Holy Martyr Hermias of Comana in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Hermias lived during the reign of Emperor Antoninus, in the city of Comana, and was a soldier. He was advanced in age and had white hair. He was arrested because he confessed his faith in Christ and was brought before the governor Sebastian, who ordered first that his jaws be broken, the skin of his face removed, and his teeth torn out. Then they lit a furnace and threw him into it. Yet he remained unharmed by the fire, so an order was given that he be killed with poisonous potions. He drank the poisons, and when he remained unharmed by them as well, he drew to the faith of Christ the very man who had administered them to him. Because that man confessed Christ as God, they cut off his head. Then they tore out the sinews of the Saint's body and cast him into a red-hot cauldron; afterward they pierced his eyes, and for three days they hung him upside down. Finally, after cutting through his neck, he departed to the Lord.

2. It is natural to see courage and bravery in young people. To see them, however, in people who are old and advanced in years is something marvelous and extraordinary. For the elderly person, seeing his strength abandon him, feels more vulnerable and usually seeks shelter and security. Thus fear becomes a characteristic of old age, increasing along with advancing years.

Prologue in Sermons: May 31

He Who Regrets What He Has Given to the Poor Loses His Reward from God

May 31

(A Homily in Praise of Those Who Give Alms to the Poor)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

When we give a poor man a small coin, we do not usually regret it and give it with a peaceful spirit. But when we must give away something more substantial, and actually do so, we often regret such a sacrifice, joined as it is with self-denial, and we give it with sadness and dissatisfaction, sometimes even with reproaches toward the one receiving it. In the latter case our misfortune is twofold: we regret what has been given away, and we lose our reward from God for it; and in some cases we may even incur punishment from God.

It is said, among other things, in the Prologue, in the Homily in Praise of the Merciful, “Almsgiving has value only when it is offered with love and good will... It is better not to do good at all than, having done it, to grieve over it and become despondent... Almsgiving is measured not by the amount given, but by the love of the heart... And if the rich do not give with love, they will not escape punishment. Almsgiving is valued not by the quantity distributed, but by the love of the heart.” That almsgiving has value in the eyes of God only when it is done with love, and loses its value when one grieves and becomes despondent over what has been given away, is evident from the following.

The Melancholy of the Palaiologoi (Photios Kontoglou)

The Melancholy of the Palaiologoi 

By Photios Kontoglou

When I was working in Mystras, it often happened that I found myself alone inside the Peribleptos Church. In the late afternoon the church would grow dark and forbidding. From above, on the scaffolding, I would hear footsteps.

“Some ghost must be walking about,” I would think to myself, and I would always turn my head toward the place where the soldiers and commanders were painted.

They stood in a circle, one after another, a little above the ground. Most of them had their eyes gouged out; their chests had been pierced. Many had been slashed to pieces by swords. On many faces only a single eye remained intact, but that one eye looked as though it were ten living eyes.

“Remember me, O Lord!”

Synaxarion of the Holy Twenty-Three Hagarane New Martrys of Thyateira

 

Synaxarion

By Haralambos M. Bousias

On the same day [May 30], the commemoration of the Holy and Glorious Twenty-Three New Martyrs from among the Hagarenes, who contested in Thyateira.

Verses

Three together with twenty Martyrs of Thyateira,
You have now magnified Christ by your contests.

The glorious New Martyrs of Thyateira, who came from among the Hagarenes, recently [1649] contended for the faith of Christ, the faith that brings salvation. As obedient students sitting at the feet of the Sheikh of Thyateira, the most wise teacher of the Mohammedan law, they followed him into the knowledge of the truth, which the grace of the All-Holy Spirit had taught him. When the twenty-three young men came to know the truth of the gospel, they abandoned the error of their fathers and enlisted themselves under Christ, remaining faithful to Him even unto martyrdom. Having therefore all struggled lawfully, they endured their sufferings with steadfastness. The Sheikh suffered death by strangulation, while his blessed martyr-disciples endured impalements, the burning of their limbs, and suspension upon the gallows. After their martyric consummation, they became workers of miracles by their own agency through the grace of God.

Venerable Isaac of Dalmatoi in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The Synaxarion of Venerable Isaac may focus exclusively on his gift of foresight, the courage of his heart, and his Orthodox faith even unto sacrifice, as seen in the incident involving the heretical emperor Valens. Yet his liturgical service does not concern itself with these matters at all. The Hymnographer of our Church prefers instead to present the foundation of the Venerable One’s stance: namely, his venerable life manifested through his ascetic struggles for the purification of his heart and, consequently, his being filled with the virtues and the radiant illuminations of the Holy Spirit.

And this is understandable. No one can possess courage of heart, an Orthodox phronema (mindset), or the gifts of foresight and spiritual discernment unless he has first made himself a fitting vessel for the indwelling of the Triune God Himself. In other words, the Hymnographer approaches the Venerable One at the most fundamental level, in order to show us that what is truly noteworthy in the life of a saint is not some miraculous event, but rather the saint’s purified heart itself. This is the constant goal set before us by our faith, according to the words of the Lord Himself: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” God always seeks from us a pure heart, not miraculous powers, which are entirely His own gift.

A Reflection on the Saturday of Souls for the Eve of Pentecost

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

It is well known that, for our Church, although every Saturday is dedicated to the holy martyrs and to her departed faithful, there are two principal Soul Saturdays: the one on the eve of Meatfare Sunday and the one on the eve of Holy Pentecost. For this reason, on both of these days we hear the Synaxarion note: “On this same day, the most divine Fathers decreed that remembrance be made of all who from the ages have fallen asleep in piety, in the hope of the resurrection unto eternal life.”

For the Church, the departed do not constitute a part of the world that has “ended and passed away” — as many believe, those who have confined their existence within the suffocating boundaries of this present world because they have erased God and Christ from their lives. The departed are an organic part of the Church, that is, a part of the Body of Christ, because death is not the gate leading to nonexistence, but the gate opening into the embrace of Christ. Just as we faithful live within that embrace in this present world, so too — and even more so — at the hour of our death and thereafter. The Apostle Paul tells us this directly, basing his words upon the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” In other words, whether we remain in this life or depart from it, we belong to the Lord.

Prologue in Sermons: May 30

On Honesty

May 30

(A Story from the Paterikon.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

All of us, brethren, ought to be honest, that is, to act according to justice. How should this be understood?

Once, three brothers went out for the harvest and hired themselves out to reap sixty fields. On the very first day of labor, one of them became ill and returned to his hut. One of the remaining brothers said to the other:

“See, our brother has fallen sick. Let us stand in prayer and ask God to help us reap both our own share and the portion that fell to him.”

They stood in prayer, and the Lord helped them successfully complete not only their own work but also the work of their sick brother.

29 May 1453: The City Has Fallen! A Lamenting Synaxarion of Constantine Palaiologos (Photios Kontoglou)

29 May 1453: The City Has Fallen! 

A Lamenting Synaxarion of Constantine Palaiologos 

By Photios Kontoglou

(Excerpts from a manuscript text by Photios Kontoglou, 1949)

This King Constantine Palaiologos, whom I wish to recount, was not one who was fortunate, long-lived, and glorified in his life, but rather a man afflicted and sorrowful. As many days as he lived in this world, he never ate bread in peace. The water he drank was bitter as poison. He came into the world in a storm-tossed age, to become king over a nation that was in anguish and unceasing struggle from the time the inhabited world was formed, and which by then had become utterly exhausted, poor, and struck from both East and West. And he was the last of his line, a true Palaiologos, and he took upon himself the sins of his people and, instead of a crown, wore a crown of thorns. Worn and old was his royal mantle; humbled was his scepter. Sorrowful was his face, humble his appearance. His words were like hymns. He was raised among weapons, yet he seemed like a saint. Therefore, a synaxarion would be fitting for him rather than a royal history.

Homily on the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ (St. Diadochos of Photiki)

Prologue

This is the Latin editorial introduction from Migne before the text of Diadochos of Photiki's homily:

Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki in Epirus, became renowned both through the ascetical writings that survive and through his distinguished disciple, Victor of Vita, who, at his master's urging, wrote the History of the Vandal Persecution in Africa and honored his teacher with this praise in the prologue:

“Having been instructed by so great a bishop, the blessed Diadochos, worthy of every kind of praise, whose many monuments of orthodox teaching shine forth like brilliant stars.”

Moreover, this brief homily On the Ascension of the Lord, which we have brought forth from Vatican Manuscript 455, was known to Lucas Holstenius, as is evident from one of his letters (Boissonade edition, pp. 209–210). However, Holstenius, prevented by his many occupations and then by his death, was unable to publish it, just as happened with other homilies of various authors that he had prepared for publication.

Therefore, we have judged that this homily, being entirely genuine and containing doctrinal teaching toward its conclusion, ought to be deposited in the public treasury of the Church before it might perhaps perish through some accident.