The World War 2 Miracle That Made Saint Gregory the Theologian the Patron Saint of Delvinaki in Ioannina

It was dawning on January 25, 1944, during the period of the German occupation. The village was asleep, though not without anxiety. The occupiers, enraged by the Resistance which they saw constantly growing stronger, were roaming towns and villages, carrying out searches and arrests of suspects, and spreading death without mercy. Delvinaki too was awaiting its turn… And it was that morning, at daybreak on January 25, when the news arrived that set the village on alert:

“Germans! The Germans are coming!”

Within a few minutes all the villagers gathered in the central square. There, near the large plane tree of the village opposite the community office, was a café where the resistance groups had brought munitions — arms, hand grenades, and whatever else they had in order to strike the enemy. They had intended to hide them in a safer place, but they did not have time. And now? Now that the Germans would soon arrive there? What were they to do?

The Holy Three Hierarchs in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint John of Euchaita is not only the one who received, by the grace of God, the appearance of the Holy Three Hierarchs in order to resolve the disagreement among the scholars of Constantinople about which of the three was the greatest, but also the one who was inspired to write “canons and troparia and encomia,” according to the Synaxarion. Indeed, today’s hymnography is, first of all, an encomium by the Saint of Euchaita praising the spiritual stature of all three Hierarchs, who were, among other things, “other angels in the flesh,” “gods by participation, because within them lived and spoke the only true God by nature,” “correctors of morals and stewards of souls, the common saviors of all, those who showed us models both of deeds and of words, the educators of life,” as well as “the great luminaries, the unshakable towers of the Church,” “those who received wisdom from God, like three other apostles of Christ.” There is no form of praise that the Holy Hymnographer does not employ in order to express, first, what he experienced visionarily and theoptically — namely, the presence of the Saints in his life — and second, their immense theological contribution to the life of the Church.

January: Day 30: Teaching 2: Commemoration of the Holy Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom

January: Day 30: Teaching 2:
Commemoration of the Holy Three Hierarchs: 
Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
 
(On Mutual Love and Unanimity in Faith)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. “In the eleventh century, during the reign of the Christ-loving Emperor Alexios Komnenos, there arose a great dispute in Constantinople among the most learned lovers of wisdom,” writes Saint Dimitri of Rostov in his Lives of the Saints, in the account of the Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs, whose memory is celebrated today. Some exalted Saint Basil the Great as a teacher lofty in speech, firm in character, and strict toward those who sinned. Others, however, placed above him Saint John Chrysostom, who, with his extraordinary eloquence, was distinguished by gentleness of heart toward sinners. And finally, others considered Gregory the Theologian higher than both, as the most eloquent in word and one who deeply understood the dogmas of the faith.

Indeed, it was difficult to decide which of these three great hierarchs should be considered greater than the others: each of them was great in his own way. The disputes among those arguing about the greatness of the three hierarchs were heated and eventually led many of them to division: some were called Basilites, others Gregorians, and still others Johannites, and they regarded one another as bitter enemies. This quarrel among the faithful over these very hierarchs was offensive to the memory of the Saints and grievous to their holy souls.

Prologue in Sermons: January 30

Against Lies and Slander

January 30

(The Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom on Lies and Slander)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

 

We all know that lying and slander are evil; but, unfortunately, we know little of the fact that the worst thing about this evil is that we pay little or no attention to lying and slander. “What is so serious about it,” we say, “if I lied? Nowadays almost everyone lies; what harm is there in it?” Thus we speak, but we should not speak so; for to lie and to slander truly is a calamity, and a great calamity.

“I beseech you, brethren,” says the universal teacher, “cease lying and slandering. Lying is the first sin and the craft of the devil, for he was the first to lie to Adam and led the whole human race into destruction. Let others make nothing of lying, neither repent of it nor abandon it. They will not escape punishment, for the Prophet says: 'You shall destroy all them that speak lies' (Ps. 5:7). And it will be even worse for those who join lying with slander. Slander destroys great households; one person slandered, and because of him others also weep and wail — his children, his neighbors, his friends. But slanderers themselves also come to a bad end for this. The Lord neither accepts their prayers, nor receives their offerings; their lamps are extinguished, and the wrath of God rests upon them, as David also says: 'The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks proud things.' Slanderers,” concludes Saint John Chrysostom, “are worse than thieves and robbers.”

Synaxarion of our Venerable and God-Bearing Father Demetrios Gagastathis

Synaxarion

By Haralambos Bousias

On the 29th of the same month [January], the commemoration of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Demetrios, surnamed Gagastathis, the newly-manifested radiant good Levite of Platanos in Trikala.

Verses

The simple and gentle presbyter Demetrios,
Christ has deemed worthy to rejoice with the angels.

The sanctified liturgist of the Most High, our father Demetrios, surnamed Gagastathis, a zealous emulator of the angels, has newly shone forth as a many-radiant star of holiness in Platanos of Trikala (1902–1975).

Coming from a married state and, beyond wife and children — having been deemed worthy to become the guardian of nine daughters — loving the Lord, he served Him in venerably in the priesthood, a poor former shepherd of irrational sheep. Becoming an inexhaustible vessel of myrrh of divine graces, as he liturgized he filled the church with an ineffable fragrance.

Translation of the Sacred Relic of Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Ignatius was a successor of the Holy Apostles and served as Bishop of Antioch. Together with Saint Polycarp, the president of the Church of the Smyrnaeans, he was a disciple of the Evangelist John the Theologian. He was therefore brought before Emperor Trajan, and after enduring every kind of torture without yielding, he was sent to Rome to be thrown to the beasts. When this took place, certain Christian men gathered his holy relics and brought them from Rome to Antioch, offering them to the Antiochene brethren who desired them with great longing. They then placed them beneath the earth with all honor and reverence. For this reason the Church celebrates a joyful feast.

We encountered Saint Ignatius the God-bearer — indeed, in considerable detail — on the day of his commemoration, the 20th of December. At that time, we had the opportunity to emphasize, on the one hand, the theological stature of the letters he left us — a truly significant contribution to overcoming ecclesiastical distortions — and, on the other hand, his deep love and fervor for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is precisely this love that the hymns of our Church also highlight today, on the occasion of the translation of his honorable relics. Indeed, it is impossible to speak of Saint Ignatius on any occasion without being moved by the furnace of his heart, which burned for the sake of Christ.

Prologue in Sermons: January 29

The Benefit to the Souls of the Departed from Commemoration at the Liturgy

January 29

(The account of Saint Gregory the Dialogist concerning a monk who died under penance and was forgiven after thirty days of commemoration.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

For the souls of those who have died in faith, but did not have time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, the prayers offered for them are salvific—prayers performed with faith in remembrance of their benefaction, and especially the offering for them of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. Concerning the special propitiatory power of the bloodless sacrifice for the departed, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: “Very great benefit will accrue to the souls for whom supplication is made, when the holy and awesome sacrifice is set forth” (Mystagogical Catechesis, V, 9). Saint John Chrysostom teaches the same: “Let us not grow weary,” he says, “in helping those who have departed and in offering prayers for them, for there lies before us a common purifying sacrifice for the whole world… And without doubt it is possible to obtain for them forgiveness through the gifts offered for them and through being named together with them” (Homily 41 on 1 Corinthians). Finally, examples also confirm this teaching. Here is one of them.

Saint Athanasios the Great and Our Times (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

Saint Athanasios the Great and Our Times 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Transcribed sermon delivered at the Sacred Metropolitan Church of Saint Athanasios in Ioannina, 18 January 2017)

Your Eminence Metropolitan of Ioannina, dear brother Maximos, and my beloved brothers,

Today we celebrate two great Fathers of our Church, and indeed in this very Metropolitan Church of Ioannina which bears the name of one of these two great Fathers and Ecumenical Teachers of our Church, namely Saint Athanasios. Of course, we also celebrate the memory of Saint Cyril. Both were Patriarchs of Alexandria — great Fathers of our Church and great confessors of the faith, great theologians and at the same time great Fathers. For we know that in the Orthodox Church theology is very closely bound to pastoral care and the patristic tradition. That is, one who is a theologian, in the patristic sense, is also a spiritual father, meaning that he guides his spiritual children on the path of salvation. And one who is a spiritual father, in order to guide his spiritual children, must also be a theologian. Thus theology is inseparably linked with spiritual fatherhood.

Yesterday your Eminence, Metropolitan of Ioannina Maximos, analyzed in an excellent manner the historical and dogmatic context in which these two great luminaries and Fathers of our Church, Saint Athanasios the Great and Saint Cyril, both Archbishops and Patriarchs of Alexandria, lived and worked.

Saint Ephraim the Syrian in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Venerable Ephraim was from the East, Syrian by origin. He learned piety and faith in Christ from his forefathers and lived in the time of Theodosius the Great. From his childhood he embraced the monastic life, and it is said that grace was poured out upon him by God. Through this grace, having written a great many compunctionate works, he guided many toward virtue and became an example of ascetic excellence for later generations. 

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian is among the most well-known Venerables and Fathers of our Church, in the sense that he is known even by those who do not know him. What do we mean by this? One may not be aware that the quintessential prayer of Great Lent — "Lord and Master of my life” — is his prayer, yet one has certainly heard it, has perhaps whispered it himself, and may even have incorporated it into his own prayers. And this means that he has been challenged — and is challenged each time by this prayer — to live repentance as a struggle against evil passions: idleness, curiosity, love of power, idle talk, and to acquire the virtues of chastity, humility, patience, and love, through which one lives in the presence of God.