| Greatmartyr Theodore the Tyro (“the Recruit”) Commemorated on February 17/March 2 The Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit (Tyro) was a soldier in the city of Alasium of the Pontine district (northeast province of Asia Minor, stretching along the coast of the Euxine, i.e. the Black Sea), under the command of a certain Brincus. They commanded him to offer sacrifice to idols. Saint Theodore firmly confessed his faith in Christ the Savior in a loud voice. The commander gave him several days to think it over, during which time Saint Theodore prayed. They charged him with setting a pagan temple on fire, and threw him into prison to be starved to death. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him there, comforting and encouraging him. Brought to the governor, Saint Theodore boldly and fearlessly confessed his faith, for which he was subjected to new torments and condemned to burning. The martyr Theodore climbed onto the fire without hesitation, and with prayer and gave up his holy soul to God. This occurred in about the year 306 under the Roman emperor Galerius (305-311). Unharmed by the fire, the body of Saint Theodore was buried in the city of Euchaita, not far from Amasium. His relics were afterwards transferred to Constantinople, to a church dedicated to him. His head is in Italy, in the city of Gaeto. Later on, fifty years after the death of Saint Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363), wanting to commit an outrage upon the Christians, commanded the city-commander of Constantinople during the first week of Great Lent to sprinkle all the food provisions in the marketplaces with the blood offered to idols. Saint Theodore appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius, ordering him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything at the marketplaces, but rather to eat cooked wheat with honey (kolyva). In memory of this occurrence, the Orthodox Church annually celebrates the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit on the first Saturday of Great Lent. On Friday evening, at the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts following the prayer at the ambo, the Canon to the holy Great Martyr Theodore, composed by Saint John of Damascus, is sung. After this, kolyva is blessed and distributed to the faithful. The celebration of the Great Martyr Theodore on the first Saturday of Great Lent was set by the Patriarch Nectarius of Constantinople (381-397). |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf ANTIOCH ANTIOCH. This capital of the Seleucid Empire was founded in 300 B.C., and was the center of Hellenistic culture on the east Mediterranean seaboard from Palestine to Asia Minor (q.v.) and inland to Mesopotamia. Its incorporation into the Roman Empire (q.v.) in the 1st c. B.C. gave it a place as the third city of the realm and capital of the “East.” Site of a Christian church from the beginnings of the faith and the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians (e.g., Acts 11:19 ff.), traditionally its first bishop was identified as the Apostle Peter. We know from the Pauline corpus that the church there supported Paul’s anti-Judaizing policy, and at least one of the Gospels was written there. The seven letter corpus of Ignatius (q.v.) is also associated with Antioch. Its bishop was ranked as third in importance, after Rome and Alexandria (qq.v.), and recognized as such by the First Ecumenical Council (q.v.) at Nicaea (325). Just as with Alexandria, Antioch had its own distinctive tradition of scriptural exegesis and theological approach, although unlike Alexandrians the Antiochenes tended to eschew allegory (q.v.) and favor a more literal, historical approach to the sacred texts. This had its consequences in Christology (q.v.). Antiochene writers and scholars preferred a greater emphasis on the humanity of Jesus than was generally characteristic of the Alexandrians, so much so that it sometimes appeared the unity of God and man in Christ was imperiled. Of the most notable Antiochene exegetes-Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus (qq.v.), for example-only the last narrowly escaped posthumous condemnation. Antiochene theology held great sway in Constantinople, and resultingly in the entire Empire, through the Cappadocian Fathers and the Antiochene bishop transferred there, Joh n Chrysostom (qq.v.). The Christological controversies in the aftermath of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451) resulted in the loss of Antioch’s power. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf BASIL THE GREAT BASIL THE GREAT, bishop, theologian, monk, St. (ca. 330–379). Born of an aristocratic family in central Asia Minor, eldest of the Cappadocian Fathers, the older brother of Gregory of Nyssa and childhood friend of Gregory of Nazianzus (qq.v.), Basil and the latter Gregory received the best education available in the ancient world, having been trained both in rhetoric and, at the then “university town” of Athens, in philosophy. Raised as a Christian and from youth enamored with the great Christian thinker of the previous century, Origen (q.v.), Basil’s intellectual and spiritual life represented a continuation of the latter’s great task, the integration of Christian life and experience with the best of ancient Greek thought. He and Gregory of Nazianzus compiled a selection of quotes from Origen, bearing on prayer and the spiritual life, called the Philokalia. He was also significantly influenced by the nascent monasticism (q.v.), visiting Egypt as a young man and even attempting a not-altogether-successful experiment at the monastic life with his friend, Gregory. His life of active contribution to the Church began with his appointment as bishop to the metropolitan see of Cappadocia (q.v.), Caesarea, in 370. The nine years of life remaining to him he exhausted in a ministry of extraordinary effort and remarkable accomplishments. Basil continued his lifelong interest in monasticism as a bishop, and the responses he wrote in reply to questions on the monastic life (the Longer and Shorter Rules), with their emphasis on communal life and social service, have exercised great influence in the history of cenobitic monasticism. His treatises On the Holy Spirit and the three Against Eunomius, written in reply to the attack on the teaching of the Trinity (q.v.)-the great ecclesiastical and imperial crisis of the era-laid down the main lines of Greek triadology. This work and his efforts to reconcile “Semiarians” to Orthodoxy would be confirmed at the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (qq.v.) in 381, and expanded on by his brother and his friend, the two Gregories. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf MONASTERIES MONASTERIES. Since the appearance of monasticism (q.v.) in the 4th c., monasteries have punctuated the landscape and informed the life of local Orthodox Churches. Beginning with Egypt (q.v.), each country or region of the Orthodox oikoumene has seen the rise and continuing influence of one or more important monastic centers. The Coptic monasteries of St. Antony near the Red Sea and of SS. Macarius and Bishoy at Scete have continued to shape the life of the Egyptian Church since the 300s. From Egypt monasticism spread throughout the Empire. In Palestine the foundations of St. Sabas (monastery of Mar Saba) in the 5th c. and St. Catherine’s at Sinai in the 6th c. were established and remain active today. Both have had singularly important roles in the shaping of the Orthodox liturgy (q.v.) and in the transmission of the spiritual wealth of the Middle East to Byzantium (q.v.). Georgia, too, had its monasteries, as did ancient Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor (qq.v.). In Constantinople (q.v.) the monastic life was dominated from the 9th c. by the great monastery of St. Joh n at Studion through the influence of its renowned abbot, Theodore (q.v.), and a succession of able abbots afterward. St. Mamas was another important center in the capital under the abbacy of Symeon the New Theologian (q.v.) from 986 to 1005. Far and away the most significant concentration of monastic life from the latter Byzantine era (q.v.) to the present has been the peninsula of Mt. Athos (q.v.) with its twenty monasteries and numerous local communities. Elsewhere in modern Greece one may find the extraordinary monasteries of Meteora in Thessaly, perched on towering sandstone pillars and dating from the 14th c., together with the Byzantine foundation of Daphni near Athens (qq.v.), and the monastery of the Great Cave (Mega Spilaion) in the Peloponnesus. Serbia looks in particular to the monastery of Hilandar on Athos, and Bulgaria to the monasteries of St. Joh n of Rila near Sofia and Bachka in the east of the country. Romania’s monasteries are, save in Transylvania, all pervasive, though the great houses of Niamets and Sihastria in Moldavia (q.v.) have had the most significant impact over the past two hundred years. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf OTTOMAN EMPIRE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Successors to the Seljuk Turks, the Ottomans, named for the bey Osman (d. 1326), first ruled Asia Minor (q.v.), then Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Arabia, and North Africa from the late 14th c. until the overthrow of Sultan Mohammed VI in 1923. By the time Constantinople (q.v.) fell to Mohammed II on 29 May 1453, the entirety of the Orthodox oikoumene (q.v.), with the sole exceptions of Poland-Lithuania and Muscovy, had come under Ottoman rule. This underlined the importance of the Muscovite Grand Duke as the single remaining, independent Orthodox sovereign. It certainly assisted the rise of the 15th-c. myth of Moscow as the “Third Rome,” i.e., successor to both Rome and Constantinople (qq.v.) as capital of the Orthodox Christian world. For the vast population of Greeks, Slavs, Romanians, Armenians, Georgians, Copts, and Arabic-speaking Orthodox, the long centuries of Ottoman rule meant a permanent reduction to second-class citizenship in a Muslim Empire. In several instances, this slowly whittled away their communities, which were lured to Islam (q.v.) by the promise of social betterment, or else simply in search of relief from the taxes imposed on the non-Moslem population. Paradoxically, Ottoman rule accentuated the outward power of the Orthodox Church, elevating the Ecumenical Patriarch (q.v.) to the position of ruler of the Christian populace, and his bishops, in like manner, to the role of magistrates. This status and its limits, coupled with the later decadence of the Empire and the importation of romantic nationalism in the 18th and 19th c., had a singularly poisonous effect on the fabric of church life: Ecclesiastical offices were bought and sold; scrambles for power and continual intrigue dimmed the moral authority of the hierarchy; and, perhaps worst of all, the Church’s leaders became identified with the interests of a particular nation and language. (See Ethnarch.) This occurred first of all with the Greeks, following the lead of the Phanariots (q.v.). Their favoring of their own nation led to similar movements-in part, reactions against the patriarchate (q.v.)-among the Slavs, Romanians, and Arabic-speakers. |
| Nine Martyrs at Cyzicus: Theognes, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, Thaumasius, and Philemon Commemorated on April 29 The city of Cyzicus is in Asia Minor on the coast of the Dardenelles (Hellespont). Christianity already began to spread there through the preaching of Saint Paul (June 29). During the persecutions by the pagans, some of the Christians fled the city, while others kept their faith in Christ in secret. At the end of the third century Cyzicus was still basically a pagan city, although there was a Christian church there. The situation in the city distressed the Christians, who sought to uphold Christianity. The nine holy martyrs Thaumasius, Theognes, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, and Philemon were also from Cyzicus. They came from various places, and were of different ages: the young like Saint Antipater, and the very old like Saint Rufus. They came from various positions in society: some were soldiers, countryfolk, city people, and clergy. All of them declared their faith in Christ, and prayed for the spread of Christianity. The saints boldly confessed Christ and fearlessly denounced the pagan impiety. They were arrested and brought to trial before the ruler of the city. Over several days they were tortured, locked in prison and brought out again. They were promised their freedom if they renounced Christ. But the valiant martyrs of Christ continued to glorify the Lord. All nine martyrs were beheaded by the sword (+ ca. 286-299), and their bodies buried near the city. In the year 324, when the Eastern half of the Roman Empire was ruled by Saint Constantine the Great (May 21), and the persecutions against Christians ended, the Christians of Cyzicus removed the incorrupt bodies of the martyrs from the ground and placed them in a church built in their honor. Various miracles occurred from the holy relics: the sick were healed, and the mentally deranged were brought to their senses. The faith of Christ grew within the city through the intercession of the holy martyrs, and many of the pagans were converted to Christianity. |
| Today we celebrate the memory of the great holy hierarch and teacher of the Church, John, Archbishop of Constantinople. While he was yet a humble presbyter in Antioch, not seeking any glory or honor, weak in body and plain in appearance, he was great in spirit and strong in faith. No other man in Antioch gave such influential sermons as Chrysostom. His glory spread far beyond the country’s borders, and priest John was called in his fiftieth year to serve as hierarch of capital city cathedra of Constantinople. His sermons brought many sinners to righteous life. But certain members and clergymen of the imperial court, who hated him for his righteousness, became his fierce enemies. They finally had him condemned and exiled. Exhausted from physical sickness, the hierarch would have to travel a wearisome road through Asia Minor and the mountains of Armenia. Pushed onward by guards who did not know the meaning of compassion, he entered the Caucasus Mountain region and with great hardship reached the outskirts of modern-day Sukhumi. There, serving the Liturgy for the last time, he died with the words, “Glory to God for all things!” Christ’s Church has not forgotten the spiritual ascetic labors of St. John Chrysostom. Almost every day in churches is celebrated the Liturgy that he composed; we hear his words every Paschal night—the call to enter into the joy of Christ’s resurrection. Over a thousand of his pastoral teachings and letters, his exegesis of the Holy Scripture, and his ascetic life have served for many centuries for the spiritual growth and salvation of the Church’s sons and daughters. Before his death, the saint thanked God for everything he had to experience. Why didn’t sickness and depravations break him, cast him into despondency, or incite him to complain? Because for true confessors of Christ, physical suffering is gladness. Onerous trials and physical pain in the name of Christ purify the ascetic’s soul from attachment to earthly vanity, and exalt in it the measure of true values over illusory ones. In sorrows the desire weakens for non-spiritual consolations that corrupt the soul and burden the conscience, and make the heart vulnerable, ambitious, and weak. Sickness and depravation endured with prayer heal us of conceit and pride. This is why the Lord, Who outlined for his disciples the path of perfection, called those blessed who walk that path. |
| Материал из Православной Энциклопедии под редакцией Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла АПАМЕЯ Вифинская [греч. Απμεια ν τ Βιθυν], древний город в Вифинии на вост. берегу Мраморного м., руины к-рого с хорошо сохранившимся театром в наст. время располагаются в 1 км к юго-востоку от совр. г. Муданья (Турция); автокефальная архиепископия, позже митрополия в составе К-польского Патриархата. Город, первоначально называвшийся Мирлея (Μυρλεα, по имени его легендарного основателя Мирла), назвал в честь своей жены Апамы вифинский царь Прусий II (182-149 до Р. Х.). В эпоху Цезаря (ок. 45 до Р. Х.) А. стала рим. колонией Iulia Concordia Augusta Apameia. Епископская кафедра существовала здесь, вероятно, с апостольских времен, т. к. о многочисленной христ. общине в Вифинии говорит Плиний Младший (нач. II в.). Епископ А., первоначально подчинявшийся митрополиту Никомидии , центра пров. Вифиния, автокефалию получил ок. 640 г. Среди автокефальных архиепископий А. вначале занимала 8-е место, к кон. X в. поднялась на 3-е. На рубеже XI-XII вв. А. уже упоминается в списках митрополий К-польского Патриархата, где занимает 69-е место. После завоевания Вифинии турками со 2-й пол. XIV в. архиепископия А. становится титулярной. Епископы А.: Феофил (381), Евлисий (нач. V в.), Каллиник (до 431 - после 451), Марк (536; по ошибке назван митрополитом, см. Mansi. T. 8. Col. 878), Феопемпт (691), Евстратий (787), Евлампий (до 847/48-869), Павел (870), Софроний (879), Василий (кон. X в.), Феодор (XI в.), Михаил (ок. XI-XIII в.), Константин (1032), Георгий (Григорий; до 1145 - после 1156), Исаак (1158 - после 1172), неизвестный (1274), неизвестный (1310). В 1945-1951 гг. титул епископа А. носили Спиридон (позже митр. Родосский) и Василий (позже митр. Сидирокастрский), а также Иаков, вик. Фиатирской епархии. Лит.: RE. Bd. 12. Sp. 2664; Janin R.//DHGE. T. 3. Col. 916-917; idem. Églises et monastères. P. 129, 131, 136-139, 207; Magie D. Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the End of 3rd Cent. A. D. Princeton, 1950. T. 2. P. 1189 f.; Κονιδρης Γ .//ΘΗΕ. Τ. 2. Σ. 1040; Darrouz è s. Notitiae. Passim; Fedalto. Hierarchia. T. 1. P. 110-111. |
| Encyclical of Archbishop Demetrios for the Commemoration of the Asia Minor Catastrophe Archbishop Demetrios On September 16, 2015, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios released an encyclical regarding the sixtieth anniversary of the riots in Constantinople which resulted in great damange to Orthodox Church properties, as well as the looting and destruction of Christian homes and businesses. In commemoration he calls for all parishes of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to serve memorial servicse today, Sunday, September 20, 2015. Protocol 172/15 September 20, 2015 Commemoration of the Asia Minor Catastrophe To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We are confronted on a daily basis with the tragedy of conflict in our world, the struggles and suffering of refugees, and the violence and death associated with terrorism and genocide. We see and hear reports of the tremendous challenges faced by people who are being expelled from their homes and countries, who are seeking basic provisions and security, and who are in need of hope and comfort. As Greek Orthodox Christians, we are very aware of these challenges, and we are called in the love of God to respond to these great needs. We also offer our prayers and support in our remembrance of the great tragedies that have befallen our forbearers. This month marks the anniversary of two periods of intense persecution, suffering, and loss of life and property by Greeks in Asia Minor. This month is the sixtieth anniversary of the riots in Constantinople in 1955 which resulted in the damage, destruction, and looting of thousands of Greek businesses and homes and scores of churches, monasteries and schools. People were killed or injured, cemeteries were desecrated, and crosses were vandalized. Almost every Greek Orthodox Church property was targeted, including the Patriarchal cemetery and Balukli, where sepulchers and vaults were violated. This orchestrated act of violence and terrorism caused great injury to the Greek people in Constantinople and surrounding areas, and resulted in tens of thousands of Greeks leaving Turkey. |
| Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Perform Liturgy in Izmir Source: Greek Reporter Natalya Mihailova 29 January 2015 The reconstructed church of Agios Voukolos is the only Christian Orthodox church of the big city of Izmir (Smyrna) in Turkey that survived the destruction of 1922. The church will reopen to the public as a place of worship and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has been scheduled to perform a liturgy in the church on Friday, February 6. Agios Voukolos – the patron Saint of Izmir – is celebrated on February 6. The church is located in the district of Basmane and it was recently renovated by the Izmir municipality. From 1922 until its renovation, the space was used as a warehouse, then as classical music and opera hall for concerts and later as archaeological museum and an antiques store. The Ecumenical Patriarch will tour Asia Minor from Thursday, February 5 to Tuesday, February 10. He will be accompanied by several Greater Regional Holy and Sacred Synod bishops from across the globe. The Ecumenical Patriarch will attend a hagiographical conference in the Izmir Chamber of Commerce auditorium and will visit the prefect of Izmir, the Ephesus District Officer and the mayors of Izmir, Bornova, Konak and Narlidere. On Tuesday, February 10, on his last day in the Asia Minor region, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will visit Agios Haralambos Church in Cesme. Izmir hosts a very small number of Greeks, amounting to around 200 people. However, the Orthodox community is represented by the presence of Russian and Serbian residents, amounting to a total of almost 2,500 people. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Perform Liturgy in Izmir Natalya Mihailova Agios Voukolos – the patron Saint of Izmir – is celebrated on February 6. The church is located in the district of Basmane and it was recently renovated by the Izmir municipality. From 1922 until its renovation, the space was used as a warehouse, then as classical music and opera hall for concerts ... |
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