Holy Hieromartyr Blaise of Sebaste in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Blaise lived during the reign of Emperor Licinius (early 4th century A.D.). He was Bishop of Sebaste and dwelt in one of the caves of Mount Argaeus. On this mountain the wild animals were tamed by the Saint’s blessing and appeared gentle. Because he was also skilled in medical science, he performed many healings, having received from the Lord the grace of working miracles.

However, he was arrested and brought before the governor Agricolaus. He confessed the name of Christ, and for this the governor ordered that he be beaten with rods, suspended on a cross, and torn with iron claws. Then, as they were leading him to prison, seven women followed him; their heads were cut off as well, because they too confessed that Christ is God. As for Saint Blaise, after they threw him into the depths of a lake — without his suffering any harm whatsoever — they eventually cut off his head, together with two infants who were in the prison.

It is said that he was the steward of the decree of the Great Martyr Eustratios at the time of that martyr’s suffering, as Saint Blaise is depicted standing on an old cloth among the five holy martyrs, very near Saint Eustratios, receiving from his hand the scroll of the decree. 

Prologue in Sermons: February 11

 

The Lord Always Receives the Truly Repentant

February 11

(A homily about one who robbed the dead and was again saved through repentance.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

People who have fallen into grave sins, but have washed them away with tears, sincerely repented of them, and firmly set themselves on the path of correction, should never think that the Lord will not forgive their former heavy sins or show them His mercy. Let them know that if they persevere on the path of virtue, the Lord will certainly forgive them and will no longer remember their former iniquities.

The abbot of one of the monasteries of Jerusalem, named John, related the following:

“A young man came to me,” he said, “who, weeping bitterly, said: ‘Father, receive me; I wish to repent.’ Seeing him in terrible sorrow, I said to him, ‘Why are you so distressed? Reveal to me the cause of your grief, and the Lord will ease it for you.’

The young man answered, ‘Oh, I have sinned terribly.’ And sighing deeply, he began to beat his breast and, from intense agitation, could speak no further. I did not cease urging him on, giving him examples of sinners who had repented and been forgiven, and at last I succeeded. The young man confessed.

The "Sweat" of Saint Haralambos and Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva

Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva said:

“Listen, Dimitri. I go down, I grab the child and say to her, ‘Get things ready so we can do a sanctification of the waters.’

She spread a towel on a table, put down a plate, and I read the Service of Sanctification. Her son, Yiannis G., well, he was mute — he couldn’t speak. I read the prayer with all my heart, with all my soul, and at the end, when I sprinkled him, as I said, ‘having the Holy Unmercenaries as a fountain of healings,’ Yiannis spoke.

Overjoyed, he kissed me, and I kissed him too; his mother kissed me as well — the wife of Hadji-G., you know, the one who had the coppersmith’s shop. Yiannis was healed, and afterward he came up to Saint Haralambos. Little Yiannakis wanted to stay with me - Yiannis G.

Listen, Dimitri! In those very days when this miracle happened, he came here to Achladeri and baptized a child and named him Porphyrios.”

Homily for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son -- On True Repentance and the Mercy of God (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the 34th Sunday after Pentecost
(Sunday of the Prodigal Son)
On True Repentance and the Mercy of God

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you” (Luke 15:18)

Beloved faithful,

In Holy Scripture God is called the “Father of mercies” (2 Corinthians 1:3), because He continually shows mercy to sinners who return to Him with all their heart through true repentance. God says through the Prophet Isaiah: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15). In another place, through the same Prophet, God says: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes; cease to do evil… Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:16–18).

This truth was also fulfilled in the case of the prodigal son from the Holy Gospel that was read today. First, he came to himself; he longed for the happiness he had enjoyed when he was in his father’s house; then he said: “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger!” (Luke 15:17). These were the words of the prodigal son when he came to himself — that is, when he began to recognize the weight of his sins. Without this feeling and awakening, none of the sinners can return with all their heart to the all-good God.

Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Haralambos lived during the reign of Severus, when Lucian was governor in the city of Magnesia. Because he was a priest of the Christians and taught the way of truth, the tyrants ordered that he be stripped of his priestly vestments and then that the skin of his entire body be flayed. As the governor saw him patiently enduring the tortures, he became enraged and attempted to scrape the Saint with his own hands; immediately his hands were severed and remained suspended upon the body of the Martyr. The Saint, however, prayed and restored him to health. When the executioners, who were named Porphyrios and Baptos, saw this miracle, they renounced the idols and believed in Christ. The same also did three women from among those who were present there. The governor arrested all of these, and after subjecting them to tortures, mercilessly beheaded them. For although he was healed, he nevertheless remained in unbelief.

Saint Haralambis, more popularly known as Haralambos, is regarded, according to the hymnography of our Church, as the pride of Greece — of that Greece which bears the name of Christ; which is Christian and acknowledges and honors the saints; which considers the existence of their relics, such as the skull of the Holy Hieromartyr, as the greatest blessing and a most precious treasure; which hastens with faith and longing to the churches to celebrate their memory.

Prologue in Sermons: February 10

Fasting, the Reading of the Gospel, and the Struggle Against Evil Thoughts Drive Away the Devil

February 10

(A Discourse on the Abba Makarios the Great)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Speaking to you about the means given to us for combating the devil — means that serve to shame him and drive him away from us — we have already pointed to prayer, humility, the reading of the Psalter, diligence in labor, and prayer to the Holy Archangel Michael. Now we intend to speak of the benefit of several others as well, namely: fasting, the reading and study of the Gospel, and the struggle against evil thoughts.

Once, as Venerable Makarios was sitting by the roadside, he saw the devil in the form of a man, hung about with various vessels and heading toward a nearby monastery. By his prayer the Venerable one stopped the demon and asked him, “Where are you going?”

Homily on the Reception of the Lord (Saint Gerasimos Palladas)

In this homily Saint Gerasimos refers to the origin of the feast of the Reception (Hypapante), which goes back to God’s decision to strike all the firstborn male children of the Egyptians, in order that the Hebrews might be freed from the slavery of Pharaoh. From that time on, God required the Jews to bring to the Temple for consecration all firstborn males, of both humans and animals, as an expression of gratitude for that saving intervention of His.

The forty-day period that intervened between the birth of a child and the act of expiation in the Temple was necessary so that the mother and the newborn might be “purified” from the consequences of childbirth. This process would have had no reason to be undergone by the Word of God—nor by His all-pure Mother—yet He did undergo it: “first, so that the Jews might not immediately write that He does not submit to the Law; and second, so that they might not think and say that He is not truly man.”

In the text various symbols are mentioned, such as that of Jesus being offered in place of the lamb—which by tradition was offered on that day—and which in this case was destined to be sacrificed later on behalf of mankind. It is emphasized, of course, that Jesus is the Firstborn of all, the universal Holy One; therefore, in His person every being that comes into life can be “sanctified.” There is also the symbolism of the two turtledoves, which prefigure the Church because of their purity, and that of the two pigeons, which symbolize the Old and the New Testament.

Below is rendered into English the greater part of the homily, in which the author blesses the Spirit-bearing elder Symeon, who was deemed worthy to hold the infant Jesus in his arms.

Homily for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

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

Today we began to sing the 136th Penitential Psalm: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion; upon the willows in the midst thereof we hung our harps” (Psalm 136:1-2). The time of Great Lent is approaching. And in this wondrous and terrible Psalm, we hear both the lament of the Jews expelled from their earthly Fatherland, and the lament of the Christian who has lost his heavenly Homeland. We are all strangers and aliens, exiles on this earth. Our Homeland is in Heaven with God the Father, to which we must strive. We all hear and sing at the Divine Liturgy the words: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). These words signify not only a lament for sins, but a lament for the fact that man has not yet reached his homeland in Heaven. Gregory of Nyssa said that "truly blessed is he who has no permanent city on earth, who seeks the Heavenly Fatherland, who strives for Heaven." Such a person will certainly be comforted. He will find his homeland — the Promised Land; he will find that very Heavenly Jerusalem, the homeland of all Christians. As the Apostle Paul said: we all "died with Christ" (Col. 2:20).

Holy Martyr Nikephoros in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Nikephoros lived in the time of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus and was a simple layman. He also had a Christian friend, a presbyter of the Church named Saprikios, who, through demonic influence, came to hate Saint Nikephoros and harbored resentment against him. When Saprikios was arrested by the pagans and endured many tortures for the faith of Christ, Saint Nikephoros sent intermediaries to him, asking for forgiveness, but Saprikios would not listen to them.

Then Saint Nikephoros saw that Saprikios was being led to the place where his head would be cut off, so he ran and fell at his feet, begging for forgiveness. And although he reminded him of the laws of Christ concerning reconciliation among people, Saprikios would not relent. Saprikios had passed through many tortures and the hour was approaching for him to receive the crown and the rewards from Christ. Yet even when only a short time remained before his beheading, he would not grant forgiveness. For this reason, he was stripped of God’s help and said to the executioners: “Leave me, and I will sacrifice to the gods.”

When Saint Nikephoros saw this, he surrendered himself to the executioners and confessed Christ with boldness. Then, by the command of the tyrant, they cut off his head, and thus the Saint swiftly received the rewards of love, which he strove to put into practice for the sake of Christ, the Giver of love.