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

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

ON THE 14TH OF SEPTEMBER, OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH COMMEMORATES
THE EXALTATION OF THE HONORABLE AND LIFE GIVING CROSS.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. First Tone

SAVE, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thine inheritance; grant Thou
unto the faithful victory over adversaries. And by the power of Thy
Cross do Thou preserve Thy commonwealth.

Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone

THOU Who wast raised up on the Cross of Thine own will, O
Christ our God, do Thou bestow Thy compassions upon this, Thy
new commonwealth named after Thee. Gladden with Thy sovereign
might our most Orthodox hierarchs, and vouchsafe them victory
over every false teaching; and as Thy help in war they possess the
weapon of peace, the trophy invincible.
+

Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the Cross, about the year 325. A temple of Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The Venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and THE THREE CROSSES. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of the Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood of our salvation. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the Precious Cross was lifted on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people beheld it, they cried out, "Kyrie Eleison” (”Lord, have mercy"). It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the Most Honorable and Life-Giving Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing. The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent Church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614. At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Cross to their own country. Later, in the year 628, Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Holy Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem, where he restored it to its place.

+ + +

MORE ON FINDING THE HONORABLE AND LIFE-GIVING CROSS

Now it was no easy matter to discover either this holy relic or even the Lord’s sepulcher. "The pagans," records the 5th century Historian Sozomen, "who in former times persecuted the Christian Church, took every measure to exterminate it. The pagans concealed that spot under much heaped-up earth, and elevated what before was quite depressed, as it looks now; and, the more effectually to conceal them, had enclosed the entire place of the Resurrection and Mount Calvary within a wall, and had moreover ornamented the whole locality and paved it with stone who went to worship Christ would appear to bow the knee to the goddess Aphrodite." The biographer and Historian Sulpitius Severus (360-420) in his Sacred History says that "the consecration of the Cross, owing to the opposition of the Jews, HAD BEEN COVERED OVER BY THE RUBBISH OF THE RUINED CITY." Blessed Jerome (347-420) adds, "From the time of Hadrian to the reign of Constantine–a period of about one hundred and eighty years–the spot which had witnessed the Resurrection was occupied by a figure of Jupiter; while on the rock where the Cross had stood, a marble statue of Venus (Aphrodite) was set up by the heathen and became an object of worship. The original persecutors, indeed, supposed that by polluting our holy places they would deprive us of our faith in the Passion and in the Resurrection. Even my own Bethlehem, as it now is, that most sprung out of the earth, was overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz, that is, of Adonis; and in the very cave where the Infant Christ had uttered His earliest cry, lamentation was made for the paramour of Venus, Adonis.

The pagan Roman emperor Hadrian (76-138) thought that he would destroy the Christian Faith by insult to the place of Crucifixion, and so he dedicated on the site of the Passion a satrue of Jupiter. Bethlehem was also polluted with a shrine to Adonis. The intention was that what is in a sense the root and foundation of the Church might be destroyed if idols were worshipped in the places where Christ was born and suffered…Now the wickedness of an earlier age continued to the time of Constantine the Great, shortly before our day. He deserved to be prince of the princes of Christ as much through the faith of his mother Helen as through his own. The outcome proved that she was inspired by God’s plan when she set eyes on Jerusalem. As co-regent with the title Augusta, she asked her son to give her a free hand in clearing all the sites there on which our Lord’s feet had trodden,and which were stamped with remembrances of God’s work for us. She sought to cleanse them of all infection of profane wickedness by pulling down pagan temples and statues, and to restore them to their rightful allegiance so that the Church might at last be famed in the land of its beginnings.

The Augusta secured the help of a certain Jew named Judah, who preserved the ancient legacy of the site of the Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, and who pointed out the East side of the burial cave to the Augusta. According to Sozomen, Judah dwelt in the East and derived his information from some documents which has come to him by paternal inheritance. Together with Bishop Makarios of Jerusalem–who previously took the Augusta on a tour of the principal shrines–and his entourage made their way to the site of Golgotha. Bishop Makarius conducted a prayer service.

Now after many weeks of excavating, a beautiful and fragrant flower was found growing in an area that was lonely and abandoned. The Augusta noticed that no other plants were growing in the vicinity. Enlightened by God, she ordered her soldiers to concentrate digging at the exact spot where the unusual flower, now called in English "Sweet Basil" (Vasilikos), had taken root. The name, signifying ROYALTY, also came to be the official flower of the Orthodox Church. Also, the tradition developed that the basil flower was used by clergymen when blessing homes or during Church services whenever the blessing of the waters takes place.

As the diggers went deeper into the earth, they began to detect a fragrant scent emitting froom underground. The Augusta gae orders for the digging to continue. To general astonishment, but precisely as the Queen alone had believed, deep digging opened up cavities in the earth and revealed the secret of the hidden Holy Cross. The earth yielded up THREE CROSSES, THE PLACARD AND THE NAILS. The tradition at that time was to bury the implement of torture close to the site of suffering. The inscription, however, had been wrenched from the True Cross and cast aside. The Cross of Jesus had been cast aside with the others, without any distinction.

Bishop Makarius observed a funeral procession passing by. Here Sulpitius Severus writes: "Just as if by the appointment of God, the funeral of a dead man was then being conducted with the usual ceremonies." She was so inspired," explains Saint Paulinus, "that she (Saint Helen) ordered that the newly deceased man be brought to her. Her command was instantly obeyed." Suplitius Severus says, "All rushed up to take the body from the bier." Saint Paulinus continues, "The corpse was carried in and set down. As the body lay there, the first and then the second cross was placed on him, but death spurned the wood which had supported the guilty. Finally the Lord’s Cross was revealed by A RESURRECTION; FOR, AT THE TOUCH OF THE WOOD OF SALVATION, MORTALITY FLED, DEATH WAS SHAKEN OFF, AND THE CORPSE WAS BROUGHT UPRIGHT. While living men trembled, the dead man stood up. As was Lazarus of old, he was freed from the bonds of death, and there and then joined the group of spectators watching him, a man brought to life."

After the Holy Cross was located, Judah the Jew asked for holy Baptism, which he received with the name Kyriakos. During the reign of Julian the Apostate (360) he succeeded Bishop Makarios as Patriarch of Jerusalem. He suffered and was martyred with his mother Anna. Both are commemorated by the Holy Orthodox Church on the 28th of October.

But let us return to the site of Golgotha, Saint Helen was the first to Venerate the Holy Cross and kiss it. Saint Ambrose writes: "The woman eagerly hastened to touch the medicine of immortality, but she feared to trample underfoot the Mystery of Salvation. Joyful at heart, yet with anxious step, she knew not what she should do. She proceeded, however, to the resting place of truth. The Wood shone and grace flashed forth. And, as previously, Christ had visited a woman in Mary, so the Spirit visited a woman in Helen. He taught her what as a woman she did not know, and led her upon a way which no mortal could know."

The crowd grew and pressed closer to see the Holy Wood. When the Christians of Jerusalem and the neighboring parts heard that the Cross of Christ had been discovered, men, women, and children hastened to the site. Numberless crowds thronged the Augusta, beseeching her for a piece of the Cross. Saint Helen, viewing the sea of restless people before her, began to fear that the multitude might, out of unrestrained zeal, seize the Cross, for it was not possible to have all draw to see it. She also would not allow them to break it in pieces for distribution. The people then cried out, "If it is not possible to break it, we implore thy majesty to allow us to behold it from afar."

Then, on account of the entreaty and faith of the faithful, they made a high throne, which Bishop Markarius ascended, taking hold of the Precious and Honorable Cross. He raised it aloft in all four directions, even as are Orthodox priests do on this solemn day of the Exaltation of the Cross in their churches. When the people beheld the Holy Cross raised on high, they wept and cried aloud with a great voice the utterance: "KYRIE, ELEISON." This was the First Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, in 326 A.D. To the present day, the feast day is celebrated by the Holy Church." (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

(To be continued)

_______________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

THE FRAGRANCE OF PRAYER
By the Saintly Elder Ephraim of Arizona, from "My Elder
Joseph the Hesychast."

Once when Geronda (Elder) and I were outside with our prayer-ropes and he was telling me about prayer and his experiences of looking after monks in their old age, I could smell lilies and roses, even though we only had holly-oak trees there. I was sniffing intently, and he said to me, "Why are you doing that?" "Geronda, I smell lilies and roses." "Why don’t you go over there to my door?" So I went over to his door and smelled his cell. That heavenly fragrance was so strong that it stuck to my beard and my clothes. Then he explained to me, "It is from prayer. Don’t you understand? The name of Christ is fragrance."

I could sense the scent of his prayer pervading everything around him. It affected not only my bodily senses but also my entire internal self. When m brothers sent to Geronda’s cell after his vigil to tell him their confessions, they also sensed the same fragrance many times.

When Geronda’s prayer culminated, his little cell became a "burning bush." Many times I said to myself, "I wonder what takes place within the soul, within the heart of this holy man?" In order to grasp what was really taking place within the heart of this contemporary saint, we, too, must also get a taste of how if feels when the prayer is continuously being said on its own accord within our heart. We must see and experience through noetic prayer what God is like–what beauty He has, what His Divine traits are. We must feel how He mysteriously exists, how He miraculously sustain all creation, how He is present within creation yet beyond it and completely within the heart, how theoria occurs within the nous, how He takes the nous and Divinely guides it into His mysteries, and what is revealed to the nous.

Geronda [Elder] lived all these things to a fullness beyond our comprehension. The power of Geronda’s pure prayer affected not just himself but even nature around him. When Geronda was praying, wild birds would come to the windows of his cell and peck on the panes. One would think that this was the activity of the devil to hinder him from prayer. But, in fact, the wild birds were attracted by Geronda’s prayer.

+++

How vividly these great monastic saints must have felt
grace in prayer! God visits us somewhat faintly in prayer,
and we feel a little bit of grace. But they who were engrossed
in theoria all night long–how intensely they must have felt the
Kingdom of Heaven! "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS WITHIN
US" [Luke 17:21].

Saint Paisios the Athonite writes:

"You have need of books that will assist in your repentance.
If you want to help the Church, correct yourself, and immediately
amendment is made to a small part of the Church.
Naturally, if everyone did this, then the Church would be put in
order.
Therefore, limit yourself to the Patristic writings and avoid sappy
and superficial books by contemporary writers, who use long titles
to provoke spiritual interests [and deception]. One gets tired only
by reading them, just like the cow, when its stall is full of straw,
tires of chewing and ruminating its food all day long, and in the end
does not produce even one glass of milk…"

Saintly Elder Ephraim of Arizona writes:

"Demons want to make you despair or lose heat. Therefore, arm
yourself with trust and hope in God and with the conviction that
they are not allowed to do anything without the higher command
of God."

"Before I was 80 years old, I would visit Paradise frequently.
And now as well but age has a role to play.
One time the Lord took my by the hand and was telling me,
"…here you built a Church, here you Confessed and a soul was
saved, here you comforted, here you corrected…"
In other words, He was telling me everything and with that He
was giving me great joy while talking to me. So much joy and
I said: "My Christ, I can’t bear anymore, I can’t bear anymore.
I’m going to explode, take me back." And I found myself back
in my room."

Metropolitan Avgoustinos of Florina (+2010)

"One who passionately loves Christ is not satisfied with a mere
acquaintance
–an occasional visit to His house, or a cool greeting.
Rather, he desires that Christ live and be experienced within his
heart. The lover desires a perfect union with Christ; and Christ
also, the Lover like no other, Whose love is an unfathomable ocean,
desires an intimate relationship with every one of His faithful
children. He desires to be the most loving of persons, the Lover of
lovers deep within us. As the head is inseparably attached to the
rest of the body, so Christ, the Head of the Church and the Eternal
Center of Life, wants to be united – inseparably – with every member
of the Church — IN OUR THOUGHTS, IN OUR FEELINGS, IN OUR
HEARTS, AND IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE."

[Source: Orthodox Heritage]

_______________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape In His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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 EIGHT PRINCIPAL TEMPTING THOUGHTS
By Evagrius Ponticus

"Being a Theologian means first and foremost that
someone is an expert in the wiles of the
devil."
[Fr. John S. Romanides]

There are eight principal kinds of [tempting] thoughts [logismoi], that contain within themselves every [tempting] thoughts: First, that of gluttony; and with it, that of sexual immorality; third, that of love of money; fourth, that of sadness; fifth, that of anger; sixth that of acedia; seventh, that of vainglory; eighth, that of pride. We cannot [control] whether these [tempting\ thoughts can agitate the soul or not; but whether they remain [in us] or not, and whether they arouse the passions or not–that we can[control].

THE [tempting]-thought of GLUTTONY suggests to the monk the sudden rejection of his asceticism. The stomach, liver, spleen, and [resultant] congestive heart failure are depicted, along with long sickness, lack of necessities, and unavailability of physicians…Sometimes it even deceives those who have suffered from this kind of thing to go and visit [others] who are practicing SELF-CONTROL.

THE demon of sexual immorality (porneia or porn) compels desiring for different bodies. Especially violently does it attack those who practice self-control, so that they will cease, as if achieving nothing. Contaminating the soul, it bends it down towards these sorts of deeds: it makes it speak certain words and then hear them, as if the thing were actually there to be seen.

LOVE of money (avarice) suggests: a long old age; hands powerless to work; hunger and disease yet to come; the bitterness of poverty; and the disgrace of receiving the necessities [of life] from others.

GLOOMINESS sometimes arises from frustrated desires; but sometimes it is the result of anger. When desires are frustrated it arises thus: certain [tempting] thoughts first seize the soul and remind it of home and parents and its former course of life. When they see the soul following them without resistance, and dissipating itself in mental pleasures, they take and drunk [lit baptize] it in gloom, since it is the case that these earlier things are gone and cannot be recovered due to the [monk's] present way of life. Then the miserable soul, having been dissipated by the first [tempting] thought, is humiliated all the more by the second.

ANGER (orge) is the sharpest passion. It is said to be a boiling and movement of indignation [thymos] against a wrongdoer or a presumed wrongdoer: it causes the soul to be savage all day long, but especially in prayers it seizes the nous, reflecting back the face of the distressing person. Then sometimes it is lingering and is changed into rancor (menis0 and [thus] it causes weakness disturbances at night: bodily weakness and pallor; and attacks from poisonous beasts. These four things associated with rancor may be found to have been summoned up by many other [tempting] thoughts.

THE demon of acedia, which is also called the noonday demon [Psalm 90;6], is the most burdensome of all the demons. It besets the monk at about the fourth hour (10 AM) of the mourning, encircling his soul until about the eighth hour (2 PM).

THE thought OF VAINGLORY is especially subtle and it easily infiltrates THOSE WHOSE LIVES ARE GOING WELL, wanting to publish their efforts and go hunting for glory among men.

THE demon of PRIDE conducts the soul to its worst fall. It urges it:
[1] not to admit God’s help
[2] and to believe that the soul is responsible for its own
achievements,
[3] and to disdain the brethren as fools because they do
not all see this about it.
This demon is followed by:
[1] anger and
[2] sadness and the final evil,
[3] utter insanity and madness, and visions of mobs of
demons in the air.

IF we have memories full of passion for certain things, it is because we once welcomed these very things with passion. Whatever things we welcome with passion, these things we will later remember with passion. So, anyone who has defeated the demons which activate such things makes light of the things they activate. The immaterial battle is harder than the material battle.

THE passions of the soul originate from human beings; those of the body [originate] from the body. And while the passions of the body are cut away by self-control, those of the soul [are cut back] by spiritual love.

THE demons that preside over the passions of the soul [i.e. anger] persist obstinately until death; those that preside over the passions of the body withdraw more quickly. And other demons are like the sun that rises and sets, affecting only one part of the soul; but the noonday [demon] (i.e., acedia) generally envelops the whole soul and suffocates the nous. For this reason, the solitary life is sweet after we have emptied out the passions; then our memories are simple, and the struggle is thus not to prepare to fight, but rather to contemplate [the struggle] itself. [Source: Orthodox Heritage]

_________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

History of the Orthodox Church (Part II)
By Dr. Aristeidis Papasakis

Papacy and Orthodoxy

Along with these conditions, mention should finally be made of Rome’s PROSELYTIZING PRESSURE. Evidence for the phenomenon is appallingly plentiful. Missionaries were prepared iIN SPECIAL SCHOOLS such as the College of Saint Athanasius in Rome (opened in 1577) and then sent to the East in order IN ORDER TO ENGAGE IN DIRECT PROSELYTIZING OF THE ORTHODOX. This network of open Roman propaganda also embraced the Orthodox Slavic world. The pressure of the Catholic Polish Monarchy and JESUITS IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA ON ORTHODOX DIOCESES CANONICALLY DEPENDENT ON CONSTANTINOPLE IS WELL ENOUGH KNOWN. For example, the UNIAT Ukrainian church was, in part, ther result of such pressure through the Union of Brest-Litovsk in 1596. There was, of course, little that the Orthodox Church could do to counter this aggressive ROMANIZATION, given the historical situation.

Such, then, were the severe and humiliating restrictions under which the Church was forced to live until the early 19th century. The part played by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as spiritual head and "Mother Church," in this and the preceding chapter of its history was decisive. This was due, as we have seen, to the preeminent position of the city of Constantinople in the Byzantine period, when its bishop acquired a rank second only to Rome in the pentarchy. But it was also a result of the schism with Rome. The schism left Constantinople with undisputed primacy over the other Eastern Patriarchates. This is how Constantinople became the primary see of Orthodoxy. Finally, under the Ottoman ethnarchic system its geographic frontiers were enlarged, with the result that most of the Orthodox community came under its jurisdiction. How the patriarch of Constantinople became the senior bishop in Orthodoxy is understandably one of the great themes of Orthodox Church history. Nineteenth century militant nationalism, however, was to introduce vast changes. Although the patriarchate’s primatial status has neve been in question – it is, and remains, the first see of Orthodoxy – its geographical frontiers were considerably reduced as a result of the struggle for freedom undertaken by the various Orthodox nationalities under Ottoman rule. The new independent nation states could not remain ecclesiastically under the jurisdiction of a patriarch who was still within the orbit of foreign and hostile government of Turkey.

Confrontation with
Atheistic Regimes

The result of this militant atheism has been to transform the Church into A PERSECUTED AND MARTYRED CHURCH. Thousands of bishops, monks, clergy, and faithful have died martyrs’ death for Christ over the last fifty years, both in Russia and in the other communist nations. Their numbers may well exceed the Christians who perished under the Roman Empire. Equally frightening for the Church has been COMMUNISM’S INDIRECT, BUT SYSTEMATIC, STRANGULATION POLICY. In the Soviet Union, for example, in addition to the methodical closing, desecration, and destruction of churches, ecclesiastical authorities are not allowed to carry on any charitable or social work. Nor, for that matter, may the Church own property. The few places of worship left to the Church are legally viewed as state property which the government permits the Church to use. More devastating still for the Church, and indeed for its future, is that it is not permitted to carry on educational or instructional activity of any kind. Outside of sermons and the celebration of the liturgy it cannot instruct the faithful or its youth. Catechism classes, religious schools, study groups, Sunday Schools, religious publications are all illegal.

_______________-
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

The Church Pentarchy ["Five Leaders"] or Five Patriarchates

In the Sixth Century Constantinople, in the minds of Eastern Christians, was firmly established as the primary see in the Christian Pentarchy, even though the see of Rome was still technically considered the "FIRST AMONG EQUALS." Emperor Justinian called the pentarchy–the great original Patriarchates of CONSTANTINOPLE, ROME, ALEXANDRIA, ANTIOCH, AND JERUSALEM–THE "FIVE SENSES OF THE UNIVERSE."

The title "ECUMENICAL" was give to all the chief offices in the imperial city. When Saint John the Faster (582-595 A.D.), the Patriarch of Constantinople, assumed the title of "Ecumenical Patriarch," the designation was adamantly opposed by Pope Saint Gregory the Great of Rome (590-604 A.D.) as being extremely arrogant and unbecoming of any bishop, including the bishop or Rome. This is the same Saint Gregory whose name is traditionally connected with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts which the Orthodox celebrate on the weekdays of Great Lent.

To sum up, by the Fifth Century, a "pentarchy" or system OF FIVE SEES (patriarchates), wiht a settled order of precedence, had been established. Rome, as the ancient center and largest city of the Empire, was understandably given the presidency or primary honor within the pentarchy into which Christendom was now divided. Plainly, this system of patriarchs and metropolitans was exclusively the result of Ecclesiastical legislation; there was nothing inherently divine in its origin. Had this been so, Alexandria could not have been demoted to third rank in order to have Constantinople exalted to second place. The determining factor was simply their secular status as the most important cities in the Empire. Typically, each of the Five Patriarchs was totally sovereign within his sphere of jurisdiction. The primacy of Rome, as such, DID NOT ENTAIL UNIVERSAL JURISDICTIONAL POWER OVER THE OTHERS. On the contrary, ALL BISHOPS, WHETHER PATRIARCHS OR NOT, WERE EQUAL. NO ONE BISHOP, HOWEVER, EXALTED HIS SEE OR DIOCESE, COULD CLAIM SUPREMACY OVER THE OTHERS. The bishop of Rome WAS SIMPLY VESTED WITH THE PRESIDENCY, AS THE SENIOR BISHOP 0 "THE FIRST AMONG EQUALS."

Before examining the long Turkish domination that followed the fall of Constantinople, we need to explore one final event in the life of the Medieval Church — the Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity. To begin with, this tragic division was not an event, but a prolonged process stretching over centuries. The cracks and fissures in Christian unity are arguably visible as early as the Fourth Century. As such 1054, the traditional date marking THE EXCOMMUNICATION of Patriarch Michael Cerularius by papal legates, is inaccurate.

There is, in fact, no precise date. What really happened was a complete chain of events whose climax was only reached in the 13th century with the sack of Constantinople by Western (Latin) Crusaders in 1204. Equally, we need to remember that the events leading to schism were not always exclusively theological in nature. CULTURAL, POLITICAL, AND LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES WERE OFTEN MIXED WITH THE THEOLOGICAL. Any narrative of the schism which emphasizes one at the expense of the other will be fragmentary. Unlike the Copts or Armenians who broke from the Church in the 5th Centry and established ethnic churches at the cost of their universality and catholicity, the Eastern and Western parts of the Church remained loyal to the faith and authority of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. They were united, by virtue of their COMMON FAITH AND TRADITION, IN ONE CHURCH. Still, the transfer of hte Roman capital to the Bosporus inevitably brought mistrust, rivalry, and even jealousy to the relations of the two great Sees, Rome and Constantinople. It was easy for Rome to be jealous of Constantinople at a time when it was rapidly losing its political prominence. In fact, Rome refused to recognize the conciliar legislation which promoted Constantinople to second rank. But the estrangement was also helped along by the German invasions in the West, which effectively weakened contacts. The rise of Islam with its conquest of most of the Mediterranean coastline (not to mention the arrival of the pagan Slavs in the Balkans at the same time) further intensified this separation by driving a physical wedge between the two worlds. The once homogenous unified world of the Mediterranean was fast vanishing. Communication between the Greek East and the Latin West by the 600s had become dangerous and practically ceased.

The Photian Schism

The gap widened further in the 9th century when the missionary ambitions of the two communions clashed over the Christianization of Bulgaria and Moravia. The election of Patriarch Photius even caused a temporary division, known as the "Photian Schism." But it is the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor by the pope and the revival in 800 of a Western "Roman" Empire which best illustrate how far the gulf had widened. For the East, the West was acting as if the Roman Empire, with its legitimate Emperor in Constantinople, HAD CEASED TO EXIST. The Byzantine Empire’s claims to world sovereignty were being ignored. Charlemagne’s new "empire" was USURPING THE LEGITIMATE ROLE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN CONSTANTINOPLE Such a declaration of independence and emancipation from Byzantium was a threat to the unity of Christendom and, indirectly, the shared faith of the one Church. Subsequent developments, such as the Norman conquest of Southern Italy, the Crusades, the commercial penetration of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea by Italian merchants, were to add to the already lengthy list of disagreements. They suffice to demonstrate how deep the alienation had become. In fact, they have been judged time and again as the cause of the schism…

"…Two basic problems — the PRIMACY OF THE BISHOP OR ROME and the PROCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT — WERE INVOLVED. These DOCTRINAL NOVELTIES WERE FIRST OPENLY DISCUSSED IN Photiu’s Patriarchate. By the 5th Century, to repeat, Christendom was divided into Five Sees with Rome holding the primacy. This was determined by canonical decision and did not entail hegemony of any one local church or patriarchate over the others. Rome began TO INTERPRET HER PRIMACY IN TERMS OF SOVEREIGNTY, AS A GOD-GIVEN RIGHT INVOLVING UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION IN THE CHURCH. The COLLEGIAL AND CONCILIAR NATURE OF THE CHURCH, IN EFFECT, WAS GRADUALLY ABANDONED IN FAVOR OF A SUPREMACY OF UNLIMITED PAPAL OF A SUPREMACY OF UNLIMITED PAPAL POWER OVER THE ENTIRE CHURCH…Characteristically, Rome INSISTED ON BASING HER MONARCHICAL CLAIMS TO "TRUE AND PROPER JURISDICTION" (as the Vatican Council of 1870 put it) on Saint Peter. This "Roman" exegesis of Matthew 16:18, however, was UNKNOWN TO THE FATHERS WHO HAD RULED ON THE CHURCH’S ORGANIZATION. For them, specifically, Saint Peter’s primacy COULD NEVER BE THE EXCLUSIVE PREROGATIVE OF ANY ONE BISHOP. ALL BISHOPS MUST LIKE, SAINT PETER, CONFESS JESUS AS THE CHRIST AND, AS SUCH, ALL ARE SAINT PETER’S SUCCESSORS. To believe otherwise WOULD BE TO VIOLATE THE BISHOP’S CHARISMATIC EQUALITY; N ONE ONE CAN HOLD A POSITION SUPERIOR TO THAT OF OTHERS.

Equally disturbing to the Christian East was the Western interpretation OF THE PROCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Like the primacy, this too developed gradually and entered the Creed in the Latin West almost unnoticed. This theologically complex issue involved THE ADDITION BY THE WEST OF THE LATIN PHRASE FILIOQUE CLAUSE ("AND FROM THE SON") to the Creed. The original Creed sanctioned by the Councils DID NOT CONTAIN THIS PHRASE, THE TEXT SIMPLY STATES, "the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER." Theologically, the Latin interpretation WAS UNACCEPTABLE TO THE ORTHODOX since it implied that the Holy Spirit now HAD TWO SOURCES OF PROCESSION, the Father and the Son, rather than the Father ALONE. In short, THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE THREE PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRINITY WAS ALTERED. The result, the Orthodox Church believed, then and now, WAS THEOLOGICALLY INDEFENSIBLE….ONLY ANOTHER ECUMENICAL COUNCIL COULD INTRODUCE SUCH AN ALTERATION AND NOT TO BE ACTED UPON UNILATERALLY BY THE LATIN WEST. INDEED THE CHURCH ECUMENICAL COUNCILS, WHICH DREW THE ORIGINAL CREED, HAD EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN ANY SUBTRACTION OR ADDITION TO THE TEXT. The West’s tampering with THE MAJOR CREEDAL FORMULA OF THE CHURCH WAS, ALL IN ALL, INADMISSIBLE. (Source: Aristeides Papadakis, Ph.D)

( "History of the Orthodox Church," To Be Continued)

____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

The Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone

THY NATIVITY, O Theotokos, hath proclaimed joy to the whole world;
for from thee hath dawned the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our
God, annulling the curse and bestowing the blessing, abolishing death
and granting us life everlasting.

Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone

JOACHIM and Anna were freed from the reproach of childlessness, and
Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, O immaculate one, by thy
holy Nativity, which thy people, redeemed from the guilt of offences,
celebrate by crying to thee: The barren woman giveth birth to the
Theotokos, the nourisher of our life.

+


The Holy Lady the Theotokos was born of here aged parents, Ioachim and Anna. Her father was of the Tribe of David and her mother of the Tribe of Aaron, and so she was of royal blood from her father and Priestly blood from her mother. By this, she foreshadowed Him Who would be born of her as King and High Priest. Her parents were already old and had no children, and, because of this, were ashamed before men and humble before God. In their humility, they prayed with tears that God would bring joy to their old age with a gift of a child, as He has once given joy to the aged Abraham and Sarah, giving them their son Isaac. God, Almighty and All-Seeing, gave the m a joy far exceeding all their expectations and their wildest dreams, for He gave them not just a daughter, but the Mother of God; He illumined them not only with temporal joy but with Eternal. God gave them just one daughter and what a grandson! Mary Full of Grace, blessed among women, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, Altar of the Living God, Table of Living Bread, Ark of God’s Holy things, Tree of the most delicious fruits, Glory of the human race, Praise of womanhood, Fount of virginity, and purity — this was the daughter given by God to Ioachim and Anna. Born in Nazareth, she was after three years taken to the Temple in Jerusalem, whence she returned again to Nazareth and shortly afterwards heard the tidings of the holy Archangel Gabriel concerning the birth of the Son of God, the Savior of the wordl, from her Most Pure and virginal body.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite writes of the immeasurable joy, the outer and inner radiance and the indescribable fragrance that he sensed in the presence of the Holy Mother of God when he visited her in Jerusalem. In his enthusiasm, he says that if he did not acknowledge the One, True God, he would acknowledge her, the Holy Virgin Mary, as God. The Holy Virgin made such a strong and deep impression even during her earthly life, and she received an incomparably greater power after her physical death when, by God’s will, she was exalted above the Hosts of Angels. Her power comes from her ceaseless prayer to God for the faithful, for all who turn to her for help. Saint John of Novgorod, when he and his people prayed for help against an enemy army, knew that, at that moment, she was praying to God with tears for them, and Novogrod was miraculously saved. As she was in travail at the Crucifixion of her Son, so she is in travail for all the weak who turn to her for help. It can be said that the whole earth is protected by the miracles of her mercy. There lives in Belgrade today a care proprietor, C. J,, born in the village of Labunishte near Struga, whose mother took him, blind, to the monastery of Kalishto and where, after the priest had prayed over him before the icon of the Holy Mother of God, he had received his sight. The first monk at Pochaev saw a flaming pillar stretching from earth to heaven, and in this flaming pillar he saw the Holy Mother of God. She was standing on a rock, and a healing spring at the spot, and today gives healing to many of the sick. [Source:  The Prologue from Ochrid]

____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

Divine Grace According to the Holy Orthodox Church

The objective salvation, completed by our Redeemer as an event in history, needs to be personally and subjectively applied and appropriated by each man individually: "WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING" (Philippians 2:12), through the Life-Giving and saving energy of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in him.

Therefore, the objective, catholic, historic, and potential redemption obtained for us by the Savior for appropriation to all men, making saving grace a possibility for all, should be subjectively, and in time, appropriated by each man (person), that he might be perfected in the Holy Spirit. Such subjective appropriation of redemption cannot be understood in terms of an entirely external, mechanical process. On the contrary, it is the result OF THE UNION OF TWO FACTORS, THE Divine and the human–THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THE ONE HAND, AND THE FREE "COOPERATION" OF MAN ON THE OTHER HAND, the prevailing role always being that of the Divine factor. Therefore, on the one hand, the All-Good God participates by His grace in the calling ENLIGHTENMENT, REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION OF THE SINNER and, after justification, in his REGENERATION and SANCTIFICATION in the Church–all of this free on the basis and through the power of the redemptive work of the Savior Jesus Christ. On the other hand, man, who accepts the proffered grace, cooperates fully IN THE WORK OF HIS OWN SALVATION, THROUGH CORRECT FAITH AND GOOD WORKS, WHICH IS THE SAME AS SAYING "FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE" (Galatians 5:6), thus denying any mechanical or magical element in justification and salvation. God positively "will have all men to be saved" (2 Timothy 2:4), but ALL MEN ARE NOT GOING TO BE SAVED, AND THIS IS DUE, FIRST OF ALL, TO THEIR WRONG USE OF FREE WILL AND, SECONDLY, BECAUSE GOD SAVES ONLY THOSE WHO, IN LOVE AND FREE WILL, EARNESTLY DESIRE AND ASK TO BE SAVED. Thus, we can conclude that the two above-mentioned factors cooperate harmoniously by each man, for the completion of which both are absolutely necessary. "It is God’s to grant grace, but thine to receive and to guard it" (Saint Cyril of Jerusalem)

Of these two factors, the Divine Grace granted by the Holy Spirit IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AND INDISPENSABLE FOR THE SALVATION OF ALL MEN; NO ONE CAN BE SAVED WITHOUT IT, BY HIS OWN POWERS. For "except for the aid and cooperation of God, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TO EVEN SEEK, LET ALONE PERFORM, THE GOOD," according to Saint John Damascene; and Saint Basil the Great writes, "IN THE GRACE OF GOD LIES OUR SALVATION…WHATEVER GOOD BEFALLS US IS AN OPERATION OF GRACE, WORKING IN ALL THING." The Divine Grace is somehow the motivating power, which starts man on the working-out of his own salvation, and moreover pushes him uninterruptedly and accompanies him (the saved man) until the end. Consequently, Divine Grace IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY–PRECEDING, COOPERATING WITH, AND FOLLOWING THE WORK OF SALVATION, BESTIRRING HIM, ENLIGHTENING HIM, DIRECTING HIM. Then, after THE FREE WILL CONSENT and ACCEPTANCE ON THE PART OF THE MAN HAS BEEN PLEDGED, AND HE HAS BEEN JUSTIFIED, GRACE CONTINUES TO ACCOMPANY HIM, AIDING HIM, COOPERATING IN HIS SANCTIFICATION, BREAKING DOWN ALL RESISTANCE IN HIM, AND EFFECTING THE COMPLETE SALVATION OF THE MAN’S LIFE.

Divine Grace and HUMAN FREEDOM WORK TOGETHER harmoniously in the appropriation of salvation to each man individually. "His death for this reason is become philanthropic, inasmuch as t is by this means that manifestation and condescension of God’s Grace comes to the individual man." Thus, even though we accept salvation as being wholly a work of Grace, it still IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE CONDITION OF ITS FREE ACCEPTANCE ON THE PART OF THE HUMAN WILL. The Greek Holy Fathers understand the human will as being an indispensable participant in Divine Grace in the salvation of the individual man. "God BRINGS NO ONE TO HIMSELF CONTRARY TO THAT INDIVIDUAL’S FREE WILL, ALTHOUGH HE WISHES ALL TO BE SAVED. HE FORCES NO ONE… NOT WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF MAN, NOR WITHOUT HIS WILL (as I have told you many times; RATHER, IT IS IN ACCORD WITH MAN’S FREE DESIRE AND WILL THAT GOD PREPARES THE SALVATION OF MAN." HUMAN FREEDOM, MOTIVATED BY THE INCLINATION OF DIVINE GRACE, BECOMES NECESSARY AS THE RECEPTIVE INSTRUMENT OF THE SALVATION IN CHRIST, AND WITHOUT EITHER DIVINE GRACE OR HUMAN COOPERATION THE SUBJECTIVE APPROPRIATION OF REDEMPTION IS NOT POSSIBLE.

The only thing required of the man who willingly responds to the voice of God is that "FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE." Consequently, SALVATION IS ATTAINED "BY THE GRACE OF CHRIST, THROUGH GENUINE FAITH IN THE LORD, FOR BOTH MALE AND FEMALE." Also necessary are good works (works of charity), which must embellish the moral life of the believer, who must voluntarily, willingly, submit himself to the will and law of God. Hence, the Confession of Dositheus teaches, "We BELIEVE THAT NOBODY CAN BE SAVED WITHOUT FAITH. WE CALL FAITH THE MOST CORRECT QUALITY WITHIN US, EXISTING FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS DIVINE…WHICH WORKS BY LOVE AND THROUGH THE DIVINE COMMANDMENTS TO JUSTIFY US BEFORE CHRIST. WITHOUT IT, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD."

From the earliest years of Christianity, the Holy Fathers of the Church emphasized CORRECT FAITH and GOOD WORKS as conditions for justification. Indeed, both are alike, yet WITHOUT REDEMPTIVE POWER or AXIOMISTHIAS. "Because FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD, LIKEWISE WORKS WITHOUT FAITH, BECAUSE TRUE FAITH IS TESTED THROUGH WORKS," according to Saint John Damascene. Truly, FAITH AND WORKS ARE TWO INSEPARABLE ELEMENTS OF THE SAME ESSENCE, AND FOR THIS REASON SHOULD BE NOT BE SEPARATED, INASMUCH AS THE FIRST PRESUPPOSES AND CONTAINS THE OTHER. Faith is closely connected with and through love, of which necessary manifestations and fruits are good works; faith is thus undoubtedly a moral work, and not an intellectual effort alone. Indeed, TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST INCLUDES THE ACCEPTANCE OF TRUTH, ON THE ONE HAND, AND, ON THE OTHER HAND, THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. GOOD WORKS BEING ABSENT, THE CHRISTIAN’S FAITH IS EXPOSED AS FALSE AND HYPOCRITICAL. [Source: A Synopsis of the Dogmatic Theology of the Orthodox Catholic Church by Dr. John Karmiris)

________________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

INFALLIBILITY AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

The first Vatican Council in the Roman Catholic church (1869-1870) in its decree ‘Pastor Aeternus’ (1870) declared that the Pope was infallible when he spoke ‘ex Cathedra’ (‘from the Chair’) on matters of faith and morals. “In his encyclical ‘Lumen Gentium’ (1964), during Vatican II (1962-1965), Paul VI (1963-1978) defined papal infallibility more clearly when a pope speaks EITHER ‘ex Cathedra’ OR in an ecumenical council on a matter of faith and morals.”

On of the numerous major differences between the Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church is the infallibility of the pope. Orthodoxy does NOT believe in the infallibility of the pope of Rome nor of any other individual. Orthodoxy upholds the reality that the Church gathered together in Synod (Council) under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is guided in making correct decisions and in enunciating truth. Orthodoxy believes that ONLY Christ is the Head of the Church and that the Church AS A WHOLE IS INFALLIBLE, but not any individual person or bishop.

Orthodoxy also rejects the idea that the pope has universal jurisdiction over all Christians and that he can define doctrines without the consent of the Church. Our Holy Orthodox Church traces its origins to the Apostolic Church and Seven Ecumenical Councils that defined the core doctrines of Christianity. Orthodoxy believes itself to be the True continuation of the ancient Church, while viewing the Roman Catholic church as having departed from the original faith by introducing innovations such as the filioque clause, the doctrine of the papal; supremacy and infallibility and other dogmas that were not accepted by the consensus of the Church.

The sacred writings of the Holy Fathers of the Church, never recognized any infallible authority in the bishop of Rome or any other bishop. The Orthodox Church throughout the ages has maintained a continuity of faith and Tradition in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution. Orthodoxy believes that she is the only authentic Church of Christ and therefore has preserved and taught the historic Christian Faith, FREE FROM ERROR AND DISTORTION, from the time of the Holy Apostles. She also believes that there is nothing in the body of her teachings which is contrary to Truth or which inhibits real union with God. The air of antiquity and timelessness characterizes Eastern Christianity is an expression of the desire TO REMAIN LOYAL TO THE AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN FAITH.

Orthodoxy believes that the Christian Faith and the Church are inseparable. It is impossible to know Christ, to share in the life of the Holy Trinity, or to be considered a Christian, apart from the Church. It is in the Church that the Christian Faith is proclaimed and maintained. It is through the Church that an individual is nurtured in the True Faith.

It is only when the fundamental Truths of the Faith are seriously threatened by false teachings (heresies) does the Church act to define dogmatically an article of faith. For this reason, the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Ancient Undivided Church are highly respected. The Councils were synods to which bishops from throughout the world gathered TO DETERMINE THE TRUE FAITH. The Ecumenical Councils DID NOT CREATE NEW DOCTRINES BUT PROCLAIMED IN A PARTICULAR PLACE AND PARTICULAR TIME, WHAT THE CHURCH HAS ALWAYS BELIEVED AND TAUGHT.

The Nicene Creed (Symbol of Faith), which was formulated at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., and of Constantinople in 381 A.D. has been recognized since then AS THE AUTHORITATIVE EXPRESSION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH. The Creed is often referred to as the “Symbol of Faith.” This description indicates that the Creed is not an analytical statement, but that IT POINTS TO A REALITY GREATER THAN ITSELF AND TO WHICH IT BEARS WITNESS. For generations the Creed HAS BEEN THE CRITERION OF AUTHENTIC FAITH AND THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. THE CREED IS RECITED AT THE TIME OF BAPTISM AND DURING EVERY DIVINE LITURGY.

____________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

Orthodox Monasticism (Part II)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos

The way the Apostolic Churches were organized reminds us very much of the organization of contemporary monasteries. The way the first Christians in Jerusalem had everything in common recalls the common use, shared ownership and poverty of monks. A person renounces material possessions in order to be purified and acquire illumination of the nous and noetic prayer. It is only in this light that we should look at the subject of having everything in common. This is not merely a sociological issue, but plainly an ascetic and spiritual one.

The Apostle Paul’s Epistles to the Churches clearly show the context in which the first Christians lived, as well as their aims. They had to mortify the passions and live the Cross of Christ in their daily lives, because it is through the Cross that a person becomes dead to the world, and then the world becomes dead to him. Even married people had to live as though they were not married (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:29), and all had to observe God’s Commandments in their everyday lives. It is also obvious from Saint Paul’s Epistles that the first Christians had noetic prayer in their heart. He says characteristically "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). It is also clear that in the Apostolic Churches there were Christians belonging to all the categories of those on the way to salvation: THE PURIFIED, THE ILLUMINED, AND THE DEIFIED.

Usually people choose the monastic life in order to live the commandments of Christ to the utmost. Divine inspiration arises within them and inwardly prompts them to accomplish God’s will perfectly, to do what He wishes and NOT what their old self wants. They want to mortify everything reminiscent of their former sinful life. Thus an intense impetus towards God develops, but also A GREAT HATRED FOR THEIR SINFUL SELVES. THE SEEK TO BE REBORN. They feel, however, that anthropocentric societies do not allow them to show perfect repentance or express their ardent longing for God. So they choose to withdraw, in order to have freedom to express their love for God.

Essentially they want to live God’s Commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength…and thy neighbor as thyself" (Mark 12:20-31). And indeed, when we approach real monks who know their mission and their aim, we actually discern a purity in their movements and expressions, a pure love such as we do not encounter in those living in society. The pure love is the result of the sanctification of their being.

c) Monasticism and Healing

It is well known THAT THE CHURCH IS A PLACE OF HEALING, A HOSPITAL. Every hospital has outpatient clinics and intensive care wards for those patients who require continuous, total surveillance. The same applies to the Church and monasteries.

The Church has her "outpatient clinics" for dealing with various minor cases, or at least for those who do not have high aims and aspirations, or perhaps are not in very great need. There are some, however, who make great demands. They are seeking perfect purity of heart, or they may perceive the state they are in but do not know the cause of the illness. In other words, THEY HAVE A CONCEALED SPIRITUAL FEVER. The Church therefore has monasteries AS SPECIAL RESEARCH CLINICS OR INTENSIVE CARE WARDS TO CARRY OUT FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS AND DEAL WITH HIDDEN ILLNESSES, OR TO LEAD PEOPLE TO DEIFICATION (THEOSIS). They are also places when a person is spiritually free to attain deification (theosis). Obviously there are various reasons why someone enters monastic life.

Orthodox monasteries, however, are not just hospitals, places of healing. They are, above all, the Church MEDICAL SCHOOLS. When someone has been healed inwardly and learnt all the secrets of the spiritual struggle, then he is able to heal others and guide them to deification (theosis). In our Holy Tradition the monasteries WERE ALWAYS CENTERS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. In Byzantine times Christians studied philosophy, mathematics, history, rhetoric, grammar, and the like in universities and schools, but THEY STUDIED THEOLOGY IN THE MONASTERIES. A REAL THEOLOGIAN IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT INWARDLY WITH THE PASSIONS AND CONQUER THEM, AND TO OVERCOME DEATH THROUGH THE ACTION OF DIVINE GRACE.

The monasteries ARE HOSPITALS FOR THE SOUL and medical schools, where people learn the meaning of illness and health, and how they can be healed. For that reason the Church determined over the centuries that Bishops, who are the physicians par excellence of the diseases of mankind, SHOULD BE CHOSEN FROM THE MONASTERIES. It is in this context that we should see the dedication of celibacy or virginity required for the appointment of a member of the Clergy to the rank of Bishop. The supposition is THAT A MONK HAS PASSED THROUGH THE MONASTERIES AND BEEN INITIATED INTO THE THERAPEUTIC METHOD OF THE CHURCH. THUS HE BECOMES A BEARER OF REVEALED TRUTH AND IS ABLE TO LEAD CHRISTIANS UNERRINGLY TOWARDS DEIFICATION (THEOSIS). [Source: Orthodox Monasticism as the Way of Life of Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs]

_________________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George

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.

The Commemoration of the Miracles of the Holy Archangel Michael at Chonae

There was in Phrygia a place called Chonae (funnel), not far from Hierapolis, and in that place there was a miraculous spring of water. When the Apostle John the Theologian, together with Philip was preaching the Gospel in Hierapolis, he looked at this place and foretold that a spring would gush forth in it, a spring of healing water from which many would be restored to health, and that the place would be visited soon by Michael, the Great Archangel of God. This prophecy was very soon fulfilled: a spring of water appeared, which became known far and wide for its miraculous power. A pagan in Laodicea had a dumb daughter,, which caused him great grief, but the Archangel Michael appeared to him in a dream and urged him to take his daughter to this spring, that she might be restored to health. The father immediately obeyed, took his daughter and there encountered many people who had come to seek deliverance from various ills. They were all Christians. The man asked how he should seek healing, and the Christians told him: ‘In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, you must beg the Archangel Michael.’ The father made his petition accordingly and his daughter drank the holy water, and the girl was healed immediately and began to speak. Then this pagan was baptized along with his daughter and his whole household, and built a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

Living at that time in the neighborhood of the holy waters was a multitude of unbelievers who daily witnessed the Wonderworkings. Envy and hatred mounted in them on account of the miracles and the virtuous manner of life of righteous Archippus. Maddened by the holy man’s asceticism and struggles, they were speaking evilly of him. Then, one day, those pagans, of one accord, gathered together and, in a maniacal rage, charged against the righteous man. They intended to put him to death and utterly destroy the holy waters. While some were dragging Archippus by force and beating him, others were attempting to cover up and choke the course of the holy waters. But, a flame emitted therefrom and frightened all of them so that they left tunning, thus, they departed unsuccessful.

After this, they devised something worse: a plan to destr oy the church to its foundation and usher in death for the righteous man What did they contrive? Nearby the Church of the Archangel, where the holy waters were located, from the left side, there ran a river name Chryssos. The unbelievers wished to divert the river, so that the deluge might come down upon the holy waters and the church. They believed that by mixing the waters of the river with the holy water they could dissolve its therapeutic powers utterly, so that the Christians might not drink and find healing. Having considered how this might be engineered, they cut off the first current of the river that it might flow into the holy waters. The river, as though it were animate, fearing the grace of the Archangel, straightway turned far over toward the right part of the Church, and there the course of the river remains to this day, thus certifying the miracle.
The unrelenting pagans, nonetheless, conspired a second time, indeed, something more sinister than before. Two great rives gush forth from out of the east: one is called the Lykokastros River, and the other is called Kouphos. They run separately in the direction of the church then encircle it from afar, as an island. They they converge and travel a long distance, as one river, until they separate in Lycia and pour out into the sea against the island of Rhodes. The devil, envious of all good plotted to let loose the waters of these two rivers. He sowed in the minds of that his evil minions that the rivers be made to flood the church. and the holy waters of the Archangel so that not even a trace might remain. This seemed very plausible to the pagans, because the land where the church stood sloped downward. Thus, by employing the downward tendency of water, they could fulfill their aim. Now, at a distance from the church, there was a massive and high rock. The impious hewed the stone and dug down deep in one place, so that the waters would divert and collect with great force. Then, after they dug huge irrigation ditches and fortified collecting basins, the closed off the area. They damned the waters that collected by the rock, until they were ready to break the seals of the gates. With malignant glee they anxiously awaited for the water level to rise that they might discharge its mighty power against the church, the sanctified healing waters, and Archippus.

Mindful of how great the peril was that awaited him, Archippus, fell prostrate on the bare earth, entreating God and the Archangel Michael that the counsel of the ungodly might prove vain and unworkable against the strength and power of God. Thus, Archippus supplicated night and day. After ten days, the waters collected in abundance. It was about midnight when the godless broke the gates of the blocked-up waters. They chose that late hour to loose the turbulent waters, so as to surprise Archippus and plunge him into despair when both he and that holy place would swept away and submerged in the destruction. Saint Archippus prayed and a divine vision was made manifest. He heard a voice descending from out of the heavens and calling him by name, "Archippus." The one speaking said, "Rise and stand on thy feet and come here outside in order to behold the invincible might of God. Regaining courage then from the voice, he exited and beheld a fiery column which went from earth to heaven. He heard a voice from thence telling him to stand to the left side and not to fear. Then the Archangel raised his right hand and made the sign of the Cross upon the rock, the one above the church, saying, "Up to this point is thy flux". Then, with what appeared as a javelin in his hand he struck the place mightily and sundered the rock from the top to the bottom. The waters then halted and stood still, as a wall. The Archangel, again, made the sign of the Cross, and said, "Funnel the waters here." A great earthquake occurred and instilled fear. The waters of the rivers forthwith poured down into that deep ravine. Thus, the Archangel subdued the raging flow and the thundering of the river. This phenomenon ma be seen to this day. The rivers pour into the funnel in the rock which lies above the church, towards the vema (pulpit). Thus this place, formerly called Colossae, from then was name Chonae, a Greek word signifying the funneling of the rivers in that place.

Archippus praised and glorified God and greatly magnified His minister the Archangel Michael for the miracle. He continued living a God-pleasing life in that sacred precinct for seventy years. He was then laid to rest from the labor of his virtues and hastened to his Beloved Christ rejoicing. To the glory of the Holy Trinity and the Chief Commander Michael, a boundless number of miracles took place daily at the place of the holy waters. [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]

_____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George