Homily for the First Saturday Evening of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily for the First Saturday Evening of Great Lent

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev 

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

We, brethren, after the first week of Great Lent, which was supposed to be spent in sincere repentance, have come to the celebration of Orthodoxy, which opens for us the way out of our sinful condition and points the path that a person who has begun repentance must follow. If you have brought repentance, then by this you have only just begun to enter into true life. For God’s Covenant with man was established twice — in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it was established through Moses on Mount Sinai; in the New — through His Son — “This is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

The Lord now, and in ancient times, revealed His Covenant. But in order for the opportunity to be in His Covenant to be opened for us, we ourselves must enter into a Covenant with God. When the priest in the Mystery of Confession forgives the sins of the penitent, he asks in prayer to grant him the image of repentance: “Now, have mercy on Your servant and grant him the image of repentance” (Trebnik, p. 44, Rite of Confession).

Holy Martyrs Eutropios, Kleonikos and Basiliskos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

These Saints lived in the times of Maximian and were fellow-soldiers and relatives of Saint Theodore the Tiro, being from the land of the Cappadocians. They were therefore led before Asclepiodotus the governor because of their faith in Christ and were severely beaten. Saint Eutropios in particular was wounded in the mouth, because he insulted the governor.

There in the torments, the executioners indeed were exhausted because of the force they expended for the tortures, while the martyrs became healthy, because of the presence within them of the Lord and of the glorious martyr Theodore. Since therefore, because of this extraordinary occurrence, many believed in Christ, they accepted death by the sword.

The governor then changed his stance and attempted, with flatteries, to turn Saint Kleonikos away from the faith of Christ — that is, sometimes with promises and sometimes with gifts. The Saint, however, not only did not relax or bend at all, but on the contrary, becoming stronger and indignant, mocked the foolishness of the governor and ridiculed the weakness of the idols. For this reason also, at the very hour when sacrifice was being offered to them, he cast down by his prayer the idol of Artemis.

Then the idolaters burned pitch and asphalt in three cauldrons and poured them upon the martyrs. And they indeed were preserved unharmed, while the servants of the idols were burned up. Afterward Kleonikos and Eutropios were crucified and thus were perfected. Saint Basiliskos, however, was thrown into prison, and after some time he also was perfected.

Prologue in Sermons: March 3

How Should Adult Children Relate to People Who Teach Them to Act Against the Will of Their Parents

March 3

(A word of Saint Ephraim, that one ought not to obey those who swear one to evil.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Today our word is addressed to you, grown children, and this is what we shall say to you. We often see that evil people surround you and teach you to go against the will of your parents — and you listen to them. Indeed, why is it that in your families there are constant quarrels with parents, all kinds of disorders and family divisions? Chiefly it is from the slander and instigation of evil people.

A son meets some wicked man, tells him about some family misunderstanding, and that man begins to inflame the misunderstanding and to arm the son against his father or mother. And so the son, after meeting such a person, returns to his father’s house no longer the same as when he left it; he begins to raise his voice more and more in conversations with his parents, and then a spark turns into a flame, which in the end consumes the happiness and peace of the family.

From this it clearly follows that you, children, must flee from people who teach you to go against your parents as from a destructive plague. Only then, as the Venerable Ephraim the Syrian says, will you, by God’s mercy, escape family misfortunes and great calamities.

Icons and the Feast of Orthodoxy (Photios Kontoglou)

"Christ the Merciful" in egg tempera (1965) by Photios Kontoglou

Icons and the Feast of Orthodoxy 

By Photios Kontoglou

The Sunday before last was the first Sunday of Great Lent, on which the Church celebrates the Feast of Orthodoxy in remembrance of the Restoration of the Holy Icons. From the very first years of Christianity, Christians venerated the icons. But in time certain irreverent people appeared, the so-called heretics, who wished to give a new interpretation to many matters of religion, different from what the Apostles and the Holy Fathers had established. Thus there arose certain innovators who taught that Christians ought not to venerate the icons, because this was supposedly idolatry. These innovators were called Icon-fighters and Iconoclasts, and they caused great turmoil in the Byzantine state because they managed to win over many powerful figures of authority to their side.

The most demonic iconoclast was Theophilos, the son of Emperor Michael the Stammerer — he who, according to the well-known story, did not marry Kassiani but Theodora. During his reign many holy fathers were tortured and persecuted because they venerated the icons and taught the people to venerate them. After his death, Empress Theodora issued a decree that those who had been imprisoned and exiled for the veneration of the icons should be released. The iconoclast patriarch John was deposed, and Methodios — who had suffered greatly for the icons, even being shut up alive in a tomb — ascended the patriarchal throne.

Saint Nicholas Planas in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Papa-Nicholas Planas is the confirmation of what the Apostle Paul says: “God chose the poor things of the world and the despised, in order to put to shame the strong.” He was thus an instrument of God, through whose simplicity the wisdom of God was richly poured out into the world. He possessed none of the remarkable natural gifts which, many times — if their possessor is not careful — can act as temptations and become an obstacle to the vision of God.

His absolute gift was his simplicity, which meant the manifestation of his humility, and therefore the presence of God’s grace within him. “God gives grace to the humble,” says the word of God, and this humility was possessed by the well-known and beloved Papa-Nicholas. In other words, standing before Saint Nicholas is like standing before God Himself and breathing His atmosphere. The whole course of his life was an astonishing transparency of heaven.

Holy Martyr Hesychios the Senator in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Hesychios lived during the reign of Emperor Maximian (302) and was first in rank in the palace and in the council of the Senate. Because Maximian ordered that all Christians who were imperial soldiers, if they would not deny Christ, should be stripped of their belts (the sign of their royal dignity) and live as private persons and dishonored men, many Christians, on account of this unlawful decree, chose rather to live without any outward honor than to retain honor and lose their souls. One of these Christians was Saint Hesychios.

When the emperor learned of this, he gave orders that Hesychios too be stripped of his luxurious garments and clothed in a poor cloak without sleeves, woven of wool, and that he live among the women.

After this had been done, the emperor summoned Hesychios and asked him whether he was not ashamed that he had fallen from the honor of the magistracies into this dishonorable way of life, and whether he realized that none of the Christians would be able to restore him to his former honors and powers. The Saint replied that the present honor is temporary, whereas that of Christ is boundless and eternal. Enraged, the emperor ordered that a millstone be fastened around his neck and that he be thrown into the River Orontes (in Syria), in which the Saint received his blessed end.

March: Day 2: Teaching 1: Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Kyrenia

 

March: Day 2: Teaching 1:
Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Kyrenia

 
 (An Example of a Godly Life is the Best Sermon)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Theodotos, whose memory is celebrated today, preached the teaching of Christ (at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century) on the island of Cyprus, where he was appointed bishop in the city of Kyrenia. By his word and by the example of his own life he powerfully influenced the pagans and converted many of them to Christ.

When, under Licinius, a persecution of Christians broke out, the governor of the city ordered the Christian bishop to be brought to trial. Theodotos himself appeared before him and said:

“Here is the one whom you summon to judgment. I do not hide myself, but have come of my own accord to bear witness to the true God.”

In response to these words the governor ordered Theodotos to be subjected to the most cruel tortures. He was beaten with straps, torn with sharp iron instruments, and laid upon iron heated in the fire. Theodotos endured all these torments with wondrous patience and only prayed to God to strengthen him and all the persecuted Christians.

Prologue in Sermons: March 2

It is a Sin to Judge Others

March 2

(The Teaching of Saint Athanasios, Not to Condemn Everyone Who Sins.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

We ought not to judge others, first, because the human heart is deep as the sea, and the inner dispositions of the heart are known to God alone; second, because in judging our neighbor we can almost always be mistaken; and finally, third, because over us all there is one true Judge — God — and we ourselves are not judges, but those under judgment.

Saint Athanasios says:*

“Let us reflect, brethren, on the Lord who says: 'Judge not, that you be not judged.' And again the Apostle teaches us, saying: 'Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.' And again: 'Take heed to yourself, lest you also be tempted.'

Many have sinned openly, but secretly repented, and received forgiveness and accepted the Holy Spirit. And many of those whom we consider sinners are righteous before God. We have seen their sins, but we do not know that they have repented.

Homily for the First Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast - The Sunday of Orthodoxy (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the First Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast 

(The Sunday of Orthodoxy)

On the Veneration of the Holy icons

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“And you shall make two cherubim of beaten gold, and you shall place them on the two ends of the mercy seat. There I will make Myself known to you, and I will speak with you from between the two cherubim.” (Exodus 25:18–22)

Beloved faithful,

Today the Orthodox Church of Christ celebrates a great apostolic and synodal institution — namely, the veneration of the holy icons. This was established by the decision of the Holy and Great Seventh Ecumenical Synod held at Nicaea in the year 787, in which participated three hundred sixty-seven Holy Fathers and one hundred thirty-six archimandrites and abbots of monasteries.

The Synod was presided over, on behalf of the Orthodox Church of the East, by Saint Tarasios, Patriarch of Constantinople. Representing the Western Church was Peter, Archbishop of Rome, accompanied by Peter, presbyter and abbot of the Monastery of Saint Savvas in Rome, as representatives of Pope Adrian.

All these Holy Fathers decreed the veneration of the Holy Icons and pronounced anathema upon all the heretical icon-fighters, from whom many saints suffered severe persecutions and death for nearly two centuries — from Leo the Isaurian, the first opponent of the holy icons, until Theophilos, the last.

After the death of Theophilos, through the zeal of Empress Theodora and the Holy Fathers, the true faith and the veneration of the Holy Icons were restored, just as they had existed in the time of the Savior and of the Holy Apostles. For Jesus Christ Himself, by a miracle not made by hands, imprinted the image of His face upon a cloth and sent it to Abgar, king of Edessa (Combatting Sects, Chișinău, 1929, pp. 510–532).