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!