Thursday the 11th of June, the Feast of St. Luke Symferoupol and the revelation of Axion Estin by the angel Gabriel.
The journey to St. Kyriaki monastery was quite eventful. St. Kyriaki monastery is where a number of our Antiochian nuns found themselves.
At one point in the journey, engrossed as we were, in deep conversation and with the Paraklesis of St. Luke Symferoupol providing the background ison to our talk, we took a wrong road. My fault, I’m afraid, as I was the co-pilot, supposed to be directing the way.
The sign Local Road did not really do justice to the rather barely marked track that we found ourselves on in this huge field. However, Sat Nav came to the rescue and revealed to us the way that we should go. We needed a U-turn.
U-turns can be life-saving in a religious and a spiritual point of view, from sin and death and the roads which lead to destruction, to the way that leads to Paradise.
A reliable source told me how beautiful this place was, and indeed there was no hyperbole from that source.
This beautiful monastery, which is really a hidden gem amidst the beautiful countryside, reminded me of the Hymns of Resurrection from St. Ephraim, also a Syrian.
In his Hymn to the Resurrection, chapter 15, verse 10, he writes this:
“Let us summon and invite the saints,
the martyrs, apostles and prophets,
whose own blossoms and flowers
shine out like themselves –
such a wealth of roses they have,
so fragrant are their lilies:
from the Garden of Delights do they pluck them,
and they bring back fair bunches
to crown our beautiful feast.
O praise to You from the saints who are blessed.”
Sister T told us how the nuns came to be there, and it reminded me of another verse from St. Ephraim the Syrian, verse 12, in the same poem:
“Receive our offering, O our King,
and in return grant us salvation;
give peace to the land that has been devastated,
rebuild the churches that were burned,
so that when deep peace has returned,
we may plait you a great wreath,
with flowers and people to plait it,
coming in from all sides
so that the Lord of Peace may be crowned.
Blessed is He who has acted and is able to act.”
*
For those of you who missed it, the story of the Sisters of War and St. Kyriaki monastery in Veria can be read here
“Dedication to Christ is the joy of life,” Mother Maria will answer me, instantly solving the questions about the smiling faces of the women in their cassocks. The thriving convent she now runs once languished with only two very old nuns.
The Sisters found refuge from the war in Syria. An old bond brought them here
I had heard a lot, but I couldn’t separate the legend from the truth. I had to wander the plain of Veria. To forget myself for a while in the blooming peach trees – the ones that filled Instagram at the end of March – to pass, full of curiosity, the heavy iron door of the Monastery of Agia Kyriaki. And to face the truth in the bright faces of women of all ages.
In the monastery’s mansion, Arabic coffee awaited me with treats from Aleppo. Yes, from Syria. The nuns pronounce Greek with small – I would say charming – grammatical errors that testify that their mother tongue is different.
Gerasimi is a graduate of Fine Arts. She elaborately decorates the candles for the Resurrection – their sale is a significant source of income for the small monastery.
“God’s Will”
The war in Syria brought here, to Loutro Imathias, an entire sisterhood of nuns from Aleppo. Aleppo, which was also called Veria during the Byzantine Empire. Luck, fate or divine providence?
For my interlocutors, everything is “God’s will”. And one name is constantly on their lips: Paul! The missing Metropolitan of Aleppo.
On Holy Monday 2013, Paul of Aleppo, returning to Syria from Alexandretta in Turkey, decided to go to a village to try to free locals for whom the rebels were demanding ransom. He was accompanied by the Jacobite bishop Yuhanna.
On the way, the two hierarchs were ambushed. Their driver was murdered and they were kidnapped. Everyone then thought that the kidnapping was the work of ISIS jihadists. The State Department rewarded the kidnappers with 5 million dollars. After all, Paul was the fleshly brother of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John.Thirteen years since then, the fate of the two archpriests continues to be unknown. But back to the Monastery of Agia Kyriaki, Pavlos is so “present” in all the stories!
“Missing Father” – “He encouraged me to go to the School of Fine Arts.” “He wanted us to study first and then become a nun.” “He showed me the way to iconography.” “He insisted that we learn Greek, the language of the Fathers.” This is what the sisters say of Metropolitan Pavlos of Aleppo, whose fate has been unknown since 2013, when he was kidnapped.
Emiliani and Iliani were taught the art of needlework in Ormylia, the women’s monastery of Simonopetra. Monks from Simonopetra on Mount Athos are still their spiritual leaders today.
Ten were the first nuns – from the Monastery of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Aleppo – who found refuge here. “Like Noah who landed his sea-swept ark on Ararat,” I will hear one evening.
All from families of old Romans, that is, citizens of the Byzantine Empire who gradually became Arabic-speaking.
Most from the Valley of the Christians, a natural valley, as large as Kos, near the border with Lebanon.
Philothei rings the monastery bells. For centuries, events in monasteries have been announced by rhythmic metal or wooden sounds that lead the brotherhoods to the Katholicon, a chapel, or the refectory.
Every time they went to distribute medicine and food, the locals would exclaim: “For the sake of Deir el Bisara” – “the nuns of the Annunciation are coming!”
A liturgy in two languages – The Arabic psalms, in the monastery church, are “married” with invocations in Greek: “Lord of Hosts, have mercy on us”. With pilgrims from Alexandria and Veria recognising the same prayer in different words and rejoicing.
But how did the nuns of war find their way to the humble and then unknown Agia Kyriaki?
The current Metropolitan of Veria Panteleimon, in the early 1990s, served as a hieromonk in Thessaloniki. And he had the Syrian Pavlos as his deacon. A graduate of the famous Theological Seminary of Balamand and the Polytechnic University of Latakia – who was then completing his doctorate in theology, while also studying Byzantine music. Paul then became a monk on Mount Athos, where he studied iconography under the most famous iconographers of Athos.
Sister Nikodimi studied Dentistry in Syria. In Greece, she obtained a master’s degree in psychological support for children with cancer and chronic diseases.
Over the years, the hieromonk became the metropolitan of Veria and the deacon the metropolitan of Aleppo. And during the war, he asked his counterpart in Veria for shelter for his spiritual daughters.
One of the photographs of the Metropolitan of Aleppo before his kidnapping in Syria
The Sisterhood
Thirteen years since then, the sisterhood has thrived and now numbers twenty nuns and four novices.
Hieronymi shows the fruits from the sisterhood orchard to Stavros Theodorakis. The monastery’s “development” plan is to create new cells for the nuns and an orchard with fruit trees and gardens with medicinal herbs. Apple, apricot, and cherry trees have already been planted, and once the cold weather passes, sage, verbena, rosemary, and oregano will follow, on terraces.
And at my Lenten table they serve makhlouta* with red lentils, cumin, and vegetables from the sisterhood’s vegetable garden.
Next to me, the reader, standing, commemorates Pavlos in the present tense.
As if he is absent for a while and they are waiting for him to return.
* Makhlouta means “mix” in Arabic, and that’s exactly what this soup is: a mix of beans and grains, simmered slowly.
Even though it is is 31C, it is raining. One of our friends said, “you have brought the rain with you from Manchester.” Indeed, but I drank from the fountain of Christ’s Mercy.
St Efraim the Syrian writes:
“Thanksgiving be to Him who caused a stream to flow forth
in the mouths that had been closed,
so that they might give praise without end, through the Son,
to the worshipful Father.”
Nisiben hymns 69
The evening was spent in conversation with Sister A and S at C’s house. The conversation was pastoral in nature, and the conversation revolved around the vicissitudes of life that we all suffer. Set within that larger framework of God’s divine plan.
It is a blessing to share one another’s burdens and to focus on our faith, our common heritage, within a world which often has taken the wrong direction and that is searching for answers. St Paul, in his letter to the Galatians in chapter 6 v. 2, writes, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” So, in acceptance of these words, we were indeed bearing one another’s burdens, and in so doing, fulfilling that law of Christ, to love God and to love one’s neighbour.
St Porphyrios says, “Christ is everything.” So, we should not add or subtract anything to our Christian faith, since, by adding, we compromise, and by subtracting, we fall short of that perfection which God calls us to. C.S. Lewis calls this “Mere Christianity.”To Wormwood, his nephew, in the Screwtape Letters, he says, what we must do is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity and …’, you know, ‘Christianity and Crisis’, ‘Christianity and the New Psychology’, ‘Christianity and the New Order.’” To add to that, perhaps ‘Christianity and Politics.’
The horror of the same old thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart. It creates an endless source of heresies. Pure Christianity, with nothing added and nothing taken away, we find in the monasteries.
C.S. Lewis writes again: “just as we pick out and exaggerate the pleasure of eating to produce gluttony, so we pick out the natural pleasantness of change and twist it into a demand for absolute novelty.”
Original, authentic and unadulterated Christianity does not need nor seek approval of the world, or indeed embrace its passing fads and fashions and fantasies. It remains steadfast to apostolic order, to true doctrine and to the living tradition.
Any movement that is required is impelled by the action of the All-Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, I am sure all/ most of you are familiar with Andrei Rublev’s Troitsa (Russian for Triune or Trinity). I have studied this icon in the past, this Trinitarian interpretation of Gen. 18:1-16, the episode in which “three men” visit Abraham and Sarah and promise them a son. Last week, however, I listened to a homily on Pentecost and the Holy Trinity in connection with this icon, and I discovered new insights which I was not familiar with.
This icon hails from the summit of a more-than-thousand-year-old iconographic tradition, yet what I found most moving and inspiring is its message, specifically the impact of the importance of the Holy Trinity on our daily lives, not as an object of abstract theological debate, but rather a referral to our living relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Let me explain, and let us open ourselves up and experience the reality that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are indeed real and insistently call us to participate in their loving communion.
1. The Trinity Is One
The Catechism 253 is clear in saying: The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the “consubstantial Trinity”. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire. In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), “Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.
Symbolizing the fact that the three divine persons are of equal essence, we see:
– All three angels are the same in form and size
– All three carry the same staves in their hands
– All three sit on the same type of throne
– Each figure is clothed in the same types of garments – chiton and himation – which are individually distinct.
– The characteristic tone of the garments works with a limited palette of colours: purple, pale green, and the one colour that is common to all three – an intense blue.
2. The divine persons are really distinct from one another
The Catechism continues in number 254 to explain: “The divine persons are really distinct from one another. God is one but not solitary.” “Father”, “Son”, “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another. They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.” The divine Unity is Triune.
3. The Monarchy of the Father
While the traditional icons of this episode usually accentuated the central angel (the Son) through its frontal attitude and often its size, here Rublev does something different:
The central angel and the one on the right incline towards the one on the left and look towards it, while the one on the left looks towards the one on the right, giving the indication of the relationship between the three persons.
As such, it is the angel on the left that becomes the centre of the relationships. This follows the Oriental tradition, which considered the source of the unity and of the Godhead to be, not an essence lying behind the persons, but the person of the Father.
4. The Angel on the Left – The Father
When speaking of icons, in reality, one doesn’t say that he or she has “painted” an icon. They are “written” and “read”, going from left to right. Let’s now take a look at each individual angel, beginning on the left, and try to recognise the particular aspects. We can distinguish the angel on the left from the others, seeing that:
– He alone sits upright while the other two incline towards him.
– Seeing that the Father is still invisible for us, His form is almost completely veiled, allowing us to catch only a glimpse of the radiant blue (symbol of divinity) of His chiton. We can only hope to see him from “behind” through the beauty and wisdom of His creation, which is here represented by the mantle. The mantle bears royal colours: gold and red with a greenish reflection, symbol of life.
– Both hands bear a firm grip on his stave, which is pointed towards the earth. All authority of the heavens and the earth belongs to Him.
– The house, rising immediately behind him, points to the Father, for “in my Father’s house are many rooms” (Jn 14:2). It is also a symbol of hospitality, seeing that Abraham and Sarah were recompensed for the hospitality that they offered.
5. The Angel in the Middle – The Son
In the Icon, we can discover the following distinguishing characteristics of the son:
– He wears a dark purple chiton decorated with two stripes, one of which is visible – stripes worked with gold. The costly purple and gold represent his being the “anointed of God,” king and prophet in one. The reddish brown colour represents the earth and therefore his humanity and his martyrdom for all mankind. Christ is fully God and fully man.
– While the azure blue chiton of the Father is scarcely visible, that of the angel representing the Son is the prevailing colour. This is because it is Jesus the Son who has revealed his “glory” which he has as the “only-begotten of the Father”. The disciples have seen and touched this (Jn 1.14), and the mission of every disciple is to bear testimony of this fact.
– The tree that rises behind the Son is a symbol of both the Tree of Life (from Genesis) and the Wood of the Cross. On the Cross the Son transforms this tree of death into a tree of life whose fruits are passed on to us through our baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Let us always remember that we, too, are called to follow Christ along the paradoxical path of the cross that carries the sufferings of this world and allows this, through the Holy Spirit, to be transformed into new life.
6. The Angel on the Right – The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit’s personal being has been revealed; his countenance has not. The only thing we know about him is through his relationship to the Father and the Son.
– Like the Son, the Holy Spirit is inclined towards the Father, from whom he proceeds according to the teaching of the Bible (Jn 15:26).
– Like the Son, the chlamys is worn in such a way that leaves an arm free. Here, instead of the right arm, it is the left. Those follow the line of thinking proposed by St. Irenaeus who said that the Son and the Spirit are equally the two “hands” of the Father, through which he works everything.
– Like the Son, the heavenly azure blue is clearly seen.
– We also discover in his chlamys a pale green which, in Russia at least, is the liturgical colour of Pentecost. Here, the idea is that green represents new life in the Spirit, who is the “Giver of Life” and who transmits and transforms our lives through our baptism. We see this same pale green on the ground on which all three figures find themselves.
– Finally, behind the angel, we see a rock protruding. Like the Son and the Holy Spirit, the rock seems to be bowing down towards the authority and glory of the Father. We are invited to do the same.
– The rock can be understood as a symbol of earth, whose “face is renewed by the Spirit”. Earlier copies of the icon show that the rock was originally cracked, which would lead us to recall the rock that was split by Moses’ staff, causing living water to flow out (Ex 17.6).
– The rock/mountain is also a privileged place to encounter God. There, heaven and earth embrace one another as they did when Moses encountered God on the mountain. It is a place that is often difficult to reach, requiring a certain silence, asceticism, and renunciation of the daily comforts the world and its routines offer us. We all need to keep an eye out for these “mountains” in our lives.
7. Postures and Gestures
8. The Original Painting
Copyists and retouchers have made significant changes over the years. Originally, the Son’s hand was pointing towards the Holy Spirit, instead of the blessing gesture that we now see. …The Son’s right hand seemed to point at the chalice; yet, at the same time, it points beyond towards the Spirit.
The artist’s attention was thus more directed at the Spirit. This is confirmed by the Father’s posture and gesture as he is looking at the Spirit, to whom his right hand, raised in blessing, is directed. The Spirit also seems to corroborate this in the fact that he humbly bows his head before the Father. His right hand also seems to want to underline this movement.
Please note that the Holy Spirit also touches the table because he also comes to the world.
9. The Decisive Moment for our Salvation
This scene has often been interpreted to be the moment when the Father decided to send the Son, through the Holy Spirit, to save humanity (us).
As we seein the image below, it is the Father, who is at the origin of it all, who calls the Son and indicates the cup of sacrifice in the centre of the table. The Son comprehends the Father’s will (to become man’s bread of life) and accepts, bowing his head and blessing the cup.
The Holy Spirit, also known as the Comforter, the Paraklete, also accepts the will of the Father. He rests his hand on the table as he looks towards the Father, indicating his obedience to the Son (no one can call upon “Jesus Christ” without the Holy Spirit) and His trustful abandonment to the Father.
10. The Symbol of Sacrifice
With careful observation, one can note how the middle angel seems to be contained within the shape of a cup whose contours are formed by the other two angels. Similar to the reflection just mentioned, here we see how the act of salvation is one of the Holy Trinity. As the Filarete, metropolitan of Moscow, once commented in 1816:
“The cup, a point of convergence between the three, contains the mystery of love of the Father who crucifies, the love of the Son who is crucified, and the love of the Holy Spirit who triumphs with the force of the cross.”
While the three figures form a circle, it is not closed in on itself. It is a circle of communion which opens and offers space for another. While their gaze is aimed towards one another, the reversed perspective means the faces are, in a sense, facing the observer as well. As such, the spectator (that’s you and me) is invited and welcomed to participate as the fourth link in this mystical chain.
11. The Altar and the Eucharist
As we have just seen, in this Trinitarian circle of love, there is always space for another, and open space in which we are invited not only to observe but to participate.
At the centre of the encounter, there is a table/altar where we also see a small box/window. This space is where relics of the martyrs are deposited.
When asking ourselves how we are called to participate, here and now, the icon invites us to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist (the altar) and to live our lives as martyrs, as witnesses of the resurrection who, following the school of Jesus, are willing to give our lives for others and for the faith.
It is probably this last “detail” of the small box/ window where the martyrs’ relics are deposited that I find so amazing! What an invitation our Lord extends to each one of us! We are all invited to live our lives as martyrs! Glory to God for all things!
*
Cf. Gabriel Bunge, The Rublev Trinity; Garrett Johnson, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Manchester, for the imagesand the insights
Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Mikrokastro: a beacon of faith and tradition, offering spiritual guidance, hospitality, and hope to the faithful from all over the world. It remains a living centre of Orthodox Christianity, linking past and present through devotion and heritage.
In the past, I have written several blog posts about this monastery and its blessed synodeia. This time I would like to focus on the miraculous icon of the Theotokos Panagia Eleousa, the Merciful Virgin, which possibly dates back to as early as 1200 (!), and is located in the iconostasis of the Katholikon. I would like to share with you three recent miracles of the Theotokos, shared with me during my recent monastery pilgrimage.
During a very serious operation, a man died and began to watch outside his body, the agonising efforts of the doctors in the operating room, but also the ascent of his soul, accompanied by angels. He climbed the stairs with difficulty, but the angels always helped him on each step, until he reached the last one, and there, no matter how hard he tried, he could not climb it. He saw a brightly lit space in front of him, but he could not climb it. He begged the angels, but they told him that even they could not help him and that he should ask for the intercession of his patron saint. Indeed, he prayed to Saint Nektarios, who, however, also told him that he could not help him and that he had to implore the Virgin Mary. She then appeared and told him that he could not actually climb this last step, because he lacked the virtue of charity. However, through her intercession, she would give him a second chance to prepare himself properly. And the Virgin Mary performed her miracle, and he returned to life in front of the astonished eyes of his doctors. His wife had made a vow to the Virgin Mary with many tears to give her husband a second chance, so that he would not leave unprepared for the terrible test.
Τhe miracle that follows is very similar to the previous one. It was again a case of a patient’s death during a very serious operation, and it was again a wife praying on her knees to the Virgin Mary, who heard her tama, her spiritual vow. However, it also has some differences. This husband arrived in front of a brightly lit plain, but he could not enter; a “wall” separated him. Also, he was not alone, but “outside” this plain, there were a multitude of people who were moaning, lamenting … This torment lasted for this particular man “many hours” and in the end he too was exhausted from waiting, fatigue, thirst! And he, too, began to cry. No matter how many prayers he said, they were not heard. At some point, the Virgin Mary appeared before him. He begged her to help him enter the bright plain, to give him a glass of water. And the Virgin Mary replied that he is not worthy not to enter this place of rest, but he is not worthy even for a glass of water! But because your wife begs me, I will give you a second chance to correct your life so that you can escape this place of torment. And indeed, the husband came back to life, shocked! The sister who told me about this miracle described to me that he himself came to the monastery with his wife to fulfil the vow to the Virgin Mary, and he still seemed shocked. The sister added to me that perhaps the most terrible thing in this story, but also in the previous one, was that these two men had spiritual fathers; they lived with the mysteries of the Church, yet they were not yet ready! Lord, have mercy!
The third miracle is a little different. Here we have a husband praying, making a tama, and his wife being saved from death. She had been hospitalised for months without any hope, and while the doctors had given up, her husband begged the Virgin Mary to perform a miracle. One evening, exhausted from the hospital, he drove late at night all the way from Thessaloniki to Mikrokastro, over two hours, and found the door of the monastery open, because a vigil was being held. He entered the church and began to pray with tears to the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, and at some point, from exhaustion, he fell asleep inside the church. Then he saw what a dream he had. In the centre of the church, he saw the Virgin Mary sitting on a radiant throne with Her Son enthroned in Her arms and standing reverently on one side was the Archangel Gabriel and the Archangel Michael on the other side. The Virgin Mary then spoke to him, addressing him by his baptismal name, and told him not to worry about his wife; she would be fine. But the Theotokos asked him to fulfil his spiritual vow in the following way: to offer an icon of her to the monastery exactly as she had appeared to him. Then he woke up, and after thanking the Virgin Mary, he hurried back to the hospital to share the wonderful news with his wife. He found her indeed healed, healthy, and the morning medical tests also clinically proved to the astonished doctors that her health was now excellent! A miracle had occurred, and she had been healed! Then, they rushed to the monastery to tell the story of the miracle and to describe to a sister who paints icons the specific representation of the Virgin Mary. Since then, this icon has adorned the narthex of the Katholicon. The miracle and the Theotokos’ request are signed at the bottom of the icon, together with the names and the date of the miracle, October 28, 2017.
Every Wednesday morning, I drive to the Galini Nursing Home. I don’t have any people there; in fact, I didn’t know a soul when all this started. I just go there, sit in the common area, and knit.
I’ve been doing this for four years. I’m 71 years old, a retired teacher, and time is the only thing I have in abundance.
At first, the nurses were concerned. “Ma’am, are you looking for someone in particular? A room?”
“No,” I would say. “I’m just here to sit for a while.”
Eventually they stopped asking. They assumed, I guess, that I was a lonely soul with nowhere else to go.
But I had a plan. I watched the residents pass by, some in walkers, some in wheelchairs, almost all with their eyes fixed on the floor. When they saw me knitting, they would stop short. Their eyes followed the rhythm of the needles.
At one point, a woman named Eleni, 84, decided to talk to me. “What’s this going to be?”
“A blanket,” I replied. “For no one in particular.”
“It seems like a lot of work for nothing,” she said with a slight complaint.
“I guess you’re right,” I said with a smile. “Would you like to help me “waste” some time together?”
She looked at me as if I had offered her a miracle. “My hands haven’t touched a thread in thirty years.”
“Great. Then you won’t notice if I slip a stitch.”
She sat down next to me. I gave her the needles, and it was beautiful to watch, her fingers remembering the movements long before her memory recalled them.
By the next month, Mrs. Eleni had brought three friends. Then there were six.
The centre moved us into the sunny, glass-fronted room and officially christened us “The Needle Company.” We didn’t do anything special; we just sat together, our hands busy, chatting about the weather, our grandchildren, and how pain can be eased. The real change was invisible.
These women began to dress in their good blouses again. They stopped skipping breakfast. A resident, Mrs. Maria, 89, who had not spoken a word since her husband left, began to tell vivid stories of how they sewed uniforms during the war.
The blankets and scarves began to pile up. Colorful, slightly crooked, and completely incomplete. “Where are all these supposed to go?” Mrs. Eleni asked one day.
“To the ‘Homeless Hostels’ and the ‘Youth Shelters,’” I said.
So every month, we sent a box full of warmth, made by women the world had largely forgotten.
Last winter, a young man appeared at the reception desk of the Unit. He asked to see the women who made the blankets. The staff hesitated, but eventually led him to the sunny room. He was holding a blue-and-yellow scarf, filled with uneven rows of knitting.
“They gave it to me at the shelter facility in December,” he told us, his voice trembling. “I slept with it every night on the bench. There was a tag hidden in the edges: ‘Hand-knitted by Eleni, 84 years old. You are not alone.’”
Mrs. Eleni shivered, putting her hand to her heart.
“Now I’m back on my feet,” he said. “I found a room and a job that starts on Monday. I just had to come here and tell you… no one had ever made anything just for me. This scarf made me feel like I deserved to be saved.”
We were all in tears.
My husband still shakes his head every time I leave on Wednesdays. She thinks I just drive across town to gossip and knit with strangers.
But Mrs. Helen passed away last Tuesday. Quietly, in her sleep. At the funeral, her son sought me out. “My mother lived for Wednesdays,” she said. “She told me you gave her purpose again. You gave her spark back.”
Our circle still meets every week. Seven women, ranging in age from 78 to 95, create “awful” scarves for people who desperately need to know that someone, somewhere, is thinking of them.
I don’t solve the world’s biggest problems. I just sit in a sunny room and knit with some incredible women. But I’ve learned that sometimes, that’s exactly the way to save a life.
Dear brothers and sisters, I wish you all a blessed Great Lent! This 40-Day Fast is considered in Orthodox tradition, “the tithe of the year”, a spiritual offering of roughly 10% of our time (40 days plus Holy Week) to God, intended for intense spiritual renewal, prayer and fasting. It acts as a reminder that all time, all possessions and all gifts belong to God, encouraging us to reorient our lives away from passions and toward Him.
Especially for this time, I find +Rev. Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims are most relevant, those “55 things that a believer, very simply, would do if they were really a believer and were really obedient to God and wanted to live the way God would have us live”. These 55 Maxims may appear too practical and down-to-earth, but are in truth profound and deep. May we put these 55 Maxims into practice for the following 40 Days and ever, Amen!
1 Be always with Christ and trust God in everything.Never forget God.
2 Pray as you can, not as you think you must.Pray as God inspires you to pray, not as you want to, but as God gives. And for a Christian, that would mean in one’s heart, in one’s room, and in one’s Church.
3 Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline. You can’t just pray when you feel like it. You have to pray by discipline, the times of day where you would remember God and say your prayers.
4 Say the Lord’s Prayer several times each day.Just as one is getting into one’s car or walking into one’s office or into one’s classroom or before eating a meal, when waking in the morning, when going to sleep at night. Just say the Lord’s Prayer. It’s the prayer that the Lord gave, a short prayer, but it contains everything that a human being needs to pray if Christ is crucified, raised, and glorified.
5 Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied.This short prayer could simply be “Lord have mercy” or “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy.” The person just might say “Jesus.” A person might say “God,” but just some short prayer that fills the mind when the mind is not working in order to have the remembrance of God in one’s life, in one’s heart.
6 Make some prostrations when you pray.Kneel down. Bend over. Bow down. Use your body. As St. Ephraim said, “If your body is not praying when you’re praying, you’re not really praying.” Prayer is not just an activity of the mind and heart. It’s an activity of the whole person.
7 Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fasting days.
8 Practice silence, inner and outer.Just sit for a few minutes every day in total silence. Turn off all the appliances. Open oneself to God. Don’t think about anything. Watch the thoughts that come, and turn them over to God.
9 Sit in silence 20 to 30 minutes each day.
10 Do acts of mercy in secret.
11 Go to liturgical services regularly.
12 Go to Confession and Holy Communion regularly.
13 Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings.
14 Reveal all your thoughts and feelings to a trusted person regularly.
15 Read the scriptures regularly.
16 Read good books, a little at a time.
17 Cultivate communion with the saints.
18 Be an ordinary person, one of the human race.
19 Be polite with everyone, first of all family members.
20 Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
21 Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
22 Exercise regularly.
23 Live a day, even a part of a day, at a time.
24 Be totally honest, first of all with yourself.
25 Be faithful in little things.
26 Do your work, then forget it.
27 Do the most difficult and painful things first.
28 Face reality.
29 Be grateful.
30 Be cheerful.
31 Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
32 Never bring attention to yourself.
33 Listen when people talk to you.
34 Be awake and attentive, fully present where you are.
35 Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
36 Speak simply, clearly, firmly, directly.
37 Flee imagination, fantasy, analysis, figuring things out.
38 Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
39 Don’t complain, grumble, murmur or whine.
40 Don’t seek or expect pity or praise.
41 Don’t compare yourself with anyone.
42 Don’t judge anyone for anything.
43 Don’t try to convince anyone of anything.
44 Don’t defend or justify yourself.
45 Be defined and bound by God, not people.
46 Accept criticism gracefully and test it carefully.
47 Give advice only when asked or when it is your duty.
48 Do nothing for people that they can and should do for themselves.
49 Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
50 Be merciful with yourself and others.
51 Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
52 Focus exclusively on God and light, and never on darkness, temptation and sin.
53 Endure the trial of yourself and your faults serenely, under God’s mercy.
54 When you fall, get up immediately and start over.
55. Get help when you need it, without fear or shame.
This profoundly moving and thought provoking homily is by Father Anastasios, the spiritual father of dear friends, a Father who is hearing Confessions all the time, from morning to night, and from night to morning. Indeed, our thoughts, the logismoi that surround us, especially concerning certain acts, even after they have been forgiven, are symptoms of our fallen state and marred image. Indeed we should, as we say in the liturgy,” live out our life in peace and repentance.” I wish you all a blessed Christmas Lent!
*
“It is a topic that is discussed a lot.
Since you have confessed this sin, why do you have to confess it again? You have said these things!!!
Is this opinion correct?
It is, if Spiritual Life is not a continuous path from Darkness to Light.
It is correct, if Spiritual Life is not a continuous Purification, Illumination and Theosis process!
However, since Christ, the Theotokos, the Holy Apostles and our Saints prove to us with their Life and teaching that the Spiritual Life is a path of Repentance, Forgiveness of Sins and Eternal Life, then our Sin is also constantly revealed!
A path of continuous Illumination, which reveals our Sin to us first as an ACT. We confess it.
With Confession we receive Absolution of Sin, as an act, and we have peace.
However, the Light of the Holy Spirit, which entered inside us with the Absolution of Sin, reveals to us, as we continue in Kairos our Repentance, that before the act, we entertained many sinful Thoughts (ie. Logismoi) .
The same Sin is revealed to us, not only as an Act, but also as a Logismos.
Next to it, we begin to see other acts, which preceded and followed the Sin that we confessed.
We go to the Confessor and reveal the new revelations of our Sin, but also the new Sins, which we saw in the prayer for our Sin.
We receive more Light from the new Confession and with our continuous Repentance, Christ reveals to us the same Sin as our heart’s desire, connected to many other heart desires.
The Light of the Mysteries of Repentance, Confession and Holy Communion constantly reveals to us new facts that surround the Sin that we first confessed; they reveal to us other Sins, but also Sin itself more deeply, things that we did not see before.
The Light of the Mysteries, with Careful Repentance as the protagonist, constantly reveals to us deeper and deeper the same Sin, from action, to thought that preceded and desire from which the Sin began.
It constantly and daily reveals to us, along with Sin, our Mind and how it functions, our Heart and how it functions.
It reveals to us, constantly and daily, that WE HAVE NOT ONLY HARMED OURSELVES, BUT ALSO THOSE AROUND US, OUR SPIRITUAL FATHER, OUR BRETHREN, OUR WIFE, OUR HUSBAND, OUR CHILDREN, THE ENVIRONMENT, OUR NATURE AND NATURE.
It reveals to us that the one SIN THAT WE HAVE CONFESSED IS A LIFE IMPRINT; IT IS NOT AN ISOLATED ATTITUDE OF LIFE, BUT OUR WHOLE LIFE!
There are two Commandments, Love for God with all your soul, which cleanses, purifies love for ourselves as the Image of God and for our neighbour!
Of all our Sins, one is the WORST, ONE IS OUR WORST PASSION, to which we must direct all our Vigilance and prayer.
It is OUR SELF-LOVE with all its CHILDREN, first, and OUR CARNALITY, SENSUALITY with all its children.
Didn’t David see these things and say “MY SIN IS FOREVER BEFORE ME”?
Didn’t Fr. Anatoly, in the Russian film “THE ISLAND”, see this?
Isn’t this the Vision of the Hesychasts, either in the Desert of Nature, or in the Desert of Big Cities?
Our spiritual awakening, the Revelation of one passion, reveals ever-increasingly all our hidden passions, like the laboratory tests of a Cancer Patient, which bring to light new data, so that the proper pharmaceutical treatment can be carried out.
THE LIGHT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF THE MYSTERIES OF THE CHURCH GRADUALLY LEADS US TO PURIFICATION, ILLUMINATION AND THEOSIS.
Just as the Archaeological excavations slowly, with daily labour, uncover the findings of ancient civilizations, so the Divine Light progressively reveals to the person who is Penitent until Death, the hidden Sinful Life.
Repentance, Confession and Holy Communion, with the cooperation of the Penitent with the Holy Spirit, constantly reveal our Sin, our sinful Life.
It is like the investigation of a crime, where the more the authorities search for it, the more the causes, the culprits, their intentions, their participation in the criminal action are revealed.
This work, while it begins with pain, because we identify the damage we have caused with our sin, always ends with Heavenly Joy, ripens within us the Fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Peace, Joy!
As we progress unto Purification from the vision of our Sinful Life, which we see constantly coming out of our Heart, as Christ tells us, we begin to see our Nature, our heredity and ourselves as a Member of the Body of Christ and the Church!
This is the Hesychastic Life of the Orthodox Church, where constant Repentance brings the Holy Spirit, who is the Protagonist of our Life, as Christ said to the Samaritan woman:
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4,24).
To those who see sin as an act, a thought or a desire, they think that a confession is enough to be forgiven. This opinion is natural, if this is knowledge.
However, to those who see Sin as a symptom and imprint of a constantly revealed SINFUL LIFE, a whole Life is not enough for them to confess and cleanse themselves.
This is how our Saints lived, with the culmination of Abba Sisois, who pleaded to Christ, when He came to take his soul :
– WILL YOU NOT ALLOW ME, LORD, JUST A LITTLE MORE TO LIVE, SO THAT I CAN REPENT?
Hearing this, his Disciples said, “Elder, you HAVE BEEN REPENTING YOUR WHOLE LIFE!”
And the Great Sisois said:
– BELIEVE ME, BROTHERS, I DO NOT THINK I HAVE EVEN MADE A BEGINNING YET.
Those who see, know that the vision of running water, while it appears to be the same, is not the same.
Those who see, in the Holy Spirit, constantly know their Sin, that it is not itself, that is why they cry out with a sigh,“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!”
And the Forgiveness of Sins comes and pain becomes Joy, slavery becomes Freedom and darkness, Eternal Light!
Spiritual Life is not only an interrogation and attribution of responsibilities; it is mainly a lifelong treatment, which is done with great care and diligence, daily and constantly until death.”
“Someone recently described Thessaloniki as like a dry cake. I’m not sure about this simile. I would prefer to describe it in terms of warm slices of bread. Exchanging a cold, windy, wet Manchester of 13C for a calm, warm late evening 25C, Thessaloniki was indeed a taster of what was to come. Having navigated the vicissitudes of the roaming signal with a friendly local, a familiar “taxi” driver arrived to pick me up from the terminal.
I have often thought that the word terminal speaks of rather sad endings rather than the springboard and opening to new adventures.
Having been delivered to my assigned apartment I enjoyed the sleep of the just traveller.
The five days in Thessaloniki spent with my spiritual children had both an eternal and a brief dimension. Time expands and contracts according to God’s ordinance.
House blessings, Confessions, Social Gatherings, Prayers, Church and Monastery Visits and the not so mundane coffee stops roll into a well risen loaf with the yeast of kindness and the warmth of hospitality.
In just one day we visited:
The Holy Church of St Nicholas Orphanos
The Church of Pammegistoi Taxiarches where there was a Byzantine Crypt and huge Basil bushes outside.
Vlatadon Monastery.
Latomos Monastery and later the cave Church of St David the Dendrite.
St Demetrios Church.
St Theodora Monastery and Church where we venerated the holy relics of St Theodora and St David.
Church of St Theodora
Stopping for late lunch the first thing to arrive on our table was warm sliced bread — a gift and a symbol of the spiritual slices of holiness we had tasted earlier.
St Demetrios church St Anysia relicsChurch of Pammegistoi Taxiarches with byzantine cryptSt Nicholas OrphanosBasil bushOsios David the Dendrite Latomos monasteryView from Vlatadon Monastery
We took the bread, blessed it, gave thanks, broke it and shared the humble gift with the meal — a eucharistic pattern that is woven into every fabric of the Christian Life.
So many precious memories in a short space of time — but God’s time (kairos not chronos). For these treasured moments I give thanks to God”.
Last week, Archangel Michael, became central in my life. First, my spiritual father arrived and rescued me after a summer of fires, all kinds of fires, and carried me in his arms like the Good Shepherd. He also brought me this icon of the Archangel Michael to protect me from the attacks of the evil one “through the valley of the shadow of death.
Then, a dear spiritual sister of mine is leaving tomorrow on a pilgrimage to Archangel Michael of Panormitis (Gr. O Πανορμίτης) on the island of Symi, and promised to give our names for commemoration and bring a copy of that miraculous icon of the Archangel Michael, one of the most famous miraculous icons of the Archangel in Greece.
Archangel Michael of Panormitis, Taxiarches monastery, Symi island
The other famous and truly fierce, if I may use such an expression for an icon, is the miraculous icon of Archangel Michael is that of Mantamados on the island of Lesvos, where a dear spiritual brother lives and prays for all mankind. This is an icon that once you encounter and venerate, you never forget all your life. I had this blessing a few years ago.
Archangel Michael of Mantamados, Lesvos
Last but not least, today, Monday 22 September, is the day of of the autumnal equinox, September 22, which is closely related to Archangel Michael in a way that may surprise you.
Forgive my long parenthesis. Now to the autumnal equinox and Archangel Michael. There is an ancient legend: when Archangel Michael defeated the devil, his sword carved a fiery line on the ground. And the amazing thing is this: on the map of Europe and the East, seven holy shrines dedicated to the Archangel are aligned – all on the same line!
📍 1. Skellig Michael (Ireland) – a rocky island in the ocean, where ascetics lived in strict conditions, believing in the protection of the Archangel. 📍 2. St. Michael’s Mount (England) – a place where the Archangel appeared to fishermen in the 5th century. 📍 3. Mont-Saint-Michel (France) – a famous monastery on an island, which seems to be floating above the sea. 📍 4. Sacra di San Michele (Italy, Piedmont) – a monastery on a mountaintop, with a view that touches eternity. 📍 5. Monte Sant’Angelo (Italy, Gargano) – a cave, into which, according to tradition, Michael descended and consecrated it. 📍 6. Monastery of St. Michael (Symei Island, Greece) – an ancient pilgrimage site in the Aegean Sea, where believers flock for healing. 📍 7. Monastery of St. Michael on Mount Carmel (Israel) – the last point of the line, a symbol of union with Heaven.
✨ All seven of these sanctuaries are located on a straight line. And if we pay attention – this straight line coincides with the sunset on the day of of the autumnal equinox, September 22.
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN FAITH AND LIFE 