“This is how Orthodoxy will flourish in a few years! This is how it will bear fruit throughout the world! Christians, Christ is Risen!” Crazy-John

Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.
Synaxarion
On March 24 the Forefeast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, and we commemorate our righteous Father Artemon, Bishop of Seleucia in Pisidia. (1st century)
On this day we commemorate the holy Hieromartyr Artemon, Presbyter of Laodicea.(284-305)
On this day the our righteous Father Zacharias the Recluse, of Egypt reposed in peace. (4th century)
On this day the holy eight martyrs from Caesarea in Palestine died by the sword.
On this day the our righteous Father Martin of Thebes reposed in peace.
On this day the our righteous Father Zacharias the Hospitable (6th century)
On this day the our righteous Father Thomas, Abbot of the monastery of St. Euthymius (542)
On this day the our righteous Father Abraham of Mount Latros, ascetic.
On this day the our righteous Father Zachariah, Faster of the Kiev Caves (12th century)
On this day the holy Martyrs Stephen and Peter of Kazan. (1552)
On this day the holy New Hieromartyr Parthenius III, Patriarch of Constantinople, died by hanging in Constantinople in the year 1657.
On this day the holy New Hieromartyr Vladimir Pankin, Priest, of Chimkent (1920)
On this day the holy Synaxis of the Icon of the Theotokos “The Clouded Mountain” (also “the Uncut Mount” or “Smoky Mountain”), in Tver
Commemoration of the miracle at the Kiev Caves Lavra

First Sunday of Great Lent
the Triumph of Orthodoxy

On this first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the Church of Christ celebrates the restoration of the holy and venerable icons by the Emperor Michael, the holy and blessed Empress Theodora and the Holy Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Verse: I rejoice, on seeing the Icons that were unworthily,
Banished being accorded fitting veneration.

“We shall not deny you, beloved Orthodoxy,
nor shall we lie to you, time-honored reverence,
We were born in you, we live in you, and we shall die in you.
And if time shall call us,
we shall sacrifice a thousand times our lives for you.”
(Monk Joseph Vriennios, Spiritual Father of St. Mark of Ephesus, + ca. 1435)

“Madness With Meaning”
– A True Miracle Story of Crazy-John

The following story was told by Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou based on the testimony of a certain lady he knows who was a spiritual child of Elder Eumenios, who had given her before his venerable repose the cane of Saint Nikephoros the Leper as well as a portion of his sacred relics. This blessed soul, said the Metropolitan, was close with the late famous Crazy-John (Trelo-Yiannis), whose name in the world was Constantine, about whom, as is well-known, books have been written, albeit in a “fictional” style.

In a certain church in Athens, on the formal and festive day of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the faithful entered, holding icons they had brought from their homes, in commemoration of the restoration of the icons on this bright day. During this Service the lady who is well known to us was present, who at one point saw Crazy-John enter the church, holding above his head a flowerpot with withered flowers! During the procession of the sacred icons, which takes place on this day in some churches, certain Christians were making fun of Crazy-John, for his strange “lifting” of the flowerpot. This good lady of ours, who was processing with Crazy-John, tried to knock some sense into him, saying: “My Constantine, put down the flowerpot now! You’re not being serious on such a day and time!” He responded to her: “What you see, is madness with meaning! You see a flowerpot. In the end you will see everyone fall down in veneration!”

The procession came to an end, and the head priest, with a “loud voice”, recited from the Synodikon of Orthodoxy the well-known triumphant discourse: “This is the faith of the Apostles, this is the faith of the Fathers, this is the faith of the Orthodox, this is the faith upheld by the Ecumene.”

Then Crazy-John, with a “loud and clear voice”, while still holding the flowerpot with the withered flowers above his head, began to cry out: “Christians, Christ is Risen!” And then, to everyone’s surprise, they saw the withered flowers come to life in the pot and bloom! Then Crazy-John began to prophecy in his foolishness: “This is how Orthodoxy will flourish in a few years! This is how it will bear fruit throughout the world!” And the mad prophet left running throughout the streets of afflicted but also sanctified Athens.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

***

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos

Many of the holy Martyrs, whenever they were unfamiliar with a dogma, used to say: “I trust whatever the Holy Fathers have instituted”. If anyone dared to say those words, they would suffer martyrdom. In other words, although they did not know how to present any proof to their persecutors, they did, however, have faith in the Holy Fathers. They would think to themselves: “How can I not trust the Holy Fathers? They were far more experienced, and virtuous, and saintly. How can I agree to something that is nonsense? How can I tolerate someone abusing the Holy Fathers?” We must have faith in Tradition.

Today unfortunately, the European courtesy has come in and they try to show themselves as being nice. They wish to show superiority and finally they end up worshipping the two horned devil. “One religion, they tell you, should exist” and they level out everything. Some also come to me and tell me “All of us who believe in Christ should create one religion”.
“Now it is as if you are telling me, I told them, about gold and copper, so many carats gold and that much copper, that was separated, to gather them and make them one again. Is it correct to mix them again? Ask a jeweler. Is it proper to mix trash with gold? So much struggle was waged to distil the dogma”.
The Holy Fathers must have known something for prohibiting the relationships with the heretics.
Today they say: “we should pray together not only with a heretics but also with the Buddhist and with the fire worshipper and the demon worshipper. The Orthodox must also be present in common prayers and in their conferences. It is a presence”. What presence? They resolve everything with logic and justify the unjustifiable. The European mind believes that also the spiritual matters can also come into the Common Market. Some of the Orthodox who are shallow and wish to make a promotion, “a mission”, they arrange conferences with the heterodox to cause a sensation, believing this way that they promote Orthodoxy, by becoming so to speak “Hungarian goulash” with the false believers. Then the super-zealots take hold of the other end; they also blaspheme against the Mysteries of the New-calendarists etc and deeply scandalize the souls who have piety and Orthodox sensitivity.
On the other hand, the heterodox come to conferences, act like teachers, take whatever good spiritual thing they find from the Orthodox, they process it, they give it their own colour and mark and they present it as a prototype. And the strange contemporary world becomes touched by such strange things and is spiritually destroyed.
The Lord, though at the appropriate time, will present the Marks, the Eugenikos and the Gregorys Palamas who will assemble all our deeply scandalized brothers, to confess the Orthodox faith and strengthen the traditions of the Church and give great joy to our Mother, the Church”.
From the Book: “With anguish and love for the contemporary man”.
Publication: Holy Hysichastirion of “Evangelist John the Theologian by Souroti, Thessaloniki.

When there is a respect for small things, there will be an even greater respect towards the bigger things. When there is no respect for small things, then neither will there be for the bigger ones. This is how the Fathers maintained Tradition.

***

Ecumenism and common market, a big state, a religion in their measures. These plans are devils. The Zionists are preparing for a Messiah. For them the Messiah is king, that will rule here on earth. The Jehovah and they aim for an earthly king. Will be presented by a Zionist, and Jehovah will accept him. They’ll say ‘he is. ” There will be confusion.
In the confusion that everyone will ask for a Messiah to save a them.
And then you show someone who say: “I am the Imam, I am the fifth Buddha, Christ I’m waiting for the Christians, I am the one waiting for the Lord, I am the Messiah of the Jews.” Five “I” it will have!
From: Elder Paisios Mount, Reasons, vol V’-spiritual awakening, I retreat “Evangelist John the Theologian,” You want Souroti / Victory 1999, s.176

***

A person sins just through listening to what such deluded people have to say. There are some who say: “If you believe that it will happen that way, then it will.” This pure belief in themselves, but behind them is the little imp (mythological demonic-looking creature,). Thus, they deify themselves and they strip themselves of Divine Grace. It is with theories like these that they strive to fool people.

This is the faith of the Apostles;
This is the faith of the Fathers;
This is the faith of the Orthodox;
This faith makes fast the inhabited world!We are all living “icons”, images of God. We must become such that people meeting us should see God’s truth, God’s light, God’s love in us. Anthony Bloom of Sourozh
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2020/03/07/we-are-all-living-icons-images-of-god-we-must-become-such-that-people-meeting-us-should-see-gods-truth-gods-light-gods-love-in-us-anthony-bloom-of-sourozh/

When a Christian devoutly kisses the holy Icons and prays for help from Christ, Panagia, the Saints, he draws into his heart not only the Grace of Christ, of Panagia , and of the Saints, but also the whole of Christ,or of Panagia, or of a Saint, and places them upon the iconostasis of his own temple. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/when-a-christian-devoutly-kisses-the-holy-icons-and-prays-for-help-from-christ-panagia-the-saints-he-draws-into-his-heart-not-only-the-grace-of-christ-of-panagia-and-of-the-saints-but-also-the/

When someone venerates the holy Icons with devoutness and fervent love, he absorbs the colours from them and the Saints are imprinted on his soul. The Saints are pleased when they are lifted up from the paper or the wood and imprinted in people’s hearts. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2022/03/12/when-someone-venerates-the-holy-icons-with-devoutness-and-fervent-love-he-absorbs-the-colours-from-them-and-the-saints-are-imprinted-on-his-soul-the-saints-are-pleased-when-they-are-lifted-up-from-t/

Apolytikion of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Tone Two

O Christ our God, begging forgiveness of our sins, we venerate your pure image O Good One. Of Your own will You condescended to ascend upon the Cross in the flesh and delivered those you created from the bondage of the enemy. Wherefore, thankfully we cry out: When You came to save the world You filled all things with joy, O our Savior.

Troparion of the Sunday of Orthodoxy (Tone 2)

We venerate Thy holy icon, loving Lord,/ asking Thee to pardon our transgressions, Christ our God./ For Thou of Thine own will wast pleased in the flesh to ascend upon the Cross,/ so to deliver from the bondage of the enemy those Whom Thou hast fashioned./ Therefore in thanksgiving we cry aloud to Thee:/ Thou hast filled all things with joy, our Saviour,// when Thou hast come to save the world.

Apolytikion in the First Tone

O Christ our God, begging forgiveness of our sins, we venerate your pure image O Good One. Of Your own will You condescended to ascend upon the Cross in the flesh and delivered those you created from the bondage of the enemy. Wherefore, thankfully we cry out: When You came to save the world You filled all things with joy, O our Savior.

As the Prophets saw, as the Apostles taught, as the Church has received, as the Teachers express in dogma, as the inhabited world understands together with them, as grace illumines, as the truth makes clear, as error has been banished, as wisdom makes bold to declare, as Christ has assured,
So we think, so we speak, so we preach, honouring Christ our true God, and his Saints, in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in icons, worshipping and revering the One as God and Lord, and honouring them because of their common Lord as those who are close to him and serve him, and giving to them due veneration.
This is the faith of the Apostles;
This is the faith of the Fathers;
This is the faith of the Orthodox;
This faith makes fast the inhabited world!
(From the Synodikon of Orthodoxy)

Orthodoxy is always based on the lives of the saints. The calendar of saints is the backbone of Orthodox theology. Fr. John Romanides

Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.
Synaxarion.
On November 1 we commemorate the holy miracle-workers and unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, the sons of Theodota of Asia (3rd c.).
On this day we also commemorate the holy women martyrs Cyriaina and Juliana of Cilicia. (305).
On this day we also commemorate the holy Apostle Nereus, and his sister (1-2nd c.) mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:15
On this day we also commemorate the holy martyrs Caesarius, Dasius, Sabbas, Sabinian, Agrippa, Adrian, and Thomas, in Damascus (7th c.).
On this day we also commemorate the holy hieromartyrs John the bishop, and James the Zealot, the Presbyter, of Persia. (345)
On this day we also commemorate the holy martyr Hermeningeld the Goth of Spain (586).
We also commemorate the holy new hieromartyr Iakovos of Mount Athos, and his two disciples, Iakovos the deacon, and Dionysius the monk, who died by hanging in the year 1520.
On this day, the Our righteous Father David of Evia (Euboea), died in peace.
On this day, the Our righteous Father Cosmas of Verkhoturye (1704).
On this day, the New Virgin-martyr Helen of Sinope, Pontos (18th c.).
On this day, the holy martyrs David the Great Komnenos and Last Emperor of Trebizond (1463) executed in Constantinople by sword together with his sons Basil, George and Manuel and his nephew Alexios
On this day, the holy New Hieromartyrs Alexander (Smirnov), Theodore (Remezov) and Basil Luzgin Priests (1918).
Repose of Elder Hilarion of Valaam and Sarov (1841)
Repose of Father John Savvas Romanides (1927 – 2001) Professor of Theology and Teacher of Romiosini, one of the greatest Orthodox theologians of the 20th century and revivalist of our theology who strived to restore it to the genuineness of Patristic tradition

Your writings and godly teachings have gone out to all the world; you have revealed the way of repentance. (Vesperal Stichos to St. John Chrysostom)

Fr. John Romanides

The deceased himself had revealed in one of his rare self-introductions the following:

«My parents came from the Roman city of Kastropolis of Arabessus of Cappadocia, birthplace of the Roman emperor Mauritius (582-602), who had appointed Saint Gregory the Great (590-604) as Pope of Rome, who in turn appointed Augustine as the first archbishop of Canterbury (597-604).

I was born in Piraeus on the 2.3.1927. I left Greece and migrated to America on the 15th of May 1927 (just 72 days old) with my parents and was raised in the city of New York, in Manhattan, on 46th Street, between Second and Third Avenue.

I am a graduate of the Greek College of Brookline Massachusetts, the School of Theology of Yale University, a Doctor of the School of Theology of the National Capodistrian University of Athens, the School of Philosophy of Harvard University (School of Arts and Sciences); Professor Emeritus of the School of Theology of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki and Visiting Professor of the Theological School of Saint John the Damascene of the Balamand University of Lebanon since 1970.»

To these we will add that he also studied at the Russian Seminary of Saint Vladimir in New York; the Russian Institute of Saint Sergius in Paris and Munich, Germany. He was ordained a presbyter in 1951 and from then on, was ministering in various dioceses of the United States of America. Between the years 1958 and 1965 he served as a professor in the Theological School of the Holy Cross, but resigned in 1965, protesting against the removal of Father George Florovsky from the School.
His appointment to the Seat of Dogmatics in the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki took place on June 12th 1968, but he was not finally assigned there, because he was accused of being a “communist”! His assignment finally took place in 1970. In 1984 he resigned for personal reasons, was given full pension, but it was not deemed appropriate to award him the title of Professor Emeritus – something that comes to reveal the dysfunctions of our theological comrades.

He had written a plethora of studies, many of which are still unpublished and should be published altogether, in a series of volumes. These relics must be safeguarded, because they have much to offer and reveal.

…When reviewing his theological opus – educative, literary and militant – we are naturally compelled to refer to a pre-Romanides and post-Romanides era. Because he introduced a real section and a rift in our scholastic past, which resembled a Babylonian captivity for our theology. His dissertation decisively sealed this revivalist course, to the degree that even those who for various reasons criticized or ideologically opposed him, betrayed in their writings the influence of Father John in their theological thought.

….Respected and beloved Father John, your friends, your colleagues and co-spokesmen all express our gratitude, for everything that by the grace of God you gave us. As do the thousands of direct or indirect students also. We hold on to the theological trust that you left us, to be our rod in the darkness that calculation, ignorance, indifference and profit have spawned. You have united us with the patristic element within the realm of academic theology, by constantly urging us towards worship and ascetic exercise, where true theology is cultivated. We thank you!
(Obituary for Protopresbyter John Romanides (+ 11/1/2001)
By Protopresbyter George Metallinos, Dean of the Athens University School of Theology)[https://www.oodegr.com/english/biographies/newteroi/romanidis1.htm]

Fr. John reposed in Athens at the age of 74 from a heart attack, which came during his morning walk to the churches and marketplace of Athens, just as he was entering the 6th century Church of Saint Kyriaki on Athinas Street.

***

Fr. John Romanides

Those who really speak about the end times are those who practice hesychasm, not relaxation. Genuine Orthodox eschatology is hesychasm. (Protopresbyter John S. Romanides, Patristic Theology: The University Lectures of Fr. John Romanides, trans. Hieromonk Alexios [Trader] pg. 108)

***

Theology has only one aim: purification, illumination and glorification. Theology has no other purpose. Do you understand? Theology has no other aim other than purification, illumination and glorification.

In Orthodoxy, the very worst human being can be purified and reach illumination. Dogmas are a guide for those going through purification, and it continues to be a guide for those who go on to be illuminated.

According to the Fathers of the Church, someone who is visited by the Holy Spirit acquires illumination of the nous. The Holy Spirit enters a persons heart and gives us prayer, so we acquire noetic prayer, noetic worship. Otherwise we give God rational worship.
When someone has the prayer associated with the state of illumination, that is to say, noetic prayer in the heart, this prayer illumines his nous. He now sees through faith, by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, things within his heart that he did not see before. He sees them through faith and understands words and concepts spiritually, not philosophically. He reads Holy Scripture. He understands the words and concepts, not from the point of view of philosophical method but from the point of view of methodology. Why? Because the words and concepts are regarded as medicines for man.

Poverty is an indispensable requirement for reaching illumination. Without being free of possessions one cannot reach illumination. It is impossible.

Priests sit all day long telling us to love one another, and none of them tell us how to love. Love “does not seek its own” (1 Cor. 13:5). How can someone acquire this love? How is it done?
When the illumination of the nous begins and becomes an integrated and stable state, selfishness, egoism and self-centeredness are gradually replaced by love which “does not seek its own.” The perfection of love comes about through the appearance of Christ “in glory” to the one who is spiritually vigilant. When someone reaches this stage, he has reached theoria and is on the way towards glorification. These are not people who are merely moral, but people who have been cured in the core of their personality.
When Christ said “You are the light of the world” He meant those Christians who were illuminated. Christians are not the light of the world simply because they believe in Christ. The essence of Holy Tradition, its core, is illumination, whereby we hand over the torch. One becomes a shining light in order to illumine others. Thus illumination is the essence of Christianity, where the illuminated who shed light hand over the light to others, which is diagnosis and cure. The cure is man’s illumination.

If I have not reached illumination I am not ready to face the glory of God. If someone has arrived at illumination and noetic prayer, provided he is faithful to the end, he will leave sacred relics.
The clergy do not have a monopoly on this therapeutic treatment. Treatment can be given by anyone at all who has noetic prayer, whereas the clergy celebrate the Mysteries. These are two different things, so in Orthodoxy they were always separated. The celebrant is concerned with the rituals. But someone who has reached illumination will be the spiritual father.

Man was created to be in a state of illumination or glorification. Glorification is an empirical state. It has nothing to do with metaphysics. The glorification of man means union with God, or theosis. It is divine theoria, divine vision. Man becomes god by grace during the vision of God, if he reaches this point. The aim of Holy Scripture is to lead man to divine vision, to glorification, that he might see Christ in glory.

The theology of the Church is an expression of the experience of theosis, man’s glorification, when he attains to the revelation. Theology comes from the divine vision of the Prophets, Apostles, saints and all those who have been glorified. Noetic prayer is the foundation of theology and theologizing, according to the Fathers. In the early Church someone was allowed to theologize only when he had reached illumination. He was called a theologian when he reached glorification. This is the historical usage of these terms.
Orthodox theology means that someone sees, and on the basis of the experience of divine vision and glorification, he theologizes. What does he see in the state of glorification? He sees all the dogmas. The one who prays theologizes, and the one who theologizes prays. Theology and prayer are the same thing. When the Fathers theologize they do not theologize only from Holy Scripture, but from their own experience. Expressions about God are therefore symbolic. This is why we have the term “symbolic theology”, because we use symbols to talk about God.
According to the Fathers of the Church, glorification is perfect freedom, and purification and illumination are the beginning of freedom. Holy relics are the result of glorification, …
These are the living sermons of Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is always based on the lives of the saints. The calendar of saints is the backbone of Orthodox theology.
Excerpted from Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, vol. 2, pp. 260-329. (Excerpts – Purification, Illumination and Glorification . )

***On divine inspiration
By protopresbyter John S. Romanides
University Professor

…When Christ said that He would send us the Holy Spirit, which would guide us to the entire truth, He was not talking about Ecumenical Councils; that is, He didn’t say that it would happen during the Ecumenical Councils of the Church. In other words, this novelty of the Ecumenical Councils’ infallibility is not included anywhere in the Bible.
Christ had simply said that the Holy Spirit would be the One Who would lead us to the entire truth. But prior to that, He had said that “if you have love amongst you, my Father and I shall come and reside amongst you”, and He also said that “now you see me, but later you will not see me. But if you have love, you will see me again. And the Spirit will then come and reside amongst you and will lead you to the entire truth.”…

When Christ spoke of the effusion of the Holy Spirit in the Church and the faithful, He didn’t speak vaguely; He didn’t say that he would send it to all of the Church in general. Nor because bishops and priests may have a certain succession through ordination will the entire Church receive it in general. Nor did He imply that because of bishops’ ordinations there is a certain guarantee that the Holy Spirit will reside permanently inside the Hierarchy. The existence of a bishop is no guarantee that a Council will be animated by the Holy Spirit. Proof of this, is that there have been many bishops in the Church who have been condemned as heretics. If those bishops had the Holy Spirit, they would not have fallen into heresy. Hence, the ordination of someone as bishop is neither proof nor a guarantee that the Holy Spirit definitely resides inside that bishop. Therefore it is not the Grace of High Priesthood that leads the Church “to the entire truth”.

Christ here speaks of something else. The Fathers clearly specify that Christ here is speaking of two situations. On the one hand He is speaking of enlightenment and on the other, e is speaking of theosis. When Christ says “so that everyone becomes one”, who is He referring to? To the Apostles of course. He is asking the Father that the Apostles “be as one, just as we are as one” (John 17:11). He doesn’t say as one (person), but as one (whole).
But how can the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be one (whole)?
Reply: They are united as one, in their glory (energy) and in their essence. As Personae, hypostases, they are not united. Because the Personae in the Holy Trinity – according to the Fathers – are not in communion with each other. The common things in the Holy Trinity are the essence and the natural energy of essence, i.e. the Glory.

And how can the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be as one – the same “one” that we shall become one with – that is, between ourselves as well as the Holy Trinity? What will that common feature be? Answer: It is the ‘one’ in Glory

In other words, just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are as one in glory – because they have glory in common – thus we shall become as one, when we are participants in God’s glory; that is, when all of us (or the ones who become worthy) become participants in the Grace of the Holy Spirit – the uncreated Light. Because when a man becomes glorified, he becomes a communicant of the uncreated glory of the Holy Trinity and thus is also united with the Holy Trinity as well as those fellow men who are also united with the glory of God.

Therefore, that which Christ prays for during the Last Supper is, firstly, for their catharsis, then their enlightenment and finally their theosis.

Thus, the “leading you to the entire truth” is not referring to all people in general, but specifically to those who are going to participate in the experience of theosis. In other words, it is only when man reaches theosis, that he is led to the entire truth.. Subsequently, the entire truth (not of the created world, but of God) can be realized only inside the experience of theosis.

Because all of the Fathers had this experience or a similar one, being either in a state of enlightenment or theosis, for this, they also all had exactly the same perception of the Holy Bible and hence gave the same interpretation of the Holy Bible in its basic points, and the same interpretation of the texts of the other Fathers of the Church.

What do we surmise from the above? That whoever is in a state of enlightenment or theosis are divinely inspired, or not? Answer: They are most assuredly divinely inspired. Because divine inspiration means what? It means that someone is inspired by God. As opposed to what? As opposed to someone being inspired by the devil and the demons. He will be devilishly inspired and demonically inspired.

The sublimest form of Revelation with regard to divine inspiration, was that which occurred to the Apostles on the day of the Pentecost. The key, therefore, to Orthodox theology with regard to divine inspiration, is the Pentecost. If one can comprehend the significance of the Pentecost to Patristic tradition, then, even if he is not a theologian, at least he will know what Theology is and what a theologian is. Just as one doesn’t have to be a doctor to know what medical science is and what a doctor is, in the same way, one can know what Theology is, who the theologian is, and who the ‘theologizer’ is, without necessarily being a theologian or a ‘theologizer’ himself.
John S. Romanides, “Patristic Theology”, Parakatathiki Publications, 2004, pages 115 –124, Prologue by Protopresbyter George Metallinos, Dean of Athens University; Supervision-Commentary: Damascenos, Holy Mountain Friar
Translation by A.N.
https://www.oodegr.com/english/ag_grafi/theopn1.htm

On divine inspiration By protopresbyter John S. Romanides
https://www.oodegr.com/english/ag_grafi/theopn1.htm

PATRISTIC THEOLOGY Protopresbyter John Romanides
https://www.oodegr.com/english/biblia/patristic/perieh.htm

Saint David of Evia (Euboea) the Elder and Sts. Cosmas and Damian the Holy Unmercenaries of Asia Minor, and their mother St Theodota
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/saint-david-of-evia-euboea-the-elder-and-sts-cosmas-and-damian-the-holy-unmercenaries-of-asia-minor-and-their-mother-st-theodota/

St Virgin Martyr Helen of Sinopi of Pontos, An invisible wall was protecting the girl: it was the wall of prayer.
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2021/10/31/st-virgin-martyr-helen-of-sinopi-of-pontos-an-invisible-wall-was-protecting-the-girl-it-was-the-wall-of-prayer/

Saint David of Evia (+1 November) and Saint John the Baptist
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/saint-david-of-evia-1-november-and-saint-john-the-baptist/

Troparion of the Martyrs Cosmas and Damian ― Tone 8

O holy unmercenaries and wonderworkers, visit our infirmities./ Freely you have received, freely give to us.

Apolytikion of St. Helen of Sinope― Plagal Tone 1

The most-fragrant flower of purity and the boast and divine offspring of Sinope, Virgin-martyr of Christ Helen most-pure, who struggled steadfastly, and cast down the enemy with the power of faith, and entreats for everyone, to have mercy on our souls.

The sweet smelling flower of purity and the boast of Sinopi, the divine blossom, the Virgin Martyr of Christ, Helen who is ever modest. She struggled fervently.  She defeated the enemy with the power of faith.  She constantly intercedes for us “have mercy on our souls.”

Kontakion of Sts. Jacob of Mount Athos, Jacob and Dionysius ― Plagal Tone 4

Let us worthily remember James, the new Preacher of the brilliance of repentance, and divine trumpet of the philanthropy of God. You bore the marks of the Lord, and fulfilled the needs of the Saints. Wherefore we say: Rejoice, Father James.

Apolytikion of Saint David of Evia― Tone 3

A great boast of Evia were you proved to be, the all-glorious, David the divine, as a holy descendant of virtue, and a most-true defender of Christ, and equal to all the Venerable Ones. Therefore Venerable Father, entreat Christ God, to grant us great mercy.

Apolytikion of Saint David of Evia ― Plagal Tone 4

With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O David, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.

Metropolitan Neophytos of Morfou:”Father John Romanides and Modern Empirical Theologians”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V3dJqnuZ3U

Orthodoxy has its own true and infallible Pope, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the wisdom and power of God, who rules all and everything,… O All-seeing God, strengthen our hearts that we neither be blind leaders not blind followers. Saint Nicholas Velimirovich

On this day, the seventh Sunday of Pascha, we celebrate the First Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea of the three hundred eighteen Godbearing Fathers.

Repose in the Lord of Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea,
Holy Elder Eumenios Saridakis (May 23, 1999)
Elder Justin Pârvu of Romania (June 16, 2013).
Abbess Macrina of the Monastery of Panagia Odigitria in Portaria (June 4, 1995)

Verses
Luminous stars of the spiritual sky,
illumine my mind with the light of your rays.
Against Arius
Arius be a stranger to God’s glory,
for calling the Son a stranger to the Father’s essence.

”O Master, leave not as orphans, But as Thou didst promise, * send us Thine All-holy Spirit…”

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich:
To an Orthodox scholar who asks why Orthodoxy doesn’t have its own pope (Letter 48)

“Well, oh yes! Orthodoxy has its own Pope, greater than all popes and patriarchs in the world. It has had and will have from the beginning to the end of the ages. This is the same pope invoked by all Christ’s Apostles, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and reason, the Spirit of God’s comfort and power. He is the true pope of Christ’s Church, without substitution or change, without disputations or elections, with no precursor or successor.

Moreover, fortunately, there is a document, written by their own hands, where we observe that the Apostles recognized/confessed the Holy Spirit as their chosen patron and pope.
At the first Council in Jerusalem, the Apostles had written these famous words: It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. (Acts.15, 28)

It is obvious that the Apostles put the Holy Spirit before and over them. Before this and each of their meetings, they used to pray and invoke Him. Have not the leaders of the Church done the same thing until nowadays? Every time they meet, first of all, they remember of their infallible pope-the Holy Spirit. They invoke Him with fear before all their work and obey to Him without any condition. Not only the leaders of the Church but also the leaders of the Orthodox states, the ministries and the members of the Parliament first used to invoke the Holy Spirit and than began their work as civil authorities. Similarly, also did and do the school leaders. You know that, at the beginning of their school work, they go to church with their students for invoking the Holy Spirit? And the All Benefactor, Almighty and All Wise handles, invigorates and inspires all of them: the Church, the State and those who work into the educational system. And He governs all people in all deeds, not brutally like the earthly dictators but like a father, with wisdom and love. He is our father through the Baptism we received. And you know that the Greek word “papa” means father. Indeed it means, ethically and historically felt, that the Holy Spirit is our father, our pope. Then, what should it be necessary for the Orthodox Church to have another father or pope? Isn’t Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who has advertised us to avoid the earthly fathers, the stepfathers? He, nineteenth centuries ago, ordered us: And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’ (being read: pope), for you have one Father and He is in Heaven. (Mt. 23,9.).

I wish you health and the peace of God

Source: https://svetosavlje.org/sr/misionarska-pisma/49/
Extracted from the Saint’s book: “Missionary Letters”, Translated and published by Anda Maria Martin
https://laortodoxia.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/saint-nikolai-velimirovich-to-an-orthodox-scholar-who-asks-why-orthodoxy-doesnt-have-its-own-pope-letter-48/

***

Homily
About the power that God gave to the words of the prophets
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

“Behold, I made My words in your mouth, a fire. And this people is the wood that it shall devour!” (Jeremiah 5:14).

You see brethren, that the effect of the word of God is different according to different people. The word of God is like fire, in whom the righteous one rejoices, as one frozen in the cold of this world; and the word of God is like fire which burns the unrighteous one whom this material world has overly warmed. The experienced spiritual fathers have left us proof that only the Name of Jesus brings power, joy and refreshment to the faithful – and this Name consumes evil spirits as a living fire. That is the way with every word of God. With some it creates comfort, with others irritation, with some it quiets anger, with others it increases anger, with some it provokes respect with fear and with others scorn. To the healthy it is honey; to the unhealthy it is the honey of wormwood.

But, why should the people be as wood which will be consumed? For, are the people to be blamed if the godless elders and false prophets lead them astray? The people are not to blame to such a degree as their elders and false prophets but nevertheless they are to blame to a certain extent. For God also gave the people to know the right path through conscience and through the preaching of God’s word and the people should not blindly follow their blind leaders when they lead them on the false paths and distance them from God and God’s law.

Brethren, God is Just and He knows the measure of everyone’s faults, and He will not permit the illiterate and the least to suffer as much as the literate and the greatest.

O All-seeing God, save us that we neither be blind leaders not blind followers. Strengthen our hearts that, as leaders and as followers, we will always be Your servants and only Your servants.

To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič 
http://livingorthodoxfaith.blogspot.gr/2010/01/prologue-may-6-may-19.html

Here the angelic music of the eternal truth of God—is clothed in human words.St. Justin Popovich
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/here-the-angelic-music-of-the-eternal-truth-of-god-is-clothed-in-human-words-st-justin-popovich/

Let us prepare ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we must truly be in the world in which we live an incarnate presence of Christ and the temple of Spirit, a vanguard of the Kingdom. Anthony Bloom of Sourozh
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2021/06/12/let-us-prepare-ourselves-to-be-filled-with-the-holy-spirit-so-that-we-must-truly-be-in-the-world-in-which-we-live-an-incarnate-presence-of-christ-and-the-temple-of-spirit-a-vanguard-of-the-kingdom-a/

St Nicholas Archbishop of Myra and the First Ecumenical Council
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/st-nicholas-archbishop-of-myra-and-the-first-ecumenical-council/

Apolytikion For the Fathers.
Glory. Mode pl. 4.

Supremely blessed are You, O Christ our God. You established the holy Fathers upon the earth as beacons, and through them You have guided us all to the true Faith, O greatly merciful One, glory be to You.

Both now. Apolytikion of the Feast. From Pentecostarion
Mode 4.

You ascended in glory, O Christ our God, after You filled the Disciples with joy, by promising to send them the Holy Spirit, and You blessed them and established their faith, that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.

For the Fathers. From Pentecostarion
Mode pl. 2. That woman, who was spurned.

Who is it, O Savior, that rent Your garment? * “Arius,” You said, who creates divisions, * dividing the Trinity’s equipotent dominion. * He rejected You as being one of the Trinity’s persons. * He teaches Nestorius not to use the term Theotokos. * But the holy Council in Nicea * proclaimed that You are the Son of God and share the throne * with the Father and the Spirit, O Lord.

Arius the fool introduced division * into the holy Trinity’s single kingship, * asserting three dissimilar and alien natures. * Therefore the God-bearing fathers convened in the holy Council * burning with zeal for God, like the Prophet Elijah the Tishbite, * and they wielded the sword of the Spirit, * and they cut off that shameful teacher of blasphemy, * according to what the Spirit decreed.

Lauds.
Mode pl. 2. When the saints deposited.

When those holy hierarchs, preachers of Christ, and defenders * of the Gospel teachings and Orthodox traditions had received in themselves * the divine radiance of the Holy Spirit, * they proclaimed the supernatural * pronouncement openly * to be their conviction inspired by God, * namely the Creed, which is concise * yet defines the true faith sufficiently. * Clearly these enlightened and blessed men, receiving from on high * the revelation, declared to all * the decision taught by God.

When the holy Shepherds brought all of their pastoral knowledge * to the Council and they stirred * their most righteous anger now justifiably, * they drove out with the sling of the Holy Spirit * the offensive and corruptive wolves, * and from the complement of the Church of Christ they expelled them all, * as having fallen mortally, and as being ill and incurable. * Thus they demonstrated themselves as loyal servants of the Lord, * and sacred mystics of the divine * and inspired preaching of Christ.

Glory.  From Pentecostarion 
Mode pl. 4.

When the choir of Holy Fathers convened from every corner of the civilized world, they decreed into dogma the single essence and nature of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the mystery of theology they clearly handed down to the Church. Let us the faithful call them blessed, and extolling them let us say: O divine battalion, heavy artillery of theologians of the Lord’s army; luminaries that shine brightly in the noetic firmament; the mystical Zion’s unassailable towers; the sweet scented flowers of Paradise; the solid gold mouthpieces of the Logos; the glory of Nicaea and the splendor of the universe. Intercede insistently on behalf of our souls.

Pride always precedes the fall. Heretics, who are they? The children of pride. Saint Flavian, as a lion, fearlessly defended Orthodoxy. Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

Hieromartyrs Pamphilus of Caesarea, Priest, and 11 companions, at Caesarea in Palaestina (c. 307-309): Valens, Deacon, and Martyrs Paul, Seleucus, Porphyrius, Julian, Theodulus, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel, and Daniel.
Saint Maruthas of Martyropolis, Bishop of Sophene and Martyropolis (422), and the Martyrs of Persia (4th century), whose relics rest in Martyropoli in Mesopotamia
Saint Flavian I of Antioch, Archbishop of Antioch (404) (see also: September 27)
Saint Flavian the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople (449)
Venerable Flavian the Hermit, monastic and Wonderworker (364-378).
Saint Mary the Younger (the New) of Byzia in Thrace (9th century)
New Monk-martyr Romanus of Karpenision and Kapsokalyvia, Mount Athos, at Constantinople (1694) (see also January 5)
Saint Basil Gryaznov of Pavlovo-Posadsky (1869)
Saint Macarius (Nevsky), Metropolitan of Moscow, Apostle to the Altai (1926)
Translation of the relics of Virgin-martyr Juliana of Nicomedia (304) (see also December 21)

Commemorated on February 16

Hymn of Praise
To the Holy Martyrs of Christ
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

Martyrs of Christ, flowers bountiful,
Which will never and forever not fade away.
Martyrs of Christ, an evergreen living in the winter,
You who stretched toward heaven stained with blood,
Martyrs of Christ, aromas of incense,
And the votive light of oil, illumined by God.
You ran the race for the beauty of Christ
In Paradise, met with Christ forever.
The world will be and then cease to be and you will always be
With the Lord in Paradise, to rejoice eternally.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
prologue.orthodox.cn/February16.htm

***

Hymn of Praise
Saint Flavian the Confessor
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

“When pride comes, then comes shame.”(*)
That is the word of God, the lesson of life.
Heretics, who are they? The children of pride,
What did they want? Shame, to bring,
That is why they had to endure shame.
Eutyches hoped in the help of the eunuch,]
Flavian, in the help of the Spirit of God,
Pride always precedes the fall:
Eutyches perished and Flavian conquered.
Dioscorus, his hope was his fist
That is why all generations despise him.
Flavian beaten and trodden underfoot
Now on earth is glorified and blessed in Heaven.
The truth stands and he was not afraid of anything.
Leo the Roman extended him the assistance of a lion
In defense of the radiant face of Christ.
These two hierarchs and Eulogious the third one
Guided the Church to victory and fortune.
Without such spirits what would the Church be?
A wounded bird with broken wings.
(*) Proverbs 16:18
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://prologue.orthodox.cn/February18.htm

***

With great difficulty and with even greater effort and sacrifice, the tares of heresy were sifted from the wheat of the truth of Orthodoxy. The heretics have always made use of lower means and mediocre persons in undermining Orthodoxy. Archmandrite Eutyches of Constantinople and Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who spread the heretical teaching, that there were not two natures in Christ, Divine and Human, rather one nature, had as their ally in the imperial court the mediocre eunuch Chrysaphius. Empress Eudoxia was secretly aligned with them. Patriarch Flavian, as a lion, fearlessly defended Orthodoxy in which he was assisted by Plucheria, the sister of the emperor. The eunuch Chrysaphius presented to Emperor Theodosius the most disgusting slanders against Flavian in order that the emperor would remove him from the throne and bring in the heretic Eutyches as patriarch. When this and all else did not succeed, the heretics plotted to kill Flavian. At the Robber Council in Ephesus [431 A.D.] they beat him so badly and trampled upon him that St. Flavian, on the third day, gave up his soul to God. What happened in the end? At the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon 451 A.D.], Eutyches and Dioscorus were anathematized. The eunuch was ousted from the court and shamefully ended his life. The Empress Eudoxia was banished from Constantinople to Palestine. Flavian and Plucheria were proclaimed as saints and the Orthodox Faith victoriously confirmed.
http://prologue.orthodox.cn/February18.htm

Troparion — Tone 4

Your holy martyrs O Lord, / through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God. / For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries, / and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. / Through their intercessions, save our souls!

Troparion of the Holy 12 Martyrs― Tone 3

Let us praise with hymns the company of twelve martyrs/ Pamphilos, Paul, Samuel, Valens and Elijah,/ Heremiah, Seleucos, Daniel and Porphyrios,/ Julian, Isaiah and Theodulos;/ for they ever pray to the Master for us all.

Troparion — Tone 4

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, / an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; / your humility exalted you; / your poverty enriched you. / Hierarch Father Flavian, / entreat Christ our God / that our souls may be saved.

Troparion Saint Flavian the Confessor— Tone 8

Champion of Orthodoxy, teacher of purity and of true worship, / the enlightener of the universe and the adornment of hierarchs: / all-wise father Flavian, your teachings have gleamed with light upon all things. / Intercede before Christ God to save our souls.

Apolytikion of ST ROMANUS of Carpenision ― Tone 4

You first struggled ascetically on Athos, and received the Divine will through the teachings of the Venerable Akakios, and hastened towards the trials of martyrdom and death, and you, O Romanos, stand beside the crown-bestowing Christ, interceding for us, O all-glorious one.

Tone I: Spec. Mel.: “Joy of the ranks of heaven…”—

Let Pamphilus and Seleucius, together with Valens and Paul, Porphyrius, Theodulus and Julian, and the company of the five Egyptians be melodiously hymned with faith as a harp of twelve strings.

Exalted splendidly in the Faith of Christ by divine glory, O glorious Pamphilus, thou wast shown to be the goodly adornment of Cæsaria, being therein an all-beloved hierarch, in accordance with thy name, a most honored athlete and a faithful martyr.

O mighty Pamphilus, thou didst assemble a company of valiant athletes, twelve in number, who showed themselves to be a godly army. And vanquishing the enemy together, ye were taken to the Lord in divers ways, reposing amid your martyrdom.

Saint Theodosius the Cenobiarch, The Orthodox Fathers of the Church were not given to bribery nor to be intimidation. O Lord, the Conqueror of the World and our victorious commander, be close to us always that we may not become frightened and direct us, that we may always be close to You in heart, mind and soul.

Saint Theodosius the Great, the Cenobiarch (529).
Synaxis of the Myriads of Holy Angels (Synaxis of the Myriangelon) The Ten Thousands of holy Angels, whose Synaxis we celebrate.
Hieromartyr Hyginus, Pope of Rome (142)
Saint Theodosius of Antioch (412).
Saint Vitalius of the monastery of Abba Serid (Seridos) at Gaza (620)
Saint Michael the Fool-for-Christ of the Klops Monastery, Novgorod (1452).
Saint Theodosius of Philotheou Monastery, the Bishop of Trebizond (14th c.)
“Chernigov-Eletskaya” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1060).
St. Joseph from Kermir of Cappadocia (1860)

Commemorated on January 11

Hymn of Praise
Saint Theodosius the Great
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

Those who with fear stand before God,
Those who fear the Living God only,
Only they can witness
That the righteous one receives that for which he prays to God.
By true prayer, God does for people –
The dawn glows to the one who turns to the dawn.
Saint Theodosius, by his prayers
Helped many and also helped us.
For he lives even now as he once did
And works miracles, as he once did and does now –
The Lord bestowed upon him power, because of his faith,
And love for God; love immeasurable.
Wonderful Theodosius, zealot of truth,
Wondrous organizer of the monastic life,
Let him be praised by us, who is glorified by God,
Now a glorious citizen of the Kingdom of Christ
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://www.orthodox.cn/prologue/January11.htm

***

Saint Theodosius the Cenobiarch,
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

Theodosius was the first founder and organizer of the cenobitic way of monastic life. He was born in the province of Cappadocia in the village of Mogarissus of devout parents. As a child, he visited St. Simeon the Stylite who blessed him and prophesied great and spiritual honors about him. With a thurible [censer] in which he placed unburned charcoal and incense, Theodosius sought out a place where he could settle and establish his monastery and stopped when the charcoal fired up on its own. Here, he settled and began to live the ascetical life. Soon, he gathered around him many monks of various nationalities. He built a church for each nationality so that, at the same time, services and hymns were offered to God in Greek, Armenian, Georgian, etc. But, on the day of Holy Communion, all the brotherhood gathered in the great church in which the Greek language was used. There was a communal table for all, communal property, communal penance, communal labor, communal patience and, not too rare, communal hunger. Theodosius was an exalted model of life to all the monks; an example in labor, prayer, fasting, watchfulness and in all Christian virtues. God granted him the gift of working miracles by which he was able to heal the sick, to appear from a distance, to tame wild beasts, to discern the future and to cause bread and wheat to multiply. Prayer was on his lips day and night. He died peacefully in the Lord in the year 529 A.D., the one-hundred fifth year after his birth.
Prologue From Ochrid by St Nikolai Velimirovich
http://www.orthodox.cn/prologue/January11.htm

To be bribable means to be not a Christian. The Orthodox Fathers of the Church were not given to bribery nor to be intimidation. Bribery in matters of the Faith is equal to Judas’s betrayal of Christ for money. Such bribery was characteristic only of certain heretics. When Emperor Anastasius succumbed to the heresy of Euthychius, Emperor Anastasius rose up against the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon, 451 A.D) and wanted to outlaw those decisions. In order to win over the most distinguished representatives of the Church for himself, the emperor began to send them various gifts. St. Theodosius, by his fame, was the first in all of Palestine. The emperor sent him thirty liters of gold as a gift, supposedly for the needs of the monastery. By this, Theodosius immediately understood that the emperor wanted to bribe him. How wisely this saint of God acted! He did not want to keep the money for the monastery even though it was in great need; neither did he want to return it to the emperor so that the emperor would not become more embittered against Orthodoxy; thus he immediately distributed all the gold to the poor in the emperor’s name. This charity strengthened his prayer to God for the correction of the emperor and return to the true path.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://www.orthodox.cn/prologue/January11.htm

***

Homily
About victory over the world
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (St. John 16:33).

The Only One and the Unique One, the Conqueror of the World, with these words, teaches His followers not to be afraid of the world.

Indeed, the world appears very strong; however, is not the One Who created the world, stronger than the world?

The world is very frightening for him who does not know that God rules the world and that He has the authority to hold it in existence as long as He wills and to return it into non-existence whenever He wills. But, to him who knows that, the world is not frightening.

Compared to Christ the Lord, this world is as a fabric woven of weakness itself; while in Christ the Lord, there is not a single weakness. To him who does not know that, the world is frightening and he who knows that, has no fear of the world.

The world has loaned us a body and because of that it wants to acquire our soul. How can the world overpower us if we stand as soldiers of the Conqueror of the world?

The Conqueror of the World gives us weapons for the battle. By His example, He teaches us how to fight it, reveals the hidden enemy, shows us the path of attack and retreat, holds us with His hand, protects us under His wing, feeds us by His Life-giving Body and more, He encourages us by shouting: “Take courage!” Brethren, what then can the world do when its defeat is sealed with the victory of Christ?

O Lord, the Conqueror of the World and our victorious commander, be close to us always that we may not become frightened and direct us, that we may always be close to You in heart, mind and soul.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://prologue.orthodox.cn/January19.htm

Troparion of Epiphany (Tone 1)

At Your Baptism in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was revealed. For the Father’s voice bore witness to You by calling You His beloved Son; and the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the truth of these words. O Christ God who have appeared to us and enlightened the world, glory to You!

Apolytikion: (First Tone)

Lord, when You were baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest. For the voice of the Father gave witness to You, calling You Beloved; and the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the certainty of His words. Glory to You, Christ our God, who appeared and enlightened the world.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O Theodosius, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.

Kontakion of Theodosius the Cenobiarch
Plagal of the Fourth Tone

As being planted in the courts of Christ thy Lord and God, with holy virtues thou delightfully didst blossom forth and didst multiply thy children amid the desert, who were watered with the showers of thy fervent tears, O chief shepherd of the godly sheepfold of our God. Hence we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Father Theodosius.

Troparion – Tone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
Our Father Theodosius, pray to Christ God to save our souls!

Troparion of St. Michael, the Fool for Christ Tone 8

Thou wast foolish on earth for the sake of Christ and didst hate the beauty of this world wholeheartedly./ By thirsting and fasting and by lying on the earth thou didst wither the flesh and the play of the passions./ Thou didst never shun heat, frost, rain nor snow, nor other hardships of climate and weather./ Like gold in the crucible thou didst purify thy soul, O holy and Godbearing Father Michael./ Thou dost now stand in heaven before the throne of the Trinity./ Boldly pray to Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

 in Tone V:
Spec. Mel.: “O venerable father …”:

O venerable father, God-bearing Theodosius, having found thy soul pure, as it desired, the grace of the All-holy Spirit dwelt within thee as an all-holy light, and with its activity thou wast splendidly adorned. Thou didst unceasingly glorify Christ, the one Son in two natures, Who is baptized at the hand of the Forerunner, and borne witness to by the Father’s voice. Him do thou beseech, to Him do thou pray, O venerable one, that He grant to the whole world oneness of mind, peace and great mercy. (Twice)

Venerable Father, God-bearer Theodosios, rightly you were counted worthy of the blessed life, having found it by purity and ascetic practice; for while living you passed over to the life on high, bidding all things farewell, and with the Bodiless Powers ceaselessly glorifying Christ, who took flesh ineffably from a Virgin and sunk our sins by Baptism in Jordan’s streams. Entreat him, implore him, Venerable Father, that the inhabited world may be given harmony, peace and great mercy. [Twice]

Glory …, in the II Tone:

O venerable father, the river’s streams, the waters of remission, made glad thy sacred soul like a city of the living God, Christ our God Who crossed the Jordan and hath poured forth the word of piety upon all the ends of the earth. Him do thou entreat, O most blessed Theodosius, that our souls be saved.

Glory …, in Tone VIII: the composition of the Studite:

Multitudes of monks honor thee as their instructor, O Theodosius our father. For, following thy steps, we have truly learned to walk aright. Blessed art thou who, having labored for Christ, didst denounce all the power of the enemy, O converser with the angels, companion of the venerable and the righteous. With them entreat the Lord, that our souls find mercy.

After the Polyeleos, Sedalion in Tone III:
Spec. Mel.: “Of the divine faith …”:

Lifting up thy hands to the divine summit, thou wast shown to be a radiant pillar, shining with beams of prayer, O venerable one. For, furnishing thy mind with wings to fly to the heavens, thou hast illumined all, as a partaker of ineffable things, praying to Christ God, that He grant us great mercy. (Twice)

Reading from the Wisdom of Solomon [3:1-9]

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them and received them as a burnt offering. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. Those who put their trust in Him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with Him: for grace and mercy is to His saints, and He hath care for His elect.

Reading from the Wisdom of Solomon [5:15-6:3]

The righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the Most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord’s hand: for with his right hand shall He cover them, and with His arm shall He protect them. He shall take to Him His jealousy for complete armor, and make the creature His weapon for the revenge of His enemies. He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgement for an invincible shield. His severe wrath shall He sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with Him against the unwise. Then shall the right-aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them. Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty. Hear, therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, ye that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations. For power is given you by the Lord, and sovereignty from the Most High.

St. Elder Ieronymos of Aegina of Cappadocia, a great lover of the life of stillness and prayer, “In Anatolia there were many places where you could pass the whole day in prayer, without anybody seeing you.”

Χριστός ανέστη! Αληθώς ανέστη!
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
Христос Воскрес! Воистину Воскрес!
ქრისტეაღსდგა! ჭეშმარიტადაღსდგა!

Elder Ieronymos of Aegina
Lover of Tradition

The region of Anatolia, Cappadocia in Asia Minor, where he lived his childhood years, where he came to know the first spiritual stirrings, where he tasted the springing waters of Orthodoxy from the holy elders who lived there, and where he matured spiritually remained unforgettable for him. He frequently referred to his homeland and waved nostalgic for all the things he had experienced there. He never forgot the solitary chapels in the rocks, where one could go and pray in utter stillness, nor those simple people, those first-rate artisans, who, whatever they put their hand to, did it perfectly, with ardor, and with good taste.

Being a great lover of the life of stillness and prayer, he often recollected the beautiful days full of spiritual ascents and exaltations that he had passed in the chapels and abandoned monasteries of his homeland.

“Here in Greece you cannot find a quiet place to pray,” he was wont to say. “In Anatolia there were many places where you could pass the whole day in prayer, without anybody seeing you.”

This insatiable and never-silent desire for quietude and prayer, for undisturbed communion with God, never abandoned him. He never lost an opportunity to draw apart and give himself to prayer. Usually, even when he was speaking to his visitors, he would stop for a little and say, “Now let’s chant something.”

And he would begin with his imposing, deeply resounding, and melodious voice to chant “Let us worship the Word,” or “It is truly meet…” or some other hymn, these intermissions of prayer were indispensable for him, they were his life-breath, his spiritual supply-Iine. And at the same time, it was an excellent example for those who conversed with him, that they might form the habit of conjoining their every occupation with prayer.

He lived the essence of Orthodoxy, tradition, in all its breadth. Without rejecting any of the attainments of technological society, he had a special weakness, a passion we might say, for whatever was olden, ancient-from material things to the spiritual. He liked the ancient order of the services, the old books, antiques, because he believed that they carried the seal of their maker, they had been constructed with fondness and were not machine-made and in bad taste.

With such convictions and perceptions, having always lived his life within but also “outside this world,” within the strict province of tradition, he felt a certain uneasiness from the time that the ecclesiastical Calendar was changed and the new was enforced. These anxieties of his increased as the years went by and he beheld many Orthodox customs changed. He did not like the abridgement of the church services, the secularization of the clergy, the abandonment of the Orthodox way of life. And although he always attended to the essence and not the dim outward form, he believed that these alterations in traditional usages and forms in and of themselves betrayed a certain indifference and slackness towards the Faith: that this was the beginning of a downhill slide whose end was unknown…

His foremost and principal aim was to instill into his visitors faith and love towards Christ; his chief care was how they progressed in the spiritual life, how they were united to God…

He was very discerning and refined in his ways. Even when he went so far as to censure, he did it with the utmost love, and not only did he not cause adverse reactions, but on the contrary he elicited confession and repentance, which was his intended purpose.
Botsis, Peter. The Elder Ieronymos of Aegina. Brookline, MA: The Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 2007, pp. 159-163.

Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life.

Apolytikion St.Elder Ieronymos of Aegina in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

In thee, O Father, was preserved unimpaired that which is according to God’ s image; for thou didst take up the Cross and follow Christ. By thine actions thou hast taught us to despise the flesh for it passes away, but to care for the soul which is thing immortal. Wherefore thy spirit holy Ieronymos rejoices with the angels.

Glory . . . Now . . . tone 5:

It is the Day of Resurrection, so let us be radiant for the festival, and let us embrace one another. Let us speak, brothers and sisters, also to those who hate us, and in the Resurrection let us forgive everything, and so let us cry:
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling on death by death, and on those in the tomb bestowing life. (Thrice)

The Miracle of the Monks in the Caucasus. A single saint is an extraordinarily precious phenomenon for all mankind. By the mere fact of their existence – unknown, maybe to the world but known to God – the saints draw down on the world…

On Saturday of Cheese Fare Week we commemorate all the Saints, both Fathers and Mothers of the Lord, known by name and unknown, “who brightly shone forth living ascetically”.

Verses
To the souls of the Righteous, whose memory abideth
Forever, do I offer these my words as abiding oblations

“I saw in Egypt,” testifies Rufinus, “fathers who live on the earth but lead a heavenly life … new prophets, of whose worth there is the testimony of their gift of signs and miracles. None of them is anxious over food and clothing, for they know that after all these things do the Gentiles seek (Matt. 6:32). They seek justice and the Kingdom of God, and all this, according to the promise of the Savior, will be added to them. Their faith is such that it can move mountains. Thus certain of them by their prayers stopped river torrents that were about to inundate neighboring villages, crossed over Waters as on dry land, subdued wild beasts, and performed numberless miracles; so that there is no doubt that it is by their virtues that the world stands.” “The heavens, speckled with a multitude of stars, are not as bright,” says Chrysostom, “as the Egyptian desert, which displays everywhere the huts of monks … It is better than paradise, where we see in human form numberless choirs of angels, throngs of martyrs, assemblies of virgins; we see the whole tyranny of the devil overthrown, and the Kingdom of Christ shines.”

The Miracle of the Monks in the Caucasus

“In the 1960’s, the KGB authorities caught everyone who was hiding there, mostly monks, and sent them to correctional camps.

One experienced officer, a member of the party, was given the task of monitoring a group of monks. He watched the monks from the air on the radio and reported all their movements, and soldiers on the ground surrounded them, pressing them to the steep peak, at which they hoped to overtake and arrest them.

The hunt for the monks has been going on for several days and is drawing to a close. The monks had nowhere to go, they climbed to the very top of the mountain, behind them were soldiers with dogs catching up, and in front of them was a bottomless, steep abyss. The officer’s helicopter hovered right above the monks, the pilot let them know that it was all over. Suddenly, something unusual began to happen below. The monks all at once knelt and prayed for a long time, then they got up and went to the edge of the abyss. “Will they really jump? This is certain death! What? Did they decide to commit suicide? ”The helicopter pilot thought with annoyance.

But at this time one of the monks made the sign of the cross and blessed the abyss with a large cross and with one step, stepped into the gap! But he didn’t fall. For some reason, by some miracle he remained hanging in the air over the abyss and slowly went through the air as if on a path. The other monks followed him and also went through the air one by one, rising up disappeared into the clouds.

This made such a strong impression on the pilot that he even lost control over the airplane fell into the clearing, where he was found and picked up by the soldiers. A few months later, when he recovered, he was called to the special unit for an explanation. Instead of answering, he put a party ticket on the table and asked to be fired. Having retired, this former pilot officer accepted baptism and became a believer.”
https://throughthegraceofgod.wordpress.com/the-miracle-of-the-monks-in-the-caucasus/

Saint Silouan the Athonite

The saints embrace the whole world with their love.
“A single saint is an extraordinarily precious phenomenon for all mankind. By the mere fact of their existence – unknown, maybe to the world but known to God – the saints draw down on the world, on all humanity, a great benediction from God…”
“Because of these people, I believe the Lord preserves the world, for they are precious in His sight, and God always listens to His humble servants and we are all right because of their prayers.”
“Prayer keeps the world alive and when prayer fails, then the world will perish… ‘Nowadays,’ perhaps you will say, ‘there are no more monks like that to pray for the whole world,’ But I tell you that when there are no more men [or women] of prayer on the earth, the world will come to an end and great disasters will befall.. . . when the earth ceases to produce saints, the strength that safeguards the earth from catastrophe will fail. They have already started.”
(Saint Silouan the Athonite, pg. 222, 223.)

***

Saint Paisios the Athonite

Father Paisios was once asked if it would not be better if he left his monastery to go into the world so that he could better help people.

The army has many divisions and each one fights from its own position; the navy at sea, the airplanes in the air and the army on the land.  A very specialized position is the one of the radio operator.  His main characteristic is that he connects all the army divisions with the headquarters, which send help in case of emergency.  The radio operator must not be close to the combat zone, but higher up in a quiet place, so that he may clearly transmit the messages.  When the soldiers fight and are in danger, they should not say to the radio operator:  “What are you doing up there?  Come and fight with us.”  His duty is to stay where he is and receive orders from headquarters, and keep them up to date regarding the outcome of the combat.

Apolytikion of Holy Protection of the Theotokos in the First Tone

O Virgin, we extol the great grace of thy Protection, which thou didst spread out like a bright cloud beyond all understanding; for thou dost invisibly protect thy people from the foe’s every assault. Since we have thee as our shelter and certain help, we cry to thee with our whole soul: Glory to thy great deeds, O most pure Maid. Glory to thy shelter most divine. Glory to thy care and providence for us, O spotless one.

Apolytikion of Cheesefare Saturday, Fourth Tone

O God of our Fathers, even dealing with according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by their entreaties guide our life in peace.

Tone 8 (Repeat: “Come, all faithful …”)

Rejoice, Egypt, land of faith! Rejoice, holy Libya, and the Thebaid chosen by God!
Rejoice, every place and country that have brought forth citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, raising them in abstinence and labor, offering them to God as perfect in love.
They are stars guiding our souls, and by the brightness of their wonders and the miracles they wrought, they have shed their spiritual light over all the earth. O all-blessed fathers, pray for our souls!

Who among men can speak of the perfection of your lives, holy fathers? What tongue can utter the sanctity of your efforts: the sufferings in virtue, the control of the flesh;
the struggles with passions, in vigils, in prayers and in tears? Truly ye were angels while ye lived in the world. Ye laid low the highest powers of evil. Ye performed miraculous and wonderful signs. Therefore pray with us, O most blessed fathers, to gain for our souls eternal joy!

After the 1st reading from the Psalter (16th Kathisma), the Sessional hymns:
(Tone VIII):

Illumined by the brilliant lightning of the Fathers, * let us now enter as if into a beautiful Paradise, * and delight beside the river of sweetness therein. * Beholding with wonder their valor, * let us strive to equal them in the virtues, * crying aloud unto the Savior: * O God, by their intercessions ** make us partakers of Thy heavenly Kingdom.

Glory …,
Wandering as it were among flowers of the virtues * in the meadow of God-bearing ascetics, * we are filled with the breath of sweet fragrance. * For by suffering they became hardened against temptations, * and by abstinence they subjected the flesh to the spirit, * living the life of angels here on earth; ** wherefore they have been deemed worthy of glory.

We entrust to You, loving Master, our whole life and hope, and we beseech, pray, and implore You: Grant us to partake of Your heavenly and awesome Mysteries from this sacred and spiritual table with a clear conscience for the remission of sins, the forgiveness of transgressions, the communion of the Holy Spirit, the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, and boldness before You, not unto judgment or condemnation.

Commemorating our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed and Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life unto Christ our God.

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Mediolansus (Milan), I knew of your fearlessness; that is why I helped you to be chosen as bishop. Correct our faults as the Law of God teaches, and heal our unrighteousness.

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Mediolansus (Milan) (397).
Martyr Athenodorus of Mesopotamia (304).
Saint Ammoun, Bishop of Nitria, reposed in peace.
holy 300 Martyrs in North Africa slain by the Arian Vandals (474-475)
Saint Neophytos died when he was thrown into the sea.
Saint Dometios died by the sword.
Saints Isidore, Acepsimas, and Leo died by fire.
Martyrs Gaianos and Gaius died by fire.
St. Ignatius, who was near Blachernae, reposed in peace.
father Paul the Monk, the subordinate
hesychast Gregory, Founder of Gregoriou Monastery on Mount Athos(1405)
Martyr Philothea of Arges, Protectress of Romania (1206-1208)
Gerasimos, Ascetic of Euboea, (c. 1320)
Anthony the New, Wonderworker of Siya (1556).
holy Martyrs Priscus, Martin, and Nicholas; the first (Priscus) was starved, the second (Martin) cut to pieces with an axe, and the third (Nicholas) died by fire. The services in their honor were held near the wall of Blachernae.
Consecration of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos at the Curator.

Commemorated on December 7

Saint Ambrose,
Bishop of Mediolanum (Milan)

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, was born in the year 340 into the family of the Roman prefect of Gaul (now France). Even in the saint’s childhood there appeared presentiments of his great future. Once, bees covered the face of the sleeping infant. They flew in and out of his mouth, leaving honey on his tongue. Soon they flew away so high that they could no longer be seen. Ambrose’s father said that the child would become something great when he reached manhood.

After the death of the father of the family, Ambrose journeyed to Rome, where the future saint and his brother Satyrius received an excellent education. About the year 370, upon completion of his course of study, Ambrose was appointed to the position of governor (consular prefect) of the districts of Liguria and Aemilia, though he continued to live at Mediolanum (now Milan).

In the year 374 Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Mediolanum, died. This led to complications between the Orthodox and the Arians, since each side wanted to have its own bishop. Ambrose, as the chief city official, went to the church to resolve the dispute.

While he was speaking to the crowd, suddenly a child cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” The people took up this chant. Ambrose, who at this time was still a catechumen, considered himself unworthy, and tried to refuse. He disparaged himself, and even tried to flee from Mediolanum. The matter went ultimately before the emperor Valentinian the Elder (364-375), whose orders Ambrose dared not disobey. He accepted holy Baptism from an Orthodox priest and, passing through all the ranks of the Church clergy in just seven days, on December 7, 374 he was consecrated Bishop of Mediolanum. He dispersed all his possessions, money and property for the adornment of churches, the upkeep of orphans and the poor, and he devoted himself to a strict ascetic life.

Ambrose combined strict temperance, intense vigilance and work within the fulfilling of his duties as archpastor. St Ambrose, defending the unity of the Church, energetically opposed the spread of heresy. Thus, in the year 379 he traveled off to establish an Orthodox bishop at Sirmium, and in 385-386 he refused to hand over the basilica of Mediolanum to the Arians.

The preaching of St Ambrose in defense of Orthodoxy was deeply influential. Another noted Father of the Western Church, St Augustine (June 15), bore witness to this, having accepted holy Baptism in the year 387 by the grace of the preaching of the bishop of Mediolanum.

St Ambrose also actively participated in civil matters. Thus, the emperor Gracian (375-383), having received from him the “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” (De Fide), removed, by decree of the saint, the altar of Victory from the halls of the Senate at Rome, on which oaths were wont to be taken. Displaying a pastoral boldness, St Ambrose placed a severe penance on the emperor Theodosius I (379-395) for the massacre of innocent inhabitants of Thessalonica. For him there was no difference between emperor and commoner. Though he released Theodosius from the penance, the saint would not permit the emperor to commune at the altar, but compelled him to do public penance.

The fame of Bishop Ambrose and his actions attracted to him many followers from other lands. From faraway Persia learned men came to him to ask him questions and absorb his wisdom. Fritigelda (Frigitil), queen of the military Germanic tribe of the Markomanni, which often had attacked Mediolanum, asked the saint to instruct her in the Christian Faith. The saint in his letter to her persuasively stated the dogmas of the Church. And having become a believer, the queen converted her own husband to Christianity and persuaded him to conclude a treaty of peace with the Roman Empire.

The saint combined strictness with an uncommon kindliness. Granted a gift of wonderworking, he healed many from sickness. One time at Florence, while staying at the house of Decentus, he resurrected a dead boy.

The repose of St Ambrose, who departed to the Lord on the night of Holy Pascha, was accompanied by many miracles. He even appeared in a vision to the children being baptized that night. The saint was buried in the Ambrosian basilica in Mediolanum, beneath the altar, between the Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius (October 14).

***

Saint Nikolai Velimirovič

Fear of God drives all fear from the hearts of men. In every great hierarch of the Orthodox Church, we see meekness and fearlessness wonderfully united. St. Nicholas grabbed the sword of the executioner and pulled it away so that innocent men would not be beheaded. St. Chrysostom reproached the Empress Eudoxia for her misdeeds without consideration for the unpleasantness and danger to his own life, to which he was exposed as a result. And there are many, many other examples similar to this: Emperor Valentinian the Elder, upon hearing of Ambrose‘s stern criticism of him, said: “I knew of your fearlessness; that is why I helped you to be chosen as bishop. Correct our faults as the Law of God teaches, and heal our unrighteousness.” When Valentinian the Younger, at the instigation of his mother Justina, an Arian, ordered that the cathedral church in Milan be yielded to the heretics, Ambrose shut himself in the church with the faithful and would not come out for three days. He sent a message to the emperor and empress that, if they desired his death, he was prepared at any moment “here in the church to be run through either by the sword or spear.” Hearing this, the emperor and empress withdrew their decree. When a riot occurred in Thessalonica, at which time about seven thousand people were beheaded by the decree of Emperor Theodosius the Great, Ambrose became so enraged at the emperor that, when the emperor visited Milan and wished to enter the church, the saint forbade him. The emperor said to Ambrose: “Even David sinned and was not deprived of God’s mercy.” To this the bishop replied: “As you have imitated David in sin, imitate him also in repentance.” The emperor was ashamed, turned back and repented bitterly of the sin he had committed.
http://www.westsrbdio.org/en/prologue/718-december-9

***

Apolytikion. For the Saint
Mode 4.

A rule of faith are you, and an icon of gentleness, and a teacher of self-control. And to your flock this was evident, by the truth of your life and deeds. You were humble and therefore you acquired exalted gifts, treasure in heaven for being poor. Father holy hierarch Ambrose, intercede with Christ our God, and entreat Him to save our souls.

Exaposteilarion
Mode 2. N/M (On the mountain.)

O Ambrose, you were a champion of Orthodoxy, a firm foundation of the Church, the supporter of hierarchs, and a wise shepherd, guiding the flock to pastures of true religion. You drove out the untamed factions of heretics like wild beasts, O revealer of God, and you publicly taught that the Holy Trinity is consubstantial.

Tour virtuale of the Basilica of Saint Ambrose in Milan – εικονική περιήγηση στην Βασιλική του Αγίου Αμβροσίου στο Μιλανο
http://www.basilicasantambrogio.it/la-basilica/tour-virtuale/

The shortest sermon by Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh, a great man of prayer.

Forefeast of the Transfiguration
Righteous Nonna (374), wife of Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder and mother of St. Gregory the Theologian
Venerable Eugenius of Aetolia (1682)
New Martyrs Eudocia Shikova, and Novices Daria Timolina, Daria Siushinskaya, and Maria, of Diveyevo Convent (1919)
Saint John Jacob the Chozebite, of Neamț (1960)

Commemorated on August 5

Verses.
Fair offspring to fair Nonna in her death
Gives a fair speech of burial, his words.

Anthony Bloom Metropolitan of Sourozh
Reposed peacefully 4th August, 2003

Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh was a well known archpastor, preacher, spiritual guide and brilliant writer on prayer and the Christian life. He was, himself, a great man of prayer.
His sermon below is, most likely, the shortest ever recorded. Yet the impact of the same continues to reverberate as an exceptional spiritual reminder and guide to prayer. 

“One Sunday Metropolitan Anthony Bloom gave a sermon as follows:

‘Last night a woman with a child came to this church. She was in trousers and with no headscarf. Someone scolded her. She left. I do not know who did that, but I am commanding that person to pray for her and her child to the end of his days to God for their salvation. Because of you she may never go to church again.’

He turned around, head down, and entered the Altar. That was the entire sermon.”

***

“We should try to live in such a way that if the Gospels were lost, they could be re-written by looking at us.”

“It is only in becoming the living message of the Gospel that we can truly say that we have received the message, The disciples of Christ should be such that people looking at them would be puzzled, perturbed, challenged by the awareness that they have encountered men and women who were like no one else, not on account of their wisdom or reasoning but because they were different: they had become new creatures.”

“We are part of a fallen world, and it is in and through this turmoil that we must find our way. We are walking on the sea on which St Peter walked, and we meet Christ at the very centre of the storm, the point of equipoise of all its violence.”

***

Humility in Russian means a state of being at peace, when a person has made peace with God’s will; that is, he has given himself over to it boundlessly, fully, and joyfully, and says, “Lord, do with me as Thou wilt!” As a result he has also made peace with all the circumstances of his own life—everything for him is a gift of God, be it good or terrible. God has called us to be His emissaries on earth, and He sends us into places of darkness in order to be a light; into places of hopelessness in order to bring hope; into places where joy has died in order to be a joy; and so on. Our place is not necessarily where it is peaceful—in church, at the Liturgy, where we are shielded by the mutual presence of the faithful—but in those places where we stand alone, as the presence of Christ in the darkness of a disfigured world.

On the other hand, if we think about the Latin roots of the word humility, we see that it comes from the word humus, which indicates fruitful earth. St. Theophan writes about this. Just think about what earth is. It lies there in silence, open, defenseless, vulnerable before the face of the sky. From the sky it receives scorching heat, the sun’s rays, rain, and dew. It also receives what we call fertilizer, that is, manure—everything that we throw into it. And what happens? It brings forth fruit. And the more it bears what we emotionally call humiliation and insult, the more fruit it yields.

Thus, humility means opening up to God perfectly, without any defenses against Him, the action of the Holy Spirit, or the positive image of Christ and His teachings. It means being vulnerable to grace, just as in our sinfulness we are sometimes vulnerable to harm from human hands, from a sharp word, a cruel deed, or mockery. It means giving ourselves over, that it be our own desire that God do with us as He wills. It means accepting everything, opening up; and then giving the Holy Spirit room to win us over.

***

It is deeply embedded practice among Orthodox Christians that we treat icons, even those that are second-rate from an aesthetic point of view, with respect and reverence. Would that we did the same with each other. Perhaps what was most remarkable about Metropolitan Anthony is that he normally treated people as if they were icons. Here too he was a living translation of the Gospel. As he explained on one occasion, “Christ saw the beauty of the divine image in every person who came to him. Perhaps it was hidden or deformed, but it was beauty nevertheless. We must do the same. Each of us resembles a damaged icon. When anyone gives us a painted icon that has been damaged by age or circumstances or profaned by human sinfulness, we always treat it with tenderness, with reverence and with a broken heart. It is what remains of its former beauty, and not what has been lost, that is important. And that is how we should learn to treat ourselves and each other.” [This Holy Man, p 194]

How can I deal with my sinful condition?
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
12 August 1984

In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

So often we ask ourselves and one another a very tormenting question: How can I deal with my sinful condition? What can I do? I cannot avoid committing sins, Christ alone is sinless. I cannot, for lack of determination, or courage, or ability truly repent when I do commit a sin, or in general, of my sinful condition. What is left to me? I am tormented, I fight like one drowning, and I see no solution.

And there is a word which was spoken once by a Russian staretz, one of the last elders of Optina. He said to a visitor of his: No one can live without sin, few know how to repent in such a way that their sins are washed as white as fleece. But there is one thing which we all can do: when we can neither avoid sin, nor repent truly, we can then bear the burden of sin, bear it patiently, bear it with pain, bear it without doing anything to avoid the pain and the agony of it, bear it as one would bear a cross, — not Christ’s cross, not the cross of true discipleship, but the cross of the thief who was crucified next to Him. Didn’t the thief say to his companion who was blaspheming the Lord: We are enduring because we have committed crimes; He endures sinlessly… And it is to him, because he had accepted the punishment, the pain, the agony, the consequences indeed of evil he had committed, of being the man he was, that Christ said, ‘Thou shalt be with Me today in Paradise…’

I remember the life of one of the divines, the story of one who had come to him and have said that he had led all his life a life that was evil, impure, unworthy both of God and of himself; and then he had repented, he has rejected all evil he had done; and yet, he was in the power of the same evil. And the divine said to him: There was a time when you lapped up all this filth with delight; now you perceive it as filth and you feel that you are drowning in it with horror, with disgust. Take this to be your reward for your past, and endure…

This is something which all of us can do: to endure the consequences, to endure the enslavement which is our patiently, humbly, with a broken heart; not with indifference, not with a sense that as we are abandoned to it by God, then, why not sin? But taking it as a healing perception of what sin is, of what it does to us, of the horror of it. And if we patiently endure, a day will come when our inner rejection of sin will bear fruit, and when freedom will be given us.

So, if we can, in all the ways we can, let us avoid sin in all its forms, even those sins which seem to be so unimportant, because the slightest crack in a dam sooner or later leads to its bursting. If we can — let us truly repent, that is turn away from our past in a heroic, determined act; but if we can do neither of them — let us carry humbly and patiently all the pain and all the consequences. And this will also be accounted one day by the Lord Who in a folkloric life of Moses, in response to His angels saying, ‘How long shall you endure their sins’ — the sins of the Jews in the wilderness, answered: ‘I will reject them when the measure of their sins will exceed the measure of their suffering’.

Let us therefore accept the pain as a redeeming pain, even if we cannot offer it as pain pure of stain. Amen.
http://masarchive.org/Sites/texts/1984-08-12-1-E-E-S-EM03-058HowToDealWithSinfulCondition.html

Saint Nonna, the mother of St Gregory the Theologian, a model wife and mother
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2019/08/04/30463/

The Little Orphan, by St. John Jacob (the Romanian) the Chozebite
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2019/08/18/the-little-orphan-by-st-john-jacob-the-romanian-the-chozebite/

Apolytikion of Forefeast of the Transfiguration
Fourth Tone

Come, let us all welcome the Transfiguration of Christ, and joyously celebrate the bright prefestival, O ye faithful, and let us cry: Nigh at hand now is the day of God-given gladness, as the Sovereign Master goeth up on Mount Tabor to flash forth with the beautiful light of His Divinity.

prosomia of the Forefeast Tone 4. You have given as a sign.

Come, let us go up with Jesus, as he ascends the holy mountain, and there let us hear the voice of the living God, the Father without beginning, which through a cloud of light bears witness by the divine Spirit to the truth of his eternal Sonship, and enlightened in mind, in light we shall see light.

Come, let us dance beforehand, purify ourselves and faithfully prepare ourselves for the divine ascent of the exalted life of God, that we may become spectators of his majesty, and attain the glory which the leaders of the Apostles were allowed to see mystically on Mount Thabor.

Come now, having undergone the greater change, let us prepare ourselves well to approach the holy mountain of God as we contemplate the unchanging glory of Christ blazing forth more brightly than the sun, and made radiant by the triple light, in it let us glorify his condescension.

Prosomoia of the Stichera in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone.
What shall we call you, O Saints?

How shall we call you, O divine Nonna? A mother of fervant prayer, like that of the Prophet Samuel, the sweetest spouse, as proclaimed by Gabriel? You sprouted the all-wise Gregory, and you watered Caesarios and Gorgonia with the springs of piety, and the waters of the faith, intercede, that our souls be saved.

Apolytikion of Gregory the Theologian
First Tone

The pastoral flute of your theology conquered the trumpets of orators. For it called upon the depths of the Spirit and you were enriched with the beauty of words. Intercede to Christ our God, O Father Gregory, that our souls may be saved.

On July 25 1924, on the day of St. Anne, St. Paisios the Athonite was born in Pharasa (Çamlıca), Cappadocia

On 25 July [O.S. 12 July] 1924, on St. Anne’s day, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos (Eznepidis) was born in Pharasa (Çamlıca), Cappadocia

St. Arsenios of Cappadocia and Saint Paisios of Mount Athos (Eznepidis)

Although his monastic cell was in the world, St. Arsenios of Cappadocia managed to live out of the world. In this, as well as in his divine works and achievements, he benefited greatly from the two days he spent in retreat, praying in his cell. These days proved even more productive spiritually, because they not only sanctified his work of the following days, but we too, to this day, are nour­ished by the blessed fruit of this Father’s labours.

In addition to his other spiritual activities, it was his rule to remain in isolation in his cell every Wednesday and Friday and to do spiritual exercises and to pray. On these two days the threshold of his cell served as a substitute for him. Whenever any sick person arrived from afar, who did not know his rule and knocked at the door, Father Arsenios would certainly open it, but would not speak. He learned about the illness of the person concerned through signs, found the right prayer, read it and the sufferer would recover. On other occasions though, people knocked but he did not answer. Surely, during such times of prayer, he must have been in an ecstatic state of spiritual contemplation. Events indicate that on those days when he would shut himself in his cell, not only would he draw down divine powers of Heaven, while praying, but he, too, would be drawn up to Heaven by Angelic powers.

The Pharasiotes did not disturb him on those two days, except for the sick who would go outside his cell and take soil from the threshold of his door, spread it on the afflicted part of their body and get well. One woman from Pharasa, whose bent and misshapen hand was healed when she put soil from the threshold of Hadjiephentis on it, reportedly said:

“Where we come from, we didn’t know what a doctor was. We would go to Father Arsenios, Hadji­ephentis. It was in Greece that we found out about doctors, but if we tell the local people these things, they think it very strange.”

All the pain of those suffering was gathered in the cell of Hadjiephentis…

Once, when Hadjiephentis was going to Vespers, the moment he unlocked the door of the Church he saw a Woman Whose face was shining, coming out of the Church. She disappeared right in front of both him and the people who were with him. (Solomon Koskeridis was among them.) Hadjiephentis said it was Panaghia.

***

The blessed man of God, Hadjiephentis, apart from his many other gifts, was also endowed with the gift of foresight. He had been told by God, years before, that they would leave forGreece, and so would tell the Pharasiotes not to spend too much, but to save for the journey.

A year before the exchange of populations, a woman went to him and said: “Your blessing, Hadjiephentis, I hear that this year they’re going to move us.”
“Don’t worry; keep on with what you’re doing, because there’s another year to go,” Father Arsenios told her.

When that year had gone by, the dread message then arrived that they were to get ready quickly for the journey. The expulsion from their fatherland was naturally a very bitter affair, but good Father Arsenios had sweetened even this, by saying that they would be returning to their motherland, Greece.

On 25 July [O.S. 12 July] 1924, on St. Anne’s day, Arsenios Eznepidis (St. Paisios the Athonite) was born in Pharasa (Çamlıca), Cappadocia, shortly before the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. His father, Prodromos Eznepidis, a pious man, was the mayor of Farasa. He was characterised by a strong sense of patriotism and his life was many times put in danger by the Tsetes, who were a constant threat to the town of Farasa. Prodromos felt a deep devotion and love for Father Arsenios, the spiritual father of the family; he was recently canonized by the Church because of the numerous miracles he had worked, even before his death. Impressed by St. Arsenios’ miraculous life, Prodromos kept a notebook where he recorded the saint’s miracles, which he either heard, or experienced himself, for the benefit of both his children and his own. The Elder’s mother was called Eulambia and he had nine brothers and sisters altogether.

All the Pharasiotes began their preparations at once, just as Father Arsenios did. On August 7, 1924, a week before the big emigration from Farasa (Turkey) to Greece, St. Arsenios decided to have all the children baptized including Prodromos’ son. The boy was supposed to be named Christos, after his grandfather, according to the old Greek custom. However, Fr. Arsenios refused to name him so, as he wished to give him his own name. So, he said to his parents: “I understand you wish to leave someone in the grandfather’s shoes. Shouldn’t I wish to leave a monk in my shoes, too?” Then, he turned to the godmother and said: “Arsenios will be his name!” Thus, St. Arsenios had predicted the Elder’s calling who, since his early childhood, was chosen to become a receptacle of the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, from an early age, this child did aspire to become a monk, and in fact became one. Whether it was Father Arsenios’ prayer that took effect, or his gift of foresight, both alternatives reveal the holiness of the person.
After the baptism of the children, Father Arsenios was digging for a week in order to hide the sacred vessels so that they would not be desecrated by the Turks. He placed some in the Church of the Blessed Martyrs Varachesios and lonas, and others in the cemetery. It was, of course, impossible to take them on the journey, because the animals were loaded down with small children in cases of twos, or with the elderly, with foodstuffs and other urgent supplies for the long march.

Source: Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, Thessaloniki 2007

***

“Father Arsenios proclaimed true Orthodoxy with his Orthodox life. He mortified his flesh in asceticism from his ardent love of God, and modified souls with the Grace of God. He believed deeply and healed many, believers and non-believers. Few words, many miracles. He experienced much and hid much. Within his hard outer shell, he concealed his sweet, spiritual fruit. A very harsh father to himself, but also a very loving father to his children. He never beat them with the law.… As minister of the Most High, he did not tread the earth, and as co-administrant of the sacraments he shone upon the world.” —St. Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain

Prophecy of St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain

St. Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain said:

“Events will start that will culminate with us taking back Constantinople. Constantinople will be given to us. There will be war between Russia and Turkey. In the beginning the Turks will believe they are winning, but this will lead to their destruction. The Russians, eventually, will win and take over Constantinople. After that it will be ours. They will be forced to give it to us.” The text reads further, “(The Turks) will be destroyed. They will be eradicated because they are a nation that was built without God’s blessing. One third of the Turks will go back to where they came from, the depths of Turkey. One third will be saved because they will become Christians, and the other third will be killed in this war.” 

“I wanted nothing else but God to keep me alive for a few more years so I could see my country expand. And it will expand…” “Turkey will be dissected. This will be to our benefit as a nation. This way our villages will be liberated, our enslaved homelands. Constantinople will be liberated, will become Greek again. Hagia Sophia will open again,”

“Turkey will be dissected in 3 or 4 parts. The countdown has begun. We will take the lands that belong to us, the Armenians will take theirs and the Kurds their own. The Kurdish issue is at the works,”

“As long as there is faith and hope in God, a lot of people will rejoice. All that will happen in these years. The time has come.”

Now read the prophecy — how to read a newspaper: everything is clearly written. Thought tells me that there will be many events: the Russian occupy Turkey, Turkey will disappear from the map, because one third of Turks will be Christian, one third die and one third will go to Mesopotamia. Middle East will become an arena of war, which will include Russian. Shed a lot of blood, and even the Chinese will move the Euphrates River, with 200,000,000 army and reach Jerusalem. Characteristic feature that makes these events will be the destruction of the mosque of Omar, as it would mean the destruction of the beginning of work on the reconstruction of Solomon’s Temple, which was built right in the place. In Constantinople, will the great war between Russian and European, and shed a lot of blood.

Greece will not play a primary role in this war, but it will give Constantinople, not because they are in front of us fear the Russian, but because they can not find a better solution, and agreed to work together with Greece, and will put pressure on them difficult circumstances. The Greek army will not have time to come back to the city will be given to her. Jews, because they will have the strength and support of the European leadership obnagleyut and will show their pride and shamelessness and try to govern Europe. Then 2/3 of the Jews will be Christians. Unfortunately, people are pushed into the theology, not related to the church and is worldly sophistication that say different things and make impermissible action, to deliberately remove his position from the faith of Christians. So did Russian, when they wanted to introduce communism in Russia. What are they doing there? Once joined the party some wrong priests and theologians — and were already “together with them,” — they were forced to accuse the Church and often speak against it. So they poison the people, because he could not recognize the role of these theologians. Then he took one of his priests, who, because of illness was very thick, looking for some months skinny kid, put them on a poster and wrote down: “This is how the Church lives and how people are poor.” We took a photograph of the Patriarchal chambers covered with a carpet, furniture, etc., and placed next to the hut of one of the poor (as our gypsies) and said, look at the luxury of priests and a languishing Russian citizen! So little by little, they managed to poison the people and the “ruin his thought.” And after people consume themselves, and they were, and, as we know, have rejected Russia 500 years ago, and left her to die, killing millions of Russian Christians. They will build many machinations, but through persecution that followed, Christianity completely united. But not in the way they want those machinations suit global alliance of churches wanting to be at the head of the religious leadership. United, because the present situation will be separation of sheep from the goats. Each sheep will tend to be with the other sheep and then realized, in fact, “one flock and one shepherd.” Delve? See that this is already partly implemented: Christians, you see, have already begun to feel that they are in an unhealthy climate, and will try to avoid painful situations and replenished by the thousands in the monasteries and churches. Will soon see that the city there are two parts of people: those who will live lascivious and far from the life of Christ, and others that will be on the vigil pritekat and places of worship. Mean state, as it is now, can no longer exist.

Apolytikion of St. Arsenios of Cappadocia in the Third Tone (Commemorated on November 10)

You strived to live a life trully inspired by God, you became a holy vessel of the Paraclete, bearer of God, Arsenios, and you were given the grace to perform miracles, offering to everyone your quick help, our holy Father, we plead you, pray to Jesus Christ our Lord to grant us His grand mercy.

Kontakion in Tone 4

Cappadocia’s new-sprung flower and precious vessel of virtues, Holy Arsenios, let me hymn. For as an angel he lived in the flesh, and now resides with all the Saints. With them, he ever prays to Christ to grant us forgiveness of our sins.

Apolytikion to St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain in the First Tone

The offspring of Farasa, and the adornment of Athos, and the imitator of the former righteous, equal in honor, O Paisios let us honor O faithful, the vessel full of graces, who hastens speedily to those who cry out: glory to Him Who gave you strength, glory to Him Who crowned you, glory to Him Who grants through you healings for all.

Megalynarion

Rejoice the communicant with the Venerable, the pride of Athos, the adornment of Monastics, Rejoice the new teacher of the Church, O godly-minded Paisios, our boast.