Articles for tag: Communism, married priest-saint, miracles, Papa-Dimitri, Papa-Dimitri Gagastathis, saints

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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“Our Faith is alive!” Get to know Papa-Dimitri

The Holy Spirit descended upon the gathered disciples of the Lord, in the form of tongues of fire, to show that as He came to set fire on earth, burning their hearts, purifying them, renewing them, so that His followers would be set aflame, with an ardent desire in them to transmit the divine flame to all those who are receptive to receive it.

Our holy Church celebrates today1 the clouds of martyrs and confessors of faith, the known and unknown heroes of our faith. They were people like us, who, with God’s grace and their personal labors, reached the heights of holiness.

I hear your reservations: Times have changed. We cannot become saints! Yet God has His friends in every epoch. Allow me to introduce to you such a hero, a contemporary saint, who reposed in the Lord in 1975: Papa-Dimitri Gagastathis. A giant of a Saint; a towering, prophetic figure; a man of great faith; a man of prayer, whose feet were touching the earth, but whose head reached the heavens.

He was born in the village of Platanos, near Trikala, in Thessaly, Greece. Even as a little shepherd boy he used to play priest. But he was also praying, and reading the lives of saints, as he was taught by his pious mother. Such an intense prayer he had, that since the age of 15 he had extraordinary experiences. Being a shepherd, he couldn’t be at church often. So what did he do? During the time of the Divine Liturgy he prayed to God on his knees, imploring Him to forgive him for not being at church.

At 19 he enrolled in the army and was immediately dispatched to Asia Minor. Before leaving, he went to venerate his two heavenly protectors, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. He spoke to them as one speaks to friends: “I want you to strengthen me, to help me come back at your door safe and sound, and to rescue me from all difficult situations”. Indeed, he was rescued from many dangers many times throughout his life.

What characterized this holy priest more than anything else was his great simplicity and a great sense of his sinfulness. Here is an illustration of both: Whenever people would trouble him and actually persecute him because of his faith, he would invariably say: “My sins persecute me, not people”. His sin, like the psalmist’s, was “ever before him”. His confessor, Father Amphilochios Makris, himself a holy man, would write about him:

“His humility was most true, when he would say that he was ‘the last of all and unworthy.’ ‘Do not entreat God for me,’ he said; ‘I do not deserve it. While I am here, I bring loss to the Church and to the people. What fruit can I bear, the unworthy servant? I only weep for my sins and entreat God for all the world.’”

View a collection of quotations by Papa-Dimitri

On Meatfare Sunday of 1945, the leftist guerrillas were ringing the bells and used loudspeakers to call the people to a rally, ignoring the fact the Matins had started. As the chanter was reading the Six Psalms he takes a bat, goes before the icon of St. Nicholas and says:

“Saint Nicholas, don’t you hear what’s happening outside? They don’t let us serve. [Notice the plural] You, Saint Nicholas, struck Arius, and they put you in jail. But Christ and the Most-Holy Virgin restored you [after you were deposed], because you were right… And now I’ll get them down from the bell-tower and I’ll strike them one by one. I’ll strike and you will be responsible for what happens to me.”

You can guess what happened. He drove those guerrillas out, without suffering any harm. Afterwards he said:

“I live to give testimony. They did not even say anything to me, because the grace of Saint Nicholas and of the Archangels did not let them.”

And concluded with one of his favored quotations:

“If God is with us, no one will be against us!”

My favored story is the following, narrated by himself:

“One day, I was out working in the field all day long, carrying water to an irrigation barrel from which an attached hose distributed the water into the field. Every time I emptied water into the barrel I prayed, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!’ In the evening, I prayed the Compline service there in the field and chanted various hymns afterwards. At that time, I heard a frog croaking as if it were calling all the others, and—a great wonder!—all the frogs in that place gathered around me at about two meters away and listened— quietly—to the hymns I chanted. One of them even came closer to listen. When I finished chanting the hymns, they took their turn singing and finally departed in order, as if they were rational human beings. I said to myself, ‘Behold, Papa-Dimitri, you are not worthy to preach to people; you are only fit to preach to frogs!’”

He called himself a simple, uneducated priest, but the power of the holy Archangels was with him. One time, he relates, eleven guerrillas on horseback were shooting at him:

“The bullets they fired pierced my cassock but they did not harm me.”

[Now that’s a bullet-proof vest we would all like to have, wouldn’t we?] He continues:

“They encircled me at about fifty meters shouting: ‘Where are you going to go now, bearded devil, eh?’ (They cursed me meanly.) I lifted my hands to heaven and cried from the depth of my soul: ‘Archangel Michael, I am in danger—save me!’ And, behold—what a wonder!—Archangel Michael appeared like lightning! He cut the bands of their chief’s saddle with his sword, threw him down from his horse, and caused him to break his spinal chord. The other ten men froze on the spot. One of them finally spoke saying, ‘Forgive us, my priest—go on your way! You have high protectors!’ ‘Thank you,’ I said. I forgave them and prayed to God to enlighten them so that they might repent and become good men. ‘Always speak the truth,’ I told them, ‘and may God be your help!’”

Later, after the Divine Liturgy he told the crowd:

“We are glad, because we have a living religion…”

Indeed, time after time, one extraordinary event after another, he would repeat:

“Our faith is alive, our religion is a living religion!”

This, my friends, is also the title of this humble homily in his honor, and in honor of all the Saints, commemorated today. The reason that I narrate extensively from his life is to show precisely that the Faith is alive today, even in the midst of our ungodly times. Father Dimitri didn’t live thousands of years ago; he wasn’t a monk (although there is nothing wrong with that). He was a contemporary family man, a simple village priest, a husband and a father of nine daughters at that. I’m tempted to say, with ten women in the family, by force you either become a saint or you are driven mad (I fall so easily into temptation…)

With the miracles that I related to you, you may feel intimidated. How can you reach the heights of this man? Well, here are some more “mundane” examples of his holiness, worthy of imitation by all of us. Father Dimitri writes:

“A lady with her younger sister came to visit me on the afternoon of July 15, 1967. I took them home for a sweet and then went off to the Church of the Archangels to venerate the icons and clean the church. While the lady took a nap, her sister began lecturing Presbytera and our daughters on modernism and other such things. First she posed the question to Presbytera, ‘Why should the girls stay behind the times when it comes to the cinema and contemporary fashion?’ and then suggested, ‘They should change their lifestyle.’ Presbytera accepted these things as true. As soon as our guests left that evening, she pestered me with her newfound ideas. She accused me, among other things, of keeping the girls behind the times, planning for them all to become nuns, and being incompetent for not being able to marry them off successfully. She even spat on me and tried to hit me, but—glory be to God!—I was granted such patience that I was able to hold my tongue without being disturbed. I then went to sleep, praying to God, the Most Holy Theotokos, and the Archangels to enlighten Presbytera and to continue to grant me undisturbed patience. I fell asleep easily and peacefully, as though I had not been present to hear anything distressing. As a doctor injects a drug to numb a patient prior to an operation, so I too became numb to the disturbance. This was a great miracle God performed for me, a sinner! In the morning, I went to the Church of the Archangels, prayed, and that was it—the turmoil was over.”

This of course was not the last time Papa-Dimitri’s wife troubled him. Another time, he writes,

“…Presbytera pestered me again about Chrysoula’s issue for two full hours. I was reading the Lives of the Saints and pretended not to hear anything. The whole time I was praying to the Most Holy Theotokos, entreating her to provide enlightenment to Presbytera, patience to me, and strength to Chrysoula.”

And it happened. Later he would write:

“Whatever I suffered from her actually did me good. She worked to give me a crown, so that I might also expect some wages from God.”

[So I was right in what I said earlier – He did become a saint of her account!]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Our holy Church places before us the countless number of our brothers and sisters in heaven, for imitation, so that we may enjoy the same blessings God reserves for those who love Him with their whole heart, do His holy will, and live a God-pleasing life. It is possible, even in our times, to become saints, as Papa-Dimitri proves to us, as long as we truly want it, because we have as helpers, Christ and His Holy Spirit, His holy Mother, and all the Saints. Let us become imitators of the saints, so we can become worthy of their glory on earth and in heaven.

The life, miracles and spiritual counsels of Papa-Dimitri Gagastathis are available in an English translation by Dr. Dimitri Kagaris. May the Lord bless you.

Fr. Emmanuel/96

  1. All Saints day
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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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The fruit of the Holy Spirit

The world prizes virtue in a human being. We would call a person “moral” or “ethical” if they display such qualities as goodness, honesty, loyalty, bravery, trustworthiness, truthfulness, integrity, etc. These are human qualities one can develop and possess to a varying degree with hard work. One need not be a Christian in order to be virtuous. For example we encounter fine examples of great virtue among the ancient Greeks, as with Socrates, Aristides, and many others. The virtues exhibited in the Saints of the Church, however, are not human achievements alone, but rather they are the result of the grace of God working in them–of course with human cooperation.

Once we have received Christ in us through holy Baptism and holy Chrismation (and in holy Communion and the other sacraments), as we pray and struggle in our life to know God, to do His will, to love Him and to serve Him, the grace of the Holy Spirit works our renewal and transformation to God’s image and likeness, that is, to render us like Christ, worthy members of His Body, the holy Church. We then exhibit the fruit, that is, we display the results of the synergy of the Holy Spirit and our personal effort.

In his Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul lists the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He says,

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22).

St. Paul names nine virtues, that is good qualities and characteristics which we value in a person, yet he does not call them virtues, but fruit, and notice the singular, fruit, not fruits, of the Spirit. In contrast to the “works”, plural, “of the flesh,” used earlier, the single, fruit, indicates that they form a unity, that is, they are obtained all together. So although a person may be known by one rather than another of these virtues, either a person has them all or none at all!

Today,1 we’ll talk briefly about each one of these virtues/fruit of the Spirit, and provide an example from the lives of the Saints for a better understanding.

1. LOVE (αγάπη)

Love is mentioned first, because it is the highest, but also because in it all the other gifts of the Holy Spirit are included: In it “the whole law is fulfilled” (Gal. 5:14). Love, “which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:14), is the root and cause of the other gifts. “Love bears all things” (1 Cor. 13:7)—and all kinds of people!

As an example of great love for the fellow human being, we bring the testimony of a woman who tells the following story about the blessed Elder (now Saint) Iakovos:

“He loved everyone intensely. I went to see him, and as soon as he saw me he began to cry so hard that he was shaking, and his tears were running to the floor. ‘Why?’ he kept saying, ‘why?’ addressing me by name. I was shaken. No one had ever cried like this for me before—especially someone who did not know me. But he knew me. He knew everything about me. Not only what I had done, but even the things that I was going to do, which I did not know myself at the time—but he knew!” This love and great concern of the Elder made her turn around, and change her life.

2. JOY (χαρά)

This is the joy of the spirit which a person experiences, despite all the adversities and physical suffering encountered, a joy which nothing and no one can take away from us (cf. John 16:22). It is a “joy inspired by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thes. 1:6), despite the affliction one experiences, the “unutterable and exalted joy” St. Peter talks about (1 Pet. 1:8), the joy born in the hearts of the redeemed.

I cannot think of any one exemplifying the joy of Christ more than Saint Seraphim of Sarov, whose greeting year-round was, “Christ is risen, dear heart!”

3. PEACE (ειρήνη)

Peace is a gift of God, who is “the God of peace” (1 Thes. 5:23). This peace of God surpasses all understanding (cf. Phil. 4:7).The love one has in his heart and the joy one feels in his spirit cause the interior peace of the soul, which cannot be disturbed, either from within, by thoughts and imaginations, or from without, by the world and the devil.

Here is a small example of interior peace, from the life of Fr. Dimitri Gagastathis: Whenever people would trouble him and actually persecute him because of his faith, he would invariably say: “My sins persecute me—not people.”

4. LONGSUFFERING (Μακροθυμία)

Longsuffering is the long and patient endurance of injuries, insults, adversities, etc. It too springs from love, as the Apostle says, “love is patient and kind” (1 Cor. 13:4), and as he also says, “forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4:2).

Here is another small example from the life of Fr. Dimitri Gagastathis: He wanted one of his nine daughters to become a nun, but his presbytera would have nothing of it. This created a tension and a source of conflict. One time, he himself narrates, she was at it for hours, going on and on. He sat quietly, reading his Bible and praying the Jesus prayer without saying a word. He later said that he was not disturbed at all, but kept his inner peace throughout the ordeal.

5. KINDNESS (χρηστότητος)

Kindness here is not to be equated with being gracious, polite and courteous, it does not refer to a person of gentle manners. It is a quality that makes one God-like, “for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (Lk. 6:35). One who has this quality would suffer anything, rather than offend his brother.

This following story is about Elder Elpidios of the Holy Mountain who reposed in the Lord in 1983:

When he first went to Mount Athos he participated in a vigil, and when the time for holy communion came, as is customary, he entered the altar. A monk told him abruptly, ‘We don’t receive communion today. You won’t receive either. You must conform to our rules. You must do obedience to what we tell you.’ The Elder, without being disturbed, told him, ‘May be blessed, Father.’ He stood there for the duration of the vigil, which lasted for ten or eleven hours. Then, after it was over, he went to his hut, and with two brothers he celebrated the Liturgy in order to receive holy Communion. He did not say a word to the brother who attacked him, who was much younger than he was and who was not a priest, although he was an Archimandrite.

6. GOODNESS (αγαθωσύνη)

Goodness is a quality attributed uniquely to God: “No one is good (ἀγαθός) but God alone” (Lk. 18:19). Goodness is a quality to do good, to have a good resolve and disposition to do good no matter what. It is in imitation of God, who “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Mt. 4:45).

Someone told Abba Zosimas, “I love you very much.” “I believe you,” the Elder replied, “but if I do something you won’t like, you won’t love me anymore, whereas I will love you no matter what.” Some time passed and the Elder heard that this man was cursing him and speaking evil of him. The Elder thought: “God sent this man to heal my vain soul. He will benefit me greatly, whereas those who praise me cause me damage. Therefore he is my benefactor.” He prayed so much for him that eventually this man could not resist his goodness and repented before him in tears.

As St. Paul says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

7. FAITHFULNESS (πίστις)

“God is faithful” (1 Cor. 1:9. cf. Rom. 3:3), not as having faith, but as being constant (cf. 1 Cor. 10:13), trustworthy (cf. 2 Cor. 1:18). It is a divine quality. The martyrs were “faithful unto death” (Rev. 2:10), not vacillating at the face of bodily harm and suffering, imitating thus their Lord “Jesus Christ the faithful martyr” (Rev. 1:5. cf. 3:14).

In lieu of an example from the life of a Saint, we quote the following lines from the Wisdom of Solomon, read in the Vespers service for Martyrs:

“The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace. For though in the sight of others they were punished, their hope is full of immortality. Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of Himself; like gold in the furnace He tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt offering He accepted them. In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and will run like sparks through the stubble. They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever. Those who trust in Him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with Him in love, because grace and mercy are upon His holy ones, and He watches over His elect” (Wis. of Sol. 3:1-9).

8. GENTLENESS (πραότης)

Gentleness makes us Christ-like, for, as the Lord attests about Himself, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:29). St. Paul appeals to such qualities in Christ: “I appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1). Those who have the “spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1) bear one another’s burdens (cf. v. 2). The Lord blessed the meek (cf. Mt. 5:5).

One time a beggar asked charity from St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria. He immediately gave him a sum of money, which, however, didn’t satisfy the beggar who began to curse the Hierarch to his face. Everyone was indignant at the offense, except the patriarch. With sweetness and calmness he looked at him, and very gently told the people who were with him, who had detained the insolent beggar: Leave him alone, my brothers. I offend Christ with my works for sixty years and He bears with me. Shall I not now endure so small of an offense? Give him some more money and let him go.

9. SELF-CONTROL (εγράτεια)

Self-control or “continence”, is applied not only to the desires of the flesh (cf. 1 Cor. 7:9) or to the cravings of the stomach, but it is used in the more general sense of an “athlete who exercises self-control in all things” (1 Cor. 9:25). Self-control is the avoidance of evil deeds and thoughts.

A small example from the life of Patriarch Pavle of Serbia (+2009) may suffice to illustrate self-control, when it comes to food:

A few years ago Patriarch Pavle was invited to dedicate a new cathedral in San Francisco. At the banquet they had, he was seen taking an apple out of his pocket, cutting it in half, eating one half of it and putting the other half back to his pocket. That was his supper.

+ + +

The Saints, my dear Christians, are the good soil on which the Holy Spirit produced abundant fruit (cf. Mk. 4:8). They are themselves the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They are the mirrors of Christ, “who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom. 7:4). The Saints possess the virtues of Christ and share His deified human nature—thus they reveal Christ to us. Through the holy intercessions of the holy Theotokos and of all the Saints may we too, my dear brothers and sisters, obtain the holy virtues to our “measure of the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Amen.

Fr. E.H./00

  1. All Saints day
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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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Saint Maximos the Confessor — Jan. 21

Saint Maximos the Confessor

Today we celebrate the memory of our venerable Father St. Maximos the Confessor (c. 580-662). Studying St. Maximos, his writings and especially his life, is both edifying and intriguing. St. Maximos is called “the relentless champion of the subtlest consequences of the orthodox faith”.1 The intriguing part is that today we tend to brush aside “subtleties”, and agree on the “essential elements” of the faith. In this respect he serves as a guide to us.

St. Maximos was born in Constantinople, the capital city of the Roman Empire, toward the end of the sixth century, of noble and pious parents. He was adorned with many virtues. Very early on a keen intellect and an eagerness to learn became apparent. He was very intelligent and applied himself to his studies. He excelled especially in philosophy, and retained what was good for his soul.

Everyone admired and respected him, because he was humble, although he was of a noble descent, and although he was so wise and virtuous. His fame was such that Emperor Heraklios made him his first secretary and speech writer. St. Maximos, however, was troubled by the heresy of Monothelism, which divided the Church. Therefore he left his high position and all the glory, comfort and family, and embraced the life of the monastics.

Such was his virtue, piety and ascetical struggles, that upon the repose of the abbot the monks asked him to become their abbot. He was hesitant to ascend this position of leadership, but he did so for their spiritual benefit. Seeing, however, the heresy growing and spreading, he was greatly distressed and was crying from sorrow.

There was a great confusion in the Church. Most hierarchs and the civil authorities espoused the heresy that Christ had one will and one energy (or activity or operation). Since the Patriarch of Constantinople himself and the other Patriarchs followed this heresy, what were the simple faithful to think but to follow them? So the same thing that was happening then is happening now, in our days, when most of our bishops are following the new heresy of ecumenism, which compromises the uniqueness of the Orthodox Church.

The Patriarch of Antioch Athanasios2 and the Patriarch of Constantinople Sergios were monophysites, as was also the Archbishop of Edessa Jacob, after whom the monophysites of Syria are called Jacobites. This Jacob convinced Emperor Heraklios to favor a certain Cyros, of the same heretical opinion, who eventually became Patriarch of Alexandria. Together they attempted to sway the pope of Rome to join them in their false belief. At this point Maximos went to Rome to make sure that pope Martin would not become a communicant of their heresy. In essence Maximos broke communion with the Monothelites.

In those days Rome was a bastion of Orthodoxy. Rome had retained the faith of the Apostles untainted from heresy. Like Athanasios the Great before him, St. Maximos called on the successor of Peter to stay firm, like his predecessors. Pope Martin convened a synod comprised of 150 bishops who anathematized Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter (Patriarchs of Constantinople), Cyros of Alexandria, Athanasios of Antioch and the rest who were of the same heretical opinion as they were.

St. Maximos stayed in Rome some 27 years, teaching, admonishing, encouraging the faithful, writing treatises, biblical commentaries, books about the spiritual life, writing epistles in support of the Orthodox faith and sending them around the world. Emperor Constans, however, who had succeeded Heraklios, had other ideas. He had St. Maximos arrested, brought to Constantinople and tried for treason. Failing to dissuade him from the Orthodox faith he banished him along with his two disciples. He was recalled from his exile, and upon persisting in his faith he was beaten, his tongue was ripped out from the root and his right hand amputated from the wrist–typical punishment for those who had spoken against the emperor. Neither his age (he was over 80 years of age) and frail constitution, nor his angelic countenance, nor his meekness stopped his persecutors. Then he was led once more to exile, where shortly thereafter he died, on August 13, 662.

The Church gave St. Maximos the title of Confessor because of his suffering on account of the faith. Later his contests for the truth were fully justified. Under the kinship of Constans’ Orthodox son Constantine, a synod, known as the Sixth Ecumenical Council, was convened. It declared the two wills and energies of Christ in His two natures, and anathematized the Monothelites.

In today’s ecumenistic climate, I am not so sure to what extent we can appreciate the fight St. Maximos gave all his life for the faith. Someone could argue that the points debated were too subtle for anyone to comprehend. That Christ remains a mystery, and we can never fully describe Him, and therefore we should allow for minor differences in interpretation. Perhaps we should be more attentive to the “big picture”, if we are to preserve the unity of the faithful and peace in the Church.

Today, even where differences are recognized, they are downplayed by drawing a distinction between “the content of faith and the words in which that faith is expressed”3. “Since,” they say, “human words can never exhaust the divine mystery, our effort… is to look beyond what appear to be contradictory verbal formulas to the faith that underlies them, to determine whether or not those formulas are witnessing to the same faith in different ways”. Thus we find agreement even in our very disagreements.

From this premise the heresies only appear to be heresies, whereas in fact they are expressions of the same point of view in different words. The distinction drawn between truth and its expression leaves the faith open to a variety of interpretations, all legitimate and valid. [If this is so], we must then conclude that St. Maximos was wrong in fighting heresy and we must say that all of the God-bearing holy Fathers were deceived in believing that their differences from the heretics were real. This must be the new definition of “fools for Christ.”

The modern “theologians” of the ecumenistic variety sit across the table with anyone, in a perpetual quest for common ground. They emerge from their bilateral and multilateral meetings and seminars with “agreed statements” to the effect that even in their condemnations of heresies the Fathers attested to the same truth—only in a different way.

The fight of the Fathers of the Church for the truth is now labeled “polemics” of the past, while the debates are called “divisive”. Now it is stated that the divisions that resulted from fighting for the truth “do not honor God”. The Fathers of old were not as imaginative and resourceful as we are today. These modern theologians view the Fathers as bigots, who were moved out of hatred for each other, rather than out of love.

They say that faithfulness to Christ and to the truth is stated not in dogmatic formulations which are divisive, but in “acts of love and mutual forgiveness.” Thus unity is pursued not in truth, but in the name of love. The Apostle Paul, however, gives us the rule to speak the truth in love, but speak it! He also says, “But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—I believed, and so I spoke—we also believe, and so we speak” (2 Cor. 4:13).

St. Maximos in his defense said,

“Once the Arians put this forward, ‘Let us remove the Homoousion and the Heterousion and let the churches unite.’ Our God-fearing Fathers did not consent to this; but rather they preferred to be pursued and put to death than to pass over in silence” … the use of equivocal terms.”4

And further on he said,

“I cannot grieve God by keeping silent about what He ordered us to speak and confess.”5

We too, my brothers and sisters, should pray fervently to Christ our God to keep us and preserve us in the most precious commodity we have, our undefiled, Orthodox Faith, through the intercessions of His champion, St. Maximos the Confessor and of all the Saints. Amen.

Fr. E.H./2001

  1. Maximus Confessor, Selected Writings, Irenee-Henri Dalmais, O.P., Preface, p. xiii.
  2. (nothing to do with the great Patriarch of Alexandria, whose memory we commemorated on January 18)
  3. References in quotation marks are from the document, SHARING THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION, Statement on the Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue And the Ecumenical Movement – The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, Brookline, Massachusetts, June 1, 2000.
  4. Maximus Confessor, Selected Writings, Irenee-Henri Dalmais, O.P., “The Trial of Maximus,” pp. 20-21.
  5. o.c., p. 24.
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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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Marios Nasios: The wounded eagle

(From the book “MARIOS, the wounded flag-bearer of joy” by Aikaterini Matennoglou, published by “Η ΟΣΙΑ ΞΕΝΗ”, Thessaloniki 2007).
Translation by Fr. E.H.

Marios Nasios was born on the feast day of Ypapanti (Presentation of the Lord in the Temple), on Sunday, February 2, 1987. At the age of 5 he began to experience difficulty walking, instability, fatigue, and difficulty climbing stairs or getting up. At the age of 7, he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic disorder that occurs primarily in boys. The illness is characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, until the patients are finally immobilized. Due to weakness of the breathing muscles, they suffer respiratory problems.

Marios Nasios
02/02/1987 — 11/25/2003

Marios went through these stages. From the age of 8 he was in a wheelchair. He was however a charismatic child. He was an excellent student up to the third grade of high school (he died when he was 17 years old). He was the flag-bearer in parades, holding the flag with pride. He had a natural smile, godly wisdom, and a sense of gratitude, while a “Thank you” was always on his lips towards everyone: his mother who was taking care of him, his classmates, the teachers, and his spiritual father, Father Gervasios.

He said: “I am very well. I have no need of anything. I feel fulfilled. I am happy the way I am. I feel that I love the whole world. God must know something to let me be this way; perhaps it is better this way. I thank God, who gave me a mind and I can communicate with people, that I can I read, and that I can figure out everything. If I didn’t have my mind, why would I need hands? A paralytic, who has his mind and is patient, is the smartest person in the world. Mom, God loves us. It is for the sake of our souls if He doesn’t give us our health, but He solves other problems.”

Because of the attack to the heart muscle, he began to experience a fast heart rate. On every day of the week he started school with a pulse rate of 128. Among the difficulties he said: “Other children, who are as ill as I am, are forced to stop going to school because they have no access to school. How many blessings I have!”

Marios with classmates

His classmates and teachers, always remember his face, shining with joy. He helped many of his friends with his advice and encouraging words, giving lessons of dignity and kindness. He had tenacity, courage and strength. He did not seem to be disturbed on account of his disability. He had spontaneity, with natural humor, and made others laugh and be happy. He was considerate and loving. He said to his mother: “I’m sorry, mom, I’m tiring you out. Sorry, mom, for troubling you. Your feet are my feet too. We are two people and have together two legs. You had an operation on both your legs. So in the afternoon I will read my lessons, while you will go to lay down and rest. And as you look after me in the evening, so I will look after you in the morning!”

Every Sunday he was receiving holy Communion, with excitement and craving. He had a quick mind. Once they asked him, “Which soccer team do you belong to?” “Of Paradise,” he said, and added, “What team can be compared to the Paradise team?”

Pain refines man

In 1995 Marios went through a Medical Committee. However, at that time, his insurance did not provide any benefits for those suffering from muscle degeneration. His mother was saddened, but young Marios said to her: “Mom, it’s not worth worrying about this life. We need to be concerned about the other life. I don’t want you to be sad and cry. As the good Lord provides for the birds, so He will take care of us too. He will provide for us too. Yes, really, He will!”

One time his mother Maria asked him if he wanted to call a group of educated people who took care of children like him, so he would cheer up these children. He said, “No, Mom. I don’t need such company. I have you. I have my books. You take me out and I see the fields, the Church of Transfiguration, and the flowers you planted in our yard. I see my classmates going to their tutorial lessons. I see them outside playing. What else can I want? I do not need any company. I’m very well, truly very well the way I am. I want you to understand this. I’m very well. I miss nothing.”

One day, a social worker, appreciating Marios’ spiritual strength, suggested organizing a meeting with children who were experiencing similar problems, so that he could explain to them how he managed to overcome his own problems and remain always happy. “No,” Marios replied. “If they don’t believe in God, no matter how many hours I talk to them, they won’t be able to overcome with arguments their illness and their other problems.”

Taught by God

Here are a few of his sayings:

  • “I am nothing. In any case, people should not be so happy, nor be too sad. We should be modest.”
  • “Shall we argue with God? If God wants it to rain, let it rain. Are we made out of sugar?”
  • “Mom, God loves us. He cares about us. Surely He gives us difficulties, but He also helps us, and gives us the strength to overcome them. Don’t you see how He’s interested in us? He cares about the birds and He won’t care about us? Look! So many people, who were unknown to us, now surround us with love.”
  • “If the sun of love enlightened the world, it would be very beautiful and better. Because the sun of love is Christ Himself.” (This sentence was written on Marios’ report card when he was in 4th grade).
  • “What a pity. Relatives should not seek revenge. Instead, they should pray for the repose of the soul of their own relative, but also for the soul of the murderer. God is the only Judge.”
  • “I cannot understand why people don’t go to Church.”

His last days

On August 5, 2003, Marios had a pulmonary edema. He was hospitalized in the hospital’s intensive care unit where his conduct, despite a high heart rate of 145, made a special impression to the medical and nursing staff. He constantly thanked everyone, without complaining about anything. Indeed, he considered this serious episode of his health an opportunity to meet other people.

Three months later, he had the first episode of cardiac arrest. On November 25, 2003 he fell asleep in the Lord.

On the day of his funeral, the plan was to place him on a hearse. But it wouldn’t start, even though no problem was detected. It was unexplainable! His classmates wanted to carry Marios on their own shoulders, and eventually it was done as they wished. The incident was considered to be a “sign.” Thus in the moving funeral procession Marios was carried on the shoulders of his classmates.

At the cemetery, during the memorial service, they all chanted the hymn, Christ is Risen!

On that year’s album, the High School graduates placed his name at the top, all by itself, with big letters: MARIOS! And underneath they wrote:

“It was a great honor and joy to have met you here on this earth, Marios. It would be a greater honor and happiness to meet again in the other life, which is eternal.”

Greek original: http://www.diakonima.gr/2020/02/02/marios_nasios/
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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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Imitate the Saints! — Sunday of the Fourth Ecumenical Council

Three times a year our holy Church commemorates our Fathers in the Faith. On the Seventh Sunday after Pascha we commemorate especially the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council; on the First Sunday after the 11th of October we commemorate especially the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council; and today, First Sunday after July 12, we honor the Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils, but especially the 630 holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, convened in Chalcedon in the year 451.

The Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council went into great pains to safeguard and preserve the faith of the Church concerning the Person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Church stayed clear of two heresies: the one maintaining that Christ is merely human (an extolled human being, higher than any other creature, yet nevertheless creature, “unequal” with the Father); the other heresy preaching that the Word of God “appeared as” a human being, although the divinity had absorbed entirely the humanity, annihilating it. In either case salvation would not be possible.

If God did not “assume” our human nature, becoming one of us, then He never reached us, He never saved us, according to the patristic principle, “what is not assumed is not healed”. And if Christ in becoming man did not retain His divine nature then He would not have been able to elevate us beyond our fallen human nature, unite us with God, and deify us. So the Church proclaimed that in Christ both natures are preserved “without confusion and without change, but also without division and without separation”, united in the Person (hypostasis) of Christ.1

The Fathers of the Church are beacons of light. “You are the light of the world!” said the Lord to His Disciples (Mt 5:14). By following them, by imitating them, we are led to Christ, the Light of the world. “Be my imitators, as I am of Christ”, said St. Paul. By imitating the Saints, we imitate Christ.

Read the lives of the Saints and their writings. Reading the holy scripture is good; reading the works of the Fathers and their holy lives is better! Imitating their lives is best!

The Church continues to produce Saints who guide us to Christ. Saint Luke the Surgeon and Fr. Dimitri Gagastathis are two such modern-day luminaries we should follow and imitate.

Through their holy intercessions may our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Fr. E.H./1995

  1. Read about Christ’s human nature in Jesus: Fallen: The Human Nature of Christ Examined from an Eastern Orthodox Perspective
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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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What is Orthodox Fundamentalism?

orthodox fundamentalism

Orthodox Fundamentalism? It conjures up sights of militants and extremists. Yet, we are told that Orthodoxy is not immune to this malady that shows its ugly face in every religion, even in atheism. Sometimes the stigma of fundamentalism is ascribed to theologians who faithfully follow the Fathers and abide by the Canons of the Church. A case in point is an article I would like to address.

What are the characteristics of an Orthodox fundamentalist?

  • Typically, fundamentalists view the Bible, or any other book, as the literal word of God.1
  • In its extreme form fundamentalism is fanaticism.
  • Nearly all Old Calendarists are fundamentalists.
  • Most fundamentalists are also fanatics.
  • Separating from the Church on account of the change in the calendar is an extreme form of fundamentalism.
  • Fundamentalists label the New Calendar Orthodox “modernists.”
  • Fundamentalism is encountered mostly in monasteries, but it is most disturbing when it is encountered among the clergy and laity living in the world, who try to imitate the monastic lifestyle.

On January 29, 2015, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America posted an article on its blog2 by Prof. George Demacopoulos3 with the title “Orthodox Fundamentalism.” The article went viral and was also carried by the blog of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle (2/4/15). As pointed out in his article, aspects of Orthodox fundamentalism abound around us – both in the old continent and in the new World – particularly manifested in biblical literalism and pietism. However, the author labels other legitimate and traditional Orthodox beliefs and practices as fundamentalist, calling them “slavish adherence to a fossilized set of propositions.”

Far from being “used in self-promotion”, as he says, we are all called to follow the teachings and the way of life of the God-bearing Fathers.

Orthodox Fundamentalists?

Demacopoulos inveighs against “so many [unnamed] Orthodox clerics and monks” who “have made public statements that reflect a fundamentalist approach to the Church Fathers,” called by him “extremists” and “radical opportunists.” Who are they? What statements have they made that deserve such epithets? It seems that their fault is that they adhere strictly to the teachings of the Fathers and the Canons of the Church. According to the author’s thinking we should classify the Fathers themselves as fundamentalist, among them St. Photios, St. Mark Evgenikos, St. Gregory Palamas, St. Nikodemos, St. Nektarios and more recently St. Justin Popović and St. Paisios. Certainly in his list belong Protopresbyters George Metallinos, Theodoros Zeses, Vasileios Voloudakis, and Metropolitans Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Seraphim of Piraeus. Far from being fundamentalist, they express the correct faith, ethos and phronema of the Orthodox Church. The obvious question is, who are the author’s models among the Saints? Could he find even one that espoused what he does?

The Fathers were/are not the “intellectuals of their age,” as the author states, succeeded or rather superseded by the intellectuals of this New Age—presumably the academic scholars. The Fathers expressed their own experiences, having already reached theosis, which is the knowledge of God. These are the words of a contemporary Father, St. Paisios:

Theology is the word of God that is comprehended by pure, humble and spiritually reborn souls. It is not the beautiful words of the mind which are formed with philological artistry and which are expressed with the juridical or worldly spirit…Theology that is taught as a [worldly] science usually examines things historically and consequently understands things externally. Because patristic asceticism and inner experience are absent, this theology is full of doubts and questions. With his mind man is not able to comprehend the divine energies unless he first struggles ascetically to live these energies, so that the grace of God might work within him.

The Fathers do not disagree among themselves, as the author, following the “post-patristic” theologians, attempts to prove (needless to say, without succeeding), but expand, enrich, and deepen upon the teachings of the Fathers that preceded them, as they address, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, new problems that arise. They build upon each other the edifice of the Church. “To refuse to follow the Fathers, not holding their declaration of more authority than one’s own opinion, is conduct worthy of blame, as being brimful of self-sufficiency,” says a great Father of the Church.4 The Church calls the Fathers “the precise custodians of the Apostolic Traditions.”5

Fighting the Fathers

Theology is the word of God that is comprehended by pure, humble and spiritually reborn souls. It is not the beautiful words of the mind which are formed with philological artistry and which are expressed with the juridical or worldly spirit…

Saint Paisios the New

The progressive synchretist and ecumenist professors characterize the attachment to the patristic methodology of defending the Orthodox Faith and attacking and refuting the heresies as fundamentalist, they call the attachment to the Canons of the Church as legalism, the faithful adherence to the Christian ethics as pietism, and the checking of deviations from the pulpit as expressions of hate. This so-called post-patristic theology, far from being a continuation of the theology of the Fathers, constitutes a distortion of their teachings and a radical departure from their witness of the true faith in word and action. It constitutes a resurgence of the rationalist approach to the truth of Barlaamism condemned by the Palamite synods.6

The position taken in this article reflects the post-patristic and deconstructionist spirit that permeates the Theological Academy of Volos (which carried his article, translated by its director) with which the Center co-founded by the author collaborates, which vehemently fights against what was and the way it was “handed down” to us by the Fathers.

We ask:

  • What does Volos and its adherents have to say about the “fundamentalist” Creed and the “fundamentalist” Canons that the “fundamentalist” Fathers have passed on to us?
  • What of our “fundamentalist” dogmas, our “fundamentalist” Divine Liturgy, our “fundamentalist” Bible, our “fundamentalist” hymnology, our “fundamentalist” mysteries (like baptism and communion), and our “fundamentalist” morality?
  • Why reinterpret the Fathers and not reinterpret the antiquated “fundamentalist” faith of the “fundamentalist” Church founded by “fundamentalist” Christ?
  • Why stick to an exclusivist (“fundamentalist”) religion?
  • Why not start afresh with a contemporary expression of the faith? But…that’s what they propose! Unless they shout loud and clear the “fundamentalist” anathemas of the Church on the Sunday of Orthodoxy they have no place in Her.

Keeping the Fundamentals

In the end I would say that perhaps the Orthodox Church has remained “fundamentalist” in the original sense this word had when it was coined by Curtis Lee Laws, the editor of the Northern Baptist newspaper The Watchman-Examiner in 1920, who wrote, “We suggest that those who still cling to the great fundamentals and who mean to do battle royal for the fundamentals shall be called ‘Fundamentalists.’”7

  1. As it is stated succinctly by Cecil McGarry, S.J., “Christian fundamentalism sees the Bible as an encoded message from God, inerrant, infallible, never to be questioned. Its only meaning is the literal meaning of the words. The Bible alone is sufficient and adequate to guide us in all the problems of life, especially religious ones. The only adequate response is absolute and unquestioning obedience to God who is the author of the Bible.” (“A Thin Line Between Fundamentalism and Fanaticism,” Social and Religious Concerns, Ch. 43: 325-335, p. 325.
  2. http://blogs.goarch.org/blog/-/blogs/orthodox-fundamentalism
  3. Prof. George Demacopoulos is Director and Co-Founder of Orthodox Christian Studies Center together with Prof. Aristotle Papanikolaou, with whom he teaches theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit School. He also happens to be an “Archon Didaskalos Tou Genous” of the Order of St. Andrew of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
  4. None other than Saint Basil, Letters LII.1, NPNF-2, p. 155.
  5. Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, Doxastikon of Lite.
  6. See the letter of Metropolitan Pavlos of Glyfada to the Synod of Greece of Sept. 28, 2010 on “Contextual,” “Postpatristic” and other “Theological Quests” at the conference of the Theological Academy of Volos on the topic “Neo-Patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic Theology. The Quest of Contextual Theology in Orthodoxy.” http://www.saintnicodemos.org/articles/postpatristictheology.php.
  7. Curtis Lee Laws, “Convention Side Lights,” The Watchman-Examiner, viii (July 1, 1920), 834.
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