ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: January 2016

January 31, 2016

A Historic Divine Liturgy After 600 Years in the Cretan Monastery of the Three Hierarchs

By John Sanidopoulos

The 14th century scholarly monk Joseph Philagres (or Philagrios) was born in Crete, when the island was under the Venetian occupation (1204-1669). His original name was John and took the name Joseph when he became a monk and priest. He studied Aristotelian philosophy, rhetoric, logic, and ethics in the Pandidakterion at Constantinople.

Saint Basil the Great Resource Page

Life

Synaxarion for Saint Basil the Great (Jan. 1)

The Dual Feast of St. Basil the Great and the Circumcision of Christ

Encomium for Basil the Great (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

Funeral Oration for Saint Basil the Great (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Homily on the Circumcision of Christ and Basil the Great ( St. Amphilochios of Iconium)

Homily on the Circumcision of Christ and on Basil the Great (St. Andrew of Crete)

The Repentance of Basil the Great

Commemoration of the Miracle of St. Basil the Great Against the Arians (Jan. 19)

The Dialogue Between Basil the Great and the Arian Prefect Modestus

The Relationship of St. Ephraim the Syrian and St. Basil the Great

The Death-Bed Wager Between Saint Basil the Great and a Jewish Physician

Basil the Great and the Hesychastic Life

The Church Fathers and Heathen Literature Under Julian the Apostate

Basil the Great and Common Sharing

12th Century Hymn to St. Basil

Three Hierarchs Resource Page

The Relics of Saint Basil the Great

"Basil the Great, the Lion of Christ" (Documentary)

About

Saint Basil and our Spiritual Roots

Basil the Great and Disfigured Christianity (Photios Kontoglou)

"What Would Saint Basil the Great Do if He Lived in our Era?" (St. Paisios the Athonite)

The Orthodoxy of St. Basil and the Extremism of Patriarch Nikon

Even Saints Can Be Deceived About People

From Basil the Great To Santa Claus

"John the Blessed": A New Year's Eve Tale by Photios Kontoglou

The Meaning Behind the Vasilopita (1 of 2)

The Meaning Behind the Vasilopita (2 of 2)

Teachings and Writings

The Benefit of Reading the Works of Basil the Great

A Summary of "On the Holy Spirit" by Saint Basil the Great

"Give Heed To Thyself" (A Homily of St. Basil the Great)

Homily on Giving Thanks to God For All Things (St. Basil the Great)

Homily on Humility (St. Basil the Great)

Sermon to the Rich (St. Basil the Great)

"I Will Pull Down My Barns": A Homily of Basil the Great on Covetousness

Was Jesus Ignorant of the Time of His Second Coming?

Paradise and Hell According to Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian

The Didactic Nature of Jesus Weeping According to Basil the Great and John Chrysostom

St Basil's Eschatological Vision: Aspects of the Recapitulation of History and the 'Eighth Day'

St. Basil the Great: "Love Cannot Be Taught"

Scriptural and Patristic Conceptions of the Holy Spirit (St. Basil the Great)

St. Basil the Great's Homily On Fasting (1 of 3)

St. Basil the Great's Homily On Fasting (2 of 3)

St. Basil the Great's Homily On Fasting (3 of 3)

Imitating the Fast of Christ in our Spiritual Warfare

The Commandments of Saint Basil to Priests

Basil the Great on Unceasing Prayer

On the Operations of the Nous According to St. Basil the Great

Saint Basil the Great, Protector of the Poor

Address to the Youth on How to Derive Benefit from Greek Literature (St. Basil the Great)

St. Basil the Great on the Purpose of Environmental Calamities

Saint Basil On Human Trafficking

Where Did You Find Your Property? (St. Basil the Great)

Basil the Great on the Vanity of Reading Genesis as Science

Basil the Great and the Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis

St. Basil the Great on the Intelligent Cause of Creation

How Did the Saints Write About Creation?

Saint Basil the Great on the Book of Psalms

The 19 Letters of Basil the Great to Amphilochios of Iconium

A Letter of Basil the Great to Ambrose of Milan (Letter 197)

Saint Basil the Great on the Origin of Evil

St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite On Vampirism

Saint Barsos the Confessor, Bishop of Edessa

Feasts and Saints

A Homily of Basil the Great to be Read on the Day Before Theophany

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

Saint Gordius the Martyr of Ceasarea

Homily on the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (St. Basil the Great)

On the Intercessions of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (St. Basil the Great)

On Saint Gregory the Wonderworker (St. Basil the Great)

Saint Meletios of Antioch as a Model for our Lives

Saint Amphilochios of Iconium as a Model for our Lives

Miracles of the Holy Martyr Mamas

By Honoring Saint Mamas One Honors Virtue (St. Basil the Great)

Holy Martyr Barlaam of Antioch: Summaries of the Encomiums of Basil the Great and John Chrysostom

Holy Martyr Julitta of Caesarea

Holy Great Martyr Mercurius of Caesarea in Cappadocia

Saint Ascholios, Bishop of Thessaloniki (+ 383)

Family

Feast of the Holy Family of Saint Basil the Great (2nd Sunday of January)

Life of Saint Macrina the Elder, Grandmother of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa

Saints Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa - Mothers of the Three Hierarchs (Sunday After Feb. 2nd)

Saint Emmelia, Mother of Saint Basil the Great

Saint Emmelia as a Model for our Lives

Saint Gregory of Nyssa Resource Page

Saint Macrina the Younger Resource Page

Saint Theosevia the Deaconess of Nyssa

Saint Naukratios, Brother of Basil the Great

Saint Peter, Bishop of Sebaste (+ 391)

January 30, 2016

The Three Hierarchs: Towers of Faith

By Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria

January, the month of the Holy Fathers. It begins with the figure of Basil the Great and ends with the joint celebration of the three greatest luminaries of the Three-sunned Divinity: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.

They are the strongholds of piety and the writing tablet of the Holy Spirit. They are the fragrant blossoms of Paradise, and the breasts from which gushed forth the milk of salvation, according to the expression of the sacred hymnographer.1

They are the foremost of the chorus of the Holy Fathers and Teachers, who with the illumination of the Holy Spirit expressed in their time and continue to express until today with their words which are timeless, the experience of divine truth.

Saint Theophilos the New

St. Theophilos the New (Feast Day - January 30)

Verses

The beloved head of Theophilos is honored,

Being unwilling to love the gods of the barbarians.

Saint Theophilos was born and raised in Constantinople during the reign of the Orthodox rulers, Emperor Constantine VI and Empress-regent Irene (780-802). He held the rank of military governor in the Kibyrrhaiotai theme. At that time the Romans launched a naval campaign against the Saracens, or rather the Hagarenes. He embarked on this campaign with two subordinate admirals, but they were envious of him. When the hostilities began, he attacked the Saracens with his forces, followed by his two admirals. Employing diverse military tactics and war engines, he overpowered the enemy. The victory was only short lasting, however, since the two envious admirals took the opportunity of delivering Theophilos over to the enemy by withdrawing from the fight.

January 29, 2016

Holy New Martyr Demetrios of Chios (+ 1802)

St. Demetrios of Chios (Feast Day - January 29)

Verses

Thessaloniki is not alone in having its boast.

Chios also has a Martyr named Demetrios.

Moreover, he has become an ointment being slain by cruel men.

Demetrios was born into a devout family on the island of Chios in 1780, his father being called Apostolos and his wife Maroulou. While still young, he went to work for his elder brother Zannes who was established as a merchant in Constantinople under an employer. After some time, between twenty and twenty-two, he got engaged without seeking his brother's consent, choosing first to write to his father of his plans, which so angered his brother that he and his employer threw Demetrios out of the house. Homeless and hungry, he remembered that one of his brother's Turkish clients owed a sum of money. Desperately he went to his estate as if on an errand from his brother to collect the debt, but really intending to make use of the money himself. The Turk was not at home and he was received by the man's daughter. She knew Demetrios by sight, for he had often come with goods, and she had been much taken by his handsome appearance. She managed to lure him into the home and employed her charms with diabolical skill, bringing him to the point of denying his faith and of promising to become a Muslim in order to marry her. Though he quickly came to change his mind, he spent about two months with her in the house as if a prisoner and under close surveillance, for observing his sad and gloomy countenance, the Turks of the household suspected that he might go back on his decision. Demetrios however looked for any opportunity to escape.

Saint Aphrahat the Persian

St. Aphrahat (Feast Day - January 29)

Verses

Though of the flesh and alive Aphrahat exists as dead,

He lives eternally, appearing lifeless and dead.

By Bishop Theodoret of Cyrus, Syria

That the nature of all men is one and that it is simple for those who wish to practice philosophy, whether they are Greeks or barbarians, is easy to learn from many other examples. Aphrahat1* on his own, however, is sufficient to show this dearly; for this man, though born and bred among the lawless Persians,2 stemming from such parents and educated in their customs, advanced to such virtue as to eclipse those who have been born of pious parents and have received a pious education from childhood. First of all, thinking nothing of his family, although it was distinguished and illustrious, he hastened to worship the Master, in imitation of his forebears the Magi; then, in disgust at the impiety of his kin, he chose a foreign country in preference to his own, and repaired to Edessa,3 a city large and well-populated and exceptionally illustrious in piety. Finding a hovel outside the city-walls and immuring himself, he tended his own soul, pulling out, like an excellent cultivator, the thorns of the passions by the roots, weeding the divine crop, and offering to the Master the seasonal fruits from the seeds of the Gospel.

January 28, 2016

The Only Orthodox Monastery in the World Dedicated to St. Ephraim the Syrian

The Sacred Coenobitic Monastery of Saint Ephraim the Syrian in the Heart of Pieria

At the foot of Mount Olympus, in a place known as Panagia, on the border of the foothills of Olympus and Pieria, near the village of Kontariotissa in Katerini, is a female convent dedicated to the great Father of our Church, the Venerable Ephraim the Syrian. Indeed it is the only shrine to the Saint in all of Greece.

Patriarchate of Jerusalem to Officially Canonize St. John Jacob the Chozebite

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem will formally recognize on Sunday, 31 January 2016, the sainthood of the Romanian Venerable Father John Jacob of Neamţ, or the Chozebite, as the Representative of the Romanian Patriarchate to the Holy Land, V. Rev. Archimandrite Teofil Anăstăsoaie, informs us. At this event, the Romanian Patriarchate will be represented by a delegation led by His Grace Timotei of Prahova, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest.

The canonization ceremony of Venerable John Jacob will take place at Saint George the Chozebite Monastery, near Jericho, Israel. On this occasion, His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem and all Palestine, will officiate the Divine Liturgy. Many hierarchs, clergy and faithful are expected to attend the canonization ceremony.

We note that the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, during its working session of 20 June 1992, canonized the Venerable Father John Jacob of Neamţ, having his feast day on August 5th, the day of his passing to the Lord.

The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem decided during its autumn session of 2015 to recognize the sainthood of the Romanian Venerable Father John Jacob.

Official Announcement and Agreed Texts of the Synaxis of Primates Regarding the Holy and Great Synod 2016

The Orthodox Academy of Crete in Chania, Crete

Announcement of the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches

(01/27/2016)

(Read text here in English)

The items officially approved for referral to and adoption by the Holy and Great Synod are:

Saint Ephraim the Syrian Resource Page

St. Ephraim the Syrian (Feast Day - January 28)

Verses

Ephraim, the Syrian by tongue, once heard in psalms

A tongue he knew not calling him on high.

On the twent-eighth Ephraim’s soul was taken.

About

Synaxarion of Saint Ephraim the Syrian

Saint Ephraim the Syrian in the "Ecclesiastical History" of Sozomen

The Life of our Venerable Father Ephraim the Syrian (St. Theophan the Recluse)

Homily for the Feast Day of Saint Ephraim the Syrian (St. Luke of Simferopol)

Life, Works and Thought of Saint Ephraim the Syrian (Fr. George Florovsky)

Our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian

Saint Ephraim the Syrian

Saint Ephraim the Syrian, the Saint of Repentance and Tears

Saint Ephraim the Syrian, the Ascetic Bishop

Saint Ephraim the Syrian as a Model for our Lives

The Relationship of St. Ephraim the Syrian and St. Basil the Great

The Testament of Saint Ephraim the Syrian

The Only Orthodox Monastery in the World Dedicated to St. Ephraim the Syrian

Synaxarion of our Venerable Father Euarestos

Teachings

Repent Before Death...Today

The Devil's Lament (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On Love (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On Psalmody (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On Prayer (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On Scandals in the Church (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Concerning the Last Judgement (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On the Gehenna of the Wicked (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

A Poem on Abraham and Isaac (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Sermon on Joseph the Most Virtuous (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

On the Prophet Elijah (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Homily on the Prophet Jonah and on the Repentance of the Ninevites (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Homily on the Sinful Woman (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Feasts of the Church

St. Ephraim the Syrian on the Holy Cross

St. Ephraim the Syrian's 100 Stanzas on the Nativity

Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ

15 Hymns For the Feast of Epiphany (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

St. Ephraim the Syrian on Christ's Divine and Human Natures

Encomium to the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Homily on the Transfiguration of Christ (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

The Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim Explained

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian (St. Luke of Simferopol)

Homily on the Sinful Woman (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

The Passion of the Savior (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Other

Why You Should Never Trust A Quote Unless You Can Authenticate It

Our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian

St. Ephraim the Syrian (Feast Day - January 28)

Although St. Ephraim is commemorated before the beginning of Great Lent, he is more particularly remembered during this time in connection with the well-known prayer he composed: "O Lord and Master of my life..," which is recited repeatedly in the daily lenten cycle of services, as it should also be by Orthodox faithful in their private morning and evening prayers throughout the lenten period. The prayer may be said to capsulize the teaching of this eloquent Holy Father of the Church, who left several volumes of spiritually instructive writings which merited high praise from his illustrious contemporaries, St. Basil the Great and his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa. The life of St. Ephraim is perhaps no less instructive.

January 27, 2016

Hieromonk Kosmas of Gregoriou, Missionary to Zaire (+ 1942-1989)

By Monk Moses the Athonite

Kosmas was born in 1942 in the village of Theodosia in Kilkis. At a young age he came with his parents to Thessaloniki, where they lived very poorly. The church was his second home and the priest of his parish was his second father. He enjoyed studying Holy Scripture and attending Catechetical School. From an early age he entered the struggle of life while studying at the same time. He became spiritually associated with the late Augoustinos Kantiotes (+ 2010) and began a correspondence with Fr. Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos (+ 1972), who was in Africa. His desire for missionary work began to fester within him. He had contacts with Elder Philotheos Zervakos (+ 1980) of Longovardos Monastery in Paros. He knew technical work, mechanical work, electrical work, electronics, nursing, being a lifeguard and building things. He attended Apostoliki Diakonia for the Training Seminar for Catechists and took lessons in foreign missionary work, and he learned nursing at the Red Cross. He even received a degree in swimming. Later he would save a drowning child in a lake in Kolwezi. He wanted to study medicine, but was not able to do so. But he did go to the High School of Rizarios School.

The Location and Dates of the Holy and Great Synod of Orthodoxy 2016

According to Amen.gr, the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will take place at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in Kolympari of Chania. The Synod will be presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the Primates and their delegations participating from all the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches. The dates the Synod will be convened will be from June 16th to the 27th. On the Sunday of Pentecost, June 19th, a Panegyrical Divine Liturgy will be celebrated by the Ecumenical Patriarch and concelebrated with the various Primates at the Cathedral Church of Saint Menas in Herakleion.

Holy New Martyr Demetrios the Bartender of Constantinople (+ 1784)

St. Demetrios of Constantinople (Feast Day - January 27)

By St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Verses

A heavenly light was set upon your relics,

Having been beheaded for Christ out of divine love.

Demetrios was a native of Galata in Constantinople and resided in the precinct of Karakoy, where he was a bartender at a tavern owned by a certain Hadji-Panagiotis. He was only twenty-five years old, handsome in appearance, and sober in conduct. For these virtues, he was always hated by the Laz Muslims,* who frequented the tavern. In various ways, they attempted to divert him from the Faith and make him a Muslim, but they strived in vain.

January 26, 2016

The Wonderworking Icon of Saint Xenophontos in Mazotos, Cyprus

The Wonderworking Icon of Sts. Xenophon, Maria, Arcadius and John

Mazotos is a village 22 km away from Larnaca in Cyprus, close to the sea. The community today numbers about 1,200 predominantly Greek speaking Cypriots but with about 350 expatriates who are there on a permanent basis as retirees.

At a distance of half a kilometer from the heart of the village of Mazotos, in the northeast, there is the Chapel of Saint Xenophontos the Xorinos which dates to 1821. The icon of the Saint that also depicts his wife Maria and sons Arkadios and John is also dated to 1821, according to an inscription on the icon. It was returned to the village by Hadji-Demetrios, a camel man from Voukolida of Karpasia, who came to and was married at Mazotos.

It was a summer night, in the middle of the century before last, when Saint Xenophontos appeared to him and said:

"Wake up to go and bring me to Mazotos, and the village will see good things from me."

Saint Symeon the Ancient

St. Symeon the Ancient (Feast Day - January 26)

Verses

You did away with the dirt Ancient Symeon,

The head of the ancient enemy you reduced to the dirt.

By Bishop Theodoret of Cyrus in Syria

If one were deliberately to omit Symeon the Ancient* and consign the memory of his philosophy to oblivion, one would doubtless not escape a charge of injustice and malice, as neither being willing to praise what is worthy of praise nor offering what is worthy of love for imitation to those wishing to benefit; I myself not from fear of accusation but through desire to praise shall make the narration of this man's way of life. He persevered for the greatest possible length of time in embracing the eremetical life and dwelling in a tiny cave; he enjoyed no solace from men, for he chose to live alone, but discoursed persistently with the God of the universe. It was edible plants that he made his food. This toil won him also the gift of rich grace from above, even to the extent of exercising authority over the most bold and fearsome of wild animals. And this was manifest not only to the pious but also to unbelieving Jews.

Commemoration of the Great Earthquake of Constantinople (mid-5th cent.)

Great Earthquake of Constantinople (Feast Day - January 26)

Verses

You shook but again halted the earth O Word,

Your compassion being greater than Your wrath.

During the final years of the reign of Emperor Theodosius II (408-450), on a Sunday, at the second hour, there occurred such a great earthquake in Constantinople, that it destroyed the city walls, together with many homes and neighborhoods of the city. Extensive damage was especially suffered from the port of Troas to the copper Tetrapylon.

January 25, 2016

Saint Gregory the Theologian Resource Page

St. Gregory the Theologian (Feast Days - January 19, 25, 30)

About

Synaxarion of Saint Gregory the Theologian

Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople

Encomium to Saint Gregory the Theologian (Niketas the Paphlagonian)

The Life, Works and Thought of Saint Gregory the Theologian (Fr. George Florovsky)

Saint Gregory the Theologian as a Model for our Lives

Homily on the Holy Hierarch of Christ Gregory the Theologian (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

Even Saints Can Be Deceived About People

Eight Letters of St. Gregory the Theologian to St. Gregory of Nyssa

Three Hierarchs Resource Page

Shrines, Relics and Miracles

Church of Saint Gregory the Theologian in Gelveri of Central Anatolia

History of the Relics of Saint Gregory the Theologian

The Relics of Saint Gregory the Theologian

The Holy Skull of St. Gregory the Theologian

The Casket and Reliquary Containing the Head of Saint Gregory the Theologian

The Incorrupt Right Hand of Saint Gregory the Theologian

The Return of the Relics of St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian to Constantinople (video)

St. Gregory the Theologian and the Healing of the Castrated Emperor

Writings and Teachings

The Writings of Saint Gregory the Theologian

The Christology of Saint Gregory the Theologian

The Church Fathers and Heathen Literature Under Julian the Apostate

Man and His Worth According to St. Gregory the Theologian

Paradise and Hell According to Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian

St. Gregory the Theologian's Principles of Theology

Gregory the Theologian on the Canon of Holy Scripture

The Place of the Apocalypse in the Canon of St. Gregory Nazianzen

Saint Gregory the Theologian To His Own Soul

The Alphabet of Virtues (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Funeral Oration of Saint Basil the Great (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Oration on the Theophany or Birthday of Christ (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Oration on the Holy Lights (St. Gregory the Theologian)

A Homily of Gregory the Theologian to be Read on the Day After Theophany

First Paschal Oration of St. Gregory the Theologian

Second Paschal Oration of St. Gregory the Theologian

An Interpretation of Certain Sayings of St. Gregory the Theologian Found in Paschal Hymns (Abba Dorotheos of Gaza)

Paschal Pastoral Encyclical 2013 (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

The Curious Sainthood of Heron the Philosopher

"My Own Crowned Champion, the Famous Mamas" (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Saint Mamas and the Omen of Julian the Apostate

Holy Martyrs Medimnos, Urban, Theodore with Eighty Priests and Deacons Burnt in a Ship by Order of Emperor Valens (+ 370)

Epistle 12 To His Nephew Nicobulus Who Mocked His Wife (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Treatise on the Art of Letter Writing (St. Gregory the Theologian)

Did Gregory the Theologian Refer to the Writings of Dionysius the Areopagite?

Family of Saint Gregory

Saint Gregory the Elder, Bishop of Nazianzus and Father of Saint Gregory the Theologian

Saint Nonna of Nazianzus, Mother of Gregory the Theologian

Saint Nonna as a Model for our Lives

Saints Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa - Mothers of the Three Hierarchs (Sunday After Feb. 2nd)

Saint Caesarius of Nazianzus, Brother of Gregory the Theologian

Saint Gorgonia, Sister of Saint Gregory the Theologian

Saint Gorgonia, Sister of Saint Gregory the Theologian (St. Justin Popovich)

St. Gregory the Theologian and the Healing of the Castrated Emperor

Sabbatios was the oldest son of the Roman Emperor Leo V the Armenian (813–820). After Leo deposed Michael I and ascended the throne on Christmas 813, he had the young Sabbatios crowned co-emperor and renamed Constantine. This name was not chosen by chance, as both were iconoclasts who reinstated the iconoclasm of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717–741) and his son Constantine V (741–775). In 815 on Easter, Constantine nominally presided, as his father's representative, over a Church Synod in Constantinople, which reinstated the ban on the veneration of icons.

Synaxarion of Saint Gregory the Theologian

On the twenty-fifth of this month [January], we commemorate our Holy Father Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Verses

For the Orthodox to know God as essence,

Was given to the Christians as a gift from Gregory.

On the twenty-fifth Gregory who spoke of divine things died.

The Great Gregory the Theologian flourished during the reigns of Emperors Valens (364-378) and Theodosius the Great (379-395), and was from Cappadocia Secunda. His parents, Gregory and Nonna, were noble and just, and at one time revered the idols out of ignorance. After giving birth to the Great Gregory, they also were reborn by water and the Spirit, namely through Baptism, and his father became the Bishop of Nazianzus.

January 24, 2016

The Holy and Great Synod Will Take Place in Crete in June 2016

The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will meet in June this year, according to the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA).

A decision was made as the Primates are gathered in a Synaxis at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Geneva, whose work is done under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Of course, for the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church to meet in June, during the period of Pentecost (06/19/2016), the Primates in Geneva must definitely choose the themes and regulations.

The Translation of the Relics of the Holy Martyr Anastasios the Persian

Verses

You are crowned Anastasios with the grace of your contest,

Granting us grace through your relics.

While Saint Anastasios was undergoing cruel tortures in Caesarea of Palestine at the orders of the Persian governor there, the Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Anastasios near Jerusalem and spiritual father of the Holy Martyr, Justin, learned of his desire to suffer for Christ, therefore he requested that the entire brotherhood entreat the Lord on his behalf, in order that he faithfully and courageously complete the path of martyrdom. He himself wrote a letter to Saint Anastasios, which he sent through two monks of the brotherhood, where he encouraged the Holy Martyr in his contest, and this made him more eager to fulfill his desire. One of these monks, by order of the Abbot, even followed the Saint when he was sent from Caesarea to Persia, in order to serve his needs and comfort his soul, which suffered due to his ill-treatment. Furthermore, by witnessing the sufferings and martyrdom of the Saint, he could provide eye-witness testimony to the events as they transpired, in order to inform the Abbot and the brotherhood. After the blessed Anastasios completed his great martyric contest by being strangled to death with seventy other Christians and beheaded, then the brother monk went with other God-loving Christians of the area in order to acquire back his sacred and venerable body. They then beheld an astonishing wonder, for while the other bodies were being eaten by dogs, the relic of the Holy Martyr they refused to approach, rather they reverently protected it. Wherefore the brother monk took the body and gave it the appropriate honors in the little time he had, and buried it in the nearby Monastery of the Holy Martyr Sergios. This took place in the tenth year of the reign of Heraclius, on the 22nd of January. The monk stayed in Persia for a short while, trying to figure out how to return to his Monastery in Jerusalem without falling into danger.

January 23, 2016

The Highest Altitude Orthodox Chapel in All of Greece and the Balkans (photos + videos)

The peak of Profitis Ilias on Mount Olympus in Greece

Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece and the second highest mountain in the Balkans. Built at an altitude of 2803 meters on the Mouson Plateau (Plateau of the Muses), 10 minutes from the Skiing and Hiking Association refuge, Profitis Ilias (Prophet Elijah or Elias) is the highest chapel in all of Greece and the Balkans (and perhaps the world).

Saint Salamanes the Hesychast

St. Salamanes the Hesychast (Feast Day - January 23)

Verses

Crawling on the ground and sunk down in life,

Your acts and words were lofty Salamanes.

By Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria

Since I think I would be wronging virtue if I were not also to make known to posterity the life of the wonderful Salamanes,* but allow it to be buried by oblivion, I shall, in summary, make the narration. To the west of the river Euphrates, lying on the very bank, is a village called Capersana. Originating from this village, he embraced the quiet life. Finding a small hut in the village on the opposite bank, he confined himself, leaving neither door nor window. Once a year he would dig a hole at ground level and receive his food for the whole year, never speaking to anyone; and he continued in this way not for a short time but for the longest possible.

Saint Paulinus the Merciful, Bishop of Nola (+ 431)

St. Paulinus of Nola (Feast Day - January 23)

Pontius Meropius Paulinus was born c. 352 at Bordeaux, in southwestern France. He was from a notable senatorial family with estates in the Aquitaine province of France, northern Spain, and southern Italy. He was educated in Bordeaux, where his teacher, the poet Ausonius, also became his friend. At some time during his boyhood he made a visit to the shrine of St Felix at Nola near Naples.

His normal career as a young member of the senatorial class did not last long. In 375, the Emperor Gratian succeeded his father Valentinian. Gratian made Paulinus suffect consul at Rome c. 377, and appointed him governor of the southern Italian province of Campania c. 380-1, but in 383 Gratian was assassinated at Lyon, France, and c. 384 Paulinus returned to Bordeaux. There he married a Spanish Christian woman named Therasia. Paulinus himself became a Christian and was baptized c. 389 by Bishop Delphinus of Bordeaux. Shortly afterwards, his wife and he moved to their estates in Spain. When they lost their first child, a boy, only eight days after birth, the couple decided to live a secluded religious life.

January 22, 2016

The Miraculous Discovery of the Icon of Panagia Eleistria in Koroni in 1897

The Icon of the Christ Crucified discovered in Koroni.

On January 22nd our Holy Church honors the miraculous finding of the Sacred Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos Eleistria in Koroni, which was found in 1897 in Koroni of Messenia, Greece.

The discovery of the miraculous icon of the Eleistria is based on a vision of a most pious old woman from Koroni named Maria G. Stathakis.

An Orthodox Chapel Inside a 400 Year Old Oak Tree

This chapel in a 400-year-old oak tree is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and located in the Kutaisi Botanical Garden in Kutaisi, Georgia.

Holy Martyr Anastasios the Persian (+ 628)

St. Anastasios the Persian (Feast Day - January 22)

Verses

Anastasios is strangled by the throat,

The cord becoming beautified with brilliance.

On the twenty-second Anastasios underwent strangling.

Anastasios, the glorious Martyr of Christ, was from Persia, and lived at the time when the Persian King was Chosroes II (590-628), and the Roman Emperor was Heraclius (610-641). Anastasios' Persian name before Baptism was Magundat, the son of a magi named Vav, and from him he thoroughly learned the magical arts. He then entered into military service at the time when the Persians invaded Palestine, where they sacked the holy city of Jerusalem, and took many of its inhabitants as slaves. Among those held in bondage was the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross, on which our Lord endured His Passion, and they took it to Persia. While in the hands of the Persians, the Honorable Cross worked many miracles, causing many to say that the God of the Christians had come to Persia.