DOCSLIB.ORG

The Cathedral Messenger

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Cathedral Messenger St. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral (https://www.facebook.com/AlexanderNevskyCathedral/) (http://www.sanocpgh.org/) The Cathedral Messenger Orthodox Church in America Archbishop Melchisedek Diocese of Western Pennsylvania Archpriest Bill Evansky (Acting Admin.) September 2020 Thy Birth, O Theotokos, Has Proclaimed Joy to the Whole World A homily of the abbot of the Great and Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, Archimandrite Ephraim, in the refectory of the monastery at the Feast of the Mother of God on September 8th. The Panagia has a central place in divine worship. Feasts of the Mother of God frame the ecclesias:cal year; it begins with the feast of the Birth of the Theotokos, and ends with the feast of the placing of the Holy Girdle of the Theotokos. Today is a cause for spiritual joy and rejoicing, my dear brothers and fathers, for today we celebrate the birth of the ever-virgin and God- bearing Maria, that most fragrant flower who sprung forth “from the root of Jesse.” We celebrate the “birthday of universal rejoicing,” which cons:tutes the “entrance of all of the feasts and the prelude to the mystery of Christ,” according to St. Andrew of Crete. Birth, which became the agent of the rebirth, of reconstruc:on, and the renewal of all things. Today she is born who will give birth, in :me and in an incomprehensible and strange fashion, to the :meless and pre-eternal God the Word, the Creator and Savior of the world. In the Old Testament there are many passages that foreshadow, prefigure, and prophesy Her. She is the comple:on, the fulfillment of the Old Testament pedagogical prepara:on of humanity for its acceptance of the incarnated Savior God. Our Panagia was prefigured by the burning bush in Moses’s vision, by the God-wriQen plaques and the tabernacle of the Law, by the heavenly manna, by the golden seal, by the lamp and the altar, the blossoming rod of Aaron, by Jacob’s ladder, the wool of Gideon, Daniel’s uncut mountain, the fiery furnace which with its fire cooled the Three Children, as well as by the This month’s newsletter is sponsored by the church. 1 Holy of Holies in the tent of witness. The Theotokos is the borderline between the Old and the New Testament. For the Old Testament, she was the message of the prophets, the hope of the righteous; while in the New Testament she becomes the sweetness of the angels, the glory of the apostles, the courage of the martyrs, the delight of the venerable, the boast of humanity, which is why she is glorified by “every genera:on.” All of crea:on awaited her birth. Our Panagia is the “fruit of crea:on” according to St. Nicholas Kavasilas, she is the measure that all of crea:on is to aQain. Just as the tree exists for its fruit, in the same way crea:on exists for the Virgin and the Virgin for Christ. The Fathers emphasize that not only people, but also the heavens and the earth, all of visible and invisible crea:on were created for the spotless Virgin. When God, at the beginning of the ages, fixed his gaze on His crea:on, He said that it was “very good,” He essen:ally saw before Him the fruit of all crea:on, the All-Holy Theotokos, and His praise was truly the “good report of the Virgin.” On this day, all crea:on receives a blessing from the birth of our spotless Lady. “This new crea:on,” was not simply the greatest woman on earth, nor the greatest woman of all periods, but it was she who alone could draw heaven to earth, to make God into man. The creator God the Word created human nature in such a way that when He needed to be born, He would be born from His mother. The invisible and unseen God comes to earth through her and becomes visible; He is united and communes with crea:on in a more substan:al and united manner. Through His human nature, He unites all of crea:on in His hypostasis and divinizes crea:on. The unique and unrepresentable God takes on the “form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7), human flesh and a ra:onal soul, lives among men and walks upon the earth. The “One who is unable to be held” will fit into the virginal womb of the Theotokos, such that His All-Holy Mother will be regarded as the “land that held Him who could not be held.” Today Anna’s barrenness is overcome and the “keepsake of all the world,” as St. Cyril of Alexandria described her, is born. Many :mes in the Old Testament, God made a similar miracle: with Sarah the wife of the patriarch Abraham, with Rebecca the wife of Isaac, with Anna the mother of the prophet Samuel, with Elizabeth the mother of the prophet and forerunner John the Bap:st. But today’s miracle is very different from these miracles. The children of the aforemen:oned mothers, whose barrenness was miraculously cured, might have been virtuous and holy, but only Mary the child of Anna and Joachim was “the one who was full of grace,” and was made, unbelievably for both men and angels, the Mother of God. Our Panagia was not born through a virginal, supernatural concep:on, as the Roman Catholics mistakenly believe, but aber natural rela:ons between Joachim and Anna. Anna’s natural barrenness was overcome thanks to God’s immediate interven:on as an answer to the prayers of the righteous grandparent’s of God. The elderly Joachim and Anna came together without any fleshly aQrac:on or pleasure, but only out of obedience to God. In this way, with this ac:on they put a stamp on their chas:ty. In this way, the Virgin was conceived, “chastely in the bowels of Joachim and Anna.” That she was conceived chastely means that the way she was conceived was pure. However, in order for the Virgin to be free of the ancestral sin, to have had an immaculate concep:on, she would have had to have been born of a virgin, as Christ was. In order to bear such a child, the righteous grandparents of God revealed an unshakeable faith, unswerving pa:ence, they fed the hope that does not put to shame, they had great endurance in the prayer that God would fulfill their request. And they did not endure their barrenness for a short period. The tradi:on says that Anna conceived the Theotokos aber fiby years of barrenness. 2 This stance of the grandparents of God should be an example for all of us, my dear brothers and fathers. It’s not only our lay brothers, who are unable to conceive children, who should not lose their trust in God for, “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27), but for us monks also and all the faithful who fight the “good fight.” We oben give up, or grow impa:ent in our struggle and say that we haven’t realized anything, we don’t sense grace, we get anxious. So, saddened as we are, our zeal is quenched, we slacken our figh:ng spirit and our asce:cism. We mustn’t be this way, though, my brothers. What would have happened if, because God didn’t respond immediately to their prayers, the grandparents of God had stopped calling on Him and believing that they would receive? What if they had stopped calling out, beseeching God, hoping? What great pa:ence and strength they showed for so many years! So as to develop the spiritual “need for great pa:ence,” St. Isaac the Syrian lived the lessening, the absence of divine grace, the pains of noe:c warfare, for thirty years. He received a constant stream of divine grace aber these long years of bloody baQle and pa:ence. We refer to this, especially for us monks, who were called to receive the fullness of grace. Pa:ence in sorrows is necessary, faith in the promises of God, perfect obedience to the will of God and hope, for we “always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). God knows when it is in our interests to give us His inexplicable, unexplainable, and priceless divine gib, His divine grace as a constant state. “Spiritual gibs come upon us,” Abba Isaiah notes, we don’t decide when and how we receive them. In fact, before God gives us some blessing, a gib, He oben tests us with a tempta:on, the result of which determines whether or not we’re found worthy to receive this divine gib. We note this, also, in the grandparents of God who, when the :me approached for God to give them a child, He allowed them to be tested even further. It was the Feast of Tabernacles, and when they went to the temple to offer gibs the priest Rubin shamed them by telling them that they weren’t worthy to offer gibs to God, as they hadn’t had any children for Israel. The grandparents of God were very saddened aber this, but they did not despair. They took refuge in “deep prayer,” Joachim went to the mountain and Anna went to the garden, and their prayer was finally heard, when the angel of the Lord informed each one individually that the concep:on would take place, along with the birth of a child that would be known throughout the world.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Little Metropolis at Athens 15
    Bucknell University Bucknell Digital Commons Honors Theses Student Theses 2011 The Littleetr M opolis: Religion, Politics, & Spolia Paul Brazinski Bucknell University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Brazinski, Paul, "The Little eM tropolis: Religion, Politics, & Spolia" (2011). Honors Theses. 12. https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses/12 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses at Bucknell Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Bucknell Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Paul A. Brazinski iv Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank Professor Larson for her patience and thoughtful insight throughout the writing process. She was a tremendous help in editing as well, however, all errors are mine alone. This endeavor could not have been done without you. I would also like to thank Professor Sanders for showing me the fruitful possibilities in the field of Frankish archaeology. I wish to thank Professor Daly for lighting the initial spark for my classical and byzantine interests as well as serving as my archaeological role model. Lastly, I would also like to thank Professor Ulmer, Professor Jones, and all the other Professors who have influenced me and made my stay at Bucknell University one that I will never forget. This thesis is dedicated to my Mom, Dad, Brian, Mark, and yes, even Andrea. Paul A. Brazinski v Table of Contents Abstract viii Introduction 1 History 3 Byzantine Architecture 4 The Little Metropolis at Athens 15 Merbaka 24 Agioi Theodoroi 27 Hagiography: The Saints Theodores 29 Iconography & Cultural Perspectives 35 Conclusions 57 Work Cited 60 Appendix & Figures 65 Paul A.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Demetrios Parish Newsletter September 2015
    Parish Newsletter September 2015 St. Demetrios 41-47 Wisteria St., Perth Amboy, N.J. (732) 826-4466 Fr. Angelo J. Michaels The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross Ἡ Ύψωσις τοῦ Τιμίου Σταυροῦ September 14 SEPTEMBER 201 5 RELIGIOUS CALENDAR Sept 6 – Epistle St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians Back to a new 1:21-24; 2:1-4 Κορινθίους β' 1:21-24, 2:1-4 ecclesiastical year and lots of acticities to praise God! Gospel Matthew 22:2-14 Ματθαῖον 22:2-14 September 13 Registration: Sept 13 – St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 6:11-18 o Sunday School Γαλάτας 6:11-18 Σεπτεμβρίου 14 o Greek school Gospel John 3:13-17 The Elevation of the Holy o GOYA Ἰωάννην 3:13-17 Cross is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox o JOY Sept 20 – St. Paul's Letter to the Church. This is also a popular Galatians 2:16-20 o HOPE Γαλάτας 2:16-20 name day for Stavroula/ Stavros (from "stavro s" meaning Gospel Mark 8:34-38; 9:1 cross). FOLLOWED BY: Μᾶρκον 8:34-38, 9:1 This feast commemorates the Sept 27 – St. Paul's Second Letter to the finding of the Cross by the Corinthians 6:16-18; 7:1 Empress Helen (the mother of Κορινθίους α' 6:16-18; 7:1 St. Constantine the Great) on Gospel Luke 5:1-11 Golgotha in 326 AD, the place Λουκᾶν 5:1-11 where Christ was crucified. Sponsored by the PTO Σώσον Κύριε τόν λαόν σου καί Come out support our Youth ευλόγησον τήν κληρονομίαν Ministries and a new start for a σου, νίκας τοίς Βασιλεύσι κατά dynamic year.
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of St Anna's Cult in Byzantium
    ASPECTS OF ST ANNA’S CULT IN BYZANTIUM by EIRINI PANOU A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham January 2011 Acknowledgments It is said that a PhD is a lonely work. However, this thesis, like any other one, would not have become reality without the contribution of a number of individuals and institutions. First of all of my academical mother, Leslie Brubaker, whose constant support, guidance and encouragement accompanied me through all the years of research. Of the National Scholarship Foundation of Greece ( I.K.Y.) with its financial help for the greatest part of my postgraduate studies. Of my father George, my mother Angeliki and my bother Nick for their psychological and financial support, and of my friends in Greece (Lily Athanatou, Maria Sourlatzi, Kanela Oikonomaki, Maria Lemoni) for being by my side in all my years of absence. Special thanks should also be addressed to Mary Cunningham for her comments on an early draft of this thesis and for providing me with unpublished material of her work. I would like also to express my gratitude to Marka Tomic Djuric who allowed me to use unpublished photographic material from her doctoral thesis. Special thanks should also be addressed to Kanela Oikonomaki whose expertise in Medieval Greek smoothened the translation of a number of texts, my brother Nick Panou for polishing my English, and to my colleagues (Polyvios Konis, Frouke Schrijver and Vera Andriopoulou) and my friends in Birmingham (especially Jane Myhre Trejo and Ola Pawlik) for the wonderful time we have had all these years.
    [Show full text]
  • St Joseph His Life and Mission
    St Joseph His Life and Mission John D Miller CONTENTS Introduction 2 The Annunciation 5 The Marriage of Joseph and Mary 6 A typical Jewish marriage 8 Joseph’s dilemma 10 The Nativity 12 The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus 12 The Presentation in the Temple 13 The Flight into Egypt 13 The Boy Jesus in the Temple 15 When did Joseph die? 17 The Holiness of Saint Joseph 19 The Cult of Saint Joseph 22 Conclusion 26 Bibliography 27 END NOTES 29 Copyright © John Desmond Miller 2017 ST JOSEPH HIS LIFE AND MISSION An Essay by John D Miller 2 Introduction Though prayers to Saint Joseph featured in my life I had never paid great attention to him. I had learnt the night prayer to Jesus, Mary and Joseph for assistance ‘in my last agony’ when at school aged eight. In later life I had developed the habit of asking St Joseph’s help with practical matters such as problems with the car or computer. It was a reference to St Joseph during an Advent retreat in December 2016 that prompted me to explore his life and mission in more detail. The retreat master mentioned two things about St Joseph which intrigued me: within the Holy Family Joseph held ‘a primacy of authority’ while Mary held ‘a primacy of love’1 and secondly that a recent mystic had experienced inner locutions from St Joseph indicating that he had been sanctified in the womb. A search of the Internet on Sister Ephrem Neuzil confirmed that St Joseph had reportedly said to her that he had been freed from original sin soon after his conception.
    [Show full text]
  • Legends of Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church [Microform]
    / / *C^ #? ^ ////, A/ i/.A IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 IB %. ^ !E U£ 112.0 I.I 1.8 1.25 U 11.6 # \ SV \\ V ^^J'V^ % O^ o> Photographic €^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 Sciences (716) 872-4503 Corporation ^*... "•"^te- «iS5*SSEi^g^!^5«i; 'it^, '<^ t& CIHM/ICMH CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Collection de Series. microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques S ^ <; jv. - s»«5as^a«fe*Sia8B®I6jse»a!^«i)^w«*«i*asis»swp£>9^^ '*s* - ' 1 _ ssfijr Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire The Institute has attempted to obtain the best L'Institut a se procurer. Les d6tails original copy available for filming. Features of this qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de uniques du copy which may be bibliographically unique, de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier which may alter any of the images in the point de vue peuvent exiger unc reproduction, or which may significantly change une image reproduite, ou qui normale de filmage the usual method of filming, are checked below. modification dans la m6thode sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. Coloured covers/ Coloured pages/ D Couverture de couleur Pages de couleur Covers damaged/ Pages damaged/ D Couverture endommag^e Pages endommagdes Covers restored and/or laminated/ Pages restored and/or laminated/ D Couverture restaur6e et/ou pellicul6e Pages restaur6es et/ou pellicul6es stained or foxed/ Cover title missing/ Pages discoloured, tachetdes ou piqu6es Le titre de couverture manque Pages d6color6es, Coloured maps/ Pages detached/ D Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Pages ddtach^es Coloured ink (i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Philanthropy – Ladies Auxilliary Church Bookstore Live Broadcast of Church Services On-Line Booking Baptisms, Weddings &
    CONTACT US! Parish Priest: Rev. Fr. Peter Avgeropoulos Address: 136 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto, ON M6R 2E4 T: 416-378-7428 ■ E-mail: [email protected] Greek Community Office: T: 416-537-2665 ■ Fax: 416-425-2954 www.panagia.ca ■ www.greekcommunity.org Facebook: Panagia (in Downtown TO) is my Church! Philanthropy – Ladies Auxilliary Mission Statement — Affiliation The Ladies Philanthropic Society is an integral part of our Cathedral family. Its members have Since its opening in 1961, Panagia has been generously donated their gifts of time, talent and treasure to the Church, especially to those less welcoming all who worship God and honour the fortunate. We invite all women to join this dynamic group and to volunteer their time in helping Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary as Mother of God - the Church and in serving God through helping the poor and the needy. For more information, Theotokos - a title bestowed upon her by the 3rd Ecumenical Council of the Church in 431. please speak with Eleni Spyridis at 416-807-7961. Panagia is the Cathedral Parish of the Greek Church Bookstore Community of Toronto. It is under the spiritual Our Sunday School operates a Bookstore that is located in the Church Hall. Religious Books on jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis the Orthodox Faith, Bibles in Greek and English, Icons, Incense, Prayer Ropes, Musical CDs and of Toronto (Canada), which is an Eparchy of the other religious items, as well as books on Greek culture and tradition are available for purchase. Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Bookstore is open every Sunday after Liturgy.
    [Show full text]
  • Panagia Greek Orthodox Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos 233 East 15Th Street, Hamilton, Ontario L9A 4G1 ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΥ 2020 905-385-9815 +Πρωτοπρεσβύτερος
    ST. DEMETRIOS OCTOBER 26 – A MODEL OF ENDURANCE WITH FAITH UNSHAKEN PANAGIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE Saint Demetrios was a Thessalonian, a most pious son of pious DORMITION OF THE THEOTOKOS and noble parents, and a teacher of the Faith of Christ. When Maximian first came to Thessalonica in 290, he raised the (HAMILTON) Saint to the rank of Duke of Thessaly. But, when it was discovered that the Saint was a Christian, he was arrested and kept bound in a bath-house. While the games were under way in the city, PROGRAM OF HOLY SERVICES Maximian was a spectator there. A certain friend of his, a barbarian who was a notable wrestler, Lyaeus by name, waxing haughty because of the height and OCTOBER 2020 strength of his body, boasted in the stadium and challenged the citizens to a Rev. Fr. Elias Drossos, Protopresbyter contest with him. All that fought with him were defeated. Seeing this, a certain Parish Priest youth named Nestor, acquaintance of Demetrios', came to the Saint in the bath- house and asked his blessing to fight Lyaeus single-handed. Receiving this blessing and sealing himself with the sign of the precious Cross, he presented himself in the stadium, and said, "O God of Demetrios, help me!" and straightway he engaged Lyaeus in combat and smote him with a mortal blow to the heart, leaving the former boaster lifeless upon the earth. Maximian was sorely grieved over this, and when he learned who was the cause of this defeat, he commanded straightway and Demetrios was pierced with lances while he was yet in the bath-house, As for Nestor, Maximian commanded that he be slain with his own sword.
    [Show full text]
  • Titles of Mary
    Titles of Mary Mary is known by many different titles (Blessed Mother, tion in the Americas and parts of Asia and Africa, e.g. Madonna, Our Lady), epithets (Star of the Sea, Queen via the apparitions at Our Lady of Guadalupe which re- of Heaven, Cause of Our Joy), invocations (Theotokos, sulted in a large number of conversions to Christianity in Panagia, Mother of Mercy) and other names (Our Lady Mexico. of Loreto, Our Lady of Guadalupe). Following the Reformation, as of the 17th century, All of these titles refer to the same individual named the baroque literature on Mary experienced unforeseen Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ (in the New Testament) growth with over 500 pages of Mariological writings and are used variably by Roman Catholics, Eastern Or- during the 17th century alone.[4] During the Age of thodox, Oriental Orthodox, and some Anglicans. (Note: Enlightenment, the emphasis on scientific progress and Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Salome are rationalism put Catholic theology and Mariology often different individuals from Mary, mother of Jesus.) on the defensive in the later parts of the 18th century, Many of the titles given to Mary are dogmatic in nature. to the extent that books such as The Glories of Mary (by Other titles are poetic or allegorical and have lesser or no Alphonsus Liguori) were written in defense of Mariology. canonical status, but which form part of popular piety, with varying degrees of acceptance by the clergy. Yet more titles refer to depictions of Mary in the history of 2 Dogmatic titles art.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sanctity and Glory of the Mother of God: Orthodox Approaches
    79 THE SANCTITY AND GLORY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD: ORTHODOX APPROACHES By KALLISTOS OF DIOKLEIA OVE AND VENERATION for the Virgin, the russian theologian Fr Sergei Bulgakov (1871-1944), states: is the soul of orthodox piety, its heart, that which warms and L animates its entire body. A faith in Christ which does not include the virgin birth and the veneration of his Mother is another faith, another Christianity, from that of the Orthodox Church. His words are typical, and they indicate the unique place held in orthodox devotion by her whom we like to describe in our prayers as 'the joy of all creation'. How has this living heart of our piety, the life-giving source of our hope and joy, been understood in orthodox thinking, greek and russian, during the past sixty years? Scarcely ever in the history of Eastern Christendom has the Blessed Virgin Mary been the subject of controversy. There is in the East nothing comparable to the elaborate discussions in the medieval West about the Immaculate Conception, or to the catholic-protestant debate from the sixteenth century onwards about the whole position of the Virgin in christian theology and devotion. The main eastern controversy involving our Lady -- the fifth-century conflict between Nestorius and St Cyril of Alexandria over the title Theotokos -- was concerned not so much with the person of Mary as with the doctrine of the Incarnation. The name of the Holy Virgin is constantly on our lips, her face is always before us in the holy icons, she is everywhere present like the air we breathe ~ to use the analogy of Gerard Manley Hopkins- she is honoured, revered, loved, but not the subject of critical analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ritual Year of the Icon of the Annunciation on the Island of Tinos, Greece
    THE RITUAL YEAR OF THE ICON OF THE ANNUNCIATION ON THE ISLAND OF TINOS, GREECE Evy Johanne Håland Abstract: After several mystical visions of the nun, Pelagia, the holy icon of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (Panagia) was found in 1823. According to tradition, Pelagia repeatedly witnessed the Panagia in her visions where she received orders from her to find the Virgin’s icon and also to build her church. The icon was unearthed in the field where it had remained since the church, built on the ruins of a pagan temple, was destroyed in the 10th century. Two years before the icon was found, the Greek War of Independence broke out. The finding of the icon, the construction of the Church of the Panagia, Euangelistria, the enormous crowds of pilgrims and all the miracles worked by the icon, con- tributed to the outcome that the island was declared a sacred island, and Pelagia became sanctified. The ritual year of the miraculous icon on Tinos starts on 30 January with the festival dedicated to the Finding of the Icon. The next festival is dedicated to the Day of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. This day has both a religious and a national ideological significance, since 25 March is celebrated as Independence Day. July 23 is dedicated to the “Vision” of Saint Pelagia. The most important festival, the Dormition of the Panagia, is celebrated on 15 August. During the festivals official processions, carrying the icon in its midst, are important, but also popular customs related to the importance of fetching holy water and earth as well as the other symbols which have a long tradition within Greek religions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Person of Holy Virgin Mary in Christianity and in Qu'ran (Koran)
    The person of Holy Virgin Mary in Christianity and in Qu’ran (Koran) La persona de la Virgen María en el Cristianismo y en el Corán A pessoa da Virgem Maria no Cristianismo e no Alcorão Eirini ARTEMI1 Abstract: The Holy Virgin Mary or Theotokos is a very significant person for Christians. She is the mother of the enfleshed (sesarkomenos) Son of God. Theotokos thus refers to the Incarnation, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human nature in addition to his pre-existing divine nature, this being made possible by the cooperation of Virgin Mary. Theotokos is not only the mother of God, but the mother of every Christian. The Christians and mainly Orthodoxs and Roman Catholics think that the Virgin is a very significant part of their religion, of their life. Christians do not “worship” the Virgin Mary. They “venerate” her and show her great honor. She has the all- merciful power of driving away from us, at her sign, the sub-celestial spirits of evil–those ever-vigilant and ardent sowers of enmity and malice among men. She is the highest of all creatures, the Mediatrix for the whole race of mankind. Strive to train everyone in the spirit of humility, for she was humbler that any mortal, and only looks lovingly upon the humble. The Quran, the holy book for Muslims honor holy Virgin Mary too. Muslims think that Virgin Mary is the mother of Prophet Christ. For them, Christ is not God. The Archbishop of Albania Anastasios who was teaching about the religion of Muslims supports that Muslims honour Holy Virgin more than some Christian Confessions of Protestants and some “christian” heresies as Jehovah witness.
    [Show full text]
  • Greek Orthodox Bible : New Testament
    THE EASTERN - GREEK ORTHODOX BIBLE : NEW TESTAMENT Presented to Presented by Date – Occasion THE EASTERN - GREEK ORTHODOX BIBLE NEW TESTAMENT THE EASTERN / GREEK ORTHODOX BIBLE BASED ON THE SEPTUAGINT AND THE PATRIARCHAL TEXT NEW TESTAMENT ALSO KNOWN AS THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES With extensive introductory and supplemental material The EOB New Testament is presented in memory of Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos (†2007) Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople And in honor of His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah Primate of the Orthodox Church in America ABBREVIATIONS AND CODES Indicates words added for clarity and accuracy but which may not [ ] be in the Greek text. For public reading, these words can be included or skipped Indicates words added for theological clarity and accuracy. For { } public reading, these words should be skipped Indicates words that may have been added in the Byzantine textual tradition for the purpose of clarification, harmonization or liturgical < > use and which are present in the PT, but which may not have been part of the original manuscripts ANF/PNF Ante-Nicene Fathers / Post-Nicene Fathers BAC Being as Communion, John Zizioulas CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church Modern “eclectic” texts or reconstructed "critical texts" (United CT Bible Societies Text (UBS) or the Nestle-Aland Text (NA)) CTC Called to Communion, Joseph Ratzinger EBC Eucharist, Bishop, Church, John Zizioulas EOB Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible HBB His Broken Body, Laurent Cleenewerck HE Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius) (Paul Maier’s edition) KJV King James Version (sometimes called Authorized Version) Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint LXX which is the basis for the main English text of the EOB/OT TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY SECTION ABBREVIATIONS AND CODES ..............................................................................
    [Show full text]