The two Kinds of Laughter... ( St. John Maximovitch )

There are two kinds of laughter, light and dark. They can be easily distinguished from one another by the laughing person's eyes and smile. You can also distinguish the two within yourself by what kind of spirit accompanies the laughter. In the absence of a light joy, a subtle feeling of light-heartedness, the laughter is not light. If what you feel within your breast is coarse and dry, and you are wearing a crooked smile, then the laughter is filthy. [That type of laugh] always follows some type of joke, something that mocks the harmony of the world. Distorting harmony in the world also distorts one's soul, and that is reflected in one's twisted facial expression. 

"A serene smile," is the mirror of discovered harmony. The saints smile without laughing. Laughter, as the fullness of clean joy, is the condition of the age to come. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Ascetic experience in one's enlightening and transfiguration even recommends smiling without showing one's teeth (better to have a little less joy than to have even a fleeting moment of impurity therein!)

"Joking laughter" - the laughter heard in films, theaters, at parties and soirees, casually ridiculing one's neighbor, laughing at weaknesses and human dignity for the sake of amusement and to forget sorrow, pointless laughter, and vain ridicule of others - all these are a spiritual disease. More precisely, they can be characterized as symptoms of spiritual disease.

In the world of the spirits are unclean spirits, spirits seen in the faces of those roaring with laughter… Angelic joy puts a smile on the face.

Healthy laughter can quietly dissipate the gathering clouds of evil argumentativeness, enmity, and even murder... Good laughter restores friendships and the family hearth.

Caustic, sarcastic laughter is not of God. A sarcastic smile, biting sarcasm, is a mockery of the Gospel salt of wisdom. It is mockery contained in a twisted smile.

Words of sharp witticism always cut open the soul. Sharpness is sharpness whether the knife is held by a surgeon or by a brigand; yet it can be used to diametrically opposite effect. Incision can allow in the Heavenly Light and the warmth of the Spirit, can be employed in order to excise rotting tissue and to ablate necrosis. Yet there is a sharpness that is not beneficial, one that cuts, carelessly cuts up the soul, and often kills.

Only the saints are incisive, and only the holy is incisive. Unclean spirits are a mockery of incisiveness, and many people in the world hone their ability to speak their minds with such wittiness, such [mock] incisiveness.

The boundary between clean and unclean laughter is "Homeric laughter," cackling, roaring laughter... This is the kind of laughter encountered at opulent banquets.

Who is vigilant, remaining pious in cognizance of the Mystery of his life, will be vigilant with respect to his entire life, including his laughter. Before God, he will even watch how he smiles. For him, and with the help of his invisible protectors, everything will be clean and bright.

Just like children, the saints illumined the world both with their weeping and with their smiles. Only children and those who have true love for Christ possess that purity of life that can be seen with human eyes - seen even in their facial expression.

For children as yet untainted by the spirit of corruption, everything is direct and pure. For them, death has not yet revealed itself to mock their mortality. They still possess the spring of life both as a beginning and a memory of Heaven. Thus, their vision and laughter is clean and pure, they speak without dissembling, they find it easy to weep, and to forget that they had been weeping...

"Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven…" The reason is clear.

The greatest praise for a person is "He has the laughter of a child"… incorrupt laughter, approaching Heavenly harmony.

I am a great sinner, but the Lord is merciful ( Saint Silouan the Athonite )

Understand two thoughts, and fear them. 

One says,  

"You are a saint," the other, 

"You won't be saved." 

Both of these thoughts are from the enemy, and there is no truth in them. 

But think this way: 

I am a great sinner, but the Lord is merciful. He loves people very much, and He will forgive my sins. 

Saint Silouan the Athonite

How can one laugh at a clergyman? ( St. Anatoly of Optina )

How can one laugh at a clergyman? 

So what if he serves poorly? 

He still has grace. He is ordained. 

One must not, must not, laugh!

St. Anatoly of Optina

The boy stopped short: "In my heart you will find Christ"

A young boy was rushed to a hospital emergency room. After urgent examinations, the doctor said: "I will open your heart ..."



The boy stopped short: "In my heart you will find Christ"

The surgeon looked at him strangely, and as he did not believe, he nodded his head and said:
"I will open your heart to see the damages caused by your illness ..."

"Yes, but when you open my heart, you will find Christ."

The doctor took a curious look at his parents sitting quietly beside him and continued, "When I see the damage, I will close your heart and chest and decide what to do."

"Yes, but you will find Christ in my heart. The Bible says that Christ dwells there. All the hymns of the church say that Christ dwells there, in our heart. You will find him in my heart. "

The cardiac surgeon said: "I'll tell you exactly what I'll find in your heart. I will find a damaged heart muscle, a decreased blood flow and weakened blood vessels. And then I can, once I know, do you good. "

"And you will also find Christ, who is there ..."

The doctor came out of the exam room annoyed by the child.

As he had predicted, he underwent surgery ... The injuries were significant, as he had predicted, according to the image of the exam. He couldn't do anything ...

When the surgery was over, he sat down at his desk to write down notes on the operation: a broken aorta, a damaged pulmonary vein, extensive muscle degeneration. No hope of a transplant. No hope of healing. Treatment: painkillers and complete rest. Prediction (paused): death will come in time ...

He left the computer and got up ... Addressing the little Christ: "Why, " he exclaimed "why did you do this? You sent him here. You sent him with this evil. He is sentenced to die of this evil. Why; Why;"

Then in the depths of it, he heard a voice answering: "This child is not destined to live in your flock long term. This child belongs to My flock and so it will be forever. Here, in My flock, there is no pain. He will be comforted as much as you can imagine. Someday, his parents will meet him here and get to know the peace. My flock will continue to grow. "

Tears were running in the eyes of the cardiac surgeon. But his sentiments against God, full of selfishness, responded within him: "You have created this creature, You have made this heart. He is doomed to die within a few months ... why? "

The voice inside replied: "The child has to go back to my flock because he has done his job. I did not bring My child to earth to lose him, but to find another lost sheep. "

The doctor understood that this child did not come here by accident ... he came for him ... He had received a Christian education ... Memories danced in his mind. Because of his many professional accomplishments, his soul had become his last care.

He went into the child's ward, sat on his bed, facing his parents.

The boy woke up and yelled, "Did you open my heart?"

"Yes!" The doctor replied excitedly.

"And what did you find?" The young man asked.

"I found Christ," the surgeon replied, crying like the little child he was, fifty years ago ...

The child and the doctor became best friends ..

http://apantaortodoxias.blogspot.com

The Proper Understanding and Use of Antidoron

Traditional View and Practice According to Akrivia (Strictness)

 
Please help me to understand the significance of antidoron. How should one receive it and handle it? 

If one takes it home during the week for daily "communion" is this wrong? 

Is there a proper way of doing it—before a prayer, before a meal, etc.? 

When can you or should you take prosphora to Church? 

Should you also take wine and oil? 

Do you bring the names of people to be commemorated with these gifts? (G.M., IL)

This is a subject of great importance which we have several times addressed in the pages of Orthodox Tradition. When we do not commune at Liturgy, we receive antidoron (an-dee-tho-ron, with a hard "d" and a soft "d," as in "the") at the end of Liturgy (that is, blessed bread which substitutes for the Gifts; thus, antidoron, "instead of the Gifts"). Those who commune during the Liturgy receive antidoron or antidoron and wine immediately after communing and should not take it again at the end of Liturgy. 

Since it is blessed, the antidoron should be carefully handled and no particles of it should be allowed to fall on the ground. This means that children must be carefully watched while consuming antidoron and taught to treat it with pious reverence.

 It should be received from the Priest at the end of Liturgy and immediately consumed. Since antidoron is given in place of the Gifts, it is also received on an empty stomach, for which reason Orthodox Christians do not eat or drink anything from the midnight before the Divine Liturgy, whether communing or not. 

Antidoron may also be taken home for use during the week. It is a pious custom for Orthodox Christians to begin the day, after their morning prayers and before eating, by consuming a particle of antidoron and drinking agiasmos, or blessed water. 

Prosforo(n), the word for the bread which we offer at the Divine Liturgy, comes from the Greek word for an offering, prosfora. It is customarily baked in the home with prayers and taken to Church, where it is offered for the Divine Liturgy. (Incidentally, women, out of piety, should not prepare prosforon during their monthly periods.) One may also give oil and wine along with prosforon—other "offerings"—so as to provide for the oil lamps and the remaining element of the Eucharist, though this is not mandatory. This can be done for any Liturgy. It is also customary to offer the names of Orthodox Christian family members, of friends, and of relatives with the prosforon, so that the Priest may commemorate them at the Service of Preparation (Proskomide).


Most Orthodox Christians are aware that one should keep a strict and complete fast from midnight before receiving the Holy Mysteries, but one should also receive holy water and the antidoron (the blessed bread given out at the end of the Liturgy) fasting. If, as many do, you keep a supply at home, use a little each day to break your fast, when you have said your morning prayers and before eating anything else. If you are attending the Divine Liturgy, then keep a fast until the service is over (as in any case one should) and you receive your antidoron from the priest. If for some reason, you have eaten when you attend the Liturgy, then take the antidoron home as a blessing and consume it on another day, thus showing reverence for the things of God and the blessing which this bread has received.


It is a pious custom to keep some holy bread and holy water in one's icon corner—to consume, breaking the night's fast, with one's morning prayers. 

“O Lord my God, may Thy holy gift and Thy Holy Water be unto forgiveness of my sins, unto enlightenment of my mind, unto strengthening of my spiritual and bodily powers, unto health of my soul and body, unto vanquishing of my passions and weaknesses, by Thy boundless merciful kindness, through the prayers of Thy Most-pure Mother and all Thy Saints. Amen.” 

Taken from the Parish Newsletter of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist (May 2011).

Ημέρα Μνήμης της Γενοκτονίας των Ελλήνων (14 Σεπτεμβρίου) - Greek Genocide Remembrance Day (September 14)

Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων 1914-1923

Η Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων αναφέρεται στη συστηματική εξόντωση των Ελλήνων της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας πριν, κατά τη διάρκεια και μετά τον Α 'Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο (1914-1923). Διεξήχθη από δύο διαδοχικές κυβερνήσεις της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας - δηλαδή από το Κομιτάτο Ένωσις και Πρόοδος
(ΚΕΠ) και το Τουρκικό Εθνικιστικό Κίνημα του Μουσταφά Κεμάλ Ατατούρκ. Περιλάμβανε σφαγές, εξαναγκαστικές εκτοπίσεις και πορείες θανάτου, απελάσεις, μποϊκοτάζ, βιασμό, αναγκαστικός εξισλαμισμός, στρατολόγηση σε τάγματα εργασίας, αυθαίρετες εκτελέσεις και καταστροφή πολιτιστικών, ιστορικών και θρησκευτικών μνημείων. Σύμφωνα με διάφορες πηγές, περίπου 1 εκατομμύριο Έλληνες της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας έχασαν τη ζωή τους κατά τη διάρκεια αυτής της περιόδου.

Η πρώτη φάση της Γενοκτονίας των Ελλήνων ξεκίνησε το 1914 στην Ανατολική Θράκη, όπου ολόκληρες ελληνικές κοινότητες εκδιώχθηκαν βίαια και απελάθηκαν στο εσωτερικό της Μικράς Ασίας. Άλλα μέτρα που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την καταδίωξη των Ελλήνων σε αυτή την περιοχή ήταν το μποϊκοτάζ των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων, δολοφονίες, βαρειά φορολογία, κατάσχεση περιουσίας και η πρόληψη από την εργασία στα κτήματα τους. Την άνοιξη και το καλοκαίρι του 1914 πραγματοποιήθηκε η εθνοκάθαρση των Ελλήνων της δυτικής ακτής της Μικράς Ασίας. Αυτές οι επιχειρήσεις, περιλαμβανομένων εκείνων της Ανατολικής Θράκης, σχεδιάστηκαν και εκτελέστηκαν από την ΚΕΠ χρησιμοποιώντας τακτικές και άτακτες δυνάμεις, συμπεριλαμβανομένων μελών της παραστρατιωτικής μονάδας της ΚΕΠ, της λεγόμενης Ειδικής Οργάνωσης (δηλαδή η Teşkilât-i Mahsusa).

Με την έναρξη του Μεγάλου Πολέμου, ο Ελληνικός αρσενικός πληθυσμός μεταξύ 21-45 ετών στρατολογήθηκε βίαια σε τάγματα εργασίας (τα Amele Taburlari). Οι περισσότεροι από αυτούς έχασαν τηζωή τους κάτω από άθλιες συνθήκες εφόσον αναγκάζονται να εργάζονται όλο το εικοσιτετράωρο με λίγη τροφή ή νερό. Το 1915, με τη συμβουλή του γερμανικού στρατιωτικού προσωπικού, το ΚΕΠ απέλασε τις
ελληνικές κοινότητες από τα Δαρδανέλλια και την Καλλίπολη με το πρόσχημα της στρατιωτικής
αναγκαιότητας. Αυτοί οι Έλληνες δεν είχαν το δικαίωμα να πάρουν τίποτα μαζί τους. Τα εμπορεύματα στα καταστήματά τους πωλήθηκαν αργότερα από τις οθωμανικές αρχές. Απελάθηκαν στο εσωτερικό της χώρας και σε μουσουλμανικά χωριά όπου αναγκάστηκαν να επιλέξουν μεταξύ του Ισλάμ ή του θανάτου.

 Στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις, πριν από τις απελάσεις, οθωμανικοί χωροφύλακες (αστυνομία) και οι τσέτες (ένοπλοι συμμορίτες) κατέλαβαν χρήματα και τιμαλφή από τις κοινότητες, διαπράττουν σφαγές και καίνε εκκλησίες και σχολεία. Τον Δεκέμβριο του 1916 αρχίζει η δίωξη των Ελλήνων στην περιοχή του Πόντου.
Μέχρι το 1917, πηγές αναφέρουν ότι πάνω από 700.000 Έλληνες είχαν πέσει θύμα ενός προκατειλημμένου και καλά ενορχηστρωμένου σχεδίου αφανισμού.

Σύμφωνα με στοιχεία που συνέταξε το Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο, μέχρι το 1918, 774.235 Έλληνες είχαν  απελαθεί από τα σπίτια τους, πολλοί από αυτούς στο εσωτερικό της Τουρκίας και χάθηκαν τα ίχνη τους.

Μετά την ήττα της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας στο Α' Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο, εξέχοντες ηγέτες της ΚΕΠ έλαβαν θανατικές ποινές σε οθωμανικό στρατοδικείο για το ρόλο τους στη διοργάνωση της σφαγής των Ελλήνων κατά τη διάρκεια του πολέμου. Αλλά, ο μεταπολεμικός σχηματισμός του Τουρκικού Εθνικιστικού Κινήματος υπό την ηγεσία του Μουσταφά Κεμάλ Ατατούρκ διέκοψε τη διαδικασία για να φέρει τους δράστες στη δικαιοσύνη. Οι εθνικιστές Κεμαλιστές συνέχισαν την πολιτική της ΚΕΠ να διώκουν τους
Έλληνες και κατέληξαν στην καταστροφή της κοσμοπολίτικης πόλης της Σμύρνης (σήμερα Ιζμίρ) και στην απέλαση όλων των Ελλήνων που απομένουν στην Τουρκία. Οι αρχές απαγορεύουν την έξοδο από την Τουρκία στον υγιής Ελληνικό αρσενικό πληθυσμό και, αντίθετα, στάλθηκαν στο εσωτερικό όπου οι περισσότεροι έχασαν τη ζωή τους σε στρατόπεδα εργατικής δουλείας ή σφαγιάστηκαν.
Μέχρι το 1923, διάφορες πηγές αναφέρουν ότι περίπου 1 εκατομμύριο Έλληνες έχασαν τη ζωή τους στη γενοκτονία.




The Greek Genocide of 1914-1923

The Greek Genocide (or Ottoman Greek Genocide) refers to the systematic extermination of the native Greek subjects of the Ottoman Empire before, during and after World War I (1914-1923). It was instigated by two successive governments of the Ottoman Empire; i.e. the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)
party, and the Turkish Nationalist Movement of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It included massacres, forced deportations and death marches, summary expulsions, boycotts, rape, forced conversion to Islam, conscription into labor battalions, arbitrary executions, and destruction of Christian Orthodox cultural, historical and religious monuments. 

According to various sources, approximately 1 million Ottoman Greeks perished during this period.
The first phase of the Greek Genocide commenced in 1914 in Eastern Thrace where entire Greek
communities were forcibly and often violently expelled or deported to the interior of Asia Minor. Other measures used to persecute Greeks in this region were the boycotting of Greek businesses, killings, heavy taxation, seizure of property and prevention from working on their lands. In the Spring and Summer 1914, the ethnic cleansing of Greeks along the western shoreline of Asia Minor was carried out. These operations, including those in Eastern Thrace, were planned and executed by the CUP using regular and irregular
forces including members of the CUP's paramilitary unit, the Special Organization (Teşkilat-i Mahsusa).

With the outbreak of the Great War, all Ottoman Greek males aged between 21-45 were forcibly
conscripted into labor battalions (Amele Taburlari). Most of them perished under appalling conditions being forced to work around the clock with little food or water. In 1915, under the advice of German military personnel, the CUP deported Greek communities from the Dardanelles and Gallipolli regions under the pretext of military necessity. These Greeks were not permitted to take anything with them. Goods in their shops were later sold by Ottoman authorities. They were deported to the interior and to Muslim villages
where they were forced to choose between Islam or death. In most cases, before deportations took place Ottoman gendarmes (police) and chetes (armed irregulars) seized money and valuables from communities, committed massacres and burnt churches and schools. In December 1916, the persecution of Greeks in the Pontus region commences. By 1917, it was reported that over 700,000 Greeks had fallen victim to a
preconceived and well orchestrated plan of annihilation.
According to figures compiled by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, by 1918, 774,235 Greeks had been
deported from their homes, many of them to the interior of Turkey, never to be seen again. Following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in WW1, prominent leaders of the CUP were given death sentences in Ottoman Courts-Martial for their role in organizing the massacre of Greeks during the war. But the post-war formation of the Turkish Nationalist movement under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk interrupted
proceedings to bring the perpetrators to justice. The Kemalist Nationalists continued the CUP policy of persecuting Greeks which culminated in the burning of the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna (today Izmir) to the ground and the expulsion of all remaining Greeks from Turkey. All able-bodied Greek males were refused exit from Turkey and instead were sent to the interior where most perished in slave labor camps or were massacred.

By 1923, various sources state that around 1 million Greeks perished in the genocide.

Bill V. Thomopoulos

Vancouver, BC, Canada

bthomopoulos@gmail.com

The Holy Theotokos – Image of an Ideal Woman

One of the most terrible manifestations of our times is the complete distortion of the image of an ideal woman. The ideal image depicted for us by the mass media shows a sort of attractive witch, unashamedly half-naked, with loose and disheveled hair, impudent glance, business-like, energetic, fearless, unfettered by moral laws or conscience. In consequence, unfortunate young girls and women – mothers, wives, daughters, – striving to imitate this devilish image, corrupt their souls, ruin their families, hopelessly destroy their own and others’ lives.

Yet at the same time we – Orthodox Christians – always have before our eyes the image of the One Who was more beautiful and wondrous than all the people on earth and even all the celestial denizens, the cherubim and the seraphim, the One Whom the Pre-eternal Council chose to become the Mother of God. As St. Dimitry of Rostov says: “After Adam’s transgression the Word of God did not forthwith come down to earth to be incarnated and save fallen mankind,” because “there was not yet a single maiden on earth who was pure not only in body, but also in spirit.” Thus the Theotokos’s major characteristic is Her virginal purity.

Another characteristic of this greatest Handmaiden of God is Her humility. Of all the personages in the Gospel, there is no one about whom we know so little as the Holy Virgin; Her entire life is shrouded in mystery, and yet She was undoubtedly the spiritual center of the first Christian Church after Her Divine Son’s Ascension; however, under the cover of modesty, She preferred to remain in the shadows.

The third characteristic of the Holy Virgin, according to St. Dimitry of Rostov, was Her all-encompassing and boundless love for God, which is mentioned in the following spiritual song: “O Mother-Virgin, miracle of chastity! Thou art daughter of the heavenly Father, the bride of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of Christ – the Son of God.”

There was not a single one among the Holy Fathers who did not laud the Theotokos! Foretold and presaged by the Old Testament prophets, She is glorified by all the ancient and contemporary Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church.
As St. Gregory of Neocaesaria says, what amazes us in the Holy Virgin is not only Her chaste and pure physical beauty, but above all the beauty of Her soul. She was holy both in body and soul. Her garments were modest, Her gait was dignified, Her speech was brief, pouring out of a humble heart; all Her thoughts and all Her desires were turned only towards God.




The Church historian Nikiforos Kallistos adds: in conversing with others She retained Her modesty, did not laugh immoderately, did not express indignation, did not argue, never thought of Herself, and was characterized by total humbleness.
More than anything else in the world She loved Her Son, loved Him so much that She was ready to die with Him, yet with what courage and firmness She accompanied Him when He went on His path of suffering, was present at Golgotha when He was being crucified, stood at His Cross and attended His burial. “She wears the crown of martyrs, – says Leo the Philosopher, – because as She stood at the Cross, with Her soul pierced by the greatest anguish, She suffered more than all the martyrs.”




She loved and respected Her family members, but also loved and welcomed all strangers. St. Ambrose of Milan says: “She never offended anyone, never denigrated anyone, even the poorest person. Her modest belongings, consisting of two robes, She gave away before Her death to the two widows who served Her.”

Each person’s death sums up his life and brings recompense from the Lord – either reward or punishment. The most-glorious Dormition of the Mother of God revealed Her in all Her majesty and glory. Three days before Her death the Archangel Gabriel appeared before Her, announced Her repose and gave Her a shining branch from paradise – symbol of victory over death and corruption. On the third day after Her Dormition, the Mother of God appeared to the apostles in indescribable glory, surrounded by a multitude of angels, and said: “Rejoice, I am with you forever.” The apostles, filled with joy, instead of saying their usual “O Lord Jesus Christ, help us!”, exclaimed: “O Holy Mother of God, help us!”

And thus all Christians pray to the Holy Mother of God to help them. Help us then, O Most Holy Theotokos, grant our children the enlightenment to see in Thee the purest and most beautiful example of behavior, save and protect them from the vices and temptations of these evil times!



Reprinted from “Orthodox Russia,” No. 16, 2003..

Holy Relics ( St. Justin Popovich )

The Place of Holy Relics in the Orthodox Church

Without doubt, matter is represented in the human body in a manner which is most puzzling, most mysterious, and most complex. The brain: What wondrous mysteries pass between its physical and spiritual parts! How vast is the experience of the human race. In no manner can one ever fully comprehend or grasp these mysteries. Indeed, little of this is accessible to the human senses or intellectual investigation. So it is also with the heart of man, formed as it is entirely and solely from cosmic mysteries. So formed, too, are every cell, every molecule, every atom. Everyone and all are set on their mystical path toward God, toward the God-Man. Inasmuch as it was created by God, the Logos, matter possesses this same theocentricity. Moreover, by His advent into our earthly world, by His all-embracing condescension as God and Man for the redemption of the world, the Lord Christ clearly demonstrated that not only the soul, but matter also was created by God and for God, and that He is God and Man; and for it, matter, He is all and everything in the same manner as for the soul. Being created by God, the Logos, matter is, in its innermost core, God-longing and Christ-longing.


The most obvious proof of this is the fact that God the Word has become Incarnate, has become man (St. John 1:14). By His Incarnation, matter has been magnified with Divine glory and has entered into the grace- and virtue-bestowing, ascetic aim of deification, or union with Christ. God has become flesh, has become human, so that the entire man, the entire body, might be filled with God and with His miracle-working forces and powers. In the God-Man, the Lord Christ, and His Body, all matter has been set on a path toward Christ —the path of deification, transfiguration, sanctification, resurrection, and ascent to an eternal glory surpassing that of the Cherubim. And all of this takes place and will continue to take place through the Divine and human Body of the Church, which is truly the God-Man Christ in the total fullness of His Divine and Human Person, the fullness "that fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). Through its Divine and human existence in the Church, the human body, as matter, as substance, is sanctified by the Holy Spirit and in this way participates in the life of the Trinity. Matter thus attains its transcendent, divine meaning and goal, its eternal blessedness and its immortal joy in the God-Man.


The holiness of the Saints—both the holiness of their souls and of their bodies—derives from their zealous grace- and virtue-bestowing lives in the Body of the Church of Christ, of the God-Man. In this sense, holiness completely envelopes the human person—the entire soul and body and all that enters into the mystical composition of the human body. The holiness of the Saints does not hold forth only in their souls, but it necessarily extends to their bodies; so it is that both the body and the soul of a saint are sanctified. Thus we, in piously venerating the Saints, also venerate the entire person, in this manner not separating the holy soul from the holy body. Our pious veneration of the Saints' relics is a natural part of our pious respect for and prayerful entreaty to the Saints. All of this constitutes one indivisible ascetic act, just as the soul and body constitute the single, indivisible person of the Saint. Clearly, during his life on the earth, the Saint, by a continuous and singular grace- and virtue-bestowing synergy of soul and body, attains to the sanctification of his person, filling both the soul and body with the grace of the Holy Spirit and so transforming them into vessels of the holy mysteries and holy virtues. It is completely natural, again, to show pious reverence both to the former and to the latter, both to soul and body, both of them holy vessels of God's grace. When the charismatic power of Christ issues forth, it makes Grace-filled all the constituent parts of the human person and the person in his entirety. By unceasing enactment of the ascetic efforts set forth in the Gospels, Saints gradually fill themselves with the Holy Spirit, so that their sacred bodies, according to the word of the holy Apostle, become temples of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19; 3:17), Christ dwelling by faith in their hearts (Ephesians 3:17) and by fruitful love also fulfilling the commandments of God the Father. Establishing themselves in the Holy Spirit through grace-bestowing ascetic labors, the Saints participate in the life of the Trinity, becoming sons of the Holy Trinity, temples of the Living God (II Corinthians 6:16); their whole lives thus flow from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. By piously venerating the holy relics of the Saints, the Church reveres them as temples of the Holy Spirit, temples of the Living God, in which God dwells by Grace even after the earthly death of the Saints. And by His most wise and good Will, God creates miracles in and through these relics. Moreover, the miracles which derive from the holy relics witness also to the fact that their pious veneration by the people is pleasing to God.


The pious veneration of holy relics, based on their miraculous nature, originated from Divine Revelation. Even in the Old Testament God deigned to celebrate with miracles the holy relics of certain of those who were well-pleasing to Him. Thus, by the touch of the holy relics of the Prophet Elisea, a dead man was resurrected. The tomb and bones of this Prophet, who had prophesied to Jeroboam the destruction of idolatrous altars, were greatly revered in Judea. The Patriarch Joseph also left a testament to the sons of Israel to preserve his bones in Egypt and, during their exodus, to carry them to the promised land (Genesis 50:25).


The New Testament raised the human body to the sublime and divine heights, endowing it with a glory which the Cherubim and Seraphim do not possess. The Good News of the New Testament concerning the body—the significance and goal of the human body—is that, together with the soul, it achieves and inherits immortal life in Divine eternity. The Lord Christ has come to deify, to make Christ-like, the entire man, that is, the soul and body, and this by the resurrection, insuring thereby victory over death and eternal life. No one ever elevated the human body as did the Lord Christ by His bodily resurrection, the ascension of His body into heaven, and its eternal session at the right hand of God the Father. In this way, the Resurrected Christ extended the promise of resurrection to the nature of the human body—"having made for all flesh a path to eternal life." Thus man now knows that the body is created for eternity through union with the God-Man and that his divine work on earth is to struggle, with the soul, for eternal life; to struggle, with all those means that convey grace and virtue, to make himself grace-filled, fulfilled by Divine grace, and created anew as the temple of the Holy Spirit, the temple of the Living God.


Bearing in mind that this New Testamental notion of the human body has been achieved and realized in the persons of the Saints, Christians show a pious veneration for the bodies of the Saints, towards holy relics, the temples of the Holy Spirit, Who by God's grace abides within them. But Holy Revelation indicates that by God's immeasurable love for man, the Holy Spirit abides through His grace not only in the bodies of the Saints, but also in their clothing. So it is that the handkerchiefs of the holy apostle Paul healed the ill and expelled unclean spirits (Acts 19:12). With his mantle the Prophet Elias struck the water, separating the waters of the Jordan, and along the dry bed of the river crossed the Jordan with his disciple Elisea (IV Kings 2:8). The prophet Elisea did the very same thing, himself, with the same mantle, after the taking-up of Elias into heaven (IV Kings 2:14). All this has its verification and source in the Divine power that rested in the garments of the Savior, which encompassed His most pure and Divine body. Moreover, by His inexpressible love for man, the Divine Lord allows the servants of His Divinity to work miracles not only through their bodies and clothing, but even with the shadow of their bodies, which is evident in an occurrence with the holy apostle Peter: his shadow healed an ill man and expelled unclean spirits (Acts 5:15-16).


The eternal good news of Holy Revelation about sacred relics and their pious veneration is proved, and is continually being proved, by Holy Tradition from Apostolic times to the present day. Innumerable are the sacred relics of the holy Chosen Ones of God throughout the Orthodox world. Their miracles are innumerable. The pious veneration of these relics by Orthodox Christians is everywhere to be found. And without doubt this is because the holy relics, through their miracles, incite the Orthodox toward their pious veneration. From the very beginning, in Apostolic times, Christians piously preserved the honored relics of the Holy Forerunner and the holy Apostles, so that these could be preserved even for us. As well, during the times of persecution the sacred remains of the bodies of the holy Martyrs were taken away by Christians and hidden in their homes. From that time until now, the sacred relics of the holy Chosen Ones of God have, by their miracles, poured forth the immortal joy of our faith into the hearts of Orthodox Christians. The proofs concerning this are countless. We shall cite only several.


The way that the holy relics of the Saints were translated and greeted is in a touching manner described by St. Chrysostomos in a eulogy on St. Ignatios: "You, inhabitants of Antioch, have sent forth a bishop and received a martyr; you sent him forth with prayers, and received him back with crowns; and not only you, but all the cities which lay between. For how do you think that they behaved when they saw his remains being brought back? What pleasure was produced! How they rejoiced! With what laudations on all sides did they beset the crowned one! For as with a noble athlete, who has wrestled down all his antagonists, and who comes forth with radiant glory from the arena, the spectators receive him, and do not suffer him to tread the earth, bringing him home on their shoulders and according him countless praises. So also every city in turn received this Saint from Rome, and bearing him upon their shoulders as far as this city, escorted the crowned one with praises, hymning the champion.... At this time the holy Martyr bestows grace to the very same cities, establishing them in piety, and from that time to this day he enriches this city."


Speaking of the miraculous power of holy relics, Saint Ephraim the Syrian relates the following concerning the holy Martyrs: "Even after death they act as if alive, healing the sick, expelling demons, and by the power of the Lord rejecting every evil influence of the demons. This is because the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit is always present in the holy relics."


During the finding of the relics of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, St. Ambrose, in speaking to his listeners, relates this with pious enthusiasm: "You know—indeed, you have yourselves seen—that many are cleansed from evil spirits, that very many also, having touched with their hands the robe of the Saints, are freed from those ailments which oppressed them. You see that the miracles of old times are renewed, when through the coming of the Lord Jesus grace was more abundantly shed forth upon the earth, and that many bodies are healed as it were by the shadow of the holy bodies. How many napkins are passed about! How many garments, laid upon the holy relics and endowed with the power of healing, are claimed! All are glad to touch even the outside thread, and whosoever touches it will be made whole."


Speaking of the miracles produced by holy relics, the blessed Augustine says: "To what do these miracles witness, but to this faith which preaches Christ risen in the flesh and ascended with the same flesh into heaven? For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, were witnesses of this faith.... For this faith they gave their lives, and can now ask these benefits from the Lord in whose name they were slain. For this faith their extraordinary constancy was exercised, so that in these miracles great power was manifested as the result. For if the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life had not taken place in Christ, and were not to be accomplished in His people, as predicted by Christ..., why do the martyrs who were slain for this faith which proclaims the resurrection possess such power? ...These miracles attest this faith which preaches the resurrection of the flesh unto eternal life."


Saint Damascene, summarizing the life-giving teaching of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition concerning the pious veneration of holy relics, preaches in a Cherubic manner from the altar of his God-bearing and Christ-like soul: "The Saints have become according to grace that which the Lord Christ is according to nature. That is, they have become gods according to grace: pure and living habitations of God. For God says: 'I will dwell in them, walk in them, and I will be their God' (II Corinthians 6:16; Leviticus 16:12). The Holy Scriptures likewise say: 'the souls of the righteous are in God's hand, and death cannot lay hold of them' (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1). For death is rather the sleep of Saints than their death. Further: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints' (Psalm 119:6). What, then, is more precious than to be in the hand of God? For God is life and light, and those who are in God's hand are in life and light. Further, that God dwells even in their bodies in a spiritual manner the all-divine Apostle attests: 'Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?' (I Corinthians 3:16). And, 'the Lord is Spirit' (II Corinthians 3:17). Thus, the evangelical truth: 'If anyone destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy—for the temple of God is holy, and ye are that temple' (I Corinthians 3:17). Surely, then, we must ascribe honor to the living temples of God, the living dwelling-places of God. These, while they lived, stood with boldness before God. The Lord Christ granted us the relics of the Saints to be fountains of salvation unto us, pouring forth manifold blessings and abounding in sweetly fragrant oil. Let no one disbelieve this! For if water burst in the desert from the steep and solid rock according to God's will (Exodus 17:6), and from the jawbone of an ass to quench Samson's thirst (Judges 15:14-19), is it then unbelievable that fragrant oil should spring forth from relics of the holy Martyrs? By no means, at least to those who know the omnipotence of God and the honor which He accords to His Saints. According to the Old Testament law, everyone who touched a dead body was considered impure (Numbers 19:11). However, the Saints are not dead. For from the time when He Who is Himself Life and the Author of life was counted among the dead, we do not call those dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and with faith in Him. For how could a dead body work miracles? And how, through the holy relics, are demons driven off, diseases dispelled, the sick made well, the blind restored to sight, lepers cleansed, temptations and tribulations overcome; and how does every good gift come down from the Father of lights (St. James 1:17) to those who pray with sure faith?"


The universal faith of the Church concerning the pious veneration of holy relics was confirmed by the God-bearing Fathers of the Seventh Œcumenical Synod in its decrees: "Our Lord Jesus Christ granted to us the relics of Saints as a salvation-bearing source which pours forth varied benefits on the infirm. Consequently, those who presume to abandon the relics of the Martyrs: if they be hierarchs, let them be deposed; if however monastics or laymen, let them merely be excommunicated."


....That a pious veneration of the holy relics is a constituent part of the salvation rendered by the God-Man is also evidenced by the following facts: from the depths of sacred antiquity, churches were built on the graves and relics of Saints, and the holy Liturgy is performed only on antimensia, in which are placed parts of the holy relics. Moreover, the divine service books, especially the Menaion, are replete with prayers and hymns which refer to the pious veneration of holy relics....


All in all, the mystery of holy relics is at the heart of the universal mystery of the New Testament: the incarnation of God. The full mystery of the human body is explained by the incarnation, the embodiment of God in the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, then, the Gospel message concerning the body: "The body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body" (I Corinthians 6:13). And through a human body also the entire creation, all of matter, received its divine significance, the universal meaning of the God-Man. By man, who is sanctified in the Church by the holy mysteries and the holy virtues, the creation and even matter are sanctified, united to Christ. There accrues to this also a joy—the myrrh-streaming property of many relics. This wonder of myrrh has been given to the holy relics in order to indicate that Christians are truly "a sweet-savour of Christ unto God" (II Corinthians 2:15), sweet-smelling to God and to heaven. The truth of the Gospel is that the sin of man is a foul odor before God and every sin pleases the devil. Through the holy mysteries and holy virtues, Christians become "a sweet-savour of Christ unto God." For this reason, then, the holy relics of the Saints pour forth myrrh.

From Orthodox Tradition, Vol. VII, No. 1, p. 9. Translated from the Serbian by the Reverend Gregory Telepneff.