Saint Photios the Great in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The great Father and Teacher of the Church, Photios (9th c.), the Confessor of the Faith and Equal to the Apostles, lived during the reigns of the emperors Michael, son of Theophilos, Basil the Macedonian, and Leo his son. His earthly homeland was the imperial city of Constantinople, being of origin from a pious and distinguished family, while his heavenly homeland was the Jerusalem above. Before entering the priesthood he distinguished himself in high offices, serving as a professor at the University of the Magnaura; and always living a virtuous and God-loving life, he was later entrusted, as Patriarch, with the guidance of the Church of Constantinople.

This took place as follows: when Saint Ignatios was violently deposed from the archiepiscopal throne by the emperor, the vacant throne had to be filled, and so the emperor turned to Photios and compelled him to succeed Saint Ignatios canonically. Thus he was first tonsured a monk and then passed “in rapid succession” through all the ranks of the priesthood.

As Patriarch he struggled greatly on behalf of the Orthodox faith against the Manichaeans, the Iconoclasts, and other heretics, but above all against the papal heresy which appeared for the first time in his era, whose leader was Pope Nicholas, the father of the Latin schism. After reproving Nicholas for his heretical views with proofs from Holy Scripture and the Fathers, and after judging him synodically, he considered him outside the Church and consigned him to anathema. For these actions, he naturally suffered many persecutions and dangers from the supporters of papism, many attacks and acts of violence against him, all of which he endured in a Christ-like manner, he who was distinguished for his long-suffering, patience, and adamantine character — facts well known to anyone who studies Church history.

What must especially be recalled, however, is that the blessed Photios, who ministered the gospel like another Apostle Paul, converted to the faith of Christ the entire nation of the Bulgarians together with their king, after catechizing and baptizing them. Likewise, by his words full of grace, wisdom, and truth, he regenerated and returned to the Catholic Church of Christ many different heretics — Armenians, Iconoclasts, and other heterodox believers. Indeed, when by the firmness of his conviction he astonished the murderous and ungrateful Emperor Basil and uprooted the weeds of every false teaching with his fervent zeal, he appeared more than anyone else as a genuine successor of the Apostles, filled with their Spirit-bearing teaching.

Thus, after shepherding the Church of Christ in a holy and evangelical manner, after ascending twice to the archiepiscopal throne against his will and being twice exiled from it by tyrannical force, and after leaving to the Church and the people of God many and varied writings — excellent and most wise, such as every age can truly admire — and after suffering greatly, as we have said, for his struggles on behalf of truth and justice, the much-contending one finally departed to the Lord, dying in exile at the Monastery of the Armenians, like the divine Chrysostom at Comana. His sacred and most honorable body was laid to rest in the monastery called Eremia or Hiremia. In former times his most holy synaxis was celebrated in the Church of the Honorable Forerunner located in that monastery, but now it is celebrated at the sacred and Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki, where the Theological School of the Great Church of Christ is also located.

Saint Boukolos of Smyrna in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Boukolos from a young age sanctified himself and became a vessel of the Holy Spirit. He was found worthy and fit by the all-praised and Christ-beloved divine John the Theologian, who ordained him bishop and good shepherd of the Church of Smyrna. Boukolos, illumined by the Holy Spirit, led those who were in the darkness of error into the light of the faith of Christ, and through holy baptism made them sons of the day, saving them from countless savage beasts. Thus, before departing this life, he ordained and appointed as shepherd and Teacher of the rational sheep in the same city, Smyrna, the blessed Polycarp, and then he fell asleep in the Lord. And when his honorable body was laid beneath the earth, God caused a plant to spring up that provides healings to this day.

Saint Boukolos is not very well known to most of our Christians, although he belongs to the Apostolic Fathers, who shone by their life and preaching. Perhaps this is because he stood between two most eminent men, great stars of our Church, who overshadowed him with their brilliance: Saint John the Theologian and Saint Polycarp of Smyrna. And on the other hand, he is also commemorated together with another star, a universal father and teacher, equal to the apostles and confessor, great in his very title — Saint Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople. Yet despite all the radiance of these great and eminent figures, Saint Boukolos, according to our Church, never ceases “to flash forth with the light of his God-working virtues, being set as a light on the lampstand of the divine Church and making it radiant with his sacred teachings” (“Shining with the light of God-working virtues, most holy one, you were mystically set as a light on the lampstand of the divine Church, making it radiant, Father, by your sacred teachings” - Vespers sticheron). He is the man who, as Saint Joseph the Hymnographer notes elsewhere in his Canon, “shone as light, as radiance, as a great sun, as lightning in the Church of Christ, and illumined the minds of the faithful” (“As light, as radiance, as a great sun, as lightning you shone forth in the Church of Christ and illumined the minds of the faithful” - Ode 9).

Prologue in Sermons: February 6

On What is Necessary in Order to Meet Death Not With Terror, But With Joy

February 6*

(Commemoration of the Holy Martyr Martha and her niece Mary, and of the Koly Martyr Karion the Black Robe Wearer)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

When we draw near to death, for the most part we meet it with terror rather than with joy. Why is this so? Because then we feel hemmed in on all sides. If we look back, we are met by unpaid sin and unforgiven evil; if we direct our gaze forward, we meet God, the impartial Judge, eternal blessedness — which we have lost for the fleeting sweetness of sin — and the torments of hell, ready to swallow us up forever. In short, we fear death because we are sinners. Were we righteous, it would be otherwise. We would meet death not with terror, but with joy.

The Reasons for the Anger of Westerners Against Photios (An Article by St. Nektarios of Aegina)

Introduction

By John Sanidopoulos

The following article titled The Reasons for the Anger of Westerners Against Photios was written in 1897 and published in the Thracian Yearbook by Metropolitan Nektarios Kephalas of Pentapolis (later Saint Nektarios of Aegina), at a time when he was Director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens and actively engaged in the formation of Orthodox clergy. The work belongs to the genre of Orthodox theological–historical apologetics and was composed as a systematic exposition of Orthodox ecclesiology through the lens of the Photian controversy.

Nektarios wrote in a period marked by intensified Roman Catholic missionary and apologetic activity in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, as well as renewed debates over papal primacy, synodal authority, and the legitimacy of the filioque. In response, Greek Orthodox theology of the late nineteenth century sought to articulate its identity with clarity and historical grounding. Saint Photios the Great emerged in this context as a paradigmatic figure: defender of synodal governance, guardian of the unchanged Creed, and representative of the Eastern understanding of primacy as one of honor rather than universal jurisdiction.

The Reception of the Lord (Archimandrite Joel Yiannakopoulos)

The Reception of the Lord 

(Luke 2:22-38)

By Archimandrite Joel Yiannakopoulos

After the birth of Christ, the Theotokos, as a Jewess, was obliged for two reasons to go to the Temple: first, for her own sake, and second, for the sake of her firstborn Son.

Her obligation toward herself was her lawful purification, her “forty-day purification,” as we would say today. According to the Law, that is, every Jewish woman who had given birth, on the fortieth day after the birth of her male child, had to appear in the Temple in order to be purified. During this purification she was required — if she was poor — “to offer a sacrifice according to what was prescribed: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” This purification was not a bodily cleansing for reasons of hygiene, but a legal one. By it there was recalled, in general, the sinfulness of humanity, and more specifically the transmission of ancestral sin through birth. This is evident from the fact that if a Jewish woman gave birth to a daughter, she was considered unclean not for forty days but for eighty, in remembrance that Eve was the first cause of the fall of the first-created humans. The sacrifice of the offered turtledoves and pigeons, which did not cleanse but merely reminded one of impurity, indicated the need for the coming of a Redeemer, Christ.

Holy Martyr Agatha in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Agatha was from the city of Panormos (modern-day Palermo) in Sicily, shining from her youth with purity of body and beauty of soul, and she was also wealthy. In the time of Emperor Decius, she was brought before the governor Quintianus. At first she was handed over to an unbelieving, immoral woman, so that she might turn her away from faith in Christ. But because she held firmly to this faith and preferred death by martyrdom, they beat her harshly and cut off her breast, which the all-glorious Apostle Peter restored to health. Then they dragged her over shards and burned her with fire. Finally they threw her into prison, where she surrendered her spirit to God. It is said that at her tomb an angel brought a tablet on which were written the following words: "A venerable mind, self-willed, honor from God, and the redemption of the fatherland."

Saint Theophanes, the hymnographer of Saint Agatha, finds the opportunity in the Canon he composed for her to emphasize once again that our Church is clothed in red by the blood of her holy martyrs. The martyric blood of each Saint is, moreover, an ornament for her, a sign that martyrdom constitutes the glory of the Church. "Let the Church today be adorned with a glorious purple garment, dyed by the pure blood of the Martyr Agatha." And he takes the occasion to remind us of what is self-evident: the Saint gave her life for the sake of her faith in Christ, precisely because she loved Him completely and therefore sought to order her existence according to His holy commandments. "Of all the pleasant and delightful things of life, you chose Christ, Agatha, having been captivated by divine longing."

Prologue in Sermons: February 5

To Novice Monks

February 5

(An admonitory discourse of Saint Ephraim on the ascetic struggle of monks.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Today we intend to offer spiritual assistance to monks, because, as those who wage an unceasing battle with the flesh, the world, and the devil, they especially stand in need of it. But since the more experienced among the monks are less in need of such help, and novices more so, we direct our assistance to the latter and express it in the following discourse to them by our venerable father Ephraim the Syrian.

“While you still have time, brother,” says the Venerable one to the novice monk, “strive as a good soldier of Christ, knowing that you strive not for a perishable crown, but for the cleansing of sins and for eternal life. Therefore, in all your deeds acquire humility of mind, which is the mother of obedience. Cast off double-mindedness from yourself and in all things clothe yourself with faith, so that the Lord, seeing the zeal of your soul, may strengthen you in your work. Nurture within yourself a strong hatred for laziness, for rivalry, for every evil disposition and envy, since for the Lord you have left behind your fleshly parents, friends, and possessions. For if at the beginning your thoughts make you slack, you will endure both weariness and loss. Therefore, if it should happen that for the Lord we grow weary somewhat, or even beyond our strength, let us not complain. For whoever complains clearly shows about himself that he does not labor of his own free will. You, as a wise man, do not compete with the more negligent brethren, and do not envy those who live without fear of God, knowing firmly that he who falls is dashed to pieces, while he who overcomes is crowned.

Saint Isidore of Pelusium in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Isidore, who was Egyptian by birth, was known as the son of noble and God-loving parents, and he was a relative of Theophilos and Cyril, the Bishops of the Church of Alexandria. This venerable man, greatly educated both in divine wisdom and in secular learning, left behind very many writings, worthy of study and remembrance by lovers of learning. Having abandoned every form of wealth, the splendor of his lineage, and the comfort of worldly life, he went to Mount Pelusium and embraced the monastic life. There, living in complete dedication to God, he illumined the whole inhabited world with the teaching of his divine words, with the result that he led sinners to repentance, strengthened those who were struggling in the faith, and stirred to virtue those who were disobedient, through the severity of his divine reproofs. Moreover, he reminded and admonished even kings, for the benefit of the world, and in general interpreted the words of Holy Scripture in a most wise manner for all who questioned him. It is said, indeed, that his letters number as many as ten thousand. Having therefore lived an excellent life and conducted himself according to the will of God, he departed this life in deep old age.

Prologue in Sermons: February 4

 

A Monk Must Not Leave the Monastery in Which He Lives

February 4

(A Discourse on Silence and Humility, and On Not Falling Into Despair)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some of the monks, unfortunately, have become accustomed to leaving the monasteries in which they live and moving from place to place. There, they say, the abbot is strict; here, the brethren are quarrelsome; there, the labors are beyond one’s strength; and here, they do not struggle as we would like. And such men run off—partly out of laziness, partly out of pride, partly out of their innate inability to get along—from their own monastery to another, and from that one to a third, and so on. Is this good? 

 

No, it is bad. Bad, first of all, because wandering is forbidden by the Savior Himself, who says: “Do not go from house to house” (Luke 10:7), and “Into whatever town you enter, remain there” (Matt. 10:11). And bad, secondly, because examples sometimes point to the most disastrous consequences for monks who leave the monasteries in which the Lord has ordained them to dwell. For the instruction of such wanderers, we present one such example.