| The First Sunday of Lent: The Sunday of Orthodoxy Introduction The Sunday of Orthodoxy is the first Sunday of Great Lent. The dominant theme of this Sunday since 843 has been that of the victory of the icons. In that year the iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726, was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent. Ever since, this Sunday has been commemorated as the " Triumph of Orthodoxy. " Historical Background Icon of the The Sunday of Orthodoxy used with permission and provided by: ΕΚΔΟΣΗ και ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ , ΓΑΛΑΚΤΙΩΝΟΣ ΓΚΑΜΙΛΗ ΤΗΛ. 4971 882, ΕΚΤΥΠΟΣΗ Μ. ΤΟΥΜΠΗΣ Α.Ε.,http://www.toubis.gr The Seventh Ecumenical Council dealt predominantly with the controversy regarding icons and their place in Orthodox worship. It was convened in Nicaea in 787 by Empress Irene at the request of Tarasios, Patriarch of Constantinople. The Council was attended by 367 bishops. Almost a century before this, the iconoclastic controversy had once more shaken the foundations of both Church and State in the Byzantine empire. Excessive religious respect and the ascribed miracles to icons by some members of society, approached the point of worship (due only to God) and idolatry. This instigated excesses at the other extreme by which icons were completely taken out of the liturgical life of the Church by the Iconoclasts. The Iconophiles, on the other-hand, believed that icons served to preserve the doctrinal teachings of the Church; they considered icons to be man's dynamic way of expressing the divine through art and beauty. The Council decided on a doctrine by which icons should be venerated but not worshipped. In answering the Empress' invitation to the Council, Pope Hadrian replied with a letter in which he also held the position of extending veneration to icons but not worship, the last befitting only God. The decree of the Council for restoring icons to churches added an important clause which still stands at the foundation of the rationale for using and venerating icons in the Orthodox Church to this very day: " We define that the holy icons, whether in colour, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Metropolitan Hilarion’s pilgrimage to Holy Mount Athos Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, was on a visit to Holy Mount Athos from March 11 to 13, 2017. During the same days, Bishop Antoniy of Bogorodsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate office for institutions abroad, began his working visit to Mount Athos. Upon his arrival to the Holy Mountain, Metropolitan Hilarion, together with Bishop Antoniy, visited the New Phivaida hermitage, which belongs to the Russian Monastery of St. Panteleimon, to see the progress of the large-scale restoration work carried out in the skete. Then the pilgrims went to Karyes, where they were received by the Protoepistatis of the Mount Athos Holy Epistasia, Father Barnabas of the Vatopedi monastery. Having venerated the Icon of Our Lady ‘It is Meet and Right’ at the church of the Dormition, the guests went to the Iviron monastery, where Metropolitan Hilarion venerated the Ivirion Icon of Our Lady and read the acathistus in Greek. Having later that day come to the St. Panteleimon monastery, the pilgrims prayed at Small Vespers followed by All-Night Vigil, at the Holy Protomartyr Panteleimon church. On March 12, the 2 nd Sunday of Great Lent, Metropolitan Hilarion celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the cathedral church. He was assisted by Bishop Antoniy, Father Superior Archimandrite Yevlogiy, brethren and members of the pilgrims group in holy orders. After the dismissal, Metropolitan Hilarion delivered a sermon: ‘Your Grace, Very Reverend Father Yevlogiy, Dear Fathers and Brothers: I cordially greet you on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who asked me to convey to all of you his Primatial blessing. Every day He prays for Holy Mount Athos, the monastery of the Holy Martyr and Healer Panteleimon and for all the brethren in Christ of this holy monastery. |
| Elder Cleopa on the Eight Sources of Temptation On the second Sunday of Great Lent,the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop ofThessalonica, the great defender of hesychasm. In order to demonstrate that thespiritual experience so beautifully described by St. Gregory Palamas continuesto live to this day within the Orthodox Church, we offer the following accountof a spiritual instruction offered by an outstanding contemporary hesychast, Elder Cleopa (Ilie) (1912-1998) of Sihastria Monastery in Romania. On the second Sunday of Great Lent, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Gregory Palamas , Archbishop of Thessalonica, the great defender of hesychasm . In order to demonstrate that the spiritual experience so beautifully described by St. Gregory Palamas continues to live to this day within the Orthodox Church, we offer the following account of a spiritual instruction offered by an outstanding contemporary hesychast, Elder Cleopa (Ilie) (1912-1998) of Sihastria Monastery in Romania. What follows is an excerpt from an article written by His Grace, Atanasije (Jevtic) , Retired Bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina (Serbian Orthodox Church), entitled “Teachings of the Blessed Elder Cleopa.” In it, Bishop Atanasije describes a pilgrimage he undertook in 1976 with a fellow disciple of St. Justin Popovich , Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovic) of Montenegro and the Littoral – both bishops were then hieromonks – to visit Elder Cleopa. Following a detailed history of the practice of hesychasm in Romania, His Grace relates how, sitting on a hill overlooking the fruit orchard, with Elder Cleopa kneeling before them, he asked the Elder how to live in this world while struggling with one’s passions and the temptations of the world. This is the reply the Elder offered him, as related by Bishop Atanasije: Teaching on the Eight Means of Temptation and the Struggle Against Them The Holy Fathers say (this is how Fr. Cleopa began to express concisely his spiritual experience to us, inherited from the Holy Fathers and personally experienced by him, as every one of his words clearly confirms) that on the path of salvation one is tempted by the devil from eight sides: from the front, from behind, from the left, from the right, from above, from below, from inside, and from the outside. |
| Because if it’s in the mind it’s also in the heart. An interview on prayer Standing in the doorway before the Great Lent, we search for some guidance, for some way to start this thorny and blessed journey with Christ. A way to seek him and words to show us the way. Elder Dionysius (Ignat) of the St. George Kellion (Mt. Athos, Greece) answers questions of the most important kind (about prayer) during Lent. Humble-Mindedness : The Doorway to Pure Prayer Over the past ten years it has become a common occurrence for pilgrims on Mount Athos to make the one-hour trek from Vatopedi Monastery to the Kellion of St. George. The long and dusty uphill trail passes by monastery fields and within sight of the place where St. Gregory Palamas labored. After several steep ascents, the trail branches off onto a winding path that cuts across the verdant mountainside. In springtime, the thick foliage threatens to choke the passageway, while a myriad of wildflowers paints a dazzling landscape—a fitting offering to the mountain’s protectress, the Theotokos. Proceeding past the ruins of centuries-old monastic dwellings, the pilgrim arrives at a terraced plot of land overlooking the Aegean Sea. There, amidst well-tended gardens and enclosed by a rustic, tree-limb railing, stand a few whitewashed stone buildings adorned with blue trim: the Kellion of St. George. Outside, sitting on benches, one would find a few pilgrims waiting in hope of receiving a few profitable words from the humble Elder, Hieroschemamonk Dionysius (Ignat). Four years ago in these pages we presented the life story of Elder Dionysius in a three-part article on the Elders of Kolitsou Skete, a Romanian dependency of Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece. On April 28/May 11, 2004, this righteous Romanian Elder reposed in the Lord after a long, God-pleasing life of ninety-five years. Elder Dionysius had been a monk for eighty-two years, seventy-seven of which were spent on Mount Athos, and sixty-six of which were spent in the same kellion. He was a wonderful, loving monk and spiritual father, well known by his fellow Athonite monks but largely unknown to those outside the Holy Mountain until the last fifteen years or so. |
| Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! After going through a long and arduous journey through Great Lent, we are often so exhausted and tired from the grind of the spiritual boot camp that we had just been through, that we forget (or do not pay as much attention to) the 40-day celebration and reward for our efforts! Just as we had Sundays during Lent, where we were inspired by figures like St. Gregory Palamas, and St. Mary of Egypt, we have these same celebratory Sundays which always follow Great and Holy Pascha! Today, we have the Church’s version of “Mother’s Day”, as we learn from the incredible example of the Myrrh bearing Women. This is the Sunday where the Church shouts from the rooftops after experiencing the Resurrection, what it means to have “Christian Courage” in life. St. Mary Magdalene our Patroness, the Theotokos, Joanna, Salome, Mary the wife of Cleopas, Susanna, Mary and Martha of Bethany…unlike Joseph of Arimathea who we also commemorate today, there was no “secret discipleship” for them! They publically cared for Christ, they cared for the disciples, and they all had a deep devotion to our Lord. And when the hard times came, when Christ ran into trouble with the civil authorities…these women didn’t abandon Christ. Even when his closest friends abandoned Him, denied Him, betrayed Him, and left Him alone to suffer and die…the Myrrh Bearers stayed by His side. Their love for Christ was so great. Their devotion was unmatched, and their desire to remain in contact with Him remained so strong…that not even the power of the Roman empire, the soldiers, nor the Jewish leaders, could intimidate them. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it takes courage to love like this. This is something that is desperately lacking in each and every one of our lives today. To have Christian courage means to be able to walk through life with COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in Who Christ is and what He has done for us. This is what those Myrrh bearing women did! They walked through the dangers of the world with perfect freedom! They were afraid of no one! They were intimidated by no one! There was no place that they could not go, and there was nothing that they could not do! |
| On the first Sunday of Lent, our Holy Church celebrates the Triumph of Orthodoxy, of true faith, which trampled down all heresies and was established. For this reason this Sunday is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Heresies showed up even at the very beginning of Christianity. The Apostles of Christ themselves warned their contemporaries, and with them us too, about the danger of false teachers. The Holy Apostle Peter writes the following in his Second General Epistle: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed”(II Pet. 2:1-2). St. Paul, returning to Palestine from Greece, made a stop in Ephesus. To the the Christian inhabitants of the town there he said: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30). Many such false teachers and schismatics existed in the first centuries of Christianity. Some heresies troubled the Church for centuries, such as the heresies of Arius, of Macedonius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, of Nestorius and also the heresy of Iconoclasm. These heresies caused much disturbance in the Church and afflicted the Church greatly. There were many confessors and martyrs who shed their blood defending the true faith in the fight against false teachers and heretics. There were also many great prelates, who also suffered under persecution and were often exiled. Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, for example, in a council chaired by Dioscorus, called the Robber Synod and was “beaten so savagely that he died three days later.” The last in the line-up of heresies, the heresy of Iconoclasm, was the one that tormented our Orthodox Church the most. This heresy first appeared during the reign of Emperor Leo the Isaurian, who came to the throne in 717. He ascended the throne with the help of the army, which had many opponents of those who venerate holy icons, within its ranks. Because he wanted to please the army he started a harsh persecution against Iconophiles. |
| Patriarch Kirill Congratulates Metropolitan Hilarion on the 10th Anniversary of His Service as DECR Chairman Source: DECR Photo: mospat.ru On March 31, 2019, the 3d week of the Great Lent, the Sunday of the Adoration of the Cross, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great at the Moscow church of Our Lady the Joy to All the Afflicted-in-Bolshaya-Ordynka. The day marked the 10 th anniversary since Metropolitan Hilarion was appointed as head of the DECR. The archpastor was assisted by Metropolitan Niphon of Philippople, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East; Bishop Dionisiy of Voskresensk, first deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archpriest Nikolay Balashov and Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairmen; Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemaytovsky), representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands of Slovakia; Hegumen Arseny (Sokolov), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow to the Patriarch of Antioch; and other church officials and staff members of the DECR in holy orders. After the Prayer of Fervent Supplication, His Eminence Hilarion lifted up a prayer for peace in Ukraine. After the service, the worshippers venerated the cross taken out to the center of the church. Bishop Dionisiy read out Patriarch Kirill’s message of congratulations to Metropolitan Hilarion: ‘The Most Rev. HILARION Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Chairman Department for External Church Relations Your Eminence, Ten years have passed since by the Holy Synod decision you were appointed as head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. I would like to thank you cordially for the help you and your co-workers give me in my hard Primatial ministry. I highly appreciate the contribution made by your synodal department to bearing witness to Christ before the world, to the beauty and truth of the Orthodox faith. |
| On the second Sunday of Great Lent, there is a great feast in the blessed city of Thessalonika, Greece. It is the feast of St. Gregory Palamas. On this day, the holy relics of the saint are taken from the Church of St. Gregory in a procession throughout the city, escorted by bishops, priests, sailors, policemen, and thousands of faithful. One wonders why his earthly remains are still held in such great veneration. How could his bones remain incorruptible more than six hundred years after his death? Indeed, St. Gregory’s life clearly explains these wondrous facts. It illustrates the inspired words of the apostles that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:19) and that we are " partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). A Childhood Passion for the Eternal St. Gregory Palamas was born in the year 1296. He grew up in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in a critical time of political and religious unrest. Constantinople was slowly recovering from the devastating invasion of the Crusades. It was a city under attack from all sides. From the west, it was infiltrated by Western philosophies of rationalism and scholasticism and by many attempts at Latinization. From the east, it was threatened by Muslim Turkish military invaders. The peace and faith of its citizens were at stake. Gregory’s family was wealthy. His father was a member of the senate. Upon his father’s sudden death, Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Paleologos (1282–1328), who was a close friend of the family, gave it his full financial support. He especially admired Gregory for his fine abilities and talents, hoping that the brilliant young man would one day become a fine assistant. However, instead of accepting a high office in the secular world, Gregory sought “that good part, which will not be taken away” from him (Luke 10:42). Upon finishing his studies in Greek philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, and grammar, Gregory, at only twenty or twenty-two years of age, followed a burning passion in his heart. Like a lover who strives to stay alone forever with his loved one, Gregory was thirsty for this living water (see Revelation 22:17). Therefore, no created thing could separate him from the love of God (see Romans 8:39). He simply withdrew to Mount Athos, an already established community of monasticism. He first stayed at the Vatopedi Monastery, and then moved to the Great Lavra. |
| Patriarch Kirill: “Changing Yourself for the Better Is the Goal of Fasting” Photo: Sergei Vlasov/foto.patriarchia.ru When a person spends Lent in a proper way, they can change their spiritual life for the better, which is the main goal of any church abstinence, Patriarch Kirill noted. “We are entering the blessed holy days, which, if spent correctly, can change our lives for the better. As a matter of fact, this is the purpose of fasting,” said His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on the eve of Great Lent, on March 1, during the Vespers at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church added that “through prayer, through abstinence from meat and dairy products, and through self-restraint,” a person can really create “favorable conditions for an important step in the course of fasting towards changing one’s life for the better.” “And in order for this time to be as useful as possible, in order for us to achieve our goals, we should try to fulfill what the Church teaches us about the Holy Forty Days,” said Patriarch Kirill. At the same time, the Patriarch noted that church instructions during Lent are “not some kind of exorbitant burden due to circumstances of ancient times”. “They incorporated the experience of countless Orthodox people who, following the instructions of Lent, achieved significant changes in their spiritual life, and an indicator of these changes most often becomes a special state of mind at the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ,” said His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. In other words, he explained, fasting is “a chance for all of us to do something that during normal everyday life is not possible, because our thoughts are focused on other things.” Patriarch Kirill paid special attention to the fight against our vices, passions, to strengthening ourselves with prayer, and to educating our will through abstinence in food. “The most important thing is to be determined to fast in such a way so that the restriction in food is accompanied with prayer and a special lifestyle,” concluded the Patriarch. |
| 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). |
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