The Art of Iconography (Photios Kontoglou)

 

The Art of Iconography 

By Photios Kontoglou

The all-honorable art of Iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church is a sacred and liturgical art, just as all ecclesiastical arts are, for they have a spiritual purpose. These holy arts do not aim merely to adorn the church with painting to make it pleasing and delightful to the worshippers, or to delight their hearing with music, but to lift them into the mystical world of faith through a spiritual ladder, which has gradations, that is, steps: the sacred arts, hymnography, psalmody, architecture, iconography, and the other arts, all cooperating together, so that the mystical Paradise, fragrant with spiritual perfume, may be formed within the souls of the faithful. Therefore, the works of the ecclesiastical arts of the Eastern Church are reminders of the divine word.

The art of Icons in the Orthodox Church is called Hagiography, as it paints holy persons and sacred subjects. The iconographer is not simply an artisan who makes a representational painting on religious themes, but possesses spiritual rank and a spiritual ministry, which he performs within the church, as does the priest and the preacher.

The Witness and the Mission of the Orthodox Faith

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani

March 2021

On the occasion of the celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, during which we remember the restoration of the holy and venerable icons, as well as the victory and triumph of the Orthodox Church, it becomes necessary that the great duty of the witness and mission of the Orthodox faith in our difficult times be emphasized.

It is a fact that our era has been marked by a health crisis on a global level. We are still experiencing the various hardships of the Covid-19 pandemic in all sectors of society. This constitutes a trial for modern man, even raising questions of existence and worldview.

Undoubtedly, this pandemic comes and brings about a reconsideration of many data and conditions. Nothing is the same as before. The way of life of people, after the coronavirus era, has new foundations. And the changes are radical and decisive at all levels of the life of people and of societies.

Venerable Paul the Simple in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Only a few days have passed since we celebrated our Holy Father Nicholas Planas (March 2). And now today, our Church celebrates another Saint as well, with the same gift of holiness: the simplicity according to God.

Simplicity made Paul into a great holy man; simplicity also made Father Nicholas Planas into a great saint. It is not accidental that some have proposed, with the same designation as for Saint Paul, to call Father Nicholas “the Simple” (like Paul).

The late Elder Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis, the Hymnographer of Venerable Paul, points this out first of all for Venerable Paul: “You have beautified yourself, venerable one, with the ways of simplicity, and you have been revealed as simple, meek, and measured, blessed Paul, and you became a true servant of Almighty God through your brilliant life” (Sticheron of Vespers).

Saint Ephraimios of Antioch and the Conversion of the Stylite Monk Who Was a Severian

The Leimonarion
(Chapter 36)

By St. John Moschos

The Life of Ephraimios the Patriarch of Antioch and How He Converted a Stylite Monk from the Impiety of the Severian Heresy

One of the Fathers recounted to us concerning the blessed Ephraimios, the Patriarch of Antioch, that he was exceedingly zealous and fervent regarding the orthodox faith. Having heard, therefore, about a Stylite in a certain place near Hierapolis, who was excommunicated with Severus and the Acephali,* he went to him, wishing to persuade him.

When he arrived there, the divine Ephraimios began to admonish and entreat the Stylite to approach the apostolic throne and to partake in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Stylite, replying to him, said that he would not participate in the synod as it had occurred.

The divine Ephraimios said to him: “And how do you wish that I should heal you, since by the grace of Christ Jesus, our Lord God, the Holy Church has been freed from every defilement of heretical teaching?”

Prologue in Sermons: March 7

To Those Who Ask for Alms and Live at the Expense of Their Benefactors

March 7

(From the Discourse on the Recluse, in which God revealed to him concerning those who receive gifts.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Brethren, enough people among us who are idle, accustomed to living at the expense of others. A person finds some kind benefactor, approaches him, and begins to make use of his generosity, without giving any thought either to his own duty toward his benefactor or to the fact that, being capable and healthy, to live in idleness and at another’s expense is very sinful. But we will defer judgment on the latter; for now, let us ask those idle lovers of leisure the following: for living at the expense of others, should they bear some responsibility toward them or not? Should they remember any accountability before God, or not? Since it is hard to expect a satisfactory answer to these questions from the people in question, we will attempt to resolve these matters ourselves and give a lesson to the idle and the lazy for the future.

The Historicity of the Discovery of the True Cross of Christ by Saint Helen

By Konstantinos Karastathis 

 

Saint Helen in the Holy Land 

 

The monk Alexander (13th century) gives us the very interesting information that Constantine, after the completion of the proceedings of the First Ecumenical Synod and the hosting of the Members of the Synod in the palace, urged the Bishop of Jerusalem, Makarios, who participated in the Synod, to search for the Cross of the Lord, the Tomb, and all the Holy Places:

“Having honored the bishops with generosity, the emperor, after embracing them, dismissed them in peace to their own dioceses, rejoicing at the agreement of the Churches. And he exhorted Makarios, the Bishop of Aelia, who was present at the synod and was contending for the apostolic dogmas, to seek out the life-giving Cross, and the God-possessed Tomb, and all the Holy Places; and likewise he urged the other bishops to ask for whatever each might foresee as contributing to the completion of his own Church. And it was the nineteenth year of his reign when the synod at Nicaea took place.

After these things the emperor sent his own mother Helen, the praiseworthy and God-loving one, to Jerusalem with letters and an abundance of money to Makarios of Jerusalem, for the search for the life-giving Wood and the building of the Holy Places, this having been requested by the empress herself, who said that she had seen a divine vision commanding her to go to Jerusalem and to bring the Holy Places to light, which had been buried by the lawless and had become invisible for so many years.”

Holy 42 Martyrs of Amorium in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

These saints were the foremost men of the city of Amorium. When, during the reign of Theophilos, Amorium was captured by the Hagarenes, they were taken captive by them, because they were generals and commanders and members of the foremost class among the Romans. Yet they did not betray their faith in Christ — neither out of cowardice, nor out of love for this present life, nor out of softness, nor because of their long-lasting suffering. For the vigor of their souls was not weakened by their bodily injuries and their imprisonment; rather, having drawn up against the enemies with manly resolve and bravery of soul, and refusing to stoop to deny their faith in Christ, they gladly accepted the cutting off of their heads.

Just as a person rejoices when he has invested in this world in his new and indeed precious clothes, in the same way the Church also celebrates today, we are told by the Hymnographer of the saints, Saint Joseph, because she has clothed herself in the new garment of the blood of the new prize-winning martyrs. “The Church today celebrates mystically, having put on a new garment, like purple and fine linen, the blood of the new prize-winning martyrs” (doxastikon of Vespers). And this means, as is known, that martyrdom for our Church constitutes her glory and her boast, since in this way she stands precisely upon the footsteps of the first Martyr, the founder of the faith, Jesus Christ.

Prologue in Sermons: March 6

It Is Unreasonable to Become Attached to Earthly Things

March 6*

(A Parable of Venerable Barlaam Concerning This Temporal Life)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

In order to impress His teaching more deeply upon the hearts of His listeners, Jesus Christ often presented it in parables — that is, in comparisons or riddles. For the same reason the Holy Fathers also at times taught by means of parables, and several of these have been preserved down to our time. With the latter, from time to time, I intend to acquaint you, and by way of example I now present one of them.

A certain man, says the Venerable Barlaam, encountered a terrible, raging beast that was ready to tear him to pieces. Fleeing from the fury of the animal, this man fell into a deep pit, and while falling, fortunately managed to grasp the branches of a large tree that was growing in the pit. Having seized the branches firmly and found some support for his feet, the man considered himself already safe. But suddenly, looking down, he saw two mice that were constantly gnawing at the root of the tree, and still lower, a dreadful serpent with its mouth wide open, preparing to devour him. Turning his eyes away from this terrifying sight, he saw an asp coming out of the rock, very close to him. Surrounded on every side by dangers, the man naturally lifted his eyes upward and there, on the top of the tree, he saw a very small quantity of honey.

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich as a Model for our Lives

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Nikolai, Bishop of Ochrid, was born on 23 December 1880 in the village of Lelić in Serbia to pious parents. He learned his first letters at the Monastery of Ćelije and afterwards entered the Clerical School of Saint Sava in Belgrade. Later, with a scholarship from the Church, he continued his studies in Switzerland, Germany, and England, and subsequently was elected professor at the Clerical School of Saint Sava.

During the First World War he supported the suffering and the poor. After the end of the war he was elected Bishop of Žhicha in 1919, and two years later he was transferred to Ochrid. He frequently visited Mount Athos and stayed mainly at the Sacred Monastery of Saint Panteleimon. There he met Saint Silouan, whose holiness he immediately recognized and made known. He also met Saint Sophrony, whom he ordained a deacon.