tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51839892826754276272024-03-24T09:10:12.790+02:00BLOGUL PROIECTULUI 'THEODIALOGIA'Un proiect al celor care, deşi cu diferite profesii şi preocupări, au în comun un singur lucru: theocentrismul, respectiv trezirea şi răspândirea prin dialog a conştiinţei că noi, ca persoane umane, suntem planete - iar nu sateliţi - ce se rotesc în jurul lui Hristos, Soarele dreptăţii.THEODIALOGIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04279244394450847898noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-55257043811093627662013-05-11T23:21:00.000+03:002013-05-11T23:21:00.097+03:00Saint John the Wallachian, neomartyr of the Romanian Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Saint John the Wallachian is a martyr of the medieval
times. He was from Wallachia, or the „Romanian Country”, that is today the
southern part of Romania and died in Istanbul, because he refused to convert to
Islam, on 12 May 1662.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">St. John was born probably a few years before the
middle of the 17th century in a village near the river Jiu, in the southeastern
part of the today Romania, during the reign of the Voivod of Wallachia Matei
Basarab (1632-1654), the most prolific builder of churches (46 and many restorations
works) in the whole Romanian history. After the death of him it followed his
nephew Constantin Şerban (1654-1658) and Mihnea III Radu (1658-1659). The
latter took the power with the help of the Turks. Wallachia was a tributary
principality to the Ottoman Empire for about 200 years already and many voivods
used to gain the throne by offering big sums of money to the sultan. Mihnea probably
took his throne through the same method, but shortly after he didn’t want to
accept the big taxes imposed to the country by the Turks. So he made an
alliance with the prince of Transylvania George Rakoczy II and the voivod of
Moldova Constantin Şerban (the former ruler in Wallachia) against the Ottomans.
Shortly after, in 1658 he ordered the killing of the squadron of 2000 Turk
soldiers, attacked and destroyed some ports and bridges at the Danube. His
attack was coordinated with similar rebellions in Moldova and Transylvania. In
the spring of 1659 the Turks invaded Moldova ant Transylvania. Mihnea reported
some small victories against the invaders but finally fled in Transylvania
where he died poisoned on 6 April. On their way back, the Turks crossed
Wallachia on the valley of Jiu and took a lot of prisoners. Among them was
John, a 15 years young boy of „good ancestry” as his biographer, John
Kariophiles noted, that meaning from a noble family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">All the prisoners were, according to the Ottoman law,
the slaves of the sultan, being bought back by their real possessors, usually
the soldiers, for a sum of money. The soldier who captured John was attracted
by his handsomeness and tried to seduce him. After some resistance, the soldier
told him to accept the orders from his master, but John replied that his only
master is Jesus Christ. Then he tried to tie the young on a tree in order to
rape him. But the boy escaped in a moment, killed that soldier and tried to
flee. He was caught and taken to Constantinople, where the soldiers led him to
the Grand Vizier (a kind of prime minister in the Ottoman state), who decided
to give him to the wife of the killed, so that she will decide what to do with
him. The widow decided to keep him because of his handsome look. The next two
years and a half he remained as a slave in her house and she tried to seduce
him, but he resisted, even if she promised that she will take him as husband
and give him a good status, if he will accept to convert to Islam. He refused
her offer and the woman decided him finally to send him to the prison and trial
him for the murder he committed. In the prison he was praying incessantly to
Christ, in order to strengthen him to keep his faith during the tortures. Even
here the widow came daily in order to persuade him but he did not accept to
renounce to the faith of his ancestors. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9O1dF0Be05o/UXmQZGilQOI/AAAAAAAAW2g/2SqpKzzbuCA/s1600/ioan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9O1dF0Be05o/UXmQZGilQOI/AAAAAAAAW2g/2SqpKzzbuCA/s320/ioan.jpg" width="237" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Finally he was taken out of the prison and brought to
a place called Parmak-Kapi („the gate of the finger”, or “of the pillar”), near
Bezesteni, the great bazaar of the merchants, in the Galata quarter of
Istanbul. There he was hanged on 12 May 1662, being younger than 18. It might
be that his body was thrown in the Bosporus waters, as it was the use, or maybe
he was buried by the Christians, but this information remains unknown. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Veneration<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">His life was written by a scholar of the Ecumenical
Patriachate, named John Kariophiles and printed in Venice in 1799 by the
hagiograph Nikodimos Hagiorites, the same one who compiled the Orthodox
theological book called „Philokalia”, and translated in 1801 in Romanian
together with the life of St. Dimitrie Basarabov. The <i>vita </i>of the saint was introduced into the Greek Menologion from
1843 in the day of his death, 12 May. The same happened three years later, in
1846 in the Romanian Menologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In spite of being Romanian, St. John remained as an
„anonymous” among the more important saints celebrated on 12 May, Epiphanius of
Salamis and Patriarch Germanos of Constantinople. Only in 1950, during a
meeting of the Romanian Synod it was decided the generalization of his cult,
that meaning it was proceeded to the composition of his own liturgical service,
and five years later (1955) he was officially proclaimed among the other
national saints.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JgPrxU3E2_U/UXmQY6egSiI/AAAAAAAAW2c/AdtgU9hpMYI/s1600/sf_ioan_valahul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JgPrxU3E2_U/UXmQY6egSiI/AAAAAAAAW2c/AdtgU9hpMYI/s320/sf_ioan_valahul.jpg" width="317" /></a></span></div>
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of the saint)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">"Today the Church of the pious Romanians
spiritually celebrates and shouts joyfully: Come, lovers of martyrs, to
celebrate the yearly memory of the struggles of the new martyr John. He was raised
among us by God's will and blossomed wonderfully in the imperial city of
Constantine, bringing to the Lord rich and welcomed fruit, through his
martyrdom. And now he prays incessantly in heaven, to save our souls!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-88526817876167320472013-05-02T23:14:00.000+03:002013-05-02T23:14:00.096+03:00Saint Irodion from Lainici monastery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jxnbJn2WR7Q/UXmPBfciuSI/AAAAAAAAW1U/w8GVQ_G7Xg0/s1600/irodion-ionescu-de-la-lainici1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jxnbJn2WR7Q/UXmPBfciuSI/AAAAAAAAW1U/w8GVQ_G7Xg0/s320/irodion-ionescu-de-la-lainici1.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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Saint Irodion (Herodion) is one
of the newest proclaimed saints in Romania, a monk living in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century as abbot of a monastery in the mountains, near the border between the
provinces Oltenia and Transylvania.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A file discovered in
the National Archives (no. 335 from 1872), referring to all the monks in Gorj
county, states that the monk Irodion Ionescu was born in Bucharest in 1821 –
the year of a revolution against the Turks, when the dominance of the Greek
nobles from the constantinopolean quarter Fanar has finished. The same file
offers some other informations, that he was tonsured as monk in Cernica
monastery, near Bucharest, in 1846 –that as, being 25, and at the moment (1872)
he was 51 years old and abbot at Lainici monastery. He had a pleasant look,
brown hair and green eyes. <o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AWAUMERRb28/UXmPCadZeVI/AAAAAAAAW1k/mUMrPKDu6uQ/s1600/irodion-ionescu-luceafarul-de-la-lainici-icoana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AWAUMERRb28/UXmPCadZeVI/AAAAAAAAW1k/mUMrPKDu6uQ/s320/irodion-ionescu-luceafarul-de-la-lainici-icoana.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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At the beginning of
the 19<sup>th</sup> century the abbot at Cernica was St. Calinic who, afer
being ordinate as bishop of Râmnic (in 1850) took the young Irodion with him
and sent him in 1851 to the hermitage built in Lainici, a pass made by Jiu
river through the Carpathians, serving here as deacon since the summer of 1853.
In 15 June 1854 a decree kept in the archive of the Diocese Râmnic New Severin
states that the bishop ordained him priest, and both abbot in Lainici, being 33
years old, after the resignation of the former abbot, hieromonk Cyril to give
the next book appointment. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Irodion didn’t resist
too much as abbot because of the protesters, who didn’t enjoy his strong
asceticism, and resigned on 30 June 1855, being appointed the <i>oikonomos </i>(the administrative
responsible) Dorotei instead, on 2 July. He resisted also only a year and asked
the resignation too and was followed by After another year, Irodion was
reappointed abbot, at the will of the monks and of the laymen donors of the
hermitage, as a writing of St. Calinic on a page of the Triodion, on 29 March
1857, suggests. Another request made by another abbot named Luca in August
1859, suggests that in someway the instability inside the community continued
in the next years. Probably Irodion resigned once more and Luca was asking this
time again the reappointment of Irodion. In any case after 1859 at least for
the next 4 years the silence came back at Lainici. Irodion helped at the
construction of another hermitage, at Locurele, proceeding to the selling in
1861 of some cult objects, in order that the monks to have all the necessary.
Appointed for a while as ecclesiarch of the cathedral in Craiova, Irodion left
once more his hermitage – being replaced between 8 June 1863 and 25 May 1865 by
hieromonk Ilarion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1865 Irodion is for
the forth time abbot and tries again to organize the community. The turbulences
persisted, so he asked in November 1869 the resignation and also the moving in
another monastery. The next years in the hermitage were very difficult because
of the lack of organization, but also because of a law given by the prince
Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859 - 1866), which stated the secularization of the
Church’s properties, very great at that time – about ¼ of the total surface of
the country, but from which a big part was administered by the monks from
Athos, Palestine and Sinai monasteries.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AbbgnB4qOH8/UXmPCCZNTCI/AAAAAAAAW1c/Q-pxm3z7FO0/s1600/irodion-lainici.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AbbgnB4qOH8/UXmPCCZNTCI/AAAAAAAAW1c/Q-pxm3z7FO0/s320/irodion-lainici.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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For the 5<sup>th</sup>
time Irodion was appointed abbot in Lainici in 1873, because there was no one
to try to save it.This time he remained here until his death, occurred in 1900.
After a while the spiritual life increased and also the number of the monks –
from 15 to 30. He used to bear a surname – bishop Calinic used to call him
every time he came in the monastery as “the morning star of Lainici”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1877 the new prince
Carol I (1866-1878, king between 1878-1914) allied with the Russian tsar
Alexander II (1855-1881) declared war against the Turks. During this war (in
Romania known as the War for Independence) Irodion and 12 of his monks helped
as nurses on the battlefield. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1889 bishop
Ghenadie of R<span lang="RO">âmnic appointed him also as abbot of the
Locurele hermitage.</span></div>
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<span lang="RO"> </span>The
local tradition of the monks states that Abbot Irodion used to celebrate daily
the Holy Liturgy and the Eucharist and had the spiritual gift of the
foreseeing, reading the thoughts of the people he met. Also he made exorcisms
and prophesized the future. He also foreknew his end, telling also that the
hermitage will be abandoned after some years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Abbot Irodion died in
1900 being buried near the altar of the church. In 1916 during the war, the
Germans occupied the hermitage and transformed the church into stable for
horses. Only in 1929 Abbot Visarion Toia managed to restore the monastic life
here.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Veneration</b></div>
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Seven years later the
hieromonk Julian Drăghicioiu opened the tomb and found the body of the saint
unchanged, so that he decided to bury him back. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7brjv6FSw4/UXmPDfCJS5I/AAAAAAAAW1w/iuWa8hNDCVw/s1600/oaseminte-sf-irodion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7brjv6FSw4/UXmPDfCJS5I/AAAAAAAAW1w/iuWa8hNDCVw/s320/oaseminte-sf-irodion.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Searching for the relics, 2009</td></tr>
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Later in 1929 Visarion
Toia opened the tomb again but buried him in a deep place which was discovered
only after the entire community of the monastery, headed by Archimandrite
Joachim Pârvulescu fasted and prayed for a week, and also Metropolitan
Irineu of Oltenia prayed too. Finally he
was discovered in 10 April 2009. His relics had the usual brown-orange colour
of the holy bodies and spread the typical incense.<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uZr84SQPzlE/UXmPApKNVKI/AAAAAAAAW1I/efAtUxfa4Fg/s1600/Staret-lainici-cap-Irodion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uZr84SQPzlE/UXmPApKNVKI/AAAAAAAAW1I/efAtUxfa4Fg/s320/Staret-lainici-cap-Irodion.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The skull of the saint discovered in 2009</td></tr>
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On 29 October 2010,
the Synod held in Bucharest decided the canonization of Saint Irodion of
Lainici, who was for a while the confessor St. Calinic of Cernica. Saint
Irodion is celebrated on 3 May. His Relics are kept in the church of his
monastery.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uH9iDbDeqWI/UXmPAVCanoI/AAAAAAAAW1E/dTHEXtfLPPU/s1600/Canonization+-+Patriarch+Daniel+and+Metropolitan+Irineu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uH9iDbDeqWI/UXmPAVCanoI/AAAAAAAAW1E/dTHEXtfLPPU/s320/Canonization+-+Patriarch+Daniel+and+Metropolitan+Irineu.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canonization ceremony</td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hEtvniWO7-Q/UXmPDMKeWOI/AAAAAAAAW1o/b678o0YwGIQ/s1600/oasele-sf-irodion-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hEtvniWO7-Q/UXmPDMKeWOI/AAAAAAAAW1o/b678o0YwGIQ/s320/oasele-sf-irodion-facebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Troparion (hymn) of the Saint<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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“Our Morning Star
(rom. <i>Luceaf</i><i><span lang="RO">ărul</span></i><span lang="RO">)</span> of Oltenia, now we his disciples praise him with
mysterious worship as a chosen parent, because Saint Irodion was foreseer,
healed all (the people) from diseases and has shown himself in his life as
divine spiritual father!”<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O-PmUGvG6fQ/UXmPD4Q5RbI/AAAAAAAAW10/39B9y1mTv_U/s1600/relics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O-PmUGvG6fQ/UXmPD4Q5RbI/AAAAAAAAW10/39B9y1mTv_U/s320/relics.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The coffin with the relics</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_knV_L1EiyU/UXmPChk_UXI/AAAAAAAAW1g/WRpfVCRouXA/s1600/medalions+on+the+coffin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_knV_L1EiyU/UXmPChk_UXI/AAAAAAAAW1g/WRpfVCRouXA/s320/medalions+on+the+coffin.jpg" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Details from the saint's life on the coffin</td></tr>
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<span lang="RO"> about the discovery of the relics: there are some beautiful pictures <a href="http://www.google.de/imgres?hl=ro&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=685&tbm=isch&tbnid=gEVFvdQxFRMF2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.manastirealainici.ro/sfantul-irodion/&docid=RX-aShVWlvBdkM&imgurl=http://www.manastirealainici.ro/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/slujba-arhiereasca1.jpg&w=640&h=479&ei=HvRoUaPLF4HwOofPgNAI&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=95&vpy=239&dur=909&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=160&ty=95&page=1&tbnh=159&tbnw=202&start=0&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:0,i:134">here</a> and especially on this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/isihasm.gorjan/photos">facebook account</a></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j9ZP3RVl-Ac/UXmO_-2IyPI/AAAAAAAAW08/w7Rwf5OnR1o/s1600/Relics+of+the+saint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j9ZP3RVl-Ac/UXmO_-2IyPI/AAAAAAAAW08/w7Rwf5OnR1o/s320/Relics+of+the+saint.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The icon and the relics of St. Irodion in Lainici</td></tr>
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-37294109050183656392013-04-27T22:54:00.000+03:002013-04-27T22:54:00.061+03:00St. Martyrs Quintilian, Maximus and Dadas from Ozovia/Ozobia, in Scytia Minor (28 April)<br />
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The Persecution of Diocletian was very difficult in some regions, among which was also Scytia Minor. In spite of the fact that it was a small province in a margin of the empire, the zealous leaders of the Roman legions stationed here made that the imperial decrees agains the Christians were applied very strictly. About the end of April there are celebrated many martyrs in small towns of Scythia, such as Axiopolis (today, Cernavodă) and in the capital of Moesia Inferior, Durostorum (today, Silistra). Because of their number, the Durostorum martyrs Pasicratus and Valentine, Nicander and Marcian, Iulius the Veteran and Hesychius (died in the same year, 298, between 26 April and 8 July) together with Emilian (18 July 362), will have their own article on 28 May.<br />
Here we will refere to another three non-soldier martyrs killed in Ozovia or Ozobia, a small village near Durostorum, on a date of 28 April. They were Maximus and Quintilian, supposedly Romans, and Dadas, probably a local (Dacian). Maximus was lecturer, that is an inferior clerical distinction given to one who used to read passages from the Bible during the divine services.<br />
The three Christians were arrested after the proclamation of Diocletian’s edict of persecution. According to this edict it was commanded that all the people to bring sacrifices to the ancient gods, so that the secret Christians to be revealed. Some people let to know the governors of Moesia Inferion, Tarquinius and Gavinius about the fact that there were three Christians. Consequently the Christians were arrested and brought to Durostorum.<br />
Their process followed the classical path. The governors asked them to legitimate, so that Maximus answered that he is Christian, and after the human habit he is called Maximus. It was a custom among the Christians to tell firstly their identity and only after, their names. Tarquinius asked them to bring sacrifice to the gods, but Maximus responded aggresively that the emperor was a sinner and not a god, and that there is a single God and that is Jesus Christ, the emperor of the Heaven who cares for all. The other two refused also to sacrifice, so they were sent to the prison, where an angel revealed to them their martyrical death and encouraged them. The second day they were beaten, but they have kept their faith. At the noon they were sent back to prison, and later, brought to their home village, in Ozovia, where they were beheaded. It was 28 April, probably 304.<br />
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<b>Hymn (Sticheira) at the Vespers for the Saints</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
„Witnessing against the tyrants the Uncreated Trinit, you three martyrs have been killed and now you have made yourselves worthy for the unageing life and have inherited the food came from the source of life. Therefore, pray to God to bestow peace and great mercy to our souls!”<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qiOuVwtRPus/UXmJ_pmuOiI/AAAAAAAAWyg/uL7ql9bJXo8/s1600/Martyrs+of+Ozovia+-+slavic+depiction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qiOuVwtRPus/UXmJ_pmuOiI/AAAAAAAAWyg/uL7ql9bJXo8/s320/Martyrs+of+Ozovia+-+slavic+depiction.jpg" width="170" /></a><br />
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-46656780476831857762013-04-25T22:48:00.002+03:002013-04-26T00:30:30.390+03:00Sts. Martyrs from Axiopolis in Scythia Minor, the soldiers Cyril, Kindeas and Dasius (26 April)<br />
An inscription discovered in 1947 by the archaeologist Ion Barnea in the Romanian town Cernavodă brought back in the attention of the historians and theologians about three of the many martyrs in Scytia Minor during the Roman Persecution. The text of the inscription, today in the National Museum of History from Bucharest, written in Greek, was: „Kyrillō Kyndaia Taseiō aratheitomai eufrasin”, which means „to Kyrillos, Kyndaias and Taseios I bring praise”. This text was interpreted by different researches, who tried to solve a much complicated hagiologic case as it shows to be at the first sight.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lXH78qgvJeA/UXmJIOw11DI/AAAAAAAAWyE/7K6a1J2ukFw/s1600/cirilo_kindeas_dasius-300x281.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lXH78qgvJeA/UXmJIOw11DI/AAAAAAAAWyE/7K6a1J2ukFw/s1600/cirilo_kindeas_dasius-300x281.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">„Kyrillō Kyndaia Taseiō aratheitomai eufrasin”</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The name of the old Greek and later Roman city situated on the actual site of Cernavodă was Axiopolis, port on Danube, probably founded by the people from the province’s metropolis, Tomis (today Constanţa). Its importance consisted later also in the fact that it was the seat of the Roman legion II Herculea. It seems that the Christian life was very early here as in Tomis, because many old martyrologies (Syrian, hieronymian, Greek) note the martyrs in Axiopolis during Diocletian’s persecution, from 303. We will speak about the three martyrs in the following.<br />
<b>Saint Kyrillos or Cyril</b> was very popular in Axiopolis, because he was celebrated alone at 12 May (syriac breviarium) and together with Chindeus (Kyndeas) on 9 march (again the syriac breviarium) and 26 April (hieronymian martyrology, in codex Epternaciensis from Paris), but also on 9 May (hieronymian Martyrology, in a codex from Berna, together with Quindeas and Zenon) on 10 may (the same codex, together with Quindeas, Zenon, Dio(n), Accacius and Crispus). Its celebration for 5 times in the year it may be a sign he was a local from here – maybe he died on 26 April, because the hieronymian Martyrology speaks in that day about his birth for the eternal life. The historian Procopius from Caesarea (6th century) writes about the renowned fortress of Justinian near Axiopolis that it bore the patronage of St. Cyril. It is also possible that the here discovered ruins of a big cemetery church may be the original place of his tomb. The inscription about the three saints was also discovered together with these ruins. In a variant of the hieronymian Martyrology from Monte Cassino St. Cyril (9 may) is named as bishop, which is very hard to believe, because only in Justinian’s era there were more bishoprics in the region, others than Tomis. In this case, Cyril may be the bishop of Gortina (Crete) who died during the same persecution, but celebrated in another days (14 June and 9 July) or may be an auxilliar bishop (chorepiskopos).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WhgRKCDTsUM/UXmJIerlJaI/AAAAAAAAWyI/l0Ua-C7doyA/s1600/sf_chiril_chindeu+-+icon+painted+by+the+nuns+from+Diacone%C5%9Fti+monastery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WhgRKCDTsUM/UXmJIerlJaI/AAAAAAAAWyI/l0Ua-C7doyA/s320/sf_chiril_chindeu+-+icon+painted+by+the+nuns+from+Diacone%C5%9Fti+monastery.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sts. Cyril and Kindeas</td></tr>
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<b>Saint Chindeus (or Kyndeas, Quindeas)</b> is associated with Cyril on 9 March, 26 April (as Vindeas), 9 and 10 May as seen before. The Syriac Breviarium celebrates him separately on 20 January. Today a saint with this name is celebrated in the Orthodox Menologies on 1 August, as originally from Perga (Pamphilia). He might be of Roman ancestry, after his name derived probably from Quintus. Victricius of Rouen (early 5th century) mentions him in his<i> De laude Sanctorum</i> among the thaumaturg (wonderworking) saints from Thracia and Moesia.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r70VJnLV6dA/UXmJHohTdtI/AAAAAAAAWx8/AyccbIQyehI/s1600/Depiction+of+the+execution+of+Dasius+from+the+Menologion+of+Basil+II+(late+10th+or+early+11th+century).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r70VJnLV6dA/UXmJHohTdtI/AAAAAAAAWx8/AyccbIQyehI/s320/Depiction+of+the+execution+of+Dasius+from+the+Menologion+of+Basil+II+(late+10th+or+early+11th+century).jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Depiction of the execution of Dasius from<br />
the Menologion of Basil II <br />
(late 10th or early 11th century)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Saint Dasius (or Tasios, Taxius)</b> mentioned together with the martyrs in Axiopolis is quite a problem. Normally he is considered to be the martyr from Durostorum (today Silistra in Bulgaria, about 60 km to south), celebrated on 20 November. But the martyrologies associates him with Axiopolis, on 4 October (the martyrical act of Taxius and Hermes from Axiopolis) and 5 August (hieronymian martyrology: „in Axiopoli Hirenei, Eraclii, Dasii”).The name of the city and the inscription might be a sign that he would have died here, maybe together with Cyril and Chindeus.<br />
The Martyrology of Dasius from Durostorum may be resumed as following: He died in 20 November 304, during the persecutions of Diocletian. That happened in connection with the roman feast of Saturnalia, very popular among the soldier. On this occasion a soldier used to be chosen by draw to be the symbolical representative of Saturnus. He was dressed in imperial clothes and during 30 days it was permitted to him to commit the most monstrous acts, including especially acts of sexual misbehavior. At the end of this celebration, the soldier was ritually sacrificed to Saturnus, usually by cutting him with the sword. In 304 the draw has fallen on the Christan soldier Dasius, who „kindled by zeal” and knowing about the shortness of the time, he decided that it is better to suffer tortures for a while in the name of Jesus Christ and to inherit the eternal life with the saints, than to accept the 30 days of joy. So he confessed his faith and that he prefers to be a sacrifice for Christ. He was imprisoned and in the second day his general Bassus proceeded to the judgement. Dasius confessed that as Christian he obeys only to the celestial Emperor, living during His grace and being enriched by His divine love. After some attempts and tortures for convincing him to abjure the faitn, Bassus ordered the beheading of Dasius. It may be that only before that, his relics to be transported in Durostorum. Later, in 579, his coffin was transported to Ancona, in Italy, being kept until today in St. Cyriacus Church. It is written on it in Greek „here lays St. Martyr Dasius brought from Dorostolon”. Parts of his relics were brought by the Pope John Paul II as a gift for the new re-created metropolitan diocese of Durostorum (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), 22-23 October 2003.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKuRP9MPDBU/UXmJH77V5iI/AAAAAAAAWyA/58nK9O4-Io0/s1600/Cattedrale_di_San_Ciriaco_(Ancona)+-+St.+Dasios.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKuRP9MPDBU/UXmJH77V5iI/AAAAAAAAWyA/58nK9O4-Io0/s320/Cattedrale_di_San_Ciriaco_(Ancona)+-+St.+Dasios.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cathedral in Ancona</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Veneration</b><br />
Saints Cyril, Chindeas and Dasius are today jointly celebrated in the Romanian Orthodox Church on 26 May. There is a project to build a monastery in the place where the inscription about them was discovered.<br />
<br />
We mention here the other Saints celebrated in Axiopolis:<br />
9 May: <i>St. Zenon </i>(celebrated together With Cyril and Chindeus, according to the hieronymian martyrology from Berna)<br />
10 May: <i>Zenon, Dio(n), Accacius and Crispus, </i>together with Quindeas, the same martyrology)<br />
12 May: some unnamed martyrs celebrated together with Cyril (Syriac breviarium)<br />
5 August: S<i>t. Irenaeus and Heraclius</i> (together with Dasius, in tne hieronymian martyrology).<br />
4 October: <i>St. Hermes </i>(probably deacon of Heraclea, Thrace), celebrated together with Taxius (as in the martyrical act of the two, in Axiopolis)<br />
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-65153098287267541612013-04-24T22:38:00.000+03:002013-04-25T22:46:58.316+03:00 Saints of Transylvania: the hierarchs Ilie Iorest, Simion Ştefan, Sava Brancovici and Joseph from Maramureş <br />
The four hierarchs of Transylvania celebrated on 24 April, Ilie Iorest, Simion Ştefan, Sava Brancovici and Joseph of Maramureş were bishops over an oppressed population. The Orthodox faith and the Romanians in Transylvania had no rights in the country dominated since the middle Ages by the Hungarian noblemen, who shared the rights with the Germanic minorities. The so-called Transylvanian tolerance during the middle Ages is only half true. If the political rights of the Hungarians, Szekelys and Saxons were well respected, the Romanians had no political rights and no possibility to send representatives in the local parliament and no specific diocesan seat. Moreover, their religion was only mutually tolerated, but had no rights like the other 4 official religions (“religiae receptae”). In these conditions, the princes and the noblemen tried to convert forcibly, or by promising some rights, the Romanian population. The bishops celebrated on April 24 tried to preserve the minimal tolerance, asking for political sustaining in Moldova, Wallachia or Russia, and sometimes using compromise solutions.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PbTYWlg8sOM/UXmGzJKb5gI/AAAAAAAAWxI/Dy1wVQpXL_w/s1600/sf-ierarh-iilie-sava.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PbTYWlg8sOM/UXmGzJKb5gI/AAAAAAAAWxI/Dy1wVQpXL_w/s320/sf-ierarh-iilie-sava.jpg" width="224" /></a><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Saint Ilie Iorest (1640-1643)</b><br />
Saint Ilie Iorest resided as Metropolitan of Transylvania in Alba Iulia, the capital of the country at that time. There are not so many documents who attest him, but they are enough to create a portrayal of his. A letter of the Moldavian bishops addressed in 2 June 1645 to the Tsar Mikail Feodorovich of Russia attests that “this hierarch named Iorest is born in the Hungarian Country (=Translylvania), but he was instructed from his childhood in our country, Moldova, in Putna monastery, and he was tonsured as monk in the same monastery, and after a while he was ordained as priest”. His ordination may have been made by Metropolitan Anastasie Crimca of Suceava (~1607-1629), or by the retired bishop Efrem of Rădăuţi, who lived at Moldoviţa, just over the hill from Putna, or by the next bishop of Rădăuţi. The last page of a Slavonic Psalter Book from Putna comprises his not so often name, “hieromonk Iorest, vlet (=in the year) 7133 (=1625), November 8”. This notice made the historians to suppose he was born around 1600. <br />
A decade later, in 1637 the priest Manoil from Suceava was finishing a Slavonic copy of the Byzantine Synaxarion of Simeon Metaphrastes (10th century) begun in the copyists school of Anastasie Crimca and continued by „hieromonk Iorest, hegumen”. This manuscript, kept today in St. Petersburg attests that Iorest was Abbot of Putna, one of the biggest monasteries in Moldova, in 1637. <br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tR3rlVR8g7s/UXmGtiriRwI/AAAAAAAAWwg/CnhagA2X8Gg/s1600/Sf%C3%A2ntul-Ierarh-Ilie-Iorest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tR3rlVR8g7s/UXmGtiriRwI/AAAAAAAAWwg/CnhagA2X8Gg/s320/Sf%C3%A2ntul-Ierarh-Ilie-Iorest.jpg" width="229" /></a><br />
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At 3 September 1640 Gennadius
III, metropolitan of Transylvania, died and just the second day, the
superintendent of the Calvinistic confession, Stephan Katona Geleji recommended
to prince George Rakoczy I some conditions for electing a successor. Among the three candidates was a Wallachian,
the Abbot of Govora Monastery in Wallachia, a local, the dean of the priests in
Haţeg, and Iorest, recommended by Vasile Lupu, voivod of Moldova. Rakoczy
accepted the latter in October 1640 and was ordained as traditionally in the
Cathedral from Târgovişte, the capital of Wallachia, being a sufragan of the
Wallachian metropolitanate. Going in Transylvania, he reprinted the “Gospel
with teaching” from 1581 and made a lot of canonical visits, but in February
1643 he was cast away from his position, because he didn’t accept the
calvinization and the spread of a Calvinistic Catechism printed in 1642 and
also because of the worsened relations between Rakoczy and Vasile Lupu . The
letter of the Moldavian bishops to the Russian tsar attest that he was twice
imprisoned together with some other priests because he refused to convert to
Calvinism. According to the medieval Document Approbatae Constitutiones, the
religious oppression was forbidden, but the bishop was instead accused of
immoral acts. He was unjustly judged (10 October 1643) and after his releasing
by having 24 warrants who promised to pay a tax of 1000 talers, in November
1643 he fled in Moldova. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In June 1645 Iorest
left to Russia in order to collect money and other helping for the
Transylvanian clergy and for his warrants, together with German, a monk from
Putna and his nephew, Jurca. At 25 August was in Moscow and obtained an
audience to the tsar and a financial help, but no more. He remained for some
months there and later came back in Moldova, where he remained as simple monk
at Putna, until 1656 when he was for a while bishop in Huşi, but shorter afer
(1657) he came back to his monastery by unknown reasons and remained here until
his death. A menologion of January attests that “Bishop Iorist died in 7186 (=
1678), March 12” being buried outside the big church of Putna, on the eastern
side. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NYa1HDljNQY/UXmGzkmC30I/AAAAAAAAWxM/G578nXyEunU/s1600/Tomb+of+Ilie+Iorest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NYa1HDljNQY/UXmGzkmC30I/AAAAAAAAWxM/G578nXyEunU/s320/Tomb+of+Ilie+Iorest.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tomb of St. Ilie Iorest</td></tr>
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<b>Saint Simion Ştefan of Transylvania <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> </span> (1643-1656)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The successor of
Iorest in Alba Iulia eas Simion Ştefan, a former student at the school from the
Orthodox Monastery in Alba Iulia and later hieromonk in the same convent. He
signs with the title “Archbishop and Metropolitan of the throne of Bălgrad
(Alba Iulia), Vad, Maramureş and the whole Transylvania”. The calvinization
continued even stronger during his pastorship. Even from the election, it was
granted to him the jurisdiction of only 3 deaneries of the all 20. It may be
strange, but the canonical and pastoral jurisdiction for the rest of Romanians
was granted to the Calvinist superintendent Geleji Katona Istvan. Even from his
enthronement he was forced to sign 15 obligations, supposed to be given before
to Iorest. Among them, he was forced to preach exclusively in Romanian (because
the tradition was to preach in Slavonic). Through this apparently positive
obligation the calvinization might have been implemented easier. Also the
theological instruction should be made according to the Calvinistic catechism;
the Holy Sacraments were reduced to bread and wine as the symbol of the Body
and Blood Christi, and the cult for icons and for the Cross should have been
banished. Anyway the difference among theory and practice was big, so even he
signed the conditions, he didn’t implement them.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XrTKcuNrXsA/UXmG0cr29VI/AAAAAAAAWxc/tXKwVSivZkQ/s1600/sfantul-simion-stefan-mitropolit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XrTKcuNrXsA/UXmG0cr29VI/AAAAAAAAWxc/tXKwVSivZkQ/s320/sfantul-simion-stefan-mitropolit.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Depiction of the Saint in the Orthodox Cathedral from Alba Iulia</td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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During the pastorship
of Simion Ştefan there were printed for the first time in Romanian the New
Testament (1648) and the Psalms (1651), the most used biblical books. The
preface of the text is signed by the Metropolitan, being dedicated to Prince
Rakoczy. In this text he praised the prince because of the amount of money
given for the education of some students but also warned him that he should
care for the people under his jurisdiction should have spiritual food and
drink. Moreover, he wrote that God didn’t make the people for the kings, but
the kings for the people, in order to judge and protect them. Supposedly he is
also the author of the “Word for the readers” included in the two books. On the margins on the pages it was printed a
“Lexicon” explaining the rare words, regionalisms and neologisms. These Works
were very important because it started the process of the unification of the
Romanian language, which was not standardized before. The Metropolitan defined the
circulation of the words like this: “We know very well that the words should be
like the money, because that money is good who circulate in all the countries.
The same thing is with the words, these are good, which are understood by all”.
He knew the limitations of his work so that he brought in attention the
difficulties of translation and using the best words, in order to be understood
by all. That is why he reproduced in this preface a formula of humility
presented already in another Orthodox books as Pravila (The Law) of Govora
(1640): “Consider, ye reader in this book, because it was not written by the
angels from heaven, but from a sinful hand, made from dust”. About 200 years
later, Andrei Şaguna, another metropolitan of Transylvania attested the
importance of the first translation of the Bible, which influenced the whole
future language. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vs3z1FQJp6w/UXmGzqySsNI/AAAAAAAAWxQ/7pgLKZdMHqE/s1600/NT+of+Simion+Stefan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vs3z1FQJp6w/UXmGzqySsNI/AAAAAAAAWxQ/7pgLKZdMHqE/s320/NT+of+Simion+Stefan.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first page of the Romanian New Testament<br /> of Simion Ştefan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The translations of
the biblical books were not addressed only to the Orthodox in Transylvania but
also to the others, so he contributed to the both spiritual and cultural
edification of the Romanians. Simion Ştefan might have died in 1656 when his
successor is attested. His burial place is unknown.<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hk5HuHJzH2c/UXmGw4FHvSI/AAAAAAAAWxA/9h0RX1_xK28/s1600/The+proclamation+of+Simion+Stefan+as+saint+at+Alba+Iulia2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hk5HuHJzH2c/UXmGw4FHvSI/AAAAAAAAWxA/9h0RX1_xK28/s320/The+proclamation+of+Simion+Stefan+as+saint+at+Alba+Iulia2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Alba Iulia during the canonization of Simion Ştefan<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>St. Sava Brancovici (1656-1683)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The life of Sava
Brancovici is well known, being described in a Serbian chronicle written by his
brother, George. He was from Serbian ancestry from Korenic, in Hertzegovina. At
the end of the 16<sup>th</sup> century his family fled in Arad because of the
Ottoman expansion. Sava was born and baptized as Simeon in 1620 learning in
Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria. Later he went to Comana Monastery, southern from
Bucharest, where his uncle Longin was Abbot and bishop. Later he came back home
due his father’s death and later married and had children, but all died young.
Simeon was ordained priest by Metropolitan Ştefan of Wallachia and on the way
back home he heard about the death of his wife. He remained as priest and dean
in Ineu (near Arad) for some years, being in the same time the leader of the
Romanians in front of the Turkish expansion. <o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGJ1h941Nx9WYY8D66FwclWxepugBvvM2W-0JA_bzwkTWezgauFFZRGnMwTea2hUhufMbuXkfinkQFOD5ojJNv1qnOtMXROgVm85Npzw4mp_wnTt5gqjJoNn4GCHY0oo_sCvtxOP4EEqX/s1600/SfSavaBrancovici.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGJ1h941Nx9WYY8D66FwclWxepugBvvM2W-0JA_bzwkTWezgauFFZRGnMwTea2hUhufMbuXkfinkQFOD5ojJNv1qnOtMXROgVm85Npzw4mp_wnTt5gqjJoNn4GCHY0oo_sCvtxOP4EEqX/s320/SfSavaBrancovici.JPG" width="201" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the summer of 1656
Simion Ştefan died and the Orthodox council in Alba Iulia elected him as
Metropolitan. Consequently he was tonsured as monk in Wallachia, receiving the
name of Sava at the Feast of the Holy Cross (September 14). On September 16 he
was ordained bishop and went back to Transylvania. He had had the same problems as his
predecessors and even more. Transylvania was at the time ruled by two parties,
a pro-Ottoman and a pro-Austrian one. The changes at the throne happened during
1657-1662 made possible the official recognition of Sava only by the
pro-Ottoman prince Michael Apaffy, at 23 April 1662. As Ilie Iorest, Sava
started in 1668 a long journey to Moscow, in order to find political and
financial help for the Romanians in Transylvania. In audience to the tsar
Aleksey Mikhailovitch Romanov he presented a memory about the harsh conditions
of the Romanians, Serbs and Bulgarians under the Turkish rules. After the
second audience, on 2 August 1668 he became a financial help and the promise
that the Tsar will help his diocese in the next seven years. At Christmas he
was back in Alba-Iulia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Russian journey
made him problems and the pro-ottoman prince found out that Sava asked for
political help too. So he imposed to the hierarch some restrictions. The
metropolitan was from February 1669 on subordinated to the Calvinistic bishop
and could not ordinate priests, judge, make canonical visits and call the Synod
without the acceptance of the superintendent Peter Kovasznai.<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5o4Gkqn4_W8/UXmGr0ADqAI/AAAAAAAAWwQ/yR5Nf162svc/s1600/George-Brancovici.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5o4Gkqn4_W8/UXmGr0ADqAI/AAAAAAAAWwQ/yR5Nf162svc/s320/George-Brancovici.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Brankovic, the brother of the Saint</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1670 Sava went to
Wallachia and obtained from the voivod Antonie of Popeşti an annual allocation
of 6000 of Aspers (late byzantine silver coins named in the Ottoman period as
akçe). Back in Transylvania, Sava was present at the consecration of Moisei
monastery in north and of the church in Vlădeni, in south. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1675 Sava called a
synod at Alba Iulia and decided the Romanization of the liturgical service,
held until then in Old Slavonic. Also they decided the holding of the
ceremonies also outer from the churches, in case of necessity. Other decisions
were: dispositions for the priests for the catechization of the children,
disciplinary norms, especially against the superstitions in the cult of the
dead, quite spread among the Romanians. Finally, there were also norms about
the learning of the basic prayers, about the Holy Communion at least during the
4 Lents during the year. These measures conducted to a special relation with
prince Apaffy who granted some administrative facilities. In any case, the favorable situation ended in
1680 when the new Calvinist superintendent, Michael Mihail Tóföi discovered a
complot against the prince, among whom was involved Gheorghe Brancovici, the
brother of the metropolitan. The prince called a judgment council in Sibiu,
composed of 101 priests and laymen who accused the metropolitan of immorality
and neglecting the monastery and the typography in Alba Iulia. It was partly
so; it is said he might have hidden the typography, because in it there were
printed Calvinistic books, so he wanted to prevent the spreading the books of
other confession among the Orthodox. He was dismissed according to the 81th and
82<sup>nd</sup> canon of the Calvinist Church and 75<sup>th</sup> canon of the
Romanian law and his properties, including books and the typography were
confiscated. The Metropolitan and his brother were imprisoned in the prince’s
castle from Blaj. Later his brother was sent in Wallachia in order to redeem
both of them for 3000 talers. Sava was beaten regularly in the yard of the
castle on Fridays (Chronicler Cserei Mihaly) and once he was so strong beaten
with whips until the flesh was torn from him (according to the German
chronicler Andreas Gunesch). Gheorghe asked for help from Şerban Cantacuzino,
the prince of Wallachia and Apaffy consented for the freedom of the metropolitan.
At the beginning of 1683 Emperor Leopold I of Austria granted him the title of
baron, but he died shortly after his release, because of the harsh conditions in
prison, in April of the same year. His burial place is also unknown.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WgWk2mIY74A/UXmG0G1gAfI/AAAAAAAAWxY/2PpKYqSFBX4/s1600/sf-iosif-marturisitorul-din-maramures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WgWk2mIY74A/UXmG0G1gAfI/AAAAAAAAWxY/2PpKYqSFBX4/s320/sf-iosif-marturisitorul-din-maramures.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>St. Martyr Iosif (Joseph), bishop of Maramureş
(1690-1711)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Northern Transylvania,
also known as Maramureş (or Marmaroshchina in Ruthenian) had its own bishops in
Munkach (Mukacevo in Ukraine). In 1646 a part of the priests and believers
accepted the conditions of the Union of Brest (1656) and became Greek-catholic.
But a part of them wanted to preserve their confession, and elected a new
bishop for the remained Orthodox believers, in the person of the widower priest
Iosif Stoica, nobleman from Criciova (today in Ukraine). He was tonsured as
monk and later ordained as bishop by Dosoftei, the exiled metropolitan of
Moldova, in Jolkiew, Poland. The residence of Bishop Joseph is unknown. He
signed in 1692 on an Antimension with the name “Joseph, from God’s mercy
orthodox bishop of Maramureş, stauropegial Constantinople exarch and locum tenens
of the Metropolinate of Transylvania from Bălgrad (Alba Iulia)”. The Hungarian
historian Nicolae Bethlen, former chancellor of Transylvania during that
period, has noted that Iosif Stoica wrote a letter opposing union with the
Roman Church, based on arguments from the Scriptures and the writings of the
Church fathers. Bethlen noted his surprise that a rural Romanian was able to
produce "a letter of such theological strength". <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His relatively
peaceful pastorship was struggled in 1701 when he was called in Viena and it
was proposed to him to renounce to the Orthodoxy in change of some material
advantages, but he refused. In 1705 the
vice-count of Maramureş, Franciscus Darvay obliged Joseph to sign a programme
in 20 paragraphs which were against the Orthodox faith. He refused and so was
arrested and imprisoned in Chust. His
priests protested, but without any result. During this detention, in 1707 they
have elected a new bishop in the person of Iov (Job) Ţârca who was also
persecuted, but fled in Moldova so he was convicted to death in the absence. After
being released in 1711, Joseph Stoica continued to exercise his episcopal
functions without the knowledge of the authorities. He tried to recover his
bishopric officially, but died in the same year. He is supposed to be buried in the old church
situated on the Crosses’ Hill in the village Mânăstirea (=the monastery),
Giuleşti commune near Baia Mare, the today capital of the county. Joseph
remained in the memory of the Orthodox believers in Maramureş as a protector of
their faith against the rulers. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHTAvGv9Bw4/UXmGsT3dOPI/AAAAAAAAWwU/DzGeuRQFXSo/s1600/Manastirea-Giulesti+-+St.+Archangels+Church+-+supposed+tomb+of+St.+Joseph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHTAvGv9Bw4/UXmGsT3dOPI/AAAAAAAAWwU/DzGeuRQFXSo/s320/Manastirea-Giulesti+-+St.+Archangels+Church+-+supposed+tomb+of+St.+Joseph.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The probable burial place of St. Joseph<br />in Giuleşti monastery of the St. Archangels</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The veneration of the Transylvanian hierarchs<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ilie Iorest and Sava
Brancovici were proposed for canonization in 1950 by Nicolae Bălan,
metropolitan of Transylvania at that time. His proposition was made in account
of the pure life and for their devotement in preserving the faith against the
oppressive system. The Romanian Synod approved the canonization of them in 25
February 1950 and decided the two to be jointly celebrated on April 24, the
date of death of St. Ilie Iorest, as confessor saints. The solemn canonization was
held in the Orthodox cathedral in Alba Iulia, in 21 October 1955 and
subsequently their service was introduced into the liturgical books. The other
two canonizations are recent: about of the St. Joseph it was decided by the
Romanian Synod on 20 June 1992, and the one of Simion Ştefan on 21 July 2011
for the same reasons, the purity of lives and the stability in fait. They are celebrated
since then on 24 April too, jointly with the two other metropolitans. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-92z2ECCW-Hg/UXmGueg5igI/AAAAAAAAWwo/Rplt67AopWo/s1600/Simion+Stefan+-+canonization.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-92z2ECCW-Hg/UXmGueg5igI/AAAAAAAAWwo/Rplt67AopWo/s320/Simion+Stefan+-+canonization.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Canonization of St. Simion Stefan in Alba Iulia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Troparion (hymn) of the Holy Hierarchs Iorest
and Sava:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Confessors of
Orthodoxy and good hierarchs of the Church of Christ, teachers the people,
blessed Hierarchs, victory carriers Iorest and Sava, you who were honored with
the crown of life, pray God to save our souls!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Troparion
(hymn) of the Holy Hierarch Joseph:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Great servant of God,
Holy Father Hierarch Joseph, we honor in songs and remember your name. For
confessing Christ in Maramures and defending the Orthodoxy, you protected your
flock. For this, pray to Christ God to save our souls!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Troparion (hymn) of St. Simion Ştefan<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Loving the
beautiful Paradise of the Scriptures, Holy Simeon Ştefan, you have expounded
the New Testament in the Romanian language. Your zeal and love for your sheep
was great and the troubles from the enemies of the Orthodoxy were also great.
Pray to Christ our God to grant us unity in faith and great mercy!”<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-70581148938626841142013-04-14T22:31:00.000+03:002013-04-25T22:37:31.102+03:00Saint Pachomius (Pahomie) from Gledin, bishop of Roman and monk <div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mi0GuGbcY84/UXmE36CeqUI/AAAAAAAAWuw/JgAC1fr5MQA/s1600/06_icoana_sf_pahomie_text.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mi0GuGbcY84/UXmE36CeqUI/AAAAAAAAWuw/JgAC1fr5MQA/s1600/06_icoana_sf_pahomie_text.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Saint Pahomie from
Gledin, bishop of Roman (1707-1714) was a Romanian hierarch in the so-called
„fanariot” period of the Romanian history (18th/19th centuries), named so after
the princes mostly of Greek ancestry, and came from the Greek quarter of
Constantinople known as Fanar. This period is known in Romania as a time of the
maximum interference of the foreign interests in the internal policy, but also
for the internal changes, as the first Romanian constitution and the revival of
the orthodox spirituality, under personalities as staretz Vasile from Poiana Mărului
and Paisie Velichcovski from Neamţ.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The life of the saint
is comprised in a biography from Pocrov hermitage, entitled “Short exposition
for the happy-into-the-memories [=i.e., deceased] Kir [=Lord] Pahomie, bishop
of Roman, the founder of the holy shrine of the our All Holy Lady Theotokos and
Virgin Mary, which he himself built from its foundation in honor of her Pocrov
(=Protection)” (“<i>Arătare în scurt pentru
fericitul întru pomenire ctitorul sfântului locaş al Prea Sfintei Stăpânei
noastre Născătoarei de Dumnezeu şi Pururea Fecioarei Mariei, kir Pahomie
Episcopul Romanului, pe care însuşi din temelie l-au zidit întru cinstea
Acoperămantului ei</i>”). It was written by the monks from the hermitage, after
the memories of Pahomie and of his disciples and after the traditions kept in
Neamţ Monastery, where he lived for a while.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FWRfTENAMAM/UXmE4j4amqI/AAAAAAAAWu4/YWqhuW6V8Oo/s1600/Gledin+Centre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FWRfTENAMAM/UXmE4j4amqI/AAAAAAAAWu4/YWqhuW6V8Oo/s320/Gledin+Centre.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gledin Culture Centre</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w5KWIRCaaIQ/UXmE6hDkgZI/AAAAAAAAWvo/B2qKM5QYodA/s1600/gledin+Centre+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w5KWIRCaaIQ/UXmE6hDkgZI/AAAAAAAAWvo/B2qKM5QYodA/s320/gledin+Centre+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saint Pahomie was born
in Transylvania, Bistriţa County, in a village named Gledin in 1674, baptized
as Peter. His parents were, after a source, “priest Iftimie and Ana” Pencu, and
after another (the historian Nicolae Iorga), “peasants, workers in this county
of the Saxons”. The two informations aren’t opposite; because at this time the
Orthodox faith was not one of the 4 “accepted religions” in Transylvania and
the orthodox priests had had the same difficult life as the other Romanians,
who were mostly enslaved. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The biography from
Pocrov mentions his love for Christ and his will to live after the Gospel, so
that “he left his house, parents, brethren, relatives and others” and went in
another land, at that time Transylvania and Moldova being two different
countries. Among another reasons he left his country it cannot be the
persecutions against the ones who refused after 1700 to unite with Rome,
because he left Transylvania a few years later, in 1694. More likely the
reasons consisted in the liberty of religion in Moldova and the “cultural boom”
of the Moldavian monasteries and monastic schools.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Peter went to Neamţ
monastery, where he was tonsured as monk in 1697, receiving the name Pahomie,
being about 25 years old. But the cultural situation was in contrast with the
political one: during the war between the ottoman Turks and the Holy League
(1683-1699), the Poles occupied the Neamţ Fortress, never conquered before, and
the monks from Neamţ found their refuge, together with their precious icon of
the Protection of Our Lady, running to Strâmba hermitage, somewhere in the Tutova
hills (central Moldova). The monks came back after the end of the war, in 1700
and in the next year Pahomie was ordained priest. Because of his good
administrative skills, he was shortly appointed Great Ecclesiarch, so
responsible for all that concerns the church, the liturgical ceremonies and so
on. In any case, the biography attests not only his abilities, but also his
attachment for the church, the love for prayer and good deeds. Because the
liturgical services were in Church Slavonic, Pahomie learnt Slavonic and
Russian. In 1702 the abbot Ioan died, and the council of the monastery elected
him as the new abbot, against his will, before he was 30. But he remained in
this function only for 2 years (1704) when he made a rise in Russia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is quite possible
he didn’t like very much his function as abbot, which meant a lot of responsibilities
and not too much time for prayer. So he made a “paretisis” (he resigned) and
left in Russia, to Rostov, where he wanted to meet and know St. Dimitrij of
Rostov, well known at that time for his sermons and writings, but also to visit
the Pecerska Lavra from Kiev and to honor the holy relics there. He remained at
Pecerska between 1704 and 1708 where he has studied at the school of the
monastery, organized after the western scholastic methods by the already
deceased Metropolitan Petru Movilă (+1646). The contacts with the scholars from
Kiev and especially with St. Dimitrij (Demetrius) of Rostov meant not only a
good study, but also a spiritual experience. The most intense meeting with the
Russian hierarch is described by Pahomie himself. St. Dimitrij asked him once:
“what wishes your heart? And I told him that it wishes a life of silence in the
solitude. And then he blessed me from all his heart and said to me: May that God
be with you. Your wish is happening”. He also met another Russian saint, St.
John Maximovich, archbishop of Chernigov and Tobolsk. <o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Ij_IFrRI1g/UXmE7AJ0tsI/AAAAAAAAWv0/EzVylfGqaPE/s1600/icon+of+st.+pahomie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Ij_IFrRI1g/UXmE7AJ0tsI/AAAAAAAAWv0/EzVylfGqaPE/s320/icon+of+st.+pahomie.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pahomie came back in
Moldova with some books: A Psalm book from Kiev, a Patericon (Lives and sayings
of the Monks in Egypt) from Bishop Dimitrij, and a prayer book for the
hierarchs. In 1706 he was in Neamţ, where he asked the council of the monastery
to be left to live quietly in the solitude, and he found a cell together with a
few disciples (Sofronie, Macarie, Lazăr and Ioanichie), in a mountain nearby,
called „Chiriacul”, about an hour to walk from the monastery. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His solitude was
interrupted by some noblemen of the Voivod Antioh Cantemir (1705-1706) who
incidentally found the cell of the monk, being on hunting. The impression
produced by the holy monk on the noblemen was very strong. No later, the bishop
Lavrentie (Laurence) of Roman died, and the noblemen remembered above proposed
St. Pahomie to the voivod. Against his will, Pahomie was elected bishop on 18
December 1706 and in 18 January 1707 was ordained bishop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Acting as bishop for 7
years and 3 months, Pahomie refused to involve himself in the quite often
changes of the reigns (actually 5 changes of voivods) and generally in the
politics. In change, he cared about the poor, but also acted as a good
administrator of the diocese’s holdings and as a judge, as the laws of the
countries specified. He signed his documents in Slavonic as "<i>Pahomie Penkovski arhiepiscop Romanski i
Galatski</i>" (Pahomie, archbishop of Roman and Galaţi) revealing his
slavicized form of his family name Pencu, and the fact that his diocese
comprised the whole southern half of the country. He won for the Church many
properties, donated to his monastery some holdings, but above all, books for liturgical
use, which were quite precious at the time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But at 1 March 1714 he
wrote his paretisis (resign) from his function as bishop, under the reason that
“the whole world is passing, and all the things like a shadow”, wishing to go
back to his solitude at Chiriacul mountain. His resign happened in a period
when the stability was bigger than before, so he didn’t act cowardly, but
because of his inner deep wishes for a quiet life. He remained bishop one more month, until the
Feast of the Easter (2 April in that year), but on 10 April arrived at Neamţ
where he remained only 4 days and went back to Chiriacul. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wr0XdiEROLQ/UXmE60fmznI/AAAAAAAAWvs/1q7J8bsp-Yo/s1600/Tombstone+planned+for+St.+Pahomie+at+Pocrov+hermitage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wr0XdiEROLQ/UXmE60fmznI/AAAAAAAAWvs/1q7J8bsp-Yo/s320/Tombstone+planned+for+St.+Pahomie+at+Pocrov+hermitage.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planned tombstone for St. Pahomie at Pocrov</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Away from the crowded places, Pahomie put the founding stone of a hermitage named „Pocrov” (The Protection of Our Lady, a Feast on 1 October). A „pomelnic” (list of names, used in the commemoration during a requiem ceremonial) from this period, attests the contributors at the building of this new shrine, among whom are some monks but also voivod Mihail Racoviţă. Normally a hermitage is a dependency of a monastery, but Pahomie obtained for his shrine the total independence, and also some other benefits (properties, books, and official documents attesting the independence of the hermitage). He also created here a school of manuscript-copyists and translators, who continued the tradition started at Neamţ by Paisie Velichcovski.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IzUOxpkf074/UXmE5Qp8vwI/AAAAAAAAWvQ/i99sO45GO38/s1600/Pocrov+hermitage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IzUOxpkf074/UXmE5Qp8vwI/AAAAAAAAWvQ/i99sO45GO38/s320/Pocrov+hermitage.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pocrov Monastery</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 1717, during the Turkish-Austrian war (1716-1718) the voivod Mihail Racoviţă lost his throne, but he came back helped by the Tatars who made a lot of damages. In these conditions, Pahomie left his hermitage, running in Transylvania, later in Poland for some health problems and came back home a year later. But the voivod Mihail Racoviţă suspected him of conspiracy with his Austrian enemies, so that Pahomie was forced to flee to Kiev, waiting for returning, after the ending of the unfriendly reign, but that didn’t happened, because Racoviţă remained voivod until 1726. From his exil, Pahomie cared about his hermitage, sending 42 books and money in order to sustain the activities there. Pahomie remained as refugee at Kitaev hermitage of Lavra Pecherska and he received here the Great Skema, being named Pimen. He died in exil, on 14 April 1724. In his testament, written shortly before his death, he stated that the monks in his hermitage of Pocrov shall live a life of fasting, prayer and working, with devotion, humility and responsibility. The coffin with his relics is kept in the chapel of St. Sephen of Pecherska. A painting with his portrait at Pocrov shows him with his three patron saints, St. Peter (as layman), St. Pachomius (as monk) and St. Poemen (as skemamonk).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ki4fV95m4n4/UXmE5SrFhYI/AAAAAAAAWvY/bxHg7G2Rdk8/s1600/Pahomie+relics+kiev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ki4fV95m4n4/UXmE5SrFhYI/AAAAAAAAWvY/bxHg7G2Rdk8/s320/Pahomie+relics+kiev.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics of the saint at Lavra Pecherska, Kiev</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Veneration</b><br />
<br />
The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided for the canonization of the St. Hierarch Pahomie from Gledin, during its reunion on 14-15 november 2006. His proclamation happened on 14 April 2007 in Gledin, the birthplace of the saint situated in northern Transylvania, in Bistriţa-Năsăud County, in the presence of bishops, priests and believers from Romania and Ukraine. His annual celebration is 14 April. In Gledin, the locals started in 2011 the construction of a religious-touristic complex dedicated to the saint. In Villaverde-Madrid, Spain, the patron saint of the Romanian community is St. Pahomie.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zDb4bB_CXuk/UXmE4rhz5qI/AAAAAAAAWvA/pwOkwZOC5Hw/s1600/Canonization+Liturgy+of+St.+Pahomie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zDb4bB_CXuk/UXmE4rhz5qI/AAAAAAAAWvA/pwOkwZOC5Hw/s320/Canonization+Liturgy+of+St.+Pahomie.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Official proclamation of Hierarch Pahomie as saint of the Church</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Troparion (Hymn) of the Saint</b><br />
<br />
Very luminous star arisen in Gledin, you shone like a divine sign in the country of Moldova, illuminating the hearts of the believers. Unshakable pillar of the clean prayer, you, chosen adornment of the Romanian hierarchs and founder of the Pocrov Hermitage near the Lavra of Neamţ, Holy Hierarch Pachomius, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!</div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UxFegCKxSk/UXmE5p1vmAI/AAAAAAAAWvU/Jc8sgU1YEB0/s1600/St.+Pahomie+church+in+Villaverde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UxFegCKxSk/UXmE5p1vmAI/AAAAAAAAWvU/Jc8sgU1YEB0/s320/St.+Pahomie+church+in+Villaverde.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Romanian Parish "St. Pahomie" from Villaverde, Madrid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-2822454559898336622013-04-06T22:23:00.000+03:002013-04-25T22:30:12.043+03:00Saints Irenaeus, Bishop of Sirmium and Demetrius, his deacon<br />
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<a href="http://www.preguntasantoral.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ireneo_sirmio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.preguntasantoral.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ireneo_sirmio.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
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Saint Irenaeus (or Irenaios) of
Sirmium, bishop of the most important roman city in the 3<sup>rd</sup> century on
the Danube, is a martyr saint of the latest roman persecutions against the
Christian in the Balkans. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As already mentioned
in the passio of Sts. Montanus and Maxima (+26 March 304), the situation of the
Christians in the western Balkans (province of Illyricum) at the end of the 3<sup>rd</sup>
century was quite difficult. The Roman Tetrarchy, composed by Diocletian, Galerius,
Maximian Hercules and Constantius Chlorus gave four edicts against the
Christians, three in 303 and one in 304. Because the new religion didn’t accept
the imperial cult, its adepts were considered direct enemies of the state and
therefore the ones discovered to be adepts of this dangerous faith were
tortured to death, in order to come back to “order”. Of course, the most hunted
were the members of the hierarchy as the leaders of the community. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The imperial edicts
stated, near the physical punishments, the destruction of the Christian places
of worship, the confiscation of the Christian possessions. Of course, the edict had a different way of
applicability in the roman provinces. Galerius, who governed the Illyricum from
its capital, Sirmium (today Mitrovitsa, not far away from Belgrade) since 21
May 295, respected strictly the decisions of the edicts. There is quite
possible to be influenced by his mother, Romula, who detested the Christians. In
this context was tortured and killed St. Irenaeus, the bishop from Sirmium.
There is unknown if he was the first bishop of this important city, or there
were some other bishops before. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The martyrical act of
St. Irenaeus is kept into Latin in its original form, being probably a copy
after the verbal process from the court leaded by the governor (praeses) of
Pannonia, Probus, the same who convicted a few days before the priest Montanus
and his wife, Maxima. Probably only the introduction and the conclusions of
this text were added by a Christian author. The document is important because
it attests the Christianity in the Danube provinces, but also by describing the
roman judging procedure in the times of Diocletian and Galerius. The critical
edition of this text was edited and published in Latin and English by Herbert
Musurillo in <i>The Acts of the Christian
Martyrs, The Martyrdom of Saint Irenaeus Bishop of Sirmium</i>, Oxford, 1972.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The resume of this
text it will be reproduced in the following: Saint Irenaeus, in spite of being
bishop, was married and had young children. He was arrested by the order of
Probus and judged in the court from Simium. Probus asked him to obey the law
and to sacrifice for the gods, by Irenaeus responded that “<i>the one who sacrifice to gods and not to God will be removed from the
chosen ones</i>” (<i>Acta </i>II,1).
Refusing to bring sacrifice, he was prepared for tortured, saying that he is
happy to be a part of the Lord’s sufferings. Probus still repeated his
question, whether sacrificing or not, during the torture. Later, trying to
convince him in another way, he brought the parents of the bishop and later his
children who asked him to have mercy of them. The other relatives tried to
convince him, telling “have mercy of your youth” . In any case he refused
repeatedly so Probus sent him finally into jail for some days.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="http://www.preguntasantoral.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ireneo_sirmio2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.preguntasantoral.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ireneo_sirmio2.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
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Later, Probus ordered
that Irenaeus to be brought in the middle of the night and started the torture
again. After beating him with rods, the governor asked him if he has relatives,
children, wife, parents, but he answered “no” and stated that any Christian
loving his relatives more than God is not worthy of his Master (Mt. 10,37).
Probus tried once more to convince him for the sake of his children, bur
Irenaeus said that they have the same God who can save them. Finally Probus
didn’t resist anymore so he menaced him by beheading him. Irenaeus thanked for
that and asked the Roman governor to do it, in order to see how the Christians
learned to despise the death for their faith in God. Shortly after, the
soldiers have cut his head on the bridge of Basent in this city. In the last
moments he prayed to the Lord with these words: “<i>Lord Jesus Christ, who kindly wanted to suffer the passions for the
salvation of the world, please open your heavens, in order that your angels
receive the soul of your servant Irenaeus, who is dying in your name and for
your people, who increases in your universal (catholic) church from Sirmium. I
am begging you and praying your mercy, receive me to you and kindly strengthen
the others into your faith</i>”. After beheading, he was thrown in Sava, the
river flowing nearby. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The author of the text
ends the story by saying that he was martyrized in the 8<sup>th</sup> day of
the Ides of April (6<sup>th</sup> April) during the governing of Emperor
Diocletian and governor Probus, but also during the royal times of our Lord
Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Saint Demetrius, deacon in Sirmium<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: red; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A few days
later, on 9<sup>th</sup> April of the same year some martyrologies celebrate
the martyrdom of St. Demetrius, the deacon of bishop Irenaeus. He was killed
being pierced in the side with a spear. According to some hagiologists in the
Eastern Europe, the real identity of St. Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica,
celebrated on 26 October, was not one of a soldier, but of a deacon. An
argument for this identification is that even later in the synaxarion composed
by Symeon Metaphrastes in the 10<sup>th</sup> century attests the fact that a
servant of the deacon, named Lupus, recovered his <i>orarion </i>reddened by the blood of the martyr and brought this holy
relic to his community (though here it is Thessalonica and not Sirmium). In
this context, it can’t be explained why a soldier would have an orarion, which
is a typical piece of clothe for a deacon. Moreover, in the first depictions,
St. Demetrius is represented as a member of the noble class and not as a
soldier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">St. Lupus,
his servant died also as a martyr, being celebrated on 23 August. It is
supposed that the cult of St. Demetrius spread in all Illyricum in the next
century (here it would be a problem, not being clear why it did not happen the
same with St. Irenaeus), and they are reported many miracles occurred near the
coffin with the relics of the saint. In the context of the weakening of the
Roman power near Danube in the 5<sup>th</sup> century, a governor of Illyricum
named Leontius have built a church for St. Demetrius in the new capital of the
province, Thessalonica, and brought here the relics of the saint, supposedly in
413. So it may that the day of the celebration of the saint on 26 October might
be the day of moving his relics. In the same time, Leontius built another
church dedicated to the saint in Sirmium, a town named by the Slavs later as
Mitrovica (today, Sremska Mitrovica).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wExU2vz6bTs/UXmDwNRny8I/AAAAAAAAWuc/eg0Lr1zGq8A/s1600/sfantul-mucenic-dimitrie-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wExU2vz6bTs/UXmDwNRny8I/AAAAAAAAWuc/eg0Lr1zGq8A/s320/sfantul-mucenic-dimitrie-1.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Depiction of St Demetrius as deacon or as nobleman and not as soldier</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgzylpEdHjI/UXmDvzxhk3I/AAAAAAAAWuY/amVB5uFQfE4/s1600/sfantul-mucenic-dimitrie-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgzylpEdHjI/UXmDvzxhk3I/AAAAAAAAWuY/amVB5uFQfE4/s320/sfantul-mucenic-dimitrie-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Demetrius wearing no soldier clothes</td></tr>
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<b>The veneration of St. Irenaeus </b><br />
<br />
There are no
informations about the relics of the saint. The next period was very difficult
for the cities on Danube. After repeated incursions of the barbarians in the
V-VI centuries, Sirmium was in decline, the episcopal see ceased to exist. Sirmium
decaded later and during the Slavic migration its importance was replaced with
Belgrade (the former Singidunum), situated at the confluence of Sava with
Danube. ). At this time many other relics many of the Pannonian saints were
moved to other areas, where they continued to be worshiped. So happened with
St. Demetrius moved to Thessalonica, St. Anastasia to Rome, etc. In any case,
the veneration of the saint is recorded in some texts. St. Theophylact of
Bulgaria, bishop of Ochrid (1088/89-1125) mentioned about a pilgrimage to St.
Irenaeus (probably in Sirmium) and so miracles occurred there, in the <i>Vita </i>of the 15 martyrs from
Tiveriopolsk. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.preguntasantoral.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ruinas_sirmio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.preguntasantoral.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ruinas_sirmio.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ruins of Sirmium</td></tr>
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In 1071 or 1072
Sirmium became part of Hungary. Pope Gregory IX restored in 1231 the bishopric
of Sirmium and built a Benedictine monastery dedicated to St. Stephen on the
shore of Sava. In the middle of the 13<sup>th</sup> century there is a mention
about a church dedicated to the saint (ecclesia sancti Irenei Syrmiensis), but
the exact location of the church is unknown. According to some researchers, it
can be identified with the medieval church in Machvanska Mitrovica, on the
right bank of the Sava, where it was discovered a cemetery from the 4<sup>th</sup>
century. The church was built on the ruins of a martyrion from the same period
and destroyed in 10<sup>th</sup>/13<sup>th</sup> century, but there is no data
to show that the martyrion was initially dedicated to the saint. According to a
local historian, V. Popovic, the martyrion of the saint may be located in
another place, near a bridge which may be identified with the one where the
saint was executed (Basent bridge). <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1976-1977 there
were made some other archaeological researches in the eastern suburban
necropolis of Sirmium. Here there was discovered the ruins of a basilica from
the second half of the 4<sup>th</sup> century. An inscription of an epitaph on
the grave there mentioned about the “Basilica of our lord Irenaeus” (in
basilica domini nostri Erenei). But this is all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Different dates of honoring St. Irenaeus<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The revival of honoring
the martyrs in Sirmium, among who is also Irenaeus, began in his home, Serbia, after
Sremska Mitrovica became part of the Habsburg Empire (1718). Today St. Irenaeus
is honored especially in Serbia, but also in the other eastern European
countries, but the dates differ.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The martyrical death
of Irenaeus is mentioned not only in his martyrical act, but also in another
document, namely the Martyrical Acta of St. Pollion, the lector of the Cibalae
church (who died on 28 April 304), a few days later. The Martyrology of
Hieronymus mentions the martyrdom of Irenaeus on 6 April 304, such as a syriac <i>Breviarium</i> from 411. Another collections
state other days: the synaxary of Constantinople: 23 August, together with
Irenaeus from Lyons. The second volume
of the bollandist collection <i>Bibliotheca
Hagiographica Graeca </i>(ed. H. Delehaye, BHG, N 948-949e) remembers St. Irenaeus on 26 March and 23 August, and
the first from <i>Bibliotheca Hagiographica
Latina </i>(BHL, N 4466; Novum Suppl., N 494-495)<i>, </i>on 25 March. The error of dating may be interpreted by changing
the 8<sup>th</sup> day of the Ides with April (6 April) with the 8<sup>th</sup>
day of the Calendae of April (which is on 25 March, but because of the Feast of
the Annunciation, his feast was moved a day later). This error was introduced
also in some later maryrologies such the one of Florus, the so-called Small
Roman Martyrology and Adon from Vienna (all in the 9<sup>th</sup> century),
which may have been copied later in the 10<sup>th</sup> century by the synaxary
of Constantinople.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Following these dates,
St. Irenaeus is celebrated differently in the Churches. The Roman-Catholic
Church celebrates him on 6 April, while the Orthodox on 26 March/8 April and 23
August/5 September, following the synaxary of Constantinople. There is to be
mentioned here that the Romanian Church changed in the last years the day of
celebration also on 6 April, after the martyrical document. In any case, the
Churches following the Julian (old) calendar, even celebrating on 26 don’t make
any difference, because 26 March corresponds to the Gregorian 6 April. The
Armenian Church celebrates the saint on 23 August.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Troparion (hymn) of Saint Irenaeus<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>“Chant now and clap your hands, O Church of
Sirmium! Leap up, ye waters of the River Sava, adorning thyself in the name of
the all-praised Irenaeus! For, having fought the good fight and kept the Faith,
sealing it with his blood, he hath acquired great boldness before God, Whom he
entreated without ceasing, that his Christian flock be saved in peace!”<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-62843979088689195842013-03-26T22:22:00.000+02:002013-04-25T22:22:12.161+03:00Saints Montanus the priest and his wife Maxima from Singidunum<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--LqyeR2A09g/UXmB6Ky9jDI/AAAAAAAAWuI/aJ76bqrsEAQ/s1600/montano_maxima2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--LqyeR2A09g/UXmB6Ky9jDI/AAAAAAAAWuI/aJ76bqrsEAQ/s320/montano_maxima2.jpg" width="224" /></a><br />
Saints Montanus the priest and his wife Maxima from Singidunum, on Danube, are martyr saints of the harsh persecution times during Diocletian. They are celebrated as saints in the Western Church among the monastic order odf the Poor Clares nuns, but also in the East, especially in the Romanian and Serbian Churches.<br />
On 24 February 303, the Roman co-emperors Diocletian (284-505), Galerius, his son-in-law (293-311), Maximian Hercules (286-305) and Constantius Chlorus (293-306), the father of Emperor St. Constantine the Great signed an edict against the Christians. Another two edicts were signed in the same year (april and 27 september) and the fourth in January-February 304. These imperial decisions implied the destruction of the Christian places of worship, the burning of the Christian books and archives, loss of the properties, privileges and state functions for the Christians, the punishment of the Christians who do not abjure their faith even by death and forbade the Christian assemblies. As it is to see, these decisions suggest already the specific of the Christian faith. Differently of the first centuries, they were already organized, have had worship places and privileges in some regions.<br />
The Roman Empire was already led by the assembly of the two Augusti and two Caesars – the so-called “tetrarchy”. Of course, the laws, edicts and common decisions were respected differently in the regions led by one or another of the emperors. In any case, the eastern regions, led by Diocletian (who had his capital city in Nicomedia, in Asia Minor) and by Galerius (who leaded the Illyricum from Sirmium), the edicts were strictly applied, so that this period, the ending of the 3rd century, and the beginning of the 4th , gave the most of the Christian martyrs in the whole 2000-years history of our faith.<br />
The martyrs celebrated today, Montanus and Maxima lived in Singidunum (the today Belgrade), in the province called Pannonia Inferior, under the leading of Galerius. St. Montanus was the priest of the Christian community here. The Romanian historians try to demonstrate the Dacian-roman ancestry of the martyrs, based on the fact that the Pannonia Inferior was strongly populated at the time by romanized Dacians. The hypothesis has in fact no real basis. The possibility that the two have been Dacians or Romans is the same as for another nationality. Their names are coming surely from the Roman tradition. In any case, they were citizens of God’s city.<br />
Immediately after the proclamation of the edicts, its decisions were applied by the Roman leader of Singidunum. In this conditions, Montanus fled in Sirmium, the capital of the province (today Mitrovica, about 60 kilometers west of Belgrade), after Christ’s urge “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another” (Mt. 10,23). There he was caught by the persecutors, who brought him to Probus, the Roman governor of the province. The interrogatory started immediately and St. Montanus confessed his faith in Christ and that he is a priest. After the classical process, Probus asked him to sacrifice to the Roman gods and Montanus refused. During the tortures, Probus ordained the calling of the priest’s wife, Maxima. He believed that she, as weaker being a woman, will see the harsh pains of her husband and will beg him to sacrifice. Maxima didn’t do as the governor believed; moreover she asked to be tortured too with her husband, in order to become a martyr for Christ as well. Finally, Probus ordained the both to be thrown in the river Sava. The Serbian versions speak about the beheading of the two martyrs who were later thrown in the river. After the Romanian versions, the soldiers have bound stones on their necks and so the two saints, Montanus and Maxima, were drowned. It was the day of 26 March 304.<br />
<br />
<b>The Veneration of the Saints</b><br />
<br />
The hieronymian martyrology mentions them on 26 March and 26 April. Also the martyrical act of Montanus and Maxima are mentioned in the life of St. Pollion, the lector of the church from Cibalae (died on 28 april 304). Their original martyrical acts were not kept. But in the modern times, a Romanian priest and professor of Church History, Nicolae M. Popescu tried to reconstitute the story, following the similar act of martyrdom of St. Irenaios of Syrmium who died a few days later (on 6 April 304) in the same conditions. This text is today read with piety in the Romanian churches during their days of celebration, 26 March.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fYVXzfDwOlE/UXmBmUa8z5I/AAAAAAAAWtI/NyiPP13OAt0/s1600/Catacombe-di-Priscilla-interno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fYVXzfDwOlE/UXmBmUa8z5I/AAAAAAAAWtI/NyiPP13OAt0/s320/Catacombe-di-Priscilla-interno.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catacomb of St. Priscilla from Rome</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 25 may 1802 the Catacomb of St. Priscilla was opened and the relics of some saints, such as Philomena (+10 August 304) were found. Later, in 1804 it were found the relics of a saint named Maxima or Maximina. The coincidence of names made some to believe that there is the wife of St. Montanus, which it would be hard to believe, because of the lack of information and of the big distance between Rome and Singidunum. In any case, the relics of saint Maximina, who probably died during the same persecution of Diocletian, were kept in Rome, by the nuns of the St. Claire’s Order, in the monastery of San Lorenzo. Later they were moved, so that today there are also in a nun’s monastery of Claire’s Order, in North Royalton, Ohio. There is told that several miraculous cures happened due her intercession. Infos about these relics can be found <a href="http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://www.archeoguida.it/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Catacombe-di-Priscilla-interno.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.antika.it/006296_roma-catacombe-di-priscilla.html&usg=__AtUXp72a6ro-p8vVqoqSg8KRSsI=&h=401&w=600&sz=42&hl=de&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ou6i5EF1a4sr9M:&tbnh=139&tbnw=198&ei=hj5AUa_MNsWG4gS8wYGoBQ&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=12&vpy=174&dur=386&hovh=147&hovw=212&tx=120&ty=89&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:58">here</a> and <a href="http://fatherleofranklinmcnamara.blogspot.de/">here, in the bottom of the page</a>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s5cxLLZf2_U/UXmBmzCEMQI/AAAAAAAAWtU/o7IVpLyBlCI/s1600/Ipogeo-degli-Acilii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s5cxLLZf2_U/UXmBmzCEMQI/AAAAAAAAWtU/o7IVpLyBlCI/s320/Ipogeo-degli-Acilii.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catacomb of St. Priscilla</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the modern Serbia St. Maxima has a special devotion. Her intercession was asked especially for the peace in Kosovo, and the protection of Orthodox families and especially for priests’ wives. In Romania the monastery of Halmyris (the place of discovery of Saints Epictetus and Astion (+8 July 290) has as its second protectors, the saints Montanus and Maxima. A Romanian community in Serbia, in the village of Isacova, Tchupria community on the Valley of Morava has as its protectors the saints Montanus and Maxima.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BKKu1KVTkzg/UXmBnq8XPmI/AAAAAAAAWto/3-PXNM-0c68/s1600/Romanian+celebration+of+the+saints+in+Isacova+-+Serbia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BKKu1KVTkzg/UXmBnq8XPmI/AAAAAAAAWto/3-PXNM-0c68/s320/Romanian+celebration+of+the+saints+in+Isacova+-+Serbia.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebration of the Saints in the Romanian parish of Isacova, Serbia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Troparion (Hymn) of the Saints</b><br />
<br />
“Thy Martyrs Montanus the priest and Maxima, O Lord, in their struggles received, crowns of incorruptibility from Thee our God: for with Thy strength they wiped out tyrants, and overcame demons, rendering them powerless. By their intercessions, O Christ our God, save our souls!”<br />
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-18262352292934652242013-03-12T23:01:00.000+02:002013-04-25T23:04:50.264+03:00Saint Symeon the New Theologian<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83PHmguDpbLCHL_KdIub605C05ky0ZpKKPJWSO_y5Y8ZFgP2gBQ5tu1P6Y3a0INZPx0czvlrdGnaGs5rPnT1jMLaNohPyUukGRMHWhWyBQZvbfIEzMs_5WObXYDSUEmwdTEnrn2d1MOdO/s1600/symeon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83PHmguDpbLCHL_KdIub605C05ky0ZpKKPJWSO_y5Y8ZFgP2gBQ5tu1P6Y3a0INZPx0czvlrdGnaGs5rPnT1jMLaNohPyUukGRMHWhWyBQZvbfIEzMs_5WObXYDSUEmwdTEnrn2d1MOdO/s320/symeon.jpg" width="209" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Saint Symeon “the New
Theologian” is one of the only three saints bearing the title of „theologian”,
together with St. John the Apostle and Evangelist and St. Gregory of Nazianzus.
In fact, the title of „new Theologian” given to St. Symeon was at the beginning
just a mockery of some contemporaries, who despised the mysticism of this unusual
monk of the 10th-11th century Constantinople.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the research of his
biography I have asked for the help of a my friend, the theologian Alexandru
Rosu, who has just finished his PhD thesis about St. Symeon, which I am sure
will lead to many debates among the theologians from Bucharest and not only.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The timeline of the life of
St. Symeon is quite unclear. In any case the few biographical dates were
analyzed by the church historian IrénéeHausherr in the first critical edition
of the Life of St. Symeon (written by the apprentice of the saint, St. Nicethas
Stethatos). In fact, it was rebuilt reverse after the date of passing into
eternity of St. Symeon, on 12 March, and the bringing of his relics to
Constantinople, thirty years after his death, "the end of the 5th year of<i> indiction</i> in the year 6560 [= 1052],
"as noted by the <i>vita </i>of the
saint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">St. Symeon was born in
Galata, a town in Paphlagonia (a province in the northern Asia Minor), most
likely in the second half of 949. It is possible that his baptism name was
George. His parents, Basil and Teofana were members of the small aristocracy of
the region. At an early age, perhaps 10 years, the parents brought the child to
Constantinople, in the so-called grammar school, where he learnt tachigraphy,
some .concepts of rhetoric and secular culture. Later he is taken under the
protection of his paternal uncle, a member of the court (koitonites, camerier),
and so he begins a career in the imperial palace. Being 20 he becomes <i>spatharokoubikoularion</i> or „bearer of
sword in the imperial bedroom", being a member of the king's bodyguards,
charged with preserving and guarding the imperial insignia. Some are
byzantinologists believe that this function was usually reserved for eunuchs,
so that Symeon, or George at this time, was eunuch, which is in any case not
very clear. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8k775VKxEuY/UXmL4qBLNuI/AAAAAAAAWzg/gKosTNeqTzA/s1600/sf+simeon+the+new+theologian+and+his+spiritual+father+-+symeon+eulabes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8k775VKxEuY/UXmL4qBLNuI/AAAAAAAAWzg/gKosTNeqTzA/s320/sf+simeon+the+new+theologian+and+his+spiritual+father+-+symeon+eulabes.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sts. Symeon the New Theologian<br /> and Symeon Eulabes</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The career in the imperial
court dies suddenly – maybe during the political turmoil around the death of
the emperor Romanos II (15 March 963) and the removal of the Prime Minister, the,
eunuch Joseph Bringas, also a paphlagonian. Hausherr hypothesized that Bringas
might have been the uncle, who appointed the young child as senator even at
theage of 14. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In any case, after this
episode, the young George went to Stoudion monastery, a centre of culture and
theology in the byzantine capital, being attracted by the charismatic person
of the elder Symeon the
"pious" or Eulabes,( c
917-987), who was already his confessor and spiritual teacher. The old Symeon
refuses entrance of George to the monastery,because he was too young: 14 years,
according to the <i>vita</i> or 20, according
to an autobiographical testimony in his Catechesis no. 22. George enters the
service of a patrician, but still remains under the spiritual guidance of
Symeon the Pious, who urges him to pray and give it to reading the mystical
works of Mark the Ascetic, and Diadochos of Photice. Following these
recommendations and the prayer, George gets his first mystical experience at
the age of 20 (in 969/970), experience described in the same Catechesis and in
the fifth chapter of his <i>vita. </i>Even
trying once more to become a monk, he is refused for the same reason and so he
continues living in the capital for six more years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After 6 years he is sent with
a commission in Paphlagonia and lives in the parental home for a while, where
he reads the Ladder of Saint John. Back in Constantinople, George abandons the
administrative career and goes to Stoudion. This time the Abbot Peter accepts
him and leaves him in the charge of his spiritual father Symeon, by whom he
lives (976 or 977).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The novice George
successively defeats the demons of akedia and adultery and banishes through
prayer the frightening demonic appearances. But his asceticism and the strange
attachment to his spiritual father outrages the monks of Stoudion who try to
make him change his behavior, but without success. Meanwhile he acquires the
second vision, the sight of the divine light (<i>vita,</i> 19), increases in his humility and becomes to be famous for
his wisdom. His behavior remains in any case outrageous and Abbot Peter casts
him from Stoudion. Elder Symeon leads to the near monastery „of Saint Mamas”,
entrusting him to the abbot Antony. Here he writes a farewell letter to his
family, which corresponds to a third mystical experiences and is tonsured into
monasticism under the name to Symeon, after his spiritual father (probably in
977) Symeon deepens in prayer and
stillness (hesychia). His <i>vita </i>sketches
his daily program focused on extended prayer in the night, crying repentance,
communion with the sacraments, fasting and silence, and working – that is copying
of manuscripts.</span><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-34Gt70evDpA/UXmL19ug1sI/AAAAAAAAWy8/OV1yond3r_8/s1600/romanian+translation+of+his+theological+and+etical+discourses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-34Gt70evDpA/UXmL19ug1sI/AAAAAAAAWy8/OV1yond3r_8/s320/romanian+translation+of+his+theological+and+etical+discourses.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Two years later Patriarch
Nicholas II Chrysoverghis (980-992) ordains him as priest and no later Symeon
becomes abbot of the monastery at the age of about 30. The abbot imposes a strict
program for the monastic recovery both in material and spiritual way. The
hagiographer notes that Symeon was living quite often the vision of the Holy
Spirit descending in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In this period he starts
developing his <i>Hymns of Divine Love</i>
(also called <i>Hymns of Divine Eros</i>),
his <i>exegetical speeches</i> and the <i>Catechetical Discourses</i> and has a rich
spiritual correspondence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The strict program has a
reaction: once between 995-998 it happens a spontaneous uprising of about 30
monks against him. But they are intimidated by his peace and flee in the city,
causing disorder. Patriarch Sisinios II (996-998) was in in favor of the abbot
who interceded that the rebels not to be punished, moreover they return to the
monastery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 986 or 987 Symeon the
Pious dies. His apprentice Symeon gives him an honor as to a saint: he writes
his biography, composes his liturgical services and hymns, paints his icon and
celebrates his passing into eternity, which is indirectly agreed by Patriarch
Sisinios participates at the
„canonization” feast. In the next 16 years the feast of the Elder Symeon is
held as a normal feast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">About in 1003, St. Symeon
starts a theological dispute with Stephen, a court theologian and former
metropolitan of Nicomedia, who renounced his service for that as private
secretary or Synkellos of the patriarch and who probably was engaged in
composing the well-known inventory of the saints - The Menologion of
Constantinople . The Hymn 21 reveals the substance of the dispute: the saint is asked if the Son is only mental
or really separated from the Father. Abbot Symeon warns about introducing such
distinctions in the trinitarian theology, and provides a text of St. Gregory
the Theologian, concerning the doctrine of the Trinity. He denounces the false
theological spirit who may start this type of pseudo-theological disputes.
Other scholars believe that the disputes were caused by the unusual
canonization of Symeon the Elder, without a patriarchal decision, which could
have imposed new rules, a new decisions structure, in the Church. In any case,
the fight makes Stephen very hostile and, influencing the new patriarch Sergius
II (1001-1019), he starts an investigation in the monastery of St. Mamas.
Stehpen gathers the testimonies of the monks about the strong rigorism and about
the worship that St. Symeon brough to his spiritual father. The scandal ended
with the banning of the cult for Symeon Eulabes. The Patriarch decides the
destruction of his icon. Amid these difficulties, probably in 1005, Symeon
gives up his function and places as abbot his disciple Arsenios. The
resignation is not sufficient for Stephen. After a new trial, on 3 January 1009, Symeon is exiled to
Palukiton, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, where he revives the ruined
skete of St. Marina. Symeon's influential friends supported his cause to the
patriarch who rehabilitated him in 1010 or 1011, allowing him to return to St.
Mamas, with the promise that he will not expand anymore the cult of his
spiritual father outside the monastery.
The patriarch proposed him even the ordination as bishop, but Symeon
preferred to remain in the hermitage of St. Marina, where he continued to lead
a hesychastic life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After doing a number of
miracles, including healings, exorcisms, prophecies and levitation during
prayer, Symeon gets sick from a serious disease of the womb, probably
dysentery. He foretells his death and even the future displacement of his own
relics and dies during his own’s requiem that himself blessed. It happened on
12 March 1022. The 129th chapter of his life relates his death and the bringing
of his relics in Constantinople 30 years later, in 1052, the same day that had
gone into exile on January 3. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The veneration of the Saint<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">St. Symeon was venerated
already during his life, as the written <i>vita
</i>shows. His apprentice Nicetas Stethatos is one of his most closed
collaborators. We may say that the mystic movement of St. Symeon is nothing
than the following of the spiritual movement started about two hundred years
before in Stoudion by St. Theodore the Studite and others, at the beginning a
struggle against the rationalism of the iconoclasts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Symeon wrote in a the style of
the traditional early Church Fathers and hesychasts, including St. Augustine,
Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Mark the Hermit. The”speciality” of
St. Symeon consists in his transparent and open sharing of his most interior
experiences. In his teaching he speaks about his direct experience of God, as
something to which all Christians could and should aspire. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3OY2keEYa3Q/UXmL3DR9lbI/AAAAAAAAWzQ/UCJotb5zfJw/s1600/sf-cuv-simeon-noul-teolog-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3OY2keEYa3Q/UXmL3DR9lbI/AAAAAAAAWzQ/UCJotb5zfJw/s320/sf-cuv-simeon-noul-teolog-1.jpg" width="137" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In any case, the common
memory has “forgot” St. Symeon for a while. He was brought “back to the light”
by St. Nicodemus Agiorites, a monk from Mt. Athos who compiled the Eastern
florilegium of ascetical works known as “Philokalia”, printed in 1792 in
Venice. Some writings of St. Symeon are included here, such as “The Three
Methods of Prayer” which describes a method of practicing the Jesus Prayer,
including the direction on correct posture and breathing while reciting the
prayer. The same Nicodemus composed the liturgical service of St. Symeon and
imposed another day of celebration than the date of his death, March 12. That
happened because of the Great Lent period, so that for some centuries St.
Symeon was celebrated instead on October 12. Today the both feasts are
commemorated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 1964 the Russian
theologian Vassili Krivoshein tried to identify the ruins of St. Mamas
monastery, the place where the relics of St. Symeon were kept starting 30 years
after his death. The identification was almost impossible. Only a wall of the
former monastery of Stoudion still stands, during about St. Mamas there is
known only that it was located in the southwestern part of Constantinople.
Consequently there are no information about the relics of the Saint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The mystical writings of St.
Symeon influenced the further theological literature concerning the vision of
the divine light and the possibility of human divinization by the common work
of the divine grace and the human struggle to perfection, having St. Gregory
Palamas Metropolitan of Thesalonica (1296-1359) as its principal promoter. This
way of understanding theology was strongly contested especially in the West and
conducted to a strong difference of approaching the divine mysteries between
the East and West until today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Troparion (hymn) of Saint Symeon<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">O holy father Symeon, you received divine illumination
in your soul! You were shown forth to the world as a most radiant light
dispelling all darkness. You call all men to seek the Grace of the Holy Spirit,
which they had lost. O righteous father! Pray unto Christ, our God, the He may
grant us great mercy!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-64453229124502927772013-02-28T22:11:00.000+02:002013-04-25T22:12:47.956+03:00Saints John Cassian and Germanus<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UIAVG-FWSkA/UXmAGUTc8nI/AAAAAAAAWsw/9es2RQWa9WQ/s1600/300px-Ioan-Casian-Gherman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UIAVG-FWSkA/UXmAGUTc8nI/AAAAAAAAWsw/9es2RQWa9WQ/s320/300px-Ioan-Casian-Gherman.jpg" width="221" /></a><br />
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Sts. John Cassian and
Germanus, celebrated in the East on 29 (or 28) February and in the West on 23
July, are among those “pilgrim saints” who journeyed a lot during their lives
and knew the realities both of the eastern and western Christian world of the
4th-5th centuries.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Cassian and
German were friends from their childhood.
The year of their birth and the place are not clearly known, but it may
be around 360 in Scyhia, a province in the northern Balcanic Peninsula between
Danube and the Black Sea, also known today as Dobuja, the easternmost part of
Romania. Although there is no mention about this place in the writings of John
Cassian, this hypothesis comes from a mention of Genadius of Marseille, an
apprentice of St. John. In his <i>De viris
illustribus</i> 62, the Gaul bishop speaks about the Scytian ancestry („<i>natione Schytha</i>“) of John. The
hypothesis is accepted both in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, although
there are some scholars to understand the demonym “<i>schytha</i>” as a reference to the Scetic Desert from Egypt, where they
lived among the desert monks for a while, or maybe an allusion to Scythopolis
(Palestine). Some others hypotheses about the origins of the two are
superfluous here, including Provence or even Syria. In any case, some mentions
in the works of Cassian suggest the birth in a wealthy family, and a classical
education, Latin being his mother tongue.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saint John mentions in
his book <i>Collationes</i> that he and
Germanus were brothers “not by birth, but by spirit” (Coll. 16,1). About in
378-380 the two, together with Cassian’s sister, made a pilgrimage to
Bethlehem. The latter remained for the rest of her life in a nun monastery
here, but the two friends remained just for a while in a cell near the Church
of the Saint Sepulchre. During this time they have heard about the ascetics in
Egypt so they decided to visit the monastic communities there. After about three
years in Palestine, they journeyed to the desert of Sketis and Nitria situated
West by the Nile Delta (probably 384-394) and visited numerous monks there,
with whom they had the “interviews”, later written in <i>Collationes</i>. At the time, the Scetic Desert was divided among the
“anthropomorphist” monks, the adepts of the literal interpretation of the
Scripture and the “’origenists”, who preferred the allegory and accepted some
other theories of the Church Father recently passed away, such as the theory of<i> apokastasis,</i> or even the pre-existence
of the souls. The dispute between the two parties consisted in the fact if the
contemplation of God may be seen as a material act, with other words, if the
ascetics may see God, is God material “after the image and similitude of the
man”, or even more, the act of contemplation is due the man or due the divine
grace? The ascetic and theological ideas
promoted by Cassian in his works suggest that the two Scythian monks knew some
“origenist” monks, probably Evagrius of Pont among those, with whom they shared
the idea about the seven capital sins (in fact 8, by Cassian) and the triple
ascetic life consisting in purification (purgatio or catharsis), illumination
(illuminatio or theoria), respectively deification (unitio, or theosis). <o:p></o:p></div>
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The fight between the
two ascetic visions ended about 15 years after John and Germanus came here. In
399 the “antropomorphists” helped by patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria,
started a war against the “origenists” who fled in other locations. Together
with the most known “origenists”, the so-called “Long Brothers”, John and
Germanus left Egypt and went to Constantinople, where they appealed the
archbishop St. John Chrysostomos for his protection. In the meantime Cassian
was ordained deacon and Germanus priest, and they became members of the clergy
from the capital city. There is a hypothesis that Cassian took the name of John
just in this period, in honor of his protector. Anyway the attacks of
Theophilus went further against the “origenists” and St. John Chrysostomos was
condemned and deposed after the Oak council (404). One of the accusations was
the fact that he accepted the origenist teachings as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Latin-speaking
Cassian left Constantinople for Rome in the next year together with Germanus,
where they tried to find support for Chrysostomos, pleading his cause before
Pope Innocent I. After this moment there
is no other mention about Germanus, so he might died in this period. Another
possibility is that Germanus went later with Cassian together in the monastery
of Marseille, or even that he came back home in Scythia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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During the Roman
period, Cassian met the future pope Leo the Great, with whom he bound a
friendship for the whole life. After a new rise in the East, in Antioch and
Palestine (where probably he was ordained priest; after other sources, only
after his return in Rome), he received the proposition to establish himself in
Gaul and to found there a monastery after the rules he have seen in Egypt. This thing happened around 415, when he
arrived in Marseilles and founded the Abbey of St. Victor, a complex of
monasteries for both monks and nuns. The church of the monastery was built on
the grave of a martyr from the 3rd century. In any case, the monastic life was
brought in Gaul not by Cassian. The asceticism in Provence existed already
through the abbey of Menerfes founded by Bishop Castor of Apt and the one in
Lerins, led by Bishop Honoratus. But the special merit of St. John Cassian is
that he brought the Egyptian monastic discipline in the West, and his monastery
served as a model for the later monastic development in the western Christianity.
The achievements and writings of St. John Cassian influenced St. Benedict, who
took some of the main ascetic principles in his monastic rule and recommended
the reading of the Cassian’s <i>corpus</i>
of writings. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Writings of St. John Cassian<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In Marseille, St. John
Cassian started to write his well known works. Around 417-418 he published <i>the Monastic institutions</i> (<i>De institutions coenobitorum et de octo
principalium vitiorum remediis libri XII</i>), at the request of Castor, bishop
of Apt and the future Pope Leo I. This work deals with the organization of the
monastic communities, discussing about clothing, prayer and rules of the
monastic life (the first 4 books) and about morality and the eight vices and their cure (gluttony, lust, avarice,
hubris, wrath, envy, akedia and boasting - in the books 5 to 12).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some years later
(after 420, but no later than 426) Cassian wrote his “interviews”, also known
as <i>“Conferences”, </i>or <i>“Collationes”</i> (, that means, vesperal
meals, in Latin: <i>Collationes Patrum in
scetica eremo</i>), dedicated to the archdeacon Leo, the bishop of Frejus and
the monk Helladius, and who deals with “the training of the inner man and the
perfection of the heart”, being in this way the second part of his work, the
first being a “corporeal” training. This second book receives some completions
around 426 - 429 (books 18 to 24) addressed specially to the hermit monks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, in 430 St.
John wrote his third book, <i>On the
incarnation of the Lord (De incarnation Domini contra Nestorium libri VII</i>),
at the request of the archdeacon Leo, the future Pope Leo the Great. Its text
may be seen as a preparing text for the third ecumenical council, dealing with
the doctrine of Nestorius and mentioning about the title of Theotokos given to
the Virgin Mary. All the writings of
John Cassian are in Latin; subsequently they were translated into Greek for the
use of the monks, which is a great privilege and honor, no very often met in
the Old Church. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t8Zmp_3tY8c/UXmAGXke-9I/AAAAAAAAWs0/Yq-HwNV2pAM/s1600/ioan_casian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t8Zmp_3tY8c/UXmAGXke-9I/AAAAAAAAWs0/Yq-HwNV2pAM/s320/ioan_casian.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
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<b>Teaching of St. John Cassian<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The most important
teachings of St. John Cassian consist in his triple ascetic vision about
purification, illumination and deification, which has been later taken into the
later catholic theology about the three ways. During the first level, the monk
struggle against the most “material” sins and against the desire through his
ascetic life. Later, during the illumination he practices the holiness revealed
in the Gospel through the teaching received from God in his Sermon on the
Mount, based on the exercise of love. The final stage of the unification with
God (theosis) is rarely received by a monk and described after the union of
marriage from Canticum. This stage is usually accompanied with the refuge of
the monk in solitude.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another notable
teaching of John Cassian implies the soteriology. He opposed Pelagius, who
believed that the human receives the salvation through his own struggle,
without the divine help, but also he dissagreed Augustine, who emphasized the
importance of the original sin and stated for the absolute need of the divine
grace in starting a holy life. Cassian adopted a middle point of view which was
later condemned as semi-pelagianism, because he stated in some of his
conferences that the first steps in salvation are in the power of the
individual, without the need of God’s help (Conferences: book 3: with Abba
Paphnutius, book 5 with Abba Serapion and book 13 with Abba Chaeremon). This
position was condemned about 100 years later, at the local council of Orange
(southern France) in 529, when the Augustinian theory was accepted as the normative
soteriological theology for the Catholic Church. In any case his theory is
accepted as normative in the Orthodox Church, who interpretes his theology quite
differently, as not contradicting the work of the divine Grace in any of the
phases of the human struggle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Veneration of Sts. John Cassian and Germanus<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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St. Cassian died in
435 in Marseille and was buried in the church of St. Victor Monastery he built.
His relics are kept until today in an underground chapel of the monastery,
during his skull and right hand are in a reliquary in the main church. About
St. Germanus there is no more data after the two friends came to Rome in 403.
The saintness of John Cassian was generally recognized in the Church since the
beginnings. In 470, when Genadius compsed his <i>De viris illustribus,</i> he named John Cassian as „<i>sanctus Cassianus</i>”, a title used by many
popes speaking about him, such as St. Gregory the Great in a letter addressed
to the Abbess Respecta from Marseille (PL LXXII, col. 866), or Benedict XIV who
wrote that there is not permitted any doubt about his sanctity (<i>De canonizatione sanctorum</i> II, 29). He
is also included in the Gallican and the Roman Martyrology on 23 July. Even if
not included in the general Calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, the local
Church of Marseille celebrates his feast day on 23 July, during the Eastern
Orthodox Churches usually on 29 February in the bissextile year, or on 28, in
the rest years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Romanian Orthodox
Church canonized shortly (in 1992) also his friend, St. Germanusso that the two
saints are jointly celebrated in the same day of the year. In the village
Casimcea near Constanta it has been built in the last years a monastery in the
honor of Saint John Cassian. (see: http://www.crestinortodox.ro/sarbatori/sfintii-ioan-casian-gherman/manastirea-sfantul-ioan-casian-67838.html)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Orthodox Hermeneia</i> of Dionysios of Furna, a Greek theologian and
painter (17th-18th centuries) describes that St. John Cassian shall be painted
as an old monk, with sharp beard, carrying in his hands the inscription:
"Too much sleep come together with the lack of abstinence, during the
watchfulness rather sends away the naughtiness, such as the smoke [rushes] the
bees [and, such as a fire burns]."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Troparion (Hymn) of the Saints<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>St. John Cassian</b>: <o:p></o:p></div>
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The image of God was
truly preserved in you, O Father, for you took up the Cross and followed
Christ. By so doing you taught us to disregard the flesh for it passes away but
to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal. Therefore your spirit,
venerable John Cassian, rejoices with the angels!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>St. Germanus:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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You concerned with thy
labors, with unremitting vigils, with prayer and fasting, Blessed Father
Germanus, along with St. John Cassian, coming from the land of Dobrogea, and
you worthly received the flows of the priestly grace through the prayer of John
Chrysostom. You have earned by your zeal wealth of spiritual gifts from the
Holy Land and therefore you made worthy many people to follow Christ. Therefore,
Father of Dobrogea, pray Christ our God to save our souls!<o:p></o:p></div>
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-2023113311149847532013-02-25T22:05:00.000+02:002013-04-25T22:10:08.746+03:00Saint Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pwLSdlYIktQ/UXl-5RJMENI/AAAAAAAAWsQ/Jnktv-TqI60/s1600/St.+Tarasios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pwLSdlYIktQ/UXl-5RJMENI/AAAAAAAAWsQ/Jnktv-TqI60/s320/St.+Tarasios.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Saint Tarasios, patriarch of
Constantinople (784 - 806) is known in the Church history as the one who leaded
the ecumenical synod which conducted to the re-establishment of the icons cult
in the Byzantine Empire, being celebrated on 25 February. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tarasios as layman<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The most important source
about his life is the <i>Life of Tarasios </i>written
by Ignatios, his deacon and secretary. Another source is the Chronicle of
Theophanes Confessor and the life and the correspondence of Saint Theodore of
Studion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tarasios was born in
Constantinople around 730, being the son of the eparch Georgios and his wife
Enkrateia. At the time when Constantine VI and his mother, Irene took the
throne of the Byzantine Empire (780), Tarasios was a functionary in the
bureaucratic apparatus (<i>protasekretis</i>)
of the imperial court. Later he attained the rank of senator, and finally
became imperial secretary (<i>asekretis</i>)
to the Emperor Constantine VI the Porphyrogenetos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Eastern Empire was at
the time influenced by the oriental iconoclastic doctrines, imposed by the Isaurian
Dynasty, came from the regions at the borders with the new Islamic world. The
iconoclastic fight was with no means easier than the one of the ancient Roman
emperors against the Christians. The <i>ikonodouloi
</i>(defenders of the icons) were beaten and even killed, and many churches
were vandalized. The Church in Rome refused to remain in communion with the
patriarch of Constantinople, who at that time was a partisan of the official politics.
Only after the death of Leo IV (775/780) and the beginning of the reign of his
minor son Constantine VI (780/797) under the regency of his mother, Irene, the
situation of the icons started to change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The latter iconoclastic
patriarch Paulos IV repented for his former iconoclasm and resigned of his
throne (31 August 784), living as a simple monk. In this situation, the empress
called a local council at her palace of Magnaura and after consulting the
former patriarch, the people and the noblemen, she decided to propose Tarasios
for this position, who at the time was a simple layman. The Chronicle of
Theophanes reproduces the discourse of Tarasios who refused, but anyway he let
himself convinced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Nevertheless, like all
educated Byzantines, Tarasios was well versed in theology, and the election of
qualified laymen as bishops was not the first in the history of the Church
(similar cases being St. Ambrose and probably St. Nicholas of Myra). Tarasios
accepted the function on condition that church unity would be restored with the
other Patriarchates and Rome, and that it will be held a synod for the
restoring of the icons. During the next days he was ordained deacon and then
priest. The consecration as bishop and patriarch was held on the Christmas day
in 784. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kO93s0rZZjw/UXl-4zVbTJI/AAAAAAAAWsI/Ci9qBU0DK50/s1600/Seventh_ecumenical_council_(russian+Icon).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kO93s0rZZjw/UXl-4zVbTJI/AAAAAAAAWsI/Ci9qBU0DK50/s320/Seventh_ecumenical_council_(russian+Icon).jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Icon of the seventh Ecumenical Council</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The 7<sup>th</sup> Ecumenical Council<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As patriarch, Tarasios
persuaded Empress Irene to write to Pope Hadrian I, inviting him to send
delegates to Constantinople for a new council, in order to repudiate the
iconoclastic heresy. The answer came on 26 October 785. The pope argued that
the election of a layman as patriarch was against the canons, but finally he
accepted the situation, in order to reestablish the ecclesiastical communion.
The Pope agreed to send delegates, and it was convened that the synod will be held
in the Church of the Holy Apostles on August 17, 786. During the last
preparatory reunion, on 31 July, in the absence of the patriarch some rebel
soldier troops, faithful to the former iconoclastic emperor Constantine V,
distorted the calm and insulted the bishops and monks chasing them away. Anyway
the patriarch and the empress maintained their position to hold the
council. The situation repeated during
the inaugural seating. Tarasios and the Abbot Plato of Sakkoudion (the mentor
of St. Theodore of Stoudion) have held discourses, but they couldn’t go with
the chaos created by the soldiers. Later, the mutinous troops were removed from
the city: the empress motivated the danger of a Muslim attack and sent them in
Asia Minor, bringing instead some favorable troops from Thracia, known as
iconodules. The situation still did not make possible the synod, which was held
only a year later, starting on 24 September 787 in the cathedral of St. Sophia
from Nicaea, and not in the capital city. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BcdO0hEL800/UXl-5lQ1yzI/AAAAAAAAWsU/iyNepZntuhY/s1600/another+icon+of+the+7th+council.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BcdO0hEL800/UXl-5lQ1yzI/AAAAAAAAWsU/iyNepZntuhY/s320/another+icon+of+the+7th+council.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">icon of the seventh Ecumenical Council</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The synod is recognized as the 7th
Ecumenical Council or as the Second Council of Nicaea. Even if called as
usually by the emperor, no crowned head participated to the reunions. The
Patriarch served as acting chairman of the 365 reunited bishops who condemned
the iconoclasm and formally approved the veneration of icons. The official closing of the reunion happened
on 23 October in the Magnaura Palace, the residence of Irene. Tarasios and
Irene accepted easily the re-integration of the formal iconoclastic bishops who
repented and to all those who promised they will change their opinions. This clemency
was strongly criticized by the monks from Stoudion, the strongest partisans
during the iconoclastic disputes. In any case, the politics of the Patriarch
made that in the next period there wasn’t any iconoclast resistance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iHeIyqZrGuQ/UXl-3mPWl_I/AAAAAAAAWr4/Lw_6k3QQQNI/s1600/Irene+-+Image+from+Pala+d'Oro+-+Venice+c.+10th+century.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iHeIyqZrGuQ/UXl-3mPWl_I/AAAAAAAAWr4/Lw_6k3QQQNI/s320/Irene+-+Image+from+Pala+d'Oro+-+Venice+c.+10th+century.jpg" width="172" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irene - Image from Pala d'Oro - Venice, 10th century</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The latter years<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Seven years later Tarasios
involved in the controversy started by Constantine VI who divorced his wife,
Maria of Amnia, accusing her of trying to poison him. Tarasios approved tacitly
the situation and the constantinopolitan monks were scandalized by the
patriarch's consent. Abbot Plato of Sakkoudion and his nephew Theodore the
Studite were exiled because of their position, but the uproar continued. Much
of the anger was directed at Tarasios for allowing the marriage of the emperor
to Theodota, although he had refused to officiate himself. Only later, after
Constantine VI lost his throne in favor of his mother (18 august 797), and
under severe pressure from Theodore, Tarasios excommunicated Joseph, the priest
who had conducted this illegitimated marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The last years of his
patriarchate were marked by a new usurpation. Nikephoros, a patrician from
Seleucia, appointed finance minister by Irene, contrived to dethrone and exile
Irene, with the help of the patricians and eunuchs. He was chosen as Emperor in
her stead on 31 October 802, and Tarasios crowned him against the public
opinion, doing later the same with Staurakios as co-emperor in 803. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GoAXu0xuNjM/UXl-4d_vHYI/AAAAAAAAWsA/yq7vRxRRwYc/s1600/St+Theodore+of+Studios.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GoAXu0xuNjM/UXl-4d_vHYI/AAAAAAAAWsA/yq7vRxRRwYc/s320/St+Theodore+of+Studios.JPG" width="269" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saint Theodore from Stoudion Monastery</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tarasios had had a weak
personality, but he served the three imperial regimes of Constantine, Irene and
Nikephoros with loyalty. Anyway, his reputation suffered from criticism of his
alleged tolerance of the elected bishops through simony, although he published
an official document condemning this practice. In spite of these weak
organizational skills, Tarasios lived a very austere life and spent his money
on God-pleasing ends, feeding and giving comfort to the aged, to the
impoverished, and to widows and orphans. Every year on Easter, he set out a
meal for them, that he served himself. He commanded the building of a monastery
on the European shore of Bosporus Strait which later took his name. He died on
25 February 806 and was buried in his monastery. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-92G_xu2dJEA/UXl-5rJI8iI/AAAAAAAAWsY/fnyr5oHgj5w/s1600/Tarasios+-+icon+in+the+Prologue+of+Ochrid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-92G_xu2dJEA/UXl-5rJI8iI/AAAAAAAAWsY/fnyr5oHgj5w/s320/Tarasios+-+icon+in+the+Prologue+of+Ochrid.jpg" width="111" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Veneration<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though some scholars have
been critical of Tarasios’ weakness before imperial power, the patriarch was
revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches for his defense of the use of icons,
and his struggle for the peace and unity of the Church. His feast day is
celebrated on February 25 both in the Eastern and the Western Churches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Troparion (hymn) of Saint Tarasios<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You shone forth as a light of the Spirit, adorned with
an exemplary life and clothed in hierarchical vesture. You stilled the
turbulence of heresy and became a pillar and foundation of the Church, which
praises your struggles, holy Father Tarasios!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-55434002718973200302013-01-25T22:03:00.000+02:002013-04-25T22:03:53.793+03:00Saints Bretanion and Theotimus, Bishops of Tomis<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IhxZ11Lgva8/UXl9ZXzUflI/AAAAAAAAWq8/uuS8NBxbJgg/s1600/SfTeotim.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IhxZ11Lgva8/UXl9ZXzUflI/AAAAAAAAWq8/uuS8NBxbJgg/s320/SfTeotim.JPG" width="223" /></a><br />
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The Christianity has been spread in Scythia Minor, as Eusebius of Caesarea noted in his Ecclesiastical Story (3,1), through the preaching of Andrew the Apostle. This tradition came from Origenes (Commentary on Genesis 24,9, PG 12, 92). In any case, there are early mentions about the Christian life in this province, so that there are known the Martyrical Acts of Epictetus and Astion (died 290) and together with their martyrium there is also known that 14 days after their death Evangelicus, the first bishop of Tomis, came in Halmyris in order to baptize the parents of saint Astion. There is no more information about this bishop. Anyway, an inscription discovered in 1974 in Constanta (the modern city built on the ruins of Tomis) confirms the existence of a bishop named Titus or Philus during the persecution of Licinius (308-324) who might have died martyrically and who is commemorated on Jaunary 3. Another bishop named Gordian might have died also during the persecution of Licinius, around 324, together with Sts. Macrobius, Helias, Zoticus, Lucian and Valerian, being commemorated on September 13. In the Roman Martyrology, Gordian (named here as bishop) is commemorated together with Macrobius and Valerian on September 15. There is also an anonymous Scythian bishop who participated at the first ecumenical synod from Nicaea (325), as Eusebius writes (Life of Constantine III, 7). More information there is known about the next bishops of Tomis, Bretanion and Theotimus.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zXEBm1t7BfQ/UXl9ZCZAXeI/AAAAAAAAWq4/I8Y0FBbEbt0/s1600/bretanion350+-+bad+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zXEBm1t7BfQ/UXl9ZCZAXeI/AAAAAAAAWq4/I8Y0FBbEbt0/s320/bretanion350+-+bad+image.jpg" width="254" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>Saint Bretanion</b><br />
<br />
Saint Bretanion of Tomis, also known as Brettanio, Bretanio or Vetranion is the fourth known bishop of the city at the shore of the Black Sea (the first being Evangelicus, 295-300), celebrated from the old times on January 25 (Acta Sanctorum Januarii, tom III, Paris 1873, p. 235). He was originally from Cappadocia, being born in a Christian family. There is unknown how he came to be bishop in Tomis, but he was already in his office in 369, when Valens (364-378) knew him personally during his way to Noviodunum, where the emperor closed an armistice with the Goths. Valens stopped in Tomis and visited the cathedral of the capital city of Scythia Minor, moment which he met the bishop and tried to impose to him the arian beliefs. The historian Sozomenos (Historia Ecclesiastica 6,21, Migne, PG 67, 1343-1345) tells about this episode: “It is said that … the Scythians adhered with firmness to their faith. There are in this country a great number of cities, villages, and fortresses. The metropolis is called Tomi; it is a large and populous city, and lies on the sea-shore to the left of one sailing to the sea, called the Euxine. According to an ancient custom which still prevails, all the churches of the whole country are under the sway of one bishop. Vetranio ruled over these churches at the period that the emperor visited Tomi. Valens repaired to the church, and strove, according to his usual custom, to gain over the bishop to the heresy of Arius; but this latter manfully opposed his arguments, and after a courageous defense of the Nicene doctrines, quitted the emperor and proceeded to another church, whither he was followed by the people. Almost the entire city had crowded to see the emperor, for they expected that something extraordinary would result from this interview with the bishop. Valens was extremely offended at being left alone in the church with his attendants, and in resentment, condemned Vetranio to banishment. Not long after, however, he recalled him, because, I believe, he apprehended an insurrection; for the Scythians were offended at the absence of their bishop. He well knew that the Scythians were a courageous nation, and that their country, by the position of its places, possessed many natural advantages which rendered it necessary to the Roman Empire, for it served as a barrier to ward off the barbarians. Thus was the intention of the ruler openly frustrated by Vetranio. The Scythians themselves testify that he was good in all other respects and eminent for the virtue of his life.” Theodoret of Cyrus tells the same story in his Historia Ecclesiastica (IV,35).<br />
The bishop might be the author of a letter knew as the martyrical act of Saint Sabbas (Sava) from Buzau, celebrated on April 372, who died as a martyr by the hand of the Goths in 372, in the region situated northern of Danube. Saint Basil of Caesarea asked Iunius Soranus, the dux of Scythia Minor, for the relics of the Saint, which probably remained for a while in Tomis in their way to Cappadocia. Anyway there are some voices denying the possible tomitan paternity of this text, because it was written “from the will of the presbytery”, that means a college, which could be only situated in the northern territories: in all Scythia was only one bishop, as cited below. There is one more hypothesis that Bretanion would be the receiver of St. Basil’s thanking letters no. 164 and 165 for the transportation of these Relics, but the evidence (the mention of Ascholius from Thessaloniki) stays against such an hypothesis.<br />
Saint Bretanion probably died on January 25, when he was celebrated and had as his successor the Bishop Gerontius, also known as Terentius or Terennius, who participated at the second Ecumenical Council from Constantinople (381).<br />
<br />
<b>Worship of Saint Bretanion</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The byzantine synaxaries don’t mention about this saint, but the Roman Martyrology does, commemorating him on January 25. Today he is celebrated in the Romanian Orthodox Church at this date and there is a monastery dedicated to him in the village “23 August” near Constanţa.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JUMlrk19NwU/UXl9ag3pvBI/AAAAAAAAWrU/tjC61cFSyTE/s1600/sfantul-teotim-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JUMlrk19NwU/UXl9ag3pvBI/AAAAAAAAWrU/tjC61cFSyTE/s1600/sfantul-teotim-.jpg" /></a><br />
<b>Saint Theotimus</b><br />
<br />
Another bishop of Tomis commemorated as saint is Theotimus, who was in office in the second half of the 4th century and the beginning of the next one, being contemporary to some of the Great Fathers such as St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. There are no information about his birth and the place where he acknowledged his theological formation but, as contemporary of the locals St. John Cassian and St. Germanus, he might have lived together with them in the cave monasteries of the Cassians. As bishop of Tomis he was elected around 380-395 years after the death of his predecessor, Gerontius, though this fact is also a hypothesis.<br />
There are some details about him in the works of some contemporary church writers. St. Jerome is the first who mentions him in his „De viris illustribus”, chapter 131, as in 392 bearing the title "Scythiae Tomorum episcopus." He says that: „Theotimus, bishop of Tomis in Scythia, wrote small treatise in dialogue-form, in old-style eloquence; I hear that he writes other works also”<br />
Among the Greek-speaking Writers, the historian Sozomenos called him „the Scythian Theotimus” which shows that he was a local. Later, Nicephorus Callistus, in the 14th century calls him as „man from Scythian nation and barbarian” (Hist. Eccl. XII, 45, Migne PG 146, col. 908).<br />
Description: Church historian Sozomenos makes a portrait of a great moral sensibility and literary beauty, and also featuring the work of missionary held among barbarian Huns. Here's what he wrote: “The church of Tomi, and indeed all the churches of Scythia, were at this period under the government of Theotimus, a Scythian. He had been brought up in the practice of philosophy; and his virtues had so won the admiration of the barbarian Huns, who dwelt on the banks of the Ister, that they called him the god of the Romans, for they had experience of divine deeds wrought by him. It is said that one day, when traveling toward the country of the barbarians, he perceived some of them advancing towards Tomi. His attendants burst forth into lamentations, and gave themselves up at once for lost; but he merely descended from horseback, and prayed. The consequence was that the barbarians passed by without seeing him, his attendants, or the horses from which they had dismounted. As these tribes frequently devastated Scythia by their predatory incursions, he tried to subdue the ferocity of their disposition by presenting them with food and gifts. One of the barbarians hence concluded that he was a man of wealth, and, determining to take him prisoner, leaned upon his shield, as was his custom when parleying with his enemies; the man raised up his right hand in order to throw a rope, which he firmly grasped, over the bishop, for he intended to drag him away to his own country; but in the attempt, his hand remained extended in the air, and the barbarian was not released from his terrible bonds until his companions had implored Theotimus to intercede with God in his behalf.<br />
It is said that Theotimus always retained the long hair (Kometes) which he wore when he first devoted himself to the practice of philosophy. He was very temperate, had no stated hours for his repasts, but ate and drank when compelled to do so by the calls of hunger and of thirst. I consider it to be the part of a philosopher to yield to the demands of these appetites from necessity, and not from the love of sensual gratification."(Sozomenos, Hist. Eccl. 7,26, in Migne, PG 67, 1497-1500).<br />
This description makes us realize the missionary zeal and the gift of miracles that Theotimus had, but also the harsh circumstances of his mission at Tomis.<br />
Saint Theotimus possessed and practiced the „monastic philosophy” and loved the „asceticism”, which in the Greek culture was associated with the philosophy. On the other hand, the term designating the long hair, „cometes” reminds about the „comati”, the title of which the noble Dacians (locals) were designated.<br />
Another Christian writer, Socrates, said about Saint Theotimus that he was „a bishop celebrated for his piety and rectitude of life” (Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6,12, Migne, PG 67,701)<br />
During this period there are known some monasteries and hermitages in Scythia Minor, which were famous through their asceticism and who became in the 5th and 6th cnturies known throughout the empire because of the famous „Scythian monks” spread both in the regions situated between Danube and theCarpathians, and in Jerusalem, Constantinople, Rome and Africa. The ruins of their basilicas can be seen until today, being large and beautifully decorated with mosaics. This shows indirectly an impressive number of believers in the Scythian regions in these centuries.<br />
Emperor Arcadius of the Eastern Roman Empire have heard about Theotimus, because of his friendship with St. John Chrysostom. The archbishop of Constantinople sent in 399 some missionary monks „for the nomadic Scythians of the Ister”, probably being asked by Theotimus (Theodoret of Cyrus, Hist. Eccl. 5, 31). These nomads may be in fact the huns and there is supposed that the mission was successfub, because Jerome mentioned that „the Huns learn the Psalter and the coldness of Scythia is warmed by the heat of the faith” (Jerome, Letter 107).<br />
In 399 or 400, Theotimus took part in a local synod of Constantinople, convened by Saint John Chrysostomus against the bishop Antoninus of Ephesus who was condemned for heresy (Palladius of Helenopolis, Life of St. John Chrysostom, in Migne, PG 47, 179). He was very appreciated among other bishops, and this result from the fact that Theotimus is mentioned the first in the list of those who signed the documents of the council.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bDyh6IcwqQI/UXl9Z3gpvPI/AAAAAAAAWrI/aKQB32aBafQ/s1600/1240_teotim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bDyh6IcwqQI/UXl9Z3gpvPI/AAAAAAAAWrI/aKQB32aBafQ/s320/1240_teotim.jpg" width="234" /></a><br />
A few years later it arose a division among the theologians about the religious orthodoxy of the writings of Origenes, who died as a martyr about 150 years before (in 254). Renowned theologians and bishops as Theophilus of Alexandria and Epiphanius of Salamis claimed that Origen's work contains heretical teachings and as such, he must be condemned. Epiphanius came just in Constantinople, trying to convince John Chrysostomus to sign the condemnation of Origenes, but John refused. In the midst of these discussions, Theotimus came in Constantinople and participated at the Synod of the Oak, near Chalcedon, in 403, where he defenced the position of St. John Chrysostomus, blamed for supporting the Origenist monks. Sozomenos wrot that „Theotimus, bishop of Scythia, strongly opposed the proceedings of Epiphanius, and told him that it was not right to cast insult on the memory of one who had long been numbered with the dead; nor was it without blasphemy to assail the conclusion to which the ancients had arrived on the subject, and to set aside their decisions” (Sozomenos, Hist. Eccl. 8,14 in Migne, PG 67,334, cf. Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6,12, Migne PG 67,701). From these words we can believe that Theotimus enjoyed a great prestige among the theologians, as Socrates reproduces only his opinion on the work of Origenes. Moreover, this history ends his account of Theotimus with the words: „a bishop celebrated for his piety and rectitude of life” cited above (Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6,12, Migne, PG 67,701)<br />
Jerome attested the written works of Theotimus, but there are not kept until today. Anyway there are some small sentences atributed to Theotimus in a writing of St. John from Damasus (+749) with the title „The saint parallels” (Ta hiera parallela/Sacra parallela): "the one who sins in thought, by the very fastness of the thought, he commits the sin completely, while the deeds of the body can be broken through many barriers” (John of Damascus, Holy parallels, 2,9 in Migne, PG 96, 241 A);”The bad thing is not to suffer harshly, but to suffer according to the righteousness” (ibid, 520B); „Remembering truly about God is to remember the life, and forgetting Him is to die” (ibid, 520B)<br />
The saint died probably in the first years of the 5th century, after the Synod at the Oak held in July 403, where his friend, St. John Chrysostomus was condemned and deposed from his seat.<br />
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<b>Worship of Saint Theotimus </b><br />
<br />
According to Acta Sanctorum (tom II/Xi, p. 753, Paris, 1866), St. Theotimus is commemorated on April 20 for „his holiness and his miracles”. Probably the date of the commemoration is the day he might have died. There is a monastery dedicated to St. Theotimus in Murfatlar, near Constanta.<br />
In the both cases of Sts. Bretanion and Theotimus there are no relics known to be held anywhere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIOqT9rZGIk/UXl9a5wVV7I/AAAAAAAAWrc/TCIP-qNEcSI/s1600/murfatlar+-+church+for+st.+theotimus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIOqT9rZGIk/UXl9a5wVV7I/AAAAAAAAWrc/TCIP-qNEcSI/s320/murfatlar+-+church+for+st.+theotimus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monastery of St. Theotimus in Constanta</td></tr>
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<b>The troparion (hymn) of the both saints is the usual troparion to a hierarch: </b><br />
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“The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility and riches through poverty. O hierarch Bretanion (*Theotimus) our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved!”<br />
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-18964004360058099032013-01-13T21:56:00.000+02:002013-04-25T21:57:37.728+03:00St. Martyrs Ermil (Ermilus) and Stratonicus<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">The Martyr Saints Ermil and Stratonicus, in Greek ῞Ερμυλος and Στρατόνικος, or in Serbian Свети мученици, Eрмил и Cтратонjк бэлгрaдски (Sts. Martyrs Ermil and Stratonic of Belgrade) lived in 3rd – 4th centuries in the Roman province Illyricum, located on the middle course of the Danube, and received their martyrdom at Singidunum (the today Belgrade), being celebrated on January 13, their day of passage to the Lord. Their life and martyrdom are found in three variants, the earlier probably released in the late sixth century (according to a study published in the introduction to their lives in Analecta Bollandiana, vol 30, pp. 156 ff., and in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, N. 744 - 745b). Anyway the five manuscripts of this version are, perhaps from the 10th century. Another biography, which is the current used in the Orthodox churches was processed by Simeon Metaphrastes in his Vitae Sanctorum in the 9th century in Constantinople. It is found in volume 114 of JP Migne's Patrologia Graeca, cols. 554-566. A major study on the three different versions of the biography wrote F. Halkin in Trois textes grecs inédits sur les SS. Hermyle et Stratonice martyrs à Singidunum in Analecta Bollandiana vol 89, 1971, pp. 5-45.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>Their martyrdom</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">The life and martyrdom of saints Ermil and Stratonicus and is closely related to the changing social and political situation of the early fourth century. Diocletian (384-305) is considered one of the fiercest persecutors of the Christians, but even after his death, the fate of the Christians did not change for the better. The coming in charge of Licinius (307-324) in Illyricum, province which included the regions on the middle Danube and the Western Balkans, has brought a new persecution against the Christians. Licinius was together with Constantine the Great, one of the signatories of the Edict of Tolerance (Milan, 313), but he suddenly began a new wave of persecution against Christians. Shortly after taking his office, he asked his officials to denounce the people who respected the „law of Christ” and to bring them before the judgment seat.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">St. Ermil, icon in St. Aleksander cathedral from Sofia, Bulgaria</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">Ermil, a Christian deacon from Singidunum (a city on the Danube), was denounced by a soldier to the local authorities, that he was a Christian, being accused that he was despising the Roman gods and the official cult of the Empire. St. Simeon Metaphrastes reports that Ermil was brought before the Caesar, at his command. Ermil received the accusation with joy and said he would come to the court without opposition, so there was no need to be bound. Brought to the emperor and asked why he do not serve the pagan gods, Ermil replied that he serves „only the invisible God who made the world and not some dull and lifeless gods made with hands from wood or stone”. Hearing this, Licinius ordered that Ermil to be beaten on his face with a metal whip. Asked repeatedly to sacrifice to the Roman gods, the saint ignored the torments and refused the offer, confessing God as his savior.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">After heavier tortures, the Caesar commanded that the saint to be taken to prison, where he would have three days as time to think on his final position. But here it came to him an angel of the Lord who comforted him, saying „Dare, Ermil and not be fear, for you will soon overcome the tyrant and you will receive the bright crown of martyrdom!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">After three days of prison, Ermil was brought back to the court and asked if he changed his mind. But he again confessed his Christian faith. Then he was beaten and tortured even more terrible, but he endured all without uttering a single groan. Instead he praised incessantly his Lord. At one point it was heard a voice from heaven and the soldiers who tortured him told this to Licinius. The voice announced that over three days Ermil would be free from pain. Licinius was frightened by the news came from the soldiers, but he still ordered the deacon to be taken back into the prison.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">All these facts witnessed Stratonicus the prison warden where Ermil was closed. He was also secretly a Christian and knew the deacon already since long ago. He looked stealthily the wounds of the deacon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">St. Ermil was brought for the third time to trial and again he refused to deny his faith. Of course, the emperor ordered the soldiers to tear deep the deacon’s body and especially his womb with iron nails. But the saint remained steadfast in the faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">One of the soldiers has seen that Stratonicus was crying and cared the injuries of the deacon, and defeated him to Licinius. This fact made the Caesar to ask Stratonicus to sacrifice to idols, but he also confessed that he was an old friend of Ermil and a hidden Christian who refuses the sacrifice to the fake idols. For this confession, Stratonicus was stripped of his clothes and beaten with sticks. During the beating he turned to Ermil, asking him to pray to God, in order to be kept in his faith and to be able to endure the torments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">After this torture, the two were taken back into prison and later Licinius tried once more to persuade them to deny the faith, but without success. Finally, the emperor decided Ermil to be hung in a tree and his body to be chopped with knives, and thrown into the Danube.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">image from the Menologion of Basil II - Constantinople, 985</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">Brought to trial, Stratonicus didn’t accept the last proposal. He confessed that he doesn’t know a happier death than enduring martyrdom for the faith in Christ and that the greatest joy for him would be to accompany in the eternal life his good friend, Ermil. So he was also killed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">The martyrdom of Ermil and Stratonicus happened on January 13, 314 or 315 (according to the Russian Orthodox encyclopedia Православнуя энциклопедия), 18 stages (about 3 km) away from Singidunum (Belgrade today). Their bodies were recovered from the waters of the Danube three days later, by the local Christians. They have put the two saints together in one coffin, in order that they would be together remembered, because they were joined in their faith in Christ and friendship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">According to some other sources, the two saints died in 303, that means before the Great Persecution of Diocletian and Galerius. This date cannot be accepted, because in this way the events would have been occurred before Licinius (307 -324).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">In the old Byzantine synaxaries the celebrations of the two saints were on January 13 and June 1st. But this date is not always remembered the same. In a Palestinian-Georgian calendar from the 10th century (Sinaiticus Georgian manuscris no. 34) the memory of the saints is on January 14. The Martyrology of Jerome remembers a martyr named Hermilus on August 3, without mentioning the place of the martyrdom. In some other Western Martyrologies from the 9th century (Florus, Usuard, Adon from Vienna) the name of the martyr is written as Hermellus,and his place of death is Constantinople. Baronius, based on the Byzantine synaxarion introduced in the Roman Martyrology the memory of Ermil and Stratonicus on January 13, but also on August 3 (the memory of Hermellus from Constantinople alone). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">The nationality of the two saints is uncertain. The Romanian synaxaries attest that they would have been Daco-Romans (local Romans, maybe Romanized Dacians or Thracians), but in the meantime the Serbian ones attest a supposedly Slavic origin, which is totally improbable, because there were no Slavs in the Area at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">Their skulls were located in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia from Constantinople by a Russian pilgrim named Anthony, about in 1200. Today there is no mention about their relics, as far I have researched.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">Today the Holy Martyrs Ermil and Stratonicus are the patron saints of the Serbian capital - Belgrade. The Museum of Belgrade celebrate Sts. Ermil and Stratonicus as patrons of the institution and a paraklis (chapel) of the Cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade) is dedicate to these Holy Martyrs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>Troparion (hymn) of the martyrs:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their struggles received crowns of incorruptibility from Thee our God: for with Thy strength they wiped out tyrants, and overcame demons, rendering them powerless. By their intercessions, O Christ our God, save our souls!</i></span></div>
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<br />dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-31465997794036418162013-01-10T21:51:00.000+02:002013-04-25T21:51:16.855+03:00St. Antipa from Calapodeşti and Valaam<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiayiOmzCIigY143GF7UO2KhtgEJ0HWhCaGMudo0qTkdBSk5wsyhBophXJyZ0_UBy4xjvhMD7uYY5qeWlj9WWGZ5wPbOnHVJONwU4oCE8sts9Lua8yYtwjOmc-NztfVAhIl4dKpVYtHzW-1/s1600/a50c82eaac07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiayiOmzCIigY143GF7UO2KhtgEJ0HWhCaGMudo0qTkdBSk5wsyhBophXJyZ0_UBy4xjvhMD7uYY5qeWlj9WWGZ5wPbOnHVJONwU4oCE8sts9Lua8yYtwjOmc-NztfVAhIl4dKpVYtHzW-1/s320/a50c82eaac07.jpg" width="210" /></a><br />
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Saint Antipa, a monk who lived in the nineteenth century in Moldova, Mount Athos and Valaam Monastery in Russia, is known as „Antipa from Calapodeşti” in Romania, or „Antipa from Valaam” in Russia.<br />
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His life he was written by Pimen, abbot of the Monastery of Valaam in northern Russia and a former disciple of the saint, and later included into the so-called "Paterikon (Book containing the lives of the fathers) of Valaam” . The abbot stated that the the parents of the saint were holy close to the church’s life. His father, George Constantin Luchian was a deacon at the church Calapodeşti - village, situated somewhere in the hills region between Bacau and Bârlad - and his mother, Ecaterina Manase later became nun Elizabeth. The couple had no children for a long time, but eventually, their prayers have been answered and God has given them a child in 1816, which they have christened as Alexander, the baptism ceremony being celebrated in the village church.<br />
In the writing about the monks from Valaam monastery saints there is told that the child Alexandru had had unusual powers, so that he got poisonous snakes in his hands and, to the surprise and horror of all, they haven’t done any harm to him.<br />
He taught at the village school book, and this time his father died, leaving him an orphan. To live, he had to learn the art of binding books to help support the family also.<br />
At the age of 20 years, "without warning he was overwhelmed with inexpressible and glorious light, which filled his heart with untold joy". Soon he left his family and went to Neamţ Monastery, one of the largest convents in Moldova, but he was not accepted by the abbot form here. He then went to a monastery in Wallachia; it seems to be Căldăruşani, where it was in high esteem the Athonite monastic order, imposed by Elder Paisie from Neamţ (1722-1794) and his apprentice, Gheorghe from Cernica (1730-1806). Here Alexander was accepted as a novice and later the abbot tonsured him, giving him the name Alipie (Alypios).<br />
At age of 20 he entered the monastery of Brazi, where he led a life of deprivation for two years. Soon he received a much respected charisma in the Eastern tradition, namely the "gift of tears". The hermit Gideon who has been living in seclusion already from 30 years, became his professor for the incessant practice of the "mental prayer" (also known as „Jesus Prayer”, containing the words: „Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner”).<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x_vySUzx2XY/UXl5v5eznuI/AAAAAAAAWoY/2Hg3Ay7pras/s1600/manastirea-calapodesti-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x_vySUzx2XY/UXl5v5eznuI/AAAAAAAAWoY/2Hg3Ay7pras/s1600/manastirea-calapodesti-7.jpg" /></a><br />
As a novice at Brazi, in 1842, he witnessed the discovery of the relics of Metropolitan Theodosius and wrote how that has happened (see the article about St. Teodosie from Brazi, celebrated on September 22).<br />
The saint remained at Brazi for two years and later went to the Holy Mountain of Athos, the "University” of the Eastern Monks. Hes stopped first near a cell of two Romanian monks near Lacu hermitage and later settled in Esphigmenou, where he served for four years in the kitchen.<br />
.During this period he received "great schema" of monasticism, which requires strict fasting, uninterrupted prayer and worship, being once more tonsured as "skimonachos (hermit monk, or in english „skemamonk”) Antipa”. Soon he was ordained deacon and then priest (that means, his title was now „hieroskemamonk”), living in an isolated cell.<br />
After about 20 years at Athos, in 1860, Antipa moved to the new hermitage called Prodromu, a Romanian skete founded by two Moldovan monks, Nifon and Nectarie, finished and consecrated in 1863. Antipa was asked to go to Moldova and raise aid for the completion of the building work, so he setteled for a while in Bucium Metoc from Iaşi, the capital city of Moldova (metoc, or in Greek, metokion, is a monastic dependency placed in a town under the jurisdiction of a monastery, which provides food and money for the monastery’s needs). First appointed for the administration and later as confessor of this dependency, his name comes to be known here, so many believers started to see him as a true example of humility, love and truly Christian living. His strict fasting (he would not eat for days on end), seriousness, zeal, love, kindness and humility (which he kept even in the midst of arguments which still happened) drew people to him. It is said that Metropolitan Sofronie (Miclescu) of Moldova particularly respected him and that that respect was mutual.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valaam monastery and its churches</td></tr>
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Fr Nifon had the idea of going to Russia to get financial help for the skete, taking with him none other than the humble and wise Antipa. This is the way how Antipa went to Russia. He stopped in Kiev, in order to worship the relics of the saints from Pecerska Lavra, then went to Moscow, and finally to St. Petersburg, where he received many aids from various metropolitans, abbots of monasteries and another Christian believers. He was honored especially by Metropolitans Isidore of St Petersburg and Philaret of Moscow. They were themselves spiritual man, the second was canonized as a saint and is celebrated on 19 November.<br />
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Antipa was found worthy to take part in the finding of other relics, namely those of St Tikhon of Zadonsk and invited to take part in the procession by Metropolitan Isidore in person.<br />
There is more to say that St. Antipa had a special piety for the Mother of God who, as the traditions state, showed to him and helped on many occasions and in special needs. That happened once more when Antipa went to Valaam Monastery, situated on an island of Ladoga Lake, near Finland, which impressed him in a particular way. Wherefore, after sending the aids to Prodromu Hermitage in November 1865, he sat forever at Valaam, in cell from the hermitage dedicated to All Saints. He continued here his spiritual struggles, and tried to be useful in the congregation. He has come to receive the Holy Spirit's gifts of prophecy and vision in spirit.<br />
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He was of exemplary asceticism. In his cell there was no bed or chair and he used just a rough blanket on the floor. He used not to taste or to drink anything on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, and in the first week of Lent, and for the other days it was enough for him the food he received Saturdays at noon.<br />
Due to his chosen life, he came to be known in the northern Russia and many monks and believers used to visit him for special services and sermons. Under his direction there were formed many disciples, who followed him into his spiritual path.<br />
After 17 years of this way of living, on January 10, 1882, aged 66 years, the Venerable Antipa passed away foreknowing three days earlier about that. After another sources, he would have suffered an apoplectic attack. He was buried in a crypt of the monastery of Valaam, near the chapel in honor of the Passion of Christ, where the pilgrims could easily come and celebrate his requiem.<br />
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<b>The veneration of St. Antipa</b><br />
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Being known and honored by all for his worthiness, the Abbot Pimen, one of his disciples, wrote and printed the saint’s life in 1883 in St. Petersburg, under the title: "The Life worthy of the memory of Venerable („ieroskimonah”) Antipa”. The book quickly spread and was printed again in 1893.<br />
His fame as a saint was maintained both in Russia and Mount Athos, by those who knew him in life or from the book. So that, in 1906 (24 years after his death) the Russian monks from the monastery of St. Panteleimon of Mount Athos (also known as Rusikon), wrote in Church Slavon his liturgical sevice into the Russian Menologion for January 10. It is therefore sanctification without a formal act of canonization, only by writing his name in the Menologion.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics of the Saint in Valaam Monastery</td></tr>
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In accordance with his will, he was interred outside the walls of the skete, so that the pilgrims and<br />
Spiritual children who revered him would have unfettered access to his grave. In 1960, locals opened Elder Antipas’ grave with the intent of looting it. Signs of that disinterment remained over the years prior to the restoration of monastic life in Valaam. In May 14, 1991 the relics of the Venerable Antipa were uncovered, and were found to spread a strong myrrh scent. They were moved, after the memorial service, to the church of Sergius and Herman of Valaam, on September 24 (11) 1991, where there are until today.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TngAsxvU_70/UXl5x0ZrpkI/AAAAAAAAWpI/TBZ7fR2KqMk/s1600/valaam-monastery-in-winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TngAsxvU_70/UXl5x0ZrpkI/AAAAAAAAWpI/TBZ7fR2KqMk/s320/valaam-monastery-in-winter.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valaam monastery</td></tr>
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In Romania, the monk Antipa was until recently less known than in Russia. Therefore his name was wrote much later into the Romanian calendars, namely in 1992, being celebrated on January 10 (the day of his death, corresponding in the Russian Church Calendar with 23 January). In 1997 the local Christians founded a monastery at Calapodeşti, dedicated to All Saints Sunday (the first after Pentecost) and St. Antipa, who was born here.<br />
The Relics of Saint Antipa are at Valaam Monastery in Russia, as stated above, but small parts of relics can be found in other places such as Christiana Monastery in Bucharest, Suruceni monastery in Moldova (the right arm) and the monastery of Calapodeşti.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5lTDqnJXFic/UXl5vCie3gI/AAAAAAAAWoQ/CLqhywtjYSA/s1600/manastirea+calapodesti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5lTDqnJXFic/UXl5vCie3gI/AAAAAAAAWoQ/CLqhywtjYSA/s320/manastirea+calapodesti.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Calapodeşti church</td></tr>
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<b>Troparion (hymn) of the Saint</b><br />
<br />
You showed yourself as most wise adviser of monks and earthly angel, Holy Father Blessed Antipa, restraining your body with the passionless and illuminating the hearts of believers with the glow of your virtues. Therefore you have made yourself a honored place of the Holy Spirit, and in heaven you found God’s reward for your labors, whom ask to grant us great mercy!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2E6kCZq6QtU/UXl5zhxn0qI/AAAAAAAAWpk/bdjhphtVLWU/s1600/zicoana004+calapodesti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2E6kCZq6QtU/UXl5zhxn0qI/AAAAAAAAWpk/bdjhphtVLWU/s320/zicoana004+calapodesti.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics of the Saint in Calapodeşti, Romania</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics of the Saint in Calapodeşti, Romania<br /></td></tr>
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<b>Another troparion of the Saint</b><br />
<br />
Arching over the earth like a rainbow, you got from the Holy Mountain Athos into the north, at Valaam. O Holy Father Antipa, much praised, you made yourself as the wonderful Old Men of Moldova, and now you are living in the heavenly glory of Valaam. Ask Christ our God to counsel us to the angelic life!<br />
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-86506186403735718312012-12-31T21:40:00.000+02:002013-04-25T21:40:17.942+03:00Saint Melania the younger, from Rome, and her grandmother, Saint Melania the Elder<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bpEkGphv490/UXl33AnlBwI/AAAAAAAAWkw/N-WydMUvA4U/s1600/DSCN1383+monastery+of+saint+antony+the+great+in+Yaroslav.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bpEkGphv490/UXl33AnlBwI/AAAAAAAAWkw/N-WydMUvA4U/s320/DSCN1383+monastery+of+saint+antony+the+great+in+Yaroslav.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Saint Melania of Rome, also known as Melania “the Younger” (or “Minor”) is the holy woman, one of the first nuns, who is celebrated in the last day of the calendar. She is named “of Rome” because she was born in Rome c. 383, but died in Jerusalem, in 439).Her name as “younger” discerns between her, and her paternal grandmother, Melania the Great or the Elder, also a nun and a monastery founder.<br />
<br />
<b>Melania the Elder</b><br />
<br />
But before speaking about Saint Melania the Younger, celebrated today, please allow me to introduce in a few sentences her grandmother, a very important saint for the whole Christian asceticism.<br />
Saint Melania the Elder or the Great (“Maior”, 325–410) was a Desert Mother with a great influence among the most famous monks from the 4th century. She was born in Spain, in a wealthy family, being married at fourteen with a man named Valerius Maximus Basilius, with whom she lived near Rome. Shortly being widow and losing also two out of their three sons,when she was only 22 years old, Melania moved with her remaining son, Valerius Publicola (the father of the future Melania the Younger), to Rome. Here she lived a pious life in a house organized almost like a monastery, but after a while she decided to go to Alexandria, in order to meet the famous ascetics from the desert. Probably she met some other fathers from the Egyptian Desert, but surely she was familiar with Abba Macarius, with St. Augustin and, St. Paulinus of Nola (her cousin or cousin-in-law), who offers in his letter a description of her visit to Nola.<br />
After the death of Bishop Athanasius in 373 it started a persecution against the monks and many of them were exiled to Palestine, Melania went with them to aid them, visiting them in prison by night disguised in a slave's hood.After this persecution, Melania arrived in Jerusalem, where she founded a monastery on the Mount of Olives, together with Tyrannius Rufinus. Here she lived a very hard ascetic life. Among other, here she met Saint Jerome, but also Evagrius Ponticus, a monk who left Constantinople after a forbidden love affair, and who later, at Melania’s insistence, went to Egypt and lived an ascetic life in the desert of Kellia. Because of her involvement as a pro-Origenist in the controversy over Origen in the 390s, Jerome was especially acid writing about her, mocking her name and calling her "black in name and black in nature”, because Melania means in Greek, “black”.<br />
Once more Melania went to Rome to see her son remained here, and who had married Caeionia Albina, and who had a daughter, also named Melania (the Younger). After this moment, the old nun returned to Palestine in 404 and died in 410 in Jerusalem, being regarded as a saint and celebrated on June 8.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KHv7GBbZWN4/UXl33H5ip6I/AAAAAAAAWk0/_VYch_C6ffg/s1600/1_801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KHv7GBbZWN4/UXl33H5ip6I/AAAAAAAAWk0/_VYch_C6ffg/s320/1_801.jpg" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Melania the Younger</td></tr>
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<b>Melania the Younger</b><br />
<br />
Valerius Publicola, the son of Melania the Elder remained in Rome, in the care of the wealthy relatives and married later Caeionia Albina. Together they had a daughter named Melania, after her grandmother. Melania the Younger was married ratherly by force at the insistence of their parents, as the only inheritor of their wealth. Her marriage, when she was only 13 years old, with her paternal cousin, Valerius Pinianus, aged 17, was a formal one. In spite of her wish to bear an ascetic life, they had two children, a daughter and a son, who died very soon. Her own life was in danger after the second birth, and in this moment Melania and her husband swore to live further only as brother and sister. They left Rome, gave their wealth to the poor and lived further in a village like ascetics. At this time they were 24, respectively 20 years old. Anyway at the time everything they still had it was taken by force by Severianus, brother of Valerius Pinianus, because after a law they were not allowed to waste their wealth without the consent of the relatives. The empress Verena heard about such an injustice and asked Melania to come to her at the palace. After a tradition, no woman was allowed to enter the palace of the empress having her head covered, but Melania did so, showing her ascetic life. The empress admired her and their ascetic life, and gave an order to let them to do what they want with their properties. So they sold further everything, giving to the poor not only in Rome, but sending in some eastern countries.<br />
Melania and Pinianus left Rome in 408, living a monastic life near Messina (Sicily) for two years. In 410, they traveled further to Africa, where they befriended Augustine of Hippo and devoted themselves to a life of piety and charitable works. Together they founded a convent of which Melania became superior, and cloister of which Pinianus took charge.<br />
In 417 Melania and her husband traveled to Palestine, where they visited among others the Holy Sepulchre from Jerusalem. After a while, hearing about the ascetic life of the Desert Fathers in Egypt, Melania went to Alexandria, in order to visit some of them and to learn more about a holy life. There is a story in the famous ascetic book comprising the sayings of the Fathers (Apophthegmata Patrum) in which Saint Arsenius the Roman is presented as being visited by a Roman wealthy woman, in my opinion no one else than Melania. Arsenius refused to accept her visit, but then she insisted by asking the authority of patriarch Theophilus. Finally, “when she had reached the old man's cell, by a dispensation of God, he was outside it. Seeing him, she threw herself at his feet. Outraged, he lifted her up again, and said, looking steadily at her, 'If you must see my face, here it is, look.' She was covered with shame and did not look at his face. Then the old man said to her, 'Have you not heard tell of my way of life? It ought to be respected. How dare you make such a journey? Do you not realise you are a woman and cannot go anywhere? Or is it so that on returning to Rome you can say to the other women: I have seen Arsenius? Then they will turn the sea into a thoroughfare with women coming to see me.' She said, 'May it please the Lord, I shall not let anyone come here, but pray for me and remember me always.' But he answered her, 'I pray to God to remove remembrance of you from my heart.' Overcome at hearing these words, she withdrew…” (Arsenius 28)<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-REURa1gZB5o/UXl34K-gQKI/AAAAAAAAWk8/rr0VWvTGZH0/s1600/1_802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-REURa1gZB5o/UXl34K-gQKI/AAAAAAAAWk8/rr0VWvTGZH0/s320/1_802.jpg" width="186" /></a><br />
Melania visited also some other Fathers, but many of them refused her offerings. Anyway she came back with a curious gift from Abba Macarius the Great. After a story told independently by three different authors (Palladius, Timothy of Alexandria and the anonyme author of the Apophthegmata Patrum), Abba Macarius was once visited by a hyena who tried to convince him to come in her cave. Macarius went there, where he saw the blind offspring of the wild animal, which he cured through prayer. The second day, the hyena came to him with a wooly skin of a ram or a sheep. This skin was used as a fur in the cold winters by Melania until her death.<br />
Melania went back to Palestine living in the hermitage of her grandmother, Melania the Elder, near the Mount of Olives. Here she was visited by her former husband and by her mother, also here, only once a week, because she decided to live as a secluded. After some time her mother, Albina, died, and soon also Pinianus (c. 420). Melania built then a cloister for men and a church, where she spent the remainder of her life.<br />
In 436 she went to Constantinople, after receiving a letter from her uncle Volusian, who was ill and wanted to see her, and during this trip she convinced her uncle to baptize. She met here the emperess Eudokia, who later visited Jerusalem in 437 and, counseled by Melania, made some important donations for different churches in Palestine. The last years are dominated by her apostolic mission of counseling, but also curing miraculously different sick persons.<br />
During the Feasts of the Nativity in 439, Melania knew that her death will occur soon. She participated to the Holy Liturgy of Christmas, met her close friends and gave them the last advices, dying soon, on December 31 the same year. On this day she is commemorated in both the Eastern and Western Churches. Her monastery resisted until 614, when it was destroyed by the Persians.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dS37WRVvMyw/UXl37osypmI/AAAAAAAAWl4/J-Nx5G_xysc/s1600/prp_Melaniya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dS37WRVvMyw/UXl37osypmI/AAAAAAAAWl4/J-Nx5G_xysc/s320/prp_Melaniya.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tomb of St. Melania in Jerusalem</td></tr>
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<b>The veneration of Saint Melania and her Relics</b><br />
<br />
The life of Melania was written in Greek by a monk named Gerontius. There are some other (shorter) lives in Historia Lausiaca of Palladius and in the work of Peter the Iberian.<br />
Today the tomb of Saint Melania is situated in the Monastery of Megale Panagia in Jerusalem. This sacred place is particular by the fact that the door to the monastery is very small. Her relics are to be found in the place where it is supposed to be her old stone cell, in fact a narrow cave. Together with the relics there are kept her chains that she wore under her cassock.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D8MbJmbAye0/UXl36aC9u_I/AAAAAAAAWlg/G-B8h9Aqnjg/s1600/melania-the-+younger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D8MbJmbAye0/UXl36aC9u_I/AAAAAAAAWlg/G-B8h9Aqnjg/s320/melania-the-+younger.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<b>Troparion (hymn) of Saint Melania of Rome </b><br />
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<i>The image of God was truly preserved in you, O Mother,for you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away; but to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal. Therefore your spirit, O holy Mother Melania, rejoices with the angels!</i><br />
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-31006883972496434142012-12-27T21:33:00.000+02:002013-04-25T21:33:36.819+03:00The Theology of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dBQFBNxpdFw/UXl1m4Jl8gI/AAAAAAAAWj0/K4ThEh0oXZ4/s1600/Sf.+Apostol+%C5%9Fi+Evanghelist+Ioan+Teologul1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dBQFBNxpdFw/UXl1m4Jl8gI/AAAAAAAAWj0/K4ThEh0oXZ4/s320/Sf.+Apostol+%C5%9Fi+Evanghelist+Ioan+Teologul1.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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In order to be able to
write an article about the theology of John the Evangelist, I should read at
least a small part of the very huge theological literature written about this
marvelous man, traditionally also known as the beloved apprentice, the
theologian of love or, more popular, Saint John the Theologian. In the
following I must confess I have not read so much about this saint. Except the
fourth Gospel, the three epistles and the Apocalypse, I can count some introductions
to these biblical books, some general commentaries to the New Testament, some
encyclopedic articles and a few other articles on the topic. I may add here the
Life of Saint John the Evangelist, as it appears in the collections of the
lives of the saints, according to the Orthodox tradition. That means this
article cannot pretend to be more than a simple essay.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is a special
thing to mention about the name of the saint. At least the Eastern Church has
not so many saints bearing the title of “The theologian”. In fact, there are only
three examples: John, traditionally the author of the biblical books already
named above, St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329–390), retired archbishop of
Constantinople during the second ecumenical Council (381) and author of the
well-known “Five theological speeches” against the arianists, and Symeon “The
New Theologian” (949–1022), a monk from Stoudion, the famous elite monastery in
Constantinople. There is to be noted that the former one was first named as
“new theologian” only in mockery for his style of writing and his mysticism,
which was not quite well seen at his time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Theologian: St. Gregory of Nazianzus</td></tr>
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What is common to
these three Theologians of the Church is their special connection to the Person
and activity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. John wrote exceptionally about the God
of love, Who has incarnated himself and came in the world in order to save his
beloved human beings from death and corruption. Gregory came in Constantinople
as a more symbolical bishop of the Nicaean community, which resumed at that
time to a single-group meeting in the Chapel of the Anastasis, all the others Christians
of the capital city (arianists) denying Jesus Christ as God and co-substantial
with the Father. Traditionally, Gregory spoke about Jesus Christ in such a way,
that at the end of his office (which lasted about only 3 years!) it remained in
Constantinople only one arianist community, the others accepting the truth of
the Orthodox faith, which prevailed after the second ecumenical Council. Symeon
wrote some treatises about the divine light and, against the rationalist trend
of his age, he promoted a Jesus of the hearts, instead of speaking in the
philosophical way about the divine Word of Life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">the new Theologian, St. Symeon<br /></td></tr>
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Let’s remain focused
on John, “<i>one of the disciples, whom
Jesus loved</i>” (John 13,23). Today there are also a lot of doubts about the
fact that this disciple is one and the same person with the author of the
Gospel traditionally put onto his name. The fact that the original Greek
manuscripts attested the gospel as “according to John”, but saying nothing
about his quality (disciple, apostle, presbyter, etc…), made some modern
commentators to doubt that this is John the Apostle, son of Zebedee. The number
of the arguments for this doubt grows every year, but I don’t intend to make from
that the theme of my essay. The doubts are even bigger in what concerns the
epistles, but his paternity on the Apocalypse is almost generally denied in the
Western Churches, mostly in the scholar circles. In this situation it would be
hard to remain with something from the disciple who assisted, as the only one
remaining, to the Crucifixion of his Master (John 19,26: he is once more named
as “<i>the disciple standing by, whom he
loved</i>”) and probably to the burial, also one of the first to known,
together with Peter, about the empty Tomb (John 20, 2: here he is “<i>the other disciple, whom Jesus loved</i>”;
John 20,8). But I don’t share this opinion, because of some reasons which may
appear subjective.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ukTmgEwaSwU/UXl1mVSw6uI/AAAAAAAAWjw/q6gR7Gwtk4o/s1600/Ioan+Evanghelistul+la+Rastignirea+Domnului.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ukTmgEwaSwU/UXl1mVSw6uI/AAAAAAAAWjw/q6gR7Gwtk4o/s320/Ioan+Evanghelistul+la+Rastignirea+Domnului.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<b>The Gospel</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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The author of the
fourth Gospel wrote the well-known Prologue, the one starting with the words: “<i>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by him; and without him
was nothing made that was made</i>.”, an incredible parallel to the Book of
Genesis, “<i>In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth</i>…” (Gen. 1,1). Matter fact, the author of the
Gospel rewrites the Genesis or, better said, he completes the text in the way the
Jewish Rabbis used to write commentaries known as <i>Midrashim </i>and <i>Targumim. </i>The
fourth Gospel intends to say, since the beginning, that Jesus Christ is not
only the expected Messiah, but the Word of God, co-substantial with God and
a-temporal, a-spatial as His Father, the Almighty. The Word of God is the One
in whom there is “life”, and this life is “the light of men” (1, 4), which
“shines in darkness”, impossible to be drowned into the darkness (1,5) and the
one who “<i>lighteth every man that came
into the world</i>” (1,9). This complex description of the divine Logos beyond
the all created, but not stranger from them, reveals a profound theologian who
knew deeply what meant for him and for the all humankind the knowledge of God,
knowledge beyond reason. I wonder who could understand so good the deepness of
God - who reveals himself in the world in the light inside every human being –
if not the “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, whom Jesus might have shared such a
mysterious teaching about a crazy God who decided to die for his humans? The author
of the Gospel is one of the – probably not so many, at least at the beginning –
ones who received him, and to whom the divine Word “<i>gave them the power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name:</i><i> </i><i>Which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God</i>” (John 1,12-13). <o:p></o:p></div>
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According to the
“hypothetical John the Evangelist” - whoever he might have been, but at least
the author of this fantastic theological treatise also known as “the Prologue
of John” -, the ones who believe in the mission of the divine Word who “<i>was made flesh, and dwelt among us </i>[…]<i> full of grace and truth</i>” (John 1,14) –
which God may dwell among his creature, if not the Love itself? –, these crazy
believers in the Crucified God are not anymore born as natural, but as
supernatural beings, destined to become sons of God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The God of John the
Evangelist offers his flesh to be eaten and his blood to be drunk, in fact even
crazier, he says to the anyway conservative auditorium that “<i>except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you</i>” (John 6,53), speaking about
the future Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the miraculous possibility in how
even we today, 2000 years later, may share the divinity in such a deep way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The God of John the
Evangelist weeps when his human beings are dying, even if he knows the fact
that the Resurrection will come soon. He knows what does it mean to hear about
a friend who died (John11,35: “And Jesus wept”), image which is wonderfully
completed with Jesus’ attitude in front of the death of a son (Luke 7,11-17) or
a daughter (Matthew 9, 18–26, Mark 5,21–43 and Luke 8,40–56).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus of John the
Evangelist is the one who accepts - from love - the deep penitence of the
sinful woman who anointed the feet of the Master (John 12,3), without even knowing
(she) that she prophesized the sudden death of the Divine Logos.<o:p></o:p></div>
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John mentions once so
many times about the Jesus as the incarnation of the divine Love. After the Resurrection,
Jesus asks three times his disciple Peter if he loves him, to whom Peter
answers positively. After being urged to
follow his master, Peter “<i>turning about,
seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast
at supper…</i>” and asked him, what would be happen with this one. Jesus gave
him an unclear answer: “<i>If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me!</i>” (John 21,20-22).
In the end, the author of the Gospel reveals himself as the very mysterious
disciple: “<i>This is the disciple who
testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his
testimony is true…</i>” (John 21,24)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5QGNPM-RHSM/UXl1o_JtRFI/AAAAAAAAWkA/PIWRSoNNMP0/s1600/Sf+Apostol+Ioan+Teologul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5QGNPM-RHSM/UXl1o_JtRFI/AAAAAAAAWkA/PIWRSoNNMP0/s320/Sf+Apostol+Ioan+Teologul.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
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<b>The Epistles</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The three Epistles of
John are written in the same manner as the Gospel and have the same theme,
namely to present Jesus Christ as God and the incarnated Love in the world, the
one who remains among us, if we respect the commandment of loving each other.
The Prologue of the first Epistle astonishes by its similarity with the one of
the Gospel: “<i>That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was
manifested, and we have seen it…”</i> (1 John 1,1-2). The same opposition
between the light and the darkness as in the Gospel is presented here even
stronger: “<i>God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all</i>” and “<i>if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin</i>” (verses 5 and 7).
The importance of the Eucharistic communion is stated here as in the Gospel.
Once more, as the Gospel shows that the World didn’t know him (John 1,10), the
same idea is followed in the first epistle (1 John 3,1). There are some other
similar ideas, such as the opposite to God as the sons of the devil and the
followers of the antichrist (Gospel 8, 37-45 : 1<sup>st</sup> Epistle 2,16-18;
2<sup>nd</sup> Epistle 1,7; 3<sup>rd</sup> Epistle 1,11), the importance of
love among the brothers (Gospel, 1<sup>st</sup> Epistle 3,14), after the
Commandment of Love (Gospel 13, 34-35 and 15,12-13: 1<sup>st</sup> Epistle
3,16,23; 2<sup>nd</sup> Epistle 1,6), the urge to remain into the Lord, as the
single way that Lord remains into us (Gospel 15,4: 1<sup>st</sup> Epistle
3,24). In spite of knowing God as Love and Light, who died for us and who
remains in us, if we ask for that (Gospel 15,7 : 1<sup>st</sup> Epistle 4,10),
John states that no one have seen God (Gospel 1,18: 1<sup>st</sup> Epistle
4,12).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CmhZJliXxlE/UXl1s67mRbI/AAAAAAAAWkY/LlxW8J7eUUc/s1600/apocalipsa-aratata-sf-ioan-evanghelistul-patmos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CmhZJliXxlE/UXl1s67mRbI/AAAAAAAAWkY/LlxW8J7eUUc/s320/apocalipsa-aratata-sf-ioan-evanghelistul-patmos.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>The Apocalypse</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In what it concerns
the Apocalypse, the purpose of such a book is clearly different to the one in the
Gospel and the Epistles. The difference of style, ideas and even lexica is
quite normal. A prophetical book would use images and situations in quite a new
manner, so if we may try to make a parallel to the Gospel, then we will see
more differences than similarities. One of the important “signs” that John of
the Apocalypse may be another John, is the fact that he calls himself not as
“apostle”, “disciple”, “evangelist”, but “I<i>,
John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation….</i>” (Apoc.
1,9). In contrast I would like to attest the - ideational if not lexical - parallel
between the prologue of the first Epistle, cited above, and the one of the
Apocalypse “…[John], <i>who confessed the word
of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw” </i>(Apoc.
1,2)<i>.</i>The Son of Man, allusion to the
prophetic book of Daniel, is always encircled in such a light, almost
impossible to be seen (Apoc. 1, 14 and 16), as in the Gospel and even more in
the first Epostle. The whole book of Revelation is presented as a battle
between the ones (not so many) who confess the Lord and fight on his side
against the forces of evil, antichrist, the beast/dragon and the devil himself,
thing which is also quite familiar in the Gospel but especially in the
Epistles. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A modern German
specialist in the New Testament Studies notes in his <i>Einleitung in das Neue Testament </i>(5<sup>th</sup> Ed., Vandehoek,
Göttingen, 2005, 617 pp) that the author of the Apocalypse has two main
sources, namely the books of the Old Testament (esp. the Prophets and the
Psalms) and the Liturgy, because John makes a lot of allusions to Sunday, Altar,
rituals, Eucharist, texts composed in antiphonic hymns,doxologies, treishagions,
“axios”-acclamations, prayers of thanking. But even more important as the
sources used by the author, is the fact that all is about the Kingdom of God
about to come, a concept which is also present in John’s Gospel, twice in
connection with the mission of John the Baptist (3,3; 3,5) and once in
connection to the Passions of Jesus ( 18,36). The so often invoked image of the
Lamb in the Apocalypse is present in the confession of the same Baptist about
Jesus (1,36), with the special mention that the Gospel uses for this image the
word “amnos”, a synonym of “arneion”, as it appears in the Apocalypse, used also
as a sign of the different paternity of the two works. Anyway the Lamb as the one,
who offers himself for the sake of the world, is a common image of the Gospel
and the prophetic book. The idea of the brotherly love, omnipresent in the
Gospel and in the Epistle, marks a parallel to the idea of the brotherly
communion in the Church, in the Apocalypse (2,20; 7,3; 19,2.5; 22,3). <o:p></o:p></div>
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One more thing I would
like to note about the Apocalypse. If the Gospel is intended to mark a parallel
to the Genesis, the Revelation ends in the same manner, presenting the New
Jerusalem as the new Paradise of the Lord, from which we cannot miss the
special elements: the wonderful river (Apoc. 22,1 cf. Gen. 2,10), the trees
(among them, the Tree of Life, Apoc. 21,23 and 22,2, cf. Gen. 2,9), the precious
stones (Apoc. 21,13.19-21 cf. Gen 2,11), men as kings (Apoc. 21,24 cf. Gen.
2,8.19), the presence of God (Apoc. 21,24, cf. Gen 3,8), cherubs (21,12 cf.
Gen. 3,24), peace and innocence (Apoc. 21,1-6, cf. Gen. 2,13) etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D_4xDVAc1OM/UXl2p6bkVrI/AAAAAAAAWkk/6YX79kdlLiM/s1600/%C3%9Altima_Cena_-_Da_Vinci_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D_4xDVAc1OM/UXl2p6bkVrI/AAAAAAAAWkk/6YX79kdlLiM/s320/%C3%9Altima_Cena_-_Da_Vinci_5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Da Vinci: The Last Supper</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Theology of divine
Love</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The theological ideas
in the book of Apocalypse would need another article. I would say, as the
modern Western commentators, that there are so many differences between this
book and the Gospel, but also similarities. It depends which position would
take anyone of us. I would prefer the traditional one, according to which, the
two books are johannine in the same manner. I would see positively the
differences between them, as complimentary and caused by their different
intention and type of communication. Without intending to say that I am right,
I would better say that these books make an original and round image of John
the Apostle, a man interested about what does it mean the divine love, how can
we, the mortals, attend the divine love and that light which is usually
situated beyond our power of knowledge. An apostle interested about how the World
was created and how it would end, who had a round image of the kosmos being
restored in the end in an even more glorious way as in the beginning. An
apostle interested about how it was possible that the divine Word became flesh,
suffered and died for us, but also resurrected and reigns in his Kingdom,
waiting for us to follow him. The Apostle has observed this way of waiting as
active: God shares himself in his flesh and blood, in order to make to us the
spring of the living water accessible. The same God loves us and waits from us
the same love not only directed to him, but to all the living creatures.
Shortly, this man cannot be another than the Apostle of Love, John, the son of
the Thunder.<o:p></o:p></div>
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dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-55864771354964223142012-12-15T12:55:00.000+02:002013-04-25T21:18:25.729+03:00Saint Eleutherios bishop of Illyricum<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(Eleutherius or Eleftherios)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WVJEX0E7Tb8/UXeqUZK9qiI/AAAAAAAAWjQ/eX_ym97G4NA/s1600/eleftherios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WVJEX0E7Tb8/UXeqUZK9qiI/AAAAAAAAWjQ/eX_ym97G4NA/s320/eleftherios.jpg" width="232" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Saint Eleutherius of Illyricum is one of the western martyrs of the first centuries who receive until today a special veneration in both the Eastern and the Western Church. The complexity of this vita in the fact that hei s confused, if not in his biographies, at least in the public veneration, with Saint Liberator and Pope Eleutherius in the West and with St. Eleutherios Koubikoularios in the East.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This article refers to Saint Eleutherius, traditionally known as bishop and Illyricum and Roman citizen. The life and the martyrdom of St. Eleutherius and of his mother Anthia (or Evanthia) differs after two types of sorces, the Greek ones (registered in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, I, pp. 173-74, nn. 568-71b), and the Latin ones (in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, I, p. 368, nn. 2450-52).</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F5m6PC1dipk/UXeqUhZHqgI/AAAAAAAAWjM/mGv6KFPPmtY/s1600/eleutherios+and+anthia+-+icon+from+Constantinople.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F5m6PC1dipk/UXeqUhZHqgI/AAAAAAAAWjM/mGv6KFPPmtY/s320/eleutherios+and+anthia+-+icon+from+Constantinople.jpg" width="244" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The Greek Martyrdom of Saint Eleutherius and of his mother, Anthia</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">According to the Greek source (about the 5th century, probably written in one of the Greek monasteries from Italy), which was „romanticized” by St. Symeon Metaphrastes in the 10th century (version available in Synaxarium Constantinopolitanum), St. Eleutherius was born in Rome in the latter years of the 1st century. His father Eugenius was a consul of the Roman Emperor, and his mother Anthia was a Christian, who used to know personally at a time St. Paul the Apostle, who might have converted her to the Christianity. Anthia gave to her child a proper education in the spirit of Our Lord’s teachings. Anthia became a widow at an early age. She then sent her son to Anicetus, the bishop (pope) of Rome (c. 150 – c. 167) for his care. The holy man recognized the special spiritual gifts of the young boy and ordained him a deacon at the age of 15, quite a young age especially for this period. Shortly he ordained him as priest when being only 18 and already as bishop of Illyricum at 20.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_EVJymBHH38/UXeqTywQI1I/AAAAAAAAWjc/qAVNqOcaysw/s1600/Saint+Eleutherius.+From+the+Menologion+of+Basil+II%252C+11th+century.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_EVJymBHH38/UXeqTywQI1I/AAAAAAAAWjc/qAVNqOcaysw/s320/Saint+Eleutherius.+From+the+Menologion+of+Basil+II%252C+11th+century.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Saint Eleutherius. From the Menologion of Basil II, 11th century</span></td></tr>
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During the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138), Eleutherius already began to produce rumor at the imperial court because he was winning many converts to Christianity. Shortly he was considered to be an "enemy of the state", and a general („comes”) named Felix was sent to arrest and bring him to Rome for trial. Entering inside the church where Eleutherios was preaching during the Holy Liturgy, the heart of Felix was touched by the words of the young bishop and became a Christian. Anyway Eleutherios returned to Rome together with Felix, where he was arrested and tortured. The dialogue between St. Eleutherius and the emperor Hadrian follows the classical way to be seen in many vitae of the martyrs, as a play in which the saint does not feel any pain and the torturer becomes even worse in his madness. Emperor Hadrian is presented rather in the comic form of mad tyrant, than as in the historical narratives and this image is even more emphasized by Symeon Metaphrastes.<br />
The tortures of St. Eleutherios consist in putting him on a hot copper bed, later on an iron grill, then in a huge pan filled with wax, tar and tallow and finally in a hot copper oven. All those tortures prove to be inefficient, because St. Eleutherius remains unharmed after his prayers and through the miraculous intervention of the Lord. During the late torture even the one that came with the idea of it, an „eparch” (ruler of a province) named Coremon suddenly converts to the Christianity and is punished to death by beheading. After all these tortures, Eleutherius is sent to prison and punished by hungering, but an angel sent by God nourishes him as Daniel in the lions’ den. Hadrian thinks to another torture and commands to bring some wild horses and to bind the saint to them, in order to be dragged by them over until death. Anyway the saint escapes and for a short period he lives in a cave in the mountains with the wild beasts which don’t harm him. Finally the saint is caught once more by some hunters and brought to the emperor who ordains his beheading, happened on December 15 (after the latin sources, on April 18) in the year 120 A.D., along with his new convert Felix. His blessed mother Anthia fearlessly comes to grieve over the body of her martyred son, and she too suffers the same fate. The faithful Christians from Illyricum (diocese) come and take their bodies, burying them with honor.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZftnr5jSfk/UXeqVb0ZLNI/AAAAAAAAWjA/GwQpRjwpH9Q/s1600/st-eleftherios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZftnr5jSfk/UXeqVb0ZLNI/AAAAAAAAWjA/GwQpRjwpH9Q/s320/st-eleftherios.jpg" width="213" /></span></a><br />
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<b>The Latin version</b> <br />
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The Latin tradition already mentioned consist in two different redactions, one called „Reatica” due the mention of the burial of Eleutherius and Anthia in Reata (now Rieti), another „Aecana” (after Aikos or Aecana, now Troia, in Puglia, south Italy), which mentions this town instead.<br />
These manuscripts are dated in the late 8th – early 9th century, from which the „Reatica” follows narrowly the Greek variant, except the story of the burial. In this edition, the bishop of Reata, Primus, takes the bodies of martyrs and buries them in the fields of Urbanian on the Salt Road (1 mile from Reata and 61 from Rome). In the „Aecana” version, which omits the historical details and tells nothing even about the birthplace of Eleutherius, the episcopacy of the saint is not associated with Illyricum, but with Aecana, and Felix is sent here to deliver the saint in Rome. Many residents of Aecana arrive after the death of the martyrs, and take their bodies, burying them in their town. According to these Latin variants, the death of the martyrs took place on April 18.<br />
The „Aecana” edition is used in the drafts of the Carolingian Martyrologies of Florus from Lyon, Rabanus Maurus, Adonis of Vienna, Usuard and also in a poem of Flodoard of Reims known as „Christ's victory in Italy”.<br />
The title of „bishop of Illyricum” comes in the Roman Martyrologies only through Baronius (1586), influenced by the Greek variant. In the later Roman Martyrologies, Eleutherius is called a martyr from Messana (now Messina) on the island of Sicily. This error goes back to Florus of Lyon’s redaction of the martyrology, replacing Aecana with Messana in Puglia, a current place for the veneration of St. Eleutherius. This small error made St. Eleutherius very popular also Messina, Sicily, until today, even if the saint was never there. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n_ujraSI0kM/UXeqUwwqxFI/AAAAAAAAWjI/67v2fLIXqTI/s1600/eleutherios+and+anthia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n_ujraSI0kM/UXeqUwwqxFI/AAAAAAAAWjI/67v2fLIXqTI/s320/eleutherios+and+anthia.jpg" width="225" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">St. Elefterie and his mother Anthia</span><br />
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<br />
<b>The worship</b><br />
<br />
Because of the error of Florus and other copyists of the Roman Martyrology, Sicily became in the XVII century a local place of veneration of the saints, but references to the existence of the relics have been no recorded. The erroneous spelling “Aquileia” instead of “Apuglia” in the martyrology of Rabanus Maurus (cf. PL vol.111, col. 140) and Notker Zaika (cf. PL vol. 131, col. 166) followed to a local veneration of St. Eleutherius in the Croatian town of Poreč (italian Parenzo), because the seat of Aquileia was transferred here. So, Raban and Notker report that after the martyrdom, Eleutherius and his mother were moved in Aquileia, where he was a bishop (and not in Aecana), and there buried.<br />
In this chaos created by the erroneous copies, also the memorial day traditions differ. According to the martyrology of St. Jerome and the two old latin version, the saints are celebrated on April 18. The same day was celebrated also according the “Calendario Marmoreo” of Naples and outside Italy, according to the Frankish and Mozarabic calendars from the XI-XII centuries. Certain manuscripts also testify the dates of November 24, September 6 (instead of the Pope Eleutherius).<br />
Many churches in Italy were built in honor of St. Eleutherius: in Rome, on via Labicana, in Nepi, Vasto, Parenzo d’Istria (these venerate the saint on April 18). In Chieti, Benevento, Salerno, and Sulmona the saint is venerated on May 21. Another days of celebrations are May 13 in Terracina, May 23 in Arce, and December 31 in Canne in Puglia, where he is considered to be a local bishop, son of Evanzia („Evanthia”, which may be understood as the latinization of the Greek „ev-Anthia”, that is „the good Anthia”). The monastery San Liberatore a Maiella (in the Abruzzi mountains) dedicated to St. Liberator celebrates St. Eleutherius on May 15, and this may demonstrate the identification of Eleutherius with the roman martyr Liberator (the Latin version of the Greek „eleutherios”, which means “one who is free”), bishop of Beneventum, celebrated in the Martyrology of Jerome on May 15.<br />
In the Byzantine space, as already told, the Greek martyrologies state this celebration on December 15. But in order to make the things even more complicated, a relatively early veneration of Saint Eleutherius in the Eastern Church of Constantinople is stated by two old scripts, a byzantine canon of Joseph the hymnographer (IX cent.), which speaks of “currents of healing” coming from the shrine of Eleutherius. A second witness is given by the Synaxarium Constantinopolitanum about in the 10th century, mentioning the name of the saint associated with the in the quarter of Xirolophos (also known as “The Harbors of Eleutherios”), where existed a church of St. Eleutherius already built under Emperor Arcadius (395-408). However, both of these references do not exclude the possibility that they may be associated with the saint Martyr Eleutherius Coubicularios, injured in Bithynia (but the most likely buried in Constantinople), where, according to the hagiography, he was born, commemorated on December 15 and on August 4. With the expansion in the 9th -10th centuries, the Byzantine could mingle his cult with the one of the Roman martyr.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jbzhMO8ugac/UXeqUKcSFBI/AAAAAAAAWik/4xDn1yUHZG8/s1600/St.+elefterie+church+in+bucharest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jbzhMO8ugac/UXeqUKcSFBI/AAAAAAAAWik/4xDn1yUHZG8/s320/St.+elefterie+church+in+bucharest.jpg" width="262" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">St. Elefterie Church in Bucharest</span><br />
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<b>Relics</b><br />
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In the present time the relics of Eleutherius and Anthia seem to be located in Troia, south Italy, as the Aecana tradition states. After the Rietica tradition, the saints were buried in Rieti (near Rome, the authenticity of the latter being officially recognized by the Roman Church) and later on their tombs it was elevated the church of Santa Sabina. An examination of the relics was made with the blessing of Pope Innocent III and of the local bishop Adenulf, in the presence of two cardinals in August 13, 1198, when they were transferred in the new built reatine cathedral of St. John the Apostle (San Giovanni della Pigna), together with the relics of Saint Genesius of Rome. The association with San Giovanni della Pigna may also be a result of confusion with St. Pope Eleuterius (also former deacon of Pope Anicetus and himself pope at the end of the 2nd century, celebrated on May 26), whose relics were also said to have been translated to San Giovanni della Pigna.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mazOw7MUDN0/UXeqTJf08GI/AAAAAAAAWjY/dPvKCef3i0g/s1600/Church+San+Giovanni+de+la+Pigna.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mazOw7MUDN0/UXeqTJf08GI/AAAAAAAAWjY/dPvKCef3i0g/s320/Church+San+Giovanni+de+la+Pigna.JPG" width="239" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Church San Giovanni de la Pigna</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fkxRO-N6c6U/UXeqSz3B2aI/AAAAAAAAWiU/KeQwKTIXvMc/s1600/Cathedral+in+Troia%252C+Apuglia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fkxRO-N6c6U/UXeqSz3B2aI/AAAAAAAAWiU/KeQwKTIXvMc/s320/Cathedral+in+Troia%252C+Apuglia.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Cathedral in Troia, Apuglia</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There is to be mentioned that small pieces of the relics of Eleutherius and Anthia are to be found in other Italian cities (eg. in Terracina) and outside (eg. a finger in Antwerp, Belgium), but also in one of the two churches dedicated to the saint “Elefterie” in Bucharest and in Caldarusani monastery near the same city.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cK95UwgxlVI/UXeqTSw7zsI/AAAAAAAAWjg/hI1gzu2xAo4/s1600/Relics+of+eleutherius+in+the+church+Sf.+Elefterie+from+Bucharest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cK95UwgxlVI/UXeqTSw7zsI/AAAAAAAAWjg/hI1gzu2xAo4/s320/Relics+of+eleutherius+in+the+church+Sf.+Elefterie+from+Bucharest.jpg" width="242" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Relics at St. Elefterie Church in Bucharest</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ce5Xy-MwZoc/UXeqVUp8xII/AAAAAAAAWi8/qMQO-xkFq5M/s1600/relics+in+Caldarusani+monastery+near+bucharest.+Eleutherius+also.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ce5Xy-MwZoc/UXeqVUp8xII/AAAAAAAAWi8/qMQO-xkFq5M/s320/relics+in+Caldarusani+monastery+near+bucharest.+Eleutherius+also.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Relics of the saint, Caladarusani monastery, near Bucharest</span></td></tr>
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<b>Troparion (Hymn) of the Saint</b><br />
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<i>Adorned with flowing priestly vesture and with dripping streams of blood you at once went to your Lord Christ, O blessed wise Eleutherios, annihilator of Satan. Wherefore, do not cease to intercede for those who honor your blessed struggles in faith!</i><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GplD0csTU-o/UXeqS8T9dqI/AAAAAAAAWjU/39TuFhZAE5g/s1600/1512_Sfantul_Elefterie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GplD0csTU-o/UXeqS8T9dqI/AAAAAAAAWjU/39TuFhZAE5g/s320/1512_Sfantul_Elefterie.jpg" width="206" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YaD1F5FwCIA/UXeqUKysK-I/AAAAAAAAWjk/ELkGWCb3g7Q/s1600/Serramonacesca_chiesa_benedettina_San+Liberatore+a+Majella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YaD1F5FwCIA/UXeqUKysK-I/AAAAAAAAWjk/ELkGWCb3g7Q/s320/Serramonacesca_chiesa_benedettina_San+Liberatore+a+Majella.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Serramonacesca benedictine Church of San Liberatore in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> Majella</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T8_BOR9cx-4/UXeqU09MTRI/AAAAAAAAWjE/INlmsKr3Jx8/s1600/moastele-sf-elefterie+-+Bucuresti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T8_BOR9cx-4/UXeqU09MTRI/AAAAAAAAWjE/INlmsKr3Jx8/s320/moastele-sf-elefterie+-+Bucuresti.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Relics of the Saint in St. Elefterie Church, Bucharest</span></td></tr>
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<br />dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-9768082989996812512012-12-04T23:06:00.000+02:002013-04-25T23:10:48.897+03:00Saint John of Damascus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Saint John of Damascus
(675-749), also known in the Orthodox Church as John the Damascene (<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ἰ</span>ωάννης <span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ὁ</span>
Δαμασκηνός) or Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας), “streaming with gold", or
"the golden speaker", or in Arabic as Yu<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ḥ</span>annā Al Demashqi, is one of the most important
Christian writers of the first centuries, well known for his works in defending
the cult of the icons and in ecclesiastical hymnography. In the East he is
considered to be the last Father of the church. Consequently, the posterior ecclesiastical
writers are known as „post-patristic” Fathers of the Church.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saint John was born in
an aristocratic family of Syria, but there isn’t clear if his parents were Arabs
or Greeks. There is clear that he spoke fluently the both languages. His grandfather,
Mansour, was an important person in Damascus, being responsible for the taxes
of the region under the Emperor Heraclius. He had also the difficult mission to
negotiate the capitulation of Damascus with the Arabs on September 4, 635.
There are different positions of the contemporaries about his attitude
concerning the Islamic conquest. There is sure that after this moment, Mansour
kept his important position, being one of the counselors of the Islamic Caliphs
Muawyya and Abd-el Maliq. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The counseling
position at the Arab court was very important in order to defend the Christians
in Syria. This position was inherited by Sergius (in Arabic, Sarjun Ibn
Mansur), the father of St. John, and the son of Mansour, as the chronicles
attest. <o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yeqCe_JNaig/UXmNMJPDfII/AAAAAAAAW0Y/Xv2T66jcfug/s1600/ioandamaschin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yeqCe_JNaig/UXmNMJPDfII/AAAAAAAAW0Y/Xv2T66jcfug/s320/ioandamaschin.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
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After a campaign in
Sicily, the Arabs came back with some captured persons, among which it was also
a scholar named Cosmas. Sergius redeemed him and made him the teacher of his
son, John. In the next years John excelled in music, astronomy, arithmetic and
geometry, but also in theology. Surely Cosmas, as a refugee from Italy, brought
with him also the scholarly traditions of Western Christianity, with whom St.
John is familiar, as there is to be seen in his dogmatic book „An Exact
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”. In this time John studied together with an
adoptive brother, also called Cosmas, who later became a bishop in Maiouma, a
town in Syria (743).<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is not clear if
St. John inherited later his father’s position. The biographies state that he
did so, and after Caliph Omar II (717-720) started a harsh anti-Christian
campaign, John decided to renounce his position. Consequently he sold his
fortunes, gave them to the poor and retired into St. Sabbas (Mar Saba) Monastery
in the Jordan Valley, not far away from Jerusalem. The retirement of John from
this position should have let some traces in the official documents, which is
not the case. They only mention that his father Sergius left the administration
around around 706, when al-Walid I increased the islamicisation of the
Caliphat's administration, but fail to name John at all. His own writings never
refer to any experience in a Muslim court. Therefore there is possible that
John never held this position.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hS2q7AjChoE/UXmNNXXLj8I/AAAAAAAAW0k/u-X2_zjKUlU/s1600/john_of_damascus+-+arabic+icon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hS2q7AjChoE/UXmNNXXLj8I/AAAAAAAAW0k/u-X2_zjKUlU/s320/john_of_damascus+-+arabic+icon.jpg" width="202" /></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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As monk at St. Sabbas
Lavra, John becomes shortly famous and Patriarch John V of Jerusalem ordains
him as a priest (735), giving him the mission to preach in the Church of
Anastasis in the Holy City. During this time the byzantine emperor Leo III
started a strong campaign against the public veneration of the icons (since
726), which is known as the iconoclastic period. St. John, far away from the
menace of the byzantine officials publishes manifests and books against the
emperor and his non-orthodox politics. The earliest work on this topic is the
"Apologetic Treatises against those Decrying the Holy Images", who
gave him a special reputation among the defenders of the icons. For the first
time he distinguishes between " worship” (latreia), which is proper only
to God, and "reverence" or „veneration” (douleia), rendered the
created things, including the saints, the icons and the holy relics. He attacks
in this work the emperor, adopting a simplified style of writing that allows
the controversy to be followed by the common people. A legend states that the
byzantine emperor planned revenge, by conceiving a false letter which
„accidentally” felt in the hands of the Islamic rulers. This later stated that
St. John worked together with the resistance, planning a byzantine re-conquest
of Syria. In this affair St. John would have been punished by cutting his right
hand. According to the legend, later John asked the rulers to give his cutted hand
back and miraculously the second day, after his prayers to the Mother of God,
he appeared publicly with the healed hand. As a special thank, he added a
silver hand (the third) to an icon of the Virgin in a church, this icon being
called further on as Theotokos Trigheirousa (with three hands). This pious
legend may be interpreted as a reason why St. John was so devoted to the cult
of the icon.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-llYqI1q1mr8/UXmNJ3fipPI/AAAAAAAAW0I/sP52bsCx-4U/s1600/Saint-John-of-Damascus-Peristeri-2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-llYqI1q1mr8/UXmNJ3fipPI/AAAAAAAAW0I/sP52bsCx-4U/s320/Saint-John-of-Damascus-Peristeri-2010.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
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His position referring
the veneration of the icons and holy relics was later criticized at the
iconoclastic synod held in Hiereia, near Constantinople (754), where he was
together with Patriarch Germanos of Constantinople and George of Cyprus against
the anathemized. The iconoclastic emperor Constantine V named him as Ioannis
Mánzeros („bastard“, in Hebrew), a wordplay after the name of his grandfather, Mansur.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyway the later Synod
held in Nicaea in 787, also known as the 7th ecumenical council, used very much
of his argumentation. The council rehabilitated all the fighters for the icons
and, of course, among them, St. John who held his popularity and, probably, his
recognition as a saint of the Church. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Works of St. John from Damascus <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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St. John wrote many
theological writings in which he defended the Orthodoxy against the iconoclasti
heresy but also against some earlier heresies as the monophisitism,
nestorianism, jacobism (spread among the syrians), manichaeism and even against
the sacred book of the Muslims. His
works are dogmatic, polemic, moral-ascetical, exegetical, oratorical and
poetical. Besides these, St. John composed many theological hymns, perfecting
the „canon”, a structured 9-ode hymn, used in Eastern Orthodox Church services
until today. Among the exceptional canons, there are to be mentioned the ones
for the Feasts of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost,
Transfiguration and Dormition of Our Lady (practically, the most important
Feast in the Calendar). He is also the composer of the Octoechos (the Church's
service book of eight tones) one of the very important liturgical books used by
the choir during the all ritual services.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In defending the cult
of the icons he wrote „Three Apologetic Treatises against those denying the Holy
Images”. Another important work is the dogmatic „Fountain of Wisdom”, divided
into three parts: 1. „the Philosophical Chapters” - mostly dealing with the
logic), 2. „Concerning Heresy” (which refers in its last chapters to the
„heresy of the Ismaelites”), and 3. „An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”
or simply „The Dogmatic Book” (in western, better known as „De fide Orthodoxa”),
which is a concise a summary of the dogmatic writings of the Early Church
Fathers. This latter writing was the first work of Scholasticism written in the
Eastern Christianity and an important influence on later Scholastic works.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w92AK0tjAqU/UXmNI7Q7jrI/AAAAAAAAWz4/1wtqzLnam6w/s1600/John++from+Damascus+writing+a+scroll+with+an+hymn+to+the+Virgin+Mother+-+Paramythia+Chapel+in+Crete.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w92AK0tjAqU/UXmNI7Q7jrI/AAAAAAAAWz4/1wtqzLnam6w/s320/John++from+Damascus+writing+a+scroll+with+an+hymn+to+the+Virgin+Mother+-+Paramythia+Chapel+in+Crete.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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In a well/known homily
on the Annunciation, he calls the Holy Virgin as the Mother of the theological
virtue of the hope (spes, in Latin), the hope of the despaired, a formula taken
in the Catholic church in the prayer of Mary, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the
Hope of the despaired, but sometimes this formula is attributed to St. Ephrem,
another Syrian Father of the Church. <span lang="FR"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Another work, having a
controversial paternity, is „The life of the Saints Barlaam and Joasaph from
India”, which it may be a Christianization of Buddha’s biography.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After information from
his biographer, Stephanos Taumaturgos („The Healer”), St. John passed away on December
4, 749, being buried at the Monastery of St. Sabbas, near the shrine with the
relics of the founder of this old convent. His tomb and his cell became shortly
pilgrim points.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Veneration<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Some pilgrims as the
Russian monk Daniel (1104-1006) and the Byzantine John Phokas (1185) wrote
about the tomb of St. John in the Monastery of St. Sabas. The relics might have
been transferred to Constantinople during the reign of the Emperor Andronicus
II Palaeologus (1282-1328). The absence of the relics from the St. Sabbas monastery
may be stated by another Russian pilgrim, the archimandrite Agrephenij, who
visited about in 1360/1370 the monastery and reports only about the cell of St.
John, saying nothing about his relics. A third pilgrim from Russia, Zosimas,
deacon at Holy Trinity Sergeyeva monastery indicates, during his rise
(1419/1421), the presence of a part of the relics at the monastery of the
Blessed Virgin Keharitomeni. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Some parts of the
relics of St. John are to be found today in the St. Georgios Alamanos Monastery
(near the village Pendakomo, Cyprus), in the monastery of St. John the
Theologian in Patmos (Greece) and the church of San Giorgio dei Greci ( Venice
).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saint John of Damascus
holds a special veneration in the Eastern Church, which is quite old (maybe imediately
after the 7th ecumenical council from 787). He is venerated in the day of his
death, December 4 (or December 17, after the Gregorian calendar). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Pope
Leo XIII declared St. John of Damascus as « doctor ecclesia » in 1890
and inserted his name in the General Roman Calendar, on March 27. This date was
moved in 1969 to the day of the saint's death, so that he is now celebrated in
the same day both in the East and West.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ITeZIuKvAHU/UXmNNLKtGXI/AAAAAAAAW0g/oVhqovj2K7I/s1600/John+Damascene+and+Cosmas+from+maiouma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ITeZIuKvAHU/UXmNNLKtGXI/AAAAAAAAW0g/oVhqovj2K7I/s320/John+Damascene+and+Cosmas+from+maiouma.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. John of Damascus and St. Cosmas of Maiouma</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>The First Ode in the Canon of the Nativity,
written by St. John of Damascus<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Christ is born,
glorify him. Christ is from heaven, go to meet him. Christ is an earth, be ye
lifted up. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing out with gladness, all ye
people, for he is glorified!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Troparion (Hymn) of the Saint<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Champion of Orthodoxy,
teacher of purity and of true worship, the enlightener of the universe and the
adornment of hierarchs: all-wise father John, your teachings have gleamed with
light upon all things. Intercede before Christ God to save our souls!<o:p></o:p></div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-3883619128185823452012-11-26T09:16:00.001+02:002012-11-26T09:17:55.860+02:00IISUS IN CELULA<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="WordSection1">
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 16.0pt;">Iisus în celulă</span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: RO; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: RO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="WordSection2">
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Azi noapte Iisus mi-a intrat în celulă. <br />
O, ce trist, ce înalt era Crist !<br />
Luna venea după El în celulă,<br />
Şi-L făcea mai înalt şi mai trist.</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Mâinile Lui păreau crini pe morminte,<br />
Ochii adânci ca nişte păduri.<br />
Luna-L bătea cu argint pe veşminte,<br />
Argintându-I pe mâini vechi spărturi. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Uimit am sărit de sub pătura sură: <br />
- De unde vii, Doamne? Din ce veac? <br />
Iisus a dus lin un deget pe gură <br />
Şi mi-a făcut semn ca să tac.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">S-a așezat lângă mine pe rogojină: <br />
- Pune-Mi pe răni mâna ta!<br />
Pe glezne-avea urme de cuie şi rugină,<br />
Parcă purtase lanţuri, cândva...</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Oftând, Şi-a întins truditele oase<br />
Pe rogojina mea cu libărci. <br />
Luna lumina, dar zăbrelele groase<br />
Lungeau pe zăpada Lui vărgi.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Părea celula munte, părea Căpăţâna,<br />
Şi mişunau păduchi şi guzgani. <br />
Am simțit cum îmi cade tâmpla pe mână,<br />
Şi-am adormit o mie de ani...</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Când m-am deșteptat din afunda genună,<br />
Miroseau paiele a trandafiri. <br />
Eram în celulă şi era lună,<br />
Numai Iisus nu era nicăiri...</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Am întins brațele, nimeni, tăcere.<br />
Am întrebat zidul: nici un răspuns!<br />
Doar razele reci, ascuțite-n unghere,<br />
Cu sulița lor m-au străpuns...</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">- Unde eşti, Doamne? am urlat la zăbrele.<br />
Din lună venea fum de căţui…<br />
M-am pipăit… şi pe mâinile mele<br />
Am găsit urmele cuielor Lui.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
</div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: RO; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: RO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Radu Gyr (1905-1975)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poet creștin, luptător al credinței, deținut politic<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: RO; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: RO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>Dr. Mircea Cristian Pricophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234449541573871642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-66628780201026743932012-11-26T09:14:00.001+02:002012-11-26T09:15:04.956+02:00O, brad frumos...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 16.0pt;">O, brad frumos...</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">(colindul martirilor din închisori)</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: RO; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: RO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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</span>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">O, brad frumos, ce sfânt păreai<br />
În altă sărbătoare.<br />
Mă văd copil cu păr bălai<br />
Și ochii de cicoare.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Revăd un scump și drag cămin<br />
Și chipul mamei sfinte,<br />
Imagini de Crăciun senin<br />
Mi-apar și azi în minte.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Un brad cu daruri și lumini<br />
În amintiri s-arată.<br />
În vis zâmbește ca un crin<br />
Copilul de-altădata.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Întregul cer era deschis<br />
Deasupra frunții mele.<br />
Azi strâng doar pulbere de vis<br />
Și numai scrum din stele.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Copil
bălai, Crăciun și brad<br />
S-au stins în alte zile.<br />
Azi, numai lacrimi cad<br />
Pe-ngălbenite file...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Azi
nu mai vine Moș Crăciun<br />
Cu barba-i jucăușă,<br />
Ci doar tristețile mi-adun<br />
Să-mi plângă lângă ușă...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">În
bezna temniței mă frâng<br />
Sub grele lespezi mute,<br />
Și-mpovărat de doruri plâng<br />
Pe amintiri pierdute.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Omătul
spulberat de vânt<br />
Se cerne prin zăbrele<br />
Și-mi pare temnița mormânt<br />
Al tinereții mele...<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></span></div>
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<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Radu Gyr (1905-1975)</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Poet creștin, luptător al credinței, </span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">deținut politic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: RO; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: RO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
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<span style="font-family: "Arhaic Romanesc\."; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: RO; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: RO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>Dr. Mircea Cristian Pricophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234449541573871642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-58742994348653381632012-11-24T21:17:00.001+02:002012-11-24T21:17:09.073+02:00Saint Mercurius of Caesarea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Martyr soldiers
are a special category of saints in the Christian Tradition of the first
centuries. Together with the more famous St. George, St. Demetrius or St.
Theodor Stratilates, Saint Mercurius is considered as being a model of a Roman
soldier who became a soldier of Christ against the polytheism. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The life of Saint Mercurius<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There are many
accounts about the life of Saint Mercurius, from which there may be mentioned
the <i>Saint Mercurius’ Passion under
Decius, </i>a Greek text to be found in the <i>vitae</i>
collection of the bollandist Hippolyte Delehaye, under the number BHG
(Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca) 1274. A short version of his Passions is
attributed to Acacius of Caesarea, who wrote a Panegyric about in the 4th
century. To these it may be added the Coptic tradition about the early life of
the saint. This variant starts as follows:
St. Mercurius was born in 225 in a pagan military family from Eskentos
(Cappadocia, Asia Minor), his original name, Philopater meaning „lover of the
Father”. His father was a Scythian
officer in the Roman army, named Yares, or, after another sources, Gordian. The
conversion of the family happened after his father was miraculously saved from
death, during a campaign of hunting, by an angel of the Lord. All of them were
baptized and reached the names of Noah (formerly, Gordian), Saphina (his
mother), respectively Mercurius (former, Philopater). Their life continued
after the Christian teachings. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Later Mercurius
replaced his father in the military position, apparently being 20 years old,
joining the Roman army and gaining a reputation as a great swordsman and tactician,
fighting in Armenia in the cohort of Martenses (of Mars, the ancient Roman god
of the war), under the command of Saturninus. <o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlLoNbC6SIzeZYJQovrVGRHlib3rph1FZwSUzcM9vn55tN5Kz0fkb75EbLDXC5ALy8AHVhMhXrmUJ9QPXY3kI6-EFLyXWsiXH-aCEynWQXJsDcE4Inak_0PvmN2Qnafst1jhItM5dUuCQ/s1600/Philopater+Mercurius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlLoNbC6SIzeZYJQovrVGRHlib3rph1FZwSUzcM9vn55tN5Kz0fkb75EbLDXC5ALy8AHVhMhXrmUJ9QPXY3kI6-EFLyXWsiXH-aCEynWQXJsDcE4Inak_0PvmN2Qnafst1jhItM5dUuCQ/s320/Philopater+Mercurius.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
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The <i>Greek Passion </i>starts with the moment
when, apparently not being anymore in Cappadocia, but near Rome, Mercurius
participated to a fight against some barbarians who attacked the capital city,
together with Emperor Decius (<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">249-251)</span>. After several
days of fighting, the Archangel Michael appeared to Mercurius holding a shining
sword, and telling him: „<i>Mercurius,
servant of Jesus Christ, don't be afraid. Take this sword from my hand and
fight the barbarian with it. Don't forget your God when you come back victoriously.
I am Michael the Archangel, whom God sent to inform you that you should suffer
for the Lord's name. I shall be with you and support you until you complete
your testimony. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in you</i>”.
There must be mentioned that Mercurius didn’t understand at the moment who was
the person who helped him. An extended text of the <i>Passion, </i>used in the Orthodox synaxaries<i> </i>attests that Mercurius was scared and thought that the person may
be one of the noblemen from Rome. The
saint took the sword from the archangel and fought against the barbarians in
such a manner that killed many of them.
Because of bearing two swords, one of his own and another one received
from St. Michael, Mercurius bears in the Arabic world the name Abi-Seifein -
"the holder [literally, father]<b> </b>of
two swords”.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XHODI2KouWY/ULEcAWuAxxI/AAAAAAAAWMA/52dWPcF-szs/s1600/san+mercurio.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XHODI2KouWY/ULEcAWuAxxI/AAAAAAAAWMA/52dWPcF-szs/s320/san+mercurio.JPG" width="232" /></a></div>
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When Decius heard the news about the
triumphant victory, he appointed Mercurius as general and let the soldiers to
take a breath into the city. In the same night, the angel woke him up and told
him who he was. He also prophesized about his martyrical future: „<i>See, do not forget the Lord your God. For
you must compete in the customary manner on his behalf and gain the crown of
victory in the heavenly kingdom together with all the saints</i>”. In that
moment Mercurius remembered about the God of his father and the way his father
used to pray, and promised to confess the Lord in front of all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the second day,
Decius wanted to thank to his gods for the victory and sent someone to call
Mercurius to a council. The council decided to make a sacrifice at the temple
of Artemis, but Mercurius was absent, invoicing illness. In the day of the
sacrifice, Mercurius slipped into the crowd and avoided once to sacrifice.
Anyway he couldn’t avoid the next meeting with the emperor who claimed to have
heared some informations that he doesn’t want to sacrifice. At that moment,
Mercurius confessed who was the real helper in the war, namely the only God,
Jesus Christ, and told to all of them, that he was a Christian. Because of that
he was degraded from his military position and dishonored. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Decius sent him into
the prison until the moment of the punishment, but here Mercurius was once more
encouraged by an angel. According to this Greek <i>Passion, </i>Mercurius told the emperor that his father’s name was a
Scythian called Gordianus, and that his real name is Philopater. He received
the name of Mercurius only after the tribune in the army called him like
that. He said that he is not afraid for
torture, because he has “the breastplate and shield of faith through which I
will conquer every scheme wrought against me”. Because of these words, Decius
decided to benailed by his arms and legs over a fire, but his blood extinguished
the fire and, back in prison, he was miraculously healed by an angel and
further encouraged. In the next day, seeing him healthy, Decius accused him of witchcraft
and ordered to his soldiers to hang Mercurius upside down with a stone along
his neck. He was beaten with fourply cords and burnt with a red-hot iron.
Finally Decius ordered that Mercurius must die by beheading in his land
(Cappadocia) as an example to others. In Cappadocia the Lord Himself appeared
to him and called him to the eternal resting, giving to him the crown of the
martyrdom. He was beheaded on November 25. In <i>Acta Sanctorum </i>of November (which published the version of S<i>ynaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae</i>)
there is described that he was 25 years old, (ετών κε<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">᾽</span>), with lofty stature (ευήλιξ), handsome
(ωραίος), rosy face (τω είδει ροδινός), blondhaired (τη οράσει ξανθόκομος). But
he preferred to sacrifice himself for Christ.<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BInKTk3w6-E/ULEcY53pSwI/AAAAAAAAWMI/IyQbyHTby0c/s1600/IMG_9029_fhdr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BInKTk3w6-E/ULEcY53pSwI/AAAAAAAAWMI/IyQbyHTby0c/s320/IMG_9029_fhdr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Mercurius and St. Demetrius<br />Fresco at Gurasada, Romania</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Then, after he was blessed, Mercurius was so
happy that he ran to his executioners, begging them to carry out the king's
orders immediately. Then he knelt down and said, "Lord, do not count this
sin against them." Mercurius was beheaded on 4 December 250. <i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b>The veneration of St. Mercurius and his Relics <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The relics of the
saint supposedly remained in Cappadocia, in a church. But the cult of the saint
started to increase rapidly in Egypt, where there are many churches dedicated
to him, including the one in Qasr al-Sham in Old Cairo, dating from the 6th
century. <o:p></o:p></div>
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An Armenian Catholicos
visited Egypt during the patriarchate of Jon XIII (1484-1524) and brought part
of the relics of Saint Mercurius, in order to be placed in the church already
mentioned. This moment is celebrated in the Coptic calendar on 9 Baounah (16
June). Some other relics are spread in other churches, such as Monte Vergine in
Campania and church of San Mercurio a Serracapriola, near Foggia, both in
Italy. Another relic is reported to be hosted in the monastery of Vatopedi and
also in about 10 other monasteries in Athos and the same number in Greece.
According to the tradition, the relic of the head of St. Mercurius is in the
Cathedral in Râmnicu Vâlcea (Romania) since 1767. Another relic may be found in
the monastery of Horezu, about 100 km near Râmnicu Vâlcea and in the Church of
St. Mercurius in Bucharest. The Egyptian Church possesses many small pieces of
his relics in many temples especially in
Cairo, Giza and Alexandria> such as the St. Mercurius church in Old Cairo,
also in the Coptic church in Frankfurt and in the Coptic monastery of
Kröffelbach, both in Germany.<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DN1M5fnKXL8/ULEbpG5p_TI/AAAAAAAAWLg/Oo7XTdLNdy0/s1600/Abu+sefeen+-+coptic+icon+of+the+saint.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DN1M5fnKXL8/ULEbpG5p_TI/AAAAAAAAWLg/Oo7XTdLNdy0/s1600/Abu+sefeen+-+coptic+icon+of+the+saint.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Mercurius killing Julian the Apostate. <br />Coptic variant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The miracles with his
body started directly after his death. He became white like a snow and emitted
a sweet smell of myrrh and incense. He was buried in the place where he died
and the later <i>vitae </i>attest a lot of
miracles about him. From these, we will mention a story from <i>The Life of Basil </i>by Amphilochius of
Iconium (9th century, Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca 247) and from the Chronicle
of John Malalals (5th century). St. Basil of Caesarea was praying about 100
years later for the Christians to be protected from the hands of the pagan
emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). He had two icons towards him, namely one
of the Virgin Mary and another of St. Mercurius. At that time Julian was engaged into a war
against the Persians. In the very moment of the prayer, the spear of St.
Mercurius appeared as blooded, and there is reported that Julian died in the
very moment, being killed by an unknown soldier with a spear. Anyway the story
differs from the official one, according to which Julian died because of an
arrow. The story is depicted especially in the Coptic icons of the saint, where
he appears with his two swords and killing with a spear the emperor Julian,
during St. Basil, in the background, is praying.<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AYqpDqCaAmM/ULEb2H8XbBI/AAAAAAAAWLw/hfje-FR228E/s1600/St.+George+and+St+Mercurius+killing+Julian+-+greek+variant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AYqpDqCaAmM/ULEb2H8XbBI/AAAAAAAAWLw/hfje-FR228E/s320/St.+George+and+St+Mercurius+killing+Julian+-+greek+variant.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Mercurius killing Julian the apostate.<br />Greek variant</td></tr>
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According to two
Syriac sources, The Romance of Julian the Apostate and The Life of Eusebius of Samosata
(Bibliotheca Hagiographica Orientalis 294), the executioner of Julian was Mar
Qurus, one of the forty martyrs of Sebaste. This identification made some
researches to think that the story of St. Mercurius under Decius may be
apocryphal. <o:p></o:p></div>
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St. Mercurius is
celebrated in the Western Church on 11 November, and in the Eastern on 24 November
(7 December, after the Gregorian calendar), which corresponds in the Coptic
Calendar with 25 Hathor (4 December). Additionally the Coptic Church celebrates
him on 9 Baounah (16 June), the date of moving of the relics and on 25 Abib (1 August) when celebrates the commemoration
of the consecration of the first church named after the great St. Mercurius Abi Saifain. There is also to be mentioned that in the eve
of his commemoration of 9 Baounah (that being 15. June) 2007, there were
registered about one million pilgrims at the Coptic Monastery Abi Seifein in
Cairo.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71Yp98sGjZs/ULEb8sRcYXI/AAAAAAAAWL4/DwbFGrZTuEg/s1600/hurezi_-_relics+-+mercurius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71Yp98sGjZs/ULEb8sRcYXI/AAAAAAAAWL4/DwbFGrZTuEg/s320/hurezi_-_relics+-+mercurius.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics of the Saint at Horezu, Romania</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Troparion (hymn) of the saint<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Your holy martyr
Mercurius, O Lord, through his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown
from you, our God. For having your strength, he laid low his adversaries and
shattered the powerless boldness of demons. Through his intercessions, save our
souls!<o:p></o:p></div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-55508419586344040742012-11-12T21:27:00.000+02:002013-04-25T22:58:23.656+03:00Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria<br />
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TCWvcnkZhlc/ULEe7BUkKpI/AAAAAAAAWM4/AlnR1bjWPGw/s1600/sf-ioan-cel-milostiv-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TCWvcnkZhlc/ULEe7BUkKpI/AAAAAAAAWM4/AlnR1bjWPGw/s320/sf-ioan-cel-milostiv-15.jpg" width="144" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
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Saint John the
Merciful (also known as John the Almsgiver, John the Almoner, John V of
Alexandria, John Eleymon, and Johannes Eleemon), was a patriarch of Alexandria
about 100 years after the Chalcedonian split in Egypt (610-616 or 619).He is
one of the most known saints who practiced incessantly the virtue of generosity
among the poor but not only. Today he is celebrated as saint not only in the
Orthodox and Catholic Churches, but also in the Coptic and Ethiopian- Eastern
Orthodox Churches -, as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>A life of mercifulness<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The life of Saint John
the Merciful was written by St. Leontius, bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, who is
also the author of the first biography of a saint fool, namely St. Symeon of
Emesa, the Fool for Christ’s sake. The text about St. John is to be found
beginning with col. 1623 in Migne’s Patrologia Graeca, volume 90, with the
title “Vita Sancti Joannis Eleemosynarii” and also in Acta Sanctorum, t. II
(January), p. 501ff.<o:p></o:p></div>
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According to Leontius,
Saint John came from Cyprus, from a town named Amathus, being born c. 550 AD,
as the son of Epiphanius, a patrician and the governor of the island. John was
raised as a true Christian from childhood.
The biographer accentuates that he married almost forced by his parents
and had children. But soon his wife died and his children too, so that John
remained alone, practicing the virtue of almsgiving. On the recommendation of a
friend, the imperial prefect of the capital city of Cyprus, called Nicetas, he
was elected on the free seat of Alexandria. At his time, 100 years after the
4th ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451), the Church in Egypt was split
between the adepts of the local policy (called later „coptic”) and the
„partisans” of the imperial policy. The doctrine about the one of the two
natures in Christ was strongly instrumentalized in both directions, so that the
majority of Egyptians did not accepted the Chalcedonian dogma rather from
political reasons. The Orthodox were named in Egypt as „melkites”, that is, the
partisans of the emperor, and despised for their faith which was “the faith of
the emperor”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MpXy9gPVlRo/ULEeX6BQHTI/AAAAAAAAWMg/4PTB2XQGqq4/s1600/John_the_Merciful+-+painting+in+the+Warsaw+national+museum.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MpXy9gPVlRo/ULEeX6BQHTI/AAAAAAAAWMg/4PTB2XQGqq4/s320/John_the_Merciful+-+painting+in+the+Warsaw+national+museum.PNG" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting in the<br />
Polish National<br />
Art Museum, Warsaw</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Saint John came in
Alexandria on the not so popular „melkite” see, vacant since the death in 609
of Theodore, during the capture of the city by Nicetas. In 611 John assumed the
throne, becoming the fifth Chalcedonian bishop of Alexandria to bear that name.
Even unpopular, the Patriarchate possessed a great wealth in money and
commercial (especially shipping) enterprises. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his youth John had
had a vision of a beautiful maiden with a garland of olives on her head, who
said that she was the Compassion, the eldest daughter of the Great King (=God).
This had evidently made a deep impression on John's mind, and, now that he had
the opportunity of exercising benevolence on a large scale, he soon became
widely known all over the East for his liberality towards the poor. Even from
the beginning of his service he repeated, that „If you desire nobility, seek it
not in blood but in virtues, for this is true nobility”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also at the beginning
of his services, he has sent his accountants on the streets of the city with
the mission to make a list with his „lords”, these being the poor people. The
list cuprindea 7500 names and these persons received every day food and other
help from the Church’s income. Of
course, this attitude has brought a reaction: too many people were searching for
the help of the patriarch, so that he decided to remain always on Wednesday and
Friday towards the doors of a church and to listen the problems, even sometimes
he was judging cases of injustice. In the days nobody came, he was sad and used
to say that the humble John hasn’t gain anything and hasn’t brought anything to
God, for his sins.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saint John was not only liberal with the
resources of his see, but with his own goods. In one incident in his life he
felt remorseful for accepting a richly-embroidered blanket as a gift and was
unable to sleep until he sold it and gave the proceeds to the poor. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once, while
celebrating the Holy Liturgy, the patriarch remembered the words of Christ,
„Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your
brother has something against you, then leave there your gift before the altar,
and go your way; first be reconciled to
your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24). In that
moment he went to a clergyman who had something against him, leaving the
service opened, fell before the priest’s feet and begged for forgiveness. After
he had made peace with this man did he return to the altar and continued the
Liturgy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another famous story
about the patriarch is that he was once on his way to the Church of Saints
Cyrus and he met a needy widow who spoke to him at length about her misfortune.
The escorts became bored by the lengthy complaint, and urged the bishop to
hurry to the church for the service, saying that he could hear the woman's
story afterward. But John replied that: „And how will God listen to me, if I do
not listen to her?” So he remained and heard the widow's complaint to the end.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His generosity did
draw censure at times. Once a servant of him noticed that someone was abusing
the distribution of goods in John's very presence, returning several times in
different guises, but John replied that it might be Christ in disguise. Also
when there was reported, that among the poor there are also wealthy people
receiving alms, John said that Christ may hide under any appearances.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The care for the sick
and the enslaved was also among his daily missions. He visited the hospitals
three times every week, and he freed a many slaves, by offering money to the
one who captured them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lCvaGpMpFEI/ULEexNPUXzI/AAAAAAAAWMw/e6Tyfwxd2Ek/s1600/St.+John+-+russian+icon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lCvaGpMpFEI/ULEexNPUXzI/AAAAAAAAWMw/e6Tyfwxd2Ek/s320/St.+John+-+russian+icon.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>External Politics<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The political
situation of the Byzantine Empire at the moment wasn’t quite well. The Persian
War affected the eastern regions, including Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor. In
this situation, John came into a conflict with his friend Nicetas, who was
concerned to contribute to Emperor Heraclius’ war effort against the Persians.
John firmly resisted and didn’t want to offer from the church’s wealth, which
was in his vision the sole property of the poor. Finally Nicetas apologized
himself and the Church wasn’t forced to contribute to the war. That doesn’t
mean John didn’t care about the fate of the empire, but he tried to help the
people who needed supplies. When the Sassanid Persians attacked strongly, St.
John extended his mercy to the people of Palestine and Jerusalem (614). He sent
convoys of essential supplies to Palestine and welcomed many refugees to
Alexandria. <o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W796G3o5d9E/ULEevPgtPyI/AAAAAAAAWMo/v_yEX26H-3c/s1600/Saint+John+the+Merciful+-+painting+by+Titianus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W796G3o5d9E/ULEevPgtPyI/AAAAAAAAWMo/v_yEX26H-3c/s320/Saint+John+the+Merciful+-+painting+by+Titianus.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting of Titian</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Relation with the non-Chalcedonians<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
John usually refused
the controversial discussions. In the patriarchal palace accepted only
commentaries on the Scriptures or other spiritual topics. He hosted sometimes
learned theologians such as St. Sophronius, future patriarch of Jerusalem, and
John Moschus, the author of the Leimonarion (Spiritual Meadow), but in spite of
his strongly orthodox position, he was an example of religious tolerance during
the Christological disputes. He refused to accept the violence in order to
impose the Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. It is true that he used the theological
ability of men such as Sophronius and John Moschus to defend the „imperial”
position, but that was all. As a result of his efforts the number of
Chalcedonian churches in the city increased ten-fold during his reign,
according to his Life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The religious disputes
were also political ones, so the emperors urged to find a compromise against
the dissolution of the empire. So, in
order to reach reconciliation between the Chalcedonians, who defended the two
natures in Christ and the non-Chalcedonians, who defended the one nature,
Emperor Heraclius (610-641) imposed a mixed formula, known in the history as
„monoenergism” or later as „monothelism”. According to this position, there was
defended the Orthodox position of two natures in Christ, but there was affirmed
the existence of a single work (mono-erga) and a single will (mono-thelos) in
Christ, which in fact was a disguised unorthodox formula, because the human
nature would have been practically inactive in the Person of Christ. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
John voiced opposition
to Heraclius' early attempts at promoting monoenergism as a compromise solution
to the schism over Chalcedon, but did not participate in the major controversies
that soon developed, and finished with the conclusions of the sixth ecumenical
Council of Constantinople (680)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Death of St. John<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saint John was forced
to flee Alexandria by the Persian invasion of Egypt in 619, or, after the
Western sources, in 616. He<span style="display: none; mso-hide: all;">John</span>
boarded a boat to escape from danger, but along the way he fell ill and,
arrived in Cyprus, he reposed at his birthplace, in 620 (or 616). A few years later much of John’s work of
reconciliation with the non-Chalcedonians of Egypt was undone by the violent
persecution instituted by<b> </b>Cyrus
(631–641), who combined both imperial and ecclesiastical authority as dual
prefect and patriarch of Alexandria. During his reign, the Muslims invaded
Egypt, who never came back under the Christian rule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The celebration of St.
John the Merciful occurs in the Orthodox Churches on 12 November (26 November
in the Churches who respect the old calendar) , although he might have died on
11 November, when he is celebrated in the West. Another day of celebration is
23 January.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The Relics of St. John<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The relics of Saint
John were soon reported to be wonderworker. There were soon moved to
Constantinople, then in 1249, during the 4<sup>th</sup> Crusade, to Venice.
There is a church dedicated to him in Venice, the Church of San Giovanni
Elemosinario, but his relics are preserved in another church, San Giovanni in
Bragora, in a separate chapel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hxKPSVXXzKw/ULEeBRaQX4I/AAAAAAAAWMQ/tLkQxRT21vc/s1600/Chapel+and+Relics+of+St.+John+in+Bratislava.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hxKPSVXXzKw/ULEeBRaQX4I/AAAAAAAAWMQ/tLkQxRT21vc/s320/Chapel+and+Relics+of+St.+John+in+Bratislava.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics in the Cathedral of Bratislava</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LHJFxjfgkgw/ULEeMYZX5DI/AAAAAAAAWMY/VoPTm9gXJ_E/s1600/Column+of+St.+john+in+Casarano+-+town+where+he+is+the+patron+saint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LHJFxjfgkgw/ULEeMYZX5DI/AAAAAAAAWMY/VoPTm9gXJ_E/s320/Column+of+St.+john+in+Casarano+-+town+where+he+is+the+patron+saint.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Column dedicated to the saint <br />
in Casarano, Italy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25727578@N04/3244475010/" title="San Juan el Limosnero, Patriarca de Alejandria by abarrero2000, on Flickr"><img alt="San Juan el Limosnero, Patriarca de Alejandria" height="375" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3421/3244475010_17fb905818.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.600000381469727px;">Relics of the saint in the church San Giovanni in Bragora from Venice</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Apparently a part of
the relics remained after the 4<sup>th</sup> Crusade further in Constantinople,
because there is reported that another relic of St. John was sent by Sultan
Bayezid II in 1489 to King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. It was placed in the
private Royal Chapel in Buda Castle, dedicated to St. John. Now these relics are to be found in the St.
John the Merciful Chapel, at the St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava,
Slovakia. Some other relics are to be found in some monastery in Athos, as
Dionisiou (his right hand), Vatopedi, Pantokrator, Dochiariou and Karakallou. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saint John the
Merciful is the Patron saint of the town Casarano, in southern Italy and the
original patron saint of the monastic order of the Hospitallers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Troparion (Hymn) of the Saint<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By endurance you
gained your reward, venerable Father; you persevered in prayer unceasingly; you
loved the poor and provided for them in all things. Blessed John the Merciful,
intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved!<o:p></o:p></div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-58532133338107119372012-11-05T09:47:00.001+02:002012-11-05T09:47:40.430+02:00SINGURĂTATE<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<h2 class="MsoTitleCxSpFirst">
<b>SINGURĂTATE</b></h2>
<h2 class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle">
<b>(10 septembrie 1953 – 22 aprilie 1954)</b></h2>
<h2 class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle">
<b> </b></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGcCNjL1XBkAznQmfUbG5yFysaR7yBGH7u_2je4KVg2P80RFHL-ZcI2qjsPEYQ7vygjyhnCBbeSLx35_jWxObo-LLtsmXWFwFJFeim1Ps9I5ic65X5SKcQa47hzr843GMvssFkAmYad8/s1600/17.10.2012+588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGcCNjL1XBkAznQmfUbG5yFysaR7yBGH7u_2je4KVg2P80RFHL-ZcI2qjsPEYQ7vygjyhnCBbeSLx35_jWxObo-LLtsmXWFwFJFeim1Ps9I5ic65X5SKcQa47hzr843GMvssFkAmYad8/s320/17.10.2012+588.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<h2 class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></b></h2>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">La subsol. Celula Nr. 5, lungime 2 metri, lățime 1
metru. Deasupra ușii, o gaură pentru aerisire și lumină. Bolnav de icter.
Medicament - fără pâine și ciorbă - și niște calmante. Banca pe care dormeam nu
are saltea. După 75 de zile, doctorul îmi spune că m-am vindecat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Sunt dus la anchetă. Își bat joc de mine, că sunt
prost și nebun. La plecare mă întreabă: ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ce
relații ai avut în București, pe strada…</i>?” Nu-mi aduc aminte. ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Du-te în celulă și acolo ai să putrezești!</i>”
Nu mă lăsau să dorm. Băteau mereu în uși. </span></div>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Când mi-am adus aminte de stradă, am leșinat. Era
adresa familiilor Codreanu și Moța. Turnătorul era din grup cu noi. Nearestat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Pe 21 aprilie, în zori, visez un vis ciudat: Prin
gaura de aerisire, două bețe de corn lucioase, fără noduri. S-a luminat celula.
O voce mi-a spus: ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pune mâna pe ele!”</i>
Am sărit de pe bancă. Zic: ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Acum o să
mor. Mă cheamă la ei!” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Erau martirii
căzuți<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>în luptă, în Spania. Și cu o voce
puternică, încep să cânt ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ștefan al Moldovei”</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Ușa se deschide. Erau cinci gardieni speriați: ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ce ai cântat?</i>” Recit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">”Mama”</i> de Coșbuc.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Astăzi Comisia juridică îmi spune: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">”Procesul tău… ori acasă, sau la tribunal”</i>.
A doua zi plec la Aiud. În tren am auzit că e Săptămâna Mare și Duminică e
Învierea.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Acest proces s-a judecat în iulie 1958. Condamnat la
22 ani. Eliberat pe 22 iunie 1964, cu decretul.</span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoTitleCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Anastase
Buciuneanu</span></b></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoTitleCxSpLast" style="text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">(luptător al
credinței, deținut politic)</span></b></div>
</div>
Dr. Mircea Cristian Pricophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234449541573871642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-47620494152324398392012-10-30T19:15:00.000+02:002012-10-30T19:15:01.392+02:00HOLOCRIERON<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]"><span id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0].[0]">Daca
pentru uciderea evreilor si a celorlalte etnii indezirabile pentru
Hitler exista termenul de ”HOLOCAUST” (ardere totala), atunci pentru
milioanele de nevinovati ucisi fara judecata autentica, din ordinele
explicite ale antihristilor totalitari din</span></span><span id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[3]"><span id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[3]."><span id=".reactRoot[7].[1][2][1]{comment324903080950346_1757028}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[3]..[0]">
interiorul si din afara tarii, ar trebui sa se gaseasca termenul de
”HOLOCRIERON” (inghetare de tot). Holocrieronul ar trebui serbat oficial
si ar trebui sa i se dea CEL PUTIN aceeasi importanta ca si
holocaustului.</span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
Dr. Mircea Cristian Pricophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234449541573871642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183989282675427627.post-26174148941547893782012-10-26T18:56:00.000+03:002012-10-26T18:56:00.187+03:00Saint Dimitriy (Demetrius), Metropolitan of Rostov<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QLiTA4gKCuM/UGxe2OBZdRI/AAAAAAAAV84/8VzO-c3nIyQ/s1600/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QLiTA4gKCuM/UGxe2OBZdRI/AAAAAAAAV84/8VzO-c3nIyQ/s320/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-8.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
St. Dimitriy Tuptalo,
Metropolitan of Rostov, was a Russian hierarch of the 17th century, a
remarkable preacher, and religious writer, professor of theology and ascetic,
but also miracle worker. Heis venerated today in the Russian Church but also in
the entire Orthodox space.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b>Childhood<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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St. Dimitriy was born in 1651 in
Makarovo, 40 km from Kiev, being baptized as Daniel. His father, Sava
Grigorjevich Tuptalo (†January 5, 1703) was a soldier and often he was missing
from home for a long time. Child's education was the particularly concern of
the mother, Maria Michajlovna (†March 29, 1689), who gave him a Christian
education. Soon the family moved to Kiev (1661), at that time located in
Poland, and at the age of 11 years, Daniel entered the Orthodox Academy of Kiev
(established by metropolitan Peter Movil<span lang="RO">ă (Mogyla)</span> some decades before), whose leader was at that
time Innokenty Gizela (c. 1600-1683), a brilliant preacher and defender of
Orthodoxy. Thanks to him, Daniel could develop during the study (1665-1665) a
great charisma to explain the Scriptures and became sensitive to catechizing
the faithful Church. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Monk<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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A few years later (July 9, 1668,
being 17) Daniel entered the Monastery of St. Cyril and received the monastic
tonsure, named Dimitriy, after St Demetrius of Thessalonica. In addition to the
usual ministries in monastery, which he performed with obedience, the young
monk managed to complete the studies and to begin his missionary literary work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
He was ordained a priest on May
23, 1675 at Holy Trinity Monastery in Gustyn, Prykuly district, and immediately
was appointed by the Archbishop Lazar Baranov of Chernigov as preacher.
Further, during this period went on pilgrimage to see different holy places in
Belarus and Ukraine, at that time partly, in possession of the Greek Catholics.
He was appointed in the next years as minister in several cities, as Chernigov
(1675) and Slutsk (1677).</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZlJ2xRJH6I/UGxegYb-1KI/AAAAAAAAV7g/71lMD51WRlA/s1600/Baranovych+Lazar+of+Chernigov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZlJ2xRJH6I/UGxegYb-1KI/AAAAAAAAV7g/71lMD51WRlA/s320/Baranovych+Lazar+of+Chernigov.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lazar Baranovich of Chernigov</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
In 1678, after a trip to Vilnius, he established in
Baturyn, at the court of Hetman Ivan Samoylovych. His sermons were typical for
the Baroque period, consisting namely in metaphors, allegories, rhetorical
figures, questions and answers, especially on moral topics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Starting in 1680 the hieromonk
Dimitriy lived mostly at Pecerska Lavra in Kiev, where he wrote many sermons,
especially against the local mores, especially alcoholism and easier life. Soon
it was given to him the leadership of several monasteries, always against his
will, because his only desire was to live in asceticism and quietly. In this
way he was abbot of Transfiguration Monastery of Maksakov, Borsna district
(1681), and the following year to the monastery of St. Nicholas in Baturyn.
Every time he tried to resign, but without succeed. His friends - including St.
Theodosius, Archbishop of Chernigov (celebrated on 5 February) - managed to
persuade him to remain abbot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Writing the Lives of the Saints and other works<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This period of his life was
devoted to theological writings, being concentrated upon the ambitious project
of integrating all the lives of Russian saints into a single work, which he
published as <i>The lives of the saints </i>between
1684-1705. His resources were the Greek Menologion of Saint Symeon
Metaphrastes, the Menologies of Metropolitan Makarij (1482-1563), the
Collections of Vitae of the Bollandists, the Annals of cardinal Baronius, and
the Lives of the Saints of Piotr Skarga, which means both orthodox and catholic
sources. His compositions, which he never pretended to be original, are until
today very popular in the Slavic space. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsdEMO_Wp7uBnTTyf4SHCsMdu2ZqFY7DKhyphenhyphen5IlBJE9lI1cEU2H44sZbxUi4Wrmt1bnZ-Il4935sUsJ-uXIKF_re9kDetYvXWIydBbIXzUz36Oax5cEa8p4SKDdRbhNF8bV8kYchTGo8j6/s1600/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsdEMO_Wp7uBnTTyf4SHCsMdu2ZqFY7DKhyphenhyphen5IlBJE9lI1cEU2H44sZbxUi4Wrmt1bnZ-Il4935sUsJ-uXIKF_re9kDetYvXWIydBbIXzUz36Oax5cEa8p4SKDdRbhNF8bV8kYchTGo8j6/s320/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-5.jpg" width="244" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Together with his popular writing
about the saints, he wrote also a <i>Research
on the fake faith of the schismatic </i>(Rotsysk one cuz brynskoi raskolnitsei),
a polemic work against the Raskolniks (Old Believers), the Russians who didn’t
accept the liturgical reform of Patriarch Nikon form 1666. Dimitriy sees the
error in the popular inculture and not directly in their faith. He also wrote a <i>Catechetic Compendium. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Also he found time to study the
ecclesiastical history of the Russian Orthodox Church, so he wrote a <i>Chronicle of the Lavra Pecerska</i>, a <i>Chronicle of the Russian tsars and
patriarchs,</i> a <i>Catalogue of the Russian metropolitans</i>, and also other works, especially <i>homilies</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZnFbYQk01I/UGxeqWR-1yI/AAAAAAAAV7w/AjH5jjQLwXQ/s1600/Monument+in+Makarov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZnFbYQk01I/UGxeqWR-1yI/AAAAAAAAV7w/AjH5jjQLwXQ/s320/Monument+in+Makarov.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monument in Makarov, near Kyiv</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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For 25 years, Saint Dimitriy
devoted all the powers of such works, but besides the time spent to these, he
was praying in church or alone. He was living in the company of the saints not
only in writing but also in prayer, living their lives, suffering their
torments with them and studying the smallest details in all the documents
relating to them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In return for his love for the
saints, God gave him often visions. On August 10, 1685, he saw in a dream St.
Great Martyr Barbara, notably honored by him. He asked her to intercede for him
before the Lord, but she admonished him because praying "like the Roman
Catholics", that means by meditating on the five wounds of our Lord.
Indeed, the influence of Roman Catholic theology and spirituality was visible
in the Russian Church in the cult. But after that St. Barbara smiled and
comforted him. On November 10, the same year, Saint Orest appeared to him, the
one of whom Dimitriy composed his life in the same day and he said: "I
suffered more torment for Christ than those you remembered." Then he
showed him a deep wound in the left side, saying: "Behold, this was done
by a red hot iron". Then he stretched out his right arm and showed his
veins that had been cut up to the elbow height and added: "Here, these
were cut" Then showed him similar injury to his left arm, repeating the
same words and then he showed that he had wounds on his knees, saying:
"These have been cut". After that, he stood right and finally said,
"You see, then, that I suffered more pain than you have remembered"
St. Dimitriy asked St. Orest if he was one of the five Saints Martyrs whose
feast is on December 13, but the martyr replied: "Not Orest of the five
Holy Martyrs Church, but he who is honored today and whose life you just made
it".<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vSaGK7N_7eQ/UGxerdKOMAI/AAAAAAAAV70/vPKwICcgvn0/s1600/Saint+Orest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vSaGK7N_7eQ/UGxerdKOMAI/AAAAAAAAV70/vPKwICcgvn0/s320/Saint+Orest.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saint Orest</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Metropolitan<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In 1694 Dimitriy was named abbot
of the monastery of St. Peter and Paul in Hluchiv, in 1697 at the monastery of
St. Cyril in Kiev and in 1699 he was named Archimandrite at the Transfiguration
Monastery from Novhorod-Siverskyj. On
March 23, 1701 Dimitriy was ordained a bishop in Moscow, being appointed
metropolitan for Siberia and Tobolsk. His poor health and his need to have
access to the texts necessary to continue the writing of the saints’ lives,
made him to ask to be moved elsewhere. He was named in the Diocese of Rostov
and Yaroslavl in January 4, 1702 and then he had a vision, in which it was
discovered to him that he will have to
find the eternal rest there in the monastery of St. James (Spaso-Yakovlevsky
monastyr), in Rostov.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cQUUIqv6g2k/UGxeyU1oTnI/AAAAAAAAV8g/tcVNri9q8MY/s1600/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cQUUIqv6g2k/UGxeyU1oTnI/AAAAAAAAV8g/tcVNri9q8MY/s320/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-3.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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During his life in Russia,
Dimitry opposed both the Old Believers' and Peter the Great's ecclesiastical
policies. He also made invaluable contributions to the Russian education,
opening a school and a small theatre in Rostov, where his own plays could be
staged.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dimitry was also active as a
composer. Many of his Penitential Psalms achieved a wide circulation, not only
in the Ukraine but in the Balkans too, and many of them have become an integral
part of Ukrainian folk-song tradition through the <i>kobzari</i> (itinerant blind singers).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dimitry is credited as composer
or compiler of the first Russian opera of 6 hours, the Rostov Mysteries (1705).
It is an oratorio on the lives of Russian saints, based on the
"Cheti-Minei", published in four volumes in 1689, 1690, 1700 and
1705. The same source inspired Pushkin to write Boris Godunov in 1825.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nZ1Wtlp1_Jg/UGxeicq9zjI/AAAAAAAAV7o/w5NUzuMN1YI/s1600/Crosier+Dim.+Rostov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nZ1Wtlp1_Jg/UGxeicq9zjI/AAAAAAAAV7o/w5NUzuMN1YI/s320/Crosier+Dim.+Rostov.jpg" width="187" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hierarchical stick</td></tr>
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Shortly before his death,
Saint Dimitriy completed his monumental work, the Lives of the saints (in
1705), and further took only the care for his community. He tried very hard to
turn the religious life and manners of his contemporaries. Despite his frequent
illnesses, he continued a strict canon in his life and never left his unceasing
prayer. He also established a theological seminary near his home, where he has
assumed much of the teaching. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-enMj9Qp1utM/UGxeweIBabI/AAAAAAAAV8Q/cyeOxo4YT24/s1600/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-enMj9Qp1utM/UGxeweIBabI/AAAAAAAAV8Q/cyeOxo4YT24/s320/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-10.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<b>The burial<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Saint Dimitriy has foreseen his
death three days before. He bowed to the ground and asked for forgiveness from
clergy and singers who served with him. After that, he closed himself in his
cell, in a fervent prayer. The next day morning, October 28, 1709, he was found
dead, kneeling at prayer. Contrary to the saint's wishes, which he expressed in
his will, the clergy and people of Rostov asked the locum tenens of the
patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Stephen Yavorsky of Ryazan, who had come for
the funeral, to conduct the burial at the cathedral church of the city. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pNf-aX9R6t4/UGxe074i6DI/AAAAAAAAV8w/wafLFebsj90/s1600/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pNf-aX9R6t4/UGxe074i6DI/AAAAAAAAV8w/wafLFebsj90/s320/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-6.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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Metropolitan Stephen insisted on
burying the body of his deceased friend beside St Joasaph, who was St. Demetrius's
predecessor. However, a grave was not prepared until the arrival of
Metropolitan Stephen, even although about a month had elapsed since the saint's
death.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Due to the urgent departure of
Metropolitan Stephen from Rostov, a hastily constructed wooden frame was placed
into the grave, in which the body of the saint was buried on November 25. This
circumstance, foreseen by the Providence of God, led to a quick uncovering of
the relics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JACStuUq_Tw/UGxetHqIKWI/AAAAAAAAV8A/Z7nr4KEPv4s/s1600/Shrine_of_Dimitry_Rostov+in+Jacob+monastery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JACStuUq_Tw/UGxetHqIKWI/AAAAAAAAV8A/Z7nr4KEPv4s/s320/Shrine_of_Dimitry_Rostov+in+Jacob+monastery.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The shrine with the Relics of the Saint Dimitriy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In 1752 repairs were being done
at the cathedral church of the Trinity in the monastery, and on September 21,
was discovered the incorrupt body of St Demetrius. The place of burial had been
affected by dampness, the oaken coffin and the writing on it were decayed, but
the body of the saint, and even the omophorion, sacchos, mitre and silken
prayer rope were preserved undamaged.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the uncovering of the holy
relics many healings were worked, which were reported to the Synod, by whose
order Metropolitan Sylvester of Suzdal and Archimandrite Gabriel of Simonov
arrived at Rostov to examine the relics of St Demetrius, and to investigate the
incidents of miraculous healings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-etTjBg-AAfU/UGxetx38AOI/AAAAAAAAV8I/DFKZKxRPJtQ/s1600/Spaso-Jakovlevskij_-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-etTjBg-AAfU/UGxetx38AOI/AAAAAAAAV8I/DFKZKxRPJtQ/s320/Spaso-Jakovlevskij_-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cathedral in Rostov, where the relics of <br />St. Dimitriy are to be found</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Veneration<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Russian Church proceeded with
the official recognition in April 22, 1757. His celebrating day is the day of
his death, October 28, or November 10, according to the gregorian calendar.
Also another celebration is on September 21, the finding of his miracle-working
relics in 1752. <o:p></o:p></div>
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His relics are until today in the
cathedral church of St. Jacob monastery on Rostov. A reliquary containing the
right hand of St. Dimitriy is today in the St. Michael Church from the village
Polovki, Chernigov region.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fhtrRxNlcug/UGxexQkqujI/AAAAAAAAV8U/4peC8TBS3wg/s1600/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fhtrRxNlcug/UGxexQkqujI/AAAAAAAAV8U/4peC8TBS3wg/s320/adormirea-sf-dimitrie-al-rostovului-1709-12.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Troparion (hymn) of the saint<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i>„O, lover of Orthodoxy and uprooter of schism, healer of Russia and new
advocate before God, by thy writings thou didst heal the minds of the foolish.
O blessed Dimitriy, thou harp of the Spirit, entreat Christ God, that our souls
may be saved!”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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More icons and reliquary, to be found here: <a href="http://sfintisiicoane.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/sfantul-ierarh-dimitrie-mitropolitul-rostovului-rusia-28-octombrie/">http://sfintisiicoane.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/sfantul-ierarh-dimitrie-mitropolitul-rostovului-rusia-28-octombrie/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
dev89http://www.blogger.com/profile/11900985511236795718noreply@blogger.com0