Homily on the Holy Maccabees by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes

Icon of the Holy Maccabees with their Mother St. Solomone, and their teacher Eleazar (source)

  
Homily on the Holy Maccabees by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes: "Our Faith is True"
We will speak, my beloved, on the Holy Maccabees. They are a star cluster of nine stars, one being their teacher Eleazar, the second was their mother Solomone, and the other seven are her distinguished children of this large family.

These heroes lived in the 2nd century before Christ, during the reign of the King of Syria and Judea of one of the successors of Alexander the Great, Antiochos the Epiphanes (175-163BC). This man, a fanatical idolater, had endless hatred of the Jews, who were the only ones who believed in the true God. He tried with his whole being to uproot from their hearts their faith which had been given to them by Moses. And he slaughtered, slaughtering like a wild beast, more wild than a tiger or a lion. A beast might eat three or four people, but can't eat more. He, however, slaughtered 80,000 Jews, and blood poured through the streets of Jerusalem like a river. And in order to put an end to their religion, he organized an idol-worshiping feast. In the center of the city, he placed a great and large altar, and there sacrificed sheep and goats and bulls and rams, like the Jews would do typically, but--in order to corrupt them--he also sacrificed pigs, hundreds of pigs, to the gods of the idols. And in order to defile the Jews and to strike their religious consciences, he forced them to consume the meat. We must know that the Jews never ate pork. To this day, if you go to a Jewish home, they never eat pork. I won't go into the reasons that they do it, but in any case they continue to keep this.

The Jews fast. Do we? We also need to fast. And here I will make an aside. Are you a Christian, are you Orthodox? I'm not sure. If you were Orthodox, if you firmly believed in our Orthodoxy, you must keep the fasts. Which fasts? You should fast on Wednesday and Friday: Wednesday because on that day was our Lord Jesus Christ betrayed, and Friday, because on that day He was crucified. If you were Orthodox, you would fast during holy and Great Lent, and the other fasting periods, including January 5th, the day before Theophany, August 29th, the day of the Beheading of the Forerunner, and the Exaltation of the Precious Cross.

Do Christians fast today? Unfortunately, this holy practice seems to be going by the wayside. You can break whatever you wish, and you see people even breaking the fast on Holy Friday. During fasting periods, the meat markets are full and the restaurants at night dish out tons of meat. We [Greeks] have become among the largest meat-eaters in the Balkans. We even buy and ship in meat from Bulgaria and Serbia. All of this eating of meat is very serious for our health as well.

So the Jews therefore fasted, and to mock their fasting, Antiochos forced them to eat pork that had been sacrificed to the idols. First, he called the teacher Eleazar, who was an honorable priest. He told him: "I am 90 years old. Until now I have kept the fast according to the divine law, and I cannot even begin to think about abandoning our holy tradition..." He was seized by the soldiers of Antiochos, bound, and thrown into the fine. Thus, he gave up his soul to God.

After this, one by one he called the seven brothers, the Maccabees. He hold them: "Take pity on your youth." He told the first: "I will give you honor, glories, respect." "Keep your honors, I will remain in the home of my fathers/ I will never taste pork sacrificed to the idols..." Thus, the first said not. The same occurred with the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh. And after they all denied, each began their terrible martyrdom, which one shudders to even think about. Open the Old Testament to the end and turn to the book of Fourth Maccabees (5-12). Don't just read magazines and newspapers. If you are a Christian, read the holy Scriptures. You will say, I don't have time, or I'm tired...Good try!

Let me make another aside. I tell you to fast, but you don't fast. I tell you to read the Holy Scriptures, but you don't read them. The one you don't do, neither do you do the other. What Christian are you, can you tell me? I tell you to pray, but you don't pray. I tell you to confess, but you don't confess. I tell you to commune, but you don't commune. I tell you to go to church, but you don't go. You only go to church when you're invited to a sacrament [i.e. a baptism or a wedding]. Many go for a memorial service. But this is a sin. Because every church every Sunday is a memorial service. What memorial?  Not of our father or our mother. Every Sunday, we serve a memorial for the Lord. And if you go to the memorial of your father or mother, even more so should you go to the memorial of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does faith cost you? To the martyrs it cost terrible pains and death.

The Maccabees therefore said no, and began their martyrdom. A martyrdom that makes man shudder to read it, as is described in the Holy Scriptures. They put a trident between their eyes. Another they cut off his right hand. Another they cut off the left with a saw. Another they cut off his fingers. Another, they pulled off his nails. Another they raked his flesh with iron nails. Another they skinned him alive, like the butcher skins an animal... But it was as if nothing to them! They remained steadfast.

And in front of all of this, in the presence of the martyrdom of the seven children, who was there, I ask? Their mother, St. Solomone. O, what a mother! She was not at all like some mothers today who would say: "Eat, my child, a little meat, it's nothing..." Today, many mothers are only thinking of their children's bodies, their flesh, in other words. Above the body, they don't see anything else. St. Solomone was a unique mother, a historic mother, a rare example throughout the ages. "No, my children!" she said, "Do not pollute our religion, do not loose the crown of glory!" And their mother prepared them, her seven children, for a terrible martyrdom. It was their faith in God, and this faith showed her to be a heroine, a unique and grand and lady of a woman. How did she find the strength to support all her children to be sacrificed? Don't you think that she felt pain? Of course she felt pain. As her children were being martyred, and she saw them one by one being put to death in the most terrible manner, she suffered. She was pained for each separately, and for them all together. Her pain was greatly multiplied. Mothers, when their children get sick with a fever, they entreat God for the fever to flee from their children and to come to them instead. If, therefore, each child of St. Solomone was martyred once, then she was pained for each, and it was as if she was martyred seven times, multiplied by seven. And, having endured steadfastly and unshaken throughout this trial, in the end, she herself fell into the fire (IV Maccabees 17:1). Thus, they were all burned and became a sacrifice for the love of God, martyrs before Christ.

This, my brethren, in a few words, is the martyrdom of the seven Maccabee children, of their mother Solomone, and their teacher Eleazar. What does it teach us?

One lesson comes forth today. Our faith is not a myth. It is living and wondrous. We have the most true religion, the only truth in the world. Because of this, the Prophets prophesied and gave their lives, including the Maccabees in the Old Testament, and because of this, the Apostles and Martyrs were sacrificed in the New Testament, and because of this, the Fathers and the Teachers of the Church lived in asceticism, and preached theology, and confessed the faith.

Let us as well honor and imitate their struggles out of love, that we might, together with them, become partakers in the glory of the Kingdom of God, to Whom be glory and might unto the ages of ages. Amen.
(+) Bishop Avgoustinos
(Delivered in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Ptolmaidos, on Sunday August 2nd, 1987)
(source)

  

The Holy Maccabee Martyrs (source)  
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy in us and save us! Amen!

St. Porphyrios on Prayer for Children

An Orthodox Family (source)

  
St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia once gave advice to a mother regarding her child:
"Your child has an internal problem, that's why he is acting this way. The child is good, he doesn't want what he is doing but he is being forced, he is bound by something. He is not corrected with logic, and you can't force him with advice, nor with threats. This will work the opposite.
  
He may get worse, he may remain as he is, or he may be changed for the better. But for him to change, his mother must be sanctified. For him to be freed, he wants a holy person to be near him, who, with much love, will teach him, not to strike fear in him, but to live with holiness, and the child that sees him will be zealous to imitate him.
  
More than anything, the child needs near him a person of much and fervent prayer. Prayer works wonders. The mother is not sufficient with her physical caress of her child, but should struggle to spiritually caress him with prayer.
  
When a mother goes to caress without prayer, the child reacts and pushes away the hand of his mother. When, however, without caressing him, she mystically does so with her prayer, then his soul senses something unexplainable, and this spiritual caress attracts him to his mother.
  
The mother in her prayer for her child must melt like a candle. She should pray silently and with her hands lifted up high to Christ, so that she might mystically embrace her child.
(source)

 

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

St. Luke of Simferopol on the Raising of Children

Christ blessing the Children (source)

 
"Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life."
(Mark 10:29-30)

This word of the Lord is not a lie. I confirm to you that, when I left my children and entrusted them to God, He took care of them.*** My children grew up well and I think that even I couldn't raise them so well. And my Lord granted me a hundred-times more children. He gave me all of you. He gave me your hearts, because I know how much you love me and I return your love with my own fervent love. So many children has God given to me!

And your own children must be educated. But do not only make plans for their education in outward wisdom, in the wisdom of this world.  They should learn at the same time the wisdom from above, and the highest truth. They should learn the law of God and the commandments of Christ, to learn with reverence how to always have the memory of God and the true Christian path. Only then will your children not be lost on the ways of human wisdom. Only then, above all else, they will have Christian wisdom, the knowledge of God. In this way, therefore, we must educate our children.

You will have to give an account before God for the evil examples that you give to your children, for the arguments that occur before their eyes, for the chatter that they hear you say. If you yourselves do this, then what will your children learn from you?
  

Christ blessing the children (source)

  

We must begin this effort from the beginning, because only very small children easily receive our advice and suggestions. Their soul is like a soft candle, which every one of your words or deeds make an indelible impression on, whether good or evil.

"A small plant, wherever you train it, that shape it will take, and a new container will bring forth either fragrance or stench based on what you fill it with, placing in it either perfumes or filth." (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk)

Mother, the most beloved person for the child, the source of tenderness and nourishment, stands in prayer before the icon of Christ. The child looks at her then at the icon and does not need long explanations about what is happening. Here is the first and silent lesson of godly knowledge. This is the first and most significant lesson of piety. This lesson you can and you must give to your children.

There is no greater responsibility for the mother, no holier work, for which you will have a responsibility before God, than the raising of your children. To God you will have to give a word if you are negligent before this work. And from now you will begin your tortures and you will shed bitter tears and you will groan seeing your children.

Therefore: "Do not neglect one of these little ones." (Matthew 18:10) You must take care of your children, that you might be for them an example of the true Christian life, and then the blessing of the Lord will be with all of you and with your children unto the ages of ages.
(source)
 
***Note: St. Luke was forced to leave his children when he was exiled and tortured on behalf of Christ.
 

Icon of St. Luke the Blessed Surgeon of Simferopol and Crimea, from the newly-built and beautiful Church of Sretensky Monastery (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.
  

(source)

 

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!

Elder Sophrony of Essex on the Love and Pain of the Theotokos

Christ crucified, in extreme humility, beside His Most-holy Mother, the Theotokos (source)

  
Our Panagia was pained much more than all other women, much more than all other mothers in the world, because no one else was struck, to no one else was done evil like that which was done to Her, the greatest evil of the whole world. They crucified Her Son.

And seeing Him upon the Cross, She was pained so much in her heart...Because of this She can understand every painful existence, and She suffers together with every human who is pained, because She exactly knows what "pain" means. When the soul is seized by the love of God, then, O, how gracious, beloved and joyous is everything! Love, however, goes together with sorrow, and the deeper the love is, even greater is the sorrow.

The Theotokos never sinned, not even in thought, and She never lost grace, and even She had such great sorrows. When she stood beside the Cross, then Her sorrow was impassable like the ocean, and the pains of Her soul were incomparably greater than the pain of Adam after the expulsion from Paradise, because Her love was incomparably greater than the love of Adam in Paradise.

And though She survived it, She survived only with divine power, with the strength of the Lord, because His will was for the Theotokos to later see the Resurrection, and later, after His Ascension, that She might remain the consolation and joy of the Apostles and of the new Christian people. We do not reach the fullness of the love of the Theotokos, and because of this we cannot fully conceive of the depth of Her sorrow.

Her love was perfect. She loved her Son and God incomparably, but She also loved the people with great love. And what did She sense, then, when they whom She herself loved so greatly and whom She so greatly pained for their salvation, when She saw them crucifying her beloved Son?

This we cannot conceive of, because our love for God and man is small. However, the love of Panagia was incomparable and inconceivable, thus incomparable also was her pain, which remains inconceivable to us.

The Theotokos did not relate in the Scriptures Her thoughts, nor her love for Her Son and God, nor the sorrows of Her soul at the hour of the Crucifixion, because even then they couldn't conceive of it. Her love for God was stronger and more fervent than the love of the Cherubim and Seraphim, and all the powers of the Angels and Archangels were amazed with Her.
(source)
  

Icon of Saint Sophrony of Essex (+1993) (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!