The Splendor of the Divine Liturgy

Christ and the Holy Angels serving the Divine Liturgy (source)

   

The Splendor of the Divine Liturgy, by Elder Ephraim of Arizona

The Divine Liturgy, what a splendor indeed! Man has been honored by God in such a way that He Himself comes down to earth with His Angelic Orders every time there is a Liturgy, in order to nurture man with His Most Holy Body and His Most Precious Blood! For He has given us everything. Is there anything physical or spiritual, perishable or everlasting, that has not been offered to us? None! Is there anything superior to His Most Holy Body and Blood, which is given to us on a daily basis? There is certainly not. God has enabled man, who is full of soil and dirt, to serve the Divine Liturgy. So priceless is the Divine Love that just a tiny drop exceeds any earthly, physical and secular love.

Adam and Eve's sin was the starting point of all the distressing events that have occurred to this day and of those that will occur until the end of time. Disobedience, like a sperm inside Eve's womb, gave birth to and transmitted physical and spiritual death to all of humanity. Poor Eve, could there have been a way for her to see that "the split second" taste of the fruit would cause such turmoil, thus compelling the Holy Trinity to have a "co-entreaty" so that the one Person of the Life-Giving Trinity would be sent to the world and endure, by the works of His hands, the blows, insults, whipping, spitting as well as all kinds of obscenity and ultimately be hung on the Cross as a curse! "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).

The sweet redemption of our Jesus, the light of our troubled souls, His Passion and Life-Giving Resurrection, are re-enacted in every Divine Liturgy through which every sinful soul is delivered. Great indeed is Jesus' love for us! For He took on our human nature and was hung on the Cross, giving us freedom and thus wiping clean all our debts towards our Heavenly Father. And as our beloved Brother He makes us worthy of His co-inheritance which consists of the infinite riches of His Heavenly Father. And if during the time when the Law, which existed before Christ, had overshadowed things, and the blood of oxen and goats as well as a calf's embers purified those who had partaken of them, how much more will Christ's Most Holy Blood, which is partaken from the Holy Altar of the Holy Churches of God, cleanse us from sin and warm up our souls in order to receive the divine love of our most sweet Jesus. The Lamb which was slaughtered for our personal salvation will rinse us with His Most Precious Blood from the filth of our sins and give us eternal rest.

In any case, we owe it to ourselves to become partakers of this heavenly banquet which offers us this most wonderful Mystery of the Holy Altar. Once inside the church, we should stand in fear and devoutness, since our Lord Jesus Christ and His holy angels are present. Those who are attentive and devout are filled with grace and blessings; however, those who are inattentive are condemned, being unworthy.

On the one hand, the Angels serve the Divine Liturgy, and on the other, the faithful come to church in order to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ - "Receive the Body of Christ and taste the Fountain of Immortality" - so that they will live in Christ and not perish in sin. Thus, "let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself" (1 Cor. 11:28-29). For instance, when someone wants to appear before a king, it takes him days to get ready, in terms of general preparation, cleanliness, speech, manner, ethos, etc., so that he would succeed in drawing the king's compassion and, in this way, have his desirable request granted. Even though there is no comparison as far as the two different kings are concerned, each believer should prior to Holy Communion prepare oneself in order to obtain divine mercy and forgiveness. Those who appear before a secular king are, most of the time, adorned by iniquity, flattery, pretence as well as deceit, in order to obtain that which is desired; nevertheless, the Christian believer who appears before the King of kings who in turn keeps an eye on the inner person must be adorned by holiness, humility and the sheer ethos of the soul that is more precious than lost gold.

The Lord created His Church on earth as a Bride, so that She would intercede for His children. He left us the Great Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, in order to be cleansed, become holy and thus become one with God. He has invited us all; some in their childhood, others in their middle as well as old age. As He is Good, He took hold of us like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, in order to make us partakers of His divine Kingdom. Nothing repelled Him - no ulcer, no wound, no illness, not even the deformity of spiritual phenomena which may characterize our soul. As a father He accepted us, as a mother He breast-fed us, and as an unmercenery doctor He took care of us and clothed us in the garment of adoption, with grace ignoring the heavy debt of our trespasses. We thus owe Him infinite love and worship. Love should remain in the heart like a life-giving source, gushing forth springs of communion wine and streams of divine eros.

We should be partakers of the Sacrifice of the Slaughtered Lamb as often as we can, and as long as we are free to do so, since Holy Communion is a great aid for the believer which in turn helps him to fight sin. Also, we should approach this divine Mystery in a spirit of compunction, crushed hearts, and a good sense of our sins. Great is the mercy of God Who condescends to enter into us; not abhorring the multitude of our sins. Nonetheless, due to His infinite love and affection, we are sanctified, and in this way we are made worthy to become His children and co-heirs of His Kingdom. Hence, let us prepare with a pure conscience aiming at the fortification of our senses, and in chastity let us enter along with the Holy Apostles to the Mystical Supper and partake of our sweet Jesus so that He should dwell with us unto the infinite ages of ages.

Unworthy as I am, I serve my Lord. A ministry rendered that is holy and mighty. Everyday I offer God a well-pleasing sacrifice, the Lamb of God, Immaculate to His Immaculate Father and God, in order that He might be merciful for the things with which we sadden the most good God. He whom we cause grief and Who sacrificed His only begotten Son. My God, Your most beloved Son for our sake! And who are we to deserve this ultimate sacrifice! "For being enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10).

It is a fact that numerous interpretations of the Divine Liturgy which were mainly based on the illumination and grace of the Holy Spirit were handed down to us by the Church Fathers. What makes this current analysis of the Divine Liturgy of my spiritual child Father Stephanos Anagnastopoulos noteworthy and beneficial, is the fact that it is offered through the experiences and revelations of worthy Liturgists of the Most High, older and more recent ones.

I, as well as its author, wish that this book will lead us all to the genuine liturgical conscience and life in order to urge us in a spirited way, as grateful servants, to try to rest the heart of His feelings so that He will be comforted, according to the Psalter: "...and because of His servants shall He be comforted" (Psalm 134:14). May we sense that which God offered us and thus rejoice in the beauty of His eros. Amen.

The most unworthy of all
+ Father Ephraim

(source)

   

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

Homily III on Repentance, by St. John Chrysostom

Christ carrying His Cross towards Golgotha (source)

 
Homily III on Repentance, by St. John Chrysostom (amateur translation)

We have written, O beloved, of the medicines of repentance, that we might hasten to the harbor of salvation. We have been pierced by sin, let us be healed by repentance. Through sin the devil pierces, through repentance Christ heals. He, through sin, is overpowered by the roots of sin, while the Lord, foreseeing the sin, uprooted it with the axe of repentance. “Behold” as is written, therefore, “the axe is laid at every tree. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.” The devil sowed sin as weeds, Christ, with the sickle of repentance, did cut the weeds of sin. Sin is an evil thing, but repentance is a good thing. Let us therefore flee from that to be feared, and hasten towards that to be desired. Through sin the devil leads to Gehenna, through repentance Christ leads towards the Kingdom. Have you sinned? Be silent (hesychason), for it is not as dangerous to sin, but to remain in sin is evil, for to have an apology is to be delivered from unforgivable torture.

For as Peter sinned through denial, and Paul transgressed by persecuting Christ, and David worked adultery and murder, they became worthy of death. But though as men they sinned, they repented as saints. Though they were ensnared by the nets of sin, they shook off the outrage of impiety in the blink of an eye, and hastened towards repentance, that they might granted the remission of their offenses. Come, therefore, let us also hasten towards repentance. And though the devil has burdened us with sin, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was born of the holy Virgin Mary, through repentance lightens the burden of sin by taking it upon Himself. “Behold,” as it is written, “the lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” For the devil placed sin within men, while the Lord took away sin from men. He gave sin, that men might be lost on behalf of sin. The Lord took on sin, that He might free human nature from impropriety. Before the coming of Christ, the devil was terrible. Before the Cross, sin was unbearable. But the Cross has ever removed the thorns of sin. The Lord Jesus appears on earth, and the devil is cast down like lightning from the earth. Behold, as it is written, “Satan falls from heaven like lightning.”

The death of Christ overpowered the kingdom of death. For death reigned from Adam until Moses, and upon those who had not sinned had come the likeness of Adam's transgression, as a type of things to come. However, after the death of the Lord, death has become a plaything and a child. Therefore, after the resurrection of Christ, we who withstood the typhoon of death say: “O death, where is your sting? O hades, where is your victory?” Before the Cross, the counsel of the evil one breathed forth death. After the Cross, after the passion of Christ, behold priests and women, young people and adolescents, as if trampling upon grapes, trample upon snakes and scorpions, and upon every power of the enemy. This I mention, that I might show the fall of sin, and the power of repentance. Do not become bitter at the thorns of sin within, nor that your sloth has given birth to sin. Do not condemn yourself that you have sinned, but punish yourself that you have not repented. Because of the infirmity of the body that the Lord knows, He permitted the medical science among men, and made herbs upon the earth for healing. In like manner, beholding the unsteadiness of the soul and the wounds of sin, as a defense for souls, granted repentance, and granted the divine and spiritual books of the ways of repentance as healing herbs, that each of us might straightaway have the bandage of healing, fleeing from passion, coming to one's self through faith. But let our repentance not remain as words alone in us, for it is improper that repentance appear through words, that the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ not be formed in reality. Confess your offenses, O man, redeem yourself from sin, that you might receive the remission of sin. Be redeemed, accept the free gift of remission of offenses...

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

Abba Dorotheos on Pride and Humility

The Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (source)

 
Abba Dorotheos on Pride and Humility
There are two kinds of humility, as there are two kinds of pride. The first kind of pride is when a man reproaches his brother, condemns and reviles him as someone of no account, regarding himself as his superior. If such a man does not speedily come to his senses and try to mend his ways, he comes, little by little, to the second kind of pride, which puffs itself up in the face of God Himself and ascribes to itself its achievements and virtues, as though the man has done it all himself, with his own intelligence and knowledge, and not with the help of God. From this can be seen what constitutes the two kinds of humility. The first humility consists in considering that one’s brother has better judgment and is in all things superior to oneself — or in considering oneself below all men. The second humility consists in ascribing one’s achievements to God. This is the perfect humility of the saints.
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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 prayer of Elder Joseph the Hesychast

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

 
A prayer of Elder Joseph the Hesychast (amateur translation)
O sweetest Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, send Your holy grace and dissolve from me the bonds of sin. Enlighten the darkness of my soul that I might come to understand Your incomparable mercy, and love and thank You, as is right, my sweetest Savior, Who is worthy of every love and thanksgiving.

Yes, me Good Benefactor, and greatly-compassionate Lord, do not take Your mercy from us, but have mercy on Your creation.

I know, O Lord, the weight of my offenses, but I behold Your incomparable mercy. I perceive the darkness of my senseless soul, but I believe with firm hope, awaiting Your divine illumination and the transformation of my evil and sinful and terrible passions, through the intercessions of Your sweetest Mother, our Lady Theotokos, and all the Saints. Amen.
(source)
 

Icon of Blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast with scenes from his life (source)

  

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

A miracle of St. Theodore Tyron

St. Theodore Tyron the Great Martyr (source)

 
A miracle of St. Theodore Tyron (amateur translation)
"You teach soldiers to abandon pillaging..."

These words are included in the service of the Saint, and relate to the following miracle:

One soldier, who had great reverence to the Saint, was compelled to go to war. Before he left, however, he went and venerated the Saint, in the Church in which was the reliquary with the Precious Relic of St. Theodore.

After the war, and following a great and radiant victory, when he returned, he went and again venerated the Saint at his Church. He left his sword, which was adorned with gold and precious stones, in thanks.

Another soldier, however, went and venerated the Saint. He saw the beautiful and precious sword, and wanted to take it.

He thought within himself: "The Saint doesn't need it. It is better that I have it, who am a soldier. I would wield it in war with the blessing and help of the Saint."

He therefore took the sword from the reliquary, put it on, venerated, and left with joy. Exiting from the Church, however, the Saint blinded him, and he could not see to walk.

He therefore repented, and again returned the sword to the reliquary, and immediately received his sight.

Seeing again the beautiful sword, and thinking that his blindness did not come from the Saint but from chance, he took up the sword again and left. As soon as he left the Church, however, again he was blinded.

At that instant the priest of the church came and saw the blind soldier, asking him what happened. He related the details of what occurred. He entreated the priest to serve Paraklesis to the Saint to forgive him. He also gave him 100 gold coins as a donation.

The priest then took oil from the vigil lamp of the Saint, anointed his eyes, and immediately he saw again. He fled with joy, glorifying God and St. Theodore.
(source)
 

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

St. Anthimos of Chios (+1960)

St. Anthimos of Chios (+1960) - Commemorated on February 15th (source)

   

Brief life of St. Anthimos

St. Anthimos, who in the world was known as Argyrios K. Vagianos, was born on July 1, 1869 to devout peasants, Konstantinos and Argyra, in Chios in the region of St. Luke Leivadion. He left elementary school early to become a shoe mender. At the age of nineteen he visited the Skete of the Holy Fathers founded by the monk Pachomios, who had been the spiritual counselor of St Nektarios. With the blessing of the elder, Anthimos returned home and built himself a small hut and dwelt in it. His only help in his spiritual contests was an icon of the Mother of God given to him by his mother later known as Panagia Voithia (the Helper), which soon began to work miracles, drawing many to his hermitage.

St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

 
He had returned home to relieve the suffering of his parents and help the poor of his village as well. After a time he retired to the Skete, and it was here that he became a monk and took the name Anthimos given by Elder Pachomios. He fell ill there and his abbot sent him home to his parents for the sake of his health. At home, despite the fact that he was caring for his aged parents and practicing his shoe mender's trade, he continued to live as a monk, spending nights on end in prayer and sometimes living only on bread and water for extended periods. He took his inspirtion reading about the lives of the great ascetics, and in this way he was able to conquer every assault of the devil.
 

Photograph of St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

   

Increasing numbers of visitors came to his hermitage and wonder-working icon of the Theotokos, and in 1909, at the age of forty, he received the Great Schema by the successor of Pachomios, Hieromonk Andronikos. The people of Chios wanted him to be ordained to the priesthood, but his bishop refused due to the Saint's lack of education. At the prompting of Anthimos' godfather, the Bishop of Smyrna ordained him instead in 1910. After a pilgrimage to Mt Athos in 1911, he returned to Chios, where he became chaplain to a leper hospital. Soon the hospital, which had fallen into corruption, became a spiritual center, as much like a monastery as a hospital. Saint Anthimos tended many of the sickest with his own hands, working many miracles of healing; some of his recovered patients became monks or nuns (such as Righteous Nikephoros the Blind).
 

Photograph of St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

   

With the notorious 'Exchange of Populations' of 1922-1924, refugees poured into Chios, many of them destitute nuns and girls. In response to a vision of the Mother of God, St Anthimos built a monastery in 1930, which opened with thirty nuns and grew rapidly, despite the opposition of many who said that setting up such a community was out of date. The Monastery of Panagia Voithia, as it came to be known, soon housed eighty nuns and was known througout Greece as a model of monastic life. Father Anthimos served as priest to the nuns, and continued to receive the many faithful — often sixty or seventy per day — who came to him for prayer or counsel. He carried on this ministry for more than thirty years, working many miracles of healing. When he was too old to work with his hands, he retired to his cell and prayed that he be enabled to serve his neighbor until his last breath.
   

The wondrous icon of Panagia Voithia "Help" (source)

   

On January 27, 1960 St. Anthimos celebrated his final Divine Liturgy. He reposed in peace at the age of ninety-one on February 15th, mourned and revered by the whole island of Chios. The remains of St. Anthimos are in the church inside of the monastery he founded and still work miracles along with the holy icon of Panagia Voithia. He was canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on August 13, 1992.
   

The church of the Monastery of Panagia Voithia, with the Holy Relics of her founder, St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

   

The following account is taken from an interview with Protopresbyter Andrea Dafnou who knew St. Anthimos:
"I have been found worthy to receive the blessing of two sacred personalities, while still alive, that were canonized. One of these is St. Anthimos of Chios. When I was a child, I injured my eye. I was afraid that, if my father found out, that he would beat me. I remember it had become bruised as well. What would I do? I thought that I should go to the holy man up at Panagia Voithia Monastery. I told him my problem. He read a prayer over me, crossed me, and healed me! Receiving his blessing, I left.
  

St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

  
"The other holy personality that I had the blessing to meet was another Saint of Chios, Saint Symeon, the abbot of Psaron. From the age of 8 I would go to the Monastery and learn letters studying the Psalms of David! I remember he was a strogly built man and upkept the monastery buildings with much love. At night they would hear him go to a gorge next to the Monastery and break stones, in order to, as he would say, tame himself through work and for the devil to not battle against him. In the morning he would be prompt for Services. I was blessed, from the age of five, to be near him" (ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΗ, num. 55, Winter 2003-04).

A Miracle of St. Anthimos is related here.
   

Panagia Voithia and St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

   

Sayings
- “Humble-mindedness will bring all the virtues.”
- “What do people do when their hands and faces are dirty? They turn on a tap and allow the water to clean away the stains. We should imitate them. Only, we should open two taps – our eyes, so that an abundance of tears of repentance pour out, which will wash out all the poisons of this futile world which have infected and dirtied our wretched souls”.

The Spiritual Lineage of Sts. Pachomios of Chios, Nektarios of Pentapolis, and Anthimos of Chios (source)

   

- "The Panagia is the only mother of all Christians. And who does not call upon her. Because the sufferings of mankind are many in this vain world, nowhere else can we all find relief, except in the Panagia. When you are sitting there quietly, a thought suddenly comes to you and brings darkness. Where will you go to be loosed from this darkness? To the Panagia. All the Saints are our helpers, but above all is the Panagia.
"She has the riches of great compassion. She has great love for mankind, especially for sinners. For this reason she never ceases to mediate to her Son, and the Son takes great joy when His mother intercededs on behalf of mankind. For this reason she brought us His mother and granted her to us that we may have her as a source of salvation."

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St. Anthimos of Chios (source)

   

Apolytikion of St. Anthimos of Chios in the Third Tone (amateur translation)

O new boast of Orthodoxy, and newly-adorned flower of purity, you shared the name of Anthimos of Nikomedia, and shared his virtues and way of life, O new seal and adornment of the venerable, O Father Anthimos, the boast of all Chios, entreat Christ God to grant us the great mercy.

(source)

St. Anthimos of Chios and his disciple, St. Nikephoros the Leper, holding the wondrous icon of Panagia Voithia (source)

  

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

St. Martinianos (Martinian) the Venerable of Caesarea

St. Martinianos (Martinian) the Venerable of Caesarea - Commemorated on February 13 (source)

 
Saint Martinian went to live in the wilderness at the age of eighteen, not far from the city of Caesarea in Palestine. For twenty-five years, he devoted himself to ascetic deeds and silence, and he was granted the gift of healing illnesses and casting out demons. However, the Enemy of the race of man would not stop bothering the hermit with various temptations.

Once a profligate woman made a wager with some dissolute people that she could seduce St Martinian, the fame of whose virtuous life had spread throughout all the city. She came to him one night pretending that she had lost her way in the storm, and asking for shelter. The saint let her enter, unable to turn her away in such a storm. He went into his room and locked the door. The wicked guest changed into beautiful clothes and began to tempt the ascetic.

When morning came, St Martinian came out to send the woman away. Though he was tempted by the woman's beauty, he was determined not to fall into sin. Lighting a fire, he stepped into it, saying, "You want me to burn with temptation, and want to lead me into the fires of Hell. I will not let you. Instead, I will burn for my virginity and save my soul."

The woman came to see how evil she was. She repented and asked the saint to guide her onto the way of salvation. He told her to go to Bethlehem, to St Paula (January 26). There she lived as a nun for twelve years in strict asceticism until her blessed end. The woman's name was Zoe.

St Martinian went to an uninhabited rocky island, and lived on it under the open sky for several years, nourished by the provisions brought by a certain sailor from time to time. In return the monk wove baskets for him.

Once a powerful storm wrecked a ship, and a woman named Photina floated on pieces of the wreckage to the island of St Martinian. St Martinian helped her to survive the island. "Remain here," he told her, "for here is bread and water, and in two months a boat will come."

Then he jumped into the sea and swam off. Two dolphins carried him to dry land. Thereafter, St Martinian led the life of a wanderer. Later, he came to Athens and fell ill. Sensing the approach of death, he went into church and lay upon the floor. God revealed to the Bishop of Athens who St Martinian was, and the bishop buried his body with honor. This occurred around the year 422.
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St. Martinianos (source)

 

Troparion - Tone 8

You quenched the flames of passion, blessed Martinian, with abundant tears; you calmed the waves of the sea and checked the assaults of wild beasts, saying:"Almighty God, You are most glorious, for You have saved me from the fire and storm!"

Kontakion - Tone 2

Let us worthily praise with hymns the ever-venerable Martinian, the tried ascetic who struggled for piety, an honorable athlete by deliberate choice, and a resolute citizen and inhabitant of the desert; for he has trampled down the serpent.
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St. Martinianos (source)

   

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