Father George Bithos' weblog
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
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
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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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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Christ is Born…. Glorify Him!
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Question: I have heard other “church leaders” say that virgin birth is just a myth, is this true? The only thing true about this statement is that it has been said. For us Orthodox Christians one of the sad things about modern Christianity is that we have stopped using the word Heresy. It is quite “vogue” to point fingers at historical beliefs of the Church and to say, “Oh those were unsophisticated ideas for simple people.” If one takes the time to read the theological opinions and treatises of the Fathers and Mothers of the Church, you cannot use the word “unsophisticated” about them in any way. The post-modern concepts that ridicule the teachings as “unscientific” and folk tales only cast shadows on the expounders of such ideas. The theology of Virgin Birth took hundreds of years to be developed and formed in the life of our Church. The theology of Christ as Fully God and Fully man had an impact on the understanding of Mary of Nazareth. Today, in the Gospel reading of the Genealogy of Christ, Matthew 1, 1 – 25. We are confronted by the humanity of Christ and His entire human lineage. But, what about “virgin birth” how could that happen? There is the greatest question of all. It could happen, because God willed to happen! This is the Mystery of Incarnation. God willed to be contained in His creation, born of His creature contained in the womb of a young Virgin. To continue this Mystery, God further willed that she would bear a child by the Holy Spirit, the pre-eternal God. The unbelievable is real. The Theotokos bears the God/Man, while retaining her virginity. For us Orthodox (and Roman Catholics), Mary remains a Virgin before, during and after Christ’s birth. How can this be? By faith, we thus believe in God’s promise and fulfilment in Christ Jesus. Mary is the “panagia” forever holy. Perpetually Virgin, pure and a willing participant in the greatest miracle in the history of the world. Miracles are not explained they are believed. Our icons of the Theotokos testify to this reality. The stars on the maphorion (veil) of the Theotokos show us three stars. One on her Forehead and one each on her shoulders. A Virgin: before, during and after the Nativity of our Lord.
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Today is one of those days of preparation that the Church provides us to get ready for a holiday. Tomorrow, we commemorate the Conception of the Theotokos. Today, we get ready. We have an opportunity to pause and consider the importance of the coming event. Where should we look for a better understanding of the feast? Like many feasts of the Church this occurrence is not documented “in the Bible,” yet it is a significant happening in salvation history. Where does one go to learn about this festival? Where do you start? I decided to ask this question out loud; so that we could learn from each other. We know that the hymns of the Church describe the theology of a feast. What do they say? The Troparion sung at the Vespers for tomorrow speaks of the “bonds of barrenness being loosed” and of the “prayers” of Joachim and Anna asking for “birth beyond hope.” What do these clues tell us? If we read closely, we see that this couple was without children and beyond the hope of having children, they prayed for God to change their life. In an earlier post, we stated that many of our hymnographers got inspiration from the other writings, from the Christian Apocrypha. The book, the Protevagelium of James, (The Infancy Gospel of James) tells us the story of the birth of the Virgin Mary. We read in the first part of this book about the “prayer of St. Anna.” In her garden, Anna turns to God in her prayer. She describes her barren womb as contrasted to the fruitfulness of the natural creation. Anna begs Our Lord to bless her and allow to “bring forth fruit in her season.” An angel of the Lord appears to St. Anna and informs her that God has heard her prayer. He tells her that she would conceive and give birth to a child. In gratitude, Anna pledges to dedicate her child as a gift to God, since it would be a gift from God. Not only are these ancient sources inspiration for hymnographers; but also for iconographers (as we can see above). The child, which the angel announces is conceived as every child is, as a blessing from God; but this child is a blessing for all of humanity. ]]>
Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον
καὶ ἠγαλλίασεν τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου,
ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν τῆς δούλης αυτοῦ.
ἰδού γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦσίν με πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί,
ὅτι ἐποίησέν μοι μεγάλα ὁ δυνατός,
καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς
τοῖς φοβουμένοις αυτόν.
Ἐποίησεν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ,
διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν·
καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων
καὶ ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς,
πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν
καὶ πλουτοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλεν κενούς.
ἀντελάβετο Ἰσραὴλ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ,
μνησθῆναι ἐλέους,
καθὼς ἐλάλησεν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν
τῷ Αβραὰμ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
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My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from this day all generations will call me blessed;
For the mighty one has done great things to me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the holy;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed forever.
Even though the number of times we encounter the expectant Virgin are very rare; our humble reaction should echo Elizabeth’s exclamation. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ]]>