My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 18th of January, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
Our Father Among the Saints ATHANASIOS and CYRIL, Archbishops
of Alexandria.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Third Tone
SHINING forth with works of Orthodoxy, ye quenched every false
belief and teaching and became trophy-bearers and conquerors.
And since ye made all things rich with true piety, greatly adorning
the Church with magnificence. Athanasius and wise Cyril, ye both
have worthily found Christ God, Who doth grant great mercy unto
all.
Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone
GREAT high priests of piety and noble champions of the Holy Church
of Christ, keep and preserve all those who chant: O Most Compassionate
Lord, do Thou graciously save those who faithfully honor Thee.
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In the half-century after the First Ecumenical Council held in Nicaea in 325 A.D., if there was one man whom the Arian heretics feared and hated more intensely than any other, as being able to lay bare the whole heresy of their teaching, and to marshal, even from exile or hiding, the beleaguered forces of the Orthodox, it was Saint Athanasios the Great. The blazing lamp of Orthodoxy, which Imperial power and heretics’ plots could not quench when he shone upon the lampstand, not found when he was hidden by the people and monks of Egypt, was born in Alexandria about the year 296 A.D. He received an excellent training in Greek Letters and especially in the Sacred Scriptures, of which he shows exceptional knowledge in his writings. Even as a young man he had a remarkable depth of theological understanding; he was only about twenty years old when he wrote his treatise On the Incarnation. Saint Alexander, the Archbishop of Alexandria, brought him up in piety, ordained hi his Deacon, and, after deposing Arius for his blasphemy against the Divinity of the Son of God, took Athanasios to the First Council (Synod) in Nicaea in 325 A.D. Saint Athanasios was to spend the remainder of his life laboring in defense of this holy Council. In 326 A.D., before his death, Alexander appointed Athanasius his successor.
He remained in his Archiepiscopal calling for more than forty years, although he was not on the Archiepiscopal throne the whole time. He was persecuted by heretics through almost the whole of his life, particularly by the Emperors Constantius, Julian and Valens, by Bishop Eusebius of Nocomedia and many others, and by the heretic Arius and his followers. He was forced to hide from his persecutors in a well, a grave, private houses and the deserts. Twice he was forced to flee to Rome. Only just before his death did he have a peaceful period as a good shepherd with his flock, which truly loved him. There are few Saints who have been so callously slandered and so criminally persecuted as Saint Athanasius. But his great soul endured all with patience for the love of Christ and at last emerged victorious from all these terrible and lengthy struggles. He often went to Saint Anthony for advice and moral support, revering him as his spiritual father. He suffered greatly for the Truth, until the Lord gave him rest in His Kingdom as His faithful servant, in the year 373 A.D. [Source: The Great Horologion and The Prologue from Ochrid]
SAINT CYRIL was also from Alexandria, born about the year 376 A.D., the nephew of Theophilos, Patriarch of Alexandria, who also instructed the Saint in his youth. Having spent much time with the monks in Nitria, he later became the successor to his uncle’s throne in 412 A.D. In 429 A.D., when Saint Cyril heard tidings of the teachings of the new Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, he began attempting to bring Nestorius to renounce his heretical teachings about the Incarnation; and when he did not repent, Saint Cyril, together with Pope Celestine of Rome, led the Orthodox opposition to his heresy. Saint Cyril presided over the Third Ecumenical Council (Synod) of the 200 holy Fathers in the year 431 A.D., who gathered in Ephesos under Saint Theodosios the Younger. At this Council, by his most wise words he put to shame and convicted the impious Nestorius. Saint Cyril, besides overthrowing the error of Nestorius, has left to the Church full commentaries on the Gospels of Luke and John. Having shepherded the Church of Christ for thirty-two years, he reposed in 444 A.D. [Source: The Great Horologion]
FOR CONSIDERATION
To the question, why did the Son of God reveal Himself to the world as man and not in the shape of some other creature, the wise Saint Athanasius replied thus: "If they ask why He did not reveal Himself in the form of some greater creature: for example, the sun, the moon, or stars, or as flame or space, but as man, let them know that the Lord did not come simply to reveal Himself but TO HEAL AND TEACH THOSE THAT SUFFER. For simply to reveal Himself and make His spectators marvel would mean to come as a show. Coming as a HEALER and TEACHER, He had not only to come, BUT TO COME IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE REVELATION SHOULD BE BEARABLE TO THE WRETCHED MEN WHOM HE HAD COME TO SERVE. NO SINGLE CREATURE HAS BEEN IN ERROR IN THE EYES OF GOD SAVE MAN ALONE; NEITHER THE SUN NOR THE MOON NOR THE SKY, THE STARS NOR WATER NOR SPACE HAS BEEN UNFAITHFUL TO ITS STATE, BUT, ON THE CONTRARY, KNOWING THEIR CREATOR AND THEIR KING — THE WORD — THEY ALL LIVE AS THEY WERE CREATED. ONLY HUMAN BEINGS HAVE TURNED THEMSELVES FROM GOOD AND CHANGED THAT TRUTH WHICH BELONGS TO GOD INTO DECEIT, AS THEY TRANSFERRED THE KNOWLEDGE OF HM TO DEVILS AND IDOLS. What is there, therefore, unlikely to the Word’s (the Son of God’s) revealing Himself as a man IN ORDER TO SAVE MANKIND? Indeed, we ask the unbelievers of our generation: ‘In what form would you wish God to reveal Himself, if not as man?’ [Source: The Prologue from Ochrid]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things1"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 