The First Ecumenical Synod and the Contribution of the Cappadocian Fathers to the Symbol of Faith

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpktos and Agiou Vlasiou

This year we celebrate the anniversary of 1,700 years since the convocation of the First Ecumenical Synod, which was convened in 325 A.D. in Nicaea of Bithynia in order to confront the heresy of Arius. Arius, drawing on principles of Greek philosophy, taught that the Son and Word of God is the first creature of the Father’s creation and that “there was a time when He was not,” that is, there was a time when He did not exist. Therefore, according to Arius, the Son is a creature of the Father, created by the will of the Father. The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod condemned the heresy of Arius and composed the first seven articles of the Symbol of Faith, the well-known “Creed.”

When the First Ecumenical Synod was convened, Basil the Great had not yet been born; he was born five years after the Synod, in 330. Saint Gregory the Theologian was born in 329, four years after the Synod, and Saint Gregory of Nyssa had not yet been born either, since he was born ten years later, in 335. All three were Cappadocians and became exponents of what is known as Cappadocian theology. They accepted the decisions of the First Ecumenical Synod and played a significant role in the triumph of its decisions; most importantly, they played a decisive role in the decisions of the Second Ecumenical Synod, which took place in Constantinople in 381 A.D. This Synod completed the Symbol of the First Ecumenical Synod, which is why it is called the Nicene–Constantinopolitan Creed.

Venerable Martyr Eulogia of Samurcășești (+ 1949)

St. Eulogia of Samurcășești (Feast Day - December 19)

Venerable Eulogia was born on November 24, 1908, in the village of Nevesca (today Nimfeo), in northern Greece. At Baptism she received the name Aikaterini. Her parents, Evangelitsa and Panagiotis, belonged to an old Vlach community that had lived in those lands for generations.

Trials and suffering came upon her from an early age. She lost her mother while still a small child. After her father remarried, she endured many hardships caused by her stepmother. One day, while gathering hay, her father’s wife pushed Aikaterini off a haystack. The child fractured her spine and was left with a bodily infirmity that confined her to bed for nine years. As an invalid, at the age of ten, she was sent to Bucharest to live with her maternal uncle, Ioan Ciciu, and his wife, Epifania. In their home she spent many difficult years marked by pain and illness.

In 1927, when the young Aikaterini fell ill with peritonitis and was abandoned by her relatives, who believed she would not survive, the Mother of God appeared to her openly, together with the Holy Great Martyr Katherine, her patron saint. Coming to her bedside in the likeness of physicians, they healed her. With great humility, Saint Katherine said to the Most Holy Theotokos: “Mother of God, cut here, sew here, bind here.” And the Most Pure Virgin addressed the sick girl with gentle words. Until then, Aikaterini had suffered from a swollen abdomen and drawn-up knees. The Mother of God said to her: “Behold, my child, from now on you will become healthy.” Showing her that the cause of the illness had been removed, she added: “This was the whole illness and all the evil.” And she said again: “From now on you will be well.” At once, the young Aikaterini was healed, filled with gratitude toward God, the Mother of God, and the Holy Great Martyr Katherine.

Holy Martyr Boniface Resource Page

St. Boniface the Martyr (Feast Day - December 19)

Verses

 

Boniface sought the bones of the Martyrs,

He found himself to be a Martyr beheaded by the sword.

On the nineteenth Boniface was beheaded. 

 

Synaxarion of the Holy Martyr Boniface and his Holy Mistress Aglaia

 

Saints Boniface of Tarsus and Aglaia of Rome

  

Saints Boniface and Aglaia as Models for our Lives

 

December: Day 19: Holy Martyr Boniface

 

Prologue in Sermons: December 19 

 

Holy Martyr Boniface in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church 

 

Saint Paisios the Athonite on the Spirit of Sacrifice of Saints Boniface and Aglaia

 

Holy Martyr Boniface in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Boniface lived during the reign of Diocletian. He was the slave of a senatorial woman named Aglaïs, daughter of the Roman proconsul Acacius, and he had an illicit relationship with his mistress. He was also a drunkard, yet at the same time merciful and hospitable, with a tender heart toward human misfortunes and toward those who implored him. His mistress likewise was merciful and a lover of the martyrs.

One day Aglaïs said to Boniface: “Go to the East, where the saints are being martyred, and bring back relics of martyrs, so that we may have them for help and the salvation of our souls.” Boniface replied with a laugh: “If I bring back my own relics, will you accept them?” She too laughed, and after calling him a drunkard, she admonished him, blessed him, and sent him off, giving him money.

Boniface then departed with twelve slaves and much gold for Cilicia, where the saints were being martyred. There he found holy men contending in the contests of faith, and he kissed their chains and their wounds. He himself was stirred, and he went before the governor, confessing that he too was a Christian. He was immediately arrested. They hung him head downward and cruelly scraped his flesh; then they drove sharp reeds under his fingernails, poured molten lead into his mouth, and placed him headfirst into a cauldron of boiling pitch. Through all this he remained unharmed, while fifty of the executioners died. Finally they cut off his head with a sword, but instead of blood, milk flowed forth — a miracle that caused fifty men to believe in Christ and to be baptized.

Prologue in Sermons: December 19

Almsgiving and Mercy Make Sinners Righteous and Bring Them Into the Ranks of the Saints

December 19
 
(Commemoration of the Holy Martyr Boniface)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Both the word of God and the Holy Fathers teach that almsgiving and mercy bring great blessings to man. 

The Apostle James teaches: "Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13). 

Tobit says to his son: "Almsgiving delivers from death, and does not allow one to go into darkness" (Tob. 4:10).

Blessed Augustine observes, "Mercy stands before the gates of Gehenna and does not allow anyone to be cast into prison" (Discourse 39, Question 50). 

Finally, John Chrysostom writes, "Almsgiving stands before the Throne, not only offering protection, but also advising the Judge Himself that He may have mercy on the guilty."