St. Gregory Dascălul (“the Teacher”), the Metropolitan of Wallachia (1822-1833)

St. Gregory “the Teacher”, a recently canonized saint in Romania, lived a monastic exemplary life and at the same time he was a loving man of culture. Due his activity, the movement of the revival of monasticism (known as the “philokalic” movement, or “neo-patristic”) was spread in the south of Romania, through the translations of patristic works into the local language, which is Romanian. Moreover, he revived the Romanian elements in the Church worship, supporting the printing of the liturgical books in Romanian.

Early Life

He was born in Bucharest, in 1765. His parents have supported his high education in the classical and spiritual sciences. Gregory showed an extraordinary intelligence, being the best student of the College of Saint Sava, the best Romanian school of his time. There he studied Latin and Greek, Theology, Grammar and other sciences.

During his studies at the College of Saint Sava, he met the monks Gherontie and Dorotheos, two of the disciples of St. Paisie from Neamţ, the Abbot who started the revival of the monasticism in Romania and Russia in the late eighteenth century. At that time, Moldova and Wallachia were two romanian separate states, under the Turkish rule, Gregory being Wallachian.

In 1790, St. Gregory came by himself at Neamţ Monastery, situated in the northern part of Moldova, where he was a direct apprentice of Paisie Velichkovsky, who tonsured him as a monk and taught him the rules of monastic life. In the monastery of Paisie lived at that time several hundred of translators and copyists, who influenced the spiritual life in Moldova, Wallachia and Russia for more than a century. Among them, being well acquainted with Greek, St. Gregory has translated various works of the Church Fathers, encouraged by Paisie.

Printing activity

In 1796, Dositei Filitti, the Metropolitan of Wallachia (Walachia) has specifically requested two translators from Neamt Monastery. The monks Gherontie and Gregory were chosen by their Abbot for this mission and so they began printing in Bucharest, in 1799 the “Useful book for the Soul”, which is popular even today in the Orthodox space, being a kind of catechism. In 1801 the two monks were printed “the Kiriacodromion” of the Greek Scholar Nikiforos Theotokis, which explains the text of the Evangelical readings in the Sundays throughout the whole year.

In the meantime, the Metropolitan of Moldova, Veniamin Costachi urged them to translate “The pious mystery of our orthodox faith”, printed in 1803, and “Interpretation of the Gospels” of St. Theophylact of Bulgaria, published in 1805. In 1806 it was printed the translation of the “Dogmatica” (“Teaching of the true Faith”) of St. John Damascene, an essential book of theology from the 8^th century. In addition, the monk Gregory has translated and published some other books in Romanian.

In 1812, St. Gregory and Gherontie went together to the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos), to “worship God in the holy monasteries there and to meet with parents for the benefit of the pious soul”. On their return, near the city of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, they were attacked by robbers, and Gherontie died due the cruel beating. Gregory retired to Căldăruşani, near Bucharest, for five years between 1818 and 1823, until his election as Metropolitan of Wallachia. Here he translated in Romanian some very important books for the candidates for the priesthood, namely: “Treatise on the priesthood” of St. John Chrysostom and “Word for the priesthood” of St. Gregory the Theologian.

Metropolitan

In 1822, after 110 years, it was elected a Romanian of Wallachia, namely Grigore Ghica. He supported the election of a new Metropolitan in Bucharest, in a time when there was no bishop in Wallachia and after a difficult war with the Turks.

Elected as metropolitan, Gregory took firm balanced and full of wisdom decisions concerning the revival of the spiritual life of his country. He managed to ban the Greek bishops in the south of the Danube to ordain priests outside their diocese. That practice was quite “normal” in the Middle Ages, so that many priests knew almost nothing about their own faith. After a complaint addressed to the Patriarch in Constantinople, this practice stopped.

At the decision of Metropolitan Gregory, many schools were provided with books and the best teachers were brought in to teach. Gregory knew that cultural and spiritual progress are mutually reinforcing, so he helped many poor students to study and tried to build theological seminaries, for the good preparation of the future priests and teachers. Above all, he tidied up the monastic life, trying to reestablish the rules of the Church Fathers in Romanian monasteries.

After the outbreak of new conflict between Russia and Turkey in 1828, Gregory was forced to flee to Chisinau. In 1831 the Government in Bucharest required his resignation, but Gregory refused, saying: “God gave me a soul and a diocese, then I will leave the diocese when the soul will get out of my body, because these are things that concern the salvation of the souls”. It was only on 22 August 1833 he returned to Bucharest, but he lived only one year more, passing into eternity on June 22, 1834. He was buried sitting in a chair, in a vaulted tomb near the Metropolitan Cathedral in Bucharest. Over seven years, his bones were moved to Căldăruşani Monastery. His will may be found in the preface to the translation of the book “the Wheat-Sharing” of Saint John Chrysostom: “Only so much I desire to live, in order to help the Orthodoxy, my people and my brothers, so that they can easily acquire the eternal goodness through the teachings of the saints”.

The Veneration of Saint Gregory the Teacher

Gregory “The Teacher”, venerated already for a long time in Bucharest and around, was officially canonized on May 21, 2006, his feast day being on June 22, the day of his passing away. The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has approved this decision in the October 2005 work session, at the proposal of the Metropolitan Synod of of Muntenia and Dobrogea (which is the Metropolis of Wallachia).
The relics of St. Gregory are currently in the Căldăruşani Monastery, where he himself spent five years between 1818 and 1823, until he was elected metropolitan.

Troparion

The Hymn of the saint is the same for the Holy Hierarchs (e.g. St. Nicholas of Myra has the same hymn in the Church Cult):

“In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you. Hierarch Father Gregory, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved!”

Kontakion (Specifical hymn of the Saint)

”The Romanian Church had you as Fearless defender of the right faith and compassionate facilitator for the oppressed people, o, Holy Hierarch Gregory, because you have advised the priests and the faithful people, you’ve taught the youth and protected the orphans and your wise writings and teachings remained priceless treasure of our Orthodox Church!”

The Holy Martyrs Zotikos, Attalos, Kamasis, Philippos from Niculiţel and other Martyrs from Scythia Minor

The Land of Scythia Minor, the actual Romanian region of Dobrogea, situated between the Danube and the Black Sea was one of the first Christianized regions in the world.

The popular traditions say that St. Andrew the Apostle, in his way from Greece to Scytia (the today Ukraine) went through this region, where he would have stayed a few years, preaching the Gospel to the Dacians, Scythians and the Greek colonists from the cities here.

The attestation of the early Christianity here is also recognized through the archeological discoveries. A few dozens of churches from the 2^nd-4^th century show the intensity of the Christian activity here. Beyond the rich traditions about the Andrew’s preaching here, there is not much known. It is possible, that the Christianity would be preached here peacefully, also because the Dacians, the ancestors of the Romanians, the dwellers here were already monotheists.

Anyway, at the end of the 3^rd century and the beginning of the 4^th there are registered some strong actions of persecutions in the area, in the periods of the Emperors Diocletianus (284/305), Licinius (319-324) and later in the times of Julian the Apostate (361-363), respectively of the King Athanaric of Gothia (about 370-372). More than a dozen of soldiers, priests or simple citizens were killed because they confessed their faith in Jesus Christ.

About those saints martyrs there was not very much to know, only a few notes in some Synaxaries. At 4^th of June, the Syriac Martyrologium indicates only the Feast of St. Philip, but the “hieronimian” Martirologium, adds here the names Zoticus, Atalus, Eutichius, Camasis, Quirinus and other 28, unnamed.

These saints were almost forgotten, but they came one more time in the attention after an event which passed about 40 years ago.

In the summer of 1971, after some rich rainfalls, some locals from the small village of Niculitel, known much more because of its vineyards, discovered in a landslide some ruins. After more digging, it was obvious that there are not only some ruins, but an entire crypt built like a small chapel. Inside of it were the bones of 4 men, put into a wooden coffin, and above it were on the walls 2 inscriptions in Greek, painted in red colour: “Martyrs of Christ”, respectively “Martyrs Zotikos, Attalos, Kamasis, Philippos”. Both inscriptions were accompanied by the sign of Chrismon (XP), an old Christian symbol.

Even if the discovery occurred in the middle of the communist era, it made sensation between the archaeologists, historians and theologians. The crypt confirms the notation about some martyrs with those names, included in the synaxaries mentioned above and into an extended Greek synaxarion, together with other 32 more Christians who died in Scythia Minor, in the Old Noviodunum, a port at the Danube, not far away from the Danube Delta (the actual Isaccea). The historians believe that they died during the persecution of Licinius (319-324), or Julian the Apostate (361-363).

About the other 32 there is no more informations. Only the 4 Saints Zotikos, Attalos, Kamasis, Philippos were buried here. Because of the barbarian migration that occurred beginning with the 4^th century, probably the church, which was initially built over the crypt, was destroyed, and the crypt itself, situated under the altar, was covered with rests which protected it for more than 1500 years.

The archaeological researches discovered 2 more rooms, under this crypt, where there were found the bones of 2 more martyrs. The way those bones were found, made the specialists to believe that also these were martyrs. In the earth found, there were 2 offering vessels and a piece of sandstone with the inscription: “here and there the blood of the martyrs”. The 2 martyrs may be some earlier, maybe from the persecution under Decius (249-251).

On 17 January 1973, the Archbishop Antim Nica of the Lower Danube (from Galaţi) decided the holy relics to be moved in the Monastery of Cocoş from nearby. They are still in this monastery, being venerated by the all Orthodox Romanians. Over the martyrikon ther it has been later in the ‘80s a building which covers both the crypt itself and the ruins of the church, together with some findings from here.

Together with the 4 Holy Martyrs of Niculitel, celebrated in the Romanian Orthodox Church on 4^th of June, we mention some other Saints from the same period in the region between Danube and the Sea:

Bishop Ephrem of Tomis (the province’s metropolis), killed in on March 7, 304, was the first Christian martyr of this region, persecuted and killed during the repression ordered by emperor Diocletian. His feast is made on 7^th March, together with the Martyrs in Chersones, where all died as martyrs.

Deacon Ermil and his friend Stratonic, drowned in Danube during the persecution of Licinius (307-324). Feast on 13^th January

Saint Sava from Buzău, even if he died in the region occupied at this time by the Goths, in the actual central-eastern Romania, may be mentioned here. He was drowned in the waters of the Mousaios river (Buzău) by the orders of the gothic king Athanaric. His relics were asked by St. Basil the Great through a letter from St. Bretanion, the bishop of Tomis. He is celebrated in the Eastern Churches on 12^th April, and in the West, on 28^th April. He is important also because of the attestation of the Christian faith in the “pagan” regions beyond the Danube, so not in the Roman Empire.

Soldiers Pasicratus and Valentinus, died by beheading during the persecution of Diocletian in the city of Durostorum (today Silistra, in Bulgaria), in 298. Their Feast is on 24^th April.

Soldiers Cyril († 20 nov. 303), Kindeas /Candea (20 nov. 303) and Tasios/Dasius (20 nov. 303) from Durostorum (today Silistra), are together celebrated on 26^th April. About Dasius we know that he died during the feast of the Roman Saturnalia, because he refused to play the role of Saturn at the feast celebrated here by the Legion XI Claudia.

Maximus, Quintilianus and Dadas from the village of Ozovia (Ozobia) were probably Romans by name, only Dadas maybe Dacian. Maximus was lecturer in the Church. They were brought to Durostorum, beaten and finally beheaded on 28^th April 204.

Iulius the Veteran was contemporary with Pasicratus and Valentinus and died by beheading during the same persecution on 27 May 304, also in Durostorum.

Nicander and Marcianus, also soldiers in Durostorum, were strongly tortured and finally beheaded on 8 June 298

Epictetus, the priest and his apprentice, Astion the hermit, originals from the Small Asia, are celebrated on 8 July. They died as martyrs about in 290 BC, being from several years missionaries in Scythia Minor, in the City of Halmyris (today the village Dunavăţul de Jos), on the shore of Danubius. The Governor Latronianus tortured them terribly and finally ordered the beheading of them. They may be the first martyrs in Scythia Minor known today. In the Martyric Act of them (which is today to be found only in a copy from the 15th century in the Church of the Saviour from Utrecht), there are described the bodies of the two beheaded saints, as snow-white. The sick people used to kiss their relics and were sometimes healed. The Basilica from Halmyris was discovered in 2001 and also the Holy Relics of the Saints here, which are today in the monastery built here. Part of their relics can be found also in the Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of Tomis, in Constanţa.

Emilianus from Durostorum, son of the Roman prefect Sabbatianus, was killed because he destroyed with a hammer the idols that he found in the city. Finally he died being threown in the fire, on 18 July 362.

St. Bede the Venerable, the Churchfather of England

In the way that St. Patrick is the emblem of the Christianity in Ireland, St. Bede, also known as “The Venerable” could be considered the symbol of the Christian treasure of England.

The anglo-saxon Christianity have always had some particularities which made it special among the whole Church of Christ. The insularity of Great Britain and of Ireland made the customs here to be somehow distinct and conservative, if we compare them whether to the Eastern or to the Western Church. The Conversion of England itself is special, being the result of two distinct groups of missionaries, first among them being the ones who came from the Celtic-speaking lands (such as Bretagne or Ireland) and the second from Rome. For a long time the priests and the bishops remained here as married men, the the monks lived an ascetic individual life, approximately like the ones in the Egyptian Desert, the churches were emptier as we may imagine, and the baptism occurred often on the shores of the rivers. The Easter’s date was established independently from the rest of the Church for many years.

Like in Egypt or Cappadocia, the monasteries represent for Britain the beginnings of the new culture. Even before the Danish and later the Norman invasions, the monks were writing in Latin or Celtic some original pieces of Christian Works. Between those literate ascetics could be counted also Bede “the Venerable”, who lived in the 7th-8th centuries in northern England.

Bede (Old English: Bæda or Bēda, translated as “prayer”) was a Benedictine monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, (today Sunderland) and later at the monastery of Saint Paul (the modern Jarrow). The kingdom of Northumbria, in which he lived, was a native angle-speaking country which covered the north-eastern part of the actual England, which resisted to the Danish invasion, but it was conquered by the Normans in 954.

Among the convents in the area, Bede's monastery had a big library which included works by Eusebius and Orosius, which were used by Bede in writing his own historical works. Because of his historical preoccupations, he is well known as the “Father of the English History” both ecclesiastical and civil.

The life of Bede

Bede is born probably in 672 or 673 in Wearside or Tyneside, somewhere near the monastery of St. Peter in Wearmouth, where h went as a young child, at 7 years old. His education was putted under the care of St. Benedict Biscop (in calendars on 12 January), meaning that he would came from a high-class family. St. Benedict came from the French monastery in Lerins, bringing a lot of books which represent the first sources of the later Bede’s writings. After a while Bede went to the new monastery in Jarrow in 682, together with his new teacher, St. abbot Celofrith (25 sept.). He remained here until his death, which occurred in 735 BC.

From an anonymous writing about the life of St. Ceolfrith it might be possible to know something more about Bede’s youth. The plague in 686 caused the death of the majority of the monks in the monastery. Only the abbot and a young boy remained alive, trying to follow further the monastical rules and to continue the holy services. With this occasion the young boy is made priest. With this occasion we know that the ritual in the monastery insisted on the antiphonic type of singing, which means the monks were separated in 2 groups which sang alternatively, making the service more active. On some other source, Beda was made deacon when he was 19 and later priest with 30 years old, being ordained by St. John of Beverley (celebrated on 7 may), bishop of Hexham and York.

Scholar

Before writing the historical book which made him famous, that is the Ecclesiastic History, Bede started with some other minor works, intended as manuals for the classrooms, De Arte Metrica and De Schematibus et Tropis (both about the poetic art, written about in 701). Totally, he wrote approximately 60 books, the later being a letter addressed to his student, Ecgbert of York, from 734.

In 708, some monks at Hexham accused Bede of having committed heresy in his work De Temporibus, because he contradicted the standard theological view of world history as the six ages of the world, after the opinion of Isidore of Seville. In contrast, in his book, Bede calculated the age of the world for himself, rather than accepting the authority of Isidore, and came to the conclusion that Christ had been born 3,952 years after the creation of the world, rather than the figure of over 5,000 years that was commonly accepted by theologians. Bede wrote a letter to Wilfrid, the bishop of Hexham in which he replied, defending successfully himself.

Without speaking more about his minor works, we come directly to his Historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum (The church history of the English people), a work of ecclesiastical and political history in 5 books and about 400 pages. It referes to the period from the Republic in the Caesar’s ages (about 55 BC) to 731 AD, when the work was written. The first 21 chapters covers the history of the English church before the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury, that means, the “celtic” period, before the official Roman mission.

The Church History of Bede refers to different passages from earlier writers, such as Orosius, Gildas, Prosper de Aquitanie or Pope Gregorius I, mixing legends with historical facts. The speciality of Bede is using the new era’s year counting, that means he calculates the years in the way that the Scythian monk Dionysius Exiguus made in 525 BC. That means, he doesn’t use anymore the old calendars, based whether on the Foundation of Rome, whether of the Greek Olympiads, but he refers to the year 1 as the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Even if the later scholars found a mistake of about 4-7 years in the calculation of Dionysius, the new era represents a revolution in the modern thinking, placing Jesus Christ in the middle of the history and in meantime at the beginning of the Time of Healing.

If Dionysius is the author of the new calculation, Bede is the one who popularized the new calendar in Western Europe, with some expressions as “anno ab incarnatione Domine”, for the years before Christ and “anno incarnationis dominicae”, for the years and events before the Incarnation of Our Lord. In his time, the new year began with the day of the Annunciation, on 25th March.

At the end of his Ecclesiastic History Bede wrote some lines about himself, saying that he is spending his life in the monastery, being interested in the study of the Holy Scriptures.

Other Works

Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons.

Bede is also known for some chronicles and an adaptation of the Roman Martyrology.

He translated some works of the Church Fathers, wrote homilies, commentaries to books from the Bibles, of astronomy and time calculation (such as De Temporibus, mentioned above), educational works and some vernacular poetry.

Bede’s passing away

In 735 Sf. Beda got sick (of some breathing disease) but tried to teach further to the scholars and dictated his works further. On the Tuesday before Acension Day (26 May) his breathing became worse, and his feet swelled. He continued to dictate to a scribe, however, and despite spending the night awake in prayer he dictated again the following day. In the last night, he prayed the monks to remember him in their prayers. He said that “The time of my departure has come and my heart longs to see the beauty of Christ, my King”. He died exactly after finishing dictating his last work, a translation to the Gospel of St. John, singing “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost!”

A work known as “Cuthbert's letter” relates a five-line poem in the vernacular that Bede would have composed on his deathbed, known as “Bede's Death Song”. It is the most widely copied Old English poem, and appears in 45 manuscripts, but its attribution to Bede is not absolutely certain.

The text of the poem (adapted to modern English) is this:

“Facing that enforced journey, no man can be

More prudent than he has good call to be,

If he consider, before his going hence,

What for his spirit of good hap or of evil

After his day of death shall be determined”

A well-known saying of St. Bede is this: “Better a stupid and unlettered brother who, working the good things he knows, merits life in Heaven than one who though being distinguished for his learning in the Scriptures, or even holding the place of a doctor, lacks the bread of love.”

Veneration

Bede died on 25th of May 735 in the Monastery in Jarrow. His body was moved from Jarrow and transferred to Durham Cathedral around 1020, where it was placed in the same tomb with Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Later they were moved to a shrine in Galilee Chapel at Durham Cathedral in 1370. During the English Reformation, this shrine was destroyed, but the bones were reburied in the chapel. In 1831 the bones were dug up and then reburied in a new tomb, which is still there.

Other relics were claimed to be in the Cathedrals in York, Glastonbury, or even in the German town of Fulda.

As the author of Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum he gained him the title of “The Father of English History”. In 1899, Bede was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII, a position of theological significance; he is the only native of Great Britain to achieve this designation, only Anselm of Canterbury being also a Doctor of the Church, but he is originally from Italy. He is also the only Englishman in Dante’s Paradise (Paradiso X,130), mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church in the same canto with Isidore of Seville and Richard of St. Victor.

Bede became known as “Venerable Bede” (Latin: Beda Venerabilis) by the 9th century, but this was not linked to consideration for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. According to a legend the epithet was miraculously supplied by angels, thus completing his unfinished epitaph. It is first utilised in in the 9th century, where Bede was grouped with others who were called “venerable” at two ecclesiastical councils held at Aix in 816 and 836. Paul the Deacon then referred to him as “venerable” consistently. By the 11th and 12th century, it had become commonplace.

There is no evidence for cult being paid to Bede in England immediately after his death. One reason for this may be that he died on the feast day of Augustine of Canterbury (25th May). Later, when he was venerated in England, he was either commemorated after Augustine on 26th May, or his feast was moved to 27th May. He was first venerated outside England, mainly through the efforts of Saint Boniface and Alcuin. Bede’s cult became prominent in England during the 10th century revival of monasticism. Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester (c. 1008–1095) was a particular devotee of Bede, dedicating a church to him in 1062, which was Wulfstan’s first undertaking after his consecration as bishop.

His feast day was included in the General Roman Calendar in 1899, on 27 May rather than on his date of death, 25/26 May which was then the feast day of Pope Saint Gregory VII. After the 1969 calendar reform, Bede’s feast day moved to its proper day, on 25 May. He is also present in the Orthodox Calendar on 27th May.

Hymn (Troparion)

“Throughout the dark years of thy times, O Bede, thou didst water the English lands and all the West with outpourings of grace, and like a skilled sower thou didst cast the seed of divine knowledge far and wide over the fields of thy Master, where, springing forth, it hath borne fruit for Him an hundredfold. Wherefore, having thus acquired boldness before Him, O venerable one, pray thou unceasingly that our souls be saved!”

The Holy Hierarch Calinic from Cernica

The Holy Hierarch Calinic from Cernica Monastery was one of the great spiritual fathers of the 19th century in Romania. His importance remains about his own life like a monk dedicated to the ascetic life, as a bishop, dedicated to the life as shepherd of his sheeps and as political man, who could stand in front of the secularization politics in his times.

His life was described in detail by Archimandrite Athanasius Baldovin, one of his disciples, monk in the Monastery of Cernica, only a few kilometers far from Bucharest.

Early life

He was born in Bucharest, on 7th October 1787, from the the noble family of the very believer Christians Anthony and Floarea (translated as: Flower; his mother became also a nun as Filothea, at her old age, at the Monastery Pasărea (=bird), near Bucharest). He had a good education in one of the schools that existed then in Bucharest, near a church, maybe at St. George church or Colţea. The atmosphere of prayer and Christian living in the family, have influenced the inner life of the young Constantine, as he was called after his baptism.

Therefore, in March 1807, so before he was 20, came to Cernica Monastery near Bucharest, where he maybe have already often came to attend services and listen to the sermon of the abbot George († 1806), also a big saint and scholar of St. Paisius Velichicovski, the renewer of the monastical life in Romania, in the 18th Century, the one who brought the athmosphere from Mount Athos in the all Eastern Space.

The following year, his confessor, Pimen, asked the abbot Timothy to give to the young Constantine the "angelic face of monasticism." Thus, on 12th November 1808, the young monk is named Calinic (the Romanian form for the greek Calinikos – the good victorious).

After a month at St. Nicholas Church of Cernica, the Bishop Sofronie from Vratsa (Bulgarian), refugee in Bucharest because of the Turks, ordained him as hierodeacon. Guided by its spiritual father, began a life of harsh religious endeavors, with fasting, prayer, work, readings from Scripture or from the works of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers.

In 1812 he was sent to Neamt monastery together with his spiritual father, to collect aid for rebuilding St. Nicholas church, destroyed by an earthquake. In 1813, he was consecrated hieromonk by the Bishop Dionysius Lupu the future of the metropolitan of Wallachia, and after two years he was ordained and appointed confessor of his convent, than big Ecclesiarch (the responsible with the good making of the holy services).

In 1817 he went to Mount Athos, where he spent nearly a year, succeeding to know closely the religious life there, and to collect teachings that will be useful in the later labors.

Abbot

After the death of abbot Dorotheos, at 14 December 1818, the congregation of Cernica elected Calinic in this function, in age of 31, and 2 years later he was ordained archimandrite, the biggest monastical function. He remained abbot at Cernica abbey for 32 years, where he coordinated the religious life, being a good administrator also: he built a new church, new houses for the monks and a school for the young monks. Between 1832-1836 he built the new church dedicated to Saint George at the island of the monastery. As soon destroyed by an earthquake, the abbot began rebuilding it, finishing it again in 1842. He built a new infirmary for sick monks, and in 1846 he began (with money and donations of believers) to build a new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity at Pasărea monastery, under the protection of Cernica. He established also some workshops for monastical clothes. He dealt also with copying of manuscripts, especially the writings of the Fathers, because in this times in Wallachia was no more typographies.

The monastic community grows and among them came several future personalities of the church: the bishop Ioanichie Stratonichias, originally from Transylvania, the Protosingelos Naum Ramniceanu, a prominent composer, Archimandrite Veniamin Cătulescu, Professor of Religion at the College of “St. Sava” in Bucharest, Anastasius Baldovin his disciple and biographer, Nicander, his successor as abbot.

St. Calinic was a good mentor also for the believers who came to the monastery. For several months in 1821, he fed a large numbers of people refugeed because of the turks, in his monastery. For the children in the village of Cernica he founded a school and paid a teacher. With the testamentary gift of a faithful, he built the church of Assumption in Câmpina, and found a school near it. From the money of the monastery, and from his own donations, he built also some other churches in the villages around, at Bueşti Sohatu, and some others and aided other monasteries, from Poiana Mărului Ghighiu and the Icon skete of Bucharest.

Bishop

In 1850, after 43 years in the monastery, of which 32 years of rule of the monastic community, the abbot was summoned to the high Calinic hierarchal service. Since 1834, after the death of the st. Metropolitan of Wallachia, Gregory the Teacher, the Prince Alexandru Ghica advised him to receive the ordination as Metropolitan, but he refused, considering himself unworthy of such a high honor. In 1850, when all four bishopric seats in Wallachia were vacant, the new Prince Barbu Ştirbei persuaded him to accept the ruling of a diocese. At 14 September 1850 he was elected bishop in the ancient seat of Râmnicu-Valcea. He was ordained a bishop in the metropolitan cathedral in Bucharest on 26 October 1850, at the feast of St. Demetrius.

Called to this high service, the new bishop found the diocese in a difficult legacy faces. For 10 years the it had only deputies, the bishop's residence and cathedral were destroyed by a fire, the number of priests was insufficient, poorly prepared and the seminary was closed after the Revolution of 1848, such as also some places of worship. The new bishop to visit the diocese and ordained new priests. In 1851 opened the seminary in Craiova, then in 1854 moved it back to Ramnic, and he opened some schools to prepare church singers.

In 1854, after moving to Ramnic residence, he began raising a new Episcopal cathedral and rebuilt inside the Episcopal residence an infirmary. Between the years 1859-1864 has raised from his money from a new church in hermitage Frasinei. He introduced here the harsh rules of living from Mount Athos, which he himself respected as he entered in the monastery.

In his years, the first prince of the reunited Romania, Alexandru Ioan Cuza proceded to the secularization of the church’s properties. Almost 25 % of the whole surface of the country was in the property of different dioceses and monasteries, mostly subordinated to some other “mother-monasteries” in Greece or Palestine. So, the measure of Cuza was good, taking back in the property of the Romanian state a big territory and giving after to more than 1.000.000 peasants. But, Cuza made also bad things. He restricted the possibility of entering in the monasteries, he closed some churches and seminaries, and ordained that the election of the new bishops to be approved officially by himself, establishing in this way a kind of caesaro-papism. In this harsh times, Calinc was the only bishop remained as titular. He intervened to Cuza, to save the monastery fromsecularization. The prince responded positively to his request, and the hermitage is the only one left with all the goods it had before.

As a book-lover and supporter of culture, the bishop Calinic opened a typography and printed a few books in Bucharest. By 1860, “with borrowed money”, as he himself confessed, established a new printing press at his diocese, for printing church and teaching books. A year before his death, he donated the printing machine to the city of Râmnic, providing that the printing press to bear his name and that half of its revenue to be used for the maintenance of city schools and poor students and the seminarians, and another

Political man

The Bishop was also an animated patriot. As an hierarch, he took part in public work of the Assembly of the country, then was elected deputy in the new parliament of the united Romanian. He was also part of the country elective Assembly which elected the first ruler, Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Since the spring of 1857 he sent a circular to the Deans and superiors, demanding that all churches to make prayers “for the union of the Romanians in one will and conscience”.

His personal life

Especially we must search about his particular life as a life of sanctity. Everyone who knew him were impressed by his many charity, the simplicity of dress, his kindness and gentleness, his healer prayers, his fastings and vigils. Athanasius Baldovin, his biographer, wrote that Calinic had a list of people who helped. Always when he ordained priests, he gave them books and even money for the trip. “He was so gracious that if he didn’t have to give something, he gave his own clothes and, weeping, prayed me the unworthy to look for money wherever I know, that he may have to giveto his brothers in Christ, because so called the poor and powerless”.

Contemporary witnesses recount several cases of the disease healed by prayers of St. Calinic, such as was a young daughter of a worker from Muiereasca, who worked then at the construction of the Episcopal cathedral in Râmnic.

The life full of restraint he had (he never ate meat, he was resting only on a wooden chair), and the old age, urged him to write his will. Among other things, he wrote that he leaves no money for his own burial or memorial, because everything he had, he split to the poor and offered to restore buildings. Old and sick, he retired at Cernica Monastery in 1867. Since then the government refused his withdrawal from the seat, he remained officially bishop until the end of life, sending the Archimandrite Gregory from Cernica to rule the affairs of the Diocese. He lived almost a year as a simple monk, until 11th April 1868, when God called him to Himself. He was buried in the church of St. George, his foundation.

Canonization and Relics

His holy life, demonstated by his acts, but also by the faith of the believers in Wallachia, made the Holy Synod of our Church to decide, on 28 February 1950, to put bishop Calinic among the saints. His solemn canonization was made at Cernica Convent on 23 October 1955, in the middle years of harsh communism, in the presence of many Romanian and foreign bishops, of many monks, priests and faithful. The relics have been placed to honor and worship in the church of St. George. Thus, the humble abbot and bishop Calinic became one of the greatest saints of the Romanian Orthodox calendar. His feast day is on 11 April. His image is portrayed in many parish churches and monasteries, and his name is held by many believers who enter into the monasteries as monks.

Hymn of the saint

“Your light-bearee memory, Hierarch Calinic, gladdens the hearts of believers and the reach the holy shrine of your holy relics, sanctifies the feelings and gives healing; for this, as debt, we honor you and sing your joy: Hail, Holy Hierarch Calinic, the wise of God!” (The Holy Akathist of St. Calinic, Kontakion 1).

Saint Mary of Egypt

Into the tradition of the Great Lent, the accent of the conversion is often remembered into the liturgical hymns. Because the Lent itself is, at its origins, a monastic tradition, it is very important for the Eastern Christians to have some examples to follow in their own lives. They must know how exactly they can change their lives, and also the fact, that even the biggest sinner can become a saint, if he really repents and makes a change in his life, called in the Greek tradition, metanoia.

The life of Our venerable mother Saint Mary of Egypt is a very good example for the citizens from the cities, who have a very alert way of life, who can’t pray all the time. They may say that there’s no time for praying, for almsgiving, because it is so much to do, especially today. Such a life of a saint is also a good example for the ones who travel. Especially in the past, traveling itself was seen as dangerous: you don’t know what you will meet in your way. Finally, such a life is good to read by the ones who consider themselves saints: they would see that there are some other people who go before them into the Kingdom of God, because God’s paths are mysterious.

The Life of Saint Mary

The life of Saint Mary of Egypt was written by St. Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem (634 - 638). The way he depicts such a life is very interesting. I would say that is like a piece of romantic literature, or a opera theatre. That’s why I will slice it in this way.

Saint Mary is one of the holy women who became saint from prostitute, according to the words of Our Lord, that that the tax-gatherers and the harlots will go before the righteous one into the reign of God (Mat. 21,31).

In the tradition of the Eastern Church, the life of St. Mary is read in the Synaxarion of the Morning Service into the 5^th Sunday of the Great Lent, and during the Matins of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete on the preceding Thursday.

The reason for that fact, is that St. Mary is a good example of transformation from a citizen (which, according to the ascetic tradition means full of sins) into a holy of the Desert (which means also, the bearer of the purity).

Saint Mary of Egypt lived during the sixth century in the city of Alexandria and later into the Judaean Desert and passed away in a remarkable manner, according to the legend, in 522. It is notable that the Synaxarion states that Zosimas, the teller of her life, lived during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius II, who reigned from 408 to 450, so she may have lived even earlier.

Such a religious novel begins in a special manner, with “once upon a time”, like all the stories. First of all, the narrator speaks about a holy monastery into the Desert of Palestine and the traditions there. At the beginning of the Great Lent all the monks used to leave their monastery and live into the deep desert with only a few bread and water. Only in the Last Week all of them came together into the monastery, in order to celebrate the Passions of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Between those monks was the holy hieromonk (priester-monk) Zosimas, already a monk for 53 years long. He is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches on April 4.

Exactly as St. Anthony the Great once, Zosimas was asking himself if there is some other person in the world holy like him, or maybe more. In the same moment a holy angel sent him into the deeper desert, he crossed the river of Jordan and went further for other 12 days. In a morning, making his usual prayers, he saw something like a human shadow, which he thought first it would be a demon. But “the shadow” ran away and Zosimas after her. After some times, “the shadow” told him she is a woman, but being completely naked, can’t stop, so the monk gave her his own monastic cloth. Then the woman started to speak about her life.

She began her life as a young woman who followed the passions of the body, running away from her parents at age twelve for Alexandria. There she lived as a harlot for seventeen years, refusing money from the men that she copulated with, instead living by begging and spinning flax.

One day, however, she met a group of young men heading toward the sea to sail to Palestine for the veneration of the Holy Cross in the City of Jerusalem. Probably Mary was looking already for something in her passion: maybe the infinite seduction of the Lord, but she didn’t know that. Anyway, she decided immediately to go also to Jerusalem. So she went along for the ride, seducing the men as they traveled for the fun of it. But when the group reached Jerusalem and actually went towards the church, Mary was prohibited from entering by an unseen force. After three such attempts, she remained outside on the church. Then she looked through the open door and saw inside an icon of the Theotokos. She began to weep and prayed with all her might that the Mother of God might allow her to see the True Cross; afterwards, she promised, she would renounce her worldly desires and go wherever the Holy Virgin may lead her.

After this heart-felt conversion at the doors of the church, she fled into the desert to live as an ascetic. She survived for years on only three loaves of bread and thereafter on scarce herbs of the land. For another seventeen years, Mary was tormented by “wild beasts: mad desires and passions”. After these years of temptation, however, she overcame the passions and was led by the Theotokos in all things. All those years she didn’t take any Holy Communion or the Sacrament of Confession, because se didn’t met anyone. In the meantime, all her clothes were destroyed, that’s why she was naked, enduring heath during the days and cold during the nights, until her skin became black and hard like an armor.

Following 47 years in solitude, in the end she met the priest St. Zosimas in the desert, who pleaded with her to tell him of her life. She recounted her story with great humility while also demonstrating her gift of clairvoyance; she knew who Zosimas was and his life story despite never having met him before. Finally, she asked Zosimas to meet her again the following year at sunset on Holy Thursday by the banks of the Jordan. That was in fact her Sacrament of confession, and after that, she was waiting for the Holy communion for another year.

After another year, Zosimas did exactly this, though he began to doubt his experience as the sun began to go that night. Then Mary appeared on the opposite side of the Jordan; crossing herself, she miraculously walked across the water and met Zosima.s When he attempted to bow, she rebuked him, saying that as a priest he was far superior, and furthermore, he was holding the Holy Mysteries. Mary then received the Holy Body and Flesh of Our Lord and walked back across the Jordan, after giving Zosima instructions about his monastery and that he should return to where they first met exactly a year later.

A year later, father Zosimas found Mary's body with a message written on the sand, asking him for burial, and revealing that she had died immediately after receiving the Holy Mysteries the year before (and thus had been miraculously transported to the spot where she now lay). So Zosima, amazed, began to dig, but soon tired; then a lion approached and began to help him, that is, after Zosimas had recovered from his fear of the creature. Thus St. Mary of Egypt was buried. Zosimas returned to the monastery, told all he had seen, and improved the faults of the monks and abbot there. He died at almost a hundred years old in the same monastery.

Later, the story of Mary's life was written down by St. Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Hymn (Troparion) of Saint Mary the Egyptian

“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 Mary, rejoices with the Angels”

Iconograpy

In iconography, St. Mary of Egypt is depicted as a deeply tanned, emaciated old woman with unkempt gray hair, either naked or covered by the mantle she borrowed from Zosimas. She is often shown with the three loaves of bread she bought before undertaking her journey into the desert.

The Veneration of St. Mary the Egyptian

The Eastern Church celebrates her feast day on the day of her repose, on April 1; additionally, she is commemorated on the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, the 5^th Sunday in Great Lent, as we said already.

In the Roman Catholic Church, she is commemorated on April 3 (or April 2, according to the Roman Martyrology). Although she is venerated by Anglicans, St. Mary of Egypt does not appear on Anglican Church Calendars.

In Goethe’s Faust, St. Mary of Egypt is one of the three penitent saints who pray to the Virgin Mary for forgiveness for Faust. Her words are set by Mahler in his 8^th Symphony as the final saint’s appeal to the Mater Gloriosa.

In Ben Jonson’s play Volpone (1606), one of the characters uses the expression “Marry Gip”, which means “Mary of Egypt”.

Mary of Egypt is the subject of operas by Ottorino Respighi and Sir John Tavener, the latter written in 1992 for the Aldeburgh Festival.

Nalo Hopkinson’s science-fiction novel, The Salt Roads, also features Mary of Egypt and takes a historical fiction approach to telling her story.

There is a chapel dedicated to her at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, commemorating the moment of her conversion. Also the Temple of Portunus in Rome was preserved, by being rededicated to Saint Mary of Egypt in 872.

There are many churches carrying her name. An example would be the Russian Orthodox church from Tübingen, Germany.

In the 1^st Sunday of the Great Lent 2011, called in the Easter Church, “the Sunday of the Orthodoxy”, one more Monastery started its life, under the patronage of St. Mary. It is the first orthodox monastery southern from Sahara Desert, in Uganda and the first monastery with exclusively native African nuns.

Facts. Mary Magdalene and Mary the Egyptian

Today the majority of the Christians believe that St. Mary Magdalene is a former prostitute, converted by Our Lord. Even if it would be so, there’s no evangelical sign to believe so. The holy Scriptures tell us only that, Jesus healed her, being enslaved before by seven demons (Mark 16,9 anf Luke 8,2). The moment when he did so is unknown, but probably, according to St. Matthew (15,39), that happened after Jesus multiplicated 7 breads and some fishes for the 4000 followers.

The confusion between Mary Magdalene and probably St. Mary the Egyptian occurred for the first time into a sermon of Pope Gregory the Great, in the 6^th century. Since then, St. Mary Magdalene was believed to be a converted prostitute, without any proof.

The Forty Holy Martyrs from Sebaste

March 9 (Byzantine calendar) - March 10 (Roman calendar)

In many parts of the Christian Church, on 9^th of March in the East and on 10^th March in the West, there is commemorated the memory of a group of forty soldiers who suffered a martyr's death for their steadfast faith to Christ, by freezing in a lake near Sebaste, in the former Lesser Armenia (now Sivas in central-eastern Turkey). Latest historical research argue that the widespread story about the suffering of the forty soldiers, is in fact a compilation of some more acts occurring at different times and in many places, which is in our opinion, possible, but not essential here. We may see the veneration of the 40 Martyrs as a symbol-feast for all the Christian soldiers who died for their faith during their service.

The feast day of the Forty Martyrs falls on March 9, and may be intentionally placed that it will fall during Great Lent. There is an intentional play on the number forty being both the number of martyrs and the days in the fast. Their feast also falls during Great Lent so that the endurance of the martyrs will serve as an example to the faithful to persevere to the end (i.e., throughout the forty days of the fast) in order to attain heavenly reward (participation in Pascha, the Resurrection of Jesus).

Acts of these martyrs, were written in Greek, Syriac and Latin and are yet extant, also to a “Testament” of the Forty Martyrs.

The Story of their Lives

The 40 Martyrs from Sebaste died as victims of the harsh politic of the Roman Emperor Licinius (c. 263 – 325, Emperor from 308 to 324) who, after the year 316, persecuted explicitly the Christians of the East. The earliest account of their martyrdom is given by St. Basil, the Archbishop of Caesarea (370-379), in a homily delivered on the feast of the Forty Martyrs (Hom. xix in P.G., XXXI, 507 sqq.). His eulogy on them was pronounced about fifty or sixty years after martyrdom, which is historic beyond a doubt.

In the early 4^th century Sebaste was the capital of the province of Armenia Minor. In the city at that time was stationed the Legion XII Fulminata (Armed with Lightning), among whom were 40 Cappadocians soldiers who had faith in Christ. Three of them, Cyrion, Candidus and Domnus were already known as very good in studying the Scriptures. Of course, the governor Agricolas, who strictly complied Licinius’ imperial command relating to punish the Christians, found out about the faithful soldiers in his army. Hearing about their faith, Agricolas forced them to worship idols. The Orthodox Synaxarion relates the text of the governor’s command: “As in the wars you have been with a soul and a conscience and you've shown your courage, so far now, with one mind and soul, you must show your obedience to the imperial laws and sacrifice willingly to the gods, before being forced up”. At these words, the holy soldiers, answered the tyrant: “The more for the earthly emperor we fought in the wars and we conquered enemies, as you were witness, you bastard, the more we will fight stronger for the immortal Emperor, and we will overcome your evilness and deceit”.

Refusing to sacrifice to the idols, all the 40 soldiers have been jailed for eight days, beaten with stones, but at the same time have been also lured with gifts to give up their minds. Finally, being organized a process, at which attended also some other governor called Lysius, they were sentenced to death for disobeying the emperor and for witchcraft. The punishment consisted of freezing them in Sebaste lake, located in a mountainous region (an elevation of 1,278 m. altitude). At the time of the passion of this holy martyrs it was still winter, in those days being a keen frost and high winds. So the martyrs were obliged to enter naked in the lake, at the time of the dusk. Around the lake were put some soldiers to guard the martyrs, not to get out. But near the lake there was also a warm bath, made purposely, so if any of the martyrs would changed his mind and would be willing to sacrifice the Roman gods, to emerge from the water and to heat first there.

Being forced to undress and enter the cold waters of the lake, one of the martyrs exclaimed: “We don’t take off our clothes, but we take off the old man. Winter is harsh, but the Paradise is sweet; the cold is strong, but the delight is pleasant. For the Paradise lost we should today no longer endure the corruptible clothes. We shall defame the ice which melts us and to hate our body”.

After a while, one of the 40 gave up and left the lake, but died on the spot, being no able to warm himself into the hot bath. But that night it happened an unusual miracle: the lake’s water has warmed, the ice melted and 39shiny crowns came down from heaven upon the martyrs. This miracle was seen by the only one unsleeping guard, called Aglaius, who numbered only 39 crowns, and realized that a soldier ran away out of the water. Then, the guard woke the others, stripped his clothes and jumped into the lake, shouting that, “I am a Christian, too”. At dawn, the Saints were removed alive from the lake, they broken their legs and so they were left to die.

It is remarkable that the Constantinopolitan Synaxarion reminds here an unusual fact: a mother of one from the martyrs, i.e. Meliton, came there and established him with words of encouragement. Thus, instead of requesting the saving of his son's, she said, “My sweet son, be a little more time patient to become perfect. Do not worry, son. Here Christ stands before helping you!”

The same Synaxarion noted the words of the martyrs before their death: “Our soul is a bird that was rescued from hunters’ race, the race was broken and we’ve been delivered. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth! Amen.”

The army commander then ordered that the bodies of saints to be burned. But Meliton somehow survived and was left to live. When his mother saw him alone standing, she took him on her shoulders and went after the cart full of the other bodies, and Melito, enjoying that will not lose the martyrdom, died in her arms. She ultimately reached the cart and she put her dead son’s body over the bodies of saints.

This strange manhood of a martyr’s mother may be a paradox for us today, if not an act of craziness or cruelness. But it is remarkable that the Christian idea of martyrdom surpasses that, what we might call as “modern humanism”. A martyr’s mother wants her son’s death rather than the loss of the martyrdom. It is known that the martyr’s death in the early Christianity was also seen like the death of the heroes in the old times. Martyrdom automatically ensures salvation and the likeness with the sacrifice of Christ.

The bodies of the 40 saints were eventually burnt, and then were thrown into a river, in order that the Christians not to be able to recover their relics. However, their remains were partially recovered and then spread to various churches in the area.

Being at the end of this story, I think it would be good to make a citation from the Menaion of the Eastern Orthodox Church:

“And the names of those 40 martyrs are: Hesychius, Meliton, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Domnus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Euthychius, John, Xantheas, Helianus, Sisinius, Cyrion, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecditius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Candidus, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Gorgonius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valaerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, and Aglaius.

The Forty Holy Martyrs were captured and suffered for Christ, 4 days above the March's Kalendae, that means, in the twenty-sixth day of February. And they gave their souls to the Lord in the seventh Idae of March, i.e. the ninth day of March, in the times of the Licinius’ governing in the East. But especially, in the times of the of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is due the glory, the honor and the worship as also to the Father and to the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen”.

The Veneration of the Saints

Homelies about the Holy Martyrs

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c 335 – after 394) wrote at least 2 discourses in praise of them, which are still preserved in the Patrologia J. P. Migne, P.G., vol. 46, cols. 749 sq., 773 sq.).

St. Ephraem the Syrian (ca. 306 – 373), has also eulogized the forty Martyrs (Hymni in SS. 40 martyres).

Sozomen, who was an eye-witness, has left us (in his Historia Ecclesiastica IX,2) an interesting account of the finding of the relics in Constantinople in the times of the Empress Pulcheria (399 – 453).

Veneration in the East

The veneration paid to the Forty Martyrs became widespread, and numerous churches were erected in their honour. One of them was built at Caesarea, in Cappadocia, and it was in this church that St. Basil publicly delivered his homily.

The Churches of St. Sophia in Ohrid (modern-day Republic of Macedonia) and Kiev (Ukraine) contain their depictions, datable to the 11th and 12th centuries, respectively. A number of auxiliary chapels were dedicated to the Forty, and there are several instances when an entire church is dedicated to them: for example Xiropotamou Monastery on Mount Athos, the 13th-century Holy Forty Martyrs Church, in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, and a church built in 1760 by the hetman Vasile Roset in Iaşi, the capital of the Principality of Moldova (now, Romania). In Aleppo (Syria), the Armenian Cathedral is dedicated to the Forty Martyrs.

In the West, special devotion to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste was introduced at an early date; their feast day is 10 March. St. Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia (5^th century), received particles of the ashes of martyrs during his voyage in the East, and placed them with other relics in the altar of the basilica which he had erected, at the consecration of which he delivered a discourse, still extant (mention in Migne’s Patrologia Latina, vol. 20, cols. 959 sq.)

Near the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua, in the Roman Forum, built in the 5^th century, a chapel consecrated to the Forty Martyrs was found, built, like the church itself, on an ancient site. A still preserved picture there, dating from the 6^th or 7^th century, depicts the scene of the martyrdom.

The Hymn of the Saints (Troparion): “For the pain of the Saints who have suffered for you, we pray to You: Be merciful, O Lord, and heal all our sorrows, ye Lover of mankind!”

A prayer mentioning the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste is placed also in the Orthodox Wedding Service (referred to as a “crowning”), to remind the bride and groom that spiritual crowns await them in Heaven also if they remain as faithful to Christ as these saints of long ago.

Popular Traditions

In Romania and throughout the Balkan Peninsula, the memory of these martyrs gave rise to certain popular customs, consisting of the preparation of food: wheat flour (the crushed wheat grain is a symbol of death), sweets (they remember the joy of victory) and spices, especially cinnamon (symbol of suffering).

Those occasional cakes carry even the name of the Martyrs (rom. “Mucenici”, slav. “мучеников” = martyrs). They are prepared in the form of the cipher eight (8), suggesting the crowns offered martyrs, or maybe it’s the infinity symbol (∞). In other regions, the “Martyrs” are smaller breads sunken in a composition of water with sugar, nuts and milk, that looks like frozen water, reminding the lake where the faithful soldiers died. They are consumed in the family and divided to the neighbors, or in the church after the Holy Liturgy. The meanings of this custom is partly forgotten today, but it remains as a proof of the deep faith of our ancestors and of their power of combining artistic creativity with piety.

Triodul românesc : Postul Mare

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O tradiţie siriacă a aflării Crucii. Sf. Elena şi Iuda Ciriacul

Deosebit de interesantă şi cu o frumuseţe aparte una dintre tradiţiile aflării Sf. Cruci de către Sf. Elena în care se vorbeşte despre contribuţia evreului Iuda Ciriacul. Se spune că Iuda ştia locul exact al Mormântului Mântuitorului de la bunicul său Zaharia şi de la tatăl său Simeon. Un adaos la o trilogie siriacă ce relatează acest episod vobeşte despre faptul că Sf. Cruce fusese descoperită de Protonike - presupusă soţie a Împăratului Claudiu (41-54) - dar ascunsă din nou de evrei în timpul lui Traian (98-117). Aici cred că poate fi văzută o legătură cu tradiţia lui Iuda Ciriacul. Chiar dacă la început se împotriveşte, în cele din urmă evreul Iuda o conduce pe Împărăteasă la locul tăinuit, unde el însuşi rosteşte o rugăciune în limba ebraică. Iuda se roagă ca dacă Iisus este cu adevărat Mesia, atunci Dumnezeu, creatorul heruvimilor şi al serafimilor, să facă o minune. Dintr-o dată pământul se cutremură, se crapă şi din locul Golgotei răsar cele trei cruci şi o mireasmă deosebită. În urma acestui fapt Iuda este botezat de episcopul Macarie al Ierusalimului, însăşi Elena punându-i şi numele de “Ciriacul” care înseamnă “al Domnului”. Mai târziu, el va suferi moarte martirică sub Iulian Apostatul (361-362).

În afară de câteva cuvinte ale lui Sozomen din Istoria sa bisericească şi de aceste surse anonime datate începând cu sec. V-VI, nu există alte mărturii scrise pentru aportul lui Iuda Ciriacul. Cu toate astea, iconografia creştină, deopotrivă apuseană şi răsăriteană a păstrat această tradiţie. Iuda Ciriacul, alături de ceilalţi evrei, este prezentat cu acoperământul capului ascuţit, specific evreiesc.

Mă gândesc la un înţeles al acestei tradiţii care vorbeşte despre chemarea Evangheliei pentru Fiul Risipitor, poporul ales al lui Dumnezeu. Ales de-a pururi, dar nu mai puţin risipitor. Nu ştiu ce credeţi voi.

Mic război nevăzut...

Am răsfoit din nou azi Capetele sau Capitolele despre trezvie ale lui Filotei Sinaitul, de la Deisis. E ceva în această carte care îmi rămâne indescifrabil, ca un ghem de răspunsuri care nu s-a ţesut încă. Capetele sunt în număr de 39 şi tratează tema războiului cu patimile, a isihiei şi a înălţării către Dumnezeu. Se observă în această scriere că lupta cu patimile şi cu ispitele care vin de la cel rău este tratată ca un veritabil război, creştinul trebuind să aibe mereu conştiinţa de luptător al lui Hristos, înarmat cu Sf. Scripturi şi cu împlinirea poruncilor. Cuvântul război apare în mod repetat: „Există un război dus în ascuns prin gânduri de duhurile răutăţii cu sufletul”, iar în altă parte: „Depărtează deci pe toţi cei din afară prin nişte reflecţii şi du război cu gândurile născute de la ei înăuntru prin metode dumnezeieşti netrupeşti.” Filotei Sinaitul vorbeşte chiar despre un mod aparte de abordare a acestui război: „Ascultă care e modul războiului de fiecare ceas din noi şi fă-l: uneşte trezia cu rugăciunea”.

Sf. Isaac Sirul, dar şi Sf. Grigorie Palama, ştiau filosofie grecească, la fel şi Filotei: mintea este diferită de gândurile pe care le produce, prin urmare războiul cu gândurile nu ar fi prea eficace, ele născându-se şi pierind în fiecare clipă. Cineva spunea că sunt ca norii pe cer, mereu în trecere. Sau ca păsările. Şi atunci de ce consideră Filotei Sinaitul că se poate duce un război cu gândurile? Poate pentru că gândurile noastre pot fi arme şi ale satanei; nu mintea, ci gândurile:

„Există un război dus în ascuns prin gânduri de duhurile răutăţii cu sufletul; căci acesta fiind nevăzut, şi acele puteri îl atacă în chip corespunzător fiinţei lui prin războiul lor nevăzut. Şi se pot vedea între ele şi acestea: arme şi desfăşurări, înşelăciuni viclene, un război înfricoşător şi încleştare în luptă, victorii şi înfrângeri de fiecare parte. Un singur lucru lipseşte acestui război mental, pe care l-am arătat, faţă de războiul sensibil: sorocul fizării războiului. Căci războiul sensibil ştie să-şi hotărască un timp şi o ordine, dar acesta atacă fără de veste şi pe nesimţite în jurul părţilor celor mai centrale ale inimii şi, întinzându-i ambuscade mortale, omoară sufletul prin păcat.” (Capete, 5)

De fapt, cum se poartă războiul? Cu trezvie şi cu rugăciunea minţii. Despre trezvie, ca stare permanentă a isihastului, Sf. Ioan Scărarul spune: „Pisica pândeşte şoarecele şi gândul celui ce se linişteşte, şoarecele cunoscut cu mintea. Nu respinge pilda mai sus pusă, iar de nu, încă n-ai cunoscut liniştea” (F9, 27, 6). Am mai întâlnit exemplul acesta, cu pisica şi şoarecele ca metaforă pentru mintea atentă şi gândul ei în budism. Dar la Filotei Sinaitul există o diferenţă între trezvie şi atenţie. Trezvia este mintea activă care lucrează cu amintirea dumnezeieştilor Scripturi, „cu aducerea-minte riguroasă de Dumnezeu.” A nu uita niciodată că te afli în luptă, a nu uita de ajutorul lui Dumnezeu, a privi în jurul tău cu înţelepciune, a fi vigilent, aceasta înseamnă trezvia. A fi mereu prezent. Atenţia e continuitatea procesului de trezvie, legarea fiecărui moment de vigilenţă într-o stare continuă, dacă nu permanent, cel puţin extensibil temporal. Pentru omul recent (Patapievici) între cele două nu mai există nici o diferenţă, poate pentru că nici nu mai atinge vreuna dintre stări. El se află într-o transă continuă. De egoism, cinism şi micime sufletească.

Alternativa e omul descris de Părinţii filocalici.