"The Hierarchs of Christ, and the pride of the Fathers..."

The Holy Three Hierarchs: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (source)

  
The Hierarchs of Christ, and the pride of the Fathers, the towers of the Faith, and the Teachers and protectors of the Faithful, let us gather together, O lovers of feasts, and offer them hymns of praise, hymning them as we say: Rejoice, light of the Church, O wise Basil, and immovable pillar. Rejoice, heavenly nous, O great Archpriest, Gregory the Theologian. Rejoice, O all-golden John Chrysostom, the stentorian preacher of repentance. But, O thrice-joyous Fathers, do not cease to ever entreat Christ on behalf of those who celebrate your all-sacred and divine feast with faith and fervor.
-Doxastikon of the Litia in the Plagal of the Second Tone

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Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

A New Year's Blessing from Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra

The Adoration of the Magi (source)

  
"My brethren, I wish that the new year will be full of joy and happiness. I wish you many years. Many years, that your joy may increase along with your happiness. Many years that will bring to you and to your families the good things of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of the Patriarchs, the Prophets, of the Saints. May all good things come to your village, to your city and to your homes. I know that you are a people beloved by God. Many years, therefore, that we might say, as our Megalynarion says: 'Magnify my soul, Basil, the Great one among the Hierarchs', for he gave us an experience of God that has held fast in our lives. You open the heavens, O Basil, and revealer of heavenly things, and reveal to us that God has descended from there and has come among us."
-Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra (+2019)

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St. Basil the Great (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Basil the Great: Account of the Present State of the Churches

Christ calming the storm (source)

  
Note: Metropolitan Ierothos (Vlahos) of Nafpaktos, a notable theologian and author of many books, recently wrote a post entitled: "Proposal for dealing with the Ukrainian issue". In this article, he summarizes his extensive previous writing on the issue of Ukraine and the many related issues that it highlights for the Church, and proceeds to give his suggestion for how this might be remedied going forward. One of the most striking parts of this article, however, is his lengthy quote of St. Basil the Great: "Account of the Present State of the Churches", in which the Saint highlights the great battle that was being waged in his time and afflicting the entire Church. I am not including this to endorse any opinion about the state of the Church and Ukraine (I do not have the wisdom or authority to do so). I do not want this post to be a place of argument on this issue, as there are too many places online already where this is occurring. I include this excerpt from a great Saint that we might fully perceive the great temptation that is facing the Church, that we might all endlessly repent of our sins, weaknesses and passions that are harming our brethren and breaking God-given peace, love and unity. May we pray for the Church and the people of Ukraine, entreating our Lord, His Mother, and all the Saints that they might enlighten and guide our Hierarchs, and that repentance, communion, peace, love, forgiveness, forbearance and true unity might speedily be granted to all who are suffering throughout the world.
  
St Basil the Great: Account of the Present State of the Churches

(St Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, ch. 30, para. 76-79 in Letters and Select Works, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, ed. Philip Schaff & Henry Wace, Vol. 8, T&T Clark, Edinburgh, reprinted Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1996, pp. 48-50)

  

“To what then shall I liken our present condition? It may be compared, I think, to some naval battle which has arisen out of time old quarrels, and is fought by men who cherish a deadly hate against one another, of long experience in naval warfare, and eager for the fight. Look, I beg you, at the picture thus raised before your eyes. See the rival fleets rushing in dread array to the attack. With a burst of uncontrollable fury they engage and fight it out. Fancy, if you like, the ships driven to and fro by a raging tempest, while thick darkness falls from the clouds and blackens all the scenes so that ensigns are indistinguishable in the confusion, and all distinction between friend and foe is lost.
  
To fill up the details of the imaginary picture, suppose the sea swollen with billows and whirled up from the deep, while a vehement torrent of rain pours down from the clouds and the terrible waves rise high.
  
[Suppose] from every quarter of heaven the winds beat upon one point, where both the fleets are dashed one against the other. Of the combatants some are turning traitors; some are deserting in the very thick of the fight; some have at one and the same moment to urge on their boats, all beaten by the gale, and to advance against their assailants. Jealousy of authority and the lust of individual mastery splits the sailors into parties which deal mutual death to one another.
  
Think, besides all this, of the confused and unmeaning roar sounding over all the sea, from howling winds, from crashing vessels, from boiling surf, from the yells of the combatants as they express their varying emotions in every kind of noise, so that not a word from admiral or pilot can be heard. The disorder and confusion are tremendous, for the extremity of misfortune, when life is despaired of, gives men license for every kind of wickedness.
  
Suppose, too, that the men are all smitten with the incurable plague of mad love of glory, so that they do not cease from their struggle each to get the better of the other, while their ship is actually sinking into the deep.

Turn now, I beg you, from this figurative description to the unhappy reality. Did it not at one time appear that the Arian schism, after its separation into a sect opposed to the Church of God, stood itself alone in hostile array? But when the attitude of our foes against us was changed from one of long-standing and bitter strife to one of open warfare, then, as is well known, the war was split up in more ways than I can tell into many subdivisions, so that all men were stirred to a state of inveterate hatred alike by common hostility and individual suspicion.
  
But what storm at sea was ever so fierce and wild as this tempest of the Churches? In it every landmark of the Fathers has been moved; every foundation, every bulwark of dogma has been shaken: everything resting on an unsound basis is dashed about and shaken down. We attack one another. We are overthrown by one another. If our enemy is not the first to strike us, we are wounded by the comrade at our side. If a foeman is stricken and falls, his fellow soldier tramples him down. There is at least this bond of union between us that we hate our common foes, but no sooner have the enemy gone by than we find enemies in one another.
  
And who could make a complete list of all the wrecks? Some have gone to the bottom on the attack of the enemy, some through the unsuspected treachery of their allies, some from the inexperience of their own officers. We see, as it were, whole churches, crews and all, dashed and shattered upon the sunken reefs of disingenuous heresy, while others of the enemies of the saving Passion have seized the helm and made shipwreck of the faith. And then the disturbances wrought by the princes of this world have caused the downfall of the people with a violence unmatched by that of hurricane or whirlwind.
  
The luminaries of the world, which God set to give light to the souls of the people, have been driven from their homes, and a darkness verily gloomy and disheartening has settled on the Churches. The terror of universal ruin is already imminent, and yet their mutual rivalry is so unbounded as to blunt all sense of danger. Individual hatred is of more importance than the general and common warfare, for men by whom the immediate gratification of ambition is esteemed more highly than the rewards that await us in a time to come, prefer the glory of getting the better of their opponents to securing the common welfare of mankind. So all men alike, each as best he can, lift the hand of murder against one another. Harsh rises the cry of the combatants encountering one another in dispute; already all the Church is almost full of the inarticulate screams, the unintelligible noises, rising from the ceaseless agitations that divert the right rule of the doctrine of true religion, now in the direction of excess, now in that of defect.
  
On the one hand, are they who confound the Persons and are carried away into Judaism; on the other hand, are they that, through the opposition of the natures, pass into heathenism. Between these opposite parties inspired Scripture is powerless to mediate; the traditions of the apostles cannot suggest terms of arbitration.
  
Plain speaking is fatal to friendship, and disagreement in opinion is all the ground that is wanted for a quarrel. No oaths of confederacy are so efficacious in keeping men true to sedition as their likeness in error.
  
Every one is a theologian though he has his soul branded with more spots than can be counted. The result is that innovators find a plentiful supply of men ripe for faction, while the self-ordained and place-hunters reject the government of the Holy Spirit and divide the chief dignities of the Churches. The institutions of the Gospel have now everywhere been thrown into confusion by want of discipline; there is an indescribable pushing for the chief places while every self-advertiser tries to force himself into high office. The result of this lust for power is that our people are in a state of anarchy; the exhortations of those in authority are rendered wholly purposeless and void, because there is not a man but, out of his ignorant impudence, thinks that it is just as much his duty to give orders to other people, as it is to obey any one else.
  
So, since no human voice is strong enough to be heard in such a disturbance, I reckon silence more profitable than speech, for if there is any truth in the words of the Preacher, ‘The words of wise men are heard in quiet,’ in the present condition of things any discussion of them must be anything but becoming.
  
I am moreover restrained by the Prophet’s saying, ‘Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time,’ a time when some trip up their neighbours’ heels, some stamp on a man when he is down, and others clap their hands with joy, but there is no one to feel for the fallen and hold out a helping hand, although according to the ancient law he is not uncondemned, who passes by even his enemy’s beast of burden fallen under his load. This is not the state of things now. Why not? The love of many has waxed cold; brotherly concord is destroyed, the very name of unity is ignored, brotherly admonitions are heard no more, nowhere is their Christian pity, nowhere falls the tear of sympathy. Now there is no one to receive ‘the weak in faith,’ but mutual hatred has blazed so high among fellow citizens that they are more delighted at a neighbour’s fall than at their own success. Just as in a plague, men of the most regular lives suffer from the same sickness as the rest, because they catch the disease by communication with the infected, so nowadays by the evil rivalry which possesses our souls we are carried away to an emulation in wickedness, and are all of us each as bad as the others.
  
Hence merciless and sour sit the judges of the erring; unfeeling and hostile are the critics of the well disposed. And to such a depth is this evil rooted among us that we have become more brutish than the brutes; they do at least herd with their fellows, but our most savage warfare is with our own people.
For all these reasons I ought to have kept silence, but I was drawn in the other direction by love, which ‘seeketh not her own’, and desires to overcome every difficulty put in her way by time and circumstance. I was taught too by the children at Babylon, that, when there is no one to support the cause of true religion, we ought alone and all unaided to do our duty. They from out of the midst of the flame lifted up their voices in hymns and praise to God, regardless of the host that set the truth at naught, but sufficient, three only that they were, with one another.
  
Wherefore we too are undismayed at the cloud of our enemies, and, resting our hope on the aid of the Spirit, have, with all boldness, proclaimed the truth. Had I not so done, it would truly have been terrible that the blasphemers of the Spirit should so easily be emboldened in their attack upon true religion, and that we, with so mighty an ally and supporter at our side, should shrink from the service of that doctrine, which by the tradition of the Fathers has been preserved by an unbroken sequence of memory to our own day. A further powerful incentive to my undertaking was the warm fervour of your ‘love unfeigned’, and the seriousness and taciturnity of your disposition; a guarantee that you would not publish what I was about to say to all the world, not because it would not be worth making known, but to avoid casting pearls before swine.
  
My task is now done. If you find what I have said satisfactory, let this make an end to our discussion of these matters. If you think any point requires further elucidation, pray do not hesitate to pursue the investigation with all diligence, and to add to your information by putting any uncontroversial question. Either through me or others the Lord will grant full explanation on matters which have yet to be made clear, according to the knowledge supplied to the worthy by the Holy Spirit.”
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Christ walking on the water (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Akathist to Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, the Mothers of the Three Hierarchs

Sts. Nonna, Emmelia and Anthousa, the Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, commemorated after the Sunday of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ to the Temple (source)

  
Akathist to Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, the Mothers of the Three Hierarchs
  
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone. O Champion General.
The chaste Mothers of Basil, Gregory and John, let us praise with odes: Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, for they raised their children in piety, and together with them they rejoice and intercede for those who now cry out: Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Angels with men rejoice fervently at your divine Synaxis (3), and together, with odes they hymn Emmelia, faithful Nonna and Anthousa, standing before them in wonder before their radiant lives, crying out:
Rejoice, through whom joy has shinned forth,
Rejoice, through whom the faithful are radiant.
Rejoice, the restoration of fallen men,
Rejoice, the consolation of saddened souls.
Rejoice, compassionate Mother filled with mystical grace,
Rejoice, vessel of the pious life.
Rejoice, for you now take pasture with the Angels in heaven,
Rejoice, for you ceaselessly intercede to the Trinity.
Rejoice, for your received chaste light of grace,
Rejoice, for your wisdom shown forth to the ends of the earth.
Rejoice, through whom creation is gladdened,
Rejoice, through whom the Creator is glorified.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

The multitudes of the Orthodox, beholding your life, and all your virtue that are most clearly revealed, cry out at your wondrous deeds surpassing nature, therefore they bend their knee and honor your person, O Mother, crying out: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  
Being filled with knowledge in your life, O Mother Emmelia, you served in your home, therefore without glory but with great piety, you bore and raised ten children, who cry out to you things like these:
Rejoice, wise deliverer of those in dangers,
Rejoice, fervent prayer of faith.
Rejoice, ever-flowing spring of reverence,
Rejoice, lily of the grace of virtuous life.
Rejoice, ladder bearing up the faithful towards heaven,
Rejoice, most-fervent intercessor, bringing requests to Christ.
Rejoice, you who speak among the choirs of heavenly minds,
Rejoice, for you share the dwelling of the Venerable Saints.
Rejoice, radiant adornment of mothers,
Rejoice, example for families.
Rejoice, protector of the faithful home,
Rejoice, good worker of the Lord.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  

Divine power from heaven was sent by Him Who beholds all things, to enlighten your nous, full of knowledge and wisdom, in which God came to dwell, O Emmelia. Therefore, you ever hasten to pray to Him and ceaselessly chant: Alleluia.

  

St. Nonna (source)

  

Having your nous on the things above, you ceaselessly prayed, dissolving the bonds of barrenness, and you struggled ascetically, O Nonna, increasing the streams of your tears, fasting and continence, therefore we honor your pains, crying out:

Rejoice, branch of unfading root,

Rejoice, fruitful tree of the faithful.

Rejoice, myrrh-vessel of the virtues of the Spirit,

Rejoice, the most-divine praise of the faithful.

Rejoice, dwelling-place that estranged temptations,

Rejoice, wailing and pain towards the assaults of the demons.

Rejoice, for you pour forth the streams of healings,

Rejoice, the baptismal fount of your spouse.

Rejoice, fervent incense of intercession,

Rejoice, you who drive away satan the deceiver.

Rejoice, you who lead us towards salvation in God,

Rejoice, our entreaty towards Christ.

Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

O Mother Nonna, you cast out troubling frenzy and dark and soul-destroying thoughts, cleansing your nous, and you teach mothers by both theoria and praxis to build up virtue and to be pleasing to God and chant: Alleluia.
  

Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa (source)

  
Sekoundos saw you and took you as his wife, O Anthousa, who then bore John. But straightaway, as a young mother, you became a widow, but you continued to raise him in faith, praying for him, therefore we rightly cry out to you:
Rejoice, the offspring of Antioch,
Rejoice, the crown of a pious home.
Rejoice, the deliverer from various enemies,
Rejoice, good dwelling-place of the married life.
Rejoice, for the heavens rejoice with the earth,
Rejoice, for those on earth praise your life.
Rejoice, the God-inspired mouth of reverence,
Rejoice, you who bore the great weight of widowhood.
Rejoice, radiant support of the faith,
Rejoice, brave example of tender love.
Rejoice, through whom idols were removed from the earth,
Rejoice, through whom satan was deposed.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
O Mother honored by God, sacred Anthousa, you were shown to be a pillar of chastity for the Antiochians, therefore, Livanios the Rhetor praised you as a Christian mother, as we cry out: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  

You preached to all righteously, through your godly mind and your righteous deeds, and you were seen to be a philanthropist and a lover of your children, to whom the faithful, having received charity through you, O Mother Emmelia, hasten, saying with fervor:
Rejoice, radiant offspring of Caesarea,
Rejoice, glory of the pious faithful.
Rejoice, the censure of the deceitful demons,
Rejoice, the unwavering psalmody of the Trinity,
Rejoice, you who educated and raised your children in Christ,
Rejoice, you who taught faith and piety in God.
Rejoice, the unsleeping protector of your children,
Rejoice, you who with faith drove away the assaults of the deceiver.
Rejoice, divine preaching for the senseless,
Rejoice, you who make known meekness to the faithful.
Rejoice, tool of every divine virtue,
Rejoice, wise and motherly protection.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
     
Your life became a preacher for Cappadocia, O Emmelia, wife and mother, therefore, together with your spouse, and your five children Saints, showing forth to the Church Basil the Great, while they chant unto God the hymn: Alleluia.
  

 St. Nonna (source)

  

The divine Nonna shown forth radiantly with piety, transmitting her faith to her children, whom she raised in a godly manner with good words and deeds, granting Saints to the Church of Christ, therefore we cry out to you tunefully:
Rejoice, uplifting of the pious,
Rejoice, healing for those ailing.
Rejoice, the unquenchable lamp of the Church,
Rejoice, the unspeakable glory of Nazianzus.
Rejoice, sea drowning the pains of temptations,
Rejoice, vessel pouring forth myrrh, watering the faithful.
Rejoice, fiery pillar of prayer with tears,
Rejoice, the protector of children and mother of Saints.
Rejoice, unending nourishment of the poor,
Rejoice, chaste boast of Mothers,
Rejoice, guide of the faithful towards truth,
Rejoice, from whom spring forth divine streams.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Remaining in church in prayer, O Nonna, God paradoxically loosed the bonds of barrenness, granting you three children straightaway, O Mother, and to Him Who granted them to you, you offered thanksgiving, crying out to the Fashioner: Alleluia.
  

St. Anthousa (source)

  
Bringing to mind Christ's victory over death, you were patient in your widowhood, O Anthousa, and you nurtured him with motherly tenderness together with godly words, therefore to you was granted that great Hierarch of Christ, who cries out:
Rejoice, the radiance of chastity,
Rejoice, the mother of truth.
Rejoice, the speedy deliverer of all,
Rejoice, the nourishment of prayerful mothers.
Rejoice, breath of the divine Spirit which refreshes the faithful,
Rejoice, most-radiant vessel which nourishes mortals.
Rejoice, you who direct the Antiochians to God,
Rejoice, the guide and protector of those of godly mind.
Rejoice, entreaty to the righteous Judge,
Rejoice, divine consolation for sinners.
Rejoice, Rejoice, holy stole of virtues,
Rejoice, desired food of Paradise.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Truly strange are the awesome and godly things that we see in you, O Anthousa, as you lived your life in holiness and chastity, and with endurance withstood everything, fasting and casting out the multitudes of demons, and chanting: Alleluia.
  

St. Nonna (source)

  
You became wholly illumined, and a vessel of God-pleasing prayer and of the Spirit, Who came to dwell within you truly,  O Nonna, and we wretched ones, coming to know the fullness of the Godhead through you, in faith cry out to you in hymns:
Rejoice, gate of the ineffable mysteries of God,
Rejoice, chaste pillar of chastity.
Rejoice, harshest censure of heretics,
Rejoice, the exceptional praise of the Orthodox.
Rejoice, cloud spread out above the road to the heavenly Sion,
Rejoice, mirror of the Spirit and dwelling-place in the heavens.
Rejoice, you who supported your brethren in pain,
Rejoice, you who led those deluded towards God.
Rejoice, through whom the enemies are driven away,
Rejoice, through whom are defeated those who war against us.
Rejoice, fulfiller of faith and motherhood,
Rejoice, firm exposer of satan.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
All natures of Angels were astonished, beholding your life in the flesh equal to the Angels, for God Who is unapproachable, gave you truly wondrous grace, O Nonna, and after your repose, He showed you forth to all the faithful as one working wonders, for those who cry out: Alleluia.
  

St. Nonna (source)

  
You were shown to be wise before the rhetors of faithlessness, by your chaste life, for you led those deluded by heresy and the demons, O Mother, towards the light, preaching with faith, directing towards Christ, therefore we cry out to you:
Rejoice, treasury of the wisdom of God,
Rejoice, vessel of His graces.
Rejoice, two-edged sword against atheism,
Rejoice, ready blade against those of evil life.
Rejoice, for terrible heretics were deposed,
Rejoice, for in you the land of Antioch was gladdened.
Rejoice, divine adornment of all mothers,
Rejoice, speedy deliverer of those who pray to you.
Rejoice, radiance of the light of the Sun,
Rejoice, deliverance of faithful men.
Rejoice, you who made known the traps of satan,
Rejoice, you to whom was granted the Golden-tongued [Chrysostom].
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Save all through your prayers, O all-honored Mother, ceaselessly entreating the Lord, as we embrace your image with joy and all piety, and for the honor that we show you, you grant in return even greater things, for those who hymn you, O Anthousa, chanting: Alleluia.
  

Sts. Nonna, Anthousa and Emmelia (source)

  

Ranks of the Bodiless [Angels] counted your life and received your motherly spirit, for the Creator truly sanctified you, O Emmelia, Whom you pleased with pain, teaching the faithful to cry out to you:
Rejoice, O pillar of chastity,
Rejoice, O gate of compassion.
Rejoice, you who raised your children tenderly,
Rejoice, You who nursed them with godly milk.
Rejoice, for you taught them faith in Christ,
Rejoice, for you led them towards reverence to God in all things.
Rejoice, spouse of the priest Basil,
Rejoice, mother and all-joyous nourisher of Saints.
Rejoice, famed rejoicing of the faithful,
Rejoice, chaste nourishment of mothers.
Rejoice, speedy helper and deliverer,
Rejoice, fervent intercession towards the Master.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

Receive these divine hymns, O Mother Emmelia, which we offer in faith, seeking that we be delivered from many temptations and trying circumstances, from passions and from the fires of hell, through your prayers to the Lord for those who cry out: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  
You pleased the Light-giver and Master through your faithful life, O Nonna, together with your spouse, for in you dwelt the uncreated light, leading you towards perfect knowledge of God, therefore we proclaim Christ’s wonders and cry out to you:
Rejoice, boast of your fatherland and your race,
Rejoice, our mighty weapon.
Rejoice, you who touch pious souls with the Spirit,
Rejoice, the divine root of Nazianzus.
Rejoice, for you truly heal illnesses,
Rejoice, for you wondrously redeem from the wounds of the soul.
Rejoice, the prayerful defender and protector,
Rejoice, you who stand beside those who mourn with joy.
Rejoice, you who raised your children with tenderness,
Rejoice, seal of the faith in the Trinity.
Rejoice, divine lighthouse of the light of Christ,
Rejoice, unfading strength of the faithful.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

O divine Emmelia, grant grace to those who in faith and hymns honor your icon, and grant to those with fervor holy and spiritual fruit, godly zeal for virtue, readiness towards repentance and a good defense before God, chanting: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  
The divine members of the choirs of the faithful praise you, O Mother Anthousa, and we honor your feast, rejoicing and praying with vigilance, offering our entreaties which you receive, and you grant even greater things to those who hymn you:
Rejoice, divine stole of grandeur,
Rejoice, joyous pillar of chastity.
Rejoice, ark and temple of holiness,
Rejoice, treasury and vessel of divine grace.
Rejoice, defender of the faith and salvation of the faithful,
Rejoice, sacred boast of pious mothers.
Rejoice, the unassailable pride of the Church,
Rejoice, the greatly-fervent horn of the Orthodox.
Rejoice, through whom the world was illumined,
Rejoice, through whom Chrysostom has shown forth.
Rejoice, humble and living protector of the faithful,
Rejoice, the intercessor for the salvation of souls.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

O choir of Saints, Anthousa, with Nonna and Emmelia, the lights among mothers (3), those who chant this ode to you, deliver from every trying circumstance, and intercede to God for the salvation of those who cry out in faith: Alleluia.

And again the Kontakion.
  

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Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa before their sons, the Three Hierarchs (source)

     

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"Come, O worshippers of the heavenly Trinity, and let us praise the earthly trinity of divine Hierarchs..."

The Holy Three Hierarchs Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (source)

  
Come, O worshippers of the heavenly Trinity, and let us praise the earthly trinity of divine Hierarchs: Gregory, the namesake of theology, Basil, who bears the name of the Kingdom, and John, whose name is truly filled with grace. They sail the deep of wisdom, and the streams of the ocean of the Spirit, and ever draw forth living water from the spring welling forth to [eternal] life, they shine forth like pearls, the rudder of the Church, the tree greatly-laden with fruit, the stewards of grace, the mouth of Christ, the defenders of the Trinity, from whom we immediately are enlightened, and who ceaselessly entreat on behalf of our souls.
-Idiomelon of the Litia for the Feast of the Three Hierarchs
  
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Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Excerpt from the Encomium on St. Basil the Great by St. Gregory the Theologian

St. Basil the Great (source)

 
The following is an excerpt from the lengthy and moving encomium that St. Gregory the Theologian wrote in honor and memory of his close friend, St. Basil the Great. May we have their blessings and witness throughout the world!

"But what are these to his renown for eloquence, and his powers of instruction, which have won the favour of the ends of the world? As yet we have been compassing the foot of the mountain, to the neglect of its summit, as yet we have been crossing a strait, paying no heed to the mighty and deep ocean. For I think that if any one ever has become, or can become, a trumpet, in his far sounding resonance, or a voice of God, embracing the universe, or an earthquake of the world, by some unheard of miracle, it is his voice and intellect which deserve these titles, for surpassing and excelling all men as much as we surpass the irrational creatures. Who, more than he, cleansed himself by the Spirit, and made himself worthy to set forth divine things? Who was more enlightened by the light of knowledge, and had a closer insight into the depths of the Spirit, and by the aid of God beheld the things of God? Whose language could better express intellectual truth, without, as most men do, limping on one foot, by either failing to express his ideas, or allowing his eloquence to outstrip his reasoning powers? In both respects he won a like distinction, and showed himself to be his own equal, and absolutely perfect. To search all things, yea, the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10) is, according to the testimony of St. Paul, the office of the Spirit, not because He is ignorant of them, but because He takes delight in their contemplation. Now all the things of the Spirit Basil had fully investigated, and hence he drew his instructions for every kind of character, his lessons in the sublime, and his exhortations to quit things present, and adapt ourselves to things to come.

"The sun is extolled by David for its beauty, its greatness, its swift course, and its power, splendid as a bridegroom, majestic as a giant; while, from the extent of its circuit, it has such power that it equally sheds its light from one end of heaven to the other, and the heat thereof is in no wise lessened by distance. Basil's beauty was virtue, his greatness theology, his course the perpetual motion reaching even to God by its ascents, and his power the sowing and distribution of the Word. So that I will not hesitate to say even this, his utterance went out into all lands, and the power of his words to the ends of the world: as St. Paul says of the Apostles, (Romans 10:18) borrowing the words from David. What other charm is there in any gathering today? What pleasure in banquets, in the courts, in the churches? What delight in those in authority, and those beneath them? What in the hermits, or the cenobites? What in the leisured classes, or those busied in affairs? What in profane schools of philosophy or in our own? There is one, which runs through all, and is the greatest — his writings and labours. Nor do writers require any supply of matter besides his teaching or writings. All the laborious studies of old days in the Divine oracles are silent, while the new ones are in everybody's mouth, and he is the best teacher among us who has the deepest acquaintance with his works, and speaks of them and explains them in our ears. For he alone more than supplies the place of all others to those who are specially eager for instruction.

"I will only say this of him. Whenever I handle his Hexaemeron, and take its words on my lips, I am brought into the presence of the Creator, and understand the words of creation, and admire the Creator more than before, using my teacher as my only means of sight. Whenever I take up his polemical works, I see the fire of Sodom, (Genesis 19:24) by which the wicked and rebellious tongues are reduced to ashes, or the tower of Chalane, impiously built, (Genesis 11:4) and righteously destroyed. Whenever I read his writings on the Spirit, I find the God Whom I possess, and grow bold in my utterance of the truth, from the support of his theology and contemplation. His other treatises, in which he gives explanations for those who are shortsighted, by a threefold inscription on the solid tablets of his heart, lead me on from a mere literal or symbolic interpretation to a still wider view, as I proceed from one depth to another, calling upon deep after deep, and finding light after light, until I attain the highest pinnacle. When I study his panegyrics on our athletes, I despise the body, and enjoy the society of those whom he is praising, and rouse myself to the struggle. His moral and practical discourses purify soul and body, making me a temple fit for God, and an instrument struck by the Spirit, to celebrate by its strains the glory and power of God. In fact, he reduces me to harmony and order, and changes me by a Divine transformation...

"This is my offering to you, Basil, uttered by the tongue which once was the sweetest of all to you, of him who was your fellow in age and rank. If it have approached your deserts, thanks are due to you, for it was from confidence in you that I undertook to speak of you. But if it fall far short of your expectations, what must be our feelings, who are worn out with age and disease and regret for you? Yet God is pleased, when we do what we can. Yet may thou gaze upon us from above, thou divine and sacred person; either stay by your entreaties our thorn in the flesh, (2 Corinthians 12:7) given to us by God for our discipline, or prevail upon us to bear it boldly, and guide all our life towards that which is most for our profit. And if we be translated, do thou receive us there also in your own tabernacle, that, as we dwell together, and gaze together more clearly and more perfectly upon the holy and blessed Trinity, of Which we have now in some degree received the image, our longing may at last be satisfied, by gaining this recompense for all the battles we have fought and the assaults we have endured. Such are our words on your behalf: who will there be to praise us, since we leave this life after you, even if we offer any topic worthy of words or praise in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory forever? Amen."

(source)

St. Gregory the Theologian (source)

   

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Basil the Great: "Jesus Christ is for us a lesson..."

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world (source)

  
Dearly Beloved, each word and deed of Our Saviour Jesus Christ is for us a lesson in virtue and piety. For this end also did He assume our nature, so that every man and every woman, contemplating as in a picture the practice of all virtue and piety, might strive with all their hearts to imitate His example. For this He bore our body, so that as far as we could we might repeat within us the manner of His life. And so therefore, when you hear mention of some word or deed of His, take care not to receive it simply as something that incidentally happened, but raise your mind upwards towards the sublimity of what He is teaching, and strive to see what has been mystically handed down to us.
-St. Basil the Great, "That prayer is to be placed before all things"
  
(source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

The Holy Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Sts. Nonna, Emmelia and Anthousa

The Three Holy Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Sts. Nonna, Emmelia and Anthousa - Commemorated the Sunday after the Feast of the Presentaton of Christ to the Temple (source)

  
In Greece, the feast of the Presentation of Christ to the Temple, due to the praise to the Theotokos of the feast, has become the day on which they celebrate Mother's Day. Related to this, and also based on the fact that January is the month in which the Three Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers are celebrated (Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom), the Sunday after the Feast of the Presentation of Christ has come to be the common feast of their mothers. Sts. Nonna, Emmelia and Anthousa are perfect examples of Christian motherhood, and one can see the great virtue in their lives, and especially through their children, the fruits of their labors and faith. Below I inclue their lives, and also hymns from the joint feast of these Three Holy Mothers. May they intercede for us all and help us!
  
Life of St. Nonna
Saint Nonna, the mother of St Gregory the Theologian (January 25, 389), was the daughter of Christians named Philotatos and Gorgonia, who raised her in Christian piety. St Nonna was also an aunt of St Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium (November 23).   St Nonna entered into marriage with Gregory of Arianzus (January 1), the rich landowner of an estate in the Arianzus and Nazianzos districts. The marriage was advantageous by earthly considerations, but grievous for the pious soul of Nonna. Her husband Gregory was a pagan, a follower of the sect of the Supremists (Hypsistarii), who venerated a supreme god and observed certain Jewish rituals, while at the same time they worshipped fire.   St Nonna prayed that her spouse would turn to the holy truth. St Nonna’s son, St Gregory the Theologian, wrote about this: “She could not bear this, being half united to God, because he who was part of her remained apart from God. She wanted a spiritual union in addition to the bodily union. Day and night she turned to God with fasting and many tears, entreating Him to grant salvation to her husband.”   Through the prayers of St Nonna, her husband Gregory had a vision in his sleep. “It seemed to my father,” writes St Gregory, “as though he was singing the following verse of David: ‘I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord’ (Ps. 121/122: 1). He had never done this before, though his wife had often offered her supplications and prayers for it.”   The Psalm was strange to him, but along with its words, the desire also came to him to go to church. When she heard about this, St Nonna told her husband that the vision would bring the greatest pleasure if it were fulfilled.   The elder Gregory went to the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, where he made known his conversion to Christ. He was baptized, ordained presbyter, and then Bishop of Nazianzos devoting himself totally to the Church. At the same time as his consecration as bishop, his wife St Nonna was made a deaconness. With the same zeal with which she had raised her children, she now occupied herself in performing works of charity.   “She knew,” says St Gregory the Theologian, “one thing to be truly noble: to be pious and to know from where we have come and where we are going; and that there is one innate and trusty wealth: to use one’s substance on God and on the poor, especially the impoverished kin.   One woman may be distinguished for frugality, and another for piety, while she, difficult as it is to combine both qualities, excelled all others in both of them. In each she attained the height of perfection, and both were combined in her. She did not permit one duty to interfere with the other, but rather each supported the other.   What time and place of prayer ever eluded her? She was drawn to this each day before anything else, and she had complete faith that her prayers would be answered. Although greatly moved by the sorrows of strangers, she never yielded to grief to the extent that she allowed any sound of woe to escape her lips before the Eucharist, or a tear to fall from her eye, or for any trace of mourning to remain on a Feast day, though she repeatedly endured many sorrows. She subjected every human thing to God.   Her final years brought St Nonna many sorrows. In the year 368 her younger son Caesarios died, a young man of brilliant expectations; and in the following year, her daughter died. The brave old woman bore these losses submitting to the will of God.   In the year 370 Bishop Gregory, then already an old man, participated in the consecration of St Basil the Great as Bishop of Caesarea. St Nonna, who was somewhat younger than her husband, was also ready to enter into the next life, but through the prayers of her beloved son her time on earth was prolonged.   “My mother,” wrote her son, “ was always strong and vigorous, and free from sickness all her life, but then she became ill. Because of much distress... caused by her inability to eat, her life was in danger for many days, and no cure could be found. How then did God sustain her? He did not send down manna, as for Israel of old; He did not split open a rock, in order to provide water for the thirsty people; nor did He send food by ravens, as with Elias, nor did He feed her..., as He once fed Daniel, who felt hunger in the pit. But how?”   It seemed to her that I, her favorite son (not even in dreams did she prefer anyone else), had appeared to her suddenly by night with a basket of the whitest bread. Then I blessed these loaves with the Sign of the Cross, as is my custom, and I gave her to eat, and with this her strength increased.”St Nonna believed the vision was real. She became stronger, and more like her old self.   St Gregory visited her early the next morning and, as usual, asked what sort of night she had, and if she required anything. She replied, “My son, you have fed me and now you ask about my health. I am well.” At this moment her maids made signs to me that I should not contradict her, but to accept her words so that the actual truth should not distress her.”   Early in the year 374 the hundred-year-old St Gregory the Elder reposed. After this, St Nonna almost never emerged from the church. Soon after his death, she died at prayer in the temple on August 5, 374.    St Nonna was a model wife and mother, a remarkable woman who devoted her life to God and the Church without neglecting her other responsibilities. Because of her spiritual, social, and domestic concerns, St Nonna would be a most fitting patron for Orthodox women’s organizations.
(source)
  
Life of St. Emmelia
St Basil the Great’s mother St Emilia was the daughter of a martyr. On the Greek calendar, she is commemorated on May 30. St Basil’s father was also named Basil. He was a lawyer and renowned rhetorician, and lived at Caesarea.   Ten children were born to the elder Basil and Emilia: five sons and five daughters. Five of them were later numbered among the saints: Basil the Great; Macrina (July 19) was an exemplar of ascetic life, and exerted strong influence on the life and character of St Basil; Gregory, afterwards Bishop of Nyssa (January 10); Peter, Bishop of Sebaste (January 9); and Theosebia, a deaconess (January 10).
(source)
  

St. Anthoua the Mother of St. John Chrysostom (source)

  
See here for a brief life of St. Anthousa, the Mother of St. John Chrysostom.
  

The Three Hierarchs, together with their Mothers (source)

  

Selected hymns from the Feast of the Three Holy Mothers, Sts. Nonna, Emmelia and Anthousa - Commemorated the Sunday after the Feast of the Presentation of Christ to the Temple

Prosomoia of the Stichera in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone.

What shall we call you, O Saints?

What shall we say of you, O Emmelia? The child-loving mother of wondrous children, the tender-loving woman of sacred works, for you bore the Great Basil, and also nursed Peter and Navkration, the bearer of Gregory of Nyssa, and Makrina who was enlightened by God, intercede, that our souls be saved.

  

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.

  

How shall we now hymn Anthousa? As the spouse of Sekoundos, the Christian leader, the mother of John Chrysostom the wise. As a pillar of wisdom and chastity, and an example of motherly purity, fragrant flower of love, and unfading crown of glory, intercede, that our souls be saved.

   

Doxastikon of the Stichera in the Plagal of the Second Tone

A day of rejoicing has shined forth upon the Church of Christ, and She has put forth this common feast for the exaltation of the Christian people. Come, therefore, the ranks of the Orthodox, let us honor in hymns and God-inspired melodies, the memory of the Holy Mothers of the Three Glorious Hierarchs. For behold, Mariam who gave birth to God, offered to the Priest in the Temple her holy and most-sacred Fruit [Christ], becoming the prototype to Mothers. But these famed Mothers Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, bore fruit in prayer, and offered their tears to God for their faithful children, and nursed them on the milk of piety, and offered them up as pure, spotless and fitting sacrifices. Let us cry out to them: rejoice, O chaste Mothers, the God-sent examples for their children, sons and daughters, the hope of spouses, and the fervent intercessors for the faithful, and the speedy deliverers. Therefore, entreat Christ, we pray, on behalf of those who honor your all-pious and ever-blessed memory, and send down upon us all peace, and great mercy for our souls.

  

Idiomelon of the Litia in the First Tone

Rejoice in the Lord, O Church of Christ, at the divine memory today of the famed Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa. For these thrice-blessed ones sprouted their God-planted children, and watered them faithfully with the teaching and commandments of the Lord, and lived venerably, bearing this painful and fleeting life, proceeding then to the heavenly Fatherland, where they ceaselessly entreat on behalf of our souls.

  

Doxastikon of the Aposticha in the Second Tone

Today, we have been gathered to a table of spiritual rejoicing, for the common and light-bearing and all-glorious memory, of the Venerable Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa. Come, O lovers of feasts, and let us hymn their divine virtues, imitating their way [of life] in an exacting manner, their spousal faith, their nurturing of their children, and their God-pleasing manner, that the greatly merciful God might bear for us mercy, on that terrible and awesome day, of His Righteous [Judgment].

 

Apolytikion of the Saints in the First Tone. The Three Great Lights.

The three Holy Mothers of the Teachers let us honor, who bore the Hierarchs, and preached Christ, and watered them with the milk of piety, and nurtured them on the glorious faith, training them as trees. Emmelia the divine, and Nonna the thrice-blessed, and the chaste Anthousa, the astonishment of Lebanon. Come, the imitators of their struggles, let us gather together to offer hymns to them, as they intercede for us to the Trinity.

   

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone. You have appeared today.

The feast of the Mothers shines forth today, come, you who love feasts, let us praise them, crying out: Rejoice Emmelia, together with divine Nonna, and all-praised Anthousa.

  

Oikos

Behold now, the light-bearing day has dawned of the divine memory our Venerable Mothers. Come, you of godly mind, rejoice now, and hasten to honor them as is right with godly hymns, imitating their incomprehensible way of life, and their God-pleasing manner, and their virtues and struggles, their pains and sweats, for their entreated God with prayer, and supplication, and humility, and love, patience and chastity, and with every other virtue, especially chastity and brotherly love. Therefore, with fervor let us cry out: Rejoice Emmelia, together with divine Nonna, and all-praised Anthousa.

  

Synaxarion

On this day, the Sunday after the Presentation of our Lord and Savior and God, the Memory of the Holy Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa.

  

Verses

Let us honor the memory of the Holy Mothers

Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa.

They entreat the Infant Forty-days-old, together with God's Mother.

  

Exaposteilarion in the Third Tone.

The heaven in the stars.

In the Temple the Priest met the Infant Christ, and in the House of God, let us all praise in hymns and odes the virtues of Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, as is right.

  

In the Praises, Sticheron Prosomoion in the First Tone.

The heavenly ranks.

Come, all the faithful, let us celebrate the memory of the Mothers of the Great Hierarchs, Holy Emmelia with joy, who bore Basil, Nonna who bore Gregory, and the chaste Anthousa who sprouted forth the Chrysostom.

  

Doxastikon of the Praises, in the Plagal of the First Tone

Let us sound the trumpet in the clarion of song, skipping festally, and let us rejoice in the Spirit, hymning in God-inspired hymns, the light-bearing memory of the Holy Mothers of the Three Hierarchs, and let us say to them in praise: Rejoice, you who raised Basil the Priest, and were the tender-loving mother of ten children, Emmelia, all-praised, the prototype of the family. Rejoice, the chaste spouse of the sacred Gregory, who bore the second Theologian, together with Caesarios and Gorgonia, Nonna, all-blessed. Rejoice, the most-chaste wife of Sekoundos, who sprouted John the Chrysostom, and educated him to be the rhetor of Lebanon, Anthousa, the divine adornment. But, O Mothers, you rejoiced in your sons and daughters like fruitful olive trees, and you kept your spousal faith, and struggled tirelessly to love your children and your brethren, and you transmitted to your children all the virtues faithfully. Intercede with the Savior, that those who celebrate your memory might be shown mercy upon their souls.

  

Megalynarion

Come O faithful, let us praise the sacred Mothers of the Great Hierarchs: Emmelia, Nonna, and the chaste Anthousa, crying out "Rejoice" to the godly ones in faith.

  

Translations from the Greek text of the service to the Saints here. See here for the Paraklesis, Akathist and Engomia to the Saints in Greek.

  
See here for the Akathist to the Three Holy Mothers.
  

Sts. Nonna, Anthousa and Emmelia (source)

      

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!