Saint Irenaeus, discussing the substance of our bodies and how the advent of the Logos/Word MADE THE IMAGE OF GOD IN US APPEAR CLEARER, writes: “Since Adam was molded from this earth in which we belong, the Scripture tells us that God said to him, ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread until thou returns to the earth out of which thou was taken, for earth thou art and TO EARTH SHALT THOU RETURN’ (Genesis 3:19). If then, after death, our bodies return to earth to any other substance, it follows that from it also they have their substance. But if it be into this very earth, it is manifest that it was also from it that man’s frame was created; as also the Lord clearly showed, when from this very substance He formed eyes for the man to whom He gave sight. And thus was the hand of God plainly shown forth, by which Adam was fashioned, and we too have been formed; and since there is one and the same Father, Whose voice from the beginning even to the end iIS PRESENT WITH HIS HANDIWORK, AND THE SUBSTANCE FROM WHICH WE WERE FORMED IS PLAINLY DECLARED THROUGH THE GOSPEL, WE SHOULD THEREFORE NOT seek another Father besides Him, nor look for another substance from which we have been formed, besides what was mentioned beforehand, and shown from by the Lord. Nor should we look for another hand of God besides that which, from the beginning even to the end, forms us and prepares us FOR LIFE, and is present with His handiwork, and perfects it atter the image and similitude of God.

“And then, again, this Logos/Word was manifested when the Logos/Word of God was made man, assimilating Himself to man, and man to Himself, so that by means of his resemblance to the Son, MAN MIGHT BECOME PRECIOUS TO THE FATHER. For in times long past, it was said that man was created after the image of God, but it was not actually shown; for the Logos/Word was as yet invisible, after whose image man was created–therefore, also did man easily, lose the similitude. When, however, the Logos/Word of God became flesh, He CONFIRMED BOTH THESE: FOR HE BOTH SHOWED FORTH THE IMAGE TRULY, SINCE HE BECAME HIMSELF WHAT WAS HIS IMAGE; AND HE REESTABLISHED THE SIMILITUDE AFTER A SURE MANNER, BY ASSIMILATING MAN TO THE INVISIBLE FATHER THROUGH MEANS OF THE VISIBLE LOGOS/WORD.

“And not by the aforesaid things alone has the Lord manifested Himself, but He has done this also by means of His Passion. For doing away with the effects of that DISOBEDIENCE OF MAN which had taken place at the beginning by the occasion of a tree. ‘And having been found in fashion as a man, He HUMBLED HIMSELF AND BECAME OBEDIENT EVEN TO DEATH–INDEED, THE DEATH OF A CROSS’ (Philippians 2:8). He rectified that disobedience which had occurred by reason of a tree, THROUGH OBEDIENCE WHICH WAS WROUGHT OUT UPON THE TREE OF THE CROSS. Now He would not have come to do away, by means of that same image, THE DISOBEDIENCE WHICH H AD BEEN INCURRED TOWARD OUR MASTER IF HE PROCLAIMED ANOTHER FATHER. BUT INASMUCH AS IT WAS BY THESE THINGS THAT WE DISOBEYED GOD, AND DID NOT GIVE CREDIT TO HIS WORD, SO WAS IT ALSO BY THESE SAME THAT HE BROUGHT IN OBEDIENCE AND CONSENT AS RESPECTS HIS LOGOS/WORD… IN THE Second Adam (Jesus Christ), however, WE ARE RECONCILED, BEING MADE OBEDIENT EVEN TO DEATH.”

The blind man accounted all his life as though it were might, now “CONFESSED THEE, THE HIDDEN GOD’ (Pentecostarion, Tuesday of the Blind Man.) The Lord bestowed A TWOFOLD ENLIGHTENMENT UPON him who was deprived from his mother’s womb. We ask that He “ILLUMINE THE EYES OF OUR SOULS AS WELL, AND PROVE US TO BE SON OF THE DAY” [Pentecostarion, Tuesday of the Blind Man, Vespers Sticheron, Mode Plagal Four.] (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

___________

“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”

– Saint John Chrysostomos

+ + +

With sincere agape in Christ’s Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and SaviorJESUS CHRIST.

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

On this day, the Sixth Sunday of Pascha,
our Holy Church commemorates the Miracle
of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ
upon the MAN BORN BLIND.

On this day we celebrate the miracle of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which wonder, as the previous week the Samaritaness, was brought about through the use of water. During today’s Epistle Reading, the Lord “passed by” and “He saw a man who was blind from birth [John 9:1]. He possessed only the sockets but no eyeballs. The Disciples inquire, “Rabbi, who sinned, this one or his parents, that he should be born blind [John 9:2]. Christ said,
“Neither this one sinned nor his parents, but in order that the work of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:3). By this Christ shows that it is foolish to suppose the soul of man to be guilty of sins previous to its birth in the body. Moreover, when He openly says that neither had His parents sinned that their son should be born blind, He refutes the silly suspicion of the Jews. Therefore, after He had taught His Disciples as much as was necessary for them to know in the order to refute the doctrines which we have stated, and imparted to them as much as it was fitting to exhibit to the understanding of man. He is silent as to the rest. He sets forth no further disclosure with clearness the reason why the fellow who was born blind was guilty of no sin previous to birth. He attributed to the Divine nature, alone, the knowledge of all such things and a management of affairs that is past finding out. But, again, He very skillfully transfers the language of His answer to something else and says that the works of God should be made manifest in him (that is, the blind man).

Saint Irenaeus, showing that Christ is God Who CREATED US, counsels: “For this reason did the Lord most plainly manifest Himself and the Father to His Disciples, lest, forsooth, they might seek after another God besides Him Who formed man, and Who gave him the breath of life; and that men might not rise to such a pitch of madness as to feign another Father above the Creator. Thus, also, He healed by a word all the others who were in a weakly condition because of sin; to whom also He said, ‘Behold, thou hast become well; no longer go on sinning, lest a worse thing should befall thee’ (John 5:14). Jesus pointed out by this, that, BECAUSE OF THE SIN OF DISOBEDIENCE, INFIRMITIES HAVE COME UPON MEN. To that man, however, who had been blind from his birth, He gave sight, not by means of a word, but by an outward action. He did not do this without a purpose, or because it just happened, BUT THAT HE MIGHT SHOW FORTH THE HAND OF GOD, THAT WHICH AT THE BEGINNING HAD MOULDED MAN. Therefore, when His Disciples asked Him for that cause the man had been born blind, whether for his own sin or his parents’ fault, He replied, ‘Neither this one sinned nor his parents, but IN ORDER THAT THE WORKS OF GOD SHOULD BE MADE MANIFEST IN HIM (John 9:3). Now the work of God is the FASHIONING OF MAN. For, as the Scripture says, He MADE MAN BY A KIND FO PROCESS: “And God formed man of dust of the earth, and breathed upon is face THE BREATH OF LIFE, AND THE MAN BECAME A LIVING SOUL (Genesis 2:7). Therefore, also, the Lord spat on the ground and made clay, and smeared it upon the eyes, POINTING OUT THE ORIGINAL FASHIONING OF MAN, HOW IT WAS EFFECTED, AND MANIFESTING THE HAND OF GOD TO THOSE WHO CAN UNDERSTAND BY WHAT [HAND] MAN WAS FORMED OUT OF THE DUST. For this which the artificer, the Logos/Word, had omitted to form in the womb [namely, the blind man’s eyes], He then supplied in public, that the works of God might be manifested in him in order that we might not be seeking our another hand by which man was fashioned, nor manifested, nor another Father; knowing that this hand of God which formed us at the beginning, and which does form us in the womb, has in the last times sought us out who were lost, winning back His own, and taking up the lost sheep upon His shoulders, and with joy RESTORING IT TO THE FOLD OF LIFE.

“Now, that the Logos/Word of God forms us in the womb, He says to Jeremias, ‘Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee, I appointed thee a prophet to the nations’ (Jeremiah 1:5). And Saint Paul, too, says in like manner, ‘But when it pleased God, Who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I be preaching Him as good tidings among the nations, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood’ (Galatians 1:15-16). As, therefore, we are by the Logos/Word formed in the womb, this very same Logos/Word formed THE VISUAL POWER IN HIM WHO HAD BEEN BLIND FROM HIS BIRTH. Christ showed openly Who it is that fashions us in secret, since the Logos/Word Himself had been made manifest to men. He declared the ORIGINAL FORMATION OF ADAM AND THE MANNER IN WHICH HE WAS CREATED, AND BY WHAT HAND HE WAS FASHIONED, INDICATING THE WHOLE FROM A PART. For the Lord Who FORMED THE VISUAL POWERS IS HE WHO MADE THE WHOLE MAN, CARRYING OUT THE WILL OF THE FATHER. AND INASMUCH AS MAN, WITH RESPECT TO THAT FORMATION WHICH WAS AFTER ADAM, HAVING FALLEN INTO TRANSGRESSION, NEEDED THE LAVER OF REGENERATION, THE LORD SAID TO HIM, THAT IS, UPON THE ONE WHOM HE HAD CONFERRED SIGHT AFTER HE HAD SMEARED HIS EYES WITH THE CLAY, ‘GO, WASH IN THE POOL OF SILOAM’ (John 9:7). Thus, He RESTORED to him both His perfect confirmation and that regeneration which takes place by means of the laver. Now for this reason the blind man was washed that he came seeing: SO THAT HE MIGHT BOTH KNOW THE ONE WHO HAD FASHIONED HIM, AND THAT MAN MIGHT LEARN TO KNOW HIM WHO HAS CONFERRED UPON HIM LIFE…

“Hence,” comments Saint Kyril of Alexandria, “The Lord sets forth the blind man from birth as a token that He WILL BE LEAVING THE MULTITUDE OF THE GOD-OPPOSERS, AND WILL RATHER VISIT THE GENTILES, AND TO THEM TRANSFER THE ABUNDANCE OF HIS CLEMENCY. Furthermore, He likens THE UNBELIEVING JEWS TO THE BLIND MAN BY REASON OF THEIR BEING BEFEFT OF THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD FROM THEIR FIRST AGE. THEY HAVE NOT THE LIGHT FROM GOD, THAT IS, THE ILLUMINATION THROUGH THE SPIRIT.” (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

By Thy boundless mercy, O Christ Our God, Giver of
Light, have mercy on us. Amen.

_______________

“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”

– Saint John Chrysostomos

+ + +

With sincere agape in His Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and SaviorJESUS CHRIST.

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

PHOTINE, the holy and Great Martyr of Christ, was a Samaritan woman of the city of Sychar. Our Lord Jesus Christ conversed at the well of the Patriarch Jacob. The well is situated on the eastern edge of the valley which separates Mount Gerizim from Mount Ebal. The Lord had just come down from the brown hills of Ephraim into a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph, and where Jacob’s well was located. Why was it called Jacob’s well? Saint Gregory Palamas affirms, "Because he dug it. The place which gave Joseph was called Shechem (Sicima). Even as he was drawing his last breath in Egypt, and disposing of his property, he said to Joseph: ‘Behold, I die, and God shall be with you, and restore you to the land of your fathers. And I give to thee Sicima, a select portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow’ [Genesis 48:21-22]. So Shechem was later inhabited by the Tribe of Ephraim… Since the Israelites of that place frequently offended God… their whole nation was enslaved. The ruler of Assyria then transported others to live there instead of them. These people (Babylon and Persia) that settled there were called Samaritans, that is, after the Hill Sommer…

"In the time of Christ, the Samaritans were ruled by Procurators under the Roman governor of Syria. By the time of late Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, the Samaritans had rejected the Prophets and writings of the Hebrew Bible. The Samaritans also did not accept the centrality of Jerusalem. The Jews considered them excommunicated. Christ was contemptuously called a Samaritan and one demonized [John 8:48]. Indeed, many Jews, in order to avoid possible insults and even injuries at the hands of the Samaritans, shunned traveling through their territory which was sandwiched between Galilee to the north and Judaea to the south…

It is also of interest that it is from the very mouth of that well that Emperor Justinian conveyed its rounded rock enclosure to his Capital. Together with the well cover, that same Emperor also transferred the very rock upon which Christ sat while discoursing with the Samaritan woman. These items were set down at the well of Hagia Sophia. At the writing of this Synaxarion, these rocks have been transferred in front of the Narthex on the North side, where every disease is curred, acting as both an ANTIDOTE and A REMEDY, especially in cases of shivering fits and fevers.

Today’s feast, the Fifth Sunday of Pascha, the Feast of the Samaritan Woman, has been placed during the week of Mid-Pentecost for this reason. Jesus bore witness to Himself as the Messiah, that is, The Christ or Anointed One. Later, during the reign of Nero, Saint Photine suffered manifold tortures. When the Emperor’s minions went to flay the holy Photine, she would permit none of the men to take hold of her. Therefore, she alone flayed her own flesh with such courage and bravery that the tyrant was amazed at her resolute soul. Then, after all her companions were slain, she was drawn out from a well and cast her into prison. As the sole survivor who triumphed over every form of torture, nonetheless, she sorrowed that she was not vouchsafed the crown of martyrdom together with the others. Desiring to emulate Christ in obedience and suffering, she supplicated God regarding her plight. He appeared to her and sealed her thrice with the Sign of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross, and healed all her wounds. Then, after many days, while hymning and blessing God, Saint Photine surrendered her precious soul into His hands. Therefore, she and all her fellow contestants were translated to their much-desired God and received His heavenly Kingdom which may we, too, be accounted worthy to obtain by their intercessions.

Saint Romanos notes: "As the woman of many husbands denied her husband, so the Church denied and left similar husbands, the many gods, and from the waters betrothed herself to one Master. The former had FIVE and did not have the sixth, while the latter has now left the five of impiety and from the waters takes the sixth. Thou, Who art joy and redemption." So, "let us hate the forms of idolatry. She who became a bride from the nations rejects and denies as bitter that sweet root of pleasure. But doubtless, someone will ask, ‘These five forms, what are they? The error of idols has many forms but has FIVER HORNS: IMPIETY, IMMORALITY, AND COPULATION, AND BEYOND THESE, CRUELTY AND THE MURDER OF CHILDREN, as David teaches, ‘And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons’ [Psalm 105:34], and they did not find joy and redemption." Hence, we hear Saint Photine now say, "Though I had husbands before, yet now I do not want those that I had; for now I possess Thee Who hast caught me in a net drawn up by faith from the filth of my evils."

By the intercessions of Thy Martyr Photine, O Christ God, have mercy on us. Amen. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

______________

"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"

– Saint John Chrysostomos

+ + +

With sincere agape in His Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

ON 21st OF MAY OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH
COMMEMORATES THE HOLY GREAT SOVEREIGNS
AND EQUALS TO THE HOLY APOSTLES, CONSTANTINE
AND HELEN.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Plagal of Fourth Tone

HAVING seen the image of Thy Cross in Heaven, and like Paul,
having received the call not from men, Thine apostle among kings
entrusted the commonwealth to Thy hand, O Lord. Keep us always
in peace, by the intercessions of the Theotokos, O only friend of man.

Kontakion Hymn. Third Tone

ON this day Saint Constantine and blessed Helen, his mother,
have revealed the Cross, the Wood worthy of all veneration. For
the Jews, it is dishonor; but faithful rulers have it as a weapon
vanquishing their opponents. For our sakes hath it been shown
fourth as a great ensign, dread and most awesome in war.

This great and renouwned sovereign of the Christians was the son of Constantine Chlorus (the ruler of hte westernmost parts of the Roman Empire), and of the blessed Helen. He was born in 272 A.D., in (according to some authorities Naissus of Dardania, a city on the Hellespont. In 306 A.D., when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to his throne. In 312 A.D., on learning that Maxentius and Maximinus had joined forces against him, he marched into Italy, where, while at hte head of his troups, he saw in the sky after didday, beneath the sun, a radiant pillar in the form of a cross with the words: "En touto Nika" ("By this shalt thou conquer.") The following night, Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream and declared to him the powr of the Cross and its significance. When he arose in the morning, he immediately ordered that a lavaron (LABARUM) be made (which is a banner or standard of victory over the enemy) in the form of a cross, and he inscribed on it the Name of Jesus Christ. On the 28th of October, he attacked and mightily conquered Maxentius, who drowned in the Tiber River while fleeing. The following dasy, Constantine entered Rome in triumph and was proclaimed Emperor of the West by the Senate, while Licinius, his brother-in-law, ruled in the East. But out of malice, Licinius later persecuted the Christians. Constantine fought him onces and again, and utterly destroyed him in 324 A.D. and in this manner he became monarch over the West and the East. Under him and becaue of him ALL THE PERSECUTIONS AGAINST THE CHURCH CEASED. Christianity TRIUMPHED AND IDOLATERY WAS OVERTHROWN. In 325 A.D. he gathered the First Ecumenical Synod (Council) in Nicaea, which he himself personally addressed. In 324 A.D., in the ancient cit of Byzantium, he laid the foundation of the new Capital of his realm, and solemnly inaugurated it on May 11th 330 A.D., naming it after himself, CONSTANTINOPLE (CITY OF CONSTANTINE).

At this time, according to another source, Constantine fell ill with leprosy. The pagan priests and doctors advised him to bathe in the blood of slaughtered children, which he refused to do. Then the Apostles Peter and Paul appeared to him and told him to seek out a bishop, Sylvester, who would heal him of hte disease. The Bishop instructed him in the Christian fait and baptized him and the leprosy vanished from the Empror’s body.

When there was discord in the Church about the troublesome heretic Arius the Emperor summoned the First Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea, in 325 A.D. where the heresy was condemned and Orthodoxy confirmed.

Since the throne of the Imperial rule WAS TRANSFERRED thitherd from Rome, it was NAMED New Rome, the inhabitants of this domain were called Romans or ROMAIOI, and it was considered the continuation of the Roman Empire. Falling ill near Nicomedia, he requested to receive divine Baptism, according to Efsevius (The Life of Constantine, Book IV, 61-62). and also according to Socrates and Sozomen; and when he had been deemed worthy of the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) he reposed in 337 A.D., on May 21 or 22, the day of Pentecost, having lived 65 years, of which he ruled for 31 years. His remains were transferred in Constantinople and were deposed in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which has been built by him.

As for his holy mother Helen (Eleni), after her son had made the Faith of Christ triumphant throughout the Roman Empire, she undertook a journey to Jerusalem and found the Holy Cross on which Our Lord was crucified. Afer this, Saint Helen, in her zeal to glorify Christ, erected churches in Jerusalem at the sites of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, in Bethlehem at the cave where Our Savior was born, another on the Mouont of Olives and elsewhere. She was proclaimed Augusta, her image was stamped upon golden coins, and two ciies were named Helenopolis after her in Bithynia and in Palestine. Having been thus glorified for her piety, she departed to the Lord being about 80 years of age, according to some in the year 330 A.D., according to others, in 336 A.D.

Furthermore, according to Dr. Ernst Benz, one of the most distinguished contemporary German theologians, the Byzantines themselves understood their historical role, Byzantium was the direct continuation, decreed in God’s plan for the universe, of Roman history. In calling themselves Romaioi (Romans) the Byzantines uderlined their Emperor’s legal claim to Rome’s onetime universal dominion. Rome they implied both the continuity and the difference. New Rome was entitled to all the powers of old Rome, but at the ssame time she was Christian Rome and exercised the might of the Roman Empire according to the law of Christ. [Source: The Great Horologion and The Prologue from Ochrid]

______________

"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Thngs!"

– Saint John Chrysostomos

+ + +

With sincere agape in His Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and SaviorJesus Christ.

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

ON THIS DAY, THE WEDNESDAY OF THE PARALYTIC,
OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH COMMEMORATES
THE FEAST OF MID-PENTECOST.

Standing and teaching in the midst of the feast, Christ the Messiah is
in the midst of the teachers.

This feast of Mid-Pentecost is celebrated by us in honor of the two great feasts of Pascha and Pentecost. This is the midpoint between that period of time after Christ’s death, burial, and Resurrection–when He promised the coming of the Comforter (Holy Spirit)–and that time when the Divine Spirit would be poured forth abundantly. But since we just commemorated Jesus’ miracle for the paralytic, we also need to understand the set of circumstances of today’s Mid-Feast and the commemoration that was called the middle of the feast in the time of our Lord.

Gospel Reading:
Wednesday of Mid-Pentecost [John 7:14-30]

"Now it already being the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the
temple and began to teach" [John 7:14]. "And the Jews were wondering,
saying, ‘How knoweth this One letters since He hath not learned" [John 7:15].

Saint Kyril of Alexandria states: "They uttered, ‘Where is that man?’ More severe punishment then shall they undergo who were not ignorant than they who were: for to the one their ignorance is an excuse, to the other their knowledge condemnation. Therefore, is it said that to some it is better not to have known the way of truth. For in knowledge there is greater punishment because men are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Jesus then, according to the rising doubts of the Jews, knew letters, having not learned, whereas Moses was learned (as it is written) in all the wisdom of Egyptians, and yet as knowing nothing at all, albeit exceeding wise among those, was he instructed unto better knowledge by the oracles from God. The wisdom of the world was convinced as feeble, through the more divine and excellent wisdom, in which or through which we are instructed in the things of Christ, receiving the understanding which is truly from above and from God. Christ… both Wisdom and Understanding, has the excellency not by teaching for it is innate. And verily the Prophet Isaiah says to Him, that ‘before the Child shall know good or evil. He refuseth evil, to choose good’ [Isaiah 7:16]. And let us not foolishly suppose that the Divine and Heavenly Offspring, in discernment of reasoning or by the choice of the better, turns away from evil and applies Itself rather to good: but as if one should say of fire, that it refuses cold; its not admitting the being cold does not indicate choice of wills in it, but rather most steady adherence of nature to what is its own, so is it in respect of Christ."

Saint John Chrysostom says, "Dost thou observe how the Evangelist shows here their marveling to be full of wickedness? For John does not say that they admired Jesus’ teaching, or that they received the words, but simply that they ‘marveled’; that is, they were thrown into a state of astonishment, and doubted, saying, ‘When hath this man these things?’ Indeed, they ought from this very difficulty to have known that there was nothing merely human in Him. But because they would not confess that this, but stopped at wondering only, hear what He saith: ‘My doctrine is not Mine."

"Jesus answered them and said, ‘My teaching is not Mine, but of the One who sent Me" (John 7:16).

Saint John Chrysostom notes: "Again He answers to their secret thoughts, referring them to the Father, and so desiring to stop their mouths."

About the MIDDLE OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES, He went up again to the Temple and taught. The Jews, marveling at the wisdom of His words, said, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" But Christ first reproached their unbelief and lawlessness, then proved to them by the Law that they sought to slay Him unjustly, supposedly as a despiser of the Law, since He had healed the paralytic on the Sabbath.

Therefore, since the things spoken by Christ in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles are related to the Sunday of the Paralytic that is just passed, and since we have already reached the MIDPOINT OF THE FIFTY DAYS BETWEEN PASCHA AND PENTECOST, the Church has appointed this present feast AS A BOND BETWEEN THE TWO GREAT FEASTS, THEREBY UNITING AS IT WERE, THE TWO INTO ONE, AND PARTAKING OF THE GRACE OF THEM BOTH. Therefore today’s feast is called Mid-Pentecost, and the Gospel Reading, "At Mid-feast" –though it refers to the Feast of Tabernacles–is used.

It should be noted that there were THREE GREAT JEWISH FEASTS: THE PASSOVER, PENTECOST, AND THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. Passover was celebrated on the 15th of Nisan, the first month of the Jewish calendar, which coincides roughly with our March. This feast commemorated that day on which the Hebrews were commanded to eat the lamb in the evening and ANOINT THE DOORS OF THEIR HOUSES WITH ITS BLOOD. Then, having escaped bondage and death at the hands of the Egyptians, they PASSED THROUGH THE RED SEA TOCOME TO THE Promised Land. It is also called "The Feast of Unleavened Bread," because THEY ATE UNLEAVENED BREAD FOR SEVEN DAYS. Pentecost was celebrated 50 days after the Passover, first of all, because the Hebrew Tribes had reached Mount Sinai after leaving Egypt, and there received THE LAW FROM GOD; secondly, it was celebrated TO COMMEMORATE THEIR ENTRY INTO THE Promised Land, where also they ate bread, after having been fed WITH MANNA FORTY YEARS IN THE DESERT. Therefore, on this day they offered to God A SACRIFICE OF BREAD PREPARED WITH NEW WHEAT. Finally, they also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles from the 15th to the 22nd of "THE SEVENTH MONTH," which corresponds roughly to our September. During this time, THEY LIVE IN BOOTHS MADE OF BRANCHES IN COMMEMORATION OF OUR FORTY YEARS SPENT IN THE DESERT, LIVING IN TABERNACLES, THAT IS, TENTS [Exodos 12:10-20].

Dismissal (Apolytikion0 of the Feast. Plagal of Fourth Tone

At Mid-feast give Thou my thirsty soul to drink of the waters of piety;
for Thou, O Savior, didst cry out to all: Whosoever is thirsty, let
him come to Me and drink. Wherefore, O Well-spring of life, Christ our
God, glory to Thee.

Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone

O SOVEREIGN Master and Creator of all things, O Christ our God,
Thou didst cry unto those present at the Judaic Mid-feast and
address them thus: Come and draw the water of immortality
freely. Wherefore, we fall down before Thee and faithfully cry out:
Grant Thy compassion unto us, O Lord, for Thou art truly the Well-
spring of life for all.

______________

"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"

– Saint John Chrysostomos

+ + +

With sincere agape in His Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ,

CHRIS IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

THE PURPOSE OF ILLNESS AND ITS
POTENTIAL TO PERFECT US (Part II)

This particular Mystery (Sacrament) OF HEALING explores many aspects of sin, suffering, suffering, and healing. While we implore God TO REMOVE THE SICKNESS DURING THE DIVINE SERVICE, YET, IN PLACE OF ILLNESS, WE ASK HIM TO GRANT ‘THE JOY OF GLADNESS’ (anointing itself is spoken of as ‘THE OIL OF GLADNESS’ in the book of Psalms), so that the formerly sick person might now ‘GLORIFY THY DIVINE MIGHT.’ Therefore,, one of the purposes of healing is to ENABLE THE SUFFERER TO RESUME HIS HEALTHY AND ACTIVE SERVICE TO GOD. In token of this, we bring to mind the Savior’s healing of Peter’s mother-in-law who is spoken of as ministering to Christ upon the departure of her fever. Therefore, when we are delivered from bodily torment, WE ARE EXPECTED TO FILL OUR MOUTHS WITH PRAISE OF GOD AND SERVE HIM BY AMENDING OUR SINFUL WAYS AND LIVING FROM HENCEFORTH ONLY FOR GOD AND THE WORLD TO COME, COUNTING THIS WORLD AS NOTHING" (The Teachings of the Holy Fathers on Illness).

It is a pity that many do not discover prayer until they are on a sickbed. We speak even of those who regularly PARTICIPATE IN CORPORATE PRAYER AT THE CHURCH. It is during illness that they perceived how they have neglected THE TREASURES OF PRIVATE OR INTERIOR PRAYER. Saint Gregory the Theologian, A MAN OF PRAYER even when his health was robust, exclaimed during his last illness: "The time is swift, the struggle is great, and my sickness severe, reducing me nearly to immovability. What then is left but to pray to God?"

Appealing to the Holy Martyrs for Healing

Saint John Chrysostom says that "the tombs of the martyrs are nothing other THAN SAFE HARBORS, FOUNTAINS OF SPIRITUAL WATERS, TREASURES OF WEALTH WHICH CANNOT BE TAKEN AWAY, WHICH CAN NEVER BE TESTED AND FOUND WANTING." The Saint then asks, "Art thou tempted to live a life of luxury? Remain beside the martyr’s tomb, pour forth there thy streams of tears, berate thy mind, take up the blessing from the tomb. Having taken this blessing as thine advocate in thy prayers, spend thy time reading the accounts of the martyr’s contests. Embrace the coffer, clasp the dust, and fasten thyself to his casket; for not only the martyr’s bones but also their tombs and reliquaries are rich with ABUNDANT BLESSING. Take THE HOLY OIL AND ANOINT THY WHOLE BODY, THY TONGUE, THY LIPS, THY NECK, AND THINE EYES, AND THOU WILL NEVER FALL INTO THE SHIPWRECK OF DRUNKENNESS; FOR THE FRAGRANCE OF THE OIL RECALLS TO THY MIND THE MARTYR’S CONTESTS, IT CURBS THY LACK OF TEMPERANCE, IT HOLDS THEE IN PERSEVERANCE, AND IT OVERTHROWS THE AILMENTS OF THY SOUL.

Saint John Chrysostom speaks of the blessing, which comes from the tombs of the martyrs. Oftentimes, healing is wrought through the holy oil which was kept burning before the shrine. The martyrs ARE SPIRITUAL PHYSICIANS WHO CURE THE ILLS OF SOUL AND BODY. "So let us," says Saint Chrysostom, "have continuous recourse to them… It is for this that the Goo Master Christ has left their HOLY RELICS WITH US, that we might stand beside their tombs and clasp them with the whole strength of our soul, and in this way get from them the greatest healing for our illnesses of soul and body. For if we stand beside them WITH FAITH, whether our sickness is of the body or the soul, we will not leave their tombs without the healing of which we stood in need.

But what if you do not have access to a martyr’s holy relics? Then bring to mind the centurion, "Christ," observes Saint John Chrysostom, "because of HIs concern and loving-kindness, promised of His own free will that He would go to the centurion’s house. He did this so as to give the centurion a reason and an opportunity to show his virtuous character. Christ knew what the centurion was going to say but still, He promised that He would come. Why? So that you might learn how pious and godly a man the centurion was.

"What did the centurion say? ‘Lord I AM NOT FIT (WORTHY) THAT THOU SHOULDEST COME UNDER MY ROOF’ (Matthew 8:8). The pain of his servant’s sickness and the demands made by illness n his own house did not make the centurion forget his godly disposition. Even in the midst of disaster, he recognized the SUPERIORITY OF THE Master. This is why he said: ‘SPEAK WITH A WORD ONLY, AND MY SERVANT SHALL BE HEALED. FOR I ALSO AM A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY, HAVING SOLDIERS UNDER ME. AND I SAY TO THIS ONE, ‘GO,’ AND HE GOETH; AND HE GOETH; AND TO ANOTHER ‘COME,’ AND HE COMETH, AND TO MY SLAVE, ‘DO THIS,’ AND HE DOETH’ (Matthew 8:8-9). So we see that the words ‘DO THIS’ are the words of command spoken by a master of his servant." [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"

– Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

VISIONS OF HELL

For Orthodox Christians, the reality of Hell is as certain as that of Heaven. Our Lord Himself on many occasions spoke of those men whom, because they did not obey His Commandments, He will send "INTO THE EVERLASTING FIRE PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS" (Matthew 25:41). In one of His Parables, He gives the vivid example of the rich man who, condemned to hell because of his unrighteous deeds in this life, looks up to Paradise which he has lost, and begs the Patriarch Abraham there to allow Lazarus, the beggar whom he disdained while alive, to come and "DIP THE TIP OF HIS FINGER IN WATER AND COOL MY TONGUE; FOR I AM TORMENTED IN THIS FLAME." But Abraham replies that "BETWEEN US AND YOU THERE IS A GREAT GULF FIXED," and there IS NO CONTACT BETWEEN THE SAVED AND THE DAMNED (Luke 16:25-26).

In Orthodox Christian literature visions of Hell are as common as visions of Heaven, occur more commonly to ordinary sinners than to Saints, and their purpose is always clear. Saint Gregory in his Dialogues states: "In His unbounded mercy, the Good God ALLOWS some souls to return to their bodies shortly after death so that the sight of Hell might, at last, teach them to fear the Eternal punishments in which words alone could not make them believe." Saint Gregory then describes several experiences of Hell and tells of the impression they produced on the beholders. Thus, a certain Spanish hermit Peter died and saw "hell with all its torments and countless pools of fire." On returning to life, Peter described what he had seen, "but even had he kept silent, his penitential fasts and night watches would have been eloquent witnesses to his terrifying visit to Hell and his deept fear of its dreadful torments. God had shown Himself most merciful by not allowing him to die in this experience with death."

The 8th century English chronicler, Venerable Bede, relates how a man from the province of Northumbria returned after being "dead" one whole night and related his experience of both Paradise and Hell. In Hell, he found himself in dense darkness; ‘frequent masses of dusky flame suddenly appeared before us, rising as though from a great pit and falling back into it again… As the tongues of flames rose, they were filled with the souls of men which, like sparks flying up with the smoke, were sometimes flung high in the air, and at others dropped back into the depths as the vapors of the fire died down. Furthermore, an indescribable stench welled up with these vapors and filled the whole of this gloomy place… I suddenly heard behind me the sound of a most hideous and desperate lamentation, accompanied by harsh laughter… I saw a throng of wicked spirits dragging with them five human souls howling and lamenting into the depths fo the darkness while the devils emerged from the fiery depths and rushed to surround me, harassing me with their glowing eyes and foul flames issuing from their mouths and nostrils…"

The monk of Wenlock beheld a similar scene in the "lowest depths" of the earth, where "he heard a horrible, tremendous, and unspeakable groaning and weeping of souls in distress. And the Angel said to him: "The murmuring and crying which you hear down there comes from those souls to which the loving-kindness of the Lord shall never come, but an undying flame shall torture them forever" (The Letters of Saint Boniface, p. 28).

Of course, we should not be overly fascinated by the literal details of such experiences, and even less than in the case of Paradise and Heaven should we try to piece together a "geography" of Hell based on such accounts…Orthodox Tradition knows only the one reality of Hell in the underworld. Furthermore, as Saint Mark of Ephesus teaches what is seen in experiences of Hell is often AN IMAGE OF FUTURE TORMENTS RATHER THAN A LITERAL DEPICTION OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THOSE AWAITING THE Last Judgment in Hell. But whether it is an actual beholding of present realities or a vision of the future, the experience of Hell is recorded in Orthodox sources is a powerful means of awakening one to a life of Christian struggle, WHICH IS THE ONLY MEANS OF ESCAPING ETERNAL TORMENT: THIS IS WHY GOD GRANTS SUCH EXPERIENCES.

JESUS EXPLAINS THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND TARES [Matthew 13:37-43]

"He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seed are the sons of the Kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the Angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be AT THE END OF THIS AGE. The Son of Man will send out His Angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend. and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He WHO HAS EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR."

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"Glory Be To GOD
ALL
THINGS!"

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With sincere agape in the Divine and Glorious Resurrection of Our Savior,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George