This is the recording of the class: Orthodoxy 101 – Orthodoxy Alive of October 12, 2022. It is an unedited video of the ZOOM recording of the class. It is a class of the Adult Religious Education Classes of Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Austin, Texas. For the best view, please start at 10:00 minutes into the recording. God Bless ….FrG
The Foundations of the Church: A Study of the Ecumenical Councils (Part 2)
The Foundations of the Church is a short study of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. The classes are recorded from the Adult Education Series of Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church – Austin, Texas. This class is Part 2 of the series recorded on June 8, 2022. This recording explores the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Ecumenical Councils and their impact on the orthodoxy and theology of the Church. The video recordings are unedited transcriptions of the Zoom presentation of the class. Please forgive the lack of polish of the recording. The presenter is Fr. George P. Bithos The link to the video is below. God Bless..FrG
ABCs of Orthodoxy Class 4 – The Theotokos, Church Fathers and the Saints of the Church
Below find the link to Class 4 in the ABCs of Orthodoxy series. This class was presented October 21, 2021. Please start the playback at 5.00 Min. to avoid early class conversation, not part of the presentation. Thank you and God Bless… FrG
Standing by the Cross
There is a word that appears in the hymnography of the Church which is prominent in Great Lent and in Holy Week. That word is stavrotheotokion. If we look at this compound word and break it down to its component parts we can recognize a couple of fairly familiar Greek words, Stavro – Greek for cross and Theotokos, the Mother of God. Now, we can connect the concepts The Theotokos and the Cross. The Stavrotheotokion is a troparion (short hymn with a theme usually sung after a verse of psalm), which is a manifestation of true human emotions. It is a poetic expression of the pain, sorrow and astonishment of a mother beholding her Son and her God on the Cross. These verses of theology and tenderness are heard in many of the services of the Great Lent, but reach their zenith in the services of the Holy Passion. The Theotokos expresses the wonder of us all. The awe, which could only be articulated by a mother who has kept a secret for many years (“and his mother kept all these things in her heart” Luke 2, 51). The identity of her Son as the incarnate God was known the Theotokos since the Annunciation. Now at the Cross she suffers a new mystery, the inscrutability of her Son and Creator taking on death by His own free choice. Each of these verses proclaims the truth of Christ’s condescension.
…”Woe is me beloved Child, light of my eyes! Thou has hung the earth above the waters, how can you endure to be nailed upon the Tree between two evildoers.” – Vespers of Tuesday in the Third Week.
Nonetheless, the Virgin stands by the cross, hour by hour true to her mission to intercede for the entire world. Her pain is palpable. Her lament is moving and yet there is true nobility in her devotion. When all the disciples, except John the Beloved, had fled because of their fear, she and the other women stood there unafraid. St. Romanos the Melodist has captured her grief and her consolation in a kontakion (a combination of troparia of the same structure, connect alphabetically or acrostically) used on Great and Holy Friday. As we, the Church prepare for Holy Week and the revelation of the pain and suffering of Christ, Our Lord and God we will also be reminded of the deep sorrow of His mother as she stands by the Cross with pain in her heart and tears in her eyes. The dialogue between the Theotokos and her Son becomes the revelation of God’s plan of salvation in poetry. This kontakion is lyrical theology, the stavrotheotokion with the voice of response by our Crucified Lord. Christ assures the Theotokos just as she witnesses his hanging on the Cross, she would receive the grace of being the first to see His glorious resurrection.
“Courage, Mother because you will see me first on my coming from the tomb. I am coming to show you by how many toils I ransomed Adam and how much I sweated for his sake. I shall show it to my friends by showing the marks in my hands and then you will see Eve, Mother, living as before, and you will cry out with joy: ‘He has saved my forebears, my Son and my God.’*
*(St. Romanos the Melodist. On the Life of Christ: Kontakia. Translated by Archimandrite Ephrem Lash. Edited by Kerry Brown, The Sacred Literature Series. New York et al.: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995, p. 148).
The Journey
Before I answer the question below, I want to point out the great loss of our heritage. The above icon is from the Exo-narthex of the Great Church of Chora in Constantinople now turned into a mosque by the Turkish government. May Our Lord, the Saviour, protect His Church in Chora and keep it safe.
When Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, how long would the trip have taken?
A. The distance “as the crow flies” from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 70 miles. Under normal circumstances, without too many winding roads or rough spots to traverse, people might well have been able to travel (on foot or by donkey) about 20 miles a day, for a total one-way trip of perhaps four days. However, we must keep in mind several factors that might have made this particular journey last longer.
First, the land of Samaria lay along the most direct route between Nazareth and Bethlehem, and in Jesus’ day, there was considerable hostility between Jews and Samaritans. Even if, as I think we can assume, Our Lady and St. Joseph bore no animosity toward Samaritans, it would have been difficult and even dangerous for them to travel through that country. They might have been harassed and would almost certainly have been refused lodging, just as Jesus and His disciples were treated some years later (see Luke 9:51-56).
Surely St. Joseph would have sought to protect his wife, and the Child she carried, from such a threat. So, as was common among the Jews of the day, the holy couple would probably have journeyed far off the “direct” route to avoid Samaria, taking a detour from Galilee across the Jordan River and then back again into Judea farther south. That would have added many miles, and several days, to the journey.
Second, remember that Mary was close to the end of her pregnancy. No doubt they had to travel much more slowly than normal to avoid excessive discomfort for her and risks to the health of both mother and Child.
Given these factors, the one-way trip may have taken a week or ten days, and perhaps much longer.
Second, remember that Mary was close to the end of her pregnancy. No doubt they had to travel much more slowly than normal to avoid excessive discomfort for her and risks to the health of both mother and Child.
Given these factors, my guess is that the one-way trip took at least a week or ten days, and perhaps much longer.
The Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple (21 November 2020)
This Saturday we celebrated the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. What we know about this event in the life of the Theotokos can be found in two ancient sources. The Protoevagelium of James and The Gospel of the Birth of Mary. These are materials that were not placed in the canonical sources. Some non-Orthodox “experts” have called these writings the “lost books” or “new sources” They were never lost nor are they new. Orthodox monastics and theologians have always used these sources to expand our understanding of the lives of the saints and events in salvation history. The hymnographers, iconographers and poets of the Church have drawn on these writings to enrich our liturgical and faith experience. These writings give the early events of the life of the Theotokos. The Protoevagelium Jacobi (aka The Infancy Gospel of James) presents the more detailed story of the events of her parental heritage, conception, birth and early life. As we know in the canonical Gospel of Luke, St. Luke begins his narrative with the story of St. John the Baptist and then relates the events of the Annunciation to the Theotokos. So these other sources are valuable as they present some of the rest of the Theotokos’ story.
The Protoevagelium relates that Joachim and Anna, the Theotokos’ parents, were so grateful to God for His gift of the conception of Mary; they promised to dedicate Mary to God by presenting her to the Temple. The miracle of their having this blessed child erased the reproval of their community because of their inability to bear children. The thinking of that culture was that a childless couple could not participate in the possibility of being heirs to the promise of the future messiah. When Mary reached the age of three, they fulfilled their pledge and escorted her accompanied by 10 virgins with lit lamps to the Temple. This was prophesied in Psalm 44 LXXII [45]. They were met by the High Priest Zacharias, who guided the child Mary into the Holy of Holies. We hear in the Protoevagelium, “Now Mary was in the Temple of the Lord like a dove being fed and she received food from the hand of an angel.” This was the Archangel Gabriel (notice the top left corner of the icon). What happened from age three until the mid-teenage years when we know that the Annunciation took place is not completely detailed. But we know the Virgin piously stayed in the Temple and found favour with God until her betrothal to Joseph.
The material concerning these years can be found in these ancient writings, As we commemorate these events perhaps reading some of these books could expand your understanding. We must know that the Church has not endorsed these writings as canonical, but looks on them as resources to expand and enhance our faith journey. God Bless and Have a Blessed Thanksgiving
The Human Transformation through Repentance – St Mary of Egypt
Even though we are months away from the commemoration of St. Mary of Egypt, her story can resonate in our hearts as we try to learn the true meaning of repentance. I pray you enjoy this remembrance prepared by Trisagion Films. May St. Mary’s prayers join with the intercessions of the Mother of God to bring us true metanoia, a change of our heart and our lives. God Bless….fr.g
The Protection of the Theotokos
Today our Holy Church celebrates the “Holy Protection of the Theotokos” the feast originated in the vision that St. Andrew, the Fool for Christ, had of the Theotokos covering the faithful who prayed to her. On October 1, 911 St. Andrew saw in his vision of the Theotokos hovering over the faithful protecting them with her veil (omophorion) as they prayed in the Church of the Mother of God – Blachernae in Constantinople. She was safeguarding all who prayed for her protection.
What does this mean for us today over a thousand years later? As Orthodox Christians, the communion of the saints and the power of prayer are realities that we cannot underestimate. The Mother of God stands at the throne of Our Lord ever praying and interceding for us, her children. From the cross Christ said to the Theotokos, “Woman behold your son!” and to His beloved disciple, St. John, “Behold Your Mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19, 26-27). At the foot of Christ’s cross, the Theotokos became a mother to all of us. The Apolytikion of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos remind us:
In giving birth, O Theotokos, you have retained your virginity,
and in falling asleep you have not forsaken the world. You who
are the Mother of Life have past over into life and through your
prayers you do deliver our souls from death.
“You have not forsaken the world….” This is the essence of the Theotokos’, ever-present ever-watchful, ever-praying protection for us, her children. Such is the love of a Mother. Throughout the ages, she appears to holy people and people in distress to assure us of her continuing care. St Andrew is not the only one that has seen her. People who have seen her are people like you or I. She has appeared in churches, to monks on Mount Athos, in hospital rooms and in other places that she knows need her loving care. She appears to comfort and reassure her children that she is protecting us through her constant prayers. The hymns of the Church remind us that she is “more honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim.” She stands at the right hand of her Son, the model of the Church interceding always for those who in faith call upon her. As we celebrate the Feast of Her Protection let us join with the angels to sing this hymn from the Divine Liturgy According to St. Basil:
All of creation rejoices in you, O full of grace; the assembly
of the angels and the human race, You are a sanctified temple
and a spiritual paradise, the glory from whom God was incarnate
and became a child – Our God, existing before all ages. He made
your womb a throne, and your body more spacious than the
heavens. All of creation rejoices in you, O full of grace.
Glory to You!
Most Holy Theotokos Pray for us! God Bless…..fr g
Orthodoxy 101 – The Dormition of the Theotokos August 2020
This is the first Zoom Class of Orthodoxy 101. It is a trial class of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Recorded August 13, 2020. Please excuse any technical glitches and our experimenting with the format. Thank you……dn g
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Zoodochos Pege (The Life Giving Spring)
On Bright Friday (the Friday after Pascha) our Holy Church commemorates the Life Giving Spring of the Mother of God. This miraculous font of water was located at the site of a beautiful church in a suburb of Constantinople. In the 9th century, Joseph the Hymnographer gave the title “Zoodochos Pege” (Life-giving Spring) to a hymn for the Theotokos.
Apolytikion (Tone 3)
As a life-giving fount, thou did conceive the Dew that is transcendent in essence,
O Virgin Maid, and thou hast welled forth for our sakes the nectar of joy eternal,
which does pour forth from your fount with the water that springs up
unto everlasting life in unending and mighty streams;
wherein, taking delight, we all cry out:
Rejoice, O you Spring of life for all men.
Kontakion (Plagal of Tone 4)
O Lady graced by God,
you reward me by letting gush forth, beyond reason,
the ever-flowing waters of your grace from your perpetual Spring
I entreat you, who bore the Logos, in a manner beyond comprehension,
to refresh me in your grace that I may cry out,
“Hail redemptive waters.”
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