The Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple is believed to be not among the most ancient festivals of the Church. However, indications that the Feast was observed in the first centuries of Christianity are found in the traditions of Palestinian Christians, which say that the holy Empress Helen built a church in honour of the entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in the fourth century, also mentions this Feast, along with Saints Jerome and Epiphanius. Saint Andrew of Crete had known about it and his hymns are found throughout the Service books for this Feast. Saint Germanos I, Patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730, wrote two homilies for the Feast. Saint Tarasios, the Patriarch, introduced it at Constantinople a century later as an official Feast, though it had already been celebrated. Saint George of Nicomedia wrote three sermons on the subject which address every detail of the Feast, including a beautiful homily which addresses rhetorically the temple itself.
1. Every divine festival, whenever it is celebrated, spiritually fills those who are present from a treasury and divinely flowing spring. But even more and beyond other feasts does this recently hymned festival, brilliantly celebrated, attract the soul with holy joy and gives more joy in proportion to the preeminence of the excellent child of God. For the annual observation of this feast is coming, in which one must be pure to participate.
And let us be anointed with the perfume of her roses, as Solomon says in the beautiful verse of his Song: "Who is that who comes up from the wilderness, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchants?" (Song of Songs 3.6) - "Come hither from Lebanon, my bride; come hither from Lebanon" (Song of Songs 4.8).
So let us eagerly approach together this mutually beneficial, salvific feast of the Mother of God. And bowing before the unapproachable place [the Holy of Holies] let us watch the child going toward the second veil, Mary the all-holy Mother of God who put an end to unfruitful sterility, and exchanged the mere shadow of the letter of the law (cf Hebrews 1O.1) through the grace of her birth-giving.
04.12.2024Read more
Let us speak of the wonderful conception of the Honorable Forerunner - since it could stand as the beginning of the whole narrative - and put in order what we are triumphantly about to mention, insofar it pleases him whom we are praising today to give us the power of speech. But it might be better to begin our talk with events that preceded the conception. In this way we can demonstrate that, even before his conception, it was clear that he would become a great and important person and that he would meet the expectations of people in matters of salvation, since he would not be exempt from the consequences which the fall of the Adam and Eve had for the whole of humankind. As a result of this fall, we had reached the point where we were living on earth in misery and degeneracy, as the general legatees of God’s decision: “You are dust and shall return to dust” (Gen. 3, 19).
This was our natural destination, as the verdict on our disobedience. But this misery of people’s lives wasn’t the only thing. It was followed by apostasy from God. Because we forgot the Lord God, the creator of the universe and often worshiped other people who were as sunk in sin and wretchedness as the rest of us. Or, at other times, we had objects for gods, idols we’d made with our own hands. We then became involved in the passions of dishonor, since we offered the honor and worship which were proper only to God to inanimate idols and to the demons. We had fallen to such unprecedented depths of perversion that the cure would have to be of the same order of power and magnitude.
And the sole cure for this condition was for God the Creator to resemble His creatures. In other words, for God to become a being like us, taking on a human body and a human soul. And so, as a real person, He took on all the capacities of human nature, as it is when it is free from sin. In other words he adopted all the blameless passions. In His person, divine and human nature were perfectly and actually united and through this unification it became possible to save humankind, which was and is held prisoner by the sinful passions. And so the opportunity was given to every person to be reborn in Christ and acquire the eternal bliss which God intended for us from the moment He created us.
06.10.2024Read more
Sermon 38. A Sequel on the Cross and on the Lord’s Resurrection{1}.
1. Yesterday we said that the cross of the Lord has brought salvation to the human race, and it is true; for His suffering is our redemption and His death is our life. He bore all these evils so that we might know every good thing; He wished cruelty to be wreaked upon Himself so that mercy might be ours; He so desired our good that He was severe with Himself. He removed the wounds of the human race by His cross and destroyed them all in His suffering so that nothing more would ever hurt us.
2. Great, therefore, is the sacrament of the cross{2}. And if we understand aright, by this sign the world itself is also saved. For, when sailors cleave the sea, the first thing they do is erect the mast and unfurl the sail, and the waters are broken by the cross of the Lord that has been made; and, safe because of this sign of the Lord, they seek the port of salvation and escape the danger of death. For the sail hanging on the mast is a kind of figure of the sacrament – as if it were Christ lifted up on the cross{3}. Confident in the coming mystery, then, people disregard the stormy winds and fix their minds on voyaging. But the Church is unable to stand without the cross, just as a ship is imperiled without a mast. For at once the devil disturbs the one and winds bring the other into danger. But where the sign of the cross is erected the wickedness of the devil is immediately repelled and the stormy wind is calmed{4}.
27.09.2024Read more
The Lord, Who lives in the heavens, wishing to appear on earth and abide with men, first prepared a dwelling place of His glory: His Most Pure Mother. For it is the custom of kings that in whatsoever city they desire to live, a place of residence be prepared for them beforehand. And as the palaces of earthly kings are constructed by the most skilled craftsmen, of the most costly materials, and on the most elevated sights, which are more beautiful and spacious than all the other dwellings of men, in the same manner the palace of the King of Glory must be erected. In the Old Testament, when God desired to dwell in Jerusalem, Solomon built a temple for Him, employing Hiram, a most wise master, who possessed full knowledge of every art and science, and was skilled in every enterprise. He constructed the temple with materials of great value: with costly stone, with aromatic woods of cedar and cypress brought from Lebanon, with pure gold, and upon a high place: that is, upon Mount Moriah. The temple was of great beauty. On its walls were portrayed the likeness of cherubims, and of various trees and flowers. The temple was so spacious that the whole Israelite people could be accommodated without crowding, and the glory of the Lord would descend in fire and a cloud. Nevertheless, that temple did not suffice to contain within itself the Uncontainable God, for even though Solomon built Him a temple, "The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. 'What house will ye build me', saith the Lord: 'or what is the place of my rest?'"
21.09.2024Read more
Sermon 88. On John the Baptist{1}.
1. Last Sunday, when we were asking pardon for our silence, we said that even if the bishops{2} were silent about the salvation of all, the Gospel teaching would not be silent, and that the divine words would make up for their silence{3}. For the divine Scripture always speaks and cries out, as it is written of John: I am the voice of one crying in the desert (John 1.23). For John did not only cry out at the time when he announced the Lord, the Savior, to the Pharisees and said: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God (Matt. 3.3), but he also cries out today among us, striking the desert places of our sins with the thunder of his voice, and although he has fallen asleep in a martyr’s holy death, still his voice lives. For he also says to us today: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. The divine Scripture, then, always cries out and speaks; hence God also says to Cain: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me (Gen. 4.10). Blood, to be sure, has no voice, but innocent blood that has been spilled is said to cry out not by words but by its very existence{4} and to make demands of the Lord not with eloquent discourse but with anger over the crime committed – not to accuse the wrongdoer with words so much as to bind him by the accusation of his own conscience. For although the evil deed may perhaps be excused if it is talkatively explained away, it cannot be excused if it is made present to the conscience, for in silence and without contradiction the wrongdoer’s conscience always convicts and judges him{5}.
2. Today, therefore, John cries out and says: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight, and so forth. We are ordered, then, to prepare the way of the Lord – not a highway, namely, but a pure faith. For the Lord does not proceed along an earthly path but sets out in the recesses of the mind. If, therefore, there is on this way any unevenness of character, any rough unkindness, any filthy habit, we are ordered to clean it, to make it level, and to arrange it so that, when He comes, the Lord may not find in us anything that would make Him stumble but would instead discover a way that was clean because of chastity, easily traversable because of faith, and lofty because of almsgiving. And that the Lord is used to setting out on such a road the prophet mentions when he says: Make a road for Him who ascends over the setting sun; the Lord is His name (Ps. 68.4).
11.09.2024Read more
