| The biblical foundations of prayer – the accessibility of a personal and moral God worthy of all honor and praise, the reciprocity of the divine-human relationship in freedom and faith, and the active saving purpose of God to rescue from evil and sanctify all things in Christ and the Spirit – shine through the development of an immensely rich tradition of Orthodox worship, piety, and spirituality. In Orthodox worship, next to the main sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, numerous other sacraments and rites sustain the community’s engagement with the mystery of God and invoke God’s blessings on key events or moments of life, such as birth, marriage, the need for forgiveness and healing, ministry, and death itself. Orthodox piety seeks the sanctification of every conceivable human activity through prayers for the blessing of schools, programs, homes, buildings, fields, agricultural products, animals, and (in modern times) automobiles. Orthodox spirituality, flourishing in monastic traditions but not to be separated from church worship and practice, celebrates prayer as a highly intentional and focused activity in pursuit of Christian perfection through inner cleansing and sublime experiences of God. Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Isaac the Syrian, Maximos the Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, the many authors included in the Philokalia, and modern saints and authors such as Theophan the Recluse and Silouan of Athos, are primary bearers of this Orthodox mystical tradition which has had significant impact on contemporary clergy and laity. The focus of this life of prayer is the recitation of the Jesus Prayer that, along with other ascetic disciplines, and above all reliance on God’s grace, guide the Christian to deeper levels of prayer in the process of theosis (deification), including purification, illumination, and glorification. The striking metaphors – “heaven in the heart,” “light of the mind,” “food for the soul,” “secret work of the heart,” “spiritual breathing,” “inner worship,” “standing before God” – richly suggest the meaning and value of concentrated personal prayer. Prayer’s ultimate purpose is the transformation of daily life into a sacrament of the presence, power, and holiness of God. |
| Issues of historicity aside, by the time of iconographic portraiture the two saints had merged into Nicholas the Wonderworker whose miracles during and after his life produced an extraordinary cycle of icons. Maguire attributes his immense popularity, second only to the Theotokos by the 12th century, to his being “somewhat of a Plate 65 Icon of St. Nicholas, 10th century (tempera and gold leaf on panel), from the Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt. Ancient Art and Architecture Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library generalist” (Maguire 1996: 169). The many, often mundane miracles depicted in spare iconographic detail allow for a wide range of intercessory prayers by the patron saint of mariners, scholars and students, merchants, marriageable women, bankers, thieves, and pugilists. SEE ALSO: Communion of Saints; Iconography, Styles of REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Maguire, H. (1996) The Icons of Their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in Byzantium. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Onasch, K. (1963) Icons. London: Faber and Faber. Ouspensky, L. and Lossky, V. (1982) The Meaning of Icons. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Sevcenko, I. and Sevcenko, N. P. (1985) The Life of St Nicholas of Sion. Brookline, MA: Hellenic College Press. Sevcenko, N. P. (1983) The Life of Saint Nicholas in Byzantine Art. Turin: Bottega d’Erasmo. St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite (1749–1809) CYRIL HOVORUN Leading spiritual writer and Kollyvadic Father. He was born Nikolaos Kallivourtsis on the island of Naxos in 1749, and died a leading monastic theologian, canonist, and hymnographer on Mount Athos in 1809. He spent much of his life as a hermit, and in his writings advocated frequent participation in the Holy Eucharist. Nikodemos composed numerous books on ascetical and pastoral theology, canon law, hagiography, and exegesis of the Holy Scripture and liturgical texts. He adapted the writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas for modern Greek readers, and was the author of more than fifty liturgical hymns. He had profound knowledge of Latin spiritual traditions and made Greek adaptations of Ignatian and Theatine spiritual texts such as the Exercises and the Spiritual Combat. He is chiefly known today as the co-editor of one of the major collections of Eastern Christian spirituality, the Philokalia, as well as codificator and commentator on the Eastern Canon Law (the Pedalion, or Rudder). |
| К области научных интересов К. также относятся визант. гимнография (история формирования визант. стихотворных размеров, творчество прп. Романа Сладкопевца, Симеона Нового Богослова, Николая III Грамматика), образ Византии и Балкан в рассказах западноевропейских путешественников (Лиутпранд Кремонский, Райнхольд Лубенау), проблемы культурной самоидентификации и самосознания народов Балкан и Вост. Средиземноморья, представления византийцев о пространстве, образ Византии в период новой и новейшей истории, городская культура (в 1991 К. опубл. критическое издание и перевод «Книги эпарха» - основного источника сведений по истории к-польских ремесленных и торговых корпораций), повседневная жизнь (в т. ч. гастрономическая культура) византийцев, история византинистики в Австрии. Библиогр.: Byzantina Mediterranea: FS für J. Koder zum 65. Geburtstag/Hrsg. K. Belke et al. W., 2007. S. XXIX-XLVI. Соч.: Kontakion und politischer Vers//JÖB. 1983. Bd. 33. S. 45-56; Der Lebensraum der Byzantiner: Hist.-geogr. Abriss ihres mittelalterlichen Staates im östlichen Mittelmeerraum. Graz; W.; Köln, 1984; The Urban Character of the Early Byzantine Empire: Some Reflections on a Settlement Geographical Approach to the Topic//The 17th Intern. Byzantine Congress: Major Papers. New Rochelle (N. Y.), 1986. P. 155-187; Normale Mönche und Enthusiasten: Der Fall des Symeon Neos Theologos//Religiöse Devianz: Untersuch. zu sozialen, rechtlichen und theologischen Reaktionen auf religiöse Abweichung im westlichen und östlichen Mittelalter/Hrsg. D. Simon. Fr./M., 1990. S. 97-119; Gemüse in Byzanz: Die Versorgung Konstantinopels mit Frischgemüse im Licht der Geoponika. W., 1993; Mönchtum und Kloster als Faktoren der byzant. Siedlungsgeographie//Byzantium and the North: Acta Byzantina Fennica. Helsinki, 1993/1994. Vol. 7. P. 7-44; Subjektivität und Fälschung in der byzantinischen Geschichte: Liutprand von Cremona als Historiograph und als Objekt der Historiographie//Βυζαντιακ. Θεσσαλονκη, 1995. Τ. 15. Σ. 107-132; Romanos Melodos und sein Publikum: Zur Einbeziehung und Beeinflussung der Zuhörer durch das Kontakion//Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. W., 1999. Bd. 134. Hdb. 1. S. 63-94; Maritime Trade and the Food Supply for Constantinople in the Middle Ages//Travel in the Byzantine World/Ed. R. Macrides. Aldershot, 2002. P. 109-124; Die räumlichen Vorstellungen der Byzantiner von der Ökumene (4. bis 12. Jh.)//Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akad. d. Wiss. 2002. Bd. 137. Hdb. 2. S. 15-34; Imperial Propaganda in the Kontakia of Romanos the Melode//DOP. 2008. Vol. 62. P. 275-291; Regional Networks in Asia Minor during the Middle Byzantine Period (7th-11th Cent.): An Approach//Trade and Markets in Byzantium/Ed. C. Morrisson. Wash., 2012. P. 147-175. |
| St. James the Persian 27 November/10 December St. George the Trophy-Bearer 23 April/6 May The Holy Great Martyr Mercurius 24 November/7 December The Holy Great Martyr Theodore Tyro 17 February/2 March The Holy Martyrs Zoticos, Atalos, Filipos, and Camasis 4/7 June The 14,000 Holy Infants slain by Herod 29 December/11 January The Holy Righteous Fathers slain at Sinai and Raith 14/17 January The Holy Righteous Fathers massacred by Arabs in St. Sava’s Monastery 20 March/2 April The Holy Righteous Fathers slain by Persians at Hozeva The Holy Righteous Martyrs Efthimios, Ignatius, and Acacius 1/14 May The 40 Holy Martyrs from Sevastia 9/22 March Holy Father Antipas the Athonite 10/23 January Holy Righteous John Jacob from Hozeva 5/18 August Holy Righteous Symeon the New Theologian 12/25 March Holy Righteous Stylianos of Paphlagonia 26/9 December Holy Righteous Seraphim of Sarov 2/15 January Holy Righteous Moses the Hungarian 26 July/8 August Holy Righteous Silouan the Athonite 24 September/7 October Holy Righteous Onuphrius from Vorona Hermitage 9/22 September Holy Righteous Theoctistus 3/16 September Holy Martyr Kiriaki 7/20 July Holy Righteous Kuksha of Odessa A small piece of the The Holy Cross wood. All of these holy relics are available for veneration in the church of St. James the Persian. The Patronal Feasts of the Churches of Sirei Monastery. Among the many great celebrations of the monastery, a special one is on 27 November/10 December when the Orthodox Church celebrates St. Jacob the Persian the Great Martyr who is the protector of the monastery and whose relics are preserved here, shedding gifts of spiritual and bodily healing. St. Jacob the Persian the Great Martyr is known as being a deliverer from spiritual and bodily passions. The second patronal feast day is the Annunciation which is celebrated on 25 March/7 April, the Most-Holy Theotokos being the protector of monks. The third patronal feast is the celebration of our Venerable Father John Jacob the Hozevite on 5/18 August. |
| In 1993 the Monastery of Christ the Saviour was established in Rhode Island as a Western Rite Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In 1997 the former Continuing Anglican Monastery of Saint Petroc in Tasmania was received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. This latter case is interesting in that the Monastery, its Parishes and people were blessed to the Western Rite and it was instructed to act in a missionary role, establishing further Parishes and Missions throughout Australia and New Zealand. A Rood Screen. These are just a few examples picked out. Over the years numbers of ex-Anglican clergy, people and Parishes in North America and now in Australia and New Zealand, have turned to Orthodoxy and many have set about the restoration of the legitimate Orthodox heritage of the British Isles and, by extension, of those people who acknowledge their British Isles ancestry, wherever they may be now. They have insisted that such restoration must be in the context of strict adherence to the fulness of Orthodox doctrine and expressed within their own cultural heritage. Indeed, many of those turning to Orthodoxy are among the most theologically conservative of churchmen and prefer the liturgical, theological and moral discipline still found within Orthodoxy. British Orthodox Resurgence 9 ноября 2010 г. ... Смотри также Комментарии Fr Symeon Najmanje, OCSBRom. 21 апреля 2015, 23:00 " Then in March, 1962, Abbot Augustine Whitfield and the Benedictine Monastic Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Royal was received by the Russian Orthodox Bishop Dositheus. In 1975, Archbishop Nikon received the Monastery into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, continuing the Western Rite blessing. " This paragraph is inaccurate. Abbot Augustine (Whitfield) and Prior John (LoBue) had followed their Old Catholic Bishop, William Francis Brothers and his St Dunstan Priory into the Moscow Patriarchate in 1962. They were given the title of Moscow Patriarchate " s Exarchate of the Western Rite. When Bishop William (Brothers), Abbot John (LoBue) and others left the Moscow Patriarchate Abbot Augustine (Whitfield) was permitted to remain under the MP to establish his Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Royal; then in 1975 he was received into ROCOR as stated. |
| Hieroschemamonk Macarius (Ivanov) 1788 - September 7, 1860 Elder Macarius's face was scarred by smallpox, he stuttered and was always poorly dressed, but he was distinguished by a very refined personality. He was born to a landed gentry family, loved music and was a talented violinist. After some years' experience in the world as a bookkeeper, in 1818 he entered upon the monastic path at the Ploshchansk Hermitage. There he formed ties with Elder Leonid and followed him to Optina. With Elder Leonid's repose, the burden of the spiritual guidance of the skete fell to Elder Macarius . He was soft-spoken and emanated a quiet joy in the Lord. Like Elder Leonid, he used his gift of spiritual discernment to work numerous healings, especially of the demon-possessed. He also carried on a tremendous correspondence: his letters of counsel fill two volumes, each numbering a thousand pages. Elder Macarius did not tolerate idleness among the brethren. He introduced various handcrafts: bookbinding and woodworking. He also adorned the skete with mass planting of flowers. His greatest contribution to Optina, however, was to initiate its work of publishing patristic texts. This was historically significant, since Peter's reforms had greatly curtailed such activity, which subsequent laws restricted to ecclesiastical print shops. The result was that many works of Holy Fathers existed only in manuscript form or in very limited editions. Meanwhile, the secular press was churning out translations of mystical-philosophical works from the West, some of them plainly hostile to Orthodoxy. With the blessing and earnest support of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, and the active collaboration of the Orthodox writer and philosopher Ivan Kireyevsky, Elder Macarius began meticulously editing manuscripts translated from the Greek by Paisius Velichkovsky, which he had acquired in Ploshchansk, and other patristic manuscripts donated by various individuals, thus launching an undertaking which, in 50 years, produced more than 125 books in 225,090 copies. These were sent to libraries and seminaries all over Russia, putting into circulation the works of St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Symeon the New Theologian, St. Nilus of Sora, Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky), and others, and inspiring a growing circle of religiously inclined intelligentsia. |
| “Nothing can replace prayer, and no activity is more precious than prayer, for it gives us inspiration and strength to speak the kind word and to do good.” “In the context of the restrictions caused by the global pandemic situation of the last two years, it has become even more necessary to emphasise the practice of prayer in the life of the Church and of the faithful. Prayer is a source of joy and spiritual strength, a source of peace and love for God and for our neighbours. It is, as the holy ascetics said, “the spiritual breath of the soul.” “If we call on the Lord Jesus Christ in constant prayer, saying, ‘Lord, save us!’ Lord, deliver us! ›, then, by His grace, He comes to us in the soul, He enlightens us and strengthens us.” “All the good deeds of the Christian and all the pure thoughts are the fruits of their prayers and of those who pray for them: priests, parents, godly friends and good people.” “Starting from the exhortation of the Holy Apostle Paul, ‘Pray without ceasing,’ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and through the spiritual practice of the Holy Fathers, the ‘Prayer of the Heart’ also called the Prayer of the Mind – Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner – became the best way to enlighten the soul and sanctify the life of the Christian.’ Continuing his speech, Patriarch Daniel noted that “in the context of the 1000 th anniversary of the repose in the Lord of St. Symeon the New Theologian (1022) and the 300 th anniversary of the birth of St. Paisius of Neam (1722), the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church proclaimed the year 2022 as a Commemorative Year of the Hesychast Saints Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas and Paisius of Neam. The Patriarch presented details from the lives of the three saints and recalled the three periods of spiritual revival in the history of the Church that are linked to their names. The ceremony ended with the presentation of the two icons of the Solemn and Commemorative Year 2022: the Theotokos Oranta and the icon of the three Hesychast Saints Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas and Paisius of Neam. Photo: Basilica.ro/Raluca Ene |
| ‘Vladimir Lossky shows another striking example of a man who, being profoundly Orthodox in his spirit and outlook, was forced by the circumstances of the time and place in which he had to live for most of his life to defend the Orthodox tradition in face of the non-Orthodox world. He did it very delicately, gracefully and competently. Each of you is in a similar situation today: you live in a non-Orthodox milieu, communicate with other students who do not belong to the Orthodox faith, and for many of you the very academic work is an opportunity for looking into your own tradition not only from inside but also from outside. ‘I found myself in a similar situation for the first time when I happened to be trained in Oxford. I chose as the subject of my dissertation the life and teaching of St. Symeon the New Theologian who, just as Lossky, combined theology with a deep mystical spiritual experience. The theme of my dissertation was this: ‘St. Symeon the New Theologian and the Orthodox Tradition’. I set myself the task to consider the teaching of St. Symeon from inside the church tradition to which we all belong. This tradition is traced to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles and it is rooted in Holy Scriptures and the liturgy of the Orthodox Church. But when I began describing all this for potential readers who did not belong to the Orthodox tradition, I realized that very many things obvious for us and taken for granted are not intelligible for those outside the Orthodox tradition, and we have to explain them in a way that would appreciate it and hold their interest. ‘Each of you has this precious opportunity. That is, on one hand, you can learn your own tradition ever more deeply, but on the other, your life in a non-Orthodox milieu gives you an opportunity for looking at it not only from inside but also as if from outside and thus realize how this treasure can be handed over to others. The missionary field is open now for each of us; it consists of people who associate themselves to this or that extent with the Orthodox tradition but who are not inchurched and who know very little about the essence of the Orthodox faith. And our task, having studied our own tradition from inside, is to use this opportunity for handing it over to those who are external to it even if they claim to be Orthodox. |
| Of course, we will never define what the grace of God is in essence. St. Macarius the Great teaches that as God is incomprehensible in His essence, so we cannot know in its essence the grace of the Holy Spirit, for it is inseparable from God as His Divine power. This is why the Lord Himself, offering the teaching on grace as the work of the Holy Spirit, invoked elemental forms. He had it in mind, as St. Symeon the New Theologian says, when He said: I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? (Lk. 12:49). The same grace of the Holy Spirit the Lord had in mind when on the final great day of the feast He proclaimed: If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He, the Evangelist notes, of the Spirit , Which they that believe on Him should receive (Jn. 7:37-39). However, we can know the grace of the Holy Spirit experientially, spiritually, when we experience in our hearts its salvific working, perceiving from it the truth about God, and about the world, feeling within ourselves its strength for battling sin and its ineffable joy. We will know what is the grace of the Holy Spirit only then when it will be reigning within us over all our passions, and we will feel it, as the Kingdom of God, as truth, peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Precisely such experiential knowledge of grace has been left to us in the works of the holy fathers of the Church: St. Anthony the Great, St. Macarius the Great, Blessed Diadochus, St. Symeon the New Theologian, and the great theologian of our Russian Church St. Theophan the Recluse. They felt the grace of the Holy Spirit within themselves, as a gift of Divine guidance and wisdom, so that others might be illuminated with the grace of Divine truth. They felt grace within themselves, as Divine strength, for by it they performed wondrous miracles, and by it they foretold the future. This grace was experienced by them as an unquenchable inner Divine joy, which they experienced continually and by which they comforted the sorrowful hearts of the faithful. |
| “Do you hear, my brothers,” he would say to his listeners years later, “what things faith in God can do, when it is accompanied by actions?” What is critical is not youth or old age, education or lack of it, work or leisure, married or single life, but sincere faith by which a person gives heart and soul to God and commits unreservedly to follow God’s ways. It is faith, he would say, along with inner desire and free will, elements that God has placed in every heart, that make a person draw near to God and receive His life-changing blessings. It is faith, confirmed by prayer, spiritual reading, and good works, that fires up the soul with zeal for God and unending love for Him. The young man grew and matured, becoming a teacher and spiritual father to many seekers. Not long after his death, the Church proclaimed him a saint. Yet his spiritual odyssey was not without dramatic ups and downs. With shocking candor, he hints about terrible falls after his first sublime vision–falls which led him to carnal sins and spiritual blindness worse than ever. His own struggles and recovery taught him that true life with God is always a gift, not a possession. As a gift, it must always be guarded and nurtured with utmost vigilance and care. It is impossible, he taught, that she or he who seeks with all his soul should fail to find Christ and His blessings. When falling to sin, rise up bravely, repent immediately, cry out to God for forgiveness, and continue the right path. To one who faithfully knocks, the Lord opens the gates of His kingdom, and to the one who asks for bread, He gives the Holy Spirit. This is our destiny in life: We are created for God, to know Him, to rejoice in Him, to serve Him, and through faith, gratitude, and love, to be blessed by Him with greater gifts at the end of life’s journey. [The above story is a true story derived from the life of St. Symeon the New Theologian (ca. 960-1022 AD] and gleaned especially from his Catechetical Discourse 22). Tweet Donate Share Code for blog St. Symeon on His Conversion |
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