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Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 26

2026-09-26T10:43:04.784-04:00

The Month of September

Day 26

27. How We Should Regard Sinners Who Are Perishing

(From the Life of Saint John the Theologian)

When we see that this or that person has fallen into the depths of evil, some among us revile him by calling him evil, while others simply say, “He has only himself to blame!” Is this worthy of Christians, and is it right? No, it is not worthy of Christians, and it is very wrong; for the Lord did not teach us to treat sinners as we do, nor did He Himself treat them as we treat them. Recall at least one instance from His life. What did He say to the Pharisees who brought a woman caught in adultery before Him? “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” And what did He say to the woman? “Woman! Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” — “No one, Lord,” she answered. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more” (John 8:1–11). Therefore, we should not act toward sinners who are perishing as we do, but should act somewhat differently. How?

In one of the cities of Asia Minor, Saint John the Theologian took a great liking to a certain young man. After instructing him in the truths of the Christian faith, he baptized him. But since he himself had to continue on his journey, as he departed he entrusted his new disciple to the care of the bishop of that city. The bishop did not justify the trust that Saint John had placed in him: he taught the young man to read and write, but paid little attention to his conduct. The young man, probably still not firmly established in the faith and in the law of the Lord, was led astray by a bad example and gave himself over to vice. Finally, joining himself to some frivolous companions, he formed a band of robbers, became their leader, and robbed travelers on the roads.

It happened that John passed through the same city again. He immediately asked about the young man, and they told him everything that had happened. He was deeply saddened and, summoning the bishop, began to reproach him for his negligence.

“Return to me,” he said, “the treasure that I entrusted to you for safekeeping. Return to me the young man whom you were supposed to teach to follow the law of the Lord.”

The bishop answered with tears, “The young man is lost; he has died in soul, having given himself over to a depraved and lawless life.”

“Is this how you were supposed to care for the soul of your brother entrusted to you?” John said. “But give me a horse and a guide; I will try to find him and save the one whom you have caused to perish.”

The Apostle indeed set out and reached the place where the robbers lived. They seized him and brought him before their leader. When the young man saw John, he was so ashamed that he fled from him. But John followed him, calling after him:

“Return, my son, to your father! Do not despair of the mercy of the Lord. I will take your sins upon myself; only repent and listen to me, because God Himself has sent me.”

Overcome by the Apostle’s words, the young man stopped and fell at his feet, not daring even to look him in the face, so ashamed was he of his deeds. John, however, kissed him with a father’s tenderness and brought him back with him, rejoicing as a good shepherd rejoices when he has found a lost sheep. He began once again to instruct him, calling him to repentance and pointing to the infinite mercy of God, who is always ready to receive the repentant sinner.

As he listened to him, the young man completely turned away from evil, whereas he surely would have perished if the Holy Apostle had not cared for him with such love.

Therefore, brethren, we should not regard sinners who are perishing with malicious delight, condemnation, contempt, reproach, or hatred, but with compassion, love, and gentleness, and we should pour the balm of mercy upon their sinful wounds.

We have given you an example from the life of the Holy Apostle. Consider, then, how he regarded the one who was perishing. John sacrifices himself and enters the den of robbers in order to save the sinner; he addresses him as the most compassionate and loving mother would address her beloved and dear child; he weeps with him. And what do we see? We see that a good attitude toward the sinner also bears good fruit. The sinner is overcome by the Apostle’s love and is restored once again to the flock of Christ.

In view of this, just as John acted toward the one who was perishing, so must we all act. We must do so, on the one hand, out of Christian love, which should embrace all, and, on the other, perhaps for our own benefit as well.

Know, brethren, that just as great is the misfortune of the person who sins, so great is the virtue of the one who turns him away from sin. Listen to what the Apostle James says:

“Brethren! If anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19–20). Amen.

Questions for Discussion 27:

1. What did the Lord tell the woman caught in adultery to do after the Pharisees brought her to Him?

2. After teaching the young man to read and write, what did the bishop pay little attention to?

3. What did John urge the young man not to despair of?

4. By what was the sinner overcome, and to where was he restored?

5. According to the words of the Apostle James, what awaits the one who turns a sinner from the error of his way?

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

The Dissolution of the Orthodox Monasteries in Greece Under the Bavarians

2026-09-25T18:18:32.050-04:00

On this day, September 25, 1833, under the Bavarian Regency, a royal decree signed by the young Otto ordered the closure of all Orthodox monasteries with fewer than six monks, imposed the compulsory removal of the monastic habit upon nuns under the age of forty, required the removal of all novices from the monasteries, established specific measures governing the movement of monks, prohibited the customary donations made for the benefit of the Church, and placed under sequestration the monasteries’ landed property, sacred vessels used in worship, icons, vestments, liturgical books, furnishings, and anything else useful for sale as “spoils” that was found in the monasteries that were to be sealed. Whatever was deemed “useless,” on the other hand, was thrown into the fire — “with the monks mourning all around”! (The monasteries of the Roman Catholics, of course, remained untouched, as did their property.)

With this decree, the Bavarian assault against Orthodoxy and our Byzantine spiritual tradition was enormous, coming immediately after the “coup-like” proclamation of the autocephaly of the Church of Greece.

Of the 545 monasteries for men and 18 for women that existed in the “truncated” post-Revolutionary state, only 148 were preserved, while all the nuns were forcibly concentrated into the three convents that survived. Those Orthodox monasteries that remained open lost all administrative autonomy and were forced to pay burdensome taxes.

The age-old ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople had to be severed, and the Greek Church was to be placed under state authority.

What the Turkish conquerors had not dared to do in 400 years was done by the Bavarian “enlighteners,” with the assistance of Catholic missionaries and the “religious abuses” of the religiously alienated Greek followers of Korais, who assumed the administration of the newly established state.

Within only a few days, disgraceful scenes of shame, looting, and vandalism unfolded in monasteries such as Greece had never witnessed, “not even during the invasions of the various conquerors who had at different times occupied Greek territories.”(1) A few years later, the poet Panagiotis Soutsos wrote pointedly:

“In the silver chalice of Communion, the thieving steward grows drunk with great impudence!”

This, however, is how General Makriyannis viewed the situation amid a widespread climate of popular indignation and humiliation over this “devious Bavarian policy”:

“They dissolved the monasteries; they came to an agreement with the Bavarians and sold the chalices and all the sacred things at the bazaar, and the livestock for nothing. Such men took them... They utterly destroyed the monasteries, and the poor monks, who had been annihilated in the struggle, were dying of hunger in the streets, while these monasteries had been strongholds of our Revolution. (...) The enlightened men of Europe brought the knife to cut down the wild Greeks (...) In the time of the Turks, they did not disturb even a stone of the old chapels; but these swindlers joined their interests with those filthy Phanariots and others like them, who were a disgrace in Europe, and they ruined our monasteries and our churches — defiling them within, and turning others into stables.”

For this reason, it is by no means accidental that, from 1833 (the uprising on Tinos) until 1852 (the Papoulakos uprising in the southern Peloponnese), a total of 21 popular uprisings took place, centered, among other things, on the defense of Orthodoxy, ecclesiastical tradition, and the faith of the Greeks, which was being so brutally provoked by “the Lutheran-Calvinists who governed us,” both Greeks and foreigners. The Bavarians (and the embassies of England and France, which were essentially governing the country) “felt threatened by the activities of the monks; they regarded them as links in conspiracies, supporters of Russia, demagogues, and agitators.”(2)

Despite the intense popular reactions, however, the “top-down” Westernization of the statelet “which was born with a European forceps”(3) had already begun from the very first day of its existence. The foundations of “we belong to the West” had been laid by a Protestant, the Bavarian Georg Ludwig von Maurer, and by a follower of Adamantios Korais, Theoklitos Farmakidis.

Notes:

(1) Christos Yannaras.

(2, 3) Kostis Papagiorgis.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homily Two on the Repose of Saint Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh, Wonderworker of All Russia (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

2026-09-25T17:51:53.061-04:00

Homily Two on the Repose of Saint Sergius,
Abbot of Radonezh, Wonderworker of All Russia

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1961)

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

“He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3), the Lord tells us from the pages of the Holy Gospel.

Dear brothers and sisters, once again and again let us give thanks to our most merciful Lord Jesus Christ that, by His mercy, we have gathered together today in a solemn setting to prayerfully glorify the departure of the great servant of God, the intercessor for the Russian Land and its protector, the founder of the renowned Holy Trinity–Saint Sergius Lavra, its humble abbot, our Venerable and God-bearing Father Sergius.

The entire life and ascetic labors of Venerable Sergius are deeply edifying and instructive for every person who seeks eternal salvation and strives to please God. His whole life was filled with self-abasement, humility, ascetic struggles of love, and service to God and his neighbors. Having loved the Lord from his youth with all his soul, the meek and quiet young Bartholomew, after the death of his parents, withdrew into the dense and impenetrable wilderness, to the very place where we are now gathered, and here, in silence and solitude, devoting himself continually to prayer for the purification of his heart, he gave himself to the struggles of a severe life in the wilderness, enduring hunger, thirst, various fears and temptations that cannot even be enumerated. “Venerable Father, who can tell of your labors and sufferings? Or what tongue can speak of your harsh way of life, your vigils and dry eating, your lying upon the ground, the purity of your soul and body, your complete silence of lips and mind, your sincere humility, unceasing prayers, sound discernment, poor clothing, and remembrance of death?” Thus the Holy Church sings of the ascetic labors and struggles of Venerable Sergius.

Having become the abbot of the brotherhood that had gathered around him, Venerable Sergius, being meek and good-natured by nature, advanced here as well more and more in humility, for before him there always stood the image of our meek and humble Savior, whom he loved above all and to whom he had cleaved with all his heart. He firmly remembered Christ’s commandment: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). Constantly keeping these words of the Lord in his mind and heart, he strove with all the strength of his soul always to preserve a contrite and meek disposition, and therefore attained a truly unattainable and incomparable height of spirit and life.

His entire life was an unceasing struggle of humility and self-abasement. He strove to see his weaknesses and shortcomings, hiding from himself and from the world his ascetic labors, efforts, and virtues. Recall from his Life how, having become the abbot of the brotherhood that had gathered around him, Venerable Sergius was their cook, baker, tailor, carpenter, and whatever kind of laborer was needed, serving them as a purchased slave. And humility and self-abasement exalted, magnified, and glorified Venerable Sergius, raising him to the greatest moral height, so that not only do faithful people venerate the radiant image of the Wonderworker of Radonezh, but even people who have no connection with the Church honor him.

God glorified His servant with the gift of extraordinary purity of heart, profound peace of soul, discernment, wonderworking, and prayerful intercession. In Russian history, the name of Venerable Sergius is associated with memories of some of its most glorious and radiant pages—with the moral revival of the people and the liberation of our land from the grievous two-hundred-year Tatar-Mongol yoke. Through his moral influence and prayer, Venerable Sergius breathed into Russian society a sense of moral vigilance and spiritual strength; he raised the fallen spirit of his native people, awakening within them faith in their own strength and faith in their future. And through his blessing before the battle and through his prayers, our people, after two hundred years of foreign enslavement, received moral and civic freedom.

Under the wise guidance of the Venerable one, a monasticism of high moral character and humility was nurtured. His attention and love for people taught him quietly and gently to “tune” the soul of a person and to draw out from it, as from a good instrument, its finest qualities and feelings.

Venerable Sergius settled in the midst of a dense forest, in a place far removed from the paths of men, and despite this, the light of his good works spread everywhere; from there, too, the fragrance of his holy, God-pleasing life was heard. And so people streamed to him in the wilderness to tell him of their sorrows and griefs, to receive his counsel and instruction, to ask for his prayers, and to be healed of their illnesses. And the loving Venerable Sergius never left anyone who came to him in need and sorrow without consolation. He was accessible to everyone, and his humility, simplicity, and meekness drew human hearts to him, so that he became for the Russian people a loving father, a comforter, and a swift helper in times of sorrow. The Russian people loved him with all their soul, for he too was Russian—flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone. Even during the lifetime of Venerable Sergius, his name became known in every corner of our land, and there was no Orthodox family in which his name was not invoked in prayer. Thus God glorified His servant.

Venerable Sergius departed to the Lord. The Russian people mourned him, but they believed that the servant of God had not died, but had merely departed from earth to Heaven and would now remember them before the Throne of God. And indeed, Venerable Sergius became a fervent intercessor for the whole Russian Land, helping through his prayerful intercession during years of national trials and sorrows.

It is impossible to enumerate all the miraculous signs through which Venerable Sergius has manifested his grace-filled help to all who have called upon him in prayer with faith and humility. Therefore, from every corner of his vast realm, the Russian people have gone and continue to go to venerate their mighty intercessor and man of prayer at his holy monastery. Here, amid the unceasing miracles at the most glorious shrine containing his relics, the believing heart receives consolation and grace-filled help in its sorrows and the troubles of life.

Dear brothers and sisters, neither wisdom, nor holiness, nor authority and glory, nor sorrows—nothing shook the humility of Venerable Sergius or awakened pride in his soul. That humility raised him to the highest degree of moral perfection and, bringing him into the abode of the Heavenly Father, made him our intercessor, helper, and protector against visible and invisible enemies. To this day, he remains for those who have recourse to him in prayer the same loving father and comforter that he was for our ancestors who came to him with faith. Venerable Sergius lovingly looks upon those who have gathered in his monastery to honor his memory and is always ready to help and comfort us.

Believing that he has great boldness before God and that he loves us, let us pray to him with love and faith, that he may not leave us without his prayerful protection; that he may help us acquire the spirit of humility, meekness, and love—for we are weak and have no humility, we are irritable, wrathful, impatient, and proud—and that he may preserve his monastery for our consolation and moral growth, so that we may cross the stormy sea of this vain life and reach the quiet harbor of blessed eternity.

Let us all pray to him and, from the depths of our hearts, lovingly cry out to him:

“Rejoice, Sergius, our swift helper and most glorious wonderworker!” Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

September: Day 25: Teaching 3: Saint Sergius, Wonderworker of Radonezh

2026-09-25T17:36:43.012-04:00

September: Day 25: Teaching 3:
Saint Sergius, Wonderworker of Radonezh

(What Shortens Our Life?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the day of Venerable Sergius, who, through his pious life, attained a very advanced age despite the strictest abstinence and exhausting labors, let us, brethren, speak about “what shortens our life.”

II. Our life is short, my friends; yet we ourselves urge God to shorten our already short life more and more. There was only one good place on earth: Paradise. And the only life there was for us was life in Paradise. Only the life of Paradise could truly be called life. It passed amid all the joys that the human heart could desire. Adam and his helper enjoyed everything that was without sin; their bodies were beautiful, and their souls even more beautiful, because they were holy and Godlike; their hearts rested in God and in His holy will; their desires were directed only toward God, the Source of blessings, for whose gifts they offered Him thanksgiving; their consciences were pure. They were children in whom the heavenly Father was reflected. They had no one to fear, nothing to weep over; and a divine remedy had been given against old age.

And what happened? Sin changed everything! Sin made man an enemy of God and His will, and gave him another, most terrible form. It made his holy and God-loving soul exceedingly self-loving, and turned the world into such a hospital that nothing can be heard in it but groaning and nothing can be seen but calamity! Sin itself terribly shortened life; it brought death not only into the world but also into our bodies; and this evil mistress, reigning over men, crushes them with various diseases and finally reduces them to dust.

The blessedness of Paradise passed away like a dream, and only its bitter memory remains with us. “And death reigned from Adam even to Moses,” and to us, “even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of Adam’s transgression” (Romans 5:14). Yet we still see the mercy of God toward mankind and His good will toward the continuation of their lives. Methuselah lived 969 years. The great men whom we call forefathers, or patriarchs, likewise lived for several hundred years and present to us an example of virtue rewarded with prosperity and longevity. What then? Perhaps this would remain as an inheritance for the human race? But no. Ungodliness increases on the earth, injustice grows stronger, wickedness and inhumanity increase, lawlessness pours forth like a flood, sins cry out to heaven, the Most High is provoked, and in retribution He decrees and says: “My Spirit shall not remain in these men forever, because they are flesh; their days shall be 120 years” (Genesis 6:3).

If only our poor life had at least remained within this decree of God! Let a man live 120 years; perhaps, after living so many years in the fear of God and piety, which, according to the word of Paul, “is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come,” we might see with our own eyes, in ourselves and in our children’s children, the blessing of God and, comforted by it, go to the grave as through the doors of the heavenly Kingdom, to God as to our loving Father.

But everything is not so. Sin, having established its reign in human hearts, has driven out the love and fear of God, and a desperate, God-hating life has appeared among men, together with such deeds as their God-murdering hearts desire. “For,” according to the word of Solomon, “their heart devises evil!”

But Your justice, O Lord, corresponds to our life, and we rightly lose even Your mercy according to our deeds. And if one person in a thousand is deemed worthy of it, he is a wonder. For already, “the days of our years are seventy years, and if by reason of strength, eighty years; yet their greater part is labor and sorrow...” Forty years have been taken away, or are appointed for particular illnesses!

But as a punishment, even the final number of years allotted to us is sometimes taken away, and we die in the midst of our days; and many do not even live to the middle of them. We die in the first flower of our years—in the cradle; we die on the very day on which we were born; we die in our mother’s womb. We die so that those who give birth may see the wrath of heaven against sin, while those who die may be saved from the sins in which, by imitating their fathers, they would otherwise have begun to drown.

Good people harm no one by their lives, but do as much good as they can to everyone; they love everyone, and everyone loves them, and they would gladly give them a portion of their own days. Their life is measured not by days but by virtues; for an evil person does not do as much good to anyone in the course of seventy years as a virtuous person does in the course of seven days.

Nevertheless, even good people often die before their time, and are cut down when no one expects it. He who looks down from heaven upon all things, seeing that the good will not remain good for long, and that the wicked will make the good like themselves, does not allow them to live any longer. This is why Solomon says concerning the righteous: “He was taken away, lest wickedness should change his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. Having been perfected in a short time, he fulfilled many years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord, therefore He hastened him from the midst of wickedness” (Wisdom 4:11, 13–14).

How long and how firmly trees and stones endure! We alone, in comparison with them, are nothing! Many animals are exceedingly strong and long-lived; but man—their ruler—is weak, and often trembles before his own subjects. Silver is durable, gold is long-lasting; but the lover of money soon dies and becomes dust.

We dare not compare our life with eternity. Eternity is a sea without shores, while our life is a drop of rain that falls upon the earth—and no trace of it remains. God is and abides; but we are a shadow, and our life is a phantom. Life is as small as a breath: I breathe, and a portion of my life has vanished forever... and whether I shall breathe again, I do not even know, for all sinners are threatened with this punishment: “If you will not obey Me, I declare to you this day that you shall surely perish, and you shall not remain many days upon the earth.”

And if, brethren, we also consider that man is often burdened with such afflictions that he cries out with Job: “Why did I not die in the womb? Why did I not perish when I came forth from the womb?” (Job 3:11), then will not our life appear twice as short if, for the purposes of calculation, we select from it only those happy days that must almost be searched for with a candle?

I know that life is not without consolation; but this is a drop of sweetness in a cup of bitterness. “While the food was still in their mouths” of the feasting people, “the wrath of God rose against them,” says Saint David concerning the Israelites. Such are our joys in this world! And if someone finds consolation even in the brevity of this sorrowful life in the thought that he will not suffer in this world for long, what then will become of us if, because of our lack of repentance, we are condemned to eternal suffering after this brief affliction?

III. My brethren! This little life has been given to us so that we may prepare for the great life, and this brief life for eternal life. Yet we make provision for everything for the days to come, and for the fearful day alone—for nothing! For the holidays we have fine garments, but for the eternal feast and celebration—nothing at all! We remember everything and concern ourselves with everything, but we have forgotten our soul; and this is all the more terrible because we have only one soul. For, given our evil nature, we would need at least four souls: having lost one to the love of money, another to ambition, and a third to love of pleasure, we might then be saved with the fourth.

Our thoughts are lofty, but they do not fly toward heaven. Our desires are infinite, but they do not strive toward infinite life. Our counsels are wise, but they lead to destruction—first that of others, and then our own. We have many words, but not the words with which to stand before the judgment of God. We have love, but not love for God. We have fear, but not fear of eternal torment.

Let us care, brethren, for our soul and its salvation, so that at death we may joyfully entrust it into the hands of God, as one worthy of those hands. “The numbered years have come, and we are going by a way from which we shall not return.” Amen.

(Compiled from the Words of Archpriest I. Levanda.)

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

Venerable Euphrosyne and Her Father Paphnutios in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-25T16:27:49.230-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Venerable Euphrosyne lived in Alexandria when Theodosius the Younger was emperor (AD 408–450). She was the daughter of Paphnutios, a wealthy nobleman who, following the death of his wife, raised his only daughter with great love and faith in God. From a young age, the Venerable Euphrosyne desired to dedicate herself to God, but she was unable to do so because, when his daughter reached the age of eighteen, her father betrothed her to a wealthy and noble young man. Before the wedding, Euphrosyne, taking advantage of her father’s absence at a monastery known to him, cut her hair, put on men’s clothing, and wished to enter the monastic community known to her father, presenting herself as a eunuch of the king. The abbot indeed received her as a monk, giving her the name Smaragdos. From that time onward, she devoted herself to exceedingly severe ascetic struggles, surpassing almost everyone in them. For this reason, her feminine features became altered and hardened. Later, with the consent of the abbot, she withdrew to practice asceticism alone, farther away from the monastery, attaining there great heights of holiness. Her father, who was continually searching for her with great anguish, was inconsolable, while Euphrosyne, after thirty-eight years of asceticism, fell ill. At that point, the Venerable Euphrosyne wished to reveal herself to her father, knowing beforehand that her death was approaching. The revelation was deeply moving for Paphnutios, who saw his daughter at such a height of sanctification, but immediately afterward she died. From that time onward, Paphnutios wished to live as a monk in Euphrosyne’s cell, and after ten years of asceticism, he too breathed his last there.

2. The “ink had scarcely dried,” as they used to say in the old days, from our reference to Saint Thekla, who left her earthly bridegroom for the sake of the heavenly One, when another Saint appeared before us, Venerable Euphrosyne, who likewise preferred the Lord Jesus Christ to the love of her intended husband. In both cases, we find ourselves before an extraordinary love for Christ, a profound longing for the heavenly Creator, such that everything earthly is regarded as secondary and inferior. This is not because, as we have explained, earthly love, and especially the love between the two sexes, is considered something evil or negative, but because when the particular grace of dedication to God comes upon someone, together with a great love for Him, all other loves necessarily recede. Just as, in the presence of the sun, the light of a lantern or a match cannot be seen, so in the presence of the sun of God’s love, the light of human love appears to be “extinguished.”

For this reason, the Hymnographer, seeing the fire that burned in Euphrosyne’s heart, the fire of complete dedication to God from her earliest years, on the one hand presents the life of the Venerable Euphrosyne to us in poetic form — for ordinary prose is not sufficient for him — and on the other understands that this life inspires, toward the glorification of God, both the simple faithful and the Venerable ones of the Church, as well as the angels themselves: “Your bright and praiseworthy memory divinely illumines the assemblies of the faithful; it delights the choirs of the Venerable ones and gladdens the Angels.” And this is because the Saint lived “as an angel.”

What is particularly significant in the life of the Saint is the fact that she did not hesitate to “transform” herself, that is, to disguise herself as a man, in order to live the rigorous ascetic life of men. Euphrosyne thus transcended her feminine nature, while at the same time transcending other human attachments, such as her love for her father and her emotional response to the love of a young man. We literally bow before her “steel” will, which cooperated in absolute obedience with the will of God. Her steadfastness, her unwavering orientation toward the Lord, recalls the steadfastness of Venerable Mary of Egypt after her conversion from her sinful way of life. The difference is that Venerable Mary had experienced sin and had suffered the consequences of the degradation and sorrow it brings. Venerable Euphrosyne, however, had no experience of such a way of life, and for this reason she may be even more admirable in this respect than Venerable Mary. Her disguise also reveals the truth that if someone truly loves God, he will do everything in order to follow Him. No obstacle will be able to stand before him and halt his blessed course. How deeply her love reproaches us, who so easily find “arguments” with which to justify ourselves by claiming that living the Christian life is difficult. Difficult, yes, but when the driving force, the love of God, is absent.

The Hymnographer, however, points out from the very beginning another element connected with her name: “O Venerable mother, wondrous Euphrosyne, because you longed for true joy and gladness, you walked the path that leads to it.” Saint Euphrosyne, through her ascetic struggles, severe and superhuman for one so young and delicate, found the path to true joy. For true joy, the joyful disposition of the heart, is not a matter of amusements, traveling throughout the world, ordinary social interactions, or the acquisition of material possessions — things we observe in most people. Such a pursuit of joy, unfortunately, most often produces more sorrow and despondency than it actually brings joy. For the One who is the source of joy is absent: God Himself.

Saint Euphrosyne understood from an early age that a relationship with God brings joy to the human heart. And one finds God when one turns inward, into the “ground” of the heart. Yet in this ground the weeds of wickedness and evil also grow. Therefore, if one does not uproot them through prayer, ascetic struggle, and the keeping of God’s holy commandments, they will overrun the heart and become its content. In that case, sorrow will become a permanent condition within the person.

Saint Euphrosyne, then, becomes our guide to true joy, and for this we give thanks to her: “Through the holy intercessions of her and her father, Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 25

2026-09-25T09:01:12.648-04:00

The Month of September

Day 25

26. What True Humility Should Consist Of

(From the Life of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh the Wonderworker)

The lack of true humility in us is most clearly revealed, for the most part, by the manifestations of our self-love and pride on particular occasions. As long as no one troubles us, we may still seem to be all right; but as soon as someone says something unfavorable about us, or even unintentionally insults us, or fails to acknowledge our supposed merits, we immediately begin to cry out: “Why are they insulting me? What have I done to deserve this? They do not understand me!” and so forth. Here, as we have said, the entire lack of true humility within us is revealed. What did the Lord say? “When they revile you... rejoice and be glad.” Therefore, if we were truly servants of Christ, and if we possessed true and genuine humility, then when faced with insults and humiliations, whether real or imagined, we would not behave as we do, but would act quite differently. But how, you may ask, should we act? Listen, and we will answer you by an example.

When, during the lifetime of Venerable Sergius, the fame of his ascetic labors had spread, a peasant from a distant region far from the monastery, having heard much about Venerable Sergius, came to his monastery and asked, “Where is the abbot?” It happened that at that very time Venerable Sergius was digging the soil in the garden and was wearing old, tattered clothing with many patches. The peasant was pointed toward Sergius, but he did not believe them, for he expected to find the Saint in great glory, and so he asked again, “Where is Venerable Sergius?” Again, they pointed out the Saint to him.

At that moment Sergius came out of the garden, and when the peasant saw him more closely, he turned his face away from the Saint and said to himself: “Why did I go to all this trouble for nothing? I came to see the great prophet about whom I had heard, and I hoped to see him in great glory and honor, but what now? Instead of him, I see only a poor and wretched old man!”

The Saint understood the peasant’s thoughts and, approaching him, began earnestly thanking him for his opinion of the abbot of the monastery. And it came to pass that, just as a proud man rejoices in the praise and honors shown to him, so the Saint, on the contrary, rejoiced in his own dishonor and humiliation.

After this, Sergius brought the peasant to himself, set a meal before him, and graciously entertained him. Then he said to him: “Do not grieve; the one whom you wished to see, you will soon see.”

As the Saint was saying this, a messenger arrived and announced to the Saint the arrival at the monastery of a certain Grand Prince, who had come with a multitude of servants. Sergius went out to meet him, and the prince bowed down to the Saint to the ground. Then the two of them sat down together and began to converse, while all those present listened to them standing.

The peasant watched the prince and the old man from a distance and wondered: “Can this really be the same old man whom I met in that tattered garment?” He asked those standing nearby about him, and they told him that this was indeed the abbot of the monastery.

Only then did the peasant understand his mistake. He began to reproach himself and said: “How could I have been so blind? And why did I not believe those who pointed out the Saint to me? And why did I not show him the honor due to him? It is just that we peasants are called ignorant! How shall I now stand before the Saint?”

When the prince had departed, the peasant fell at the Saint’s feet and began to beg for forgiveness. The Saint received him with the greatest kindness and said: “Do not grieve, child. You alone spoke the truth about me when you called me worthless. Everyone else is mistaken in thinking of me as a great man.”

“And from this,” the account adds, “it is clearly shown how great was the humility of Venerable Father Sergius, for he loved the peasant who despised him even more than the honors shown to him by the prince.”

From this example, brethren, you see that when faced with imagined or actual insults and humiliations, we should not act as we do, but somewhat differently. Namely, we should respond to such humiliations with meekness, with an awareness of our own unworthiness, and even with joy. And this is how Christians must be; for whom does the Lord call blessed? The proud? Those who are easily offended? No, only the poor in spirit, the meek, those who rejoice and are glad when they are reviled.

Therefore, if you wish to establish true humility in your souls, then, first of all, do not have a high opinion of yourselves, but consider yourselves worse than everyone else; then, never complain against your neighbors when they insult you with their words or wrong you even by their deeds; and, finally, even seek peace with those who have insulted or wronged you.

And when you begin to act in this way, only then can it be said of you that you are truly humble, and the words of the Savior can likewise be applied to you: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3), and “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Amen.

Questions for Discussion 26:

1. What did the Saint do when he understood the peasant’s thoughts about him as a poor and wretched old man?

2. What did the Saint rejoice in?

3. What did Sergius do after bringing the peasant to himself?

4. What, according to the words of Sergius, did the peasant say when he called the Venerable worthless?

5. Who, according to the word of God, shall inherit the earth?

Synaxis of the Panagia the Myrtidiotissa in Kythera

2026-09-24T16:16:39.112-04:00

According to tradition, the original icon of the Theotokos with Christ was discovered by a shepherd in the thirteenth century, in a valley southwest of the island of Kythera filled with myrtle trees, known as “Myrtidia.” In this icon, originally “the features of the Mother of God and Christ could be clearly distinguished down to the chest,” but “with the passage of time, however, it gradually acquired its dark color.”

It is believed that this icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke in the first century.

At the place where the icon was “found,” the poor shepherd built a small chapel and devoted the remainder of his life to its care.

After the death of the pious shepherd, the care of the small Temple of the Myrtidiotissa was undertaken by the Monk Leontios, who, with financial assistance from the people of Kythera, enlarged the original temple somewhat and built several cells around it for the accommodation of pilgrims.

However, the multitude of pilgrims arriving from various places created the need for a larger temple.

This difficult undertaking was begun in 1841 with great zeal, effort, and fundraising by the energetic Hieromonk Agathangelos Kalligeros, and within sixteen years a magnificent complex had been completed, consisting of a majestic temple, a towering bell tower that is a masterpiece, and numerous cells for the accommodation of pilgrims.

The small temple of the “finding,” known as the katholikon, remained beneath the large temple and is preserved in excellent condition. During the winter months, the icon of the Panagia is kept there. The love of the people of Kythera has preserved it within an entirely gold covering, a true masterpiece created by the Cretan artist Nikolaos Spithakis in 1827.

At the lower part of the golden covering, three miracles are depicted: the miracle of the shepherd’s discovery of the icon; the miracle of the healing of the paralytic on September 24, at the beginning of the seventeenth century; and the miracle of the preservation of the fortress of Kythera from lightning on January 22, 1829, while the icon of the Panagia was being kept inside the fortress out of fear of the pirates who ravaged the Mediterranean.

The sacred temple celebrates its feast on September 24, the day on which the miracle of the healing of the paralytic is commemorated, which was precisely forty days after the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Within the sacred temple are two chapels: one to the left of the iconostasis, dedicated to the Venerable Virgin-Martyr Elesa (see August 1), and the other to the right, dedicated to Venerable Theodore (see May 12).

It is worth pointing out that attached to the crown of the Most August Icon of the Panagia Myrtidiotissa is a “most precious, diamond-studded golden ornament in the shape of a crescent moon.” Let us recall its history:

According to what the late Sophocles Kaloutsis, the hymnographer of the Myrtidiotissa, recorded (Service of the Myrtidiotissa, 5th ed., p. 149), there was once on Kythera a wealthy and prominent Turk, a Muslim who resided in Ottoman-occupied Crete.

One day, he noticed an unusual gathering of people in the square of the Metropolitan Church of the Crucified One in Chora.

He asked what was happening, and they told him that the island had been afflicted by a drought lasting many months and that, for this reason, a procession of the Sacred Icon of the Myrtidiotissa would take place. The icon had already been brought down from the fortress, where it was then being kept, and was inside the Church of the Crucified One.

Yet the sky was perfectly clear, and not even the slightest trace of a cloud could be seen on the horizon.

The Turk mocked this undertaking, because reason told him that it would produce no results. And he was so certain of this that he declared that if rain followed the procession, he would dedicate to the Sacred Icon the golden crescent-moon ornament that he had with him.

The procession took place with compunction, and the people of Kythera, kneeling in prayer, pleaded for an end to the drought. And the miracle occurred.

As soon as the Sacred Procession returned to the temple, heavy rain began to fall.

The man of another faith kept his promise and dedicated the ornament to the Panagia.

When this occurred is not stated. It may have taken place before 1837. It was then that the golden covering of the Icon was made by the artist Nikolaos Spithakis, and it was probably he who attached the crescent moon to the crown of the Panagia, “as an everlasting remembrance of the miracle that brought an end to the drought.”

It is therefore possible that the dedication had taken place before 1837.

This miracle of our Panagia inspired the late hymnographer Sophocles Kaloutsis, who devoted an entire oikos of the Akathist Hymn of the Myrtidiotissa to its praise:

“Rejoice, end of the drought;
Rejoice, cessation of the scarcity of water;
Rejoice, you who send down abundant rain;
Rejoice, you who from heaven refresh the earth...”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Venerable Silouan the Athonite in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-24T13:50:34.852-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Silouan, this citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, had pious parents who came from the village of Shovskoye in Russia, which ecclesiastically belonged to the Metropolis of Tambov. He was born in 1866 and was called to repentance from his youth by the All-Hymned Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.

When he was twenty-seven years old, he abandoned all worldly concerns and, taking with him the blessing of Saint John of Kronstadt, departed for the Holy Mountain, becoming a monk at the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon, the Great Martyr and Healer.

He therefore gave himself wholeheartedly to God, and for this reason, in a short time, he not only received the grace of unceasing prayer from the Most Holy Theotokos, but was also deemed worthy of an ineffable theophany in the revered Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah, which was located near the mill of the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon. By God’s permission, he was subjected to many temptations from the wicked devil for fifteen years, while at the same time striving to follow the footsteps of Christ, offering supplications and entreaties to Him who alone can save him from death, with loud cries and tears. He was taught by God and heard the voice of the Lord, the Lawgiver, saying: "Keep your mind in Hades and despair not." He kept this commandment pure as a rule throughout his entire life, and thus he followed the path of Anthony, Makarios, Sisoes, Poemen, and the other glorious teachers of the desert, acquiring their spiritual stature and gifts, and being revealed, both during his life and after his death, as an apostolic and prophetic teacher.

He left us writings filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which were published by his disciple and spiritual child, Venerable Sophrony, the founder and Archimandrite of the Sacred Monastery of the pious Orthodox in Britain (Essex).

The wondrous Silouan was meek and humble in heart, fervent in his supplications to God for the salvation of all people, and a preacher of love even toward one's enemies, a love that constitutes the surest criterion of the true presence of the divine Spirit.

Blessed Venerable Silouan passed from death to life, full of days, on the twenty-fourth of September in the year 1938.

The Church, recognizing his rare virtues, the depth of his knowledge of God, his writings in the Holy Spirit, his various spiritual gifts, and his miracles, officially proclaimed his sanctity, enrolling him among the saints on November 26, 1987.

2. There is no person faithful to God, whether Orthodox Christian or heterodox, who has come into contact with the writings of Saint Silouan inspired by the Spirit of God—especially as interpreted by his spiritual child, the equally Venerable Sophrony, in the work regarded as one of the most important of the twentieth century, Elder Silouan of Mount Athos—and who has not exclaimed with compunction, “How great are Your works, O Lord,” and, “Wondrous is God in His saints!” Even more so, this is true of his wise and gifted hymnographer, Hieromonk Athanasios, who, with genuine heartfelt perception and profound love and knowledge of the Saint, composed his Service, so important and comprehensive that it alone is sufficient to bring one into communion with the spirit of the great Silouan.

It is utterly impossible, in a short text, to set forth all the dimensions touched upon by the profound Hymnographer; this would require many pages, as though one were writing an extensive study of the Saint. We shall therefore limit ourselves to commenting on certain individual elements which, nevertheless, as we believe, are sufficient to shed at least some light on his God-illumined personality. We shall choose, almost at random, as our guide the Doxastikon of the Saint's Vespers, which touches upon many things in brief.

“Accept and do not reject, most compassionate Father, this small praise, though fashioned with love. For with what words, O Venerable Father, shall I praise your wondrous life? For you have become equal in spiritual stature to the ancient ascetics, and you lead wandering souls to the knowledge of God like the morning star in the deep night of darkened sin. And you teach the acquisition of the Spirit, not intellectually, but through experience. Therefore, O Silouan, beholding you, we are astonished and bless the land that gave you birth, while we magnify your spiritual homeland, in which you became full of holiness. Intercede, we beseech you, O last and great glory of the Athonites, before the Lord for us.”

“Equal in spiritual stature to the ancient ascetics,” therefore, is the Venerable Silouan according to our Hymnographer. That is, he belongs to the rank of the greatest Venerable Fathers: Anthony the Great, Poemen, Makarios, Sisoes, and the other glorious abbas of the Gerontikon of the Church. This means, precisely as he says, that we are speaking of a star of the first magnitude, of a spiritual sun that richly received the rays of the First Light, the very Trinity of divine glory (“You have attained the stature of Venerable Anthony,” Ode 8; “Beholding You, the unsetting Sun, we are illumined,” Vespers Doxastikon). And for this reason, in his person we touch the signs of Christ's presence in an intense and unique way. The Saint becomes our guide to seeing the face of our God who was revealed in the flesh, even as we journey in the land and shadow of death. From this perspective, Saint Silouan, perhaps more than any other, through his life and writings, becomes one of the most fervent missionaries of our age, and indeed of every age to come. “The Lord made you a teacher of the inhabited world, O Silouan, through what you learned by experience, namely, to teach how the divine Spirit comes and dwells in souls” (Ode 3).

And what does he teach us specifically from his experience? On the one hand, that “the purpose of spiritual life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit” (Saint Seraphim of Sarov), and on the other, that in order to reach this point one must “give blood to receive the Spirit.” The great Saint's journey in Christ was not “bloodless.” From the beginning he did not walk according to the will of God. But he was well-intentioned—that which constitutes the prerequisite for a relationship with God. And for this reason the Panagia, the Mother of our Lord, intervened in his life, calling him to repentance. In the words of the great Hymnographer: “As a saving dowry you received repentance from the Theotokos. For when you swallowed the serpent”—that is, when you fell into grievous carnal sins—“you were reproved by Her, because your life was not pleasing to Her; and thus the desire for asceticism kindled your soul, O most blessed Silouan” (Vespers Stichera). Indeed, from that point onward he turned wholly toward God, ultimately arriving at the Holy Mountain, having in the meantime also been strengthened by the prayer of the great Russian Saint John of Kronstadt, whose prayers guarded him and did not leave him even for a moment in peace. “You departed from the world, Father, and entered the furnace of Hades, with the blessings of the Shepherd of God, Saint John of Kronstadt” (Lity). “The wise shepherd of Kronstadt strengthened you through prayer, that you might depart from the world” (Ode 4).

He undertook great struggles at the Monastery of his repentance, passed through the furnace of many and varied temptations, persevered and endured to the end, and received many revelations from the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos. Again and again his Hymnographer notes the best-known incident described by his biographer, Venerable Sophrony: when, exhausted and almost despairing because of demonic attacks arising from the temptations of vainglory and pride that he was confronting, he saw the living Christ through the icon of the iconostasis in the church. “Having beheld the Living Christ in the Holy Spirit, you received the abundance of life, O most holy Silouan” (Vespers Doxastikon). “He would never forget the gaze of Jesus, full of love and transcendent peace,” wrote his holy spiritual child Sophrony. And, of course, the Hymnographer also refers to the answer given by the Lord to His great ascetic concerning how he should confront the attacks of thoughts of vainglory: “Keep your mind in Hades and despair not.” “Humility is given, O wise one, as the condition of fruitful prayer, just as the descent of the mind into the realms of Hades, but with saving despair, is the way of the Fathers. You followed this path, O God-bearer, with faith, and attained the stature of Venerable Anthony” (Ode 8).

The appearance of the Lord through His icon, however, was not the only time He appeared to His beloved servant. The Hymnographer notes that he was granted this great grace on another occasion when he least expected it: while he was serving his fellow human beings in the ministry of the refectory. Because he served them with the vision of Christ—that is, because he saw Him in their faces—the Lord rewarded him by allowing him to see Him once again. “Having the presence of the Master always before your eyes, as a faithful steward of His grace, you served your brethren at the mill, where you were also deemed worthy of the ineffable appearance of Christ, the Bread of Life” (Lity).

Thus we understand that Saint Silouan lived repentance deeply as an unceasing search for God, humility that enabled him to see the reality of himself within His grace, and love in Christ as a sacrificial disposition toward all his brethren—elements that led to all the wondrous things that God has promised to His genuine servants. The poetic expression of these things by the great Hymnographer is remarkable. We select the following:

“Desiring to make the work of salvation easy for mortals, the All-Good Master established the neighbor as an earthly god, through whom we are led up toward union with Him, as Silouan, who lived in brotherly love, teaches in his writings” (Ode 8).

This is precisely what the Gerontikon continually emphasizes as the unique path toward the deification of man: “You have seen your brother; you have seen the Lord your God!”

“What shall I say, O Father, I most shameless one? Beholding you, I see the whole conclusion of your life, through which you received the fullness of grace: humility. You became like Jesus who humbled Himself, from whom I have become estranged” (Ode 9).

And this humility of Silouan, together with his love for God and his fellow human being, were the essential elements of the true and genuine repentance he demonstrated, as we have said, from the beginning of his turning toward God, responding to the wondrous intervention of the Most Holy Theotokos. But the good Hymnographer points out what is perhaps the most important sign of the genuineness of his repentance. Many people show that they repent, but after some period of time, whether short or long, they return to their sinful habits. What was it in Silouan? It was the Saint's decision, until death, to remain faithful to the Monastery of his repentance and to the holy commandments of his Lord. From the beginning, Venerable Silouan understood that if turning toward God does not pass through the death of the self—that is, the death of his egotistical disposition—then there can be neither progress nor spiritual life. When the Apostle Paul said that, in order to have a living relationship with Christ, our co-crucifixion with Him is given to us—“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”—and when he continually revealed that all the disciples of Christ “carry about the dying of the body” in order to fulfill their God-pleasing mission, it was impossible for the faithful Silouan to remain outside this reality, just as it must be for every Christian who lives with understanding.

“You set your feet upon the rock of repentance, O Silouan, reckoning without hesitation that here I shall die for my sins” (Lity). “The power of your repentance is ineffable, O wondrous Silouan, for you hastened never again to grieve the God who loves mankind, O Father, working toward peace of conscience through love for God” (Ode 7).

Great is Silouan as a witness to love for God and for his fellow human being, as one of those who, even in our contemporary world, reveals to us that “the Lord God lives”! And what could be more immediate for each of us, if we accept this reality, than to come into contact with his writings, which are filled with the grace and wisdom of God, as testified by all who have done so from their own experience!

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Miracle of Saint Thekla for Old Man Panais of Lysi

2026-09-24T13:01:30.381-04:00

Panais Hatzeionas was afflicted in his youth with a rash (called karfites in the Cypriot dialect) on both of his legs, causing him considerable suffering whenever he walked. He went to doctors and applied ointments, but nothing helped. One day, as he and his brother Vasilis were returning from Stavrovouni Monastery (the journey from Lysi to Stavrovouni was always made on foot) they stopped at the Sacred Monastery of Saint Thekla in Mosfiloti to venerate. There, he took mud from the holy spring of Saint Thekla and applied it to his legs. By the time they reached Lysi, the rashes had disappeared from both of his legs.

At an older age, and shortly after the Turkish invasion, while living as a refugee, he developed a rash (a karfiti) on his nose. This time as well, he took mud from Saint Thekla, and after applying it to the affected area, the affliction disappeared.

He would frequently invoke the miracle as an example of the power of God. “These ‘mud clods,’” he would say, “can do what doctors and scientists cannot do. God performs miracles even through these worthless materials!”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Protomartyr and Equal to the Apostles Thekla in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-24T08:18:52.718-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Thekla was from the city of Iconium. Her mother was named Theokleia, and she belonged to a noble and illustrious family. She was instructed in the word of the faith by the great Apostle Paul, whom she heard teaching in the house of Onesiphoros. When she became a Christian, she was eighteen years old and had been betrothed to Thamyris. Later she scorned the fire into which they cast her, as well as her mother and her betrothed, she followed Paul. After these things, she found herself in Antioch, where, because of her faith, Alexander had her thrown among wild beasts and bulls so that they might tear her to pieces. Yet she was saved from all these things by the grace of God. Thereupon she began traveling through various cities, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, with the result that she brought many people to the Christian faith. Afterwards she returned to her homeland, where she withdrew to some of its mountains and practiced asceticism by herself. She performed many miracles for the people who visited her, until she brought her life to an end, entering into a rock that opened by the power of God for her sake. The total span of her life was ninety years.

2. It is not only men who can boast of the first among the martyrs, Saint Stephen. Women likewise have their first martyr among women, Saint Thekla, who was also a Great Martyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles. This Saint holds a particular place among the saints and martyrs, not only as the “fellow athlete of Stephen,” but also as the “companion of Paul.” For she was converted and became a Christian by the Apostle Paul, but she also followed him on many of his journeys, displaying such a courageous spirit, especially in what she endured, that, according to the Hymnographer, she caused Eve, our foremother, who had submitted to the commands of the devil, to rejoice because a woman had been found to subdue the evil one. “Eve rejoices, beholding the serpent subjected to a woman.”

The Hymnographer particularly emphasizes the fact that the Saint, very young in age, as soon as she became a Christian, left her betrothed in order to become a follower of Paul and an evangelist of Christ. Her decision, from one who was destined for marriage to one who ultimately dedicated herself to Christ as an unmarried woman, was certainly not due to any disparagement of marriage. Such a thing is not Christian, since marriage and virginity according to Christ are both regarded as being from God and as equal paths within the Church which, when rightly practiced, lead to the Kingdom of God. Besides, Thamyris, her betrothed, was a pagan, and their relationship had begun before the Saint became a Christian; consequently, we cannot speak of marriage in the Christian sense. The Saint simply, when confronted with the newness that had opened before her — Christ and His Kingdom — was captivated by love for Him to such a degree that she considered it impossible to continue living as she had before. Faced with the choice of remaining with her betrothed in a pagan life or being with Christ as a Christian, she chose the latter without hesitation. For she understood that love for Christ was above all. “He who loves … anything more than Me is not worthy of Me,” said the Lord. Things would certainly have been different if Thamyris had also been a Christian. Then they would rather have striven together to attain the Kingdom of God. As a pagan, however, the betrothed could no longer “survive” in this relationship. The Hymnographer points this out: “Though betrothed to Thamyris, Paul, the bridal escort, united you, as an undefiled bride, to the heavenly Bridegroom, O all-wise Thekla.” Who can compare with Christ and with His love? Love for Christ now caused Thekla to regard whatever words Thamyris spoke as foolish babbling: “The words of Thamyris you mocked as foolish babbling, O Martyr.”

This love for Christ, the Saint’s longing for her Creator, is also what the Hymnographer perceives. If Saint Thekla overcame human love, which under other circumstances would, of course, have been lawful, if she overcame her affection for her mother, if she overcame all the pleasures promised by youth, it was precisely because her heart had been conquered by her Bridegroom, Christ. As the poet also notes: “The longing for the Creator overcame the loves for created things.” And this is what we generally observe in our saints: they are able to overcome every obstacle; they can appear superhuman and heroic because the love of Christ constrains them. Like the Apostle Paul, they too can say: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, danger, the sword? Neither death nor any creature can separate us from His love.” Every Christian must likewise have this love of Christ if he wishes to live as a Christian. And in order to acquire it, he must first of all recognize its absence in his life and ask for it from Him who grants it: the Lord Himself. The problem is that we do not ask for it. And we do not ask for it because we do not feel its absence. And we do not feel its absence because other loves, the loves of this world, overwhelm our existence. Yet they are perishable loves, whose only offerings are sorrow and death.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 24

2026-09-24T03:50:08.347-04:00

The Month of September

Day 24

25. Is There Any Benefit in Hearing the Word of God?

(From the Life of Holy Protomartyr Thekla)

When, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, a lectern is placed on the ambo in the church and the priest comes out to give a sermon, then ordinarily, especially in the cities, nearly a large portion of the people, and especially those who consider themselves educated, rush out of the church. And this, of course, shows that such people either do not wish to acknowledge that there is any benefit in hearing the word of God, or do not understand this at all. Yet there truly is benefit in listening to the word of God, and it is not difficult to prove this.

Holy Protomartyr Thekla was at first a pagan; she came from a noble and distinguished family and was exceptionally beautiful. When she had reached the age of eighteen, the Apostles Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium, where Thekla lived, preaching the gospel. Thekla constantly went to listen to their discourses concerning Christ, and the seed of the word of God fell upon good soil, took root in the heart of the young maiden through the action of the Holy Spirit, and brought forth fruit. Thekla believed in the Son of God and clung to Him with all her soul. Then, after her Baptism, when she heard Paul preach about virginity and chastity, she was persuaded by his preaching of the excellence of virginity and resolved in her heart to leave the world with all its pleasures and serve Christ in virginal purity until her death. Later she listened to the same Apostle while he was in prison, and the result of this listening was that Thekla became fully instructed and firmly established in faith and in ardent love for the Son of God. “Paul,” writes Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “poured the myrrh of his lips into the holy ears of the maiden, and she, for the sake of his words, put to death the outward man within herself and extinguished all vain thoughts and desires.”

But this was not all: by listening several more times to the teacher of the nations, Thekla herself eventually became an effective preacher of the divine teaching of Christ, and she herself converted many to Christ, thereby earning the title Equal-to-the-Apostles. Thus, when she lived in the house of the pious woman Tryphena, it is said that she “preached the word of God and taught many there to believe in Christ.” Likewise, in Seleucia she “guided many onto the path of salvation, helped many in their afflictions, and healed many illnesses.”

Now consider this: when Thekla heard the word of God from Paul for the first time, she believed in Christ; when she heard it for the second time, she was betrothed to Christ; when she heard it for the third and fourth times, she was completely established in faith and in ardent love for the Lord; and when, finally, she had advanced to perfection in the knowledge of divine truths, she herself became an effective preacher of the word of God. From this it follows that there truly is great benefit in hearing it, and that one should not flee from hearing it. Remember, then, that the word of God is not preached to the wind, but with the sole purpose of building up the salvation of your souls and, consequently, of bringing benefit above all to you yourselves. Therefore, we repeat, do not flee from hearing it, but listen with all diligence and reverence, with humility and with a constant desire to know the will of God and to be instructed in piety and virtue. And when you listen to it with such an attitude and diligence, then the Lord Himself, by His all-powerful grace, will enlighten your minds and hearts to know His heavenly teaching and to apply it for the benefit of your souls. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 25:

1. What happened to Holy Protomartyr Thekla when she heard the word of God from the Apostle Paul for the first time?

2. What happened to Holy Protomartyr Thekla when she heard the word of God concerning virginity and chastity for the second time?

3. What happened to Holy Protomartyr Thekla when she listened to the Apostle Paul while he was in prison?

4. What did Thekla become after listening several more times to the teacher of the nations?

5. From what is there truly great benefit for us ourselves?

Synaxarion of the Venerable Tychon the Hagiorite

2026-09-23T16:40:27.523-04:00

Synaxarion

By Haralambos M. Bousias

On the twenty-third of this month, we commemorate of our Venerable Father Tychon, who practiced asceticism in Kapsala of the Holy Mountain.

Verses

As simple and humble, Tychon,
you were deemed worthy of the glory of the Most High,
O citizen of the desert.

He had Novaya Mikhaylovka in Russia as his homeland. He was born in 1884 to pious parents, Paul and Helen, from whom he learned the Orthodox faith, piety, and love for the Lord Jesus. In the prime of his youth, he abandoned the world and, aflame with divine eros, successively withdrew to Mount Sinai, the desert of the Jordan, and the Holy Mountain. There he practiced the ascetic life in a manner pleasing to God for a total of sixty years, living at the Cell of Burazeri and in the wilderness of Karoulia and Kapsala, unceasingly glorifying the name of God.

He was distinguished by the simplicity of his ways, his humility, fasting, renunciation of possessions, and compassionate heart. As a spiritual guide to multitudes of monks and laypeople, he guided them without error toward salvation and deification. His spiritual child Paisios, together with certain other lovers of the Venerable ones, recorded his spiritual attainments for the glory of God and the honor of the Venerable Hesychast.

Apolytikion
Tone Plagal of the 1st. “Ton synanarchon Logon”.

Let us praise Tychon, the most radiant luminary of Russia and dweller in the wildernesses of the Holy Mountain, the simple and humble one, crying aloud to God, the ever-glorious ascetic, radiant with divine light and ever glorifying God: “Grant those who honor you to attain unfading glory.”

Kontakion
Tone Plagal of the 4th. “Ti Ypermacho”.

With the balm of Christ’s love, you heal the wounds of the souls of those who approach you with faith. Come, therefore, let us all honor the humble and simple Hieromonk, who, like a resounding trumpet, proclaimed the glory of God, crying aloud: “Rejoice, O blessed Tychon.”

Oikos

An angel in asceticism, O God-bearer Tychon, you appeared as a newly radiant star of Athos in these latter times, and you were deemed worthy to partake of the glory in the dwelling places of God. Therefore, faithfully honoring you, we cry aloud:

Rejoice, nurtured son of Russia;
rejoice, crown of fasting.

Rejoice, delight of the Venerable ones of Athos;
rejoice, adornment of the Holy Fathers.

Rejoice, height of humility and blameless conduct;
rejoice, depth of goodness and heartfelt prayer.

Rejoice, you who unceasingly glorify God;
rejoice, you who continually utter the prayer.

Rejoice, true servant of God;
rejoice, adversary of the deceitful enemy.

Rejoice, staff of the Venerable Paisios;
rejoice, lamp of the longed-for Paradise.

Rejoice, O blessed Tychon.

Megalynarion

Rejoice, O ascetic of the Holy Mountain, who pours forth the grace of God, O blessed and most renowned Tychon; rejoice, you who glorified the Lord throughout your life, unceasingly humble-minded and filled with the Spirit.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Venerable Tychon the Hagiorite Resource Page

2026-09-23T16:10:26.943-04:00

Venerable Tychon the Hagiorite (Feast Day - September 23)

Verses

As simple and humble, Tychon,

You were deemed worthy of the glory of the Most High,
O citizen of the desert.

Synaxarion of the Venerable Tychon the Hagiorite

Christmas With Papa Tychon

Before Papa-Tychon Gave Advice He Would Invoke the Holy Spirit

Venerable Papa-Tychon and the Grandeur of the Divine Liturgy

A Unique Photo of St. Paisios the Athonite with the Russian Elder Papa Tychon

The Cell of the Honorable Cross of Papa Tychon and Elder Paisios

The Last Days of Elder Tychon the Athonite: A Blessed Repose

Saint Paisios the Athonite and his Obedient Frog

The Prayer of Golgotha (Papa Tychon the Hagiorite)

Papa-Tychon and Hatzi-George, Ascetics of Mount Athos, Canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Encomium on the Conception of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (Pseudo-Chrysostom)

2026-09-23T15:35:58.872-04:00

Encomium on the Conception of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

By Pseudo-Chrysostom*

1. Moses the great, the servant of God, the crown of the Prophets, the traveler across the sea, the charioteer of the air, the table-setter of manna, the lawgiver of God, the one who received the sacred tablets, the first teacher of what is beneficial for life — this man, so great and eminent, constructed a tabernacle for the people of Israel according to the pattern that he had been taught by God on the mountain. And he made everything within its enclosure holy and sacred, everything that was contained within the boundary surrounding it; but its innermost part was inaccessible and unapproachable, and was called the Holy of Holies.

Following the pattern of this tabernacle, Solomon also built a temple, surpassing all the temples on earth not only in the magnificence of its materials, nor merely in the variety of its craftsmanship, but also in the form of its construction, so that those who saw it would never desire anything found among the Egyptians. And he made the temple according to the image of the whole universe, both the visible and the intelligible. For just as there are earth and heaven, with the firmament as the partition between them, so God commanded that it should be made in the same way. Dividing this temple into two and placing a veil in the middle, He permitted everyone to enter the part outside the veil, but the part within was inaccessible and unseen by all except the high priest alone, as the angel commanded when he spoke to Moses, telling him to say to the children of Israel: “In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, humble your souls,” that is, concerning the Feast of Tabernacles. For then, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the high priest alone entered the Holy of Holies once a year to offer incense.

During this Feast of Tabernacles, therefore, Zechariah also entered to offer incense according to his appointed course of service, and he saw the angel standing at the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you shall have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. And he himself will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready.”

Do you see a promise that surpasses prophetic power? This prophecy of Zechariah both bound and loosed his tongue: it bound it because he disbelieved the birth, and it loosed it when the birth had taken place. O, what a wonder! John was an evangelist from the womb, a wonderworker from his mother’s womb, the one brought up in the wilderness and one who shared the table of the angels, the second Elijah among the Prophets after the Law, and a most true herald, driving away delusion by the zeal of the Spirit; the Forerunner and Baptist, who said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near”; the son of Zechariah, the offspring of the barren woman, and the perfect work of the people’s prayers; the true teacher of repentance and advocate for the faithful who confess their sins; the fulfillment of the Law, the beginning of grace, and the rebuke of the impiety of the Jews; the confirmer of heavenly doctrines and the impartial judge of the transgressions of the people; born beyond hope from a barren woman, and the bridal escort of Christ, who by His grace brought water from the rock; the one who bridled the streams of the Jordan and interceded for the cleansing of sinners; the foreknower of the incomprehensible Mystery and prophet of the coming of the Invisible One. This is John, who was born to Zechariah according to the promise in the deepest old age.

O, what a wonder! For behold, the movements of John in the womb were demonstrated through his deeds, which he made known. The world saw the gladness that the Forerunner depicted with his feet while still in the womb. But what honor shall we render to the righteous man, surrounded on every side by his accomplishments? For he is announced while still in the womb, works miracles at his birth, grows in the wilderness as he practices asceticism, is nourished by the Spirit as he advances, mediates between the Law and grace, preaches a baptism of repentance, baptizes the Master when He appears, beholds the glory of the Trinity at the Baptism, bears witness to grace in truth, and, crying aloud, points out the One who was prophesied, confessing Him as Master and proclaiming that He is mightier than himself. He leads those who believe toward Him, teaching the crowds what is beneficial; he admonishes the tax collectors who are being baptized, rebukes Herod for his lawlessness, and in the end receives a blessed end.

With what words, then, shall we marvel at him? What tongue shall we set in motion for these things? What shall we leave unsaid, and what shall we be able to say concerning them? For great is the sea of praises, and great is the breadth of his accomplishments; even the experience of these things itself overwhelms those who speak of them. But let righteous Zechariah, the father of this righteous man, come even now — the one who was condemned to silence and then spoke again. Let him tell us most clearly what happened to him: how he spoke when his tongue had been restrained; how John was born and the angel’s sentence was lifted; how the punishment was removed and healing came.

For the Evangelist, introducing in brief the account of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, first indicates their names, their nature, and their dignity; then he adds praise of their way of life and a trophy of their good works, in which he also reveals the condemnation to silence and makes known the loosing of his speech. And listen from this point to the words of the Gospel: “And they had no child,” he says, “because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.” And now I see not only their childlessness, but I also contemplate the ancient example of the righteous, I mean Abraham and Sarah. And I learn of barrenness giving birth to another, of childbearing through grace and nature, of the strange mystery of childbearing; for this is also the manner of this promise.

“And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing at the right side of the altar of incense; and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. And the angel said to him: Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

Good is the possession of the promise, great is the gift of the vision, truly Abrahamic is the boast. For just as Sarah’s conception was announced beforehand to him, so Elizabeth’s pregnancy was likewise proclaimed beforehand to this man. Yet the prophecy is the same; the order of events, however, is not the same. For while Abraham suffered nothing at all on account of the promise, Zechariah is found speechless after the announcement, having failed to believe the faithful angel, and he received his punishment in silence.

“But Zechariah,” he says, “said to the angel: ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. What is this, O Master? I offer my supplications to God, making atonement on behalf of all the people, and you announce to me that I shall have a son? This is impossible. For old age is weak, nature is powerless, and my wife is a barren rock; and how shall this happen to me? Yet even if, as you have said, a son will be born to me, what benefit will the people receive from him?'”

But the angel said: “Great salvation will come through him to the people and to all the nations; for he himself will turn everyone away from delusion and show them the way of salvation, becoming a mediator between God and men. For he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he will be called the Prophet of the Most High. He will go before the face of the Lord, saying: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’”

2. Zechariah, however, answered and said to the angel: “How shall I know this?” And the angel said: “Because you seek a sign concerning the birth and disbelieve my words, receive a sure pledge: I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to announce these things to you. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their appointed time.”

Unrelenting is the judgment upon the one who has sinned, and the anger of punishment is not to be postponed. For surely the angel should not have been disbelieved, nor should the altar have been treated with contempt, nor should the time of offering incense have been regarded as a time of deception; for the angel appeared to him while he was offering incense. He did not call to mind the history of Abraham. For then also barrenness and old age brought forth a child, and everything that was said was shown to be worthy of belief; for there was already the miracle of such a birth. Therefore the angel said to him: “You shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words.” O, the compassionate punishment, which worked correction rather than anything else! For the angel disciplines the very voice that had gone astray.

“For when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they recognized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.” Well did the Evangelist also record the word “remained.” For the silence was waiting for the voice to be born; Zechariah was waiting for John, the old man for the child. O, what a wonder! The Word comes among us, and the voice proclaims Him beforehand; the Master is coming, and the servant is sent ahead of Him.

But why do I now anticipate the preaching in the wilderness, when I have before me another strange and great voice from the beginning? For deeds come first, greater than these words. While the Baptist still dwelt in his mother’s womb, while he was still held by the bonds of nature, while he was still wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the womb, he proclaimed by his movement the coming of the Master. For it says: “When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb.” He is not yet born, and he speaks through his leaping; he is not yet permitted to cry out, and he is heard through his deeds; he has not yet learned the ways of life, and he proclaims God beforehand.

Truly, others have labored, and we have entered into their labors. The Prophets cried out beforehand, and they did not keep silent even when they were struck; the line of the Patriarchs was endangered; tyrants opposed them; kings waged war; the people grew angry; the whole world contended against the struggles of the righteous. From one side they were brought before tribunals, and from another they were torn by lashes; punishments and tortures surrounded them on every side. Yet while they were experiencing such a gloomy condition of life, John, announcing the end of the storm, though still bound in the swaddling clothes of nature, showed us the saving spring. And hastening to proclaim with his voice the One whom he had indicated with his feet, he pressed against the boundaries of nature. For he stirred the slow-bearing Elizabeth; he leaped, at once dancing and expressing distress over the fact that he was confined within the womb; he cried out against the passage of the months; he shook the womb as though it were an unjust prison, and through his leaping he cried out, speaking thus to Elizabeth:

“You are doing me an injustice, O mother, by bearing me so late, holding back the joy of the whole inhabited world and hindering the Forerunner. You carry within you a Prophet; you hold a royal soldier captive. You impede the swift runner of piety. You are doing me an injustice, O mother; you do not know what is to come, you are unaware of what will happen. The Light is coming; release the dawn. The Sun will rise; the morning star will shine beforehand. The Word is at the doors, and there is need of a voice; the Bridegroom is near, and it is right that the bridal chamber be spread out in the Jordan. There is need of blood to ransom the world, and I must point out the Lamb from afar. The human race is bound in the swaddling clothes of sins; He who looses those who are bound has come. There is need of a herald, so that all, having learned of Him, may go out to meet the Master; and behold, you hold the Forerunner in your womb. Therefore, O mother, consider Adam held captive in Hades, and the eternal groanings of Eve; for the blood of Abel still cries out, pleading against the slaying by Cain. The elements themselves also groan with him. For this reason you have certainly been delivered from the affliction of childlessness, so that the one born of a barren woman might announce the One born of a Virgin. For this reason I leaped in the womb, so that the devil might no longer dance in the world.”

Thus John, though not yet born, signified these things to Elizabeth through his leaping. “And Elizabeth’s time was fulfilled for her to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had magnified His mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by the name of his father, Zechariah. But his mother answered and said: ‘He shall be called John.’ And they made signs to his father as to what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, saying: ‘John is his name.’ And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue, and he spoke, blessing God.”

Indeed, the child is born, and the voice of the father returns. For thus John’s voice is shown to be crying out, because even his very name has revealed itself to be the activity of a voice. For he says: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’” Having received the illumination of the Holy Spirit, he pointed out the Creator through His works, and with his finger pointed out the Maker to all, crying aloud: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

“Therefore, produce fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

But how does our discourse today correspond to the fervent zeal of the infant? Let us, if it seems good, restrain our tongue for now, which has leaped sufficiently together with the infant. For it is good to measure our exposition according to the occasion, to delight in what has been said, but also to await the contemplation of what follows. For the Baptist did not violate the boundaries of nature even by his leaping, but he himself also waited for the proper time, knowing that the Master would afterward fulfill this also for our sake, proclaiming: “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as abundant water covers the seas; and from the rising of the sun to its setting My name has been glorified, and in every place a pure sacrifice is offered to My name.”

For no longer, according to the Law, is there one temple that receives the sacrifices and is glorified by them; rather, throughout the whole inhabited world, Churches sincerely send up glory to God. There, there was one priest once a year, mortal and filled with every sin; now we have received Jesus Christ as the High Priest of our souls, “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.” For, he says, “we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, our Lord Jesus Christ;” to whom is due all glory, honor, and worship, together with the Father and the All-Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Note on the Author:

* While printed in the Patrologia Graeca among the spurious works of John Chrysostom (In laudem conceptionis sancti Joannis Baptistae, PG 50:787–792), this homily is widely recognized in modern patristic databases, including the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, as a pseudo-Chrysostomic composition (CPG 4642). Liturgical and stylistic markers point to Proclus of Constantinople as the likely author. The reason scholars reattributed this text from Chrysostom to Proclus is style. Chrysostom's style is typically raw, direct, moralistic, and explanatory. Proclus's style is heavily stylized, highly structured, and utilizes rhythmic prose filled with dramatic dialogue (e.g., imagining conversations between the Angel and Zechariah). Consequently, this text should be read within the context of mid-5th-century Byzantine homiletics rather than late 4th-century Antiochene theology.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὴν σύλληψιν τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ προφήτου Προδρόμου καὶ Βαπτιστοῦ.

Ιωάνης Χρυσόστομος

αʹ. Μωϋσῆς ὁ μέγας, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ θεράπων, τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν προφητῶν, ὁ τῆς θαλάσσης ὁδοιπόρος, ὁ τοῦ ἀέρος ἡνίοχος, ὁ τοῦ μάννα τραπεζοποιὸς, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ νομοθέτης, ὁ τὰς πλάκας τὰς ἱερὰς δεξάμενος, ὁ πρῶτος εἰσηγητὴς τῶν συμφερόντων τῷ βίῳ, οὗτος ὁ τοσοῦτος καὶ τηλικοῦτος σκηνὴν τῷ λαῷ Ἰσραὴλ κατεσκεύασε, καθ' ὃν ἐν τῷ ὄρει παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐδιδάχθη τύπον. Καὶ πάντα μὲν ἅγιά τε καὶ ἱερὰ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐποίησεν, ὅσα τῷ περισχοινίσματι κατὰ τὸ ἐντὸς περιείληπτο· τὸ δὲ ἐνδότατον τούτοις ἄδυτόν τε καὶ ἀνεπίβατον ἦν, Ἅγιον ἁγίων λεγόμενον.Τούτῳ τῷ παραδείγματι τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ Σολομὼν ᾠκοδόμησε ναὸν, οὐχὶ τῇ πολυτελείᾳ τῆς ὕλης μόνον, οὐδὲ τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῆς τέχνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ σχήματι τῆς οἰκοδομῆς πάντας τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς ναοὺς ἀποκρύπτοντα· ὥστε αὐτοὺς μηδέποτε εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἐλθεῖν τῶν παρὰ Αἰγυπτίοις. Καὶ ποιεῖ τὸν ναὸν πρὸς τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς, τοῦ τε αἰσθητοῦ καὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ. Καθάπερ γάρ ἐστι γῆ καὶ οὐρανὸς, καὶ μέσον διάφραγμα τὸ στερέωμα τοῦτο· οὕτω κἀκεῖνον ἐκέλευσε γενέσθαι ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ εἰς δύο διατεμὼν τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ καταπέτασμα ἀφεὶς μέσον, τὸ μὲν ἔξω τοῦ καταπετάσματος πᾶσι συνεχώρησεν εἶναι βατὸν, τὸ δὲ ἔνδον, ἄβατον πᾶσι καὶ ἀθέατον, πλὴν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως μόνου, ὡς ὁ ἄγγελος ἐνετείλατο, λαλήσας τῷ Μωϋσῇ, εἰπεῖν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· Ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ἑβδόμῳ δεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνὸς, ταπεινώσατε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν· τοῦτ' ἔστι, περὶ τῆς σκηνοπηγίας· τότε γὰρ ἐν τῇ σκηνοπηγίᾳ ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ μόνος ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς εἰσῄει εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων θυμιᾷν. Ἐν ταύτῃ οὖν τῇ ἑορτῇ τῆς σκηνοπηγίας εἰσῆλθε καὶ ὁ Ζαχαρίας θυμιᾶσαι κατὰ τὴν ἐφημερίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶδε τὸν ἄγγελον ἑστῶτα ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος· Καὶ ἐταράχθη Ζαχαρίας ἰδὼν, καὶ φόβος ἐπέπεσεν ἐπ' αὐτόν· εἶπε δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος· Μὴ φοβοῦ, Ζαχαρία· διότι εἰσηκούσθη ἡ δέησίς σου, καὶ ἡ γυνή σου Ἐλισάβετ γεννήσει υἱόν σοι, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννην· καὶ ἔσται σοι χαρὰ καὶ ἀγαλλίασις· καὶ πολλοὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γεννήσει αὐτοῦ χαρήσονται. Ἔσται γὰρ μέγας ἐναντίον Κυρίου, καὶ οἶνον καὶ σίκερα οὐ πίεται, καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου πλησθήσεται ἔτι ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ. Καὶ αὐτὸς προπορεύσεται ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει Ἠλίου, ἐπιστρέψαι καρδίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα, καὶ ἀπειθεῖς ἐν φρονήσει δικαίων, ἑτοιμάσαι Κυρίῳ λαὸν κατεσκευασμένον. Εἶδες ἐπαγγελίαν, προφητικὴν ὑπερβαίνουσαν δύναμιν; Αὕτη ἡ προφητεία τοῦ Ζαχαρίου ἔδησε καὶ ἔλυσε τὴν γλῶτταν· ἔδησε γὰρ, ἀπιστηθέντος τοῦ τόκου·ἔλυσε δὲ αὐτὴν, γενομένου τοῦ τόκου. Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος! Ἰωάννης ἐκ κοιλίας εὐαγγελιστὴς, ἐκ γαστρὸς θαυματουργὸς, τῆς ἐρημίας σύντροφος, καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁμοδίαιτος, ὁ μετὰ τὸν νόμον ἐν προφήταις, δεύτερος Ἠλίας, καὶ ἀληθέστατος κήρυξ, τῷ ζήλῳ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν πλάνην ἐξελαύνων, ὁ πρόδρομος καὶ βαπτιστὴς, ὁ λέγων· Μετανοεῖτε· ἤγγικε γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν· ὁ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου υἱὸς, καὶ τῆς στείρας τὸ βλάστημα, καὶ τῶν εὐχῶν τοῦ λαοῦ τέλειον αὐτούργημα· ὁ τῆς μετανοίας γνήσιος εἰσηγητὴς, καὶ πιστῶν συνήγορος ἐξομολογουμένων· ὁ τοῦ νόμου πλήρωμα, καὶ τῆς χάριτος ἀρχηγὸς, καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔλεγχος· ὁ τῶν ἐπουρανίων δογμάτων βεβαιωτὴς, καὶ κριτὴς ἀδέκαστος τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ πταισμάτων· ὁ ἐκ στείρας ἀγόνου παρ' ἐλπίδα τεχθεὶς, καὶ χάριτι τοῦ ἐκ τῆς πέτρας ὕδωρ ἐξαγαγόντος Χριστοῦ νυμφαγωγός· ὁ τῶν Ἰορδανείων ῥείθρων χαλιναγωγὸς, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν καθάρσεως πρεσβευτής· ὁ τοῦ ἀκαταλήπτου μυστηρίου προγνώστης, καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀοράτου παρουσίας προφήτης· οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωάννης ὁ κατ' ἐπαγγελίαν τεχθεὶς τῷ Ζαχαρίᾳ ἐν γήρᾳ βαθυτάτῳ. Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος! ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἐδείχθη τὰ ἐν γαστρὶ τοῦ Ἰωάννου σκιρτήματα, ἃ ἐμήνυσεν. Εἶδεν ὁ κόσμος τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν, ἣν ἐν τῇ νηδύϊ ὁ πρόδρομος τοῖς ποσὶν ἐζωγράφησεν. Ἀλλὰ ποίαν ἡμεῖς τῷ δικαίῳ τὴν τιμὴν ἀποτίσωμεν, κυκλούμενοι πανταχόθεν τοῖς αὐτοῦ κατορθώμασιν; Εὐαγγελίζεται γὰρ κυοφορούμενος, θαυματουργεῖ τικτόμενος, προκόπτει ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις ἀσκούμενος, τρέφεται τῷ Πνεύματι προαγόμενος, μεσιτεύει νόμῳ καὶ χάριτι, κηρύττει μετανοίας βάπτισμα, βαπτίζει τὸν ∆εσπότην παραγενόμενον, θεωρεῖ βαπτίζων τῆς Τριάδος τὴν δόξαν, καὶ τὴν χάριν μαρτυρεῖ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, βοῶν ὑποδείκνυσι τὸν προφητευθέντα, ∆εσπότην ὁμολογῶν, καὶ αὐτοῦ ἰσχυρότερον· ὁδηγεῖ πρὸς αὐτὸν τοὺς πιστεύοντας, ἐκδιδάσκων τὸ συμφέρον τοῖς ὄχλοις· νουθετεῖ καὶ βαπτιζομένους τελώνας, ἐλέγχει καὶ τὸν Ἡρώδην παρανομοῦντα, δέχεται καὶ μακαριζόμενον τέλος. Ποίοις τοίνυν θαυμάσομεν λόγοις; ποίαν ἐν τούτοις κινήσομεν γλῶσσαν; τί τούτων παραλείπομεν, καὶ τί εἰπεῖν περὶ τούτων ἰσχύσομεν; Μέγα γὰρ τῶν ἐγκωμίων τὸ πέλαγος, μέγα καὶ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τὸ πλάτος· ἐκπλήττει τοὺς λέγοντας καὶ μόνη τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ πεῖρα. Ἀλλ' ἔλθοι καὶ νῦν Ζαχαρίας ὁ τοῦ δικαίου πατὴρ, ὁ καὶ τῇ σιωπῇ κατακριθεὶς, καὶ πάλιν φθεγξάμενος· ἐκεῖνος ἡμῖν τὰ ἑαυτοῦ τρανότατα διηγήσεται, πῶς ἐφθέγξατο κατασχεθείσης τῆς γλώσσης, πῶς Ἰωάννης γεννᾶται, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἀπόφασις λύεται, πῶς ἡ τιμωρία ἀπάγεται, καὶ ἡ θεραπεία ἔρχεται. Ὁ γὰρ εὐαγγελιστὴς σύντομον τοῦ Ζαχαρίου καὶ Ἐλισάβετ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ εἰσάγων τὸ κήρυγμα, πρότερον τὰς προσηγορίας αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν ἀξίαν σημαίνει· ἔπειτα δὲ πολιτείας ἔπαινον καὶ εὐποιίας τρόπαιον ἐπάγει, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τῆς σιωπῆς κατάκρισιν δείκνυσι, καὶ τῆς εὐγλωττίας τὴν λύσιν γνωρίζει. Καὶ ἄκουε τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ἐντεῦθεν ῥημάτων· Καὶ οὐκ ἦν, φησὶν, αὐτοῖς τέκνον, καθότι ἡ Ἐλισάβετ ἦν στείρα, καὶ ἀμφότεροι προβεβηκότες ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις αὐτῶν ἦσαν. Καὶ νῦν οὐ μόνον τὴν τούτων ἀτεκνίαν ὁρῶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν εἰκόνα τῶν δικαίων ἐννοῶ, Ἀβραὰμ λέγω καὶ Σάῤῥας· καὶ μανθάνω καὶ στείρωσιν τίκτουσαν ἑτέραν, καὶ παιδοποιίαν χάριτος καὶ φύσεως, ξένον τεκνογονίας μυστήριον· οὗτος γὰρ καὶ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ὁ τρόπος ταύτης. Ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος Κυρίου ἑστὼς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος· καὶ ἐταράχθη Ζαχαρίας ἰδὼν, καὶ φόβος ἐπέπεσεν ἐπ' αὐτόν. Εἶπε δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος· Μὴ φοβοῦ, Ζαχαρία· διότι εἰσηκούσθη ἡ δέησίς σου, καὶ ἡ γυνή σου Ἐλισάβετ γεννήσει υἱόν σοι, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννην. Καλὸν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸ κτῆμα, μέγα τῆς ὀπτασίας τὸ δῶρον, ἀληθῶς Ἀβραμιαῖον τὸ καύχημα· ὡς γὰρ ἐκείνῳ ἡ σύλληψις τῆς Σάῤῥας, οὕτω καὶ τούτῳ προκατήγγελται τῆς Ἐλισάβετ ἡ κύησις. Ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν πρόῤῥησις ἴση· οὐκ ἴση δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ τάξις. Τοῦ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας πεπονθότος δεινὸν, ἄφωνος μετὰ τὸν εὐαγγελισμὸν Ζαχαρίας εὑρίσκεται, πιστῷ ἀγγέλῳ μὴ πιστεύσας, καὶ σιωπῇ τὴν τιμωρίαν δεξάμενος. Εἶπε δὲ, φησὶ, Ζαχαρίας πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον· Κατὰ τί γνώσομαι τοῦτο; ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι πρεσβύτης, καὶ ἡ γυνή μου προβεβηκυῖα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις αὐτῆς. Τί τοῦτο, ∆έσποτα; ἐγὼ τὰς ἱκεσίας προσάγω τῷ Θεῷ ὑπὲρ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ ἐξιλασκόμενος, καὶ αὐτὸς υἱόν μοι τέξειν εὐαγγελίζῃ; Τοῦτο ἀδύνατόν ἐστι. Τὸ γὰρ γῆρας ἀσθενὲς, καὶ ἡ φύσις ἄτονος, καὶ ἡ ἐμὴ σύζυγος πέτρα ἐστὶν ἄγονος· καὶ πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο; Ὅμως εἰ καὶ ὡς εἴρηκας, γενήσεταί μοι υἱὸς, τίς ἔσται ὠφέλεια ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῷ λαῷ; Ὁ δὲ ἄγγελος· Μεγάλη ἔσται σωτηρία δι' ἐκείνου τῷ λαῷ, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐπιστρέψει πάντας ἀπὸ τῆς πλάνης, καὶ ὑποδείξει αὐτοῖς τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς σωτηρίας, μεσίτης γενόμενος Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων· Καὶ γὰρ προπορεύσεται ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει Ἠλίου, καὶ προφήτης Ὑψίστου κληθήσεται. Οὗτος προπορεύσεται πρὸ προσώπου Κυρίου, λέγων· Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου.

βʹ. Ὁ δὲ Ζαχαρίας ἀνταποκριθεὶς εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον· Κατὰ τί γνώσομαι τοῦτο; Εἶπε δὲ ὁ ἄγγελος· Ἐπειδὴ σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖς τοῦ τόκου, καὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀπιστεῖς λόγοις, λάβε ἐνέχυρον ἀσφαλές· Ἐγώ εἰμι Γαβριὴλ ὁ παρεστηκὼς ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀπεστάλην λαλῆσαι πρὸς σὲ, καὶ εὐαγγελίσασθαί σοι ταῦτα. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἔσῃ σιωπῶν, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος λαλῆσαι, ἄχρι ἧς ἡμέρας γένηται ταῦτα, ἀνθ' ὧν οὐκ ἐπίστευσας τοῖς λόγοις μου, οἵτινες πληρωθήσονται εἰς τὸν καιρὸν αὐτῶν.Ἀνένδοτος ἡ δίκη τῷ πλημμελήσαντι, καὶ ἀνυπέρθετος ἡ τῆς τιμωρίας ὀργή. Οὐκ ἔδει γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἀπιστηθῆναι τὸν ἄγγελον, οὐ τὸ θυσιαστήριον εὐκαταφρόνητον σχεῖν, οὐ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ θυμιάματος καιρὸν ἀπάτης λογίσασθαι· ὁ γὰρ ἄγγελος θυμιῶντι αὐτῷ ὤφθη. Οὐ τῆς Ἀβραὰμ ἱστορίας ὑπεμνήσθη· καὶ τότε γὰρ στείρα καὶ γῆρας παιδοποιεῖ, καὶ εὔπιστα πανταχοῦ τὰ λεγόμενα ἐδείχθη· εἶχε γὰρ τῆς τοιαύτης τεκνογονίας τὸ θαῦμα· ὅθεν ὁ ἄγγελος πρὸς αὐτὸν, Ἔσῃ, φησὶ, σιωπῶν, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος λαλῆσαι, ἄχρι ἧς ἡμέρας γένηται ταῦτα, ἀνθ' ὧν οὐκ ἐπίστευσας τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις. Ὢ τῆς φιλανθρώπου τιμωρίας, διόρθωσιν μᾶλλον ἐργασαμένης! αὐτὴν γὰρ ὁ ἄγγελος τὴν σφαλεῖσαν φωνὴν σωφρονίζει. Ἐξελθὼν γὰρ οὐκ ἠδύνατο λαλῆσαι αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἐπέγνωσαν ὅτι ὀπτασίαν ἑώρακεν ἐν τῷ ναῷ· καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν διανεύων αὐτοῖς, καὶ διέμενε κωφός. Καλῶς γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἔμενεν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς συνεγράψατο· περιέμενε γὰρ ἡ σιωπὴ τικτομένην τὴν φωνὴν, ὁ Ζαχαρίας τὸν Ἰωάννην, ὁ πρεσβύτης τὸν παῖδα. Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος λόγος ἐπιδημεῖ, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ προκηρύττει· ∆εσπότης ἔρχεται, καὶ δοῦλος προαποστέλλεται. Ἀλλὰ τί νῦν προλαβὼν τὸ τῆς ἐρήμου κήρυγμα λέγω, ἔχων ἑτέραν ξένην τινὰ καὶ μεγάλην τῶν προοιμίων φωνήν; Ἔργα γάρ ἐστι πρῶτα, τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων ἀνώτερα. Ἔτι γὰρ ὁ Βαπτιστὴς οἰκῶν ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ τῆς μητρὸς, ἔτι τοῖς τῆς φύσεως δεσμοῖς κατεχόμενος, ἔτι τοῖς μητρικοῖς σπαργάνοις ἐνειλη[μμένος], κηρύγματι τὴν τοῦ ∆εσπότου βοᾷ παρουσίαν· Ἐγένετο γὰρ, φησὶν, ὡς ἤκουσε τὸν ἀσπασμὸν τῆς Μαρίας ἡ Ἐλισάβετ, ἐσκίρτησε τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ αὐτῆς. Οὔπω γεννᾶται, καὶ τοῖς σκιρτήμασι φθέγγεται· οὔπω βοᾷν συγχωρεῖται, καὶ δι' ἔργων ἀκούεται· οὔπω μανθάνει τὸν βίον, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν προκηρύττει . Ὄντως ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασι, καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς τοὺς κόπους αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθαμεν· προεβόων οἱ προφῆται, καὶ οὐκ ἐσίγων τυπτόμενοι· πατριαρχῶν κατάλογος ἐκινδύνευεν· ἀντιπαρετάττοντο τύραννοι· βασιλεῖς ἐπολέμουν· ὠργίζετο δῆμος· ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἀντηγωνίζετο τοῖς τῶν δικαίων ἀγῶσιν· ἔνθεν προσήγοντο βήμασι, κἀκεῖθεν κατεξαίοντο ταῖς μάστιξι· πανταχόθεν κολαστήρια καὶ στρεβλώσεις. Ἀλλ' ἐν τοιαύτῃ κατηφείᾳ βίου τυγχάνοντας λύσιν τοῦ χειμῶνος εὐαγγελιζόμενος ὁ Ἰωάννης, δεδεμένος ἔτι τοῖς σπαργάνοις τῆς φύσεως, τὸ σωτήριον ἔαρ ὑπέδειξεν ἡμῖν· καὶ σπεύδων κηρῦξαι τῇ φωνῇ ὃν ἐμήνυσε τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ, ἐβιάζετο τοὺς ὅρους τῆς φύσεως· βραδυτοκοῦσαν γὰρ τὴν Ἐλισάβετ ἐσόβει· ἐσκίρτα ὁμοῦ τε χορεύων καὶ δυσχεραίνων ἐφ' οἷς ἐπὶ τῆς νηδύος κεκράτητο· τῆς περιόδου τῶν μηνῶν κατεβόα· ὡς ἄδικον φυλακὴν τὴν μήτραν ἐτίνασσε, καὶ ἐβόα τοῖς σκιρτήμασι, τοιαῦτα πρὸς τὴν Ἐλισάβετ φθεγγόμενος· Ἀδικεῖς, ὦ μῆτερ, βραδυτοκοῦσα, τῆς οἰκουμένης τὴν χαρὰν συνέχουσα, καὶ τὸν πρόδρομον κωλύουσα· προφήτην ἐγγάστριον φέρεις, βασιλικὸν στρατιώτην κατέχεις· συμποδίζεις τὸν ταχυδρόμον τῆς εὐσεβείας· ἀδικεῖς, ὦ μῆτερ· οὐκ οἶδας τὸ μέλλον, ἀγνοεῖς τὰ ἐσόμενα. Τὸ φῶς παραγίνεται, τὸν ὄρθρον ἀπόλυσον· ἀνατελεῖ ὁ ἥλιος, ὁ ἑωσφόρος προλάμψῃ· ἐπὶ θύραις ὁ λόγος, καὶ χρεία τῆς φωνῆς, ἐγγὺς ὁ νυμφίος, καὶ δίκαιον ἁπλωθῆναι τὸν θάλαμον ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ· αἵματος χρεία ἐξαγοράζοντος τὸν κόσμον, καὶ χρή με πόῤῥωθεν τὸν ἀμνὸν ὑποδεῖξαι. Σπαργανοῦται τὸ γένος ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, ἦλθεν ὁ λύων τοὺς πεπεδημένους. Χρεία κλήτορος, ἵνα πάντες μαθόντες ἀπαντήσωσι τῷ ∆εσπότῃ· καὶ ἰδοὺ κρατεῖς ἐν μήτρᾳ τὸν πρόδρομον. Οὐκοῦν ἐννόησον, μῆτερ, τὸν Ἀδὰμ κρατούμενον ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ, τῆς Εὔας τοὺς αἰωνίους στεναγμούς· ἔτι γὰρ κράζει τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Ἄβελ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Κάϊν ἐντυγχάνον ἀναίρεσιν· συστενάζει αὐτῷ καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάντως ἀπηλλάγης τοῦ πάθους τῆς ἀτεκνίας, ἵνα μηνύσῃ ὁ ἐκ στείρας τὸν ἐκ παρθένου· διὰ τοῦτο ἐγὼ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ ἐσκίρτησα, ἵνα μηκέτι ὀρχήσηται ὁ διάβολος ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ.Τοιαῦτα μὲν οὖν μήπω τεχθεὶς ὁ Ἰωάννης πρὸς τὴν Ἐλισάβετ διὰ τῶν σκιρτημάτων ἐσήμανε· Τῇ δὲ Ἐλισάβετ ἐπλήσθη ὁ χρόνος τοῦ τεκεῖν αὐτὴν,καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱὸν, καὶ ἤκουσαν οἱ περίοικοι καὶ οἱ συγγενεῖς αὐτῆς ὅτι ἐμεγάλυνε Κύριος τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτῆς, καὶ συνέχαιρον αὐτῇ. Καὶ ἐγένετο, ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἦλθον περιτεμεῖν τὸ παιδίον, καὶ ἐκάλουν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ζαχαρίαν. Καὶ ἀποκριθεῖσα ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν· Ἰωάννης κληθήσεται. Ἐνένευον δὲ τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ τί ἂν θέλοι καλεῖσθαι αὐτό· καὶ αἰτήσας πινακίδιον, ἔγραψε, λέγων· Ἰωάννης ἐστὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἐθαύμασαν πάντες. Ἀνεῴχθη δὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ παραχρῆμα καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλάλει εὐλογῶν τὸν Θεόν. Ἀμέλει τὸ βρέφος τίκτεται, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπανέρχεται· οὕτω γὰρ δείκνυται βοῶσα ἡ Ἰωάννου φωνὴ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ὄνομα φωνῆς ἐνέργεια πέφηνεν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶ, φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου· εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. ∆εξάμενος γὰρ τὴν ἔλλαμψιν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὑπεδείκνυε τὸν ποιητὴν τοῖς ποιήμασι, καὶ τὸν πλάστην ἐδακτυλοδείκτει τοῖς πᾶσι μεγαλοφώνως βοῶν· Ἴδε ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Ποιήσατε οὖν καρποὺς ἀξίους τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· Πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι δύναται ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ. Ἀλλὰ τί τῷ θερμῷ ζήλῳ τοῦ βρέφους καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος σήμερον συνεκτείνεται λόγος; Ἐπίσχωμεν, εἰ δοκεῖ, νῦν τέως τὴν γλῶσσαν, ἀρκούντως μετὰ τοῦ βρέφους σκιρτήσασαν. Καλὸν γὰρ συμμετρεῖν τῷ καιρῷ τὴν ἐξήγησιν, καὶ ἐντρυφᾷν μὲν τοῖς εἰρημένοις, περιμένειν δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν καθεξῆς θεωρίαν. Οὔτε γὰρ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς φύσεως ὁ Βαπτιστὴς ἐβιάσατο τῷ σκιρτήματι, ἀλλ' ἔμενε καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν προσήκοντα χρόνον, εἰδὼς ὅτι καὶ τοῦτο δι' ἡμᾶς μετ' αὐτὸν πληρώσει ὁ ∆εσπότης, βοῶν· Πλησθήσεται ἡ γῆ τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν Κύριον, ὡς ὕδωρ πολὺ, κατακαλύψαι θαλάσσας καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου μέχρι δυσμῶν δεδόξασταί μου τὸ ὄνομα, καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ προσφέρεται τῷ ὀνόματί μου θυσία καθαρά. Οὐκ ἔτι γὰρ κατὰ τὸν νόμον εἷς ναός ἐστιν ὁ δεχόμενος τὰς θυσίας, ὁ σεμνυνόμενος ἐπὶ ταύταις· ἀλλὰ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην Ἐκκλησίαι εἰλικρινῶς τῷ Θεῷ δόξαν ἀναπέμπουσιν. Ἐκεῖ ἱερεὺς ἦν εἷς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, θνητὸς, καὶ πάσης ἁμαρτίας πεπληρωμένος· νῦν ἐλάβομεν τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν ἀρχιερέα Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, Ὃς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησε, καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. Ἔχομεν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀρχιερέα μέγαν διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν· ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις, σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ παναγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Synaxarion of the Holy New Martyr John of Konitsa

2026-09-23T14:05:53.241-04:00

Synaxarion

By Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis,

On the same day [September 23], the commemoration of the Holy and Glorious New Martyr John, who was from Konitsa in Epirus and suffered martyrdom in Vrachori (Agrinio) in Aetolia in the year 1814.

Verses

Sprung from a foul-smelling root, O John,

You brought forth the sweetest fruits of martyrdom.
On the twenty-third, they cruelly severed John’s neck.

He was from Konitsa, a small town in Epirus, and was born to Ottoman parents, by whom he was also raised in their own delusion. His father, who was a Dervish, enrolled him in the order known as the Dervishes. When he reached the age of twenty, he lived a respectable life, inclining toward Christian virtues and ways with great prudence. Not long afterward, he abandoned his former delusion and came to the light of the knowledge of God, believing in Christ God and being born again through divine Baptism on the island of Ithaca, where he received the name John.

Returning to Xeromeros and settling in a certain village there called Machalas, he married a respectable young woman, with whom he lived a God-pleasing and Christian life. When his relatives learned that he had become a Christian, they employed every means to turn him back to his former delusion. They brought him before the judge of the Hagarenes in Vrachori. He openly and with great boldness confessed his unwavering faith in Christ and did not yield to threats, promises, imprisonment, or the many punishments and tortures inflicted upon him. Therefore, they severed his honorable head on the twenty-third day of September, a Wednesday, in the year of salvation 1814.

His honorable body, having been cast down not far from the Church of Saint Demetrios, was buried by some devout people in a field, which the people of Vrachori have honored ever since. In the year 1974, his sacred relics were found at the Sacred Monastery of Prousiotissa, where they had long before been hidden after being transferred from the grave.

Apolytikion
Tone 1. "Tis erimou politis".

Let us honor John, the native son of Konitsa, the boast of Vrachori, and the new warrior of Christ; for, having come forth from a foul-smelling root, he struggled gloriously for Christ and asks deliverance from dangers for those who cry out to him: Glory to Him who has given you strength; glory to Him who has crowned you; glory to Him who, through you, grants us deliverance from the passions.

Kontakion
Tone 3. "Oi Parthenos simeron".

Today the city of Vrachori celebrates, together with Konitsa, your light-bearing memory, O Saint, for you are a native son of the former and its divine honor, and of the latter, having sanctified it as well by the streams of your blood, O John, companion of the Martyrs.

Oikos

Sprung from a foul-smelling root as a plant destined to bring forth better things, you cast off the rags of delusion and clothed yourself in the radiant garment of the knowledge of God, dyed in the blood of Him who was voluntarily slain for our sake as a blameless and spotless Lamb, Christ the Life-Giver, O most blessed John. Following Him with your whole mind, you denied yourself and wholly subjected your mind to the divine will. Rising above the things of this world, you did not fear the insolence of the Hagarenes, but with an unwavering heart entered the arena of martyrdom and lawfully contended against delusion. Watering the Church with streams of blood, you glorified Christ, O John, companion of the Martyrs.

Megalynarion

Rejoice, divine shoot of Konitsa, and protector and helper of Agrinio. Rejoice, O John, New Martyr of the Lord, who asks Him to grant us the forgiveness of our transgressions.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Conception of Saint John the Baptist in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-23T09:15:33.237-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The sacred Evangelist Luke relates in his Gospel that when the aged and righteous Zechariah entered the Holy of Holies in order to offer the sacrifice of incense during his period of service in the Temple, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and brought him the joyful news that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son in her old age: a Prophet and Forerunner, a voice and herald and everlasting lamp, the initiate of the grace of God. The divine chief commander announced this divine conception to the Prophet and Priest Zechariah with the words: “Your prayer has been heard,” and thus, through this extraordinary birth, on account of the old age and barrenness of Elizabeth, the divine and virginal birth of the all-pure Theotokos also began to be foreshadowed.

First of all, we should note that today’s feast of the conception of Saint John is not based on certain pieces of information from apocryphal Gospels, which one might perhaps call into question, but is a most certain event, recorded, as we said above, by the holy Evangelist Luke. And this means that our Church, by including this event among her divinely inspired texts—certainly, the Gospels do not have the same authority and value as the so-called apocryphal or pseudepigraphical writings: the apocrypha, from the second century AD onward, may preserve genuine elements (for example, those concerning the Birth of the Most Holy Theotokos or her Entry into the Temple), but in many places they contain either false or heretical and misleading information—wishes to emphasize the significance of the coming into the world of John the Forerunner, that is, of that Prophet who would prepare the way for the coming of God Himself as man. Once again, it is in the perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ that the event of the conception of Saint John is evaluated; that is, in the light of the Sun, the light of the lamp is understood. For otherwise, its significance would have had the same force as the conception of every other human being who comes into the world, certainly through the good pleasure of God.

Beyond the reality mentioned above, which the hymns of our Church present in various ways, and beyond the fact that, particularly through this feast, our Church reveals the transcendence of every form of “moralism,” something that perhaps we may consider on another occasion, what is noteworthy, according to the Hymnographer, is the reaction of the righteous Zechariah toward the Archangel Gabriel when he announces to him the birth of his son: he questions the words of the Lord’s messenger because he relies upon logic and experience. How is it possible for a child to be born from an old man and an aged woman, and moreover one who is barren? “Elizabeth’s limbs have grown dead, and my old age now gives rise to disbelief.” The Hymnographer, however, continues to interpret Zechariah’s reasoning: not only is the natural order of things overturned by what the angel announces, but from a spiritual perspective as well, there is, according to him, something contrary to what one would expect: “For I came to ask for the salvation of the people, not to receive a child, as you proclaim.” In other words, what should have intensified Saint Zechariah’s doubt, and therefore led him to suspect that the words of the heavenly vision were not true, was that the announcement concerning his “supposed” son came at a moment of spiritual service, that is, at the hour of prayer, and moreover in prayer for the salvation of the people. “I came here to the Temple,” as the Hymnographer notes, “to ask God for the salvation of the people and not to have a child, as you tell me.” And elsewhere: “I possess a doubtful mind, and I disbelieve your words,” the Priest said to the Archangel, “for I asked for the salvation of the people, not the fruit from my own loins.”

Yet what appears so “logical” to Saint Zechariah, and indeed his questioning of the divine origin of the vision because he was distracted by the content of his prayer—asking God for the salvation of the people and receiving something personal to himself, a child—is actually what was coming as the answer precisely to that prayer. For the birth of his child, John, was the beginning of the salvation of the people. Through him, salvation would begin as the preaching of repentance, so that the Messiah might be received. In other words, Zechariah could not understand that God was giving him what he had asked for; that is, he was unable to penetrate into the manner in which God acts. And this is something on which most of us ultimately “stumble.” For we, too, ask God for various things, and especially under spiritual conditions. And we do not understand that God’s “refusal” to answer us, or events in our lives that are “foreign” to what we are asking for, ultimately constitute precisely God’s answer to our requests. Perhaps we must “allow” God to see beyond what we see, and perhaps once again we must be ready to accept His will as more beneficial to us than our own. Let us also remember what happened to Elder Paisios: he received an “unjust” attack from a priest and was troubled, yet he did not speak. Then, when he began examining his thoughts in order to understand what had happened, he discovered that he had been asking God from his heart to grant him humility. And God gave him the occasion: He “changed” the priest’s behavior toward him somewhat, precisely in order to give him the opportunity to struggle to acquire humility. God, therefore, always hears us, always answers us; but we, too, must have our eyes open in order to discern His answer correctly.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 23

2026-09-23T02:22:27.617-04:00

The Month of September

Day 23

24. Why John the Baptist Is Greater Than Those Born of Women

(Homily on the Conception of the Glorious and Honorable Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist of the Lord John)

The Lord said: “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). “Greater” means “higher, more perfect, better.” (Interpretation of the Gospel by Bishop Mikhail.) Why did the Lord give John the Baptist such preference among other people? Why is he higher, more perfect, and better than they are? Why has no one greater than him arisen among those born of women? We find the answer to these questions in the Church’s homily on the conception of John the Baptist, and this is what it says about the Baptist in anticipation of the future.

Why will John, who is yet to be born, be great? Will he really be greater and more honorable than the Prophet Jeremiah, to whom the Lord said: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5)? Yes, the answer says, John will be great before the Lord and will surpass Jeremiah in spiritual greatness. If the latter was sanctified before his birth, then the former, from his mother’s womb, will be incomparably more filled with the Holy Spirit. And if Jeremiah was destined only to prophesy about the Messiah, John was also foreordained to baptize Him and to lay his hand upon Him. But John will surpass not only Jeremiah, but also all the other great Saints in the greatness of God’s grace, and no one greater than him will arise among those born of women... For although many stars precede the rising of the sun, only the morning star precedes the sun itself; so too, although many Prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, John will not only foretell Him in word, but will also point Him out to the people with his own finger as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And for this reason he will be great and greater than all those born of women. He will be, the homily concludes, “the fulfillment of all the prophets, and the end of the Old Law, and the Forerunner of the new grace.”

Thus, John the Baptist is greater than those born of women because, first, from his mother’s womb he was already filled with the Holy Spirit; second, because he became closer than all others to the Lord who came to earth, for he was found worthy both to baptize Him and to lay his hand upon Him; third, he became greater than those born of women through the abundance of grace poured out upon him, or, as it is said, he surpassed all in its greatness; fourth, he became greater because he not only foretold the Messiah, but also pointed to Him with his very finger as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; and finally, he became greater because he appeared as the Forerunner of the new grace.

What follows for us from this, brethren? That if, as we have seen, the Honorable Forerunner is greater than all those born of women, then it necessarily follows that he is also closer to the Lord than the other Saints and has greater boldness before Him than the other Saints. And if this is so, then we, too, should honor the Honorable Forerunner with particular zeal and, with firm faith in the power of his intercession before God, turn to him in our needs. And he, surely, when he sees our faith, love, and zeal toward him, will not leave us without his help and will not delay in asking mercy and grace from the Lord for us. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 24:

1. What was the honorable Prophet Jeremiah appointed to prophesy about?

2. Who, according to the conclusion of the Church’s homily, will John the Baptist be?

3. With what was John the Baptist filled from his mother’s womb?

4. As whom did John point to the Messiah with his finger?

5. On what condition will John the Baptist not leave us without his help and will not delay in asking mercy and grace from the Lord for us?

Holy Hieromartyr Phocas the Wonderworker in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-22T13:14:17.812-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Phocas was the son of Pamphilos and Maria and lived in the city of Sinope. From a very young age, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, he performed wondrous miracles, and he continued to work miracles until the end of his life. For this reason, God revealed to him his end through martyrdom in the following manner: a dove alighted upon his head and placed a crown upon him, and then the dove said to him with a human voice, ‘A cup has been given to you, and you must drink it.’ Indeed, he was found worthy to drink this cup of martyrdom under the Emperor Trajan, bringing his life to an end by the sword and by fire. Many miracles, of course, were also performed through him after his departure to the Lord.

2. We are grateful to the Lord, who illumines His holy hymnographers so that they may guide us in glorifying His holy name through the Saints. “God is wondrous among His Saints.” The hymnographers, going before us who are the faithful, enable us to transcend the daily reality of the passions and the turmoil they cause, because they open our eyes to see the depth of reality, both with regard to the Church Triumphant and to the Church Militant. This means that the believer who devotes himself, even for a little while, to the Services of the Church, especially Vespers and Matins, experiences an atmosphere different from that of the tragedy of this present life. Not in the sense of fleeing from life, for this is incompatible with the Christian faith and its realism; it would be a denial of the Incarnation of our God, but in the sense that he is raised to such a level that he sees life with a different vision: from the perspective of eternal life. If this does not happen, then any person, even one considered a believer, becomes trapped in this world and enters, as we have said, into the whirlpool of the passions and of the workings of the devil, the ancient source of evil.

In this particular case, the hymns of our Church lead us today, first of all, to a magnificent vision of what is taking place in the Church of the firstborn brethren, the Church Triumphant, on the occasion of the Holy Hieromartyr Phocas: “The choirs of Hierarchs, the throngs of Martyrs, the assembly of the holy Apostles, and the spirits of all the Righteous rejoice, having you, O Martyr Phocas, in their midst.” What an extraordinary image, revealing the love and joy experienced by our Saints in Paradise, understood, of course, within the blessed presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the Hymnographer also turns his divinely-inspired gaze toward what is happening on earth: Saint Phocas stands among the faithful as a radiant and light-bearing spiritual sun, illumining the multitudes of the faithful, becoming their help in their needs, a treasure for all the poor, a source of spiritual blessings, and literally a harbor for all those struggling amid the waves of the sea of the passions. “The Master has placed you in the Church as a divinely radiant and light-bearing spiritual sun, illumining the multitudes of the faithful, O glorious Martyr.” “You are the help of those who are in need, the wealth of all who are poor, and a fountain of gifts of good things.” “You have become a most tranquil harbor for all who sail upon the sea.”

What is the reason for the Holy Hieromartyr Phocas' exalted position? Nothing other than what we see in all the Saints: fervent love for God, that is, the fact that he had established the foundations of his soul upon the rock called Christ, and therefore adorned this soul with every virtue. In other words, Saint Phocas is honored by angels, Saints, and the faithful in the world because he too became a manifestation of our Lord, extending His beneficence to all people and to all creation. “The divine longing setting your heart aflame,” the Hymnographer notes, “having your foundations established spiritually upon the rock,” and “having acquired a soul and heart adorned with virtues.” We have only to call upon him ourselves. Whatever may be happening in our world, whatever arrows of the evil one may be hurled to disturb and disorient us, we must not forget that our God and His Saints are above all these things. If only we shift the center of gravity of our lives somewhat toward the holy will of the Lord, we will see His power becoming active in a wondrous manner and delivering us from our afflictions. But, as we have said, our Church possesses the wealth of divine gifts, while we, rather, do not possess the prerequisite for acquiring them: the faith that is needed. May God have mercy on us.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 22

2026-09-22T09:09:55.620-04:00

The Month of September

Day 22

23. A New Form of Charity

(From the Life of Saint Phocas, Called the Gardener)

“Varied is the manner of showing mercy,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “and broad is this commandment.” How are we to understand these words? It seems to us that they can be understood in the sense that there may be countless kinds of charity and many ways of putting it into practice. Let us consider the latter. In order to show charity to others, some simply give their own money or possessions; others establish charitable societies; others collect offerings in churches; others make collections at public gatherings; others invite the wealthy to practice charity; still others do something else altogether; and some even practice charity in particularly original ways. Hearing this last point, you will surely be surprised and ask: can there really be special ways of practicing charity? Yes, brethren, there can, and we shall now present you with an example.

Saint Phocas, called the Gardener, whose memory the Holy Church commemorates on September 22, revealed himself after his martyrdom as a great wonderworker. Some received healing from illnesses through him, others consolation in their sorrows, and still others help in their troubles. But above all, Saint Phocas revealed himself as a wonderworker at sea. Seafarers turned to him with particular faith, asking for his help, and he always granted it to them. Many times he appeared to them visibly at sea. Sometimes, at night during a storm, he would awaken the sleeping helmsman; at other times they saw him unfurling the sails; sometimes they saw him standing at the stern of the ship; at times he pointed out dangerous shoals to the seafarers; and sometimes they even saw him walking upon the sea. Because of such mercies, the seafarers especially venerated him, and his name was renowned not only among those who sailed upon the Red Sea and the Adriatic, but even among those who sailed upon the ocean. The seafarers composed hymns of praise in honor of Saint Phocas, and his name, it is said, was continually “on the lips of those who go out to sea in ships and work upon many waters.”

But the seafarers did not honor Saint Phocas only with hymns of praise. They established among themselves the following custom in his honor. Whenever they sat down to a meal or ate in someone's home as guests, they would set aside a portion of the food or drink in honor of Saint Phocas. Since, of course, Saint Phocas could not actually sit with them, eat, and drink, they did the following: one of them, taking turns, would redeem the portion set aside in honor of the Saint and place the money in a special alms box. Thus, today one would redeem the Saint's portion, tomorrow another, and the day after tomorrow a third—and eventually this would amount to a certain sum of money. When the seafarers came ashore, they would take the money from the box and distribute it to the poor, the sick, orphans, and strangers. And for many years the seafarers faithfully preserved this custom among themselves.

From this example, brethren, it is evident that there truly can be special ways of obtaining means for charitable work, and ways that are, perhaps, worthy of imitation. As we have seen, those who venerated Saint Phocas set aside something for the poor from every meal. Why, then, should we not also set aside something from our own meals for their benefit? Many of us eat rich and delicious foods. We eat them, rise from the table, pray, and then either lie down to rest or turn to our own affairs, without thinking about anything else. Yet there would actually be something worth thinking about. We are well fed; but how many people may at that very moment remain with nothing to eat except dry bread, or perhaps with nothing to eat at all? How many unfortunate widows and orphans may there be who have absolutely nothing with which to obtain their daily sustenance? How many sick poor people may there be for whom nourishing food is more precious than anything else, yet they have none?

This is why all of us should think about these things after our meals and do something for the poor. And what should we do? Well, if the wealthy, after every meal, were to set aside even a single kopek for the benefit of the poor, how many kopeks would be collected each day altogether? And how many truly needy people could be fed each day with these kopeks? And how many people would be saved from hunger? And how many tears would be wiped away? Yes, brethren, if only the wealthy were to resolve to act in this way, even that alone would truly make the undertaking both great and holy. But if all of us who possess even some means were to join the wealthy, then truly a sea of tears would be wiped away by us all. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 23

1. Where did Saint Phocas, called the Gardener, chiefly reveal himself as a wonderworker?

2. What did the seafarers compose in honor of Saint Phocas?

3. What did the seafarers do with the portion of food set aside for Saint Phocas because he could not sit, eat, and drink with them?

4. What did the seafarers do with the money in the alms box for Saint Phocas's portion when they came ashore?

5. Under what condition would a sea of tears be wiped away by us all?

"Every Day We Should Celebrate the Exaltation of our Cross" (St. Ephraim of Katounakia)

2026-09-21T15:33:47.398-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Ephraim of Katounakia said: “I came here to Mount Athos on September 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross. The day on which I was born again. Every day we should celebrate the exaltation of our cross. When we take up the cross, we die and are born again. The taking up of the cross is death and resurrection” (From the book by Fr. Spyridon Vasilakos, Come, O Light..., Thesvitis Publications, p. 75).

The great Elder, Venerable Ephraim of Katounakia, celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross in a particular way. Why? Because it was the day on which he entered Mount Athos: “I came to Mount Athos on the Feast of the Cross, September 1933,” he would constantly repeat. Yet he did not celebrate it merely as an event of simple remembrance that changed even the course of his life — from a man living in the world he became a monk — but as an event that left its mark on his inner spiritual life. The holy Elder, with his great, completely luminous eyes that reflected the light of Heaven which he lived in his heart and throughout his entire being, felt, upon entering the Holy Mountain as a young man, the mystical significance of this sanctified place — the grace that permeates it like an inner current of life. It was then, he confessed, that "I was born again.” The person who is baptized in the holy font of the Church is born again spiritually, as is the person who finds the true path of repentance, in which he bathes himself with his tears. God gave the young Evangelos, the man who would later become Ephraim, the grace to understand that being a monk means a person who struggles in repentance. He understood that he had received the power of repentance from the “womb” of the Church, the holy font, and for this reason, many years later, he would seek it out in his village and venerate it with many tears, and that this repentance is the work of every Christian, and all the more so of the “model” of Christians, the Orthodox monk.

And there is more. For the holy Elder, this monastic repentance, through which a person is born again because it is genuine, is identified with the taking up of the cross. Thus, for the Saint, a monk is a crucified person (how beautifully this is revealed in the particular icon of the crucified monk!), according to the words of the Apostle Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ,” which means that the holy Elder experienced the Cross of the Lord as his death, and consequently also as his resurrection. His seemingly simple words contain the revelatory words of Jesus Christ Himself, the Author and Leader of our faith: “Whoever wishes to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me,” as well as the majestic theology of the Apostle Paul concerning Baptism: “As many of us as were baptized, were baptized into the death of Christ, and we confess His Resurrection.” Thus, in two words, Venerable Ephraim allows us to glimpse the intensity of his inner world, the anguish he experienced in the struggle against the passions and the evil devil, but also the spiritual delight that he received abundantly from the resurrectional and joyful gifts of the grace of God.

And his observation is overwhelming and unique: “Every day we should celebrate the exaltation of our cross.” The genuine, true, and unwaveringly purpose-oriented monk: not merely to celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross on the particular day, but every day as a personal event. The path of repentance, therefore, as a path of taking up the cross according to the commandments of Christ, knows no interruptions. Interruption is for beginners and for those who are still spiritually “blind,” for whom it becomes a regression and a downward slide. Following Christ is “cleaving” to Christ, which causes a person to become Christ himself. This is what happened with Venerable Ephraim, and what happened with all the Saints.

We do not know how many of us can endure the fire of the Saint's words. Let us simply pray that the fire of the Spirit that burned in his heart may also burn a little in our own hearts, so that the ground may be cleansed and the space may be illumined.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Prophet Jonah in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-21T15:12:52.696-04:00

By Presbyter Georgios Zaravelas,
Theologian, MA in Historical Theology–Liturgics at the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

The Prophet Jonah, who is commemorated today, is the central figure of the Old Testament book bearing his name. He is one of the Twelve Minor Prophets and one of the most important figures of the Old Testament. The significance of Jonah's person is also demonstrated by the place he occupies in the hymnography of the Orthodox Church, with the sixth ode of the canons being the principal point of reference. By studying some of these troparia, we observe how the Church understands the prophet and his activity, how it connects him with the teaching of the New Testament and with God's plan for the salvation of man.

The heirmos of the sixth ode of the canon of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross, whose Apodosis coincides with his commemoration, presents the prophet as a prefiguration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord. Jonah, according to Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, “when he stretched out his hands in the form of a Cross within the belly of the sea monster […] clearly prefigured the Passion of Christ, which became salvation for all people.” The biblical text does not testify to his standing in the form of a cross within the belly of the sea monster; it is reasonable, however, that during his prayer he assumed the posture of the Cross, stretching out his hands and asking for the mercy of God. Here, therefore, even if only as a prefiguration, we see the saving power and energy of the Cross. The hymnographer clearly points out the symbolism of Jonah's posture as a prefiguration of the Lord's Passion on the Cross: just as Christ suffered while fastened to the Cross, so Jonah suffers within the carcass of the sea monster with his hands extended in the form of a cross.

This particular troparion presents a second symbolism as well. Behind Jonah's being vomited out after three days, the hymnographer sees the three-day Resurrection of Jesus, who remained in the belly of Hades for three days. Jonah, therefore, remained in the depths of the abyss for the same length of time as Christ remained in Hades until His triumphant Rising from the dead.

In the corresponding heirmos of the prose canon of Christmas, a different symbolism is found in the swallowing and remaining of the prophet in the belly of the sea monster. Jonah's dwelling in the belly of the beast symbolizes the conception and gestation of the embryo of Christ within the womb of the Theotokos. The hymnographer states that, just as Jonah was preserved unharmed within the sea monster, so Christ, the Only-Begotten Word of God, “having entered wondrously into the womb of the Virgin, and having taken flesh from her all-pure blood, was born while preserving unharmed and incorrupt the womb that received and gave birth to Him.” That is, the Theotokos, through the birth of Christ, remained unharmed and undefiled, just as Jonah was preserved within the belly of the sea monster, without the integrity of his body being corrupted.

This symbolism is inversely corresponding, since in the case of the prophet, the sea monster preserved Jonah unharmed from the dangers of the sea, whereas, with regard to the Conception and Birth of Christ from the Virgin, the one who in reality preserved was not the womb of the Theotokos, but the Word of God Himself. After the Word entered the womb of the Theotokos and assumed human nature, He simultaneously protected the purity and virginity of His Mother, making her untouched by the pains and ordinary consequences of childbirth.

The iambic canon of the same feast approaches the person of the prophet differently. The composer of the hymn beseeches God to come and save him from the afflictions that torment him. He feels wounded by the arrows of sin, which the devil continually hurls, and he is unable to approach God on his own. Jonah likewise asks God wholeheartedly to deliver him from the temptation that torments him, expressing this characteristically in his prayer: “Let my life rise up from corruption to You, O Lord my God” (Jonah 2:7).

The same supplication of the prophet is repeated in the canon of the Annunciation of the Theotokos. Behind the line of the troparion, “Deliver me from corruption, Jesus, King of the Powers,” lies the aforementioned phrase of Jonah, in which he beseeches God to permit his salvation, confident that He will save him and help him escape from the impasse in which he has found himself. The same troparion once again mentions the prefiguration of the Lord's three-day Resurrection through Jonah's being vomited onto dry land after three days.

The same theme is also found in the canon of Great and Holy Saturday. Here the hymnographer addresses the Creator, saying that, just as He was taken captive by Hades but after three days crushed it through His Resurrection, so Jonah “was confined, but was not held captive in the belly of the sea monster.” Jonah's being swallowed signified his captivity, but not his destruction, since he was soon freed from the sea monster. Christ, correspondingly, is freed from the prison of Hades, but together with Him He also frees the entire human race from the tyranny of evil.

The episode of Jonah's being vomited out is compared with Christ's Rising from the tomb in the canon of the Feast of the Resurrection as well. Christ, “having descended into the lowest parts of the earth and having shattered the everlasting bars,” rose again within three days, just as Jonah emerged from the belly of the beast. Indeed, before His Passion, the Lord had said that “just as Jonah the prophet was in the belly of the sea monster three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40).

Saint Kosmas the Hymnographer gives a particular symbolism to the Prophet Jonah in the canon of the Dormition of the Theotokos. In this hymn, Jonah's being vomited out after three days symbolizes the translation of the body of the Theotokos into the heavens after her Dormition, without experiencing the corruption of death, in accordance also with Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite. The Virgin is that woman who brought the Redeemer into the world. After her Dormition, her body did not experience the natural corruption of the flesh; rather, God and her Son granted her incorruption. Her relic remained in the tomb for three days, but was not overcome by the corruption of death, just as, correspondingly, this did not happen to the prophet.

The Prophet Jonah inspired the ecclesiastical hymnographers to such an extent that, taking his person as their point of departure, they expressed significant themes of Orthodox dogmatic teaching. The hymnographers discern behind Jonah's being vomited out after three days the three-day Resurrection of the Lord, as well as the translation of the Theotokos after three days; the blameless Conception and supernatural Birth of Christ, the God-man; while Jonah's prayers from within the belly of the sea monster resound throughout the hymns, with particular emphasis on the symbolic parallel between the prophet praying within the sea monster and the Cross of Christ.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Ethno-Hieromartyr Platon Aivazidis (+ 1921)

2026-09-21T14:58:34.229-04:00

The Holy Ethno-Hieromartyr Platon Aivazidis (Aivazis or Aivazoglou) was born in 1852 on Patmos to Nikolaos, who was from Chios, and Maria. He studied at the Patmiada School and, at the age of fifteen, became a novice at the Sacred Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, where two of his uncles were monks. He remained there until the age of twenty-five. He then went to Constantinople, where he attended the Great School of the Nation and the Theological School of Halki, becoming acquainted there with the student Germanos Karavangelis. At the same time, he served as a Deacon in the Sacred Metropolises of Kastoria (1883–1888) and Lemnos (1888–1894).

In Lemnos, he was ordained a Priest and appointed Protosyngellos (that is, second in rank) by Metropolitan Athanasios Kaporalis. In 1899, Metropolitan Athanasios was transferred to Kastoria and took Protosyngellos Platon with him. Only a year later, he was transferred again, this time to Samos, and Metropolitan Germanos took his place, but he kept Platon close to him. During the period up to 1908, essentially throughout the entire period of the Macedonian Struggle, he faithfully served Karavangelis. He remained in the city as his representative during his extensive tours, cared for the restoration of women and children who had suffered, and saw to the proper functioning of institutions. The two of them together conducted the funeral and memorial services at the grave of Pavlos Melas.

After Germanos was removed from Kastoria, Protosyngellos Platon followed him to the Metropolis of Amasia in Pontus and to its seat at Amisos (Samsun). There, in the years that followed, an unprecedented work was carried out through the construction of dozens of schools, churches, and institutions in the Greek communities. Platon, once again as a trusted associate, assumed responsibility together with Bishop Euthymios of Zela during Germanos' tours throughout the province, as well as during his journeys to Constantinople.

He taught in various schools in the region and assisted in the Pontian liberation guerrilla struggle through sermons of awakening and material assistance. On February 4, 1921, the leading citizens and all the prominent members of the Greek community of Amisos were imprisoned, among them Platon, on charges of revolutionary activity. He remained for eight months in the miserable prisons of Amasia, encouraging his fellow prisoners. He was tried twice, initially receiving a sentence of seven years' imprisonment and later being condemned to death by extraordinary military tribunals, without sufficient evidence. He was hanged in the Clock Square of Amasia together with 68 other Greeks on September 21, 1921, the day on which his memory is commemorated.

Apolytikion
Tone 5, “Ton synanarchon Logon”

Most cruelly hanged by the lawless sons of Hagar at last for the sake of the faith of Christ, O steadfast Platon, Protosyngellos of Amasia, you were revealed as a model of pure Christian conduct and a true standard of courage. Therefore, honoring you, we all ask for your fervent prayers.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Holy Apostle Kodratos at Magnesia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

2026-09-21T14:39:48.799-04:00

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

For your athletic struggles, O Kodratos, and your preaching,
You receive many prizes in the heavens.
On the twenty-first, Kodratos found a crown through his struggles.

1. Saint Kodratos was a wise and highly learned man. He too was one of the disciples of Christ, one of His Seventy Apostles, and, having been enriched by the fiery grace of the Holy Spirit, he was ordained Bishop of the Athenians. He converted many pagans to the true faith of Christ, while those regarded by the Greeks as wise men, who took great pride in their wisdom, he silenced and put to shame by the grace of God and by the power of his words. For this reason he was punished by the persecutors of the Christians with stones, with fire, and with many other tortures, and was driven from his province and his flock. He departed for the city of Magnesia, where there too he dispelled the darkness of delusion through his teachings. And afterward, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, called Aelius, in the year 117, he received the crown of martyrdom. His holy relic is in Magnesia of Asia Minor and, like a spring, heals every illness in all those who approach it with the faith of Christ.

2. The Holy Hymnographer Joseph directs our attention to three things from the magnificent life of the Holy Apostle Kodratos: the power of his teaching, his miracles both while he was alive and after his martyrdom, and the purity of his soul. It is understandable that all three are most intimately connected with one another, since purity of soul is the prerequisite for the presence of Christ in the existence of a believer: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” He Himself said, so that, illumined by this presence, he may preach His gospel with power and perform miracles, both while living and after his repose, radiating the all-powerful energy of the Triune God. Indeed, it is striking how much Saint Joseph, “dazzled” by the luminous personality of the Apostle, emphasizes the radiance of the light of Christ within the sanctified existence of His Apostle. Not once or twice, but countless times, at Vespers and at Matins, he points to this reality, as though the Apostle were truly a luminous pillar rising from the earth to reach heaven, and yet also the reverse: being completely radiant in heaven, he becomes an instrument of Christ, so that through his prayers he may illumine the darkness of the people who remain on earth.

“You became completely radiant with the splendors of the heavenly gifts,” he says, for example, already at the beginning of Vespers, “and you appeared in the world, O Kodratos, as a sun offering joyful rays of the divine preaching to all.”

“With your divine teachings you illumined many, for you became a minister of the Light of Christ, which illumined the ends of the earth, O Hierarch Kodratos, with His divine radiances” (Ode 3).

“Illumining those darkened by delusion with the lamps of your words, you burned up every deception like dry brushwood” (Ode 4).

And what was the cause of his luminous presence? The fact that he became a dwelling place of God Himself. “The most pure God found your pure soul to be a dwelling place of His glory, and through you He therefore purifies souls defiled by terrible transgressions” (Ode 4).

What was it that Saint Kodratos did that caused the holy Triune God to look upon him with such favor? Or, in other words: what did the Apostle do in order to preserve his soul pure? The Holy Hymnographer tells us repeatedly: “You walked, O glorious Apostle, along the straight path of the commandments of Christ; therefore you saved those who had gone astray from the difficult paths of impiety and unbelief. Therefore we, the faithful, glorify you as a man who is free from error, and as a guide and mediator of our reconciliation with God” (Vespers, Aposticha). The interpretive word of the hymnographer, Saint Joseph, concerning Saint Kodratos is perfectly clear and stands wholly within the tradition of the Lord, the Apostles, and the Fathers of the Church: no one can find God outside the path of His commandments. With His help, the believer places himself, even by force, where the will of God indicates that he should be, with the result that he becomes attuned to Him, since God “hides within His commandments.” Having God within his being, literally becoming a dwelling place of the Almighty, on the one hand he himself lives his salvation, and on the other he offers the world this salvation that he lives, that is, Jesus Christ.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 21

2026-09-21T09:12:25.483-04:00

The Month of September

Day 21

22. The More the Lord Rewards a Person for His Labor, the More That Person Should Labor

(From the Life of Saint Dimitri of Rostov)

When, brethren, we find ourselves in a lowly condition and suffer want, then, in most cases, we labor diligently and strive with all our strength to rise above our circumstances or escape from poverty. But when this happens, or when the Lord simply blesses us with good fortune, then laziness also appears in us, and we are no longer the diligent workers that we were when we were in a lowly condition and suffering want. Should it be this way? No. If the Lord has blessed you with good fortune, then all the more should you show your gratitude to Him through greater labor. Show that you value His great mercies, and then, surely, the Lord will bless you even more and reward you with even greater mercies, and will grant you even greater happiness. The Saints deeply reflected upon this truth and always acted according to it. For our instruction, let us learn from one of them.

Saint Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov, made it a rule of his life to act in such a way that whenever the Lord raised him to a higher position, he would labor all the more. And just as he resolved to act, so he actually acted. When he was made an archimandrite, it is written in his Life that he “increased his labor in proportion to his rank, knowing what is written: ‘To whom much has been given, from him much will be required’” (Luke 12:48). Dimitri also edited the Lives of the Saints, concerned himself with the good order of the monastery, and with the salvation of the brethren entrusted to his care. “No less,” it is further written, “did he assist in other spiritual matters that were greatly beneficial to the Holy Church, by word, counsel, discernment, and deed.”

When Saint Dimitri was made a Metropolitan, then, it is said, he “undertook even greater labors.” What were these labors? The newly appointed Metropolitan devoted himself to spreading the teaching of the gospel, setting before everyone examples conducive to salvation, and teaching all, both clergy and laity, so that each might walk worthily of his calling. He endeavored to uproot evil customs, impurity, envy, injustice, and every deed that was not pleasing to God; he planted everywhere purity, love, righteousness, mercy, and every virtue; and above all, he took special care to eradicate coarseness and ignorance, especially among the clergy.

What happened next? Again, it was this: the longer the Saint lived, the more he regarded it as a most urgent duty before the Lord to labor more and more. He began to compile a book called the Chronicle, and gathered materials for it from Greek, Slavic, Roman, Polish, Jewish, and other historians. He went daily to the church of God for prayer; on Sundays and feast days, except when illness prevented him, he served continually; he held processions with the Cross, preached sermons, and often traveled to various cities and villages of the diocese so that there, too, he might sow the seeds of the word of God. “And he was,” it is said, “a good shepherd, preserving Christ’s flock from the enemies who war against it and from the deceitful wolves who come in sheep’s clothing.”

So, do you see how we ought to act when the Lord blesses us with good fortune for our labors and raises us to a higher position? We must not fall into laziness or give ourselves over to idleness, but add labor to labor, so that in this way we may both show our gratitude before God and receive an even greater blessing from Him. Yes, we ought to act this way also so that we may not become accountable before God. Do you hear how Saint Dimitri reasoned? He constantly brought to mind the words of the Savior: “To whom much has been given, from him much will be required.” Clearly, then, if the Lord raises us up, He does so in order to urge us to greater labors; and if we do not devote ourselves to them, we will also be held accountable before God for this. Therefore, to avoid such accountability, let the happiness granted to us by God be accompanied on our part by gratitude, and let our gratitude be expressed in greater labors for the glory of God, for the benefit of our neighbors, and for the salvation of our own souls. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 22

1. What did Saint Dimitri of Rostov edit, and what did he concern himself with, when he was made an archimandrite?

2. What did Dimitri plant everywhere when he was made a metropolitan?

3. For what purpose does the Lord raise us up?

4. In what should our gratitude to God for happiness be expressed?

5. What does “greater” (вящий) mean?

Homily for the Sunday After the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

2026-09-20T17:42:29.842-04:00

Homily for the Sunday After the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

On the Different Crosses in the Life of Those Who Are Being Saved

St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“For the preaching of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Beloved faithful,

Our Savior Jesus Christ says in the Holy Gospel: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Today we shall speak about the different crosses through which we may be saved on earth. We remind you that we Christians honor the Cross of Christ in two ways: the material, visible cross, which we honor, kiss, and carry, and the spiritual cross, which is suffering endured for the sake of doing good.

If we read the Holy and Divine Scriptures attentively, we see that the sign of the material Cross was symbolically manifested from the earliest times. Thus, we see that the Patriarch Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph with his hands in the form of the Cross (Genesis 48:13–16).

The sign of the visible Cross was prefigured by Moses holding up his hands in prayer in the form of a cross during the battle with Amalek (Exodus 17:11–12).

The visible, material Cross was mystically prefigured in the Old Law also by the sign of the letter T, which protected from death those who had it upon their foreheads (Ezekiel 9:4–6). The Cross is also symbolized by the seal of God, which preserves unharmed those who bear it upon their foreheads (Revelation 7:2–4; 9:4). In the Law of Grace, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself visibly blessed children with His hands: “And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands upon them” (Mark 10:16).

And concerning the blessing of the Apostles at His Ascension into heaven, He tells us: “Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands, He blessed them” (Luke 24:50). Likewise, the Apostles ordained deacons, priests, and bishops through blessing in the sign of the Cross, by prayer and the laying on of hands (Acts 6:6; 14:23; 1 Timothy 3:2). For this reason, the Mystery of Priesthood is called “the laying on of the hands of the priesthood.” Likewise, through prayer and the laying on of hands in the form of the Cross, the Apostles imparted the Mystery of anointing with Holy Chrism, called “the Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:17; 19:6; 2 Corinthians 2:15).

As for the invisible, spiritual, and mystical Cross that we must all bear, this is our suffering and labor in the performance of good works. Our Savior Jesus Christ, who bore the visible Cross on Golgotha as well as the invisible cross of suffering for our salvation, also taught us to endure the cross of life, saying: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13). Satan greatly hates the sign of the Holy Cross, for the Cross is the unconquerable weapon with which Christ conquered him and emptied hades. Therefore, Satan urges those who have strayed from the truth, that is, the sectarians who serve him, to blaspheme and hate the Cross of Christ. For just as a dog flees from the stick with which it has been struck, so the devil flees from the Cross of Christ, which reminds him that by it he was struck and defeated.

The true Orthodox Christian honors the Cross that was sanctified by the hands of Christ on Golgotha and bows down before it with all reverence and humility. Likewise, he honors the invisible cross of the sufferings of life in Christ, which the Savior also endured unto death, and even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). But the Orthodox Christian must also know that the invisible cross of His sufferings is of many kinds, and blessed is that Christian who, with faith in God and great patience, bears the cross of his sufferings on earth in the love of Christ, for the salvation of his soul.

Thus, for example, one person is blind and endures this suffering throughout his life with thanksgiving. Another is deaf, another cannot speak, while another is lame and deprived of one or another member of his body. And if he endures this infirmity courageously and gives thanks to God with heartfelt prayers, such a person will be numbered among the martyrs. Only let him beware of every sin, for beyond this life, boundless joy awaits him.

Others bear with great patience the cross of marriage, which is not easy, because married Christians have many and great obligations: to raise their children in the fear of God; not to kill their children; to love the Church, our mother, who has given us birth through water and the Spirit (John 3:5); to fast on all the holy feasts throughout the year, as well as on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Mondays, so that their righteousness may exceed that of the Pharisees, who boast that they fast twice a week.

Then they must live in purity, in fasting; give alms; attend church regularly on Sundays and Holy Feasts; pray continually; and read as often as possible the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of God's Saints. They must also refrain from every sin that drives the Holy Spirit away from them, along with the many other obligations that the priests teach them on every Sunday and Holy Feast, if only they would listen with the fear of God. The cross of widowhood and virginity is not easy either, for those who, out of love for God, strive to live in purity and honor on earth, among whom are also the monastics.

Some of these, if they do as they promised before the Lord, if they live in obedience, in poverty, and in virginity, not only in body but also in mind and heart, refraining from desiring corruptible and deceptive things, will rejoice in a great reward in the age to come. Both monastics who have vowed to preserve their virginity until death and Christians who desire to live in virginity and purity need fasting, restraint from rich foods and wine, and watchfulness of the mind, joined with prayer and contemplation of death and the Last Judgment. They must always have the fear of God before the eyes of their mind, so as to guard their mind and their five senses from temptations, evil thoughts, and friendship with persons who can cause scandal and sin.

The cross is also heavy for the poor and afflicted who live in want and poverty and struggle with the many needs of earthly life. And if they bear the cross of their suffering with humility, patience, and thanksgiving, a great reward awaits them from God, who is Most Just and All-Knowing, who knows the patience, affliction, and suffering of each person and will reward everyone according to his deeds.

The righteous Job says: “The life of man upon the earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). The Holy Apostle Paul says: “In this great struggle, you have need of patience” (Hebrews 12:2–7). And our Savior Jesus Christ says: “By your patience you will gain your souls” (Luke 21:19). Therefore, we are always obliged to pray to the Most Merciful God to grant us patience in our troubles and sufferings, so that we may bear our Cross to the end, for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). But let us be assured that God, in His boundless mercy, does not allow a person to be tempted beyond his strength (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Beloved faithful,

Now, toward the end of this sermon, we shall recount a true story concerning a sick man. He had been bedridden for several years and, having lost patience with his illness, asked God to let him die; but the Most Good God saved him through a miracle, so that he would not lose his soul.

A monk of exemplary life from the Holy Mountain of Athos, having been paralyzed for many years, began to pray to God either to let him die or to restore his health, for he could no longer endure that tormenting illness. As he prayed in this way, an angel of the Lord came to him and said: “God desires to cleanse you of your sins as iron is cleansed by fire, so that He may lead you into the paradise of delight, for there is no other way to the Savior than the way of the Cross, which comes through suffering. Therefore, if you wish to be cleansed of your transgressions, you must either remain bedridden for another year on earth or spend three hours in hell.”

The sick monk began to think. Another year of suffering on earth? Better to spend three hours in Gehenna! Then the angel, with the swiftness of lightning, carried his soul into the torments of hell and departed, saying these comforting words: “After three hours I will come to you and look for you!” The terrible darkness, the heartrending sighs of the sinners who were suffering in Gehenna, and the terrifying faces of the demons brought upon the miserable monk unspeakable terror and anguish. Everywhere he could see and hear nothing but suffering, tears, and dreadful lamentation! Only the burning eyes of the demons glimmered in the boundless darkness of hell.

Then the tormented monk began to weep and cry out, but no one answered his cries. It seemed to him that hundreds of years of suffering had passed since he arrived there, and he eagerly awaited the appearance of the angel of the Lord to take him out. But the angel did not come. All the sinners imprisoned in Gehenna were occupied only with their exceedingly bitter and terrible death and with their own torment, while the dreadful demons, in their infernal joy, mocked the sufferings of the sinners.

Finally, the angel, with a smile of light, approached the tormented monk and asked him: “How are you, brother?” “Never would I have believed that the mouth of an angel could lie! Did you not tell me that you would take me out of here after three hours? And behold, hundreds of years have passed in these terrible sufferings! What do you say to that?” The angel answered with a radiant face: “One hour has passed since I left you, and you still have two hours to remain here!” “Two hours?” cried the tormented monk in great terror. “Is it possible that an hour has passed? But I can no longer endure these terrible torments! If it is possible to fulfill the will of the Most Merciful God, I beg you, take me out of here. I would rather suffer on earth for years, even for centuries, until the Second Coming of the Lord, but save me from here! Have mercy on me!”

The angel said: “God, being the Father of mercies and of all consolation, shows His goodness toward you. But from now on you must remember how grievous and great are the torments of Gehenna; and the sufferings on earth, however terrible they may be, are only a shadow in comparison with the eternal sufferings of hell” (The Life of the Departed, Bucharest, 1899, pp. 424–426).

Beloved faithful,

From this true story and from what we have said above, let us understand that there is no salvation without the Cross and without suffering in this life. Our Savior Jesus Christ told us that “through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Every Christian who desires the salvation of his soul is obliged to be ready to endure with love and patience all the troubles, sorrows, and pains of life that God permits to come upon a person for his salvation. Saint Isaac the Syrian says: “As fire cleanses copper of rust, so illness cleanses a person of sin.” Therefore, it is good that in every suffering and sorrow we pray to the Most Merciful God to forgive us our sins and grant us patience in troubles and afflictions, remembering that: “Tribulation produces patience, and patience produces purification from sins.”

Never in this life can we endure as much as we owe for our sins, in order to satisfy the justice of God. Nor can we endure without the mercy and help of the Most Merciful God. Therefore, our Savior Jesus Christ said: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). Only through His mercy and help can we do all things in this life. The Holy Apostle Paul shows us this truth when he says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Truly, we can do all things in Christ, and without Him, nothing. Therefore, we are obliged at all times and in every place to ask for the mercy and help of God and, with faith and hope, to wait, remembering the word that says: “The Lord will save the souls of His servants, and all who hope in Him will not go astray” (Psalm 33:21). Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.