Apologia of Aristides 120-130 A.D.

Saint Jeromeconcerning Saint Aristides: Aristides, a most eloquent Athenian philosopher, and a disciple of Christ while yet retaining his philosopher's garb, presented a work to Hadrian at the same time that Quadratus presented his. The work contained a systematic statement of our doctrine, that is, an Apology for the Christians, which is still extant and is regarded by philologians as a monument to his genius.    

But the Christians, O King, while they went about and made search, have found the truth; and as we learned from their writings, they have come nearer to truth and genuine knowledge than the rest of the nations. For they know and trust in God, the Creator of heaven and of earth, in whom and from whom are all things, to whom there is no other god as companion, from whom they received commandments which they engraved upon their minds and observe in hope and expectation of the world which is to come. Wherefore they do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle what is held in pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother, and show kindness to those near to them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols (made) in the image of man; and whatsoever they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others; and of the food which is consecrated to idols they do not eat, for they are pure. And their oppressors they appease (lit: comfort) and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies; and their women, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest; and their men keep themselves from every unlawful union and from all uncleanness, in the hope of a recompense to come in the other world. Further, if one or other of them have bondmen and bondwomen or children, through love towards them they persuade them to become Christians, and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction. They do not worship strange gods, and they go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness. Falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he, who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food. They observe the precepts of their Messiah with much care, living justly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them. Every morning and every hour they give thanks and praise to God for His loving-kindnesses toward them; and for their food and their drink they offer thanksgiving to Him. And if any righteous man among them passes from the world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God; and they escort his body as if he were setting out from one place to another near. And when a child has been born to one of them, they give thanks to God; and if moreover it happen to die in childhood, they give thanks to God the more, as for one who has passed through the world without sins. And further if they see that any one of them dies in his ungodliness or in his sins, for him they grieve bitterly, and sorrow as for one who goes to meet his doom.

Such, O King, is the commandment of the law of the Christians, and such is their manner of life. As men who know God, they ask from Him petitions which are fitting for Him to grant and for them to receive. And thus they employ their whole lifetime. And since they know the loving-kindnesses of God toward them, behold! for their sake the glorious things which are in the world flow forth to view. And verily, they are those who found the truth when they went about and made search for it; and from what we considered, we learned that they alone come near to a knowledge of the truth. And they do not proclaim in the ears of the multitude the kind deeds they do, but are careful that no one should notice them; and they conceal their giving just as he who finds a treasure and conceals it. And they strive to be righteous as those who expect to behold their Messiah, and to receive from Him with great glory the promises made concerning them. And as for their words and their precepts, O King, and their glorying in their worship, and the hope of earning according to the work of each one of them their recompense which they look for in another world,-you may learn about these from their writings. It is enough for us to have shortly informed your Majesty concerning the conduct and the truth of the Christians. For great indeed, and wonderful is their doctrine to him who will search into it and reflect upon it. And verily, this is a new people, and there is something divine (lit: "a divine admixture") in the midst of them.



Creation & Evolution

For those interested in exploring our human beginnings in light ancient revelation and recent science:

http://phenomenalogos.blogspot.com/2012/08/darwin-deification.html

 “There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one…from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.”

-Charles Darwin (The Origin of Species 6th Edition. John Murray. p. 429)



Saint Irenaeus: Theology of the Icon (IV, VI, 6)

For by means of the creation itself, the Word reveals God the Creator; and by means of the world [does He declare] the Lord the Maker of the world; and by means of the formation [of man] the Artificer who formed him; and by the Son that Father who begat the Son: and these things do indeed address all men in the same manner, but all do not in the same way believe them. But by the law and the prophets did the Word preach both Himself and the Father alike [to all]; and all the people heard Him alike, but all did not alike believe. And through the Word Himself who had been made visible and palpable, was the Father shown forth, although all did not equally believe in Him; but all saw the Father in the Son: for the Father is the invisible of the Son, but the Son the visible of the Father. And for this reason all spake with Christ when He was present [upon earth], and they named Him God. Yea, even the demons exclaimed, on beholding the Son: “We know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.” And the devil looking at Him, and tempting Him, said: “If Thou art the Son of God;” —all thus indeed seeing and speaking of the Son and the Father, but all not believing [in them].

Panselinos by the hand of  Дејан Манделц
http://znamenje.blogspot.com/

Dimitris Pikionis & Education

Children listen to secret, inner voices. They learn all the time, every minute and hour of the day, and always at the right time, as only children can learn when they are on their own. I sensed that each person requires a special upbringing, a special method of education adapted to their own particular inclinations, if they are to flourish. And yet we are compelled to march across the wide desert of a conventional education, which deadens souls without number. From an early age, I felt the need for a teacher who could read my thoughts and feelings and guide me on my way. Apart from my actual tutors, nature and friendship among my peers have also proved invaluable teachers to me.

Looking back on what I have written here about my life, I contemplate and I, like the poet Cavafy, read 'the inscription on this ancient stone', with its 'badly mutilated' letters, desires and hopes, joy and grief, and I am filled with wonder and admiration at how many tears, then 'tears again', men 'of mortal body and immortal soul' are destined to shed before they can achieve spiritual fulfillment. These 'foul, unceasing' sufferings gradually fashion his spiritual being, in time permeating his works with a mysticism like the 'morning breeze'...

Young people, discard individual will and descend into the trough of obedience. This, and this alone, will grant you true freedom. Do not slacken or lie idle, for it is written that we may eventually be forgiven for not having been able to accomplish something, but never forgiven for not having tried.



A Procession by Constantine Cavafy

Εξ ιερέων και λαϊκών μια συνοδεία,
αντιπροσωπευμένα πάντα τα επαγγέλματα,
διέρχεται οδούς, πλατέες, και πύλες
της περιωνύμου πόλεως Aντιοχείας.
Στης επιβλητικής, μεγάλης συνοδείας την αρχή
ωραίος, λευκοντυμένος έφηβος βαστά
με ανυψωμένα χέρια τον Σταυρόν,
την δύναμιν και την ελπίδα μας, τον άγιον Σταυρόν.
Οι εθνικοί, οι πριν τοσούτον υπερφίαλοι,
συνεσταλμένοι τώρα και δειλοί με βίαν
απομακρύνονται από την συνοδείαν.
Μακράν ημών, μακράν ημών να μένουν πάντα
(όσο την πλάνη τους δεν απαρνούνται). Προχωρεί
ο άγιος Σταυρός. Εις κάθε συνοικίαν
όπου εν θεοσεβεία ζουν οι Χριστιανοί
φέρει παρηγορίαν και χαρά:
βγαίνουν, οι ευλαβείς, στες πόρτες των σπιτιών τους
και πλήρεις αγαλλιάσεως τον προσκυνούν —
την δύναμιν, την σωτηρίαν της οικουμένης, τον Σταυρόν.—


Είναι μια ετήσια εορτή Χριστιανική.
Μα σήμερα τελείται, ιδού, πιο επιφανώς.
Λυτρώθηκε το κράτος επί τέλους.
Ο μιαρότατος, ο αποτρόπαιος
Ιουλιανός δεν βασιλεύει πια.

Υπέρ του ευσεβεστάτου Ιοβιανού ευχηθώμεν.

A procession of priests and laymen—
each walk of life represented—
moves through streets, squares, and gates
of the famous city, Antioch.
At the head of this imposing procession
a handsome white-clad boy
carries the Cross, his arms raised—
our strength and hope, the holy Cross.
The pagans, lately so full of arrogance,
now reticent and cowardly,
quickly slink away from the procession.
Let them keep their distance, always keep their distance from us
(as long as they do not renounce their errors).
The holy Cross goes forward; it brings joy and consolation
to every quarter where Christians live;
and these God-fearing people, elated,
stand in their doorways and greet it reverently,
the strength, the salvation of the universe, the Cross.


This is an annual Christian festival.
But today, you see, it is more conspicuous.
The empire is delivered at last.
The vile, the appalling Julian
reigns no longer.

For most pious Jovian let us give our prayers.

Homily of Saint Ephraim the Syrian concerning the Theotokos

I shall not be jealous, my Son, that Thou art with me, and also with all men.  Be Thou God to him that confesses Thee, and be thou Lord to him that serves Thee, and be Brother to him that loves Thee, that Thou mayest gain all!

When Thou didst dwell in me, Thou didst also dwell out of me, and when I brought Thee forth openly, Thy hidden might was not removed from me.  Thou art within me, and Thou art without me, O Thou that makest Thy Mother amazed.

For [when] I see that outward form of Thine before mine eyes, the hidden Form is shadowed forth “in my mind,” O holy One.  In Thy visible form I see Adam, and in Thy hidden form I see Thy Father, who is joined with Thee.

Hast Thou then shown me alone Thy Beauty in two Forms?  Let Bread shadow forth Thee, and also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof.  In secret, and openly too, may Thy Church see Thee, as well as Thy Mother.

He that hates Thy Bread is like unto him that hates Thy Body.  He that is far off that desires Thy Bread, and he that is near that loves Thy Image, are alike.  In the Bread and in the Body, the first and also the last have seen Thee.

Yet Thy visible Bread is far more precious than Thy Body; for Thy Body even unbelievers have seen, but they have not seen Thy living Bread.  They that were far off rejoiced! Their portion utterly scorns that of those that are near.

Lo! Thy Image is shadowed forth in the blood of the grapes  The Roman Editor points out that this alludes to a rite in the Syrian Liturgy, in which the officiating Priest is instructed to dip one portion of the consecrated bread into the cup and sprinkle the rest with it. on the Bread; and it is shadowed forth on the heart with the finger of love, with the colors of faith.  Blessed be He that by the Image of His Truth caused the graven images to pass away.

Thou art not [so] the Son of Man that I should sing unto Thee a common lullaby; for Thy Conception is new, and Thy Birth marvelous.  Without the Spirit who shall sing to Thee?  A new muttering of prophecy is hot within me.

How shall I call Thee a stranger to us, Who art from us?  Should I call Thee Son?  Should I call Thee Brother?  Husband should I call Thee?  Lord should I call Thee, O Child that didst give Thy Mother a second birth from the waters?

For I am Thy sister, of the house of David the father of us Both.  Again, I am Thy Mother because of Thy Conception, and Thy Bride am I because of Thy sanctification, Thy handmaid and Thy daughter, from the Blood and Water wherewith Thou hast purchased me and baptized me.

The Son of the Most High came and dwelt in me, and I became His Mother; and as by a second birth I brought Him forth so did He bring me forth by the second birth, because He put His Mother’s garments on, she clothed her body with His glory.

Tamar, who was of the house of David, Amnon put to shame; and virginity fell and perished from them both.  My pearl is not lost:  in Thy treasury it is stored, because Thou hast put it on.

The scent of her brother-in-law slunk from Tamar, whose perfume she had stolen.  As for Joseph’s Bride, not even his breath exhaled from her garments, since she conceived Cinnamon.  A wall of fire was Thy Conception unto me, O holy Son.

The little flower was faint, because the smell of the Lily of Glory was great.  The Treasure-house of spices stood in no need of flower or its smells!  Flesh stood aloof because it perceived in the womb a Conception from the Spirit.

The woman ministers before the man, because he is her head.  Joseph rose to minister before his Lord, Who was in Mary.  The priest ministered before Thy ark by reason of Thy holiness.

Moses carried the tables of stone which the Lord wrote, and Joseph bare about the pure Tablet in whom the Son of the Creator was dwelling.  The tables had ceased, because the world was filled with Thy doctrine.

Dormition of our Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, Our Panagia

It was right that her all-holy soul should be separated from her most sacred body – separated, and so united to the soul of her Son, the second light united to the first. Her body remained for a short time in the earth, and then departed thence to be together with her soul. For it was right that she should traverse all the paths which were trodden by the Savior, that she should shine upon both the living and the dead, and so in every way should sanctify our human nature, before receiving as her dwelling-place the region appropriate to her. Thus the tomb received her body for a little while, and then heaven in its turn received this new earth, this spiritual body, this treasure of our life, more venerable than the angels, more holy than the archangels.... So the Tree was restored to the Fruit, and the Mother to her Son.

-St. Nicholas Kavasilas

 Homily on the Falling Asleep of Panagia

Holy Prophet Micah

Rejoice not against me my enemy, that I have fallen.

For I shall arise, and though I should sit in darkness the Lord will be my light.

Security & Freedom

"The Lord of Glory"  (8th century, Sinai)

“Now behold, one came and said to Him, Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Here we are in danger of interpreting this question in a way that is culturally and historically conditioned. In fact this is probably the way in which the young ruler asked this question. He, I believe, was asking with the understanding that salvation meant salvation from gentile rule (in this context the Romans) and a place in the community of the new Davidic Kingdom. This was also, as is implied by the request to sit at the Lord's right and left hand, similar to the way the apostles originally understood Jesus as Messiah, salvation, and the Kingdom of Heaven. 

To Continue Reading please follow the Link below:

http://phenomenalogos.blogspot.com/2012/08/security-freedom.html

A Prayer for Syria

Icon of Panagia from Aleppo Syria

Again we pray for the safekeeping of this holy church and this city, and of all cities and towns from pestilence, famine, earthquake, flood, fire and the sword, from invasion of enemies, civil war, and unforeseen death; for His mercy, that He will be kind to entreat as our good God, Who loves all people and that He may turn away and scatter all wrath and disease that moves against us, and deliver us from His impending, justified chastisement, and have mercy on us.

Lord have Mercy and Most Holy Theotokos save us!

Saint Irenaeus: Cur Deus Homo?

But again, those who assert that He was simply a mere man, begotten by Joseph, remaining in the bondage of the old disobedience, are in a state of death having been not as yet joined to the Word of God the Father, nor receiving liberty through the Son, as He does Himself declare: “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”  But, being ignorant of Him who from the Virgin is Emmanuel, they are deprived of His gift, which is eternal life; and not receiving the incorruptible Word, they remain in mortal flesh, and are debtors to death, not obtaining the antidote of life. To whom the Word says, mentioning His own gift of grace: “I said, Ye are all the sons of the Highest, and gods; but ye shall die like men.”  He speaks undoubtedly these words to those who have not received the gift of adoption, but who despise the incarnation of the pure generation of the Word of God, defraud human nature of promotion into God, and prove themselves ungrateful to the Word of God, who became flesh for them. For it was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God. For by no other means could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality, unless we had been united to incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be joined to incorruptibility and immortality, unless, first, incorruptibility and immortality had become that which we also are, so that the corruptible might be swallowed up by incorruptibility and the mortal by immortality, that we might receive the adoption of sons? (Book III, XIX)

St. Irenaeus on the Divinity of the Son and the Deification of the Church

“Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee.”  For the Spirit designates both [of them] by the name, of God—both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint, that is, the Father. And again: “God stood in the congregation of the gods, He judges among the gods.”  He [here] refers to the Father and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; but these are the Church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the Son Himself—has gathered by Himself. Of whom He again speaks: “The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and hath called the earth.” Who is meant by God? He of whom He has said, “God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep silence;”  that is, the Son, who came manifested to men who said, “I have openly appeared to those who seek Me not.”  But of what gods [does he speak]? [Of those] to whom He says, “I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the Most High.”  To those, no doubt, who have received the grace of the “adoption, by which we cry, Abba Father.” 

Burnt Bread & Salvation

A Story about a Baker, a Begger, and a City in Captivity:

http://phenomenalogos.blogspot.com/2012/08/burnt-bread-salvation-story-about-new.html



Mother Salonica by N.G. Pentzikis

The Gospel According to Saint Isaac the Syrian of Nineveh

God the Lord surrendered His own Son to death on the Cross for the fervent love of creation... This was not, however, because He could not redeem us in another way, but so that His surpassing love, manifested hereby, might be a teacher unto us. And by the death of His Only-begotten Son He made us near to Himself. Yea, if He had had anything more precious, He would have given it to us, so that by it our race might be His own. Because of His great love for us it was not His pleasure to do violence to our freedom, although He is able to do so, but He chose that we should draw near to Him by the love of our understanding. For the sake of His love for us and obedience to His Father, Christ joyfully took upon Himself insult and sorrow... In like manner, when the saints become perfect, they all attain to this perfection, and by the superabundant outpouring of their love and compassion upon all men they resemble God.

The person who lives in love reaps the fruit of life from God, and while yet in this world, even now breathes the air of the resurrection.

When we find love, we partake of heavenly bread and are made strong without labor and toil. The heavenly bread is Christ, who came down from heaven and gave life to the world. This is the nourishment of angels. The person who has found love eats and drinks Christ every day and every hour and is thereby made immortal. …When we hear Jesus say, “Ye shall eat and drink at the table of my kingdom,” what do we suppose we shall eat, if not love? Love, rather than food and drink, is sufficient to nourish a person. This is the wine “which maketh glad the heart.” Blessed is the one who partakes of this wine! Licentious people have drunk this wine and become chaste; sinners have drunk it and have forgotten the pathways of stumbling; drunkards have drunk this wine and become fasters; the rich have drunk it and desired poverty, the poor have drunk it and been enriched with hope; the sick have drunk it and become strong; the unlearned have taken it and become wise.

Far be it that we should ever think such an iniquity that God could become unmerciful! For the property of Divinity does not change as do mortals. God does not acquire something which He does not have, nor lose what He has, nor supplement what He does have, as do created beings. But what God has from the beginning, He will have and has until the [unending] end, as the blest Cyril wrote in his commentary on Genesis. Fear God, he says, out of love for Him, and not for the austere name that He has been given. Love Him as you ought to love Him; not for what He will give you in the future, but for what we have received, and for this world alone which He has created for us. Who is the man that can repay Him? Where is His repayment to be found in our works? Who persuaded Him in the beginning to bring us into being Who intercedes for us before Him, when we shall possess no [faculty of] memory, as though we never existed? Who will awake this our body for that life? Again, whence descends the notion of knowledge into dust? O the wondrous mercy of God! O the astonishment at the bounty of our God and Creator! O might for which all is possible! O the immeasurable goodness that brings our nature again, sinners though we be, to His regeneration and rest! Who is sufficient to glorify Him? He raises up the transgressor and blasphemer, he renews dust unendowed with reason, making it rational and comprehending and the scattered and insensible dust and the scattered senses He makes a rational nature worthy of thought. The sinner is unable to comprehend the grace of His resurrection. Where is gehenna, that can afflict us? Where is perdition, that terrifies us in many ways and quenches the joy of His love? And what is gehenna as compared with the grace of His resurrection, when He will raise us from Hades and cause our corruptible nature to be clad in incorruption, and raise up in glory him that has fallen into Hades?

As for me I say that those who are tormented in hell are tormented by the invasion of love. What is there more bitter and violent than the pains of love? Those who feel they have sinned against love bear in themselves damnation much heavier than the most dreaded punishments. The suffering with which sinning against love afflicts the heart is more keenly felt than any other torment. It is absurd to assume that the sinners in hell are deprived of God’s love. Love is offered impartially. But by its very power it acts in two ways. It torments sinners, as happens here on earth when we are tormented by the presence of a friend to whom we have been unfaithful. And it gives joy to those who have been faithful.

That is what the torment of hell is in my opinion: remorse. But love inebriates the souls of the sons and daughters of heaven by its delectability.



Idols, Ipads, and Icons

Shepherd & Thanksgiving

http://phenomenalogos.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-shepherd-thanksgiving.html 

Ν.Γ.Πεντζίκης- Ίνδικτος Τεύχος 18

http://www.imdlibrary.gr/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&view=book&id=573:--18&catid=2:2010-05-31-05-04-09&tmpl=component