My Holy Christmas in Aivali (Photios Kontoglou)

“The Nativity,” Oil on canvas, 1936. 

“Mural of the Peribleptos Monastery in Mystras. Copied by hand by Photis Kontoglou, after being freed from soot and salts, in the year of salvation 1936, in the month of August.”

By Photios Kontoglou

When I was very young, I spent the holidays with my family on a storm-beaten mountain, at Agia Paraskevi.

Most of the hours I would go and sit inside the small, fragrant little church — not only during the services, but also at times when no one else was inside except me. I would read the ancient hymns and would find myself in a state that I cannot convey to another. Above all, the iambic canon “He saved the people” (Έσωσε λαόν) made me feel as though I were in the first days of creation, just as primeval as the nature that surrounded me: the gigantic rock hanging over the little church, the sea, the wild trees and grasses, the clean stones, the small deserted islets visible out on the open water, the icy north wind that blew and made everything appear crystal clear, the lambs bleating, the shepherds clothed in sheepskins, the stars shining at night like frozen dewdrops.

2011 Pastoral Encyclical for Christmas (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

Pastoral Encyclical

Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Christmas 2011

A Message of Optimism, Hope, and Freedom

This year again we celebrate the Birth of Christ within the wonderful atmosphere of our illuminated holy churches, within the radiant setting created by the astonishing and heavenly troparia that we chanted at the service of Matins and by the exquisite apolytikion of Christmas, as well as within the compunctionate and radiant Divine Liturgy of the feast of Christmas. Everything appears beautiful and spreads a calm within our souls; everything is festive, and we sense peace from the presence of the Grace of the Triune God within the church.

Homily for Christmas (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for Christmas 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

Today we celebrate a wondrous day, as the prophets of old foretold. A small child has been born — the eternal Son, the Angel of the Great Counsel of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Mighty God, the Ruler, the Prince of the world, who was given for reconciliation between God and man, and the Father of the future Universe, with whom begins the great healing of all mankind. This is a flame overflowing with beauty and power, seething with life and strength, filled with love, mercy, and justice. This is but a faint shadow of the eternal existence of God the Son, who, like the eternal sun, is born from the essence of the sun's infinity. The sun begets the sun, God the Father in eternity begets the Son, the flame bursts forth from the flame and yet remains within this infinite flame. No one can withstand this secret flame, that Trinity of Light, the image of which we bear in our arms. We were all initiated into this Triune Light during baptism, but none can withstand even the approach of this infinite Light. The greatest fiery, flaming spirits — the seraphim — tremble at this Light, and when they approach God, they cover their faces with their wings in terror, lest they burst into flame and be consumed by the endless flame of Almighty God. They cry out in terror and sing with thunderous voices: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Your glory."

The Nativity of Christ: Homily 4: On the Commemoration of the Deliverance of Russia From the Invasion of the Gauls (Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko)

1. The Feasts of the Lord

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko 

I. The Nativity of Christ

Homily No. 4: On the Commemoration of the Deliverance of the Church and the Russian State from the Invasion of the Gauls and the Twelve Allied Nations

I. No nation, except for the people of God, has been granted from above so mighty a help in the struggle against the darkness of enemies as was freely shown by the gracious Providence in the severe hour of the invasions of the Gauls (French) to our Orthodox homeland. Not only we ourselves saw it, but, in the words of the Church, “all the nations saw in us that the Most High is God, and there is none besides Him. He kills and makes alive; He smites and He heals, and none can deliver from His hand.” Therefore, exclaims the Holy Church, “Our heart is established in the Lord our God; our horn is exalted in our God,” and all the more triumphantly, after this, she proclaims the joyful song of victory: “God is with us; understand, O nations, and submit yourselves, for God is with us! Hear, even to the ends of the earth, that God is with us!”

Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The Saint’s Hymnographer, John the Monk, refers to the whole sanctified course of Stephen’s life: to the fact that from the very moment he became a Christian he was “a man full of the Spirit and of power,” and to the fact that he was chosen by the people and ordained by the Apostles as their helper — both in the service of tables and in preaching; and also to the events of his arrest, his defense, his theoptic experience, and his grace-filled martyrdom.

What the Hymnographer especially highlights is the manner in which he departed this life: by stoning — a customary method among the Jews for those considered to have blasphemed their faith. And as an exquisite poet he does not remain only with what the senses observe — the throwing of stones — but also reveals the non-sensory dimension:

December: Day 27: Teaching 2: Holy Martyr Maurice and the 70 Soldiers Who Suffered With Him

 

 

December: Day 27: Teaching 2:*
Holy Martyr Maurice and the 70 Soldiers Who Suffered With Him
 
(On the Need for Patience)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The ingenuity of the torturers of the Holy Martyrs Maurice and those with him, whose memories are celebrated today, was exhausted, and all forms of torture were tried in vain to turn the Martyrs away from Christ. But one of the emperor's advisers suggested the following: "There is a swamp nearby, infested with all kinds of insects. The Martyrs could be taken there, their bodies anointed with honey, and tied to trees." Emperor Maximian was greatly pleased with this satanic advice and ordered it to be carried out. The Holy Martyrs endured terrible torments from insects, heat, and thirst for ten days, and all peacefully surrendered their spirits to God.

II. The Holy Martyr Maurice and the Seventy Soldiers who suffered with him for Christ amaze us with their wondrous patience: ten days of terrible torment, ending in slow death, and not a single word of complaint, not a single sign of impatience. Let our word now be about the necessity of Christian patience, without which salvation is impossible.

Prologue in Sermons: December 27

 

Why We Should Love our Enemies and Pray For Them

December 27
 
(Commemoration of the Holy Apostle and Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

We must love our enemies and pray for them.

Why is this so? First of all, because the Lord gave us a commandment to love them. He says, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who revile you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

Secondly, we must love our enemies according to the commandment of the Holy Apostle Paul, who teaches: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not, and render to no one evil for evil, thinking what is good in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men... If therefore your enemy hungers, give him food; if he thirsts, give him drink... Do not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:14–21).

Route and Stations of the "Holy Family" During Their Flight into Egypt

 

 

By Ioannis Fourtounas

When King Herod learned from the Magi that Christ had been born, he asked them, once they had found Him, to inform him so that he might supposedly go and worship Him.

In reality, however, he wished to destroy Him.

For this reason an angel warned Joseph to take the Child and His Mother and depart for Egypt, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matt. 2:15).

The choice of Egypt was made because it lay outside Herod’s jurisdiction, because it was accessible through established trade routes, and also because of the large Jewish community living there.

After various stops along the way, according to local tradition, they found hospitality in the ancient city of Babylon, where even today there exists the cave of their dwelling in the land of the Nile.

According to early Christian traditions, the Divine Child, His Mother, Joseph, and James the brother of the Lord traveled to twenty-six locations in Egypt and remained in the land of the Nile for three years, six months, and ten days.

The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos, first of all, should be recalled as belonging to the tradition of the Church: after the great event of God’s coming into the world for the salvation of humanity, the person who played the central role in that event is celebrated. Thus, after the Nativity of the Lord we have the Synaxis of the Theotokos — she who became the “bridge by which God descended” — just as after His Baptism we have the Synaxis of Saint John the Baptist. It is, of course, unnecessary to say that the event itself, the feast proper, is in direct relationship with the central person; in other words, each Synaxis constitutes an extension of the feast, emphasizing and repeating its very meaning, and to a great extent even its hymns.