to these stories during the long winter evenings, I would simply fall asleep where I sat. And, my God, what sweet dreams I had then! Everything I heard that evening was reflected in my dreams, and in my truly innocent imagination, as though in a mist, there passed before me the beloved sacred images from my parents' stories. Even now I can see it: the Savior, wearing a crown of thorns and covered with blood, hanging upon the Cross. His eyes are full of love, and He asks the Father to forgive His tormentors: "for they know not what they do!" And the Mother of God — even now I see her — standing by the Cross with a pale face, filled with boundless love for her suffering Son; and what anguish and sorrow are in her eyes! All these dreams filled my soul with an indescribable bliss. I experienced much that is sometimes inaccessible to another person, and a certain unearthly smile would appear upon my face, as my good mother used to say. And how much joy my parents felt as they gazed upon me by my little bed. "He is speaking with the angels," they would say. Quietly and peacefully my life flowed on, and I was an exemplary child. I prayed, and my childhood prayer was sincere, fervent, and warm. Life was good then, and one cannot now remember those childhood days without a joyful trembling of the heart. But that blessed life could not continue forever. When I reached the age of ten, I was enrolled in one of the secondary secular schools.

It was difficult for me to adapt to the new life. In the institution into which I was enrolled, I no longer heard the warm, truly spiritual instruction that had been given to me at every step in my home. At first I was a believer and prayed often. I prayed... but this prayer was frequently the cause of ridicule from my foolish and wicked companions. All the students of that institution, deprived of the supervision of God-fearing parents, were terrible blasphemers, and their biting mockery rained down upon my head because of my piety. Time passed, I had no support, and my desire for prayer gradually began to weaken and finally disappeared altogether — at first because I feared my companions, and later because it became a habit. I joined myself to my companions, and prayer no longer ever entered my mind. Our conversations and discussions were thoroughly opposed to God: mockery of Holy Scripture, of divine services, of the zeal and faith of certain priests and of the people — these were the constant subjects of our conversations. At first all this revolted me; later, time and companionship dulled within me even the last remnant of good — the remains of my upbringing at home. Yet no matter how corrupted I became in that environment, I still had an awareness that by these things I was sinning against God, but I continued to act together with my companions... Sometimes, and this happened very often, I felt a need to pray and even began to pray, but it was no longer the prayer of former days; it was more a mechanical exercise, not warmed by the heart, and I felt that something was lacking within me... Time passed, I entered the final class, and it was then that my fall was completed. The former mockery of religious rites and of people's faith turned into outright ridicule of the entire divine religion.

Time flew by, and I became an openly unbelieving madman. The existence of God, the existence of the soul, the future life beyond the grave — all this I regarded as the product of fantasy, and I wickedly laughed at everything. The Cross, that instrument of our salvation, I cast from myself and looked upon it with contempt. When I stood in church because the authorities required it, how I mocked, how I laughed at the divine service! When the fasting seasons arrived, I deliberately tried to eat foods forbidden during the fasts in order to show complete contempt for the regulations of the Church. Holy icons and the lives of the saints were the principal objects of my ridicule. In a word, during that period I was some kind of monster rather than a human being. Then the time came for the completion of my studies, and it was at that point that I hurled myself with all my strength into the abyss of destruction, dragging many pure and innocent souls down with me...

Yes, for those fallen souls I shall have to give a terrible account before the Lord! I led them into temptation, and Scripture says: "Woe to that man by whom the temptation comes!" (Matthew 18:7).

Our reason is too weak to stop us from sinning when we do not possess the voice of conscience, or rather, when that voice of conscience has been silenced by a sinful life. So it was with me. Having stifled everything holy in my heart, although I tried to be guided in everything by reason, it did not help me, and I was perishing completely. Surrounded by godless companions and women who had lost all shame and conscience, I spent entire nights over bottles of wine, and what did not take place in those noisy, demonic orgies! Time passed, and I became even more depraved, finally sinking into the very depths of vice. It seemed there was nothing more to be said: a man was completely lost, and no human hand could pull me out of that mire. Yet apparently there is no sin that can overcome the mercy of God; apparently the Lord does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live (cf. Ezekiel 33:11). If no human being could help me, the Almighty Lord, whom I had denied, helped me. A special action of His Providence turned me onto the true path and called me to moral rebirth.

In a single year my good parents died of cholera. It must have been their fervent prayers before the Throne of the Most High that led to the correction of their wandering son. Upon receiving news of their deaths, I set out for the village to visit their grave. Strange though it may seem: no matter how vulgarized I had become, no matter how I had mocked every sacred feeling known to man, my attachment to my parents still remained. My cold and depraved mind yielded to the voice of the heart, to the desire to visit their grave, and did not mock it. I attribute this to a special action of God's Providence, because this journey back to my homeland became the beginning, or at least the occasion, of my correction.

Having arrived in my native village, I asked the church watchman where the grave of my parents was, and, without even thinking to make the sign of the cross toward the church, I went to the place he indicated. The grave was now only about ten paces away from me; I could already see the fresh mound, but suddenly everything grew dark before my eyes, my head began to spin, and I fell unconscious to the ground. I do not know what happened to me; I only regained consciousness in a room rented by my servant from a peasant. From his account I learned that everyone around me thought I had suffered a stroke, because I lay unconscious, with a flushed face and foam on my lips. The next day I arose completely healthy, and no matter how much I puzzled over it, I could not explain why such an attack had come upon me.

Then, at exactly the same hour, I again went to the grave, but what was my astonishment when the very same thing happened to me as on the previous day! Thinking that I had been afflicted with epilepsy that returned periodically at a certain hour of the day, I remained at home on the third day, but no attack occurred. Yet when, on the following day, I went to the cemetery, the moment I began to approach the grave, the former seizure immediately returned.

When I arose the next morning, I noticed that my servant seemed frightened and afraid of me. Later I learned that he had concluded that there was something ominous in these attacks and that I must be a very great sinner if the Lord would not permit me to approach my parents' grave. How much happier than I he was at that time! He possessed faith in Providence, faith in God, whereas I was a miserable man and refused to acknowledge in all this the hand of God. Nevertheless, these strange attacks frightened me, and I sent for a doctor. The doctor promised to arrive the following day, and while waiting for him I fell asleep.

In the morning I awoke early, and — O my God! — it is dreadful even to remember: I could not move, my tongue would not obey me, I lay completely paralyzed, my whole body burned with fever, my lips were dry, I felt an unbearable thirst, and my spirit utterly failed within me. The doctor arrived, examined me, and prescribed medicine. Treatment began. At first the doctor prescribed remedies without difficulty, but later he would stand for long periods beside my bed, biting his lips, and then one day, after six weeks of treatment, he wrote me a note: 'When dealing with a man, I always speak openly about his illness, no matter how dangerous it may be. Your disease is inexplicable, despite all my efforts to understand it; therefore, seeing no prospect of success from my labors, I leave you to wait until it resolves itself.'

What terror seized me when human help — the only help in which I had placed my hope — abandoned me! Others have hope in higher assistance, but my corrupt mind had rejected it. Time passed, and my illness worsened. Blisters appeared upon my body and turned into festering sores from which came a foul stench, and I did not know what to do. Whole nights I lay awake and found no rest. And what dreadful visions then filled my imagination! I remember one occasion as clearly as if it were yesterday: it seemed to me that I was in a dark, damp, suffocating dungeon. All around was darkness; the stench made it impossible to breathe; groans, cries, and some wild lamentation came from every side. Fear overwhelmed me; a chill ran through my body, I shuddered and opened my eyes. The candle burned dimly. The room was dark. At last I drifted into a light sleep.

And just as I was beginning to fall asleep, I suddenly felt someone's hand upon mine. I started, opened my eyes, and — O my God! — what did I see? Standing before me was my mother. I could not imagine how or by what means she had appeared before me. 'But she is dead,' I thought, 'how can she still exist?' Yet my heart beat violently at the sight of my dear mother. She was clothed entirely in white, except for one black stain upon her garment. Her face was sorrowful, and she stood enveloped in a kind of half-light. 'I am your mother,' she began, 'your lawlessness and your dissolute life, full of unbelief and godlessness, have come before the Lord, and He wished to destroy you, to wipe you from the face of the earth. You have not only ruined yourself, but have stained us as well, and this black spot upon my garment is your grievous sins. The Lord, I tell you, wished to strike you down, but your father and I prayed for you before the Throne of the Most High, and He determined to bring you back to Himself — not through mercy, because you would not have understood it, but through severity. He knew that the only thing precious to you in this world was our grave, and therefore He did not permit you to approach it, afflicting you with a supernatural illness, so that you might recognize the higher power you have denied. But still you did not repent! Now the Lord has sent me to you — this is the final means for your correction. You denied God, the future life, and the immortality of the soul; here, then, is proof of life beyond the grave: I have died, yet I have appeared and speak with you. Believe in the God whom you have denied. Remember your mother, who spared no effort in trying to make you a true Christian.'

At these words her face grew even darker, and hollow, sepulchral sobs echoed through the room and shook my soul. 'Once more I implore you,' my mother continued, 'turn to God. You do not believe, and perhaps you think to explain my appearance as a disturbance of your imagination. But know that your explanations are false, and that I stand before you in my spiritual existence. And as proof of this, here is the cross that you rejected. Receive it, or else you will perish. Believe, and your illness will be healed in a miraculous manner. Destruction and eternal hell await you if you reject God!'

Having said this, my mother vanished. I came to myself and found a small cross in my hand, while an indescribable fragrance filled the entire room.

The supernatural appearance of my mother, her pleas and her warnings shook my soul to its very depths. Never, it seems to me, had such a revolution taken place within me. My conscience accused me, my former convictions collapsed, and in a single moment I was completely transformed. A sweet and indescribable feeling arose in my heart. I wished to thank God for His mercy, for His gracious conversion of me. Then I heard someone approaching. I listened, and my servant entered the room carrying a teacup full of water. 'Try this, master; perhaps you'll feel better. It's holy water from the Life-Giving Cross,' my servant said as he handed me the cup. I gladly accepted his offer and, supported by him, drank the water.

Lord! I cannot remember that wondrous moment without tears. Instantly I felt healthy. My limbs obeyed me, my tongue spoke freely, and only a few marks remained where the sores had been. Thus the words of my mother were confirmed.

I rose to my feet, and the very first thing I did was pray before the icon that my servant had brought me. I had possessed none of my own, because I considered such things superstition. Afterward I went to church and prayed there. And how sincere that prayer was, how freely my soul poured itself out before the Lord after its long slavery in the chains of sin and service to Satan! From there I went directly to the precious grave. I kissed it and wept, and those tears washed away my former life; they were the repentance of the prodigal son.

The day of my healing, both spiritual and physical, was the fifteenth day of July, and I always celebrate it as the day of my deliverance. After remaining there for a few more days, I decided to move here, because one of the companions of my wild former life had become an investigating magistrate in that district, and I did not wish to see him. As for returning to society, I will not do so, because it has become hateful to me. I wish to labor here and make amends for my former life. Tomorrow there will be communicants in your church, and perhaps after my confession you will permit me to partake of the Holy, Awesome, and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ, for I have not been deemed worthy of them for ten years. And you must advise me what I should do to atone for my former life.'

For a long time, a very long time, I spoke with this man and gave him much counsel. At last I returned home. 'Glory to You, O Merciful God, who have shown Your light to this man!' I thought as I walked along the road, rejoicing with all my heart at the conversion of a sinful soul to the path of truth."

Heavenly Fire Descended into the Chalice During the Liturgy

Once, when Saint Sergius was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, his disciple Simon saw heavenly fire descend upon the Holy Gifts at the moment of their consecration, and he saw this fire moving across the Holy Altar. Illuminating the entire sanctuary, it seemed to weave itself around the Holy Table, encircling Saint Sergius as he performed the sacred service. And when the Saint was about to receive Holy Communion, the divine fire gathered itself together “like a wondrous veil” and entered into the Holy Chalice. Thus the servant of God partook of this fire “without being consumed, like the bush of old that burned without being consumed...”

Simon was struck with awe at such a vision and stood trembling in silence, but it did not escape Saint Sergius that his disciple had been granted this revelation. After receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, he stepped away from the Holy Altar and asked Simon:

“Why is your spirit so troubled, my child?”

“I saw the grace of the Holy Spirit working with you, Father,” Simon replied.

“See that you tell no one what you have seen until the Lord calls me from this life,” Saint Sergius commanded him.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily One on the Second Day of Pentecost (St. Justin Popovich)

2026-06-01T16:12:07.533-04:00

Homily One on the Second Day of Pentecost

By St. Justin Popovich

(Delivered in 1965 at the Ćelije Monastery)

Behold the treasury of all blessings, and the treasury of all divine and heavenly powers, and of that Kingdom of God upon earth. For the Church of Christ on earth is indeed the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God for me and for you; and the King ought to reign both in my soul and in yours. If the Lord Christ and His Holy Spirit reign within us, then neither sin nor evil nor the devil will reign. Then we shall be able to overcome everything that separates us from God and the Lord, everything that separates us from Eternal Life, Eternal Truth, and Eternal Righteousness.

The Church of Christ in this world is full of angels, full of Eternal Truth, the Eternal Righteousness of God, and the Eternal Life of God. How does she look upon the sinner? Just as the Lord said in the Holy Gospel: she looks upon the sinner as upon a sick man, and upon sin as our disease, the most terrible and dreadful disease. Yet nothing is easier than conquering sin; nothing is easier than being healed of this most terrible illness. How? Through the Holy Spirit and the Lord Christ.

You hear in today's Holy Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.”¹ If he does not listen — says the Holy Apostle² — then when your brother is sinking into sin, when he remains in sin, it is as though he is dying; then he ceases to be your brother, a brother in Christ. Remember what the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever does My will, the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and My mother.”³ By fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, by fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel, behold what honor and dignity are ours — we become brothers of Christ.

This is already a reason for a little fear in you and me: strive, gently and meekly and with understanding, to save your brother from sin and win back your immortal brother. If he does not listen to you, call one or two others, for the testimony of two witnesses. The Church is the supreme judge in this world. If he does not listen even to the Church, says the Savior, then let him be to you as a heathen.⁴ Then leave him in God's hands. He does not listen to the Church — the Church, which alone is all-wise, alone all-sinless, the only all-righteous judge, the all-Christlike judge. If he does not listen to the Church, let him be to you as a heathen.

Why should one listen to the Church? Because within the Church is the Holy Trinity, and the whole Church is the Truth of God, the whole Church is the Life of God, the whole Church is filled with Divine Eternity, Divine Righteousness, and Divine Truth. Therefore she is the infallible judge. The Holy Spirit — behold, He is the soul of the Church, He is the conscience of the Church, He is the mind of the Church, He is the understanding of the Church. Therefore the Church stands in this world as the most important and infallible judge. A judge, yes — but before that, a mother, a physician, and a hospital. She heals every sickness, every sin; she heals everything mortal; she heals death itself. In the Church there is even a remedy against death: Holy Communion, Holy Baptism — these are remedies against death. By being baptized into the Lord Christ and receiving Holy Communion, you become immortal; you are healed of everything mortal and of every death.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, everything that comes from the Church and everything that is in the Church immortalizes man. That means: it casts out from him everything that is mortal, sinful, transient, and demonic. The Holy Spirit, who on this day founded the Church of Christ and became her soul, united into one body all human beings, all angels and men. May the Holy Spirit also be for us sinners our Guide and Leader through the Gospel of the Lord Christ. May He teach us everything that belongs to Christ. May He grant us strength — spiritual strength — to fulfill the commandments of the Savior in this world; to acquire the holy virtues; to live according to evangelical faith; to live in evangelical love; to live in evangelical prayer; to live in evangelical mercy, meekness, humility, righteousness, and truth — in everything that is of the Gospel.

Then our life in this world will become a song and a hymn to the Lord Christ, and a thanksgiving that He created us as human beings, that He Himself became Man, and that the whole Holy Trinity descended into the earthly world and dwells in the Church of the Lord.

May the Good Lord help each one of us every day through His Holy Spirit, leading us from virtue to virtue, from spiritual struggle to spiritual struggle, and directing us toward the heavenly world, toward the Kingdom of Heaven. For while we are on earth, while we are in the body, living in the Church of Christ, we are in fact living in the Kingdom of God. We possess everything necessary to cast away every sin and embrace every virtue. We know where the holy virtues lead: they lead to Eternal Life, to the Kingdom of Heaven. But our sins lead us into the dark, black, demonic world.

May the Good Lord always comfort us in all our afflictions, in every carrying of our cross. For our life on earth is the bearing of the cross, suffering for the righteousness of Christ in this world. Yet our heart is always full of joy — full of joy because the Cross leads to the Resurrection, to the Ascension, and to Eternal Life, through Eternal Truth in the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

Notes:

1. Matthew 18:15
2. Matthew 18:16
3. Luke 8:21
4. Matthew 18:16–17

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

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Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-06-01T15:51:49.215-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Justin was from Flavia Neapolis in Syria, the son of Priscus, son of Bacchius. He came to Rome during the reign of Emperor Antoninus. Opposing the error of idolatry, he presented written defenses on behalf of the faith and confession in Christ, by which he demonstrated the truth and power of this faith, while overthrowing the errors of paganism on the basis of Holy Scripture. Because he was envied by the philosopher Crescens, he was put to death, though only after first enduring many tortures. Saint Justin, because of the purity and holiness of his life, and having reached the highest summit of virtue and become completely filled with every kind of divine and human wisdom, left behind writings for all the faithful that are full of every wisdom and benefit. For they offer the knowledge of God to all who study them.

2. The Service of the day does not focus only on Saint Justin the Philosopher and Martyr. Since other martyrs also suffered together with him — such as Saints Justin (another martyr of the same name), Chariton, Charito, Evelpistus, Hierax, Peon, and Valerian — the hymns refer generally to all of them, and only to a small extent to Saint Justin the Philosopher alone. Yet Justin holds a unique place among them all, since he is "the founder of the first Christian theological school and a new and striking presence in the Church." This is because, although "part of his theological thought did not become part of the Tradition of the Church, the Church had no difficulty understanding and honoring him, since Justin the teacher, though only a layman, became a martyr of her faith, and because he was the first who, even without complete success, seriously attempted, with boldness and prudence, to set Christian truth in dialogue with philosophical thought, especially Platonism" (Stylianos Papadopoulos).

Certainly, when our Church calls him a Philosopher, it does not have in mind an external philosopher who creates his own philosophical system independently of faith in Christ. Such a person may be honored by the history of philosophy, but not by the Christian faith, which rests exclusively upon the revelation of God — first in the Old Testament, and then perfectly in the New Testament through the coming of the incarnate God, Jesus Christ. He is called a philosopher because, on the one hand, he possessed philosophical training — for before arriving at Christianity he passed through various philosophical schools, all of which left him dissatisfied — and, on the other hand, because he used philosophy as an instrument for expressing evangelical truth. This means that what ultimately inflamed the Saint's heart was the wisdom of God and not its human counterpart. Our hymnography emphasizes this:

"The wise Justin, adorned with the wisdom of God, made foolish the philosophy of the Greeks through grace, persuading men to worship the Trinity and to cry out in an Orthodox manner: Blessed are You, O God of our Fathers." (Ode 7)

We have said that Saint Justin passed through various philosophies before arriving at the faith of Christ. Yet this faith was not the result of his philosophical investigations. No one becomes a Christian by himself unless he is called and drawn by the living God Himself. The Lord Himself revealed this: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." Saint Justin was called by God Himself because he was sincerely seeking the truth. What happened to him was similar to what happened to the Apostle Paul and to other saints: the truth was revealed to him in a unique way. In one of his important works, the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, he describes in literary form his calling to Christ. "Wearied by his searches and sincerely longing for the truth, he wandered sorrowfully and thoughtfully along a seashore (probably near Ephesus), where he encountered a mysterious and venerable old man. The old man emphasized to him that philosophy cannot heal man's deepest longing concerning God and pointed him to the unique significance of the prophets, who 'alone both saw and proclaimed the truth to men'" (Stylianos Papadopoulos).

The Hymnographer of his Service draws a parallel between him and the Apostle Paul, although without specifying exactly what happened in the Saint's calling:

"Having received your calling from heaven, like the divinely inspired Paul, O wise in divine things, and having run straight upon the path most excellently, you completed the contest of martyrdom." (Ode 6)

The case of Saint Justin is truly admirable because it confirms once again that wherever there is a genuine search for truth, there the revelation of God is found, and there man discovers the unique and sure foundation of his life. Just as happened with the Saint: "Holding Christ as the firm foundation in your heart, O Justin..." (Ode 3).

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

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June: Day 1: Teaching 3: Venerable Dionysius of Glushetsk

2026-06-01T14:45:49.445-04:00

June: Day 1: Teaching 3:
Venerable Dionysius of Glushetsk

(According to the Gospel, what should our charity be like?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today the memory of the Venerable Dionysius of Glushetsk is celebrated. The Venerable Dionysius, known in the world as Dmitri, was born in the vicinity of Vologda in the year 1362. Who his parents were and how the first years of his life passed are unknown. Information about the Saint begins from the time of his monastic tonsure by Dionysius of the Holy Mountain, abbot of the Monastery of the Savior on Kamenny Island in Lake Kubenskoye. Dionysius remained in that monastery for nine years, and afterward sought a more secluded place and withdrew to the Glushitsa River. After some time, other ascetics began to gather around him and settled near his cell.

Seeing the increase of the brotherhood, Dionysius asked Bishop Gregory of Rostov for a blessing to establish a monastery. “Your desire is praiseworthy,” said the bishop, “for the Lord Himself taught: ‘Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20).”

Having received the bishop's blessing, Dionysius asked Prince Dmitri of Kubensk for assistance in building the monastery, and the prince sent carpenters and the materials needed for construction. The brethren also labored greatly in this work, and Dionysius himself set the example of diligence. Within three years a church dedicated to the Protection of the Mother of God and the necessary buildings for the brotherhood had been completed.

A strict ascetic who had dedicated himself to the service of God, Dionysius taught the brethren by both word and example. “Children, be merciful and generous,” the Venerable one would say, “for those who show no mercy are hated by God, but he who has mercy on the poor lends to God Himself, according to the words of Scripture.”

Yet the brethren did not always approve of Dionysius' generosity. Wishing to persuade him to be less liberal toward the needy, the monks once sent to him a young man disguised as a poor female wanderer. Dionysius gave assistance. That same evening those who had tested the Saint returned the money to him and, revealing who the supposed wanderer had been, reproached him for his imprudent distribution of money.

The Venerable one summoned the young man, gave the money back to him, and said to the brethren: “If you take the money from him against my will, you will violate two commandments: first, by showing yourselves unmerciful to the poor; second, by transgressing the commandment that forbids demanding back what has been given. The Lord God commands us to do good as much as we are able. Therefore cease urging me toward mercilessness.”

II. On the day commemorating the Venerable Dionysius, who was distinguished by mercy and generosity, I find it fitting and profitable, brethren, to show you what our charity should be according to the Gospel.

As the foundation of this discourse let us take the rule with which Jesus Christ once concluded His teaching on this very virtue: “Be merciful, even as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). This means that just as God refuses His mercy to no one and in nothing, so we also ought: first, to give for the benefit of the unfortunate from all our abundance; second, to give not merely to certain persons, but to every unfortunate person without exception.

Let us explain these thoughts more fully.

a) We say that we ought to devote all the surplus of our possessions to the relief of the unfortunate. This duty arises from the very purpose of Divine Providence, which has permitted such an unequal distribution of earthly goods, whereby some possess everything in abundance, even to excess, while others lack everything to the point of extreme need. For why does such inequality exist? Why is Providence, from whom come both “poverty and riches” (Sirach 11:14), apparently so generous to some and so seemingly severe toward others? Is it because some are more worthy than others? But God is not only a righteous Judge who rewards according to merit; He is also a most merciful Father. And for whom would mercy exist if not for the unworthy, when for the worthy the rewards of justice alone would suffice? Or is it because some have obtained abundance through their own skill, care, and labor? But could not God have poured a shower of gold upon others as well, without requiring any effort from them?

“It is easy in the sight of the Lord suddenly to make the poor rich” (Sirach 11:21), says the son of Sirach. It is easy — yet heaven does not rain gold upon the poor. Evidently their portion is also to be found upon the earth. Why then, we ask again, does such inequality exist? Not, reasons the Apostle, so that some might enjoy ease while others endure distress, but “for equality” (2 Corinthians 8:13–15), so that the abundance of some may supply the lack of others, and that what others possess may in turn supply the deficiency of the first, “that there may be equality.” Therefore, this unequal distribution of earthly goods is almost necessary, so that the rich, by supplying from their abundance what the poor lack — those who for whatever reason cannot provide for themselves or sustain their well-being — may also supply their own deficiency through the abundance of the poor, that is, through the blessings which rest upon the poor for the sake of the rich and are purchased by the rich through mercy shown toward the poor.

Thus, listeners, in the order established by Providence, the rich are mediators between God and the poor; and likewise the poor are mediators between God and the rich. The poor convey heavenly blessings to the rich. God Himself has chosen such mediators between Himself and the wealthy. And it pleases God that the rich distribute earthly goods to the poor, so that there may be equality — not an equality that abolishes all distinction in earthly circumstances, but one in which the poor do not lack what is necessary for a decent and peaceful life, and the rich do not become miserable because of their very abundance.

Who, after hearing this, does not see that the unfortunate, although not by natural or civil laws, nevertheless according to the spirit of the gospel, possess a legitimate claim upon the surplus of the fortunate? Every excess in the hands of a prosperous man, who is merely a steward, is the rightful portion of the unfortunate. Every use of that surplus, after one's legitimate needs have been met, for purposes other than the relief of the needy, is the theft of a share that rightfully belongs to them. And what a theft it is! It cries out to heaven! For this reason the word of God so often reproaches the prosperous for their lack of mercy toward the unfortunate. For this reason it so often threatens with judgment those who have shown no mercy. For this reason it continually reminds us of our duty of compassion.

b) Having explained the reasons why we must devote all the surplus of our possessions to the relief of the unfortunate, let us now show why we must exercise such charity not merely toward certain individuals, but toward every unfortunate person without exception.

Permit me to ask you, listeners: when the Gospel commands us to love our neighbors, does it make any distinction among them? Or rather, does it not condemn every such distinction by the commandment to love even our enemies? What does this mean? It means that since every human being is our neighbor, whoever he may be and whatever he may be like — friend or enemy, stranger or acquaintance, virtuous or sinful — Christian charity embraces every unfortunate person, just as the Heavenly Father “makes His sun rise” not only upon the good but also upon the evil, and “sends rain” not only upon the righteous but also upon the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).

There is, however, a kind of charity that is not so all-embracing, and is all the more dangerous because it appears to be inspired by prudence itself. This is a charity that is either excessively cautious, helping only those whose misfortune is absolutely certain, or excessively partial, showing mercy only to relatives and friends. “For we hear that there are some who walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but being busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread” (2 Thessalonians 3:11–12). There are such beggars among us as well; but we are not speaking about them. Yet even concerning such people we might add the apostolic exhortation: “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing,” and “count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (vv. 13, 15).

There are unfortunate people whose disorderly or idle life we do not know with certainty, yet whose misfortune is not so clearly established that doubt is impossible. Cautious benefactors often refuse assistance even to such people. But for what respectable reason? Is it because of probable suspicion? But why do they trust their suspicions more than the words of the unfortunate person himself, who assures them that his condition is truly miserable? Why do they not believe him, at least for the sake of the appearance in which he presents himself before them? Is not his very willingness to appear as unfortunate already a kind of misfortune? Or is it out of caution, lest they be deceived — for indeed, being deceived is unpleasant? But why are such people more careful to avoid the possibility of doing an unnecessary good deed than they are to avoid neglecting a necessary one? One may doubt not only a fabricated misfortune but also a genuine one when it lacks obvious signs. Thus, on mere suspicion — that is, without sufficient reason — one may fail to help a truly unfortunate person. Perhaps they fear that by helping a suspected beggar they may encourage a life of vice and idleness? A vain fear!

If he is virtuous, he will not abuse their mercy. If he is corrupt, a cold refusal will not reform him; rather, it may give him occasion to slander and revile them, or even drive him toward shameful and criminal means of obtaining his livelihood. Thus, while imagining that they are preventing a merely suspected vice, they may actually push him into a real crime. In such cases, listeners, we must obey the voice of that “love which believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

“Your treasure is not lost,” says Chrysostom, “if you give alms; but if you do not give, it will be lost.” And how could it be lost when, in “having mercy on the poor” (Proverbs 19:17) — whether known or unknown to us, genuinely needy or only seemingly so — we lend to God Himself? For this reason, even a cup of cold water given to anyone in Christ's name shall not lose its reward. The misuse or deceit of the recipient, therefore, does not destroy the virtue of the giver. “Give to every man that asks of you,” Christian — thus has Jesus Christ commanded you (Luke 6:30).

Equally unchristian is that charity which shows mercy only to one's relatives according to the flesh. If degrees of blood relationship make some people closer to us and others more distant, spiritual kinship unites all Christians in a bond as intimate as that of the members of one body. “You are the body of Christ, and members in particular,” says the Apostle to believers. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:27, 13). Where, then, is that supposed privilege by which the right to our charity should belong exclusively, or chiefly, to our blood relatives? You may say that natural affection draws us more strongly toward our own family. True enough — if a Christian is guided only by the natural law of the flesh. But in that case, how is he different from a pagan? For pagans do the same. If this is so, then such a benefactor bears the name of disciple of Christ in vain; it is an empty title for him. As for showing special kindness to friends while being merciless toward enemies: the first, like preferential love toward relatives, does not raise a Christian above a pagan; and the second has already been condemned by the commandment to love one's enemies.

Christian charity “suffers long and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4) toward all, without inquiring whether the unfortunate person is friend or foe, relative or stranger. “If your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink” (Romans 12:20). And if a person entirely unknown to you is in distress, be to him a compassionate Samaritan.

III. Such is the charity that Jesus Christ requires of us in the Gospel! One might now repeat the question: Is our charity such as this? But lest I prolong this discourse, let each person examine his own conscience. Let us only remind ourselves that judgment upon the merciless has already been pronounced: “Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to Me ... Depart ... into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:45).

(Compiled from the “Sermons and Discourses” of Nicholas, Bishop of Tambov, edition of 1872.)

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

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Greek Customs and Traditions Associated with the Monday of the Holy Spirit

2026-06-01T12:24:02.660-04:00

The Monday of the Holy Spirit (Δευτέρα του Αγίου Πνεύματος) is one of the most beloved feast days of the Greek springtime. Throughout Greece, the feast combines liturgical celebration with customs rooted in traditions from Byzantine and Ottoman times, local village life, Pontic customs, and in some cases even practices that some believe preserve echoes of ancient Greek communal festivals. While the feast is centered on the worship of the Holy Spirit and participation in the Divine Liturgy, it is also marked by pilgrimages, fairs, dances, athletic competitions, horse races, communal meals, and unique local celebrations.

The most widespread custom is attendance at the Divine Liturgy, especially in churches and monasteries dedicated to the Holy Trinity (Αγία Τριάδα). Since many Trinity chapels are built on mountains and hills, pilgrims often travel long distances, sometimes on foot, to attend the feast. After the services, large communal meals and festivals frequently take place. Roasted lamb, goat, local cheeses, bread, wine, and seasonal foods are shared. In many villages large cauldrons of food are prepared and offered free of charge to all visitors. This custom survives particularly in Epirus, Macedonia, Thessaly, and parts of Thrace.

Throughout rural Greece, the feast is associated with πανηγύρια (village festivals). Families gather, relatives return to their ancestral villages, traditional musicians perform, and local dances continue well into the evening. In many communities this is one of the most important annual social events.

The decoration of churches with greenery remains a widespread custom. Branches, flowers, herbs, and walnut leaves are brought into churches during Pentecost and remain through the feast of the Holy Spirit. In many places people collect these leaves after the service and take them home. They may place them behind icons, keep them in prayer books, or store them in their homes as a blessing. Some rural traditions regarded the blessed greenery as protection against storms, hail, disease, or misfortune.

Agricultural customs are especially significant. Because the Holy Spirit is understood as the Giver of Life, farmers traditionally ask for divine blessing upon crops, vineyards, orchards, and livestock. In some villages priests lead processions through fields and bless the land. In others farmers visit their fields after church and make the sign of the cross while praying for rain and fertility.

A strong custom throughout many regions is complete rest from labor. Agricultural work, plowing, harvesting, and heavy manual labor were traditionally avoided. Older villagers often regarded the day as one of the great annual feasts on which working would be both disrespectful and spiritually harmful. This explains why the feast became an official public holiday in modern Greece.

One of the largest celebrations takes place in the village of Agio Pnevma (Άγιο Πνεύμα) near Serres. After the Divine Liturgy, a large traditional festival is held every year. On the plateau beneath the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, the young people of the village dance to the accompaniment of traditional musicians until midday. Later, after various athletic contests have concluded, the celebration moves to the village square. The dances are highly structured according to local tradition. The elderly lead the dance circle, the younger people follow behind them, and the engaged women traditionally close the circle. Among the principal dances performed are the syrtos and the antikristos. The festival attracts visitors from throughout the region and has become one of the best-known Holy Spirit celebrations in northern Greece.

Around Lake Kerkini in the Serres region survives a particularly unusual custom involving wrestling and horse races. According to local tradition, these competitions originated during the Ottoman period. Christians and Muslims competed against one another in wrestling matches and horse races, with each competitor representing not merely himself but also his community and faith. The contests therefore carried symbolic significance beyond mere sport. Although the original circumstances have disappeared, the athletic competitions continue to be remembered as part of the feast's heritage.

The creation of a protective circle around the village takes on a unique form in Volakas, Drama. The custom is connected with the Feast of the Holy Spirit and is known locally as the "Mule Races" (Moularodromies). According to an oral description:

"On the eve of the feast, two young men, one from each side of the village (from the upper neighborhood and the lower neighborhood, as they say), would go to the church. The priest would bless them and give them a small note, which they would carry to the chapel of Saint Peter located on the village boundary. The two young men would set out in the afternoon and ride around the entire perimeter of the village, with their final destination being the chapel of the Holy Spirit on Mount Falakro. Through this circuit they ask the Holy Spirit to watch over the entire village and its fields, to enlighten and assist them in difficult situations. The women hold in their hands 'the Tears of the Virgin Mary,' a local plant used also to decorate the Epitaphios during Holy Week."

The young riders were called "synourgies" because they traveled around the boundaries of the village. When they arrive at the chapel of the Holy Spirit the following morning, the priest and many villagers are waiting for them, offering ouzo and traditional appetizers. The priest anoints them with holy oil and begins the Divine Liturgy in the chapel. Afterwards everyone receives holy water. Many villagers have made vows to the Holy Spirit and therefore arrive the previous evening to prepare the traditional kourbani meal. After the meal, a large dance begins and continues until midday.

In Smixi, Grevena, the three-day celebration of the Holy Spirit comes alive with the traditional summer festival. The festivities begin on the eve of the feast, when the women of the village distribute pies, sweets, and seven-risen herb bread (eptazymitiko psomi) at the churches of Saint Nicholas and Saint Athanasios. This is followed by a celebration featuring local music, clarinets, dancing, and of course local cuisine, including pies, roasted meats, and bean soup served in the area's taverns.

On the Feast of the Holy Spirit, one of Greece's most beautiful customs is revived on the island of Sifnos. Following a tradition now more than ten years old, the island once again recreates the communication network of the ancient beacon towers (phryktories) and acropoleis of Sifnos, dating from the sixth to the third centuries BC. Communication is demonstrated through smoke signals and mirrors, methods first used on the island some 2,500 years ago. The custom is supported by the Municipal Public Benefit Enterprise of Sifnos in cooperation with the Cultural Association of Sifnos, the Municipality of Sifnos, and dozens of volunteers. Historically, these towers were built at strategic points throughout the island and formed a sophisticated communication network. They were capable of receiving and transmitting messages both among themselves and between the four ancient acropoleis of Sifnos. To date, seventy-five ancient beacon towers have been recorded. Considering that the island covers only seventy-four square kilometers, the density of these towers is remarkable.

One of the most dramatic customs connected with the feast occurs in the region of Meteora. There survives an old practice known as the "changing of the handkerchief" (αλλαγή μαντηλιού), a custom that historically involved movement along steep and dangerous paths among the monasteries and cliffs. Because of the terrain, the tradition gained a reputation as one of the more dangerous local customs associated with the feast.

Among the Pontic Greeks, the feast frequently includes community gatherings, traditional lyre music, Pontic dances, and celebrations at churches dedicated to the Holy Trinity. These festivities often serve as occasions for preserving Pontic identity and heritage. Customs from the Pontic tradition stand out, including the revival of the custom dish known as kourbani, a meal made of meat and wheat. In Thessaloniki they decorate churches with walnut branches, upon which they kneel during the service. This symbolizes renewal and a connection with the souls of the departed. In Komnina of Eordaia, the Feast of the Holy Spirit also marks the beginning of the cultural events organized annually by the local Pontic Cultural Association.

In Sykia, Halkidiki, three-day celebrations take place during the Feast of the Holy Spirit as well. These festivities include the traditional festival of the Holy Spirit, with musical, dance, and theatrical performances held in the village square. The Cultural Association of Sykia organizes a program of traditional dances, music, and local delicacies.

On the Feast of the Holy Spirit, a morning festival is held in Alimbista, a mountain village in Aetolia-Acarnania inhabited by only two families. After the Divine Liturgy, hundreds of people form a line in front of a traveling butcher who chops roasted lambs with a cleaver. Many visitors bring pies, cheeses, and other foods from their homes to supplement the feast.

In Macedonia many villages treat the feast as one of their largest annual celebrations. Temporary markets, fairs, food stalls, and music often accompany the religious festivities. Historically merchants, shepherds, and farmers traveled considerable distances to attend.

In Epirus the feast is closely connected with mountain chapels of the Holy Trinity. Villagers climb to remote churches, often located on dramatic peaks overlooking valleys. After the liturgy the entire community remains for a festive meal and traditional dances. Some of these gatherings continue well into the evening.

In Thessaly numerous villages celebrate with large outdoor feasts and horse processions. Older accounts describe villagers arriving on horseback from surrounding settlements and spending the entire day at the festival.

In Thrace the feast is often associated with communal gatherings and blessings for agricultural prosperity. Some local customs include folk songs and dances unique to the region.

In many parts of Macedonia, Thrace, and Epirus, large emporopanigyreis (trade fairs) historically accompanied the feast. Merchants, shepherds, craftsmen, and farmers gathered to buy, sell, and exchange goods. While many of these fairs have diminished, some continue to this day and remain connected with the feast.

In Cyprus, the feast forms part of the broader Pentecost season known as Κατακλυσμός ("The Flood"). Water-related celebrations, seaside festivals, music, dancing, and communal gatherings dominate the holiday. The connection with water reflects themes of renewal, life, and blessing associated with both Pentecost and the Holy Spirit.

In some regions people visit cemeteries or remember departed relatives, particularly because the preceding Saturday is one of the major Saturday of Souls of the Orthodox Church. Memorial services may be held, and kollyva may be distributed.

In Dilofo of Voio, in the region of Kozani, on the Feast of the Holy Spirit itself, after the Divine Liturgy all the women of the village gather outside the church, forming a circle and holding wicker baskets containing various foods such as different kinds of pies and sweets. The baskets are covered with white cloths upon which walnut leaves are placed. The walnut leaves symbolize the staff carried by Moses, which according to local tradition was made of walnut wood during the Exodus toward the land of Canaan. Each woman stands behind her basket holding a lit candle. In the center, the priest chants memorial prayers for the departed. This ceremony takes place every year on the same day, and through this custom the villagers honor the memory of their dead. The men of the village and visiting guests wait until the memorial service has ended, after which the women distribute the foods that each household has prepared.

The memorial custom of Thrylorio in Komotini was revived in 2001 by the Cultural Association of Pontic Greeks of Thrylorio in Rodopi. After the Divine Liturgy, everyone takes various foods and goes "to the graves." The village priest serves a memorial service (trisagion), after which a communal meal is laid out outside the cemetery. The table is filled with countless foods: felia, pisia, piroshki, lavase, rice pudding, hasil, cherries, tan (yogurt drink), rakia for the men, and many other traditional and modern dishes. The people eat, drink, speak about their departed loved ones, and rejoice together with the resurrected souls. Everyone participates in this common meal of the living and the dead. No one feels sorrow. No one grieves or weeps. It is a day of joy, a celebration. This joy flows from faith in the resurrection of the dead and from Christian belief in Christ's Resurrection. There was even a belief that after the meal, around noon, when the souls returned to their dwelling place, one could see them in the village wells. People would take a small mirror and attempt to see the souls of their loved ones reflected in the water of the well. This belief is related to the ancient Greek idea that the souls descended into Hades through water.

Taken together, the customs of the Monday of the Holy Spirit reveal a remarkable blend of faith, local history, communal memory, and cultural identity. Some traditions reflect the struggles of the Ottoman era, others preserve Pontic heritage, and some may even contain echoes of ancient communal celebrations. Recurring themes include: pilgrimage, community, blessing of nature, agricultural fertility, hospitality, remembrance of the dead, festivity, and the sanctification of everyday life. More than perhaps any other feast after Pascha, it celebrates the Holy Spirit as the source of life, unity, renewal, and divine grace for both the Church and the whole creation.

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Prologue in Sermons: June 1

2026-06-01T08:57:30.132-04:00

On Not Judging Priests

June 1

(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on How One Ought to Honor a Priest)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

In parishes where there are many schismatics among the Orthodox, the schismatics usually do everything possible to separate the Orthodox from the Orthodox Church. To accomplish this, they stir them up against the priests. As soon as they notice the slightest fault in an Orthodox shepherd, they immediately begin proclaiming it everywhere: "Look at the kind of shepherd you have! See what he does and how he lives! How can anyone listen to such a man? How can anyone go to him for confession?" and so on. And simple-minded Orthodox Christians often yield to these evil suggestions against their spiritual fathers, abandon them, flee from the Church, and, becoming schismatics themselves, become slanderers of Christ's priests. Therefore, in order to stop the mouths of these malicious accusers, and to remove you, brethren, from their slanderous suggestions and calumnies against the shepherd, we present to you the following teaching of Saint John Chrysostom concerning how one ought to honor a priest.

"If a priest," says Saint Chrysostom, "teaches correctly, do not look at his life, but listen to his teaching. And do not say: 'Why does he teach me when he himself does not do what he teaches?' It is his duty to teach everyone, and if he fails to practice what he teaches, he will be judged by the Lord for that. But if you refuse to listen to him, you too will be condemned, for the Lord says: 'He who hears you hears Me; and he who rejects you rejects Me.' And again: 'He who reviles you reviles Me.' It is not the business of sheep, brethren, to revile the shepherd. He offers the divine service every day for you and for your brethren. Morning and evening, both in the church and outside it, he prays to God for you. Reflect upon all this and honor him as a father. You may say: 'But he is sinful and wicked.' What concern is that of yours? Even if a good man prays for you, what benefit is there for you if you are faithless? But if you are faithful, his unworthiness will not harm you in the least. Grace is given by God. The priest merely opens his mouth, but God accomplishes everything."

Is it not clear from this, brethren, that God works through all priests, even if they may be unworthy? Consider: Who saves us — the priest or God? Who grants us grace in the Holy Mysteries? Who receives our prayers in church? Whose word does the priest read or preach in the temple? Obviously it is God's word. And it is equally obvious that our salvation is in the hand of the Lord, not in the hand of the priest. Moreover, if you truly wish to be saved through a priest, then seek a sinless priest. But will you find such a one? Alas, we are all sinners, from the first to the last. For: "No one is free from defilement, even if his life on earth has lasted but a single day."

Therefore, rather than criticizing priests, whatever they may be like; rather than fleeing from priests and thereby fleeing from the Church through them — is it not better to flee from those who slander them? As long as you remain in the Church, then even with a sinful priest you can always be saved, if you truly desire it. But with those who slander the priests, outside the Church, you will always perish. For no matter how holy they may appear to you, never forget that they possess neither the Church nor the Holy Mysteries, and consequently they do not possess the grace of God. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

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