Saint Sophronios of Jerusalem: The Guardian of the All-Holy Sepulchre

The Guardian of the All-Holy Sepulchre

By Archimandrite Kallinikos Georgatos

(The present text is an expanded version of a sermon delivered at the Solemn Vespers of the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent in 2014, at the Sacred Metropolitan Church of Saint Demetrios in Nafpaktos.)

Behind the wondrous life of Venerable Mary of Egypt, which amazed both men and angels; behind the theological prayers and the beautiful hymns of our Church; behind the struggle of the Orthodox against the Monothelites and other heretics of the 6th and 7th centuries A.D.; behind the beneficial regime for the Orthodox Romans concerning the Holy Pilgrimage sites and the All-Holy Sepulchre — there stands a great saint of our Church, Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who throughout his entire life sought the will of God and fulfilled it at all cost, despite the whirlwind of historical events in which he lived; and Christ rewarded him by granting him His rich blessing.

To this great Saint, and to those things which make him the “Guardian of the All-Holy Sepulchre,” we shall refer below — briefly, but with reverence and gratitude for what he offered to the Church of Christ.

Venerable Titus the Wonderworker in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

This blessed and holy Father of ours, Titus, from a young age loved Christ, went to a cenobitic monastery, and withdrew from the world and from his relatives. There he devoted himself so greatly to humility and obedience that he surpassed not only the brotherhood but every person. He also became a shepherd of the rational sheep of Christ and had such meekness and love and compassion as no one else among men. He was preserved pure in soul and body from a young age like an angel of God. Therefore the Lord also granted him exceptional grace of wonderworking, and thus he departed to Him, leaving to his disciples and fellow ascetics his ascetic struggles as a living pillar and an indelible image.

Saint Theophanes, the hymnographer of Venerable Titus the Wonderworker, wishing to characterize the great holiness of the Venerable one, uses as an example what happens with holy myrrh: it is composed of dozens of aromatic ingredients and substances in order to reach the height of its exquisite fragrance. In the same way also was Venerable Titus: “A myrrh of sanctification, O venerable one, you were wholly compounded from the fragrances of your ascetic life, into a fragrance of our God” (Ode 3). In other words, Venerable Titus is a fragrance of Christ, who is also considered by Saint Theophanes, in a spiritual sense, to be a disciple of the Apostle Paul, like that former disciple and co-worker of Paul, the Apostle Titus: “we praise you as a new Titus, a disciple of Paul” (Ode 1).

Prologue in Sermons: April 2

Weapons Against Enemies

April 2

(A Word from the Leimonarion about robbers who took things from an elder.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

“Do not be overcome by evil,” says the Apostle, “but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). What do these words indicate? That fire is not extinguished with oil; that is, evil cannot be stopped or cut off by evil, and that the evil we suffer from our enemies and offenders can be stopped and overcome only by good.

What, then, are the means by which we overcome evil with good?

The first means is to do some good to your enemy. Once robbers came to an elder and said to him: “Whatever you have in your cell, we will take.” And they took everything, forgetting one sackcloth. The elder took this sackcloth, ran after them, and, handing it to them, said in turn: “My children, you forgot this also.” This act so touched the robbers that they returned to the elder everything they had taken, repented, and said: “Truly, this man is a man of God” (Prologue, April 2).

The second means is to humble oneself before the enemy. Two bishops quarreled with each other. One of them was rich, the other poor. The rich one sought an opportunity to harm the poor one. The poor bishop, learning of this, said to his clergy: “We shall conquer him.” The clergy answered: “Who can stand against him, master?” “Wait and you will see,” said the poor bishop. And so, when the rich bishop was walking surrounded by a multitude of people, the poor bishop fell at his feet with all his clergy and cried out: “Forgive us, master, we are your servants!” The other, struck by this, himself fell at the feet of the poor bishop and said: “You are my master and father!” And from that time there was great love between them (Leimonarion, ch. 208).

Venerable Mary of Egypt in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The hymnography of the Church, through the pen of Saint Theophanes the Hymnographer, is devoted, on the feast of Venerable Mary, to the description of her astonishing transformation: from debauchery to the heights of spiritual life, as well as to the recording of her experiences from the corresponding periods of her “before Christ and after Christ” life. One hymn, in fact, from Ode 3 presents the Venerable one in her former sinful life as Eve, who disobeyed the will of God and sinned, but in her later sanctified life as the thirsty deer that runs to the springs of the waters. And what is the point that is common in both periods? The wood. The first wood, the tree, which through sin led to the initiation of death: what happened with the first-created humans; the second, the wood of the Cross of the Lord, which led to deep faith in Christ and the finding of true life. “Having approached the wood of sin,” says the Holy Hymnographer specifically, “and having been initiated into deadly knowledge, you ran to the wood that gives life, to the Cross of the Lord, crying out to Him: You are our God, and there is none righteous besides You, O Lord.”

Where did the problem lie in the first period of Mary’s life? In the turning of her mind only toward evil, which means the cultivation of those improper, passion-filled thoughts that always result in the impurity of the soul and its enslavement to the passions and to the devil (Ode 1). Mary, influenced by the ancient serpent, had literally taken the downward path and her descent into the abyss of perdition (Ode 1). She did not take her Creator into account at all, and thus she unfortunately became a means of destruction for many others as well, especially young people (Ode 1). Her condition was such that it is expressed by the Lord in the most dramatic and absolute way: “Woe to him through whom the scandal comes,” woe to the one who becomes the cause of another’s spiritual stumbling, and: “It would be better for such a person to tie a millstone around his neck and depart from this life!”

Homily on Humility for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily on Humility for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent 

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

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

The Holy Church concludes its guidance of us as we pass through the great school of the Fast, pointing out to us the examples of two great ascetics of spiritual labor, whom we must imitate — John of the Ladder and Mary of Egypt — yet on this last Sunday it reminds us also of one more necessary condition of spiritual labor.

You heard in today’s Gospel reading how Christ, being on the way to Jerusalem, said to His disciples: “The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes… and they will mock Him, and beat Him, and spit upon Him, and kill Him…” (Mark 10:33–34). And the disciples “were astonished, and as they followed Him, they were afraid.”

And then, having heard about the resurrection, the sons of Zebedee came to Him and said: “We want You to do for us whatever we ask.” He said to them: “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him: “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” After the Lord answered them that this is not for Him to give, “but for those for whom it is prepared,” and the other disciples, hearing the request of the sons of Zebedee, were indignant at them, the Lord called them all and said: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you: whoever desires to be great among you shall be your servant; and whoever desires to be first among you shall be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42–45).

Church of Saint Mary of Egypt in the Samaria Gorge of Crete

The small single-nave arched temple of Mary of Egypt is located in the deserted settlement of Samaria, within the imposing Samaria Gorge, accessed by a short path. According to one theory, the name Samaria derives from the corruption of the Greek form of her name: Osia Maria (Venerable Mary) was shortened to Samaria. The church celebrates on April 1st, when several mountaineering clubs of Crete participate in the festival. In recent years the exterior has undergone renovations to welcome visitors and preserve its structure.

Its interior is covered with frescoes from the first half of the 14th century, which is a work of a folk-style hagiographer. It includes scenes from the Gospel cycle of the Life of Christ (Transfiguration, Betrayal, Ascension, Entombment, Descent to Hades, Crucifixion, Birth, Escape to Egypt, Secret Supper, Lazarus Rising, Reception), various saints, and Mary of Egypt being communed by Abba Zosimas.

 

April: Day 1: Teaching 2: Venerable Mary of Egypt

 

April: Day 1: Teaching 2:
Venerable Mary of Egypt
 
(A Model of Repentance)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Who does not know the wondrous life of Mary of Egypt? Who does not know into what depth of evils she descended, to what height of virtues she afterward ascended, and how this astonishing transition took place? Let us not recount what is probably known to all, but rather set forth only the principal truths, relating to the labor of repentance, which this instructive life reminds us of.

II. a) The first truth is that repentance is always possible for us. However great and numerous our vices may be, however long we may have already served lawlessness, however deeply rooted and inveterate we may have become in evil — we can always come to our senses and turn to God with a prayer for mercy. For seventeen years, the freshest and most flourishing years of her life, Mary gave herself over to sins without repentance. And how did she give herself over? To what sins? It seemed that she had lost all shame; it seemed that she had completely driven the fear of God from her heart and entirely stifled the voice of conscience within herself. The name of Mary was covered with universal disgrace. Yet even this soul, seemingly lost, was able to repent: why then should we not repent? Perhaps our sins are less than Mary’s sins — then repentance is all the easier for us. And even if not less, even if greater? Mary came to herself and began to repent when she was striving to enter the church to venerate the life-giving wood of the Cross of the Lord: the Holy Cross — this anchor of salvation for sinners — is always with us; the blood of Jesus Christ, crucified on the Cross, is able to cleanse us “from every sin” (John 2:1). Let us only cry out to Him, like Mary, with living faith in His merits on the Cross and hope in His mercy.

Prologue in Sermons: April 1

On How Saving Is the Contrition of Heart and Sorrow for Sins

April 1

(A Word on the Repentance of Sinners)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

It is not in vain that the word of God and the Holy Fathers, when speaking of the impurity of the soul, compare it with bodily impurity; and it is not in vain that, when speaking of the repentance of a sinner and the cleansing of the defilements of sin by repentance, they compare this cleansing with bodily washing. Indeed: just as bodily impurity is harmful to health, unpleasant to the sight of others, and can be infectiously harmful to others, so also sinful impurity is deadly for the soul, repugnant to virtuous people, and likewise can be destructive for many. And just as bodily washing contributes to the health of the body and makes its appearance bright and pleasing, so also the washing of the soul from the defilements of sin contributes to the salvation of the soul and is beneficial also for others, giving them a saving example and stirring in them good emulation.

Homily for the Fifth Sunday Evening of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily for the Fifth Sunday Evening of Great Lent 

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

(Delivered in 1929)

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

In the work of repentance, my dear ones, we must distinguish two moments. One of them is the turning of the sinner to God with supplication as to a physician: “Heal, O Lord, my soul, for I have sinned against You.” This supplication was present both in the Prodigal Son and in our Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt, whom we glorify this week. This moment of the sinner’s turning is characterized by the fact that the sinner, in turning with supplication to God, enters into a secret covenant with Him. Such a covenant was made both by the Prodigal Son and by Mary of Egypt.

But all our life proceeds through repentance, and through it the original beauty of countenance is restored to a man, and from here again there is a path either to sin or to God. The “imaginary soul” strives to displace everything holy and real. Even after conversion, a question arises for a person: how to live? — and a struggle begins between the “imaginary soul” and the “true soul.” Every life is characterized by struggle. If there is no struggle, there is no life. And we, my dear ones, are all inclined to return to the former path. Just as a cancerous tumor strives to fill the whole organism, so the soul infected by sin strives to displace the true soul, and the struggle begins.