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Virtual Parish
Pray for us here at Saint Philaret's House in Roslindale, Massachusetts U.S.A.
Unworthy,
Priestmonk Theodore & mga
November 7
SAINT ANTHONY THE GREAT
From The Paradise of the Fathers Vol. II, pp. 149-50, #2
They say concerning Abba Anthony that on one occasion, when he was praying in his cell he heard a voice which said unto him, “Anthony, thou hast not yet arrived at [the state of excellence] of a certain man who is a tailor and who dwelleth in Alexandria.” Then Anthony rose up in the morning, and took a palm stick and departed to him, and when the man saw him, he was disturbed; and when the old man said unto him, “Tell me what thou doest and how thou livest,” and the tailor said to him, “I do not myself know that I do any good, and I know only that when I rise up in the morning, before I sit down to the labour of my hands, I give thanks unto God, and praise Him, and that I set my evil deeds before mine eyes, saying, ‘All the men who are in this city will go into the kingdom of God, because of their alms and good deeds, except myself, and I shall inherit punishment for my sins’: and again in the evening, before I sleep, I do the same things.” Now when Abba Anthony heard these things, he said, “Verily, as the man who worketh in gold, and who doeth beautiful work, cleanly, and in peace, even so art thou; through thy beautiful thoughts thou wilt inherit the kingdom of God, whilst I, who have passed the whole of my life in the desert, separated [from men], have never overtaken thee.”
Saint Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd save us
Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd
November 8
SAINT MACARIUS THE GREAT
THE FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Homily 5
6. Truly, I tell you this. Every person, even prostitutes, publicans, and the wicked, desires and wants all this namely, to possess the kingdom easily without labors and struggles. But because of this there lie along the path temptations and many trials and afflictions and struggles and sweat in order to sift out those who have truly loved the Lord alone with might and main right up to death itself and have desired nothing else along with their love for Him. (see p.71)
“Exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14: 22).
Saint Michael the Archangel save us.
Michael the Chief Commander and the other Bodiless Hosts
November 9
ELDER JOSEPH THE HESYCHAST
Selections from
Monastic Wisdom pp. 220-223
©1998 St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery
The condition of most people today is limited to an external formality. Beyond this, there is no concern or care for the inner soul, which is really everything. This is where the material unites with the Immaterial; man with God, as much as our earthly nature can hold. This union is the most beautiful thing and very good. But we all avoid it; we all turn our backs, because it takes a struggle. The human mind greatly shudders even to hear about the struggle needed.
In this struggle God must help, for without Him nothing can be achieved. The human will must struggle and the body must shed blood, because the skin of the inner man has to be shed. The “old man”[1] has to melt like wax. And just as rust falls off iron when it enters the fire, a similar thing happens to man, too.
Just as man dies when he stops breathing, so, too, does the soul die without continuous and endless prayer. It dies because that living flesh which is beginning to be conceived by the perpetuity of the prayer falls asleep, and the passions are rejuvenated. For the enemy does not sleep, but fights continuously. And just as an infant which is conceived in its mother's womb suffocates and dies if it ceases to breathe, the same thing happens with spiritual conception if the noetic work ceases.[2—Editor's footnote]
Why is it called grace? Because it cannot be seen, contained, visualized, or colored. A gift of God. An inexpressible, incomprehensible, and most rich miracle.
This is why, when the Lord walked down the road, He looked like the rest of the people, even though He is the True God. “He eats and drinks,” they said. He was called a deceiver and possessed. And today, if someone speaks about grace, about purification of the inner man, he is considered deluded. “He's deluded!” you will immediately hear. The idea of taking care of the inside of the cup, as the Lord tells us, [3] has been completely removed from people's minds.
You, too, must go through fire and water[4] and thus your merit will show— at what value you have been appraised by the Lord, not by men. ÊMen do not know how to value things.
[1] cf. Rom. 6:6
[2]This “noetic work” is our struggle always to say “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.”
[3] cf. Mt. 10:26
[4] cf. Ps. 65:12
Saint Nectarius save us.
Saint Nectarius the Wonderworker
November 11
THE ELDER JOSEPHAn excerpt from Monastic Wisdom:
The Letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast p. 219
© 1988 St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery Florence, Arizona 85232
And I remembered days of old and meditated at night with my heart and said:
“Vanity of vanities, and all is vain!”[1]
Everything was a dream and disappeared. They were bubbles that burst, a spider's web that was torn.
“All human things are vanity, everything that does not exist after death.”
Alas! We are in exile and do not want to realize it. We do not want to see from what heights we have fallen. But with our own evil will, we cover our ears and shut our eyes, blinding ourselves willingly so that we might not see the truth. Woe to us, for we consider this darkness here to be light, and for a paltry pleasure that this world offers, we avoid the light there as if it were darkness. We avoid it because of the small sorrow that the body encounters, and lose the repose there. Woe to our wretchedness! For God calls out for us to become His children, but we become sons of darkness. We exchange eternity for a little bit of honey. For the small pleasure of luxury or glory, we deny and fall away from the kingdom of God. So blessed is he who sees this deception and abstains from the fleeting pleasures of this world, and aspires to the enjoyment that awaits us.
And you, my good and beloved sister, who have chosen God from your youth, struggle to brighten the garment of the bridal-chamber. Entreat the Lord day and night to forgive you all things of the past, to give you strength from above to keep His divine commandments. And when He receives you in repentance, may He count your soul together with the righteous. Then, we shall enjoy each other there insatiably unto all the ages.
[1] Eccl. 1:2
Saint Menas save us.
Martyrs Menas, Victor and Vincent
SAINT MACARIUS THE GREAT
From The Paradise of the Fathers pp.150-151
© 1994 New Sarov Press Blanco, Texas
When Abba Macarius was praying in his cell on one occasion he heard a voice which said, “Macarius, thou art not yet arrived [at the state of excellence] of two women who are in such and such a city”; and the old man rose up in the morning, and took in his hand a palm stick, and he began to set out on the road to that city. Now therefore, when he had arrived at the city, and learned the place [of the abode of the women], he knocked at the door, and there went forth one of the women and brought him into the house. And when he had been sitting down for a little, the other woman came in, and he called them to him, and they came nigh and sat down before him.
Then the old man said unto them, “On your account I have made this long journey, and have performed all this labor, and with great difficulty have come from the desert; tell me then, what works ye do.” And they said unto him, “Believe us, O father; neither of us hath ever been absent from, or kept herself back from, her husband's couch up to this day; what work, then, wouldst thou see in us?” Then the old man made apologies to them, and entreated them to reveal to him and show him their labour, and thereupon they said unto him, “According to worldly considerations we are strangers one to the other, for we are not kinsfolk, but it fell out that the two of us married two men who were brethren in the flesh. And behold up to this present we have lived in this house for twelve years, and we have never wanted to quarrel with each other, and neither of us hath spoken one abominable word of abuse to her companion. Now we made up our minds together to leave our husbands and to join the army of virgins, but, although we entreated our husbands earnestly to do so, they would not undertake to send us away. And as we were unable to do that which we wished, we made a promise between ourselves and God that, until death, no worldly word should go forth from our mouths.”
Now when Macarius heard [this] he said, “Verily, virginity by itself is nothing, nor marriage, nor life as a monk, nor life in the world; for God seeketh the desire [of a man], and giveth the Spirit unto every man.”
Saint Theodore Studites save us.
Our Righteous Father Theodore the Studite
November 13
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory wit h exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever, Amen. Jude 24, 25
November 14
Orthodox prelate charges Catholics, Protestants have ‘gutted the faith.’
(Metropolitan Ephraim’s response appeared in the June, 2004 edition of THE SWORD. Editor)
(The following article was submitted to The Sword by Metropolitan Ephraim of the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Boston, Mass., after we asked him to convey his views on the rapture.)
You asked me for my opinion on the teaching of the rapture.
Of late, one Southern Baptist minister (Josh McDowell) quoted the statistics from a recent survey of Protestant young people. (The survey results were printed in The Kansas Christian, July 18, 2003).
He said that in 1991, 52% of their young people believed that there was no such thing as absolute truth. In 1994, that figure was 62%.
In 1999, the figure had risen to 78%. And by 2002, the figure had climbed to 91%.
The minister found these figures “shocking.” He went on to say, “the very basis on which we build our faith is truth—and when we allow truth to erode, we gut the faith.”
Yes, but that’s not the root of their problem. The root is, first of all, the idea of the “Papal magisterium” which gives the Pope of Rome the prerogative to interpret or re-interpret the Church’s teaching on his own authority and the Protestant concept of “private interpretation of the Scriptures.”
But the Protestants (and the Roman Catholics in their own way) have been gutting the faith ever since Luther and Calvin and all the rest began with their Reformation.
The Protestant principle of “private interpretation of the Scriptures” lends itself very readily to this “gutting of the faith.”
Here is an excerpt from an article on the Creed written by Rev. Michael Gelsinger (an Orthodox monk):
“The essence of Protestantism is the claim that every person without exception has the right to explain the Scriptures in his own way as best he can. Saint Peter’s Second Epistle warns against such ideas. He says: ‘We have also a more steadfast word of prophecy, to which ye do well to take heed…knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.’ (II Peter 1:19-20).
“In fact, the doctrine of universal competence to interpret Scripture means that theoretically there could be as many different Churches as there are people.
“At the very heart of Protestantism, therefore is planted in germ the popular idea that anyone can believe as he pleases, and on his own sole authority.”
No room for absolute truth here.
Why then, is our Southern Baptist minister “shocked?” What holds true for the Protestants and the Papal denomination also holds true for all Ecumenists.
So, as I mentioned to you on the telephone, the modern Protestant teaching on the rapture is no surprise. It is only just another Protestant fad, like the fad of the “holy laughter” that we had a while ago, or like the other fad: people being “slain in the spirit.”
Now Protestant (and Roman Catholic) teachings and interpretations are appearing all the time. Why, therefore should they be surprised and shocked that their young people no longer believe in absolute truth? What is truly shocking is that they are shocked by this. What did they expect?
Another new teaching and interpretation among Protestants is the one that permits them to perform gay marriages or ordain gays and lesbians as “priests” and “bishops.” Absolute truth? Who are they kidding?
I hope these thoughts are of help to you.
Holy Apostle Philip save us.
November 15
Saint Macarius of Corinth1731-1805
The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is the visible holy of holies ta Agia ton Agion (Lev. 2:3), bequeathed to and bestowed upon us by Jesus Christ Himself for our sanctification. Who would not wish to be a partaker of such holiness and be sanctified? And so, do not be too lazy to approach the cup of life, immortality, love and holiness. But approach with fear of God and faith and love.
Saint Paisii Velichkovsky save us.
Nvember 19
An Excerpt from
THE ELDER IERONYMOS OF AEGINA
By Peter Botsis
Translated from the Greek by the
Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Boston, Massachusetts 2007
“It is because of this that I call you blessed.”
The Elder knew Mrs. Pateras well and began straightway to speak with her. From his pronunciation I understood that he was a Cappadocian...
The lady informed the Elder that she was just passing through and was only stopping to get his blessing and to leave a few things. She also informed him that I was a hierodeacon from America. The Elder told her that her daughter Irene had come twice from Saint Menas to see him and they had spoken of spiritual things.
At one moment he said to the lady, “God loves you. We owe it to Him to love Him too.”
“I have no doubt of that, but the problems and sorrows are many, both in the family, and from illnesses.”
“I call you blessed; God shows you abundant love. I wish I had known you before your husband and daughter became ill.”
“Why, Elder?”
“Tell me, before the illnesses and the sorrows, did you do this?” And with his hand he made as if painting his lips.
“Why, yes, I used makeup.”
“And did you wear this?” And he showed his ear and his neck.
“Yes! I wore both earrings and necklaces.”
“And you made up your hair, and you played cards?”
“Yes, Elder. I went to the hairdresser, and sometimes I played cards with my lady friends when we got together, and on occasion I even went to the casino.”
“And now, how is it that you do not paint yourself, but wear a covering on your head, and do not go to the casino, but rather run all the time to churches and monasteries?”
“After so many illnesses and sorrows, am I crazy enough to make myself up and go to evening socials—with a sick husband, a sick daughter, and another daughter with family problems?”
“God loves—yes, He loves! It is because of this that I call you blessed. As for myself, I have never even once said to God, ‘My Christ, why?’” At the same time he lifted up the stump of his left arm which had been amputated at the elbow. “God took my hand. I didn’t need it. Better with one hand in Paradise, than with two in hell. As our good God wishes! He loves me. He knows what is to my profit. Yes, not once have I complained. I have never said, ‘Why did God take away my hand?’ I thank Him. I thank Him always and for all things. You also should be thankful and give glory to God for all things.”
“I thank Him, Elder, and I glorify Him. But I’m human. Please pray for me.”
“Everyone tells me to pray for them. I, the pauper, the sinner, that I should pray. Right now I will pray for Katina.” This is what he called Mrs. Pateras.
While standing, he lifted up his right hand and his eyes to Heaven and prayed with tears. “My Jesus, my most sweet Christ. I, the worm, the sinner, entreat Thee on behalf of Thy handmaiden Katina. Send forth Thine All-holy Spirit into her heart, into her mind, into her soul. Enlighten her, give her understanding, comfort her, heal her, strengthen her. Yea, hearken unto me, O Lord of Mercy, and disdain not my entreaty.”
As the Elder was saying these things, you understood that in truth he was praying noetically—face to face. Afterwards he turns to Mrs. Katingo and says, “God hears my humble, my impoverished prayer...” Pp.267-8
November 21
Esaias 63 vs. 8, 9 (LXX)
And He became to them deliverance
out of all their affliction:
not an ambassador, nor an angel,
but the Lord Himself saved them,
because He loved them and spared them:
He Himself redeemed them and took them up,
and lifted them up for all the days of eternity.
Note: The King James Version translation of the Old Testament, which is a translation not only of a corrupted Hebrew text, but also of a text that the Jews took care to purge, as much as possible, of all prophesies of Christ, alters this, and many other prophecies. You might want to look at your KJV's rendering of Isaiah 63:8-9.
In its translation into Greek of the Hebrew Scriptures in Alexandria under Ptolemy Philadelphius c. 250 B.C. the Septuagint preserves the integrity of the Hebrew text as manifested first, by the widespread acclaim that it received from the leading Jewish authorities such as Philo of Alexandria (20 B.C. — 50 A.D) who regarded it as inspired, and, second, by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Wadi Qumran near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956. Moreover, if any scriptural text is official in the Orthodox Church, it is the Septuagint. [Editor]
Most Holy Theotokos save us.
Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple
November 25
THE CHOSEN VESSEL PAUL
APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES
For our conversation is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,
according to the working
whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Phil. 4:20, 21.
Saint Catherine the Great Martyr save us.
November 30
THE HOLY MARTYRS OF CORDOVA
c. 850 A.D.
The following account is by a non-Orthodox writer (Andrew Wheatcroft, “Infidels”, London: Penguin, 2004, pp. 81-84), and so some of his comments should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, the story of the Cordoban martyrs of ninth-century Spain is interesting and inspiring, and suggests certain modern parallels. It would be good to publish the original lives in a modern edition.
"Over a period of nine years, forty-eight Christians came to the capital of Al-Andalus, Cordoba, and deliberately brought a public death upon themselves by denouncing the Prophet Mohammed as a false prophet... The first to die was rather different from the others... He was a Christian priest called, appropriately, Perfectus. Fluent in Arabic, he often talked with Muslims in the market, and it seems clear that matters of belief and faith were frequently discussed. One day he was asked what he thought of their Prophet. At first he demurred, for he recognized the danger, saying that they intended to entrap him, and have him put to death. They denied this, and guaranteed that they would not denounce him. He then told them that Christians considered the Muslims' Prophet as 'the servant of Satan'.
"Perfectus overstepped the boundary between what was permissible and what was not. There is no indication in Alvarus' account of why he took this fatal step. Initially those with whom he had debated let it pass, but by doing so they were implicated in his blasphemy, and later they shouted out in the market that he had blasphemed against the Prophet. Perfectus was then taken before the judge (Qadi). When his guilt was proved according to the law, he received the only sentence possible: death. After many months, on 18 April 850, he was finally brought out for execution before a ribald crowd celebrating the end of Ramadan. Facing the sword of the headsman, he shouted out loudly time and again: 'Yes, I did curse your Prophet, and I curse him now. I curse him as an imposter, an adulterer, a child of Hell. Your religion is of Satan. The pains of Gehenna await you all.' Only the falling blade silenced his firm and strident declaration.
"The Christians of the city reclaimed his body from the execution ground and reopened the ancient tomb of Saint Acisclus, a saint who had suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Diocletian (and who would be reburied, centuries later, in what had become Perfectus' own church). There, led by the Bishop of Cordoba, an elaborate ceremony was held as the corpse was interred as a new martyr amid the hallowed bones of the established saint. This was a deeply symbolic act, physically conjoining the earlier saint, a martyr, with his successor, Perfectus. Soon after, another Christian called John was shipped after being accused of taking the Prophet's name in vain. That he was not condemned to death, although many Muslims demanded it, indicated that the legal authorities were not seeking to conduct a purge of Christians or inflame Christian opinion. Rather, it seems, the reverse. The judge interpreted this new instance as leniently as he could, and was criticized for it.
"... The next was a monk, Isaac, from a wealthy family, and a scholar in Arabic, who had been appointed as a government secretary. He came to the Qadi in open court and said that they wished to make the Muslim profession of faith. But as the judge was instructing him, Isaac suddenly shouted out, 'Your Prophet has lied, he has deceived you: may he be accursed, wretch that he is, who has dragged so many wretches down with him to hell. Why do you not, as a man of sense, abjure these pestilent doctrines.' Infuriated, the Qadi struck him across the face, but he was restrained by his advisors, who told him that even a condemned criminal should not be insulted.
"Recovering his self-control, the Qadi suggested to Isaac that he might be either drunk or mad, since he could not be ignorant that death was the only punishment for blasphemy. 'Qadi,' the monk replied quietly, 'I am in my right mind, and I have never tasted wine. Burning with the love of truth, I have dared to speak out to you and the others present. Condemn me to death: far from dreading the sentence, I yearn for it; hath not the Lord said, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for the truth's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".'
"The Qadi tried to avoid imposing the inevitable sentence, but under the law he had no option. Isaac duly met his desired end, on 3 June 851. Thereafter the headsman was kept busy. Two days after Isaac, a man named Sancho blasphemed and lost his head. Two days after that, six monks, among them Isaac's uncle, came before the Qadi and declared, 'We also echo the words of our holy brothers Isaac and Sancho.' More followed, until eleven had died as martyrs in less than two months. Many Christians opposed these sacrifices fearing that they would provoke Muslim anger against the whole Christian community.
"The interests of the Muslim authorities and the wider Christian community in preventing these suicidal confrontations were identical. A church council was summoned to prevent further martyrdoms, but it seemed only to rouse the staunchest Christians to ever more ecstatic zeal. Two monks entered the Great Mosque of Cordoba at Friday prayers, and shouted, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand for the faithful, but for you infidels, hell yawns, and it will shortly open and swallow you up.' They narrowly escaped lynching by the faithful at prayer, and were swiftly judged and decapitated at the market place.
"The final victims of their own zeal were Bishop Eulogius and a young woman, Leocritia. Eulogius had written a powerful account of the martyrdom movement and sent it north for safe keeping beyond the frontier of Muslim Spain. He was arrested and accused of seeking to convert Leocritia, who had been born of Muslim parents. The Qadi was reluctant to condemn so senior a Christian, and ordered him to be whipped for a more minor offence. Then Eulogius denounced the Prophet Mohammed in the most vitriolic terms. But still the magistrate refused formally to condemn him and simply committed him to the court of the vizier, the senior official of Cordoba. One of the court members came to Eulogius and said, 'I am not surprised, Eulogius, when madmen and imbeciles offer their heads without cause to the executioner; but how is it that a learned man like yourself, and one who enjoys general esteem, follows their example? What frenzy impels you? Why have you thus plotted against your own life? I pray you heed my words. Bow to the necessity; utter but a single word retracting what you have said before the Qadi, and in that case I will answer for my colleagues and myself that you will have nothing to fear.'
"But Eulogius refused to recant, and set out to secure a truly memorable martyr's death. He was formally condemned and sent for execution. A court eunuch abused him and struck him across the face on the way to the killing ground. In accordance with Christian precepts, Eulogius presented the other, unbruised, side of his face, and said, 'Smite that also'. The eunuch obliged, and a few minutes later, at a little after nine in the morning on 11 March 859, the bishop lost his head. His body was exposed to be gnawed by scavenging dogs, cats and rats, until the Christians gained permission to recover it. Leocritia was executed four days later and her body thrown into the river, 'to be eaten by fishes'. The demise of so senior a figure as Eulogius made a much greater impact than the deaths of all the more humble martyrs, and when the King of Leon made a treaty with the Sultan Mohammed in 883, one of the terms was that the bones of the holy martyrs Eulogius and Leocritia were to be ceded to him."
THROUGH THE PRAYERS
OF THE
HOLY MARTYRS of CORDOVA
LORD JESUS CHRIST OUR GOD
SAVE US.
Saint Andrew the First-called save us
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