Saint Nektarios the Wonderworker of Aegina in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Nektarios is considered by all the faithful of the Orthodox Church as one of its most beloved saints. Not only because God performs numerous miracles through him every day – “healings flow forth everywhere” and “abundant healings of the sick flow forth miraculously every day with the grace of God,” according to the well-known late elder hymnographer Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis – but also because he is a Saint of our time, “the Saint of the twentieth century,” and indeed no less than the other great holy hierarchs of the Church who lived in earlier times. And this means that with Saint Nektarios, on the one hand, we feel the grace of God abundantly, mainly through his holy relics, which are understood as a “fountain of healings” and “diffusing a heavenly scent and a divine fragrance to all,” on the other hand, we receive an answer to the reasonable question that is posed: “why do we not have great saints today?” The old Hymnographer therefore points out this equality of Saint Nektarios with the previous great saints, even giving the explanation: Nektarios tried to follow in the footsteps of the ancient saints, with the purity of his life, that is, in reality to live according to the gospel of Christ. “By the light of your works, you manifest the light of the gospel, father, wondrously to all the people." “You followed, Nektarios, the footsteps of the ancient high priests of Christ, with the purity of your life, and you appeared equal to them and a partaker of their glory.”

Homily Two on the Seventh Sunday of Luke (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

Homily Two on the Seventh Sunday of Luke
(24th Sunday After Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

Today during the Liturgy, the Gospel of Saint Luke was read about the resurrection by Jesus Christ of the dead daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the Jewish synagogue, and about the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage through a single touch of the hem of Jesus' garment (Luke 8:41–56).

Let us rejoice for the happy Jairus, who once again saw his deceased daughter alive; let us celebrate the recovery of the woman who had suffered from her ailment for twelve years and had completely despaired of help from earthly physicians, yet was healed by a single touch to the garment of the divine Wonderworker. Let us honor both for their great faith in Jesus Christ, for through faith in Him alone did they receive the greatest, miraculous help and mercy. “Do not fear, only believe,” said the Savior to the synagogue ruler, “and your daughter will be saved.” “Take courage, daughter! Your faith has healed you,” said the Lord to the healed woman. Yet let us also emulate their faith; and today, each according to our own needs and spiritual and bodily necessities, we will receive from the Lord the granting of our requests through the prayer of faith; for the Lord even now remains with us constantly, invisibly by His divine omnipresence, grace and power, and visibly in the Holy Mysteries of His Body and Blood. "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20), He Himself says. "Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Prologue in Sermons: November 9

One Should Not Impose Upon Oneself Heavy and Hard-to-Bear Burdens

November 9

(From the Paterikon About Venerable John the Kolovos and His Obedience)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Many inexperienced in the spiritual life, relying solely on their own strength and believing, in their fervor and conceit, that they can overcome all obstacles on the path to salvation, often impose upon themselves heavy and unbearable burdens, laborious and unbearable feats. This is highly unwise and dangerous. While they attempt to climb high, experience shows that they fall low; they often become a laughingstock and a temptation to others, and they can perish altogether if they do not come to their senses in time, repent, and learn humility under the guidance of experienced people.

On the "Guslitsa Saint" John the Gardener

By Tatyana Nikitichna Nechaeva,
Head of the Research and Collection Department, Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art

and 

Mikhail Alekseevich Chernov,
Director of the Icon Section, Antikvariat Magazine

While studying the artistic culture of the Guslitsa region, we noted icons depicting the angel's healing of John the Gardener, painted primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Works with similar themes are unknown in iconography from earlier periods, and they are also rarely found in other centers outside the Guslitsa region.

In the icons, John the Gardener is depicted lying on a bed inside his home. An angel bends over him, extending his right hand toward him in a two-fingered blessing gesture and touching his bare shin with his left. In the center of the composition, above John's bed, is a half-length image of the Savior, mounted on the wall of the home. Some icons feature a lengthy inscription in the upper margin explaining the subject: "The Holy Angel of the Lord healed the leg of John the Gardener". The entire icon surface is filled with images of chambers, shown both inside and out. The architecture of buildings may vary across different works; artists depict houses with gable roofs or columns, but their tripartite division is preserved in all versions.

The Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The holy hymnographer John of Damascus, with strong faith and knowledge of the entire Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, opens our eyes to see mentally the spiritual world of angels and archangels, as well as the other incorporeal heavenly powers. That is, to see that creation of God, which preceded the rest of created creation and man, a creation that is in absolute obedience to the will of God and in constant glorification of His holy name. However, he emphasizes par excellence the position and work of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. And for Michael, he presents the triple characterization, as he does in every reference to him, such as in his well-known miracle at Chonae, of being Parastatis ("supporter" or "one who stands next to"), Protostatis ("the one who stands first" or "stands in front"), and Prostatis ("protector"), namely that Saint Michael is “the parastatis of the most bright three-sunned divinity,” “the protostatis of the angelic brigades,” and of course “our prostatis,” “walking with us at all times and protecting us all from every evil circumstance.” As for Saint Gabriel, he reminds us that he was the one who “revealed to us a divine and truly great mystery”: “that the incorporeal God should be incarnated in a Virgin’s womb and become man in order to save man,” and even before that “to bring the joyful news of the birth of a child to Zechariah the priest,” so that “the voice of the Word, John, would be born.”