Homily on the Dormition of the Mother of God

 By Saint John of Damascus

LOVERS are wont to speak of what they love, and to let their fancy run on it by day and night. Let no one therefore blame me, if I add a third tribute to the Mother of God, on her triumphant departure. I am not profiting her but myself and you who are here present, putting before you a spiritual seasoning and refreshment in keeping with this holy night. We are suffering, as you see, from scarcity of eatables. Therefore I am extemporising a repast, which, if not very costly nor worthy of the occasion, will certainly be sufficient to still hunger. She does not need our praise. It is we who need her glory. How indeed can glory be glorified, or the source of light be enlightened? We are weaving a crown for ourselves in the doing. “I live,” the Lord says, “and I will glorify those who glorify Me.” Wine is truly pleasant to drink, and bread to eat. The one rejoices, the other strengthens the heart of man. But what is sweeter than the Mother of my God? She has taken my mind captive, and held my tongue in bondage. I think of her by day and night. She, the Mother of the Word, supplies my words. The fruit of barrenness makes barren minds fruitful.

We keep today the feast of her blessed and divine transfer from this world. Let us then climb the mystical mountain, where beyond the reach of worldly things, passing through the obscurity of storm, we stand in the Divine light and may give praise to Almighty power. How does He, who dwells in the splendour of His glory, descend into the Virgin’s womb without leaving the bosom of the Father? How is He conceived in the flesh, and how does He spontaneously suffer, and suffer unto death, in that material body, gaining immortality through corruptibility? And, again, ascending to the Father, He drew His Mother, according to the flesh, to His own Father, taking into the heavenly country her who was heaven on earth.

Today the living ladder, through whom the Most High descended and was seen on earth and conversed with men, was taken into heaven by death. Today the heavenly table, she, who contained the Bread of life, the fire of the Godhead, without knowing man, was taken from earth to heaven, and the gates of heaven opened wide to receive the gate of God from the East. Today the living city of God is transferred from the earthly to the heavenly Jerusalem, and she, who conceived her first-born and only Son, the First-born of all creation, the Only Begotten of the Father, rests in the Church of the first-born: the true and living Ark of the Lord is taken to the peace of her Son. The gates of heaven are opened to receive the receptacle of God, who, bringing forth the tree of life, destroyed Eve’s disobedience and Adam’s penalty of death. And Christ, the Cause of all life, receives the chosen mirror, the mountain from which the stone cut without hands filled the whole earth.

She, who brought about the Word’s divine Incarnation, rests in her glorious tomb as in a bridal-chamber, whence she goes to the heavenly bridals, to share in the kingdom of her Son and God, leaving her tomb as a place of respite for those on earth. Is her tomb indeed a resting-place? Yes, more renowned than any other, not shining with gold, or silver, or precious stones, nor covered with silken, golden, or purple adornments, but with the divine radiance of the Holy Spirit. The angelic state is not for lovers of this world, but the wondrous life of the blessed is for the servants of the Spirit, and passing to God is better and sweeter than any other life. This tomb is fairer than Eden. And may I not speak of the enemy’s deceit in the first [Eden]: of his, so to say, clever counsel, his envy and covetousness, of Eve’s weakness and pliability, the bait, sure and tempting, which cheated her and her husband, their disobedience, exile, and death. Let us not speak of these things so as not to turn our feast into sorrow.  

This grave gave up the mortal body it contained to the heavenly country. Eve became the mother of the family of mankind, and is not man, made after the Divine image, convicted by her condemnation: “earth thou art, and unto earth thou shalt return”? This tomb is more precious than the tabernacle of old, receiving the real and life-giving receptacle of the Lord, the heavenly table, not the loaves of presence but of heaven, not material fire, but her who contained the pure Fire of the Godhead. This tomb is holier than the ark of Moses, blessed not with types and shadows, but the Truth itself. It showed forth the pure and golden urn containing the heavenly Manna, the living tablet receiving the Incarnate Word of God from the impress of the Holy Spirit, the golden censer of the supersubstantial Word. It showed forth her who conceived the divine Fire embalming all creation.

Let demons take to flight, and the thrice miserable Nestorians perish as the Egyptians of old and their ruler, Pharaoh the younger, a cruel devastator. They were swallowed up in the abyss of blasphemy. Let us who are saved with dry feet, crossing the bitter waters of impiety, raise our voices to the Mother of God at her departure.

Let Mary, personifying the Church, lead the joyful strain. Let the maidens of the spiritual Jerusalem go out in singing choirs. Let kings and judges, with rulers, youths, and virgins, young and old, proclaim the Mother of God, and all peoples and nations in their different ways and tongues, sing a new song. Let the air resound with praise and instrument, and the sun gladden this day of salvation. Rejoice, O heavens, and may the clouds rain justice. Be glad, O divine apostles, the chosen ones of God’s flock, who seem to reach the highest visions, as lofty mountain tops. And you God’s sheep and His holy people, the flock of the Church, who look to the high mountains of perfection, be sad, for the fountain of life, God’s Mother, is dead.

It was necessary that what was made of earth should return to earth, and thus be taken to heaven. It was fitting that the earthly tenement should be cast off, as gold is purified, so that the flesh in death might become pure and immortal, and rise in shining immortality from the tomb.

Today she begins her second life through Him who was the Cause of her first being. She gave a beginning, I mean the life of the body, to Him who had no beginning in time, although the Father was the Cause of His Divine existence. Rejoice, holy and divine Mount Sion, in which reposes the living divine mountain, the new Bethel, with its grace: human nature united with the Godhead. From thee her Son ascended to heaven, from the the Mount of Olives.

Let a world-embracing cloud be prepared and the winds gather the Apostles to Mount Sion from the ends of the earth. Who are these who soar up as clouds and eagles to the cause of all resurrection, ministering to the Mother of God? Who is she who rises resplendent, all pure, and bright as the sun? Let spiritual lyres, the apostolic tongues, sing to her. Let grave theologians raise their voices in praise. Hierotheus, the vessel of election, in whom the Holy Spirit abides, knowing and teaching divine things by the divine indwelling, - let him be wrapt out of the body and join willingly in the joyful hymn. Let all nations clap their hands and praise the Mother of God. Let angels minister to her body. Follow your Queen, O daughters of Jerusalem, and, together with her virgins in the spirit, approach your Bridegroom in order to sit at His right hand. Make haste, O Lord, to give Thy Mother the welcome which is her due. Stretch out Thy divine hands. Receive Thy Mother’s soul into the Father’s hands unto which Thou didst commend Thy spirit on the Cross. Speak sweet words to her: “Come, my beloved, whose purity is more dazzling than the sun, thou gavest Me of thy own, receive now what is Mine. Come, My Mother, to thy Son, reign with Him who was poor with thee.”

Depart, O Queen, depart, not as Moses did who went up to die. Die rather that thou mayest ascend. Give up thy soul into the hands of thy Son. Return earth to the earth, it will be no obstacle. Lift up your eyes, O people of God. See in Sion the Ark of the Lord God of powers, and the Apostles standing by it, burying the life-giving body which received our Lord. Invisible angels are all around in lowly reverence doing homage to the Mother of their Lord. The Lord Himself is there, who is everywhere present, filling all things, the universal Being, not contained by place. He is the Author and Creator of all things. Behold the Virgin, the daughter of Adam and Mother of God! Because of Adam she gives her body to the earth: her soul to her Son above in the heavenly courts.

Let the holy city be sanctified, and rejoice in eternal praise. Let angels precede the divine tabernacle on its passage, and prepare the tomb. Let the radiance of the Spirit adorn it. Let sweet ointment be made ready and poured over the pure and undefiled body. Let a clear stream of grace flow from grace in its Source. Let the earth be sanctified by contact with that body. Let the air rejoice at the Translation. Let gentle breezes waft grace. Let all nature keep the feast of the Mother of God’s Dormition. May youthful bands applaud and eloquent tongues acclaim her, and wise hearts ponder on the wonder, priests hoary with age gather strength at the sight. Let all creation emulate heaven, even so the true measure of rejoicing would not be reached.

Come, let us depart with her. Come, let us descend to that tomb with all our heart’s desire. Let us draw round that most sacred bed and sing the sweet words, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Rejoice, fore-ordained Mother of God. Rejoice, thou chosen one in the design of God from all eternity, most sacred hope of earth, resting-place of Divine fire, holiest delight of the Spirit, fountain of Living Water, paradise of the tree of Life, divine vine-branch, bringing forth soul-sustaining nectar and ambrosia. Full river of spiritual graces, fertile land of the divine pastures, rose of purity, with the sweet fragrance of grace, lily of the royal robe, pure Mother of the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world, token of our redemption, handmaid and Mother, surpassing angelic powers.”

Come, let us stand round that pure tomb and draw grace to our hearts. Let us raise the ever-virginal body with spiritual arms, and go with her into the grave to die with her. Let us renounce our passions, and live with her in purity, listening to the divine canticles of angels in the heavenly courts. Let us go in adoring, and learn the wondrous mystery by which she is taken to heaven to be with her Son, higher than all the angelic choirs. No one stands between Son and Mother.

This, O Mother of God, is my third sermon on thy departure, in lowly reverence to the Holy Trinity to Whom thou didst minister, the goodness of the Father, the power of the Spirit, receiving the Uncreated Word, the Almighty Wisdom and Power of God. Accept, then, my goodwill, which is greater than my capacity, and give us salvation.

Heal our passions, cure our diseases, help us out of our difficulties, make our lives peaceful, send us the illumination of the Spirit. Inflame us with the desire of thy Son. Render us pleasing to Him, so that we may enjoy happiness with Him, seeing thee resplendent with thy Son’s glory, rejoicing for ever, keeping feast in the Church with those who worthily celebrate Him who worked our salvation through thee, Christ the Son of God, and our God. To Him be glory and majesty, with the uncreated Father and the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

On the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ

Homily on the Day of the Lord’s Transfiguration

By our Venerable Father Ephraim the Syrian, the Deacon + 373 A.D.

Our Saviour led the Apostles up into the mountain to show them the glory of His Divinity and to grant them to know that He is the Redeemer of Israel, as He had declared through the Prophets, and so that they would not be tempted concerning Him, when they would see His voluntary Passion, which He was to suffer for our sakes in His human nature.  For they knew Him as a man, but they did not comprehend that He was God.  They knew that He was the Son of Mary, a man, living with them in the world.  And on the mountain He gave them to comprehend that He is the Son of God, and God.  They saw that He ate and He drank, that He was wearied and that He rested, that He became tired and that He slept, that He experienced fear and that He poured forth sweat, but all of this did not correspond to His Divine nature, but pertained only to the human. Therefore He led them up into the mountain, so that the Father might proclaim His Son, and so that He might show them that He was in actuality the Son of God, and God.

    He took them up into the mountain and He showed them the glory of His Divinity before the Resurrection so that when He rose from the dead in the glory of His Divine nature, they would understand that He had not received that glory as a reward for this feat, or as one who had been in need of such glory, but that before the ages the glory had been His together with the Father and of the Father, as He Himself said when going to the voluntary passion: O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5).

    Thus this glory of His Divinity, invisible and hidden in the human nature, was manifested to the Apostles on the mountain. They saw His face shining like lightning, and His clothes white as light. The disciples beheld two suns: the one was visible to them and was shining upon the world from the firmament, and the Other manifested His face to them alone.  His clothing appeared white as light, because from His whole Body the glory of His Divinity poured forth, and in all the members of His flesh the light shone forth.  It was not as with Moses; it was not something exterior to Him that lightened His flesh with splendour, but rather the glory of His Divinity pouring forth from Him; His light rose up from within Him and in Him was it concentrated; it did not transfer from Him to something else, thus leaving Him; it did not strike Him from the side so as to adorn Him, and it was not something borrowed for Him.  Nor did it show them the whole abyss of His glory, but only as much as the pupils of their eyes could apprehend.

    There appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him (Matt. 17:3). Thus the ascent of the mountain was a joy to the prophets and the Apostles.  The prophets rejoiced seeing His humanity, which they had not known; the Apostles rejoiced seeing His Divinity which they had not apprehended.  And when they heard the voice of the Father, bearing witness to the Son, they understood thereby what had not formerly been clear to them: that He had become man. And together with the voice of the Father, the glory of His body, with which unalterably and unconfusedly the Divinity was united in Him, and which glory had become manifest, bore testimony to them.  And the testimony was sealed by three voices, that of the Father, as well as those of Moses and Elias, who stood before Him as servants. 

    And they looked one upon another, the prophets upon the Apostles and the Apostles upon the prophets.  The leaders of the Old Testament and the leaders of the New Testament beheld each other there. Moses the holy beheld the sanctified Simon. The steward of the Father’s house saw him who had given lodging to the Son.  The one had divided the sea, so that the people might cross between the billows; the other had proposed a tabernacle so that he might build the Church.  Elias looked upon John; he who had ascended in a fiery chariot upon him who had leaned upon the burning breast.  Thus this mountain became an image of the Church, and Jesus unites therein the two Testaments which the Church accepts, and He gave us to comprehend that He Himself is the Giver of both Testaments: the one received His mysteries and the other manifested the glory of His works.

    And Peter said: Let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias (Matt. 17:4). Simon was sent to build the Church in the world, and behold he makes three tabernacles on the mountain, because he still regarded Jesus as a man and places Him on a level with Moses and Elias.  But the Lord immediately shows him that He does not require his tabernacles, because He is the One Who for the course of forty years provided a tabernacle of cloud for his forefathers in the wilderness.  For as he yet spoke, such a bright cloud overshadowed them (Matt. 17:5).  Behold, Simon, a tabernacle made without travail, a tabernacle which protects from the heat and in which there is no shadow, a tabernacle which is like lightning and radiant.

    While the disciples yet wondered, the voice of the Father was heard from the cloud: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.  The Father speaks of the Son, not separating Him from the glory of the Divinity. For the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit are of one Nature, one Power, one Essence and one Kingdom.  And He addresses the One with a name which is not exalted, but is awesome in its glory.  Mary also calls Him Son, Who in His human body is not separated from the glory of His Divinity. For One is God, Who was manifest in the world in the body. His glory proclaims His Divinity which is from the Father, and His body proclaims His human nature which is from Mary, for both natures have been united in the one hypostasis.  The Only-Begotten of the Father is the only One born of Mary.  And whosoever would separate the natures in Him will themselves be separated from His Kingdom, and whosoever should confuse them will have no part in His life.  Whosoever denies that Mary gave birth to God will not see the glory of His Divinity; and whosoever denies that He bore flesh free from sin, such a one will not be granted salvation and life, which are granted through His body.  His deeds themselves and His Divine powers instruct those of sound judgment that He is true God.  And His sufferings show that He is true man.

    And if this does not convince those who are weak of understanding, then they shall be given over to punishment on His dread day. If He were not flesh, then for what reason did Mary bring Him forth?  And if He were not God, Whom did Gabriel name as Lord?  If He were not flesh, then who lay in the manger?  And if He were not God, Whom then did the Angels who had come down glorify?  If He were not flesh, who was bound in swaddling clothes? And if He were not God, Whom did the shepherds adore?  If He were not flesh, whose hands and feet were pierced with nails?  And if He were not God, why was the veil of the Temple rent in twain, and the rocks split asunder, and the graves opened?  If He were not flesh, who cried out My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me (Matt. 27:46)?  And if He were not God, Who said, Father, forgive them (Luke 23:34)?  If He were not flesh, who was crucified on the Cross with the thieves?  And if He were not God, Who said to the thief, Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:43)?  If He were not flesh, to whom did they offer the gall and vinegar?  And if He were not God, at Whose voice did Hades tremble?  If He were not flesh, whose side was pierced with a spear, and blood and water flowed forth?  And if He were not God, Who broke the gates of Hades and burst the bonds, and by Whose command did the dead held captive there come forth?  If He were not flesh, whom did the Apostles see in the Upper Room?  And if He were not God, Who entered there, the doors being closed?  If He were not flesh, in whose hand did Thomas feel the wound of the nails and in whose side that of the spear?  And if He were not God, to Whom did Thomas cry out, My Lord and My God (John 20:28)?  If He were not flesh, who ate by the Sea of Tiberias?  And if He were not God, by Whose decree were the nets filled?  If He were not flesh, who did the Angels and Apostles see received into Heaven?  And if He were not God, to Whom were the Heavens opened, Whom did the Powers worship with trembling, and to Whom did the Father say, Sit Thou on My right hand (Heb. 1:13), as even David says, The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand (Ps. 109:1) and so on? And if He were not God and man, then, as a consequence, our salvation would be false, and the proclamations of the Prophets false too. 

    Yet the Prophets abode in the truth and their testimonies are not lies. For what they were commanded, that they spoke through the Holy Spirit. For this reason also the chaste John, who leaned upon that flaming breast, confirming the prophetic saying, theologising in the Gospel, instructs us, and says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 3, 14).  The One Who is of God, God the Word, the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, of one essence with the Father, the One Who is from the One Who is, the pre-eternal Word, inexpressibly begotten of the Father without mother before all ages, the Same in the last days was born of a daughter of mankind, from Mary the Virgin without father; He was born God incarnate, bearing in Himself flesh taken from her, made man, which formerly He was not, and remaining God, which He was, so that He might save the world. 
 

Originally published in the August 2014 issue of The Shepherd

 

What is 'Sergianism'?

The cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Communist regime is known as ‘Sergianism’ after its founder Metropolitan Sergius (1867-1944). Sergianism did not simply pledge obedience to the civil authority, but complete oneness of mind with the atheistic regime which was, at the same time, imprisoning and executing thousands of Orthodox Christians. Although the Russian Church under the Soviets retained an outward liturgical conservatism, Sergianism involved substantial theological modernisation, particularly in the area of the relationship between the Church and the state. 

In his declaration of July 20th 1927, Metropolitan Sergius stated: ‘We want to be Orthodox, and at the same time to see the Soviet Union as our civil Fatherland, whose joys and successes are also our joys and successes, whose failures are our failures.’ He also praised Joseph Stalin as a ‘great, God given leader of the Russian people.’[1] For his loyalty to the USSR, Metropolitan Sergius was appointed as Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1943 by Joseph Stalin. Later Patriarchs were similarly rewarded: Patriarch Alexis II (agent DROZDOV) was awarded an honorary citation by the USSR KGB chairman for services to state security.[2]

Undoubtedly, these were difficult times, and many bishops and priests cooperated unwillingly with the Soviet regime. Some, placing themselves in great danger, outwardly cooperated, but were secretly spreading the truth about the oppression of Christians under Communism. Father Vladimir Rusak, imprisoned in the USSR for spreading religious literature, explained the terrible dilemma that many faced: ‘I love my Church, I grieve for its fate and I want to serve it, but of course, not at the price of subservience, that terrible price which our Church leadership is paying and which it proposes that I also should pay’.[3]

In the USSR, the Christians who had separated themselves from the Sergianist Church were known as the Catacomb Church and worshipped in secret. Many were betrayed by bishops and priests of the official Church and ended their lives as martyrs. However, the bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate consistently proclaimed, without a trace of irony, that there was no religious persecution in the USSR. According to Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev and Galicia, (later to become ‘Patriarch’ of the Ukrainian Church): ‘no one is persecuted for religious convictions in the Soviet Union...The attitude of the Soviet State to the needs of the Church is considerate and understanding’.[4]

Solovki Monastery. Turned into a Gulag (concentration camp) by the Soviets. Many members of the Catacomb Church were imprisoned here.

Sergianism was not simply a Russian phenomenon, but was adopted by all Orthodox Churches within the territories controlled by the Soviets. It is also possible to see the influence of Sergianism in the ‘official’ Orthodox Churches today – an outwardly correct ‘canonical’ Orthodoxy is maintained, but many of the bishops fight against Orthodox Tradition. Christians that oppose these innovations are punished by their own church, and in some countries the ‘official Churches’ are also able to call upon the state to carry out judicial and extra-judicial punishments.

Sergianism teaches complete obedience to the hierarchy –  even  when this hierarchy is betraying Orthodoxy. This false obedience has penetrated into the minds of many Orthodox Christians who believe that obedience to their bishop, rather than to the Orthodox Faith, is the only requirement for Orthodoxy. On the contrary, faithful Orthodox Christians should not, in any circumstances, consent to a betrayal of Orthodoxy but should separate themselves from these wolves in sheep’s clothing (cf. Matt. 7:15).

Extract from Christian Union? An Orthodox Christian's Guide to Ecumenism: Past, Present and Future.

---

^[1] M. Spinka, The Church in Soviet Russia (New York: OUP, 1956) p. 86.

^[2] C. Andrew, V. Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive (London: Allen Lane, 1999) p. 650.

^[3] Orthodox Life, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1988) p. 20.

^[4] J. Ellis, The Russian Orthodox Church (London: Croom Helm, 1986) p. 209.

The Month of August

IN August we celebrate the last two Great Feasts of the Church Year: the Lord's Transfiguration (6th/19) and the Dormition of the All-holy Virgin Theotokos (15th/28th). The placing of the first of these in August is evidence of a calendar change. Originally the festival was kept forty days before the Lord's Crucifixion, because as the Gospel narrative tells us the Lord's Transfiguration on Mount Thabor was a preparation for "His decease which He should accomplish in Jerusalem." The hymns of the feast, inspired by the Holy Spirit, emphasize that the Apostles were permitted to see the glory of the Lord, so that when they should see Him crucified they would know that His Passion was voluntary, and that they would thus be strengthened for the coming trauma. Later, because the festival always fell in the penitential days of Great Lent, it was shifted to its present date, forty days before the festival of the Exaltation of the Cross in September. Thus the link with the Cross is unbroken, although the actual date of the festival has been changed.

In the fourth century, the Empress St Helen founded a church on Mount Tabor for the feast. When in the Middle Ages, the Crusaders entered Palestine they found a number of churches and monasteries on the holy mountain, and they commandeered them for Roman Catholic worship. After the Crusaders retreated from the Holy Land, the churches were either destroyed or fell into ruin. It was not until 1849, that the possibility of erecting a church there presented itself. In that year, the Patriarch Cyril II of Jerusalem began to petition the Ottoman authorities for permission to build there. Even so, it was only in 1860 that permission was granted and a new church was built on the foundations of the ancient Byzantine one. To this day, each year on the festival, a radiant cloud is seen to come and stand over the monastery there.

The Russians count three festivals of the Saviour in August. The first of these is the Procession of the Wood of the Cross on the first of the month, the second is the Transfiguration and the third is the translation of the Holy Mandilion, the icon not made by hands, from Edessa to Constantinople (16th/29th). Of these only the Transfiguration ranks as one of the Twelve Great Feasts.

The Dormition of the Mother of God is one of the Twelve and the last in the Church Year. Three days before her death, the Mother of God was again visited by the Archangel Gabriel, who foretold her demise. She prayed that the Lord's closest disciples, the Apostles, might be with her at the end, and her prayer was granted miraculously. The Apostles, who, in their teaching ministry, were scattered over the face of the earth, were wonderously brought to Jerusalem to be with her. On the icons of the festival, they are shown being borne on clouds. The Virgin ended her earthly course in Sion, and her body was take to Gethsemane to be buried. There her family had a family tomb, and there her parents, Sts Joachim and Anna, and the Righteous Joseph the Betrothed had been buried. The body was borne to burial accompanied by the Apostles and other eminent Church leaders such as St Dionysius the Areopagite and Saint Hierotheus, and by the company of the Christians in Jerusalem, as well as by a multitude of Angels. A priest of the Jews, Athonius, seeing the funeral procession, and being filled with wrath against her whom he thought to be the mother of a deceiver, rushed forward and attempted to overturn her bier. As he grasped it, an Angel appeared and severed his hands at the wrists. Immediately, he understood his sin and repented, the Apostles prayed that he should be healed, and he was. Later, he was baptized and joined the Christian community. Just as he had been chosen to confirm the Resurrection of his Saviour, St Thomas was allotted a special ministry at this festival. Alone among the Apostles he had not been present at the Virgin's death.

He arrived on the third day, and the others opened the cave tomb for him to venerate the body that had borne God. The tomb was found to be empty. The Most Holy Mother of God had been taken body and soul into the Heavenly Mansions.

The tradition of the Elevation of the Panagia (now usually confined to monasteries) refers back to this festival. Before the Dormition, the early Christians had established a custom of setting aside a portion of bread, which at their meal, they would lift up, intoning, "Great is the name of the Holy Trinity. O Lord Jesus Christ, help us." This was done in honour of the Risen Saviour. When on the third day after her Dormition, the Apostles were about to do this and elevated the bread, the Mother of God appeared in heavenly glory, assuring them and us that she would be always with us through her mediations and intercessions. The Apostles therefore raised the bread, chanting "Most Holy Mother of God, help us!" This little rite has been somewhat elaborated, but is still done on festivals of the Mother of God. The bread which is elevated is called the Panagia. It is usually cut in the form of a three-sided pyramid. The word Panagia means All-holy, and it is one of the titles accorded the Mother of God.

Another very important feast in August is that of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (29th August/11th September). It is usually celebrated with a Vigil Service, and because Herod and those with him were feasting on that day, and through surfeiting and drunkenness were lead into sin, Orthodox Christians always observe a fast on this day on whichever day of the week it might fall.

Among the Saints we have in August are:- Our Holy Father Myron of Crete (8th/21st) was a farm labourer, who made it his practice to give of the produce of his fields to the poor. Such was his unpossessiveness that once he caught some thieves stealing grain from his threshing floor, and rather than stopping them or rebuking them, he helped them fill their sacks and load them up to take them away. Later, when they learned who he had been, they were brought to repentance by the example he had given them, and thereafter lived righteous lives. For his virtuous life and his kind-heartedness, Myron was chosen by the townsmen to be their priest and was later consecrated Bishop. He cared assiduously for his flock, nurturing them in piety. At the time of persecution he encouraged the martyrs, and he was granted the gift of working miracles. He lived to be an hundred years old, and entered into rest in the year 350.

The New Martyr Christos of Ioannina (15th/28th): In August 1823, the Turkish militia in the region of Ioannina started a particularly violent suppression of the Christians there. The hieromonk Christos comforted and encouraged the suffering Christians, and for this he was arrested, beaten and, for refusing to give up his Christian confession, was condemned to death. The Orthodox Christians were celebrating the festival of the Dormition, and the Turks chose this time to execute the Saint. Furthermore, they deliberately chose to mock the Saviour's Passion in the way they devised to kill him. Father Christos was crowned with thorns, stripped and spat upon, and nailed to a cross, which was set up by the plane trees at Kalou Tzesme. As he expired on the cross, he prayed for his tormentors, but they sat around and taunted him. One of the Turks eventually pierced his side with a sabre and he gave up his soul. Even in death they did not cease tormenting him; they coated his body in tar and set it alight so that it was consumed in the flames.

The Venerable Martyrs Liberatus, Boniface and the five others with them (17th/30th) lived in the fifth century and were members of a monastic community. Liberatus was the abbot, Boniface the deacon; two others Servius and Rusticus were subdeacons, and the remaining three, Rogatus, Septimus and Maximus unordained monks. They were slain not by pagans but by people who claimed to be Christians. They lived in North Africa at the time when Huneric the King of the Vandals ruled there. Huneric was a fervent Arian, and instigated a persecution of the Orthodox Christians. Thus these seven monks were arrested and taken to Carthage. There they were required to embrace the heretical faith of the Arians, but they steadfastly refused. They were confined to prison, but certain Orthodox Christians bribed the guards to let them visit them so that they could encourage them in their ordeal. This came to the ears of Huneric, who ordered that they be put in an old boat and set out to sea, and then the boat fired. However, try as they might the persecutors were unable to fire the ship, and so the martyrs were returned to land and were done to death by having the brains brutally dashed out with clubs. They received the crowns of martyrdom in the year 483 and an authentic and contemporary record of their contest exists.

The Venerable Edbert of York (20th August/2nd September) succeeded his kinsman Ceolwulf as King of Northumbria. His brother, Egbert, was the first Archbishop of York to receive the pallium since the time of St Paulinus. Edbert ruled his kingdom wisely and justly for twenty years, and then abdicated in favour of his son, Oswulf. Such was the respect in which he was held that his allies and his noblemen tried to persuade him not to abdicate, however Edbert was resolved upon taking up the monastic life. He retired to York, where he placed himself under obedience to his brother the Archbishop, and spent the last ten years of his life as a monk. His brother predeceased him by two years, and his sacred relics were laid next to those of the Archbishop when he himself died in 768 A.D.