Saint Gregory Palamas and our Age (George Mantzarides)

By George I. Mantzarides,
Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

 

Saint Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) is one of the greatest Fathers of our Church. At times, he is placed as the fourth Hierarch alongside Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. At a critical time, when Christ-named humanism was challenging the very essence of the Church as a “communion of deification,” Saint Gregory Palamas put forward the teaching on the deification of man through his participation in the uncreated energy of God. He did not present new theological truths that had not previously existed in Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. However, by using the language, terms, and concepts of his time, he overturned the challenges to and attacks upon the Christian faith and life through the timeless truth of the Church.

The Spiritual Legacy of Saint Gregory Palamas and the Timelessness of his Teachings

By Archimandrite Methodios Alexiou

In the fourteenth century, Byzantium was threatened by three dangers: first, Western scholasticism, represented by Barlaam, who taught that man cannot truly be united with God; second, Ottoman views of Byzantium; and third, Slavic raids into Macedonia, accompanied by a spirit of egocentrism and superstitions that prevailed in those regions. These were the circumstances in which Saint Gregory Palamas struggled.

Our Church honors Saint Gregory on the Sunday following the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, as an example of Orthodox life and teaching. Indeed, had the views of Barlaam prevailed in his time, the Christian life would not have been a path toward deification, but a mere human movement, deprived of the freshness of the breath of the Holy Spirit. The person of Saint Gregory Palamas, the God-seer, and his Orthodox theology, which is founded upon the deification of man through the uncreated energies in the Church of Christ, make the Saint an exceptional figure both in his own time and today. Saint Gregory Palamas answers the fundamental question of every Christian: “Can I see God?” And his answer is: “Yes, you can see Him within yourself, see Him spiritually, if, with all your repentance and humility, and with anguish of soul, you direct your prayer to Him: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.’”

Holy New Martyr Constantine of Hydra in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The holy and glorious martyr of Christ, Constantine, belongs to the company of the New Martyrs—that is, those martyrs who suffered in more recent times, particularly during the period of Ottoman rule, at the hands of the Hagarenes who held power, without thereby being considered any less holy than the ancient and great martyrs of the early period of the Church. This is one of the first things emphasized by the Hymnographer of the Saint’s Service, himself a great father of the Church of more recent times, the Venerable Nikodemos the Hagiorite.

November: Day 14: Teaching 3: Birthday of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna

 

November: Day 14: Teaching 3:*
Birthday of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna**
 
(Lessons from her Life: 
a. Mercy toward the Poor and 
b. Family Harmony)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Our most pious and beloved Dowager Empress, whose birthday the Holy Church now celebrates with solemn joy, offers us, from the heights of the imperial throne, two great examples of Christian life, which it is especially necessary to imitate at the present time: examples of lofty Christian charity and of the sacred observance of the ordinances of the Mystery of Marriage.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: November 14

The Month of November

Day 14

78. Unrepentant Sinners, After Death, Are Delivered into the Power of Demons and Go to Hell

(From the Life of the Holy Apostle Philip)

Once, while the Holy Apostle Philip was preaching the word of God to the pagans, he raised a dead man before them in order to convince them by an actual deed that Jesus is truly Christ, the Son of God. The circumstances were as follows. While the Apostle was speaking about the Lord to the pagans, a dead man was being carried past the place where they were gathered. Seeing him, those listening to Philip said to him: “If you raise this dead man, then we will believe in your God.” Hearing this, the Apostle raised his eyes to heaven and, after praying for some time, said in a quiet voice to the dead man lying on the bier: “Theophilos!” At these words of Philip, the dead man came to life, raised himself, sat up on the bier, and opened his eyes. Philip said to him again: “Christ commands you: rise from the bier and speak with us.” Immediately, the man who had been raised did as he was commanded, fell at the Apostle’s feet, and exclaimed: “I thank you, holy servant of God, for delivering me from many evils at this hour. For after my soul was separated from my body, two black and foul-smelling demons mercilessly dragged me to Hell; and if you had not come to my aid and delivered me from them, I would certainly have been cast into grievous Tartarus.” From these words of the resurrected Theophilos, as you see, brethren, it becomes clear that sinners, after death, are delivered into the power of demons and go to Hell. Is this true?

Saint John Chrysostom as Teacher, Celebrant of the Divine Mysteries, and Shepherd

 

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

Among the foremost holy personalities of our Church is Saint John Chrysostom. In particular, the hymnography of the Church employs magnificent words and phrases to praise and extol this God-bearing Father of the fourth century. Here are some examples: “Rejoice, O John of Golden Speech, all-golden one,” “The treasury of the virtues,” “The mouth of the Church,” “The golden-voiced trumpet,” “The precision of theology,” “The correction of those who sin,” “The Father of orphans,” “The swiftest help of those who suffer injustice,” “An earthly angel and a heavenly man.”

Introductory Note to the Life of Saint John Chrysostom in the Great Synaxarion

We must know that the holy repose of the divine Chrysostom took place on the fourteenth of September, when the Elevation of the Honorable Cross is celebrated. His commemoration, however, is celebrated today, the thirteenth of November, on which day his recall from his first exile took place, so that, as the Venerable Nikodemos the Hagiorite says, his Service might be chanted in its entirety, as is written in the manuscript of the Synaxarion.

Many composed his Life, the first of whom was Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis (situated at present-day Yalova, on the Gulf of Astacus in the Propontis). Palladius, contending on behalf of the divine Chrysostom, went to Rome on his account, to the Emperor Honorius and Pope Innocent. Other Lives and Encomia were composed in honor of John’s golden head by George of Alexandria, Cyril of Alexandria, Proclus, Theodoret, who composed five discourses on Chrysostom, as the critic Photios, who read them, testifies; Symeon Metaphrastes, Leo the Wise, an Anonymous author, Sophronios of Jerusalem, John of Damascus, Martyrios, Patriarch of Antioch, Kosmas, the Deacon of the Church of the Holy Apostles during the time of Chrysostom, Nilus the Sinaite, Isidore of Pelusium, Evagrius the Ascetic, Kosmas Vestitor, Niketas Skeuophylax, Niketas of Paphlagonia, Eustathios the Presbyter, Basil the Protothronos, Emperor Constantine the Porphyrogenitos, and Socrates. All these earlier writers number twenty-two.

A Prayer to Saint John Chrysostom (St. Justin Popovich)

A Prayer to Saint John Chrysostom 

By St. Justin Popovich

O MOST ELOQUENT supplicant of God among the human race, Holy Father John Chrysostom, behold, we come to you with our stammering prayers. Do not reject us, for in every stammered prayer of ours, behold, is our whole heart, behold, our sighs, behold, our cries! We pray to you, most great Saint: mercifully descend from your heights above the heavens into our poisonous lowlands, and heal us of every ailment of the soul, so that, with healthy souls, we may zealously serve your Lord and ours. Heal us also of every bodily ailment, if this is for our salvation, so that, with a healthy soul in a healthy body, we may strive in ascetic struggle and, with your all-powerful help, fight for the salvation of our soul; fight for the resurrection of our conscience from the dead; fight for the transformation of our sin-loving heart; fight for the deification of our devil-enslaved will, so that our will, guided by you, may desire and wish only what is Christ's, what is gospel, what is heavenly, what is eternal.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: November 13

The Month of November

Day 13

77. Repentance for Sins and the Promise to Reform One’s Life Contribute to Healing from Illness

(From the Life of Saint John Chrysostom)

Very many people, when illness befalls them, first begin to think about doctors and medicines. But we advise many such people to act differently from the way they usually do during illness. We advise them, during illness, first of all to strengthen themselves in faith in God, then to repent of their sins, and finally to make a promise that in the future they will reform their lives. Why is this so, you may ask. Because, we reply, examples show that there have been cases in which the faith of the sick in God, their repentance, and their promise to reform their lives brought them healing and completely freed them from their illnesses. What examples are these, you may ask further. To this we answer that the following are such examples.