The Infants of Babylon and the Rock

In Holy Scripture there are many passages difficult to understand, which ill-intentioned people misinterpret and use to criticize the Bible. Yet Scripture was written precisely in this way — to reveal the inclinations of our hearts, to expose a bad disposition, or to reward with its wisdom those who, with a good disposition, seek the true meaning and search within it for the real depth that God hid there for all of us.

A Strange Passage

A strange (at first glance) passage of Holy Scripture is found in Psalm 136 (137):7-9:

“Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said: ‘Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!’ O daughter of Babylon, wretched one — blessed shall he be who repays you the recompense you have paid us. Blessed shall he be who takes and dashes your infants against the rock.”

The reasonable question arising from this passage is the following:

How is it possible that God praises the one who will smash the infants of Babylon upon the rock? What did the poor infants do?

Various enemies of the truth — neo-pagans and atheists — hastened to use this passage to claim that Holy Scripture supposedly encourages barbarity. In doing so, however, they clearly revealed their bad disposition and received from Scripture the message fitting to their own personality.

As we have said, Scripture is “Jacob’s well,” from which each person draws according to his disposition — good or evil. Let us therefore leave the ill-intentioned to their satisfaction that they supposedly found something evil in the Bible, and let us, as Christians, see what we will draw from this well of truth.

We will present three levels of interpretation of the passage: a historical one, a prophetic one, and a spiritual one. Let each Christian draw according to his needs.

Saint Leo of Catania the Wonderworker in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Leo was from Ravenna and was the son of noble parents. Because of the purity of his life and the careful guarding of his thoughts, he passed through all the ranks of the priesthood according to the laws of the Church, and by divine election he was revealed as the head (bishop) of the Metropolis of Catania, which is located in renowned Sicily, where even now fire bursts forth and lava flows from Mount Etna.

Thus he — as his very name suggests — like a lion in faith and like the sun in brilliance, enlightened all, caring for souls, becoming the protector of widows and providing for the poor. For this reason, by his prayer alone he cast down to the ground a statue-idol and saw to the building of a large and beautiful church for the victorious martyr Lucy, while he burned up the magician Heliodoros together with his magical devices.

For when this man appeared publicly among the crowd, performing magic and creating false impressions, the blessed Leo quickly seized him with his hands and bound him with his sacred stole, then ordered that a great fire be lit in the middle of the city. And after exposing all his magical practices, holding him bound by the neck, he entered together with him into the furnace and did not come out until the coward was completely burned to ashes.

This astonished everyone. For not only did the great Leo remain unburned, but the flame did not even touch a single one of his sacred vestments.

When this miracle became known everywhere and even the emperors Leo and Constantine heard it with their own ears, they summoned the Saint to come near them; they touched his feet and begged him to pray for them.

He was not only a great wonderworker during his life, but after his burial he continued to perform miracles.

February: Day 20: Teaching 2: Venerable Bessarion of Egypt

February: Day 20: Teaching 2:
Venerable Bessarion of Egypt
 
(Why Do We Nowadays See So Few Miracles?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. From his earliest youth, Venerable Bessarion, whose memory is celebrated today, dedicated himself entirely to the service of God. After visiting many great ascetics of the desert, he absorbed their spirit and himself renounced everything worldly; he wandered through mountains and deserts, not only without a permanent shelter, but rarely even staying under another’s roof. He spent days and nights in prayer and was granted by God the gift of great miracle-working.

Once, by prayer and the sign of the cross, he turned bitter sea water into drinkable water to quench the thirst of his disciple who was fainting from dehydration. By prayer the Venerable Bessarion brought down rain during drought, crossed rivers as if upon dry land, and healed the sick.

With extreme strictness toward himself, he was full of leniency toward others. Once, when a monk who had fallen into sin was punished by being forbidden to stand in church together with the brethren, Bessarion left the church along with the condemned monk, saying: “I too am a sinner.”

Prologue in Sermons: February 20

Against Those Who Deny the Snares of Demons

February 20

(From a discourse of the Lemonarion about the warfare of demons with monks.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

People of this age often deny the existence of temptations from the devil. They are convinced that the devil has not the slightest influence over them, that he never troubles them, and that one should not believe in the devil’s snares. Are such people right or not? In my opinion, in one sense they are right, but in another — completely wrong. That the devil does not plot against them may indeed be so; but that he no longer wars against anyone is untrue; for there is a particular reason why he does not wage war precisely against them.

Life of Patriarch Sylvester of Alexandria: The Proposal for Canonization

On October 8, 2025, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa resolved to canonize Patriarch Sylvester among the Saints. His memory is celebrated on February 19. Below is the proposal that was submitted for his canonization.

Life of Patriarch Sylvester of Alexandria: The Proposal for Canonization

By Archbishop Makarios of Kenya and Exarch of All East Africa 

Introduction: The Monastic Path to Holiness and the Formation of Future Leaders

When in the past I had the honor of presenting to the Synod the proposal for the canonization of the Patriarchs of Alexandria — Joachim, Meletios, Cyril Loukaris, and Gerasimos Palladas — I did not imagine that today I would stand again before you to propose yet another Saint and Patriarch: Sylvester of Alexandria.

What is remarkable is that, like the others, this Patriarch too was directly connected with the Sacred Monastery of Agarathos, as I describe below — that sacred place which nurtured and produced so many who later shone as bishops and patriarchs of the Church.

The life of the monk, especially in the Orthodox Church, is not merely a personal search for holiness, but a deeply communal and ecclesiastical journey toward it.

Monasteries, as sacred spaces of prayer, asceticism, and communal life, have historically been fertile ground for cultivating not only future bishops and patriarchs but also saints. They are places where the soul is nourished, deeper spiritual realities are revealed, and people are prepared to fulfill their God-given mission within the life of the Church.

Saint Philothei of Athens in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

A day of special joy is today, especially for Athens, which honors in a particular way the Venerable Martyr Philothei of Athens. And rightly so: in Athens the Saint lived, was sanctified, and was martyred. Even more: there also lie her holy relics. The relics of the saints, as is known, constitute the greatest treasure for a place — provided, of course, that there are faithful Orthodox Christians. For we Orthodox have the “eyes” to be able to see the grace of God in that which for unbelievers is a dead body, a corpse. For us, the “corpse” is the living presence of the saint and the tangible proof that Christ sanctifies the human being completely: both in soul and in body.

Which means: the soul lives the energy of God when it is turned toward Him, and this energy is transmitted also to the body united with it. No materialism is higher or more effective than that of the Orthodox Church. The daily miracles performed by the Saint through her relics confirm the above truth. And further: the relics, fragrant and myrrh-streaming, show how greatly deluded are all those who advocate cremation of the dead. How much spiritual shortsightedness and lack of faith is hidden behind this belief. The service of the day proclaims this joy:

“Today the renowned Athens rejoices, because the divine relics of Philothei are set forth for veneration, and all the people kiss them with longing.”

Prologue in Sermons: February 19

People, Both the Uneducated and Those Living in the World, Can Be Saved

February 19

(Homily of Saint Gennadios, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the fear of God.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some among the common folk, lazy concerning the work of their salvation, when spoken to about salvation, wishing to justify their negligence, exclaim:

“I am simple and ignorant; I know nothing!”

Others say: 

“I have a wife and children; necessities overwhelm me — I have no time for salvation!”

Let us see, brethren, whether this is truly so.

Why do you trouble yourself, O man, seeking many books that instruct you in what is beneficial, and going to every teacher saying: “Teach me how I may be saved”?

Meatfare Sunday: Love Yes, But What Kind of Love? (Fr. George Metallinos)

Meatfare Sunday: Love Yes, But What Kind of Love?

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

“Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40)

1. Today’s Gospel reading comes to remind us of a great truth. Last Sunday the Holy Gospel spoke about the goodness of God the Father, who awaits His creature to return. But this must not make us forget His justice as well. God is not only a tender Father; He is also a just Judge. “Neither is His mercy without judgment, nor His judgment without mercy,” says Saint Basil the Great. He will judge the world, the Gospel tells us — and indeed not arbitrarily, but according to our deeds.

Thus today’s passage brings us face to face with the fact of judgment. And we say “fact,” because the universal judgment constitutes for our faith an eschatological certainty and reality, confessed in our Creed as an ecclesiastical belief:

“And He shall come again to judge the living and the dead…”

We are therefore called today to realize three things:

First, that our Judge will be Jesus Christ as God. Christ is Savior but also Judge. If the first time He came humbly to earth “to save the world,” now He will come “in His glory” to judge the world. He who became for us a “curse” upon the Cross has every right to judge us if we have allowed His sacrifice to remain inactive within us and within our society.

Saint Leo of Rome in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

This wondrous Father of ours, Leo, because of his exceptional chastity and purity of soul and the sincerity of his life, was ordained by the Holy Spirit as President (Bishop) of elder Rome. He demonstrated a life pleasing to God and genuine, and shepherded his flock in a holy manner; and furthermore: he completely wiped out the blasphemies of the heretics at the time of the Holy and Ecumenical Fourth Synod of the six hundred and thirty Fathers, which was convened in Chalcedon in the year 451 A.D., which expounded many things concerning the Orthodox faith and overturned the dogmas of the heretics, who were speaking nonsense about the one nature and energy and will of Christ our God.

And because those fighters against God were warring against the truth and were attempting to refute the divinely-inspired dogmas of the divine Fathers, this blessed one, being persuaded by the supplication of the entire Synod, after many days of fasting and vigil and intense prayer, was inspired by the life-giving Spirit and set forth in writing on these matters, clearly proclaiming a double energy and two wills in Christ our God. He then sent these by letter to the Synod. This letter the multitude of Holy Fathers received with the conviction that the writing had come forth as if from the mouth of God; thus, as though the Fathers had found rest in it, they opposed with greater boldness the host of the heretics and defeated their complex intrigues. And with these things the most sacred Assembly was dissolved.

And the divinely inspired Leo, after living still many years and shining like the sun with his virtues, departed to the Lord in deep old age.