The First Festal Celebration of Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis in his Chapels in Beroea and Naousa

The Feast of Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis in Beroea

On the evening of Wednesday, December 6, the first feast of Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis the Hymnographer was celebrated in the Monastery of Panagia Dobra in Beroea with splendor and enthusiasm, after the recent inscription of the Saint in the Hagiologion of the Orthodox Church.

Events began with a prayer in the Chapel of Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer, which is located on the grounds of the Monastery and will be consecrated soon.

Afterwards, the sacred relic of the right hand of the new Saint was transported in a procession to the katholikon of the Monastery, where the Festal Great Vespers, Festal Matins and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy were celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimonos of Beroea, Naousa and Campania, with the participation of the monastic brotherhoods of the Metropolis and a multitude of pious believers.

During the Vigil, clergy and people had the extraordinary blessing of venerating the right hand of Saint Gerasimos, with which he wrote his divinely inspired hymns, and which is kept in the Monastery, as well as the Icon of the Panagia of Kilada, which was brought from the refugee parish in Kilada by Fr. Adam Katsikoudis from the Metropolis of Larissa and Tyrnavos.

 

Metropolitan Panteleimonos, visibly moved by the first celebration of the memory of his spiritual father, Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer, said among other things in his sermon:

"You became entirely luminous,
with the unapproachable glory of the Almighty,
and noetically you chant, Father, to the Creator,
together with the Angels who are never silent in their praise;
receive my hymn, as acceptable incense."
(Ode 9, Matins - Canon to St. Romanos the Melodist) 

We commemorate and celebrate tonight for the first time the memory of the new saint of our Church, Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer, the Mikragiannanitis, in our Sacred Monastery, which honors in particular this great ascetic and divinely inspired hymnographer, with the chapel we dedicated to him, but it also enjoys the blessing and grace of his sacred relic, and indeed of his right hand, through which he wrote his innumerable hymns.

Wanting, therefore, to honor our Venerable and God-bearing Father Gerasimos the Hymnographer, the Mikragiannanitis, and at the same time to admire, even "in a mirror dimly" the height of his holiness and the magnitude of the gifts and divine visions which he was found worthy of, borrowing his own words, the words with which the venerable Gerasimos praises his holy colleague, the venerable Romanos the Melodist.

"You became entirely luminous, with the unapproachable glory of the Almighty", the venerable Gerasimos chants to the venerable Romanos the Melodist, expressing through his words, secretly and invisibly, perhaps his own first divine vision.

Still young, while he was praying one night in his humble chapel, in the Hut of the Honorable Forerunner, he was found worthy to see before him the Lord Himself, "shining more than a thousand suns", shining with the light of His glory not only himself, but also the entire temple, in fact to such a point that the fathers from the neighboring Hut of the Dormition of the Theotokos believed that the temple of the Honorable Forerunner was on fire and rushed to save the Saint.

And this light of unapproachable glory that completely illuminated him, accompanied him throughout his life, which with his ascetic struggles, with humility, obedience, unceasing and pure prayer, became a pure mirror which reflected the divine light that the holy man had in his soul and nous and which his pure eyes constantly saw, on his sanctified face, so that his radiance would be visible to those who met him or lived with him.

And due to his pure eyes, the venerable Gerasimos was found worthy to see the Saints, the Honorable Forerunner and the Lady Theotokos, to converse with them, but also to sing with them "noetically ... to the Creator, together with the Angels who are never silent in their praise", as the Saint himself writes about Saint Romanos the Melodist.

That is why anyone who saw the Saint in the temple at the time of Service, always saw him motionless, calm, constantly praying, to encourage the fathers to do the same, as, he said, "the Panagia, my children, Saint Anna, and the Saints are present and watch us and see us and bless us".

And although the Saint, out of great humility, avoided referring to the heavenly experiences and the divine experiences that he was found worthy to live, he often spoke of the presence of the saints of the temple or the celebrated saints during the Services or the festivals, in order to motivate the fathers in prayer and vigilance.

Because how can one not have his mind focused on prayer or how is it possible with his thoughts to be elsewhere, when the Most Holy Theotokos and the Saints are present and are by our side?

Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer repeats this exhortation to us tonight, to us who stayed awake to officially honor for the first time, after his canonization by our Ecumenical Patriarchate last January, his memory, and to beg him, borrowing his own divinely inspired words: "Receive my hymn, as acceptable incense", Elder.

Because the venerable Gerasimos is undoubtedly present among us, as were the saints whom he saw in the long hours of Athonite Vigils, but also in the other sacred Services.

And Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer repeats this exhortation to us, he repeats to us the importance it has for all of us, clergy, monks and laity, of trying to always have our mind focused during prayer, during the sacred Services and concentrated on the hymns, the readings, the prayers, so that we receive the grace and blessing of God and the Saints, whom we invoke and who are present precisely to hear our prayer, to convey our many requests to God and to bless us.

This is indeed a great opportunity for our spiritual life, which we should not waste on anything, caring and worrying about many things during the sacred Services, while "one thing is necessary". And this is the grace that is transmitted and received by those who have their souls open and available, and not those who are simply physically inside the temple. Because, otherwise, it is as if the Church and the Saints offer us the opportunity to meet them and we are indifferent; they offer us their grace and we turn our face away from it.

Let's not leave this gift, which our Holy Church offers us, unused, because it will progressively lift us up spiritually, but it will also give us the determination and strength that we all need for our spiritual struggle.

Let us also obey the exhortation of Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer, whose memory we honored tonight, so that the hymns we chanted with so much love and reverence may be acceptable and we may also receive grace and blessing in return for our love of the venerable Elder.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Feast of Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis and Saint Anna in Naousa

On the evening of Friday, December 8, in the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Naoussa, the first joint celebration of the Feast of the Conception of Saint Anna with the Theotokos and Saint Gerasimos the Hymnographer was celebrated, as inside this temple there is the first chapel in honor of both Saint Gerasimos and of Saint Anna, in whose hermitage the new Saint of our Church lived as an ascetic.

At the beginning there was the reception of the sacred relic of Saint Gerasimos that was transferred from the Monastery of Panagia Dobra Beroea, where it is kept, and a prayer was held in the Chapel, whose consecration took place by Metropolitan Panteleimonos in January 2023, just a few days after the inscription of Saint Gerasimos in the Hagiologion of our Church.

Afterwards, the sacred relic of the new Saint was transferred to the main Church and the Festal Matins and Festal Hierarchical Divine Liturgy were celebrated by Metropolitan Panteleimonos of Beroea, Naousa and Campania, with the participation of a large number of pious believers.

Metropolitan Panteleimonos, while preaching the divine word, referred to the establishment of the joint celebration of the two Saints that will be celebrated annually on December 9 in the parish of the Panagia, saying among other things:

"Save from all need, frenzy and harm ... 

the faithful who approach your revered temple 

and always entreat, Anna, for your help."

One day after the first celebration of the memory of the new Saint of our Church, Venerable Gerasimos the Hymnographer, the Mikragiannanitis, we held a vigil tonight in honor of Saint Anna the Grandmother of God, to whom the chapel of our church is dedicated.

However, together with her, we honored the venerable Gerasimos, to whom the chapel is also dedicated, and we also have the special blessing of having the Saint's right hand, the hand with which he wrote all these divinely inspired hymns, and in as much as the Saint connected his life with the Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos.

After all, In the Skete of Little Saint Anna, he lived as a monk for 70 years, in an area difficult to reach, full of rocks, he ministered to Saint Anna for many years as a typikaris and as a librarian, but he also praised Saint Anna, the Grandmother of God, with filial love and affection or, as Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, the mother of all Christians and especially of monastics, she is considered the spiritual grandmother of all Saints and especially of those living in asceticism in her Skete, both the Great and the Little Saint Anna, in which her sacred relic, the foot is kept of Saint Anna.

With the same love and the same reverence, we also honored "the one filled with the gifts of the divine Spirit", as Saint Gerasimos calls her, Saint Anna the Grandmother of God, who was found worthy by God to be the Mother of the Mother of His Son and to become the beginning of our salvation.

But how was Saint Anna found worthy to receive this grace and favor from God?

She was found worthy of God's grace for three main reasons.

The first is the purity of her life and soul. No one can receive the grace of God, if they do not try to keep their soul pure, following the will of God. this is because sin repels the grace of God, which cannot coexist with our passions and vices, they cannot accompany a careless and unstable life.

The second reason is her faith and prayer. Saint Anna was childless, as we all know, and had passed the age when she could have a child. And yet she prayed and entreated God persistently and constantly. If she didn't have faith that the miracle could happen, she wouldn't have prayed. And if she didn't pray, she wouldn't be able to see the fruit of her faith, the child she hoped to have, that is, the Most Holy Theotokos.

The third reason for which Saint Anna received this great grace from God is her gratitude and devotion to God. Saint Anna prayed for many years that God would grant her a child. And she got it. However, she did not think that it belonged to her, that is why she did not hesitate, three years after the birth of the divine child Mariam, to offer her to God and to bring her together with Saint Joachim to the temple of God, to remain there in the Holy of Holies, where she was nourished by an angel, and to prepare for the mystery of the divine incarnation, which she was going to minister.

These three reasons were also fulfilled in the life of the new Saint of our Church, the venerable Gerasimos the Hymnographer, the Mikragiannanitis.

And for this reason he also received so much grace from God, so that he not only was found worthy to enrich the Church hymnography with countless Services and hymns, but also to become a visionary of God, a communicant of divine revelations, a conversationalist with the saints from this very life.

He accepted all these heavenly experiences in his soul, which was purified by the complete renunciation of worldly things, by absolute obedience and by the war against temptations and the devil, which he waged.

Thus, with the clear eyes of his soul, he could see, behind and beyond the earthly and human, the divine beauty and be illuminated by the uncreated light.

His steadfast faith in God kept him in the Holy Mountain, when as a young monk his Elder abandoned him, and even tried to convince him to follow him into the world.

With his unceasing prayer, the Saint increased his faith, and with his faith he turned his prayer into an endless conversation with God who made him worthy of heavenly gifts.

However, the venerable one did not use the heavenly gifts he received for his personal promotion, but he concealed them most of the time diligently and with great humility.

The only exception was the gift of hymnography, which he not only applied in his service to the Church, but also cultivated it with zeal for the glorification of God, the Lady Theotokos, the Holy Grandmother of God Anna and all the Saints, which he praised and we also praise and honor and supplicate with his own hymns, as we did tonight honoring the Holy Grandmother of God Anna, the supervisor of the Skete in which Venerable Gerasimos lived as a monk.

Let us, therefore, address once more together with the Saint the supplication to Saint Anna, repeating his own verses: "Save from all need, frenzy and harm ... the faithful who approach your revered temple and always entreat, Anna, for your help."

And let us entreat the Venerable one, now that he is near her in heaven, to intercede for all of us who honor her and ask for her grace.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.