Some Orthodox Christian Beliefs and Their Biblical Foundation (Part III)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and the Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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SOME ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND THEIR BIBLICAL FOUNDATION (Part III)

What do Orthodox Christians believe about liturgy?

Biblically and historically, true worship has consistently been liturgical. "Spontaneous" worship is an innovation of the last century or so.

1. Liturgical worship, written prayers (the Psalms), and feast days were the norm throughout the history of Israel (see Exodus 23:14-19; 24:1, 2).

2. The worship of heaven is liturgical (Isaiah 6:1-9; Hebrews 8:1-3; Revelation (Apocalypse) 4).

3. The foundations of liturgical worship in the Church are apparent in the New Testament. The most oft-repeated prayer of the Church is there (Matthew 6:9-13). The words we say at baptism are there (Matthew 28:19). The words spoken at Holy Communion are there, with Saint Paul repeating Jesus' words (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Further, the believers in Acts 13:2 about A.D. 49, were seen in a liturgical service to the Lord: "as they ministered [Greek: leitourgouaton, the root word for "liturgy"] to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said..." Note, too, in this passage that the Holy Spirit speaks to us during liturgical worship. Thus praise to God must never become dead form, but rather living worship, "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23, 24).

4. Some Protestant groups have reacted against Rome by dismissing liturgical worship (though everyone has patterned worship, "spontaneous" or not!). But the Holy Bible and Church history are clear: liturgical worship is the norm for the people of God. Documents like the Didache (A.D. 70) and the writings of Saint Justin Martyr (A.D. 150) and Hippolytos (early 200s) all show that the worship of the early Church was, without exception, liturgical.

Our image, according to our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Note the plurality of Persons in the Godhead. Thus from before all ages, God the Son--also called in Holy Scripture the Logos/Word of God--reigned with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. This explains why the Gospels teach that God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to reveal the Father to us, and to send to us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the history of ancient Israel, the Prophets foretold the coming of One Who would be the Messiah of Israel, the Anointed One. They predicted He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), that a sign of His coming would be that a virgin would conceive Him (Isaiah 7:14), and that He would suffer and die for the sins of the people (Isaiah 53:5, 6). There are some three hundred references to His coming in the Old Testament Scripture, all penned hundreds of years before He came.

Then, just as promised, in the fullness of time the Angel appeared to a godly young Jewish virgin named Mary, and announced to her that she would bear a Son. "You shall call His name Jesus," the Angel said, "for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Thus, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the humanity of Jesus Christ was formed. The Son of God became everything we are--except for sin--in order that we might become the recipients of everything He is. As Saint John writes, "The Logos/Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). God became man to reveal Himself to us.

Most of us ask ourselves at one time or another, "Does anyone else in all the world understand me?" The Incarnation--the "enfleshment"--of the Son of God answers that question once and for all--with a resounding yes! Because Jesus Christ is fully God, He knows all things--even the number of the hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7). He created us. And because He is fully man, He is acquainted firsthand with our weaknesses, our disappointments, our sufferings. He knows about rejection, loneliness, hunger, and death because He went through them. Isaiah the Prophet wrote of Him, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4).

Taking His flesh from His Holy Mother Mary, Jesus experienced birth and growth like all of us. In His early years He knew both servitude and apprenticeship to His earthly father, Joseph, in his trade of carpentry. And He knew the higher the priority of obedience and submission to His Heavenly Father on one occasion staying behind in the Temple to be about His Father's business instead of accompanying Mary and Joseph back home from a trip to Jerusalem.

He went through the adolescent years--he experienced what it was like to be thirteen, fifteen--and faced head-on the opportunities for loss of temper, moral compromise, dishonesty, and rebellion present in His day. He knows about human frailty because He was tempted in every way we are, yet He never succumbed to sin.

At the age of thirty, He was baptized by Saint John the Baptist in the Jordan River. In so doing so, He not only began His own public ministry, but also forever set apart water as the means of beginning our new life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. This is why the Church, His followers here on earth, has baptized her converts in "water and the spirit" (John 3:5). Baptism is that God-given rite of passage into the Kingdom of God whose mystic power to change us surpassed all human reason.

Throughout His three-year public ministry, Jesus Christ worked countless miracles. He healed the sick, He brought sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and help to the helpless. He stilled a storm, cast out demons, and raised the dead. All these miracles established the presence of God's Kingdom and further affirmed that He was God. Those who knew Him but a short time said, "He has done all things well" (Mark 7:37). And when pressed on specifics, even His enemies could find no fault in Him (John 19:4, 6). The daily routines of entire towns and villages were cancelled or changed when He visited.  Everything, it became apparent, was subject to Him.

After three years of His ministry the Jewish religious establishment could stand no more of Him. Because He was God and said so, calls for Jesus' death began to mount. Some of His followers saw the implications and fell away. Even the disciples whom He hand-picked faltered, one of them denying Him three times. Finally, the religious and civil authorities teamed up against Him, put Him through a sham of a trial, and crucified Him as a common criminal between two thieves. In a few hours, He was dead. No one yet understood that He had died for the entire world, carrying our sins and transgressions with Him into the grave.

Then came the culmination, the most powerful and supernatural event of all history. Three days after dying, Christ was alive again, for He cancelled out its power: and to those who are joined to Him, His promises is, 'because I live, you will live also" (John 13:19). He had forever trampled down our greatest enemy, death, by his own death. And in His Resurrection He bestows life on the living as well as upon those long dead.

For forty days after His Resurrection, Jesus opened the Holy Scripture to the eyes of His disciples, teaching them about His Everlasting Kingdom, and commissioning them to take the gospel to the whole world. He instructed them to build His Church, the expression of His Kingdom on the earth, and fulfilled for them His promise of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the task.

To be sure, the one thing Jesus Christ left behind in this world IS His Church. The Holy Scripture describes that Church as an assembly of His people, a new nation, a royal priesthood, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Because those who make up His Church share in His Resurrection, they are called the Body of Christ, and He Himself is head.

At the end of His forty days of teaching, while His disciples stood by as witnesses, Jesus Christ ascended in his glorified body into Heaven. He reigns at the right hand of His Father. As our Heavenly Bishop, He is Lord of His Church. In Him, Saint Paul writes, all things "consist" or are held together (Col. 1:17).

One day Jesus Christ will return to earth (His Second Coming) to confront the living and the dead. All humanity will appear before His awesome and dread judgment seat. The righteous will inherit eternal life; the wicked (evil), everlasting darkness (damnation). The Kingdom of God will be established in its fullness, and Christ will reign, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever. (Source: Orthodox Study Bible)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Some Orthodox Christian Beliefs and Their Biblical Foundation (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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SOME ORTHODOX BELIEFS AND THEIR BIBLICAL FOUNDATION (Part II)

Does the Orthodox Church place Holy Tradition above or equal to Holy Scripture?

The Church sees the Holy Scripture as inspired and authoritative Holy Tradition: the Logos/Word of God. It is crucial to understand how the word "tradition" is used in the New Testament, which condemns the tradition of men but calls us to follow Apostolic or Holy Tradition.

Tradition of Men

1. First of all, Jesus warned against holding to the "tradition of men" and "your tradition" in the strongest possible terms (see Mark 7:6-16). All Christians agree: The Holy Bible says "no" to man-made religious teachings and traditions.

2. Secondly, Saint Paul warns in Colossians 2:8: "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." Here again, we notice the phrase "tradition of men," which the Orthodox Church CONDEMNS.

Holy Tradition

1. In distinction to the tradition of men, the Holy Bible calls us to obey tradition which has God as its source. In 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Saint Paul writes, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle."
   In contrast to man-made tradition, Apostolic Tradition is the foundation in the Church.

2. Further, in 2 Thessalonians 3:6 we read, "but we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us." Here again, we are dealing with Apostolic Tradition, the tradition which God planted in the Church. Thus, the Church is "the pillar and ground [or support of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).

3. All True Tradition comes from the same source: the Holy Spirit in the Church. The same One Who inspired Holy Scripture prompted all the teaching of the Holy Apostles, whether written or oral (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Further, it was on the basis of Church Holy Tradition that the Biblical canon was determined.

4. Tradition, as G.K. Chesterton wrote, is "giving our ancestors a vote." It is walking in the "paths of righteousness for His Name's sake" (Psalm 23:3). Or, as Jeremiah writes, living by Holy Tradition is a call from God himself. "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16). Thus, there are two kinds of tradition: that of God and that of men. It is to the former only that the Orthodox Church is committed.

Do the holy icons of Orthodoxy border on idolatry?

In the Orthodox Christianity, holy icons are never worshiped, but they are honored or venerated.

1. The Second Commandment says, "You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that it is the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" (Exodus 20:4, 5). The warning here is (1) that we are not to image things which are limited to heaven and therefore unseen, and (2) we never bow down to or worship created, earthly things such as the golden calf. Does this condemn all imagery in worship? The Holy Bible speaks for itself, and the answer is no.

2. Just five chapters after the giving of the Ten Commandments, God, as recorded in Exodus 25, gives His Divine blueprint, it you will, for the tabernacle. Specifically in verses 19 and 20, He commands images of Cherubim to be placed above the mercy seat. Also, God promises to meet and speak with us through this imagery! (Exodus 25:22). It is not true imagery which is condemned in Holy Scripture but false imagery.

3. In Exodus 26:1, Israel was commanded in no uncertain terms to weave "artistic designs of Cherubim" into the Tabernacle curtains. Are these images? Absolutely! In fact, they could well be called Old Testament icons. And they are images which God commanded to be made.

From the beginning the Church has made images of heavenly things brought to earth: Christ Himself, the Cross (Galatians 6:14), and the Saints of God (Hebrews 11:12). Worship is reserved for the Holy Trinity alone. But we honor the great men and women of the Faith by remembering them in the Orthodox Church via visual aids, called icons or "windows to heaven." (Source: Orthodox Study Bible)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

November 2 - Holy Martyrs Acyndinus, Pegasius, Aphthonios, Elpidophoros and others with them

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON NOVEMBER 2nd OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY MARTYRS, ACYNDINOS, PEGASIUS, APHTHONIOS, ELPIDOPHOROS AND OTHER WITH THEM.

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They were Persian Christians, and suffered in the time of king Sapor, in 355 A.D. The first three were servants at the court of this king, but secretly served Christ their Lord. When they were arrested and brought to trial before the king, he asked them where they came from. To this they replied: 'Our paternity and life is the Most Holy Trinity, consubstantial (of one essence) and undivided, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God.' The king gave them over to harsh torture, and they endure it all courageously, singing psalms and with prayer on their lips. At the time of their torture and imprisonment, Angels of God appeared to them several times, and once the Lord Christ Himself, as a man with a face radiant as the sun'. When one of the torturers, Aphthonios, saw with wonder that boiling lead did no harm to the Martyrs, he believed in Christ and cried out: 'Great is the Christian God!' He was then immediately beheaded, and many others saw and believed. Then the king commanded that Acyndinos, Pegasios, and Anempodistos be sewn into goat-skins and thrown into the sea. Then Saint Aphthonios appeared from the other world with three shining Angels, and they bore the Martyrs to dry land and set them free. Elpidophoros was a courtier. When he revealed that he was a Christian, and denounced the king for his slaughter of innocent Christians, the king condemned him to death, and Elpidophoros was beheaded along with about 7,000 other Christians. Then the three-named Martyrs were finally thrown into a burning furnace, along with 28 soldiers and the king's mother, who has also come to faith in Christ. And so, in the flames, they gave their righteous souls into the hands of the Lord.

FOR CONSIDERATION

How shall he attain to love his enemies who sets aside love for his parents? Love for one's parents is the chief and fundamental school of love. Without this schooling, one cannot go further. The Serbian king Dragutin stood in arms against his father in order to seize his throne. But it so happened that he broke his leg, and this awakened his conscience, which tormented him till his death, giving him no peace. Dragutin, relinquished his throne, and made over his power, to his younger brother Milutin. He embarked on great works of mercy, built churches and performed other good deeds. He also lived an intensive, secret ascetic life. He girded his naked body with a belt of reeds, dressed in course sackcloth and prayed to God at night in a secretly-prepared grave. The repentant king did all this only to gain God's forgiveness for his lack of love towards his parents, and God forgave him.

Many holy Martyrs, whom their executioners had come to seek out, welcomed them with joy and entertained them in their homes until the time came for them to be put to death. To entertain the man who is to shed one's blood is indeed a great expression of love for one's enemies. When king Sapor put Acyndinos, Pegasius, and the others to harsh torture, he suddenly went out of his mind and became dumb, being unable to speak, and clawed at his face in his great fury. Seeing his tormentor in such despair, Saint Acyndinos wept, and prayed to God for the king, saying: 'In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, speak!', and the king was loosed from his dumbness and began to speak. Here is an example of true love for one's enemies.

HOMILY

--on the will of God that all Christians should be holy.

"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" (Ephesians 1:4)

The one Church teaches and demonstrates was first a plan for the world, and that it was then created. This plan was in the wisdom and will and power of God. And we Christians, as the Church of God, are part of this plan. God choses us, in accordance with His plan. God chose us, in accordance with His plan, "before the foundation of the world", for holiness and righteousness in love. God called us beforehand and adopted us in Him -- in whom? In the Lord Jesus Christ, for, all that we are to God we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, man has no link, no relationship, nor kinship with God, and our choosing and adoption, then, is in our Lord Jesus Christ. He chose us to be his Holy Church according to the good pleasure of his will", as Israel was aforetime chosen from among all the nations on earth. Let on-one say: 'This choice of God's destroys man's free will, so that neither will Christians be rewarded for being Christians nor pagans condemned for being pagans. No; this is an utterly mistaken interpretation, for God chose Israel aforetime, and some Israelites perished and others were saved. He has also chosen His holy Church, calling all men and nations to Himself. But who among those called will be saved does not depend upon God's choice but on man's will and striving.

O Eternal God, Our Creator, Who did chose us for salvation before creating us, have mercy on us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen. (Source: The Prologue from Ochrid)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

November 1 - Sts. Kosmas and Damianos the Unmercenaries

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON NOVEMBER FIRST OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY UNMERCENARY HEALERS (PHYSICIANS) MIRACLE-WORKERS COSMAS AND DAMIANOS (DAMIAN)

Saints Cosmas and Damianos (Damian), the siblings and holy martyrs, known as the holy unmercenaries (anargyroi), were from Asia. They were the sons of a certain pious woman named Theodote. They were skilled in the medical arts but received their gift of healing from Christ. They ministered free of charge to their patients, fulfilling the Gospel command: "Freely ye received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). The Holy Church also commemorates two other sets of holy unmercenaries, who share the names of Kosmas and Damianos. We differentiate them by provenance. The second pair, commemorate on the 1st of July, lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Carinus (283-285 A.D.), whom they converted. They also met a martyric end by stoning. The third pair, hailing from Arabia, commemorated on the 17th of October, lived during the time of Diocletian and Maximian (292 A.D.). Together with three other brothers, Leontios, Anthimos, and Evtropios (or Evprepios), they were cast into the seas, thrown into a blazing furnace, and nailed to a cross, before they were finally beheaded in Lycia.

We now need to speak of Saints Kosmas and Damianos (Damian) of Asia. As a preface to their inspiring lives, we beseech the blessed Christians to give heed and not neglect the gift of grace that is in each of us. Let us meditate upon God's precepts and statutes, for the mind of man is not without movement. Let us mediate on those subjects which bear good fruit, life, and salvation as the divine David says: "If Thy law had not been my meditation, then should I have perished in my humiliation" (Psalm 118:92). For this cause it is always to our benefit to be contemplating what is good and reading the Holy Scripture and the Lives of the Saints, because even Christ said, "Keep on searching the Scripture, for in them ye think to have eternal life; and these are they which testify concerning Me" (John 5:39).  

Kosmas and Damianos (Damian) of Asia were called unmercenaries (anargyroi), because they healed the sick without receiving any payment, whether it be money or gifts, for their labors. The brothers were scions of a well-to-do family. Their father had been a Greek pagan, but later, after he begat Kosmas and Damianos, he denied vile idolatry and embraced Christianity. He managed his life in a virtuous, prudent, and sober manner. Not much time passed, however, before he surrendered his soul to his Creator. He consigned his two boys to divine succor and assistance and the protection of their mother. Their mother Theodote, had been a Christian from girlhood. Being left a widow, she diligently pursued the rearing and education of her sons, though more so toward piety and reverence. She also was a woman of uncommon excellence and was a model of womanly virtue to all those in the neighborhood. Her sons applied themselves conscientiously to the study of medicine, and they learned their art exceedingly well. After they had finished their studies, they immediately commenced their philanthropic work. Their primary treatment was not the curing of bodies as much as the healing of souls, by preaching in every place and at all times the name of the Christ.

Conducting their lives in this manner, the holy physicians were vouchsafed apostolic gifts of grace; for they also received the gift of healing, given by Jesus Christ to His Holy Apostles to cure every kind of sickness. This means that, without herbs, plasters, and other therapeutic treatments, they cured every illness by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. How can one describe the brothers' humility, poverty, philanthropy, and other virtues which they possessed even as Christ's Apostles? Their humility was such that they personally treated every patient's wounds. Their poverty was so profound that they possessed neither money, nor a second garment, nor even a bag for the road. The people did not address them by their first names, Kosmas and Damianos, but "unmercenaries" and thus the surname designated both them and their class. Their home was the site of the new sheep pool or Bethesda (John 5:2), which surpassed that one of old. Their clinic was open daily, and many witnessed cures each day upon the stretching forth of the healing hands of the wise physicians Kosmas and Damianos. Their almsgiving and love for all was of such a degree that they even cured irrational beasts (animals).

The brothers shared a single character and soul in their faith, fasting, and works. They were like-minded in disdaining the corruptible things of the world, rejecting the enjoyment of pleasures, and preserving their chastity. Dead to the things of this world, they cut off the sickness of avarice. They were more like inhabitants of heaven, though they dwelt in the flesh. The saints, indeed, were accounted worthy of such grace from God as to heal every illness. They, however, did not attribute the restoration of their patient's health to their skill or art, but instead named the source of the remedy openly: the grace of God.

At that time there was a woman named Palladia who was sorely afflicted and bedridden, so that for many years she had been unable to move from her place. She invited the holy unmercenaries to her bedside. Straightway, as they entered her house, she was healed and suffered no trace of the ill-effects or handicaps of her prolonged illness.

The Saints were walking about, as mentioned earlier, furnishing their services and benefits in abundance to the people. They arrived at Phereman, a village of Asia Minor, where Saint Damianos took ill. It was God's will that the younger brother first depart and take his rest from the corrupt and perishing things of this world and go to those incorruptible and good things of Paradise. Thus, Saint Damianos reposed in the Lord and surrendered his holy soul which was translated by radiant Angels. His honorable relics were laid to rest by Saint Kosmas and many other Christians there at Phereman. Not many days passed, however, before Saint Kosmas also feel asleep in the Lord.

Even after the death of the holy unmercenaries miracles and healings continued. We now conclude our account of the miracles of the ever-memorable twain, Kosmas and Damianos though there are countless others, blessed Christians; nevertheless, we have recounted what is sufficient for this work. Let us, also, have recourse to them and hasten to them with faith and love. They made themselves wholly the abode of the Holy Trinity. Even to this day they pour forth torrents of healing. Their very names drive away infirmities. Thus we entreat the holy unmercenaries to drive away the dark passions and impart healing of soul and body to those who are grievously ailing. "For as most excellent physicians," chants Saint John of Damascus, "in a mystical manner, they practice their art of surgery, dispensing medicines for salvation, and treating every malady, by drawing upon the divine treasury, while hymning to the most glorious God. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

October 30 - Holy Martyrs Asterios, Claudios, Neon, and their sister, Neonilla of Cilicia

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON OCTOBER 30th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY MARTYRS ASTERIOs, CLAUDIOS, NEON, AND THEIR SISTER, NEONILLA OF CILICIA (Cilicia is in southern Asia Minor (modern Turkey).

Asterios, Claudios (Klavdios), Neon, and Neonilla, all siblings and martyrs, were Christians who dwelt together and had substantial wealth. They lived during the reign of the pagan Roman emperor Diocletian (384-305 A.D.), when Lysias was governor of Cilicia. After the children's mother reposed, they continued to live with their father and stepmother. At length, their father also reposed, and the stepmother attempted to unjustly retain possession of their parents' possessions. Therefore, in the year 288 A.D. the stepmother betrayed them to the pagan governor, accusing them of being Christians.

When the young Christians were presented to the governor, they said to him, "We now disdain all of our belongings, O governor, moreover, on account of our Faith, we shall endure all that befalls us. Know this, however: our stepmother, chosen unsuccessfully to replace our mother, has not betrayed us to thee because she defends your religion of many gods; nay, but because she aspires to unjustly seize our paternal and maternal inheritance, which is considerable."

Hearing these things, the governor appeared to be in concord with the objective of their stepmother. He, too, wished to put the holy ones to death that he might have a share in their inheritance. Straightway, he ordered that Claudios, be stretched out upon the ground by his arms and legs. Then, wielding rods, they tore to pieces his shoulder blades. Afterward, they hung him up by his fingertips and burned his feet with lit coals. Following this, they scraped his sides with copper goads. Next, they crushed him with bricks and burned him with papyrus strips. The Saint then hear the governor say to him, "Sacrifice unto the gods and be saved!" He answered, "I said unto thee and will repeat one more time that, for the Faith of Christ and for Him, I despise death. Therefore, O judge, do whatever thou dost wish." After they had tortured him considerably, they brought him down from the wooden stake and cast him into prison.

Later, Asterios was made to stand before the judgment set, Lycians asked him, "What is thy name?' Since Asterios remained silent, the governor ordered that his teeth be broken. As they smashed his teeth, the court crier shouted aloud, "Sacrifice unto the gods and save thy life!" Though Asterios was suffering punishment and heard the voice of the crier, he ceased not opposing the governor, and said, "Whatever thou wilt do, O governor, act and tarry not, for I will not deny my Christ and God!" Then, they hung up Asterios and lacerated his sides. Following this, they burned his feet as they spread lit coals under him. Afterward, they beat him with rods and cast him into prison.

After Asterios and Claudios had undergone all these cruel tortures, the third brother, Neon, was presented before the governor's tribunal. After the youth had been asked for his name, Christ's athlete answered, "If thou wilt learn my name, O Governor, know this: I am called Neon. More than this, do not hope to learn, because I am the brother of Cluadios and Asterios, from whom it is impossible that I should be separated. No, but for my confession of Christ, behold, now, I stand before thee! Therefore, delay not in whatever thou wilt do." The executioners then stretched Neon out on the ground and rendered him a vigorous beating. They added to his pains by placing lit coals under his feet. After they had beaten him for many hours, they cast him into prison.

The governor then commanded his ministers to bring in the Christian brothers' sister, Neonilla. He was soon to discover that Neonilla possessed Christian faith as firm as a rock. Lysias then ordered that she be beaten on the face. Afterward, the executioners bound her feet and suspended her on high. Following this, they thrashed her feet with thongs, abruptly broke off the tips of her fingers, and suspended her by the hairs of her head.

At length, to dishonor her, they shaved her head. Thereafter, they stretched out her arms and legs, tied them to stakes, and cut her flesh to pieces with raw thongs. Next, they laid her on her back and placed lit coals upon her breasts and abdomen. Consequently, the blessed Neonilla surrendered her soul into the hands of God.  Her honorable relics were put in a sack and cast into the sea.

The pagan governor then had the holy Martyrs Claudios, Asterios, and Neon beheaded outside the city. Their long-suffering bodies were then cast to the beasts and birds as prey. By this blessed end, the gloriously triumphant Martyrs of Christ received their crowns of the contest. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

On Remembrance of Death, Hell and Judgment (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON REMEMBRANCE OF DEATH, HELL, AND JUDGMENT (Part II)
[From the Letters and Homilies of Geronda (Elder) Ephraim Philotheitis and Arizona]

The word eternity is frightful! To understand in part what eternity means. I shall give you an example. Imagine that the whole earth is one big piece of granite, and every thousand years a bird comes to sharpen its beak on this rock. When the entire rock is worn away by the bird sharpening its beak, then we have some faint notion of what eternity means--not that we have actually understood eternity, immortality, or life without end! So this life of ours here on earth determines our eternity, like flipping a coin: Paradise or hell! Therefore, how much caution must we have!...

You were patient so many years, and they passed like a dream. But even if we lived a thousand years, they would still pass like a dream. Oh, how vain is everything that belongs to this world here! Every life is followed by death. Death is man's transfer from this world to the other--the one that is immortal and eternal.

It is not important if someone loses his life here. One way or another, we shall all die someday anyway. The important thing is not to lose our immortal life, the life without end. Endless life in hell--oh, what a fearful thing! My God, save us all.

When God brings the new day, let us think that it is our last day and that when the sun sets we shall depart to the judgment seat of Christ. How should we spend our last day? In silence, prayer, obedience, tears, and repentance, begging God to be merciful!

Likewise at night, we should think that it is our last night, and our bed will be our tomb! We should ponder these and many other things every day and night, living them as if they were our last! For we do not know when the telegram will come from God's headquarters, from the Capital, the Jerusalem above.

Be careful, my child; do not let time pass fruitlessly and without improvement in your soul, for death comes like a thief. Woe to us if it finds us in a state of sloth and laziness-then the mountains and hills will need to weep for us; then we shall be found empty of good works (works of compassion), and Hades will shepherd us eternally!

My child, why should we suffer such a lamentable shipwreck when we are able, with God's help, to avoid and be rescued at the saving harbor of the Kingdom of God! I know that we have to wrestle with formidable enemies and that the labor is great. But with God--that is, with the power of God--everything gives way when man's will and strength cooperate with it...

"...We should never lack this contemplation of death or other such meditations. All these contemplations create watchfulness in the soul and purify and cleanse the mind so that it may feel the contemplation better. This contemplation is a barrier for evil thoughts. When this spiritual contemplation is within us, we shut out evil thoughts; there is no room in us for them because that contemplation has occupied the space of the mind. When we do not have godly contemplation, then indeed we are overcome by passionate contemplations. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George