Fun Fact - December 2015

On December 4, we remember one of the great Fathers not only of the Antiochian Church, but of the Orthodox Church as a whole: St. John of Damascus.

St. John lived in Damascus in the late 7th-early 8th centuries, when the region was under Moslem rule. His family was held in high regard, and John succeeded his father as chief counselor to the ruling Caliph. A brilliant and well-educated Christian, he wrote in defense of the Holy Icons at a time when the Byzantine empire was in the hands of the iconoclasts – the “icon smashers” who, under Moslem influence, believed that images or depictions of God in any form fell under the Old Testament condemnation of “graven images.”

The emperor, the notorious iconoclast Leo the Isaurian, seeking to silence him, slandered John to the Caliph, forging a letter claiming to be from him in which he offered to betray the Caliph in order to enable the retaking of Damascus by the Byzantines. The Caliph believed the lie, and in retribution, removed John from his post and ordered that his right (writing) hand be cut off. In pain and in despair, John prayed to the Theotokos, and fell asleep in front of her icon – and awoke to find his hand miraculously re-attached, with only a thin red scar to show where it had been severed.

In thanksgiving, John had a small silver hand added to the base of the icon, which was henceforth known as Panaghia Tricherousa, or the Theotokos “of the Three Hands.” This wonderworking icon now resides on Mt. Athos, in the Serbian Monastery of Hilandar.

Seeing the miracle, the Caliph understood that John had been falsely accused and he forgave him, seeking to restore him to his former position. But John left the palace and his life in the world and entered the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified in Jerusalem, where he was to spend the rest of his days. His elder was a harsh man, and would not permit him to write. One of the monks at the monastery, however, lost his brother, and begged John to write something, anything, to console him in his grief. John refused at first, but eventually took pity on him and wrote for him the funeral hymns (see p.4) we sing to this very day: “What earthly sweetness remaineth unmixed with grief?” all the way through “I weep and I wail…” His elder was furious, and as a penance, ordered John to wash out all of the toilets in the entire (huge) monastery with his bare hands. John was chastened and hurried to obey. But not long after, the Theotokos appeared to the elder in a dream and commanded him to bless John, once again, to write. And so he continued his brilliant career as a theologian and hymnographer and one of the greatest of all the church Fathers.

By his prayers, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us and save us!

Fun Fact - November 2015

Back on September 8, we celebrated the Nativity (birth) of the Virgin Mary. And this month, on November 21, we celebrate the fulfillment of the vow her parents, the “Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna,” made in asking God to give them a child in their old age and in their barrenness. They had promised that, if God would give them this gift, this blessing, they would dedicate their child to His service.

This is from the ancient account of Mary’s early life, the “Protoevangelium of James”:

And the child was two years old, and Joachim said: “Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us [i.e., warn us of taking too long to fulfill our vow], and our offering be not received.” And Anna said: “Let us wait for the third year, in order that the child may not seek for father or mother.” And Joachim said: “So let us wait.”

And the child was three years old, and Joachim said: “Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord.”

And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel.”

And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her. And her parents went down marveling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel.

So each year on November 21, we celebrate the Great Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, just as the church has celebrated this feast from ancient times.

Fun Fact - October 2015

I had the blessing and the pleasure, this past August, of making my fourth trip to Greece – spending time on the Holy Mountain (Mt. Athos) and with the wonderful nuns at Ormylia, and visiting the city of Thessalonica, whose Christian community dates back to the apostolic age, as we know from the two epistles of St. Paul addressed to the Thessalonians. Thessalonica has produced many saints over the centuries, and is adorned with dozens of ancient and beautiful churches. If you are able to visit Thessalonica, if you have time for nothing else, you must visit the Church of St. Demetrius, on the site where he was martyred on October 26, 306.

St. Demetrius succeeded his noble father as the Roman proconsul (provincial governor) of Thessalonica, charged by the Emperor Maximian with defending the city from barbarian attacks, and exterminating the Christian population. Little did Maximian know that he had appointed a faithful Christian to this important position, one who would protect and nurture the Christians of the city rather than persecute them.

When he discovered his error, Maximian had Demetrius arrested, and imprisoned him in a bathhouse. At the same time, he put on “games” in which his champion, the barbarian wrestler Lyaeus, would fight with helpless Christians, throwing them out of the ring and to their deaths. From his prison cell, Demetrius blessed his servant Nestor to challenge Lyaeus, and shouting “O God of Demetrius, help me!,” Nestor slew the emperor’s champion.

In a furious rage, Maximian sent soldiers to kill Demetrius in the bathhouse, running him through with spears.

The Church of St. Demetrius is built over the site of the bathhouse, which you can visit in the crypt of the church. The saint’s relics are in the nave of the church, in a beautiful silver reliquary. They exude a sweet-smelling myrrh, for which St. Demetrius is called “The Myrrhstreaming” – and each year on his feast day, October 26, his relics are uncovered and cotton balls soaked in the myrrh and given out to pilgrims as a great blessing. I have one of these, and I can say that the scent is truly heavenly.

Holy Saints Demetrius and Nestor, pray to God for us!

Fun Fact - September 2015

The month of August brought the church year to an exciting close, with two great feasts – the Transfiguration of the Lord on August 6 and the Dormition of the Theotokos on the 15th – plus a major fast for the Dormition from August 1-14 and a strict fast day for the Beheading of St. John the Baptist on the 29th. September starts the new church year off with a bang: two more great feasts – the Nativity of the Theotokos on September 8 and the Elevation of the Holy Cross on the 14th – and a strict fast day for the Cross.

A few words on the Nativity of the Theotokos… Like the devoted, God-fearing couples we meet in the Old Testament, Saints Joachim and Anna were elderly and barren, unable to have children. Their offering at the temple in Jerusalem rejected on this account (the priests assumed their barrenness was due to some hidden sin), Joachim was grief-stricken, as was Anna. But God attended to their prayers, and the Archangel Gabriel brought them the news that Anna, even in her deep old age, would bear a child – Mary, who would become the Theotokos (“the Bearer of God”). It is for this reason that we commemorate Joachim and Anna as “the holy and righteous Ancestors of God.” We celebrate Mary’s conception from St. Anna on December 9, and her birth (or nativity) on September 8, almost exactly 9 months later.

And regarding the Elevation of the Holy Cross… After the Romans overran Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Roman Emperors sought to bury (literally) all evidence of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. The sites of Golgotha, where He was crucified, and the Holy Sepulcher, where He was buried, were covered over, and a pagan temple erected in their place. Some 250 years later, after St. Constantine had become Emperor, achieving his great victories under the banner of the Cross, he sent his mother, St. Helena, to work with St. Macarius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to find the Lord’s Cross. They were successful, and in the year 326, the Patriarch elevated the Holy Cross for all to see and venerate as they cried out “Lord, have mercy!” We celebrate this feast – which is also a strict day of fasting – each year on September 14. From this comes our custom of elevating the Cross to all the points of the compass while singing “Gospodi Pomilui” a total of 500 times. Why we sing “Gospodi Pomilui,” which is “Lord, have mercy!” in Old Church Slavonic… is a story for another time!

Fun Fact - August 2015

The summer is racing by. How can it be August already? Well, the days may be getting shorter, but there’s no shortage of light and life on the church front!

August 1 marks the beginning of the Dormition Fast, which runs until the Great Feast of the Dormition (or Falling Asleep) of the Mother of God on August 15. This fast is kept very strictly – second only to the fasts of Great Lent and Holy Week. But it is not a dark fast, or a dark period in the life of the Church. It is anything but! This is shown most magnificently in one of the hymns sung at Great Vespers for the feast – a hymn which stands out in that each line is chanted in a different tone:

By the divine command, the God-bearing Apostles were caught up by clouds from every place. When they came to your all-pure body, the source of Life, they kissed it most reverently. The highest Powers of heaven were also present with their Master, and seized with awe, they escorted the inviolate body, the body that had received God in the flesh. In a manner beyond this world, they went before it and invisibly cried out to the ranks above them: “Behold, the Queen of all and Child of God has come! Lift up your gates, and in a manner beyond this world receive the Mother of the ever-lasting Light, for through her was accomplished the salvation of all the mortal race! We cannot gaze upon her, nor is it possible to render honor worthy of her, for her excellence surpasses all understanding.” Therefore, immaculate Theotokos, who live forever with your Son, the life-bearing King, pray ceaselessly to Him to preserve the new people of God, and to save them from every hostile assault, for we have acquired your intercession, and to the ages, in manifest splendor, we call you blessed.”

We don’t fast out of sadness or mourning – but out of reverence and great wonder, recognizing that “we cannot gaze upon her, nor is it possible to render honor worthy of her, for her excellence surpasses all understanding.”

In addition to the Fast and Feast of the Dormition, August is marked by the Great Feast of the Transfiguration on August 6, which is precisely 40 days before – and thus connected to – the Great Feast of the Elevation of the Cross on September 14. We commemorate the Beheading of St. John the Baptist on August 29, a strict fast day on whatever day of the week it falls. And August 31 marks the last day of the church year, which begins anew on September 1. But that is a story for next month!

Fun Fact - July 2015

Last month, we talked about the busy start to our summer, with the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost coming late in May, followed by the Sunday of All Saints and the Apostles’ Fast in June. While there are no Great Feasts or extended fasts in July – we do keep the traditional fasts on Wednesday and Friday throughout the month – there are a number of especially noteworthy feast days gracing our calendars.

July 1 marks the feast of the Holy Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian of Rome, so called because they “treated the infirm by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and took no payment for rendering aid to the sick,” and we continue with celebrations for St. John of San Francisco (July 2), St. Andrew of Crete (July 4), St. Vladimir of Kiev (July 15), the New Martyr Elizabeth of Russia (July 18), St. Seraphim of Sarov (July 19), the Prophets Elias (July 20) and Ezekiel (July 21), St. Mary Magdalene (July 22), St. Anna (July 25), St. Panteleimon (July 27) and St. Joseph of Arimathea (July 31), among many others. Let’s talk about one “hometown hero” you may be less familiar with.

St. Joseph of Damascus (July 10) was the priest of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (al-Mariamiyeh) in Damascus. On July 9th, 1860 the brutal massacre of Christians, which began in the mountains of Lebanon, spread to Damascus. Some Damascenes (including Michael Hawaweeny and his wife Mariam, who was pregnant with their son, the future St. Raphael of Brooklyn) fled Damascus for the city of Beirut. Most, however, took refuge in al Mariamiyeh. St. Joseph took up his communion kit and began to make his way to the Cathedral by jumping from rooftop to rooftop across the narrow streets of the Old City. As he went, he stopped to confess and commune the aged and infirm who could not flee their homes, encouraging them with stories from the Lives of the Great Martyrs. On the morning of July 10th, the Cathedral was surrounded and burned by a fanatical crowd. Those inside perished in the flames; of those who escaped and fled into the streets, most were shot or caught and forced back into the burning building, while only a few, including St. Joseph, survived. As he roamed the narrow streets searching for survivors, he was apprehended and brutally killed. St. Joseph's sacred relics were then pitched into the city dump along with those of the other New Martyrs, numbering 2,500 men plus women and children. St. Joseph and his companions were glorified by the Holy Synod of Antioch in 1993. (Adapted from antiochian.org)

Through their intercessions, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us! Amen.

Fun Fact - June 2015

I’m writing this just a few days after the graduation ceremonies for our church school, and looking forward, with all the kids, to a long summer off… NOT!! Are you kidding? We have a lot to do this summer, as we head into the final stretch of the church year.

Five weeks and four days after Pascha (May 20, this year), we celebrate the Leavetaking of Pascha – saying our farewells to the feast and singing our final “Christ is Risen!” for the year. But on the very next day, the 40th after the resurrection (May 21), we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, remembering that after He rose from the dead, Jesus “ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end.”

On the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday (May 30), we celebrate the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the church. We resume the singing of “O Heavenly King” during Vespers the evening before, and at Vespers on the day of Pentecost itself, we read the beautiful and moving “Kneeling Prayers.” The following Monday (June 1) is dedicated to “the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.” The dates of Ascension and Pentecost vary each year, as they are based on the date of Pascha, but they generally fall in late May or early June.

All Saints Day is the Sunday after Pentecost (June 7), and is an extension of feast – as we remember all those who, nourished by the Holy Spirit, grew up and bore fruit in the garden of the church. The Monday after All Saints (June 8) marks the beginning of the Apostles’ Fast, which ends with the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29. When Pascha and the feasts connected to it come early, the fast is long. When Pascha comes very late, the fast can vanish entirely, ending before it begins! (But only on the New Calendar. On the Old Calendar, it’s always 13 days longer!) June ends with the Synaxis (gathering-in-honor) of the Holy Apostles on June 30… marking the end of the first of three very busy, very joyful months in the life of the church. I’ll tell you more about July next time – but as a hint, it’s all about the saints!