Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Haralambos lived during the reign of Severus, when Lucian was governor in the city of Magnesia. Because he was a priest of the Christians and taught the way of truth, the tyrants ordered that he be stripped of his priestly vestments and then that the skin of his entire body be flayed. As the governor saw him patiently enduring the tortures, he became enraged and attempted to scrape the Saint with his own hands; immediately his hands were severed and remained suspended upon the body of the Martyr. The Saint, however, prayed and restored him to health. When the executioners, who were named Porphyrios and Baptos, saw this miracle, they renounced the idols and believed in Christ. The same also did three women from among those who were present there. The governor arrested all of these, and after subjecting them to tortures, mercilessly beheaded them. For although he was healed, he nevertheless remained in unbelief.

Saint Haralambis, more popularly known as Haralambos, is regarded, according to the hymnography of our Church, as the pride of Greece — of that Greece which bears the name of Christ; which is Christian and acknowledges and honors the saints; which considers the existence of their relics, such as the skull of the Holy Hieromartyr, as the greatest blessing and a most precious treasure; which hastens with faith and longing to the churches to celebrate their memory.

Prologue in Sermons: February 10

Fasting, the Reading of the Gospel, and the Struggle Against Evil Thoughts Drive Away the Devil

February 10

(A Discourse on the Abba Makarios the Great)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Speaking to you about the means given to us for combating the devil — means that serve to shame him and drive him away from us — we have already pointed to prayer, humility, the reading of the Psalter, diligence in labor, and prayer to the Holy Archangel Michael. Now we intend to speak of the benefit of several others as well, namely: fasting, the reading and study of the Gospel, and the struggle against evil thoughts.

Once, as Venerable Makarios was sitting by the roadside, he saw the devil in the form of a man, hung about with various vessels and heading toward a nearby monastery. By his prayer the Venerable one stopped the demon and asked him, “Where are you going?”

Homily on the Reception of the Lord (Saint Gerasimos Palladas)

In this homily Saint Gerasimos refers to the origin of the feast of the Reception (Hypapante), which goes back to God’s decision to strike all the firstborn male children of the Egyptians, in order that the Hebrews might be freed from the slavery of Pharaoh. From that time on, God required the Jews to bring to the Temple for consecration all firstborn males, of both humans and animals, as an expression of gratitude for that saving intervention of His.

The forty-day period that intervened between the birth of a child and the act of expiation in the Temple was necessary so that the mother and the newborn might be “purified” from the consequences of childbirth. This process would have had no reason to be undergone by the Word of God—nor by His all-pure Mother—yet He did undergo it: “first, so that the Jews might not immediately write that He does not submit to the Law; and second, so that they might not think and say that He is not truly man.”

In the text various symbols are mentioned, such as that of Jesus being offered in place of the lamb—which by tradition was offered on that day—and which in this case was destined to be sacrificed later on behalf of mankind. It is emphasized, of course, that Jesus is the Firstborn of all, the universal Holy One; therefore, in His person every being that comes into life can be “sanctified.” There is also the symbolism of the two turtledoves, which prefigure the Church because of their purity, and that of the two pigeons, which symbolize the Old and the New Testament.

Below is rendered into English the greater part of the homily, in which the author blesses the Spirit-bearing elder Symeon, who was deemed worthy to hold the infant Jesus in his arms.

Homily for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Today we began to sing the 136th Penitential Psalm: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion; upon the willows in the midst thereof we hung our harps” (Psalm 136:1-2). The time of Great Lent is approaching. And in this wondrous and terrible Psalm, we hear both the lament of the Jews expelled from their earthly Fatherland, and the lament of the Christian who has lost his heavenly Homeland. We are all strangers and aliens, exiles on this earth. Our Homeland is in Heaven with God the Father, to which we must strive. We all hear and sing at the Divine Liturgy the words: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). These words signify not only a lament for sins, but a lament for the fact that man has not yet reached his homeland in Heaven. Gregory of Nyssa said that "truly blessed is he who has no permanent city on earth, who seeks the Heavenly Fatherland, who strives for Heaven." Such a person will certainly be comforted. He will find his homeland — the Promised Land; he will find that very Heavenly Jerusalem, the homeland of all Christians. As the Apostle Paul said: we all "died with Christ" (Col. 2:20).

Holy Martyr Nikephoros in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Nikephoros lived in the time of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus and was a simple layman. He also had a Christian friend, a presbyter of the Church named Saprikios, who, through demonic influence, came to hate Saint Nikephoros and harbored resentment against him. When Saprikios was arrested by the pagans and endured many tortures for the faith of Christ, Saint Nikephoros sent intermediaries to him, asking for forgiveness, but Saprikios would not listen to them.

Then Saint Nikephoros saw that Saprikios was being led to the place where his head would be cut off, so he ran and fell at his feet, begging for forgiveness. And although he reminded him of the laws of Christ concerning reconciliation among people, Saprikios would not relent. Saprikios had passed through many tortures and the hour was approaching for him to receive the crown and the rewards from Christ. Yet even when only a short time remained before his beheading, he would not grant forgiveness. For this reason, he was stripped of God’s help and said to the executioners: “Leave me, and I will sacrifice to the gods.”

When Saint Nikephoros saw this, he surrendered himself to the executioners and confessed Christ with boldness. Then, by the command of the tyrant, they cut off his head, and thus the Saint swiftly received the rewards of love, which he strove to put into practice for the sake of Christ, the Giver of love.

Prologue in Sermons: February 9

It Is Not Always Possible to Judge Others Correctly by Ourselves

February 9

(From a saying of the Paterikon about a certain monk who had formerly been a nobleman at the court of the emperor in Rome.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

It sometimes happens that pious people, who please God by various ascetic labors, become troubled when they see around them other people who are also pious, but who, in their opinion, labor less for the Lord than they do. They become disturbed and think: “Why do they not struggle as we do? Why do they not bear such ascetic labors as we bear? What kind of God-fearers are they? Why are they considered righteous?” and so forth. Such judgment, brethren, is mistaken; for God is pleased not only by ascetic labors visible to us, but chiefly by an inward disposition toward Him, known to Him alone. Moreover, one cannot demand identical labors from everyone, because not all have been given the same means, strength, or capacity to bear them. Finally, one’s position in the world and one’s upbringing also play a great role here.

Homily Three for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Three for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son 

By St. John of Kronstadt

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you” (Luke 15:18)

Beloved brethren, who among us has not labored and does not labor for sin every day, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously, in understanding or in ignorance? Who has not angered the Lord, infinite Truth and Love? Who has not been wounded by the blade of sin and felt its sharpness and bitterness — the heavy confusion of conscience, sorrow and distress, those constant companions of sin? All of us, from the least to the greatest, are sinners before God, and therefore are subject to punishment and separation from Him. And if the Lord, in His boundless love and mercy toward fallen humanity, had not granted repentance and the forgiveness of sins for the sake of the sacrificial death on the Cross of His only-begotten Son, then all people would have descended into hell, the place of eternal torment. But glory be to the all-good and all-wise God, who has given repentance to sinners unto eternal life. Countless multitudes of sinners have been washed by the words of repentance, justified and sanctified by the most pure Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself our sins and bore all the punishments prepared for us — and now they rejoice with the Angels in the dwellings of the saints. All of you standing here, sinners like myself — do you cherish this priceless gift of the Lord, the gift of repentance? Do you sigh like the publican, weep like the harlot, wash your bed with tears like David the forefather? Do you return to the heavenly Father with sincere and deep repentance, like the prodigal son of whom you heard in today’s Gospel reading?

Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Stratelates in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Theodore lived during the reign of Emperor Licinius (the first decades of the 3rd century AD). He came from Euchaita, but resided in Heraclea of Pontus. He surpassed most people in the beauty of his soul, the stature of his body, and the power of his speech. For this reason, everyone sought to gain his friendship. For the same reason Licinius greatly desired to meet him, even though he had heard that Theodore was a Christian and abhorred the so-called gods. Therefore, from Nicomedia he sent several men of the same rank as Theodore and ordered them to bring the martyr to him in a courteous manner. When they returned saying that the blessed Theodore had objected, stating that the emperor should rather come together with his greater gods, the emperor immediately came to Heraclea.

Saint Theodore, who willingly agreed to meet Licinius after a nocturnal vision sent to him by God, when he learned that the emperor was approaching, mounted a horse, went out to meet him, and honored him as was fitting. The emperor then extended his right hand and warmly greeted Theodore. He entered the city, and after sitting upon an elevated platform, urged the blessed Theodore to offer sacrifice to his gods. The Saint asked to take the statues of the most prominent gods to his own house, to offer his prayers there first, and afterward to make public libations to those gods. The emperor agreed and gave orders that the golden and silver statues be handed over to him. The Saint took them, and in the middle of the night shattered them, broke them into small pieces, and distributed them to the needy and the poor.

On the following day, when Maxentius the commentariensis reported that he had seen the head of the great goddess Aphrodite being carried about by a beggar, Licinius gave orders, and immediately the Saint was arrested by the emperor’s guard. First they stripped him naked, stretched him out held by four men, and flogged him with whips made of ox sinews: seven hundred blows on the back, fifty on the belly, and blows with leaden balls to the nape of his neck. Then they scraped him until blood flowed, burned him with torches, and rubbed his swollen and burned wounds with shards, after which they threw him into prison, fastening his feet in a wooden vise.

He remained in prison without food or water for seven days. They brought him out again and nailed his hands and feet to a cross, and there they drove a spike through the lower part of his body, reaching his entrails. Around him stood even children, who shot arrows at the Saint’s face and eyes, and from the arrows that struck his eyes the pupils fell out. Others cut off his genital organs, making transverse incisions. He spent the night upon the cross, and Licinius thought that he had already died. But he was mistaken. For an angel of the Lord released him from his bonds, and he became completely whole and healthy, and he sang and blessed God.

At dawn Licinius sent orders for the body of the martyr to be taken down and thrown into the sea. But when the emissaries arrived and saw that the Saint was still alive and entirely healthy, they believed in Christ — about eighty-five men in number. After them, another three hundred soldiers also believed in Christ, led by the proconsul Cestus, who had been sent to kill the former group. When Licinius saw the city in turmoil, he ordered that the Saint be beheaded. But vast crowds of Christians stood in the way and hindered the soldiers. Only when the Saint calmed them and prayed to Christ did they cut off his head, and thus the course of his martyrdom came to an end. His body was transferred from Heraclea to Euchaita, to his ancestral home, according to the instructions the martyr had previously given to his secretary Augaros. Augaros, who had been with the Saint throughout the entire period of his martyrdom, wrote the martyrdom account of the Saint in full detail — namely the questions posed to him and the answers he gave, the various kinds of tortures he endured, and the manifestations and help granted by God.

The mind of Saint Theodore, set aflame with divine longing, is the key that explains his endurance amid the many torments he suffered, as well as his power first to transcend all the offers made by the emperor himself. One must have one’s mind entirely turned toward God and be inflamed with love for Him in order to despise the friendship of a king — especially one wielding such authority in that era — and to scorn tortures that shatter the human body. This is precisely what the Church continually seeks for the faithful person: not merely to restrain him with certain commands and rules — for that would be a Judaization of her spiritual life — but to orient him toward love for God, the first and great commandment that God has given to humanity. “With your mind set ablaze by divine longing, with courage and great boldness you advanced to death by fire,” notes the Saint’s Hymnographer in the Kathisma of Orthros. “Your longing for God erased every impassioned attachment to earthly things, O all-blessed one, the pleasure of glory, wealth and luxury, and the famed height of universal recognition” (Ode 4).

The Hymnographer Nicholas, who wrote for Saint Theodore, emphasizes his beauty and bearing: Saint Theodore was “a handsome young man, of rare beauty, distinguished for the beauty of soul and body.” Yet human beauty, according to the Hymnographer — as we see in our Saints such as the one commemorated today — lies chiefly in the beauty of the soul. “A handsome youth you were shown, exceedingly comely, fittingly radiant with the beauty of soul and body, beautified by the loveliness of virtues and adorned with the marks of martyrs” (Ode 3). Indeed, for our faith, bodily beauty is a good, but because it is perishable it does not have primary importance. Old age comes, and what is often a source of pride for the possessor of this good disappears — without even taking into account possible injuries, illnesses that disfigure a person, or the all-destroying death. True beauty lies, as the Hymnographer says of the Saint, in the acquisition of the virtues. When the human soul is clothed in virtues, when the grace of God overshadows a person, then even one considered outwardly unattractive acquires a sweetness and a “radiance” that captivates and draws everyone. “A glad heart makes the face shine,” we hear the word of God say in this regard. In Saint Theodore, of course, both elements coexisted: the beauty of the body and the beauty of the soul. But for the Saint the priority was clear — the beauty of the soul, and not only through virtues, but above all through the sufferings he endured, for they clearly placed him in the footsteps of Him who is “fairer in beauty than all the sons of men,” Jesus Christ.

Through the martyrdom of Saint Theodore, however, we also have a kind of confirmation of the resurrection of the bodies that will come with the Second Coming of the Lord. That is to say, when the Lord, through His grace and by means of an angel, restored the body of the Saint — dismembered by tortures — making it once again completely healthy as it had been before his beheading, He gives us with great clarity an image of the re-creation of bodies that will take place. For there are Christians who ask: how will bodies dissolved by death, burned by fire, or devoured by beasts be raised? The answer, of course, is simple: God will bring about a new creation of them. He who created all things “out of nothing” will again create what has become corrupt and dissolved. And here precisely, in the martyrdom of Saint Theodore, we receive an image of this future creation: by a single act of His will, and indeed through His angel, the body is restored. “You were shown victorious, completely whole, after the crucifixion and every other cutting off and mortification of your members, you who conquered the world; for Christ, the Prince of Life, by the hand of an angel, restored you to life” (Ode 5).

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Prologue in Sermons: February 8

How the Rich Should Conduct Themselves in Order to Be Saved

February 8

(A Discourse of Saint Ephraim to the rich on almsgiving.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus says: “He who makes poor use of his wealth is himself poor, just as is the one who willingly wounds himself with the sword which he carries for the avenging of enemies.”

If you are rich and wish to be saved, do not attach your soul to riches in such a way that, for their sake, you forget God, trample the law, and lull your conscience to sleep; but strive more and more by your deeds to glorify Him who bestowed them upon you (from the book Imperishable Food, p. 216).

How are these words to be understood?