The Hermitage of Saint Christodoulos in Evia

Limni is a town and a community in the northwestern part of the island of Evia (Euboea), Greece. At the end of the beach of Limni is the Hermitage of Saint Christodoulos. It is the location where Saint Christodoulos lived the last years of his ascetic life at the end of the 11th century.

Saint Christodoulos was the founder of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on Patmos. After pirate raids on Patmos, he fled to Limni in the year 1092, together with Patmos monks and residents. He resided in this cave of Limni until the end of his life in 1093. After his death, monks from Patmos took his relics and transferred them to the island of the Apocalypse.

During his stay in Limni, the Saint composed his "Testament" and "Codicil" (March 1093). This Testament, in order to be valid, is signed by seven officials of the episcopal authority and the city of Euripos (Halkida), namely Leo, presbyter and sacerdotal officer of the city of Euripos, John, presbyter and notary of the see of Euripos, Michael… of the see of Euripos, Basil the lowly deacon… and notary of Euripos, etc.

Venerable Christodoulos of Patmos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

“Great indeed is Anthony, the beginning of the Fathers, but divine Christodoulos is their divinely-inspired end.” (Verses of the Synaxarion)

The wise Hymnographer of the Service of Venerable Christodoulos, the teacher Iakovos Anastasios of Patmos, is distinguished for his deep knowledge of the spiritual life of the Church. This means that he is able with ease to discern the signs of the saintliness of Venerable Christodoulos and to present them to us in the best possible way. The saying of the Apostle Paul applies to him, which states that “the spiritual man who has the Spirit of God can examine all things, yet he himself cannot be judged by anyone who does not have that Spirit.”

Nevertheless, feeling his own smallness, from the very beginning he invokes — as is usually done by hymnographers — the illumination and grace of God in order to hymn the Venerable one correctly and not distort his image (Ode 1).

Prologue in Sermons: March 16

 

One Should Not Be Troubled When We See That Sinners Sometimes Prosper In This Life While The Righteous Suffer

March 16

(From the Words of Saint John Chrysostom: “For whom the Lord loves, He chastens.”)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The sorrowful life of the righteous on earth, and the apparently happy life of sinners, often lead us to reflection: why do the former suffer, and why do the latter prosper? Does the Lord really not see the sufferings and virtues of the former? Does He not know of the sins of the latter, and does He have no punishment prepared for them? How, after this, are we to understand the justice of God?

Here is how Saint Chrysostom answers this:

“If,” he says, “you see a sinner healthy and rich, do not be astonished at this; for he has done some small good deed, and therefore he receives his reward for it here. But there, like the rich man in the Gospel, he will hear that voice: ‘Child, remember that you received your good things in your lifetime.’

And when you see a righteous man enduring misfortunes and sorrows, rejoice for him; for through these he is being purified here from sins, and there he will go to great joy.

Homily for the Third Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast - The Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

 

Homily for the Third Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast 

The Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross 

On the Value of the Soul

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37)

Beloved faithful,

In today’s sermon on the Holy Gospel, we will speak, as much as the Most Good God enlightens us, about the honor of man and the value of the human soul. Behold what the Savior says: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Then He says: “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:37). Hear, my brothers, how great and immeasurable the value of our soul is, and to what honor and esteem our Savior Jesus Christ Himself has raised it. And if this is so, who could ever resist this truth?

Holy Scripture often calls man a “soul.” Behold what it says in Genesis: “The souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that came out of his loins, were sixty-six souls, besides the women of his sons” (Genesis 46:26). See, Holy Scripture calls man a “soul.” And why does Scripture call man a “soul”? The answer is this: because of the great value the soul has in comparison with the body. But can one call the soul “man”? No. A human can be called a soul, but the soul alone cannot be called man. For the soul has an invisible nature, and the body has a visible and tangible nature, and only when these unite in a single hypostasis is it called man. But the soul is not called man without the body, nor is the body called man without the soul. For man is a hypostasis united from two natures, soul and body.

Homily for the Third Sunday Evening of Great Lent (St. Sergius Mechev)

Homily for the Third Sunday Evening of Great Lent 

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

(Delivered in 1929)

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

For one who repents, my dear ones, it is not fitting to judge or to engage in idle talk. One who repents should, as much as possible, be silent, in order to work out his salvation in repentance. But we are constantly speaking idly, constantly judging and re-judging others, constantly doing evil with our tongue. By this we bring harm both to ourselves, who speak evil, and to those who listen to our evil speaking. And the Holy Fathers point out that our tongue is a small member, yet it does great evil, setting on fire the course of life (cf. Jas. 3:6). How easily it arms one person against another. And our carelessness about our speech becomes an instrument of murder. Saint Anthony the Great says plainly: “He who receives a slanderer or a backbiter becomes a partner with a murderer.” You see, according to the words of the Holy Father, a slanderer and a murderer are one and the same. “Flee from the slanderer, whoever he may be, and do not be ashamed to flee from him.” “It is safer to live with a snake than with a slanderer,” say the Holy Fathers. And John of the Ladder forbids us to show respect to such people. “Never show respect to the one who speaks maliciously to you about his neighbor. By this you will heal both yourself and your neighbor.”

Homily on the Third Sunday of Great Lent (Righteous Alexei Mechev)

Homily on the Third Sunday of Great Lent*

By Righteous Alexei Mechev

Today the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross are remembered, and the Gospel read today points to the Cross as the instrument of our salvation. Look, dear ones, what a sorrowful and difficult path Christ our Savior had to pass while He, leaving the judgment hall of Pilate, went to the hill of Golgotha. Long is this path: first He goes through the valley, and then He ascends over rocky ground up the mountain, and along this sorrowful road Christ must carry upon Himself His enormous Cross. What pain this Cross caused to the body of Jesus, covered with blood and wounds as a result of His scourging in the courtyard of Pilate!

But look with what joy He carries His Cross, with what patience. They strike Him, they laugh, they mock Him, but He is silent and opens His mouth only for the consolation of others: He consoles His grieving Mother, He consoles the women of Jerusalem who accompany Him with weeping to Golgotha.

Holy Martyr Agapios and His Seven Companions in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

These Saints lived during the time of Diocletian. And Agapios was from the city of Gaza, Timolaos from Pontus, the two Dionysioses from Tripolis of Phoenicia, Romulus was a subdeacon of the Church in Diospolis, and Plesios and the two Alexanders were from Egypt. All of them, after first binding their souls with longing for Christ, then put their hands into chains and came before Urbanus, the governor of Caesarea, confessing that they were Christians. Then he, since he could neither bend them by threats nor by flatteries, nor indeed remove them from the faith of Christ, ordered their heads to be cut off with the sword.

It is logical: Saint Joseph the Hymnographer takes as the basis of his divine inspiration for the seven martyrs — the first of whom is Saint Agapios — precisely the name of Agapios. In almost every troparion of the Service which he composed for them, he emphasizes that the motive of their martyrdom and of their struggle in general was their fervent love for the Lord. For example:

“You have been wounded by love, of the Master of all, O most admirable Martyr Agapios, and you desired beforehand to die for Him” (Ode 1).

“Having greatly desired Christ, O Agapios, you courageously imitated His sufferings” (Ode 4).

Prologue in Sermons: March 15

The Chosen Servants of God Sometimes Also Bear Upon Themselves Special Signs of God’s Mercy Toward Them

March 15

(A Word about Sergius the clairvoyant hermit.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The beloved servants of God, who are appointed by the Lord for higher service in His Church, sometimes bear within themselves not only special spiritual signs of His mercies toward them, but also — visible to some — particular tokens indicating their future great service. This we shall demonstrate by the following example.

In the Prologue, on the fifteenth day of March, in the church reading, it is written:

“Monk George the Armenian related: ‘Abba Gregory, the abbot of the Lavra of Pharan, many times asked me to bring him to Sergius the hermit, who lived not far from the Dead Sea. I fulfilled his wish and once brought him to the elder, who received him very kindly, brought water and washed his feet, conversed with him the whole day about the salvation of the soul, and only on the next day dismissed him.

Orthodox Theology and Hesychasm, According to Father John Romanides

Prologue 

 

The feast of Saint Gregory Palamas, on the Second Sunday of the Fast, reminds us of the great value of Holy Hesychasm as the foundation of Orthodox theology, which differs clearly from Western scholastic theology — the latter having created many problems in the West through the Reformation, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, German idealism, Existentialism, and so on.

Holy Hesychasm is not a theology of the past, but rather the very Orthodox theology itself, which continues to inspire and produce saints even today. Specifically, all the saints who in recent years have been added by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Church’s calendar are Hesychasts, in the full sense of the term as analyzed by Saint Gregory Palamas.

And of course, it is impossible for us to participate in the worship of the Church, to honor Saint Gregory Palamas, to chant the sacred troparia inspired by Holy Hesychasm, and to honor the modern saints, while at the same time speaking of transcending the teaching of the Holy Fathers, and naturally, of transcending Holy Hesychasm itself.

Father John Romanides admitted, to his credit, that when he wrote his dissertation on “Original Sin,” he was unaware of certain aspects of the topic, including Holy Hesychasm. That is why in his later studies he supplemented this gap, as is evident in the preface of the second edition (Domos publications) of his study on “Original Sin.” In all the works of Father John Romanides, it is clear that his teaching was inspired by the teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas and the Hesychast Fathers of the Church; it was in the same atmosphere as the teaching of the Orthodox Church.