THE TENTH SUNDAY OF MATTHEW
Matthew 17:14-23

EPILEPSY

Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic,
and sore vexed.

Man, my beloved, when he emerged from the creative hands of God, resembled a fine statue that had just come out of a sculptor’s studio.  He glowed with physical and spiritual purity and health.  He had no germs.  His eyes, ears, hands, feet, lungs, heart, kidneys, and every organ of his body, to the very last cell, were healthy and in an excellent state.

In the same way that no one would suggest that a soulless statue was rendered without a sculptor, no thinking, logical being would suggest that man, with a soul and reason, was made by chance.  Someone designed him and created him.  That creator was God.
If there were no other creation and only man, this excellent creation would be enough to prove that there is a God.  The phrase “know thyself” leads to “know God”.  The knowledge of man is connected to the knowledge of God.  Man is an image of God.
Man emerged from the hands of God healthy and was destined for immortality.  But unfortunately, the first man sinned, and sin made him mortal.  Like a terrible germ, sin corrupted the soul; it also corrupted the bodily organisms of man.  The body began to be affected by different diseases, which, with the passing of time, have increased.  Today, the number of sicknesses cannot be counted.  There is not a part or a cell of the human body that remains unaffected by different germs.  Man, under attack by so many sicknesses, resembles a statue that barbarous hands have hit and mutilated, destroying its original beauty.  Man is a ruin, a museum of diseases and sicknesses.
One of the many illnesses is epilepsy, a disorder of the brain that causes some people to suffer periodically unexpected spasms that make the whole body shake.  Like an earthquake, epileptic episodes occur at unexpected times and last but a few seconds.  The sick person having a seizure loses his senses and falls down.  He gnashes his teeth.  Because, as we said, seizures cannot be predicted, the epileptic runs the risk of disaster.  If he is near a well, river, lake or sea, he could fall into the water.  If he’s near fire, he could fall into it and be burned.  If he’s standing at some craggy place, he could fall and be killed.
Epilepsy is an ancient disease.  In spite of all the progress in medicine, epilepsy, which is sometimes due to hereditary causes from the dissolute and wanton life of our ancestors, continues to remain difficult to cure.  The ancients saw that the seizures associated with the disease coincided many time with the full moon, and they thought that the moon caused the illness.  Therefore, they called epilepsy selenianism, or lunacy.  But, as St. John Chrysostom observed, the moon does not cause epilepsy.  Satan, wanting to defame the works of God, exploited these coincidences and spread the myth that the moon was the cause of this sickness.  In addition, there are situations, by God’s concession, in which the devil becomes the cause of physical illnesses to torment man.
In this category of illnesses, which by God’s concession are caused by the devil, is the case of the epileptic in today’s Bible reading.  This youth, as the Bible describes, had the characteristics of epilepsy, or selenianism.  But his epilepsy was caused by the devil.  That is why this epileptic youth is also called a demoniac.
Oh, what mysteries there are in this world.  Sicknesses that are thought of as having natural causes, are at their depths probably caused by some demonic energy.  We live in a world that is under the influence of different visible and invisible factors.  Naturally, in the end, God is proved to be the Lord.  But there are times in the life of an individual, of families and communities, in which the demonic element dominates because of the sins of man.  During these times, Satan is called the ruler of the world by St. Paul.
The epileptic young man in today’s Bible reading was under the influence of the satanic spirit.  His situation was awful.  When a crises took place, he foamed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth, and was in danger of falling into water or fire.  He was a burden for his unfortunate parents, who could not leave him alone but followed him everywhere.
After many efforts by his father to cure him, the epileptic son was cured by Christ.  He was cured immediately with only one word.  Christ ordered the demon to come out.  The demon came out, and the young man was cured instantly.  Whatever the devil had been building over years and years, Christ knocked down in one moment.  Oh Christ!  You are the conqueror of demons, of sin and of death.  You are the physician of souls and bodies, and to you belong honor and glory to the ages of ages.
The question arises: Are there seleniatics, or lunatics, today?  Unfortunately, yes.  There are two kinds of selenism.  In one form, the body is attacked by the physical illness of epilepsy.  This kind of selenianism is very small compared with the other form of selenianism, in which the afflicted do not suffer from epilepsy of the body but are infected by awful social diseases that destroy the youth of today.  These diseases are debauchery, lewdness, and unmentionable passions of the flesh.  They are alcohol and drugs.  These vices destroy the health of people.  They can cause the most healthy organism to be filled with horrible diseases.  Young people who have fallen victim to these diseases end up in neurological clinics, psychiatric hospitals, or asylums for the chronically ill; some even commit suicide.
Who will save these moon-struck young people of our times?  Only Christ.  Only if parents and guardians, teachers and professors, priests of the Most High, and every person who aches for the youth and for this country lead them to Christ, Who continues to live and reign for all the ages.

**********

Απόσπασμα του βιβλίου «ΣΤΑΓΟΝΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΥΔΩΡ ΤΟ ΖΩΝ», του Μητροπολίτου Φλωρίνης Αυγουστίνου Ν. Καντιώτου, εκδοση Γ΄, σελ. 200.
Η μετάφραση στα Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του πατρός Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά με την εν Χριστώ αγάπη εις ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν των απανταχού της γης Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
προς δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

This chapter was taken from the book “DROPS FROM THE LIVING WATER” by Bishop Augoustinos N. Kantiotes.

e-mail: ibmgs3@verizon.net

www.orthodoxinfo.com/ibmgs

APRIL 23 SAINT GEORGE

23 ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΥ – Η ΓΙΟΡΤΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ

Απόσπασμα του βιβλίου «ΜΥΡΙΠΝΟΑ ΑΝΘΗ», του Μητροπολίτου Φλωρίνης π. Αυγουστίνου Καντιώτου
Η μετάφρασι ολόκληρου του βιβλίου στά Αγγλικά έγινε από τον ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π. Αυγουστίνου, π. Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά και με την έν Χριστώ αγάπη εις ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού της γης καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
προς δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

«Θαυματός ό Θεός έν τοίς αγίοις αυτού» (Ψαλμ.67:36)

APRIL 23
SAINT GEORGE

THE MARTYRS ARE THE PROOF OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

On the 23rd of April, my beloved Christians, our Church honors the memory of Saint George the Great Martyr.  We will speak about him here.  Before we speak about Saint George, however, we will say a few words about Easter; because the Feast of Saint George usually comes near Easter and has a relationship with the great Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord.

Easter, is the feast of feasts and celebration of celebrations.  Angels and Archangels, the most holy Theotokos, and the righteous rejoice in the Resurrection of the Lord.  We rejoice as well, because there came immortality from His grave, forgiveness of our sins, and triumph over sin, death, and Lucifer.  As Saint John Chrysostom says so wonderfully in his Catechetical homily, which those who stay until the end of Divine Liturgy of Easter hear, “Let no one grieve at His poverty; for the universal Kingdom hath been revealed.  Let no one mourn that he hath fallen again and again; for forgiveness hath risen from the grave.  Let no one fear death; for the Death of our Savior hath set us free!”  Which is to say: Those of you who are poor, do not be upset; Christ is riches.  Those of you who are sinners, wipe away your tears; Christ forgives your sins.  Those of you who fear death, have courage; Christ has defeated death.

The Resurrection, like the sun, spread joy and happiness everywhere.  Even dead nature, which is resurrected in springtime rejoices and dresses in its festive clothing, and the spring flowers cry out also in their own way “Christ is risen!”
God’s joy!  Only Satan mourns and laments, and with him all those who do not want to believe in Christ and continue to live in unbelief and corruption.  Even on the day of the Resurrection they do not fell anything holy and spiritual, but live like beasts without God, without Christ, and alas only the name Christian remains on them.

The Easter of the Lord!  The joy of the Christians, however, continues and near the Resurrection of Christ we celebrate the Feast of Saint George the Great Martyr.  His memory is celebrated on the 23rd of April.  But when the 23rd of April comes before Easter, during the time of mourning, then the feast of Saint George, it has been decided, is celebrated on the second day after Easter.  And this is proof that our Church has the right to change the days of the Feasts.  The foremost matter here is not so important when we celebrate, but how we celebrate.  If Christians rush to dances on holy days, to drunkenness, fornication, adultery and to every filthiness and crime, going to work would be preferable.  These Christians do not honor, but dishonor the saint; they cheapen the name Christian and give the unbelievers the right to criticize our faith.

Let us say, though, a few words about the Feast of Saint George now.  Saint George is beloved not only in our country, but also in other Christian countries.  Millions of men are called George; Kings, Princes, Generals, Scientists, rich and poor, workers, farmers have the name George and celebrate their nameday.  Women too have the name Georgia.  There is not a home in Greece that does not have a relative with the name of Saint George.  But why is there so much honor for Saint George?

* * *
Saint George was one of the greatest heroes of Christendom.  He was born and suffered the martyr’s death during the time of an awful persecution against Christians, that an evil blood thirsty emperor, Diocletian, set forth.  George came from the country of Cappadocia, a district of Asia Minor which gave birth to so many saints and martyrs.  His father was arrested, confessed Christ and suffered the martyr’s death when George was a little boy.  George was the son of a martyr.  His widowed mother, a pious woman, went to his father’s grave often, and there with both of them kneeling, they prayed to God.  George burned with the holy desire to follow the example of his father and become a martyr for Christ too.  When he grew up, he served in the army.  He was an excellent soldier, obedient, brave, fearless in battle.  He loved his country, he chased after the barbarians who invaded it, burned down houses and slaughtered children and women.  Saint George was the protector of the weak.  Due to his bravery, he quickly climbed high and reached the top offices of the army.  He became a general.

When a persecution was declared against Christians and all the officers were asked to declare that they were not Christians and that they believed in the idols, George did not hesitate at all to do that which he should.  He did not deny Christ, as others did.  He declared that he was a Christian and that no power in the earth would change his faith.  When the Emperor heard this he was very sorry, because this most brave general was a Christian.  In the beginning they tried to change his mind in a pleasant way.  They promised him every honor and office.  George, however, rejected all the offers and remained steadfast and unshakeable.  Then his martyrdom began; a martyrdom of the worst kind.  At first they threw him in a dark prison.  Then they placed him on a wheel, which was a torturing instrument; with its sharp nails the wheel tore the flesh, made the blood of man run, and then the person die.
Christ however, by His grace helped the martyr and defeated the pain.  Not only this, but he also performed miracles.  He resurrected a dead man from the grave; the destroyed a large dragon that was eating people; he went to the temple of the idols and with his prayers brought down all of the statues and made the demons shout and say, that there is only one true God and He is the God of George.  This seems unbelievable to many, but Christ declared that whoever believes in Him will perform miracles, he will step on scorpions and snakes and defeat all the power of the enemy.

* * *

What Saint George did he did not do by his own power; he did it with the power of Christ, who defeated sin and death and rose from the dead and gives power to everyone who is faithful to defeat their enemies.  Thus every saint is also proof that Christ is the true God.  The life, the martyrdoms, and the miracles of the saints cannot have any other explanation that that Christ rose from the dead and lives and reigns, and that it is He Who gives His power and grace so that weak and sinful people may become heroes and martyrs.  Thousands of people, who saw the martyrdom and the miracles of the saint, believed and were baptized in the name of Christ.

My Christians!  It is not appropriate to simply celebrate the feast of Saint George; we must also imitate the saint in his virtues, and especially in the bravery that he showed all of his life.  Did the saint kill the dragon, as it appears in his icon?  We have dragons too and they are our passions and vices.  Who does not have them?  Onward, let us fight those internal dragons!  Whoever fights and defeats his passions with the help of Christ, becomes a worthy imitator of Saint George.  This Christian is proof that Christ who was resurrected lives in our time, succeeds, and triumphs.  Christ is risen, my brothers and sisters!  To the Crucified and Risen Christ belongs honor and glover forever.

EASTER SUNDAY

John 1:1-17

Απόσπασμα από βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΣΤΑΓΟΝΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΥΔΩΡ ΤΟ ΖΩΝ»!  Για την Κυριακή του ΠΑΣΧΑ.
Η μετάφρασι στα Αγγλλικά έγινε από τον ακούραστο εργάτη και αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π. Αυγουστίνου, π. Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά και με την εν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απανταχού της γης και επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
προς δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

GOD’S CHILDREN

But as many as received him to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.

Imagine, beloved, that on some street of a big city there is an orphan child who has been abandoned by relatives and friends and is hungry, barefoot, and dirty. No on pays any attention to the plight of this child.  A king suddenly comes by on that street.  His carriage stops.  The king gets out.  He feels compassion for the child and approaches him.  He speaks to the orphan with much love and makes the child weep with emotion.  The good king isn’t satisfied with just words, he shows the child actual love.  He takes the child in his arms, puts it in his coach, and takes him to his palace.  There he gives an order that the child should be bathed, clothed in new clothes, and let to the royal table.  He adopts the child.

The story is parabolic.  Who is that naked, hungry and dirty child who sat on the street corner, frozen by the cold, asking for help from passerbys, his body shaking from spasms of crying?  Who is the king, that oh so good king, who took the ragged child to his palace, cleaned him, clothed him, fed him, and adopted him into his own family?
The child in a miserable condition is anyone who has descended from that first-created pair, Adam and Eve.  As we know, the first people were created “according to the image and likeness of God”.  For a dwelling place, the Creator gave them paradise.  The first couple had everything: clean air, crystalline water, trees heavy with fruit, sweet singing birds, and above all a pure and continuous communion with God.  Man was very happy in paradise, physically and spiritually.

Bud man didn’t stay there, he sinned.  Man lost paradise, and his heart became infected by sin.  He became spiritually unclean and started to commit all sorts of transgressions.  He lived far from God, spiritually finding himself in a miserable condition.  He was glued to the darkness of error and transgression and was like that unclean, miserable child whom we saw in the parable.  It wasn’t just one man but all of mankind.
Man unclean!  He may appear externally rich and glorious.  He may dress in bright clothes.  But the soul, which is the main man, is unclean and stinking.  What is the value of external appearance?  Before Christ man felt his wretchedness, groaned, and asked for cleansing and redemption.
After many centuries, the dawn of the great day came.  The king came – not an earthly king, who is only a shadow no matter how great he may be before the actual king, who created the world from nothing and who governs and directs the universe.  The king is Christ.  He is the “king of kings”, and the “lord of the lords”.  Do we believe it?  Then, let us fall down and venerate him, and with gratitude, let us say:  “Hail, our king.”  The soldiers said these words with scorn. But let us say them with deep faith and endless gratitude.

Christ!  He is the king who saw man as wretched, unclean, and miserable – in a worse condition than the abandoned child.  He pitied man and, in his compassion, washed him in his priceless blood, clothed him with the bright robe of resurrection, and made him a child of God.
Man, wretched and unclean, smelling worse than a dead dog, because of the crucified and resurrected Christ, the all-ruling king, was purified, brightened, and raised to heaven to become a child of God.  What an honor, what a glory!
What we write is not a fantasy.  It is a reality.  Today’s Bible reading of the Resurrection preaches that man was raised from darkness to light – from the depths to the heights of heaven – from wretchedness and hell to paradise.

Let us look closely at the verse that speaks about the effects of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection for the world.  “But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe in His name”.  Do you hear?  Christ does not discriminate.  Anyone, man or woman, Greek or Jew, slave or free, whatever the country of his origin, whatever his tongue, from whatever age he may live in, if he believes in Christ and is baptized, that man shall see the great miracle.  Inside that man, a transformation that only the angels and archangels can see shall take place.  That transformation means that the man is adopted and becomes a child of God.
The Christian a child of God!  Do you know what that means, my dear Christians?  If a poor, ragged child is adopted by a rich and powerful man, and one day shall become heir to a vast fortune, he is called fortunate by the people of his age.  How much more blessed is the Christian, who has been adopted and becomes a child of God – an heir to God and co-inheritor with Christ.
The Christian a child of God!  This means that he is under the omnipotent presence of God.  What can he be afraid of now?  Nothing.  With him is He who surpasses in power the most powerful on earth:  He is the omnipotent God.  A Christian doesn’t fear death, which so many people in the world fear.  For the unbeliever, death is frightening.  For the believer, death offers no fear.  Christ rose from the dead, and with his resurrection, destroyed the might of death.  The Christian is no longer that unfortunate child who cried before death.  He is the blessed child of God.

What a great blessing Christ gave to man with his coming to earth, with his death on the Cross, and with his resurrection!  To Christ, then, belongs glory and honor to the ages of ages. Amin.

MHTROPOLITOY FLORINHS AYGOYSTINOY KANTIOTOY

Miracles…Science

(ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ… Η ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗ)

Απόσπασμα από τό βιβλίο του π.Αυγουστίνου «ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ» – μετάφρασι είs τήν Αγγλικήν από π. Αστέριο Γεροστέργιος

Beloved, if you meet a man who boasts about the progress of modern science and you speak to him about the miracles of our holy faith, about Christ’s miracles, the miracles of the saints, he will scoff and say “The time is past when people believed in the miracles of religion.  The only miracles that I believe in are the miracles of science!”  and if you, who knows what a miracle is, what the real meaning of a miracle is, express some doubt as to what your friend, the fanatic follower of science is saying, which he has deified, he will become angry and start recounting the miracles that science is performing today, Science in its various branches.
See!  They tell us.  When man saw the eagle flying in the heights in the past and marveled, and even proclaimed it a god, through Science he managed to make airplanes and rise to the heights of heaven, he surpassed the king of birds.  Man, who at one time saw the lion and heard its ferocious roar which shook the desert, man who ran and hid in caves from it made automatic weapons which in a few seconds prides of lions from afar defeat.  Man, who at one time saw endless seas and trembled at the sound of its fearsome waves, succeeded in sailing across the oceans through Science, going down into their depths and overcoming its great creatures, the whales and the leviathans.  Through Science made bridges, changed the courses of rivers, divided the dry places, joined seas, captured the thunderbolt, sent his voice from one end of the earth to the other, and now not only do you hear him but see him, no matter how far he might be.  Science made man god.  What is the need for God and miracles?  Man performs miracles today, scientific man, who puts all value in the mind.  The great nations seek brains.  And again between them, who is going to buy…brains, which of them will get the most powerful minds, so that through them they manage to perform the great miracle, to be first to reach the moon and Mars…Miracles of engineering, miracles of ship-building, miracles of Astronomy, miracles…Science performs miracles everywhere!
But let us put aside all of the other Sciences, the science fanatic says, and let us come to one Science which out of all of the so-called Sciences offers the most precious of services to man, occupied as it is with the most precious of all of man’s material treasures, his death.  It is Medical Science.  What progress has it not made in recent years!  What miraculous results!  How many people has it snatched from death’s embrace!  Especially that branch of medical science called surgery.  What has it not done!  The day is not far off when spare parts will be manufactured for the various organs of the human body.  And just as there are spare parts stores for automobiles today, and when a part wears out the owner goes to the store and buys a spare, replaces it and the car runs again, in the same way there will be stores which will be selling the various organs of the body.  The bad eye will be replaced with a good one.  The bad ear with another, the hear with another.  Science will produce these new organs, these artificial organs.  How?  A description was recently published in it.  Life magazine describing from which materials the parts of the human body will be made.  They have started to make a few of the them already.  “And so a man will have arteries made of dacron, metal joints of fingers and toes, electronic systems to support the functioning of gall, tendons from silicone, plastic bones (horn shaped plastic materials), metal joints of the shoulder, jaws from ceramics, silicone tracheas, crania from the bones of animals, ears of silicone, electric systems regulating blood pressure, hearts and chests out of silicon, thigh bones of metal, and kidney and liver transplants.  Besides synthetic hearts and lungs which are still at the testing stage, a man could have all these artificial parts.”

***

These are the miracles that Science performs today, shouts the worshiper of Science.  But we ask: Do the miracles of Medical Science, as well as every other Science, no matter how great they are, do they abrogate the miracles of the divine, the miracles of faith?  We wish to address two questions to all admirers of Science:
First: You have said Science produces organs of the body.  Well!  Which one of you would like to have one of your healthy natural organs replaced with an artificial one?  There will not be one of you because you know that the natural one is perfect, while the other one, the artificial one, which has been made to replace the defective one will not be as good as the natural one, no matter how good it is.  The natural eye is one thing and the artificial one is another.  A natural ear is one thing, an artificial one another, as is a natural heart and an artificial one.  We trust in the natural one, the healthy one.  It comes from an unseen laboratory that makes first rate organs and limbs, while the others, the artificial ones, are imperfect imitations of the first.
The second and the more important question is: The laboratory that makes human replacement organs is not, as we said, perfect.  There are organs that cannot be manufactured artificially!  “Because, as the above-mentioned magazine reports, some human organs are so complex that science has not been able to make mechanical substitutes or replace them through transplantation for a long duration.  One of these organs is the liver, which performs more than 5,000 functions.  The construction of a substitute for such an astonishing organ will take many years, therefore the doctors are concentrating all of their efforts in transplantation, or the borrowing of natural organs from donors.”
The manufacture of these organs is, therefore, imperfect.  But let us assume that Science manages to create artificial organs with which it can replace all of the organs of the body.  And these will be the parts the laboratory will produce, muscles, nerves, veins, kidneys, lungs, ears, hearts, eyes, all of them artificial.  All of them will have to be manufactured.  These are true miracles, man will exclaim, on seeing these complex and delicate items in the showcases of such places that will be selling them.  Now if someone were to visit a factory that made such “miracles”, or Science, and did not show amazement but looked at it all and was indifferent, what would you say?  Oh, how senseless can he be!  Not to be moved by such a presentation of miraculous creations of the human brain!  And if someone else visits this factory, this pride of Science, and is not only indifferent but says to those other visitors who are admiring everything, “Why are you looking at those things?  Why are you amazed?  That stuff made itself.  No one designed them.  No one put them together.  All of the parts and pieces came together.  Yes, they came together by themselves.”
And what would those people who are amazed at what Science has done say to this person?  This man is not well, they would say.  He should be locked up because only someone who is insane can say that all of these delicate organs and things that so many brains of the scientists labored to construct came together accidentally out of the earth…
And now we are present with the inexorable question:  Is there a scientist who has designed and created these artificial organs of the human body who is worthy of admiration?  And there is no supreme MIND that made the superb natural organs of the human body?  O, you proud scientists!  You see miracles in your laboratories, yet you do not see the great miracle of nature, in God’s laboratory.  The copies of those original works have their copyists.  But the prototypes do not have an author.  “Understand, O dullest of the people!  Fools, when will you be wise?”  (Psalms 94: 8 RSV)

***

Oh man!  Humble yourself before your Creator.  He Who created all of these marvelous things, He Who planted the ear for hearing, the eye for seeing, the heart to beat.  He also gave thought to man as a ray of the Mind, to study His works, to discover the laws by which they move and are based.  And some copy them weakly and partially in order to become small creators themselves.  But who does not see that these works, no matter how wondrous they may be, and which are even called miracles of Science, are small and unimportant by comparison to the works of Nature.  Even rockets and spaceships which we in our days admire, lead to haughtiness, and are not like according to the prophecy of St. Cosmas, like squashes that the Devil is bringing around?  And really, compare a spaceship, which, astonishingly, has the shape of a zucchini, with one of the countless starts, and you will see how true the prophecy of St. Cosmas is, which was prophesized 200 years ago.  But unfortunately, egotism opens the eyes of man so that he only sees the lesser successes of human knowledge and closes them so that he does not see the countless miracles of the Creator of All, Who by His nature performs miracles.  According to St. John Chrysostom, it is very easy for God to make miracles, as easy as it is for us to talk.

Απόσπασμα από τό βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ»!   Η μετάφρασι στά Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π.Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί μέ τήν έν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού τής γής καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

Great and Small Miracles

Our subject is about miracles.  What kind of miracles, beloved?  If you make the effort and visit a sacred shrine at which there are holy relics that have the grace to perform miracles or expel demons, you will hear people at the place talking about the miracles of the saint.  They will remember all of the details…  “Do you know – they will tell you- it wasn’t long ago that they brought an unfortunate young man to the Saint.  He looked awful.  His eyes were wild.  He was foaming at the mouth.  He was grinding his teeth.  His body was convulsing.  They had him chained.  But at the height of the crisis he broke those heavy chains as though they were strings.  He was human, but he seemed like a beast.  Or something worse.  He was possessed.  But when the litany took place and the relics passed over him where he was lying, he started to scream horribly:  O, Holy One!  You burned me…  And after the screams and the convulsions, the young man became well.  He was completely peaceful.  The demon had come out of him.  And he is not the only who is possessed by demons.  There are others that the saint has cured.  He is, you see, a wonder-worker.  He is a great dispossessor of demons…”

***

These are the things that the man, the friend of the saint, says about the miracles of the saint in his locale.  Very well.  We do not question the miracles, the actual miracles of the saint.  But you who are amazed at the miracle of the expulsion of the demons, are asked to marvel at a miracle which is greater than these, which takes place at these holy shrines.  What is it?  We are not saying this, but St. John Chrysostom.  He says that the sin that every man commits is a “great demon.”  The holy father does not personify sin in a poetic way and denies the existence of the Devil, because St. John Chrysostom does believe in the existence of demons, but because sin brothers and moves and brings about more catastrophes that the Devil.  He, certainly, instigates and stirs up the fire of sin within us, and enters into man’s heart through it, but it is through the consent of man’s will which has the greatest responsibility for it.  Sin should have stayed out of the dwelling place of the soul.  This demon should stay out of it.  From this point of view, this sin is called “the great demon.”  And how difficult is the expulsion, the uprooting of the sin, any sin that has its roots in the heart of man!  The evil nests inside the person far worse than the demons in the few cases of the demoniacs.  Would you like an example?  Take a small devil.  We call smoking a small devil.  It is known how much damage this small devil does.  Ask one of your friends now, a heavy smoker, to stop smoking.  That is to say, to expel the demon of smoking.  Will he be able to do it?  How many people does this small demon conquer!  That is why, we repeat, the expelling of sin from the heart, is – according to St. John Chrysostom – a greater miracle than the miracle of the expulsion of demons.  “If you uproot sin, you are greater than those that have the ability to expel myriads of demons.” (P. G. Migne 58, 387)
Oh Christian of Cephalonia and of any other island or city that boasts of the miraculous powers of their patron saint, you can perform greater miracles if you want to.  Fight your passions and evils.  For by defeating them, you defeat legions of demons, you put foreign armies to fight.  (Hewbrews 11:34)
Would you like to continue the comparisons between great and small miracles?  Listen, please, to other instances, too.
If you see a patient whose hand is totally paralyzed suddenly become well against all of the predictions of the doctors, you will shout:  this is a miracle!  And certainly it is a miracle.  But there is an even greater miracle.  What is it?  Do you see that avaricious person?  He has never given to charity.  His hand is paralyzed when it comes to doing good.  And if suddenly see this stingy man opening his purse, opening his barns, and distributing his surplus goods, won’t this be a miracle?  A hand that never gave alms now giving alms?  A hand that stinginess had paralyzed now moves and works for the benefit of others?  Why is it that you are more astonished by the miracle of the cure of a paralytic and you are not astonished even more at the spiritual cure and the moral change of an avaricious man into a generous one?
Here is another example.  There is someone who is lame, who cannot talk easily.  If he suddenly becomes well, his lameness is gone and you see him walking freely, you say that a miracle has happened.  But here is a person who for years has not come to church.  He is like the lame man.  Worse than the lame man, the cripple.  Because we have even seen invalids ask and be brought to the places of worship from their homes on the great holy days.  While he does not even take a step toward church.  But suddenly, he who has not gone to church in over twenty years, runs with gladness and joy like a deer to the dwelling place of the Lord.  Is not this spiritual change of the man a miracle?  His spiritual lameness was cured, which the Prophet Elias censured in the past (3 Kings 18: 21).  And now with a steady and sturdy step walks on the road of the Lord.
Now here is a fourth miracle.  There is a person who goes to the movies regularly.  His eyes are glued on the screen, on the scene, on the actors who stir up the fires of lust.  There is a zealous Christian who convinces him that according to the word of the Lord viewing such shameful spectacles is a sin, and that if he wants to see and delight in beauty and loveliness he will find them in another environment, a spiritual one.  If he convinces him, and the man stays away totally from those shameful spectacles, and now only looks upon what is decent and right, this zealous Christian performed a miracle.  He opened eyes that were closed to virtue and holiness.
And the last miracle.  There is someone else who has never gone to hear a sermon.  He shuts off his hearing.  He hates and abhors the preaching of the Bible.  That sad situation continues for years.  The man is spiritually deaf.  But suddenly a good Christian convinces him to listen to a preacher.  From then on he is changed.  Now he respects it.  He runs to church.  His ears are fixed on the holy word.  He was deaf and now he can hear.  Is not this miracle greater than a deaf man getting cured?
St. John Chrysostom preaches that these kinds of miracles that take place in the spiritual lives of men are the greatest.  They are wonderful signs.  We should pay great attention to these miracles.  By these, Christians become marvelous and great.  Through these, sinners are attracted, believe and repent.  By these miracles God is glorified.
Unfortunately, today’s Christians do not want to pay any attention to these kinds of miracles.  They seek the other kind, the external kind of miracles, and only value and pay attention to them.  That is why little spiritual progress is seen today in these Christian groups?  They are like the Jewels at the time of Christ who sought miracles continuously, and in spite of all of the miracles that they saw they remained in their unbelief and in the corruption of their hearts without making any progress.  They wanted the Lord to satisfy their insatiable curiosity, to see and hear about miracles.

***

Beloved!  At one time there was an unbeliever who ran into a believer.  He spoke ironically about his faith to the believer.  “I cannot believe the miracles the Bible speaks about – he said.  he above all, I cannot accept the idea that God took dirt and made man out of it.  Can you believe that he made man out of mud!  Can you believe those kind of things?”  And the believer answered him:  “You cannot believe this miracle.  Let me tell you about another miracle.  I am dirt, filth, and mire.  I was full of sins.  However, the Lord took me and with this mud of sin He again made me a man who thinks and feels greater and higher than physical matter…”
The first man was created out of clay.  But out of the mire of his deeds, through repentance a new creation, man becomes “a new creature.”  That man was made out of the earth, is the first miracle.  The second miracle is that the new man was created out of corrupted nature.  The second one is greater than the first one.

Απόσπασμα από τό βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ»!   Η μετάφρασι στά Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π.Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί μέ τήν έν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού τής γής καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

The Miracle of Love

ΤΟ ΘΑΥΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΑΠΗΣ

Christians were few during the first decades of the founding of the Church, very few compared to the idolaters.  For example, how many Christians were there in the city of Athens?  The Apostle Paul left a few in this famous city when he left for Corinth after preaching at Mars Hill.  As the Holy text says, “Some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysios the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” (Acts 17:34)
How many Christians were there at Veria?  How many at Thessalonika, at Philippi, and the other cities? A few?  One Christian out of a thousand?  There were no statistics at the time to tell us exactly what percentage of the people were Christian.  However, it is a fact that they were few in that vast Roman Empire.  Yet in spite of it, that tiny minority of Christians exercised enormous influence in the ancient pagan world.  The Christians of that time had an attracting power that drew people to the faith.  And what was it that especially attracted people?  The miracles?  Certainly the miracles that those Christians performed attracted people to the new faith, the true faith.  Because it was not a small thing for the idolaters to see those fishermen from Galilee and the other preachers of the Gospel mention the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and incurable diseases which no doctor and no medicine had the power to cure were cured instantly, demons which had nested in the souls of people were expelled, and the dead were raised at the mention of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But more than the miracles, what made the greatest impression was the love that the Christians of those first years of the establishment of the church were preaching and foremost were practicing in their everyday life.  Love was the greatest surprise that the Christians presented in the midst of the ancient world.  Love was “the new thing”, the great miracle that is above all other miracles, that illuminated and astonished the world.
But how?  Was there not love before the gospel was preached?  There was, but love prior to Christ was weak, confined between narrow borders and not able to rise to the heights.  The love that had the best form was that love that every man had for himself.  Love your neighbor as yourself the Law of Moses is heard to say.  But the Lord gave a new measure of love, and with this measure now calls man to measure love.  What measure?  It is His love.  A love that is not preceded by any expression of love, any virtue, any achievement that can move and attract by man, rushed from the heights of Heaven and came to earth to visit him, the indifferent, the cold, man who was wallowing in the mud of the most shameful passions, man who hated and blasphemed God and became His enemy.  Love embraced this man and opened through the Cross the faucets that washed him, cleaned him, and made him whiter than snow, and elevated him to the heavens.  O!  The love of Christ!  It went as far as Hades to defeat death and elevate man.  For sinners, for His enemies, for blasphemers, for those brought before the bar of spiritual justice, for the impious, for those on whom He should open the heavens and rain fire and sulphur, the Lord offered His blood.
If this love ceases to move man, he will become more feelingless than the rocks of Golgotha, which were touched and shaken on the day of the Crucifixion.
One has to believe this in order to understand the love of Christ.
The love, with which the Lord through His teaching and example, and especially through His sacrifice on the Cross, showed the world that this love is the new measure with which one’s love towards one’s neighbor must be measured.  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34)
The Cross of Christ, this is our measure.  Compare your love to His love and you will see how far you are from the ideal love.

***

The twelve Apostles mimicked that love that the Lord showed.  In words and deeds they showed toward others and toward the whole world.  The Apostles were united with the bonds of love, which no satanic power could break.  There were no more jealousies, hatreds, envies did not exist between them.  Any kind of weakness vanquished Christ’s love.  They were one soul in twelve bodies.  Their thoughts, feelings, words, actions, and deeds, all of their conduct, internal and external, revolved around one center, Christ.
And the early Christians mimicked Christ’s love and the love of the twelve Apostles.  And among them were some of those who were at the Praetorium on those early hours on Holy Friday and shouted: “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” against our Benefactor.  Christ’s love, which took them in and forgave them, had moved their hearts, and they wanted this divine love of His to spread into the world around them so that it might taste of it and become as happy as they had become.
All were united beneath the Cross, that eternal monument of divine love, and became a brotherhood.  “The multitude of those who believed,” says the sacred Book of Acts, “were of one heart and of one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed were his own, but they had all things in common.” (Acts 4:32)
The first Christians were elevated by this love to heights the philosophers of the ancient world were not able to achieve.  And the image of those first Christians who practiced this new commandment of the love of Christ in their everyday life, was the most magnificent sight the world had ever seen.  People were astonished at the grandeur of this love.

***

Humanity thirsted for this love, because of the hatred that burned like a sirocco, which burned the hearts of men and turned them into a dry and arid land.  The words of love by the Nazarene fell like heavenly dew into the hearts of men, because man was not created to hate but to love.  And Christ’s preaching of love brought his heart back into its proper track, to its source, to the center of life.
The pagans who saw what kind of love reigned amongst the Christians, even in the most remote areas, were astonished and said: The Christians love each other even before they know each other!  An invisible and mysterious power, like the power of gravity, connected and held the Christian people together.  And this love poured out toward the pagan world, watering and refreshing others, too, who were not within the Christian community, even toward those enemies, those terrible persecutors, those killers of Christians.  Christians were crucified, and like Christ they prayed for their crucifiers.  Christians inside their prisons and their various places of torture, also prayed for their persecutors.  This love was softened and bent the most hard-hearted, who would throw down their knives and chains and cry out that they, too, had become Christians.  –  It is said that a horrible plague broke out in Alexandria, that great pagan center of antiquity during the Second Century in the tenure of Dionysios, the holy bishop of the city.  People were dying by the hundreds.  The pagans abandoned their own people and fled the city in panic in order to be saved.  The sick were left to wait for death…  Suddenly angels appeared at the homes of those pagans.  They were the Christians of the city.  These fearless people entered the mansions and the huts of those pagans with a smile on their lips, and took upon themselves the care of the sick whose own families had abandoned them.  Many of those Christians were infected with that deadly disease and died.  But this self-sacrificing love of the Christians who were being persecuted and sacrificed even until the day before produced miraculous results, which thousands of miracles could not bring.  It conquered disbelief.  Instead of thousands of beautiful words, it showed the superiority of the Christian religion over the other religions.  Many idolaters who had hated the Christians violently now changed their minds and believed in Christ, Who gives such power to His followers so that they sacrifice themselves to their enemies.
And this was not an isolate event.  Such happenings were common in the lives of the Christians of the first centuries.
The love of Christ, then, wrote the most beautiful pages of Christian history.  And how could Christianity not spread to all of the known world after such a wonderful brilliance of Christian love?
Love, Christian love, as those Christians lived it, this is a great miracle.

***

My beloved readers!  From the magnificent picture that the Christians of the first centuries have painted, let us come to this last century, the 20th in which we live.  The Christians today are not few, the way they were as they were in the first centuries.  They are many millions.  They are one quarter of the population of the world.  They compose the most civilized parts of the world.  They are foremost in Science.  Should not love then bloom along with knowledge and science in Christian lands?  Unfortunately this is not so.  Knowledge has not watered the tree of love but managed to dry it up with the satanic pride that it cultivated.  Love has dried up.  The wild tree of hatred sprouted and grew in place of love.  Its fruit is bitter and deadly.  The land of “Christian” Europe has been transformed into a slaughterhouse.  Christians attacking Christians, tearing one another to pieces like wild animals, worse than wild animals.
This pitiful spectacle of mutual slaughter was brought on by the inhabitants of the most civilized continent of the world, which is for the most part inhabited by Christians.  They gave the rest of the world slaughter two times in the first half of this century.  Perhaps they bring it in about a third time…
Astonished, the world that does not believe in Christ has turned its sight to old lady Europe, the ancient cradle of Christianity, and continuously asks:  Are they Christian?  Are they human?  These people are wild animals.  It is not the love of one another, but the killing of one another that is their motto.  Let us get away from these beasts?  Our civilization is better…
Before this spectacle one cannot do anything but sigh and say:  It would be a thousand times better if there were a few thousand real Christians, who love one another according to the measure of Christ’s love, than the 700 million contemporary Christians who are Christian in name only, who with their selfishness, with their quarrels, their haughtiness, their egotism, their abysmal passions constitute the worst defamation of the holy religion of the Nazarene, and the greatest obstacle of the spreading to the Gospel of salvation.
The love of Christians, here, is the great miracle.  The hatred of Christians is the great scandal.
While there is time, let us listen to the voice of our Savior Christ, which calls us to leave the road of hatred and walk on the road of love, which He Himself traced through His Cross: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this will all know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34-35)

Απόσπασμα του βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΜΥΡΙΠΝΟΑ ΑΝΘΗ»!

Η μετάφρασι ολόκληρου τού βιβλίου στά Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π.Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί μέ τήν έν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού τής γής καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας τού σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

«Θαυματός ό Θεός έν τοίς αγίοις αυτού» (Ψαλμ.67:36)

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – SAINT MARY OF EGYPT (APRIL 1)

GRACE DEFEATS SIN

There are my beloved, many people who say that man cannot defeat sin, curb his habits, control his passions, change his life, and live as the Gospel recommends.  “It’s impossible”, they say, “for man to change.  In man nature dominates.  The cat catches mice, the hawk pigeons, the wolf sheep.”  “If”, they say, “the cat ceases to hunt mice, the hawk pigeons, the wolf sheep then man will also be able to defeat evil, to change his nature, and become a man of goodness and virtue.”

What does not happen in the kingdom of nature, however, happens in the kingdom of grace.  And what is the kingdom of grace?  The kingdom of grace is the Church that Christ has founded.  In the church, man, no matter how sinful and corrupt hi is , if he believes in the crucified redeemer of the world, he finds strength to expel from himself the heavy weight of his sins and become another man; from being sinful to being a saint, the wolf becoming a sheep, the crow becoming a dove, the dark of night becoming as bright as the sun.

Are there these kind of examples of moral changes in men?  Yes, there are!  There aren’t just one or two examples but many examples, ancient ones and new ones, that show the enormous influence of the power of Christ on the corrupt nature of man.  Only Christ changes man completely.  One of the finest examples of fundamental moral changes is the life of Saint Mary of Egypt.  Our Church celebrates her sacred memory on the Fifth Sunday of Lent and on the first of April.  We will try to narrate the life of Saint Mary in a few words in this homily.

***

Mary of Egypt lived in the fifth century A.D. during the reign of Emperor Justinian, who built Saint Sophia in Constantinople.  She was born in Alexandria of Egypt.  This city was one of the richest cities at this time, as well as one of the most corrupt cities in the world.  Where there is wealth there is also corruption.  It didn’t take long for Mary to get corrupted in this environment.  She was twelve years old when she started to go astray.  If a girl is not careful, but allows herself to fall into sin, it is difficult afterwards for her to control herself.  The first downfall follows the second, the second the third, and so on.  Man is like a ball, which if you let it fall from a high place will roll downwards and not stop until it reaches the very bottom – and Mary rolled downward into sin.  She fell very deeply into it.  She was corrupted to an unimaginable degree.  Shall we now describe the life she was living?  Her life was an orgy.  In the empire of the Devil she became an awful hook, and by it the Devil was catching souls and corrupting them.  Mary of Egypt was known to all and spoken of much in the corrupt society of Alexandria.  She became the Queen, the Goddess of Pleasure and shameful sin.  The corrupt youth talked about her and sacrificed everything for her favor.

Suddenly however, Mary of Egypt, the sinful woman who had scandalized and moved the city, who had led thousands of youth astray into sin, changed.  How?  Listen.  A boat was leaving from Alexandria to take pilgrims to Jerusalem.  Mary of Egypt got on this ship as well.  In spite of her sinfulness there was a spark at the depth of her heart, something that was bothering her.  Mary arrived at the Holy Land and she went to Jerusalem.
The next day was the Fourteenth of September, the day when our Church celebrates the Elevation of the Holy Cross.  Thousands of people went to pray at that Church which Saint Helen built on the place where the precious Cross of Christ was found.  Men and women were entering the Church in reverence, were approaching the Cross, knelt and venerated it.  Mary mingled with the other Christians as they reached the door of the Church.  However, when she attempted to enter an invisible force stopped her.  It was impossible for her to take a step forwards.  She understood that as a sinner she was unworthy to enter into the Church and venerate the Holy Cross.  Her sins were hindering her.  She started crying, to repent for her sinful life and to pray to the Theotokos to intercede with her Son to forgive her sins.  Her supplication was heard.  She entered the Church, venerated the precious Cross, and made the promise that she would start a new life.  Then she heard a voice telling her, “Mary if you cross the Jordan River you will find peace.”

She left Jerusalem.  She went to the Jordan River.  She found a spiritual father there.  She confessed her sins and with his permission she crossed the Jordan and proceeded into the desert.  She lived there in the desert 47 whole years.  She lived a very austere life there.  She who lived in the luxury of Alexandria; who ate and drank the most choice foods and drinks, who slept in soft beds and had all the comforts and all the pleasures of the flesh; who dressed in silk and was adorned with the most expensive bracelets and earrings, gifts of her lovers, she now lived a completely opposite life.  Her food was herbs.  Her drink the water of Jordan.  Her bed the hard earth of the desert.  Her food was grass.  Her companions the wild beasts.  For some it is frightening to think of how she lived in the desert, a woman who had been so spoiled.  By the power of the Cross she fought and defeated the Satan of the flesh and she was finally enabled to receive the immaculate mysteries from Saint Zosimas and be buried in the desert.

***

My beloved! On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, at the end of the Holy Fast, and on the first of April our Church offers the life of Saint Mary of Egypt as an excellent example of repentance.  No other man or woman must despair, no matter how many sins they have committed and say that there is no salvation for me.  No!  There is a way of salvation for all sinners; it is the way which leads to Golgotha, to the Cross of our Lord.  One drop of His blood suffices to erase and extinguish all sins.  If the cross was not risen we sinners would be in despair.  Not now, however.  Let us approach the Crucified One.  Let us kiss His immaculate feet.  Let us sprinkle them with our tears, as did Mary of Egypt.  Our conviction is what the Gospel says, that Christ came to be sacrificed and with His precious blood to redeem the world (1 John 1:17).  Grace defeats sin.

ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΤΟΥ ΦΛΩΡΙΝΗΣ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΙΝΟΥ ΚΑΝΤΙΩΤΟΥ

«Οφθαλμούς έχοντες ού βλέπουσιν» (Μαρκ.8,18)

…Μεγαλοφώνως διακηρύσσει ο ευαγγλιστής Ιωάννης «πάντα δι’ αυτού εγένετο, καί χωρίς αυτού εγένετο ουδέ έν ο γέγονεν» (Ιωαν.1,13)

Υπό τo ανωτέρω πνεύμα εγράψαμεν μίαν σειράν άρθρων, τά οποία εδημοσιεύσαμεν είς τό περιοδικόν «Ο ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ».  Τά άρθρα ταύτα προκάλεσαν ζωηρόν τό ενδιαφέρον μεταξύ τών αναγνωστών.  Τινά δ’ έξ αυτών ανεδημοσεύθησαν είς άλλα περιοδικά καί εφημερίδας.  Ταύτα, επεξειργασμένα πως καί επηυξημένα, εδίδομεν είς τό παρόν βιβλίον, καί ολοψύχως ευχόμεθα, όπως ή ανάγνωσις αυτών δώση αφορμάς είς τούς φίλους αναγνώστας διά βαθυτέρας μελέτας τών θαυμασίων τού Θεού.

Έν Φλωρίνη τή 10η Μαρτίου 1968
Κυριακή τής Ορθοδοξίας

+Ο Φλωρίνης Αυγουστίνος

Απόσπασμα από τό βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου Καντιώτου «ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ»!   Η μετάφρασι στά Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π. Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί μέ τήν έν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού τής γής καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

Miracles and Miracles

“ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ”

The world asks for miracles in order to believe, in other words, extraordinary events that exceed the Law of Nature, defeat it, and astonish reason.  For example, there is a sick person.  He suffers from an incurable disease.  No medicine can cure him.  He goes toward death with mathematical certainty.  The doctors, who know the stages of this incurable illness, foretell that his life will last only a few days or even hours.  If the patient is now taken to some holy shrine, and his relatives and friends beg the Lord with unshakable faith, and the sick person is completely cured, who can doubt that a miracle has happened, that divine intervention has taken place which has restored the patient’s health.  And the doctors who attended the sick man and were in despair, if they were now called and examined the man, they would be astonished at how the symptoms of that deadly disease had disappeared and he had become well.
A sick person who is cured in this way, a blind man who without medicines but through the invocation of the Lord’s name receives his sight, a paralytic who strongly asks God’s mercy, gets up from his bed and walks, a demoniac who is cured by the prayers and supplications of his kinfolk, are these not astonishing events?  The news that this kind of miracle has taken place somewhere stirs up the conscience and many people run to venerate at the places where miracles have taken place.  There are holy shrines in our country which are famous for the miracles that take place there because of the intervention of saints, and great numbers of people come to them at their feast days, even from distant places.  And they conduct vigil services, and wait to witness a miracle.  And they will not leave unless they see a miracle!

***

But are there not other miracles besides these, which the Blessed Lord performs in every generation through His chosen servants, the Saints?  Is the meaning of the word miracle restricted only to the cures of people with incurable diseases?  Certainly not!  There are other kinds of miracles which are not as impressive as the above.  They do not abruptly affect the senses of hearing and vision, they do not arouse the curiosity of the multitude.  They are, however, miracles.  Miracles which do not affect the material elements of a man’s body.  They do not contravene natural law but take place in the spiritual world, defeating the corrupt nature in everyone, the evils and the passions which are psychological illnesses far worse than the physical one.  And they elevate man to a higher plane of life.  To distinguish them from the first kind of miracles, let us call them the miracles of the souls and of the spiritual nature of man, moral miracles.  And these, as this talk will show, are the most important and beneficial miracles.
Let us begin with the lesser ones.  Here is a couple.  The are not rich.  They do not live in a mansion.  They live in a poor home, a hut.  They are not angles, they are human.  The man and the woman have faults and are of different personality types which in other couples would cause a storm of domestic quarrels.  But accord prevails with this couple which not only unites their bodies but their souls as well.  They pray together, they study the Word of God together, they put a great deal of effort into their personal edification.  They have been married twenty years.  They have encountered many sorrows and temptations in their life together but the fire of their love is not extinguished.  The secret of this love is Christ.  From His love they also draw their strength, to love each other and to live in harmony.
In the midst of thousands of unfortunate couples who are fighting, whose disputes are talked about everywhere, and not infrequently end up in court, in the midst of so many everyday domestic dramas, divorces, and pitiful disasters, is not a couple whose love is inextinguishable for two or three decades a miracle I ask?
That hovel that has love is a Church of Christ.
We leave that hovel where the spouses live the miracle of Christ’s love and go to a monastic or missionary brotherhood.  Is it a small thing that twenty or thirty people from different places and families come together and maintain a miraculous unity in spite of their differences in origin, education, character, and family background?    A pilgrim who knows what animosity reigns today in the world, which is so bad that even blood relatives hate each other bitterly and fight in the courts over property, when he visits a monastery and sees the equity that reigns in that holy institution, he cannot do other than admire it and say:  Christ lives here!  The love that reigns in a monastic brotherhood is a miracle that the grace of the Lord performs.  It does not matter that the monks do no perform miracles as the ascetics did in the past.  It does not matter that they do not perform some other missionary activity in the world worthy of notice.  Let them however have love, not that false and hypocritical one, but that genuine, sincere Christian love, and if this love of theirs exists in preaches far louder to the world than all miracles and more eloquently than all teachings.
That love that unites the brothers and makes a spiritual family out of them is a miracle, a miracle far greater than the healing of the sick.  And we are not the ones who say this.  One of the most illustrious representatives of the monastic life and conduct, St. Theodore of Studium, preaches this.  Let us listen as to how he characterizes this love:  “Perhaps one thinks that being holy and having miraculous powers that expel demons, cure the blind, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, affect nature, move mountains, turn the seas into land, or do things like these, are great miracles and wonders.  I, however, do not think that this is as miraculous as is this:  That people from different places and lands, different races, languages, and ages come together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and become united and joined as one multi-souled, multi-hearted body of one mind and heart, not to do evil but the will of God, and veneration and worship of the Holy Trinity, which no one, no man, no ruler, no authority, no king, not even the champion of the demons himself, has the power and strength to overcome.”
Truly!  A true monastic brotherhood which has the love of Christ, in which “This is mine and this is yours,” is not heard, is one of the greatest miracles of divine grace, which defeats the selfishness and self-interest of man.  Unfortunately, this kind of love is missing in most of today’s monasteries, and this lack is the greatest cause of the degeneration of monastic life.  But let us put aside monastic brotherhoods and go back again to the world.  Here is a small village in our country where the demon of discord has not entered.  The few families that live there have cultivated the little soil given them.  A pious priest teaches the small flock that love is priceless wealth, the blessing of heaven.  And the people abide in this love.  They do not wrong their neighbors.  They do not have anything to do with the courts.  They do not need watchmen to watch over their fields.  They participate in the grief and sorrow as well as the joy of each other’s families.  Is there such a village in Greece you might ask?  It sounds impossible.  Utopia.  However, whenever there is a humble, instructive priest of the Most High who cultivates the souls of simple people, this beautiful image of love and harmony appears.  And this village in which love reigns in all the relations of its people constitutes a good example.  In the midst of other villages, communities, and municipalities that cannot even have a peaceful meeting, whose community or municipal boards continuously fight over even the least of matters, waste precious time, and do not do anything profitable, in the midst of immeasurable hatred this village is an oasis in a scorching desert.  It is a miracle village that proclaims that people living together become happy when the heavenly plant of love is cultivated in the hearts of men.

***

Beloved!  As we wrote at the beginning of this present article, when it is heard that a miracle has taken place somewhere, people run there.  Some years ago, upon hearing that the icon of the Mother of God at a country chapel was crying, the inhabitants of about twenty villages… left their jobs and, men and women, walked a long way to that country chapel and there celebrated liturgies and vigils… and in the end?  It turned out that the miracle was a great hoax…  How much more would they have benefited spiritually, if they had wanted to hear the voice of Christ, which is calling us to perform the greatest miracle in our lives!  And His voice is summed up in the only three words: LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
What good is it, beloved, if we see miracles, while in our hearts we nourish the wild beasts of envy, hatred, and every other evil?  What did it gain the evil and envious Jews, if I may ask, who saw the greatest of miracles during the time of Christ, who saw Lazarus resurrected from the grave, and yet in a few days, in spite of this, senselessly committed the greatest of crimes, crucifying the Benefactor of All?
Do we want to see a miracle?  The Lord is close to us.  Let us, those of us who call ourselves Christians, try to cash in the gold coins of the commandment of Christ:  Love one another, and convert it into good works.  And then our earth will see the greatest of miracles, it will see a new society.  And before this great miracle, even the most incredulous in this world will be forced to recognize that on Religion, which has the power to defeat the strongest of passions and transform people into the most beneficial of beings, is divine in origin.  The Lord told us this: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

MARCH 30
SAINT JOHN OF THE LADDER

Απόσπασμα από το βιβλίο του Μητροπολίτου Φλωρίνης πατρός Αυγουστίνου Καντιώτου «ΜΥΡΙΠΝΟΑ ΑΝΘΗ».

Τα «ΜΥΡΙΠΝΟΑ ΑΝΘΗ» περιέχουν πρακτικές ομιλίες είς εορτάς αγίων.  Κάθε μία από τις ομιλίες αυτές ετυπώνετο εις το εβδομαδιαίο φυλλάδιο της Ιεράς Μητροπόλεως Φλωρίνης «Κυριακή», ανεγινώσκετο από τους εφημερίους κατά την Θεία Λειτουργία της Κυριακής και χιλιάδες αντίτυπα αυτού διενέμοντο δωρεάν.
Α’ έκδοσις 1974
Β’ έκδοσις 1987
Γ΄ έκδοσις 1990
Δ’ έκδοσις 1995
Η μετάφρασι ολόκληρου του βιβλίου στα Αγγλλικά έγινε από τον ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π. Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί με την εν Χριστώ αγάπη εις ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απανταχού της γης καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

«Θαυματός ό Θεός έν τοίς αγίοις αυτού» Ψαλμ.67:36)

AN EXCELLENT PHYSICIAN

My beloved, there are people who live without any understanding of their purpose in life which they have as Christians.  They are ignorant of themselves and ignorant of God.  They are sinners.  They have committed various sins and, in spite of this, if someone asks them about their moral and spiritual condition they will answer, “We are the best people!”  They do not see any evil in themselves.  Even if they have committed evil they do not consider it a sin.  They consider themselves to be in perfect order.

How unfortunate are these people!  They resemble a man who externally appears to be in good health; he walks, he works, he eats, he sleeps; he is not feeling anything wrong.  In spite of this, deep within himself, death is eating away at him; the germ of a cursed illness is hidden.  The germ is not seen and does not cause pain at the onset, however, it is doing its work, and if it progresses much further, pain will begin and the man will run to the doctors and to the hospitals and will question whether or not he will live.  If, however, this indifferent man had been concerned about his health sooner and gone to the doctors and had x-rays taken, then the doctors would have observed in the x-rays the first signs of the sickness and they would have recommended certain therapy or even an operation, in order that he might be saved.

This, trait which is seen in a few people in relation to their physical health is seen in most people in relation to their spiritual health.  One in one hundred are indifferent in relation to their physical health, but 999 in 1000 are indifferent with regard to their spiritual health.  Their body must be well in order to eat and drink, and yet they do not care for their spiritual condition.  If they wanted, however, to care just a little for their spiritual health, if they wished to go to the spiritual doctors and to go through a spiritual examination, then they would see that they are not doing well spiritually.  Within their spiritual world there are thousands of germs, worse than those demons which had been nested in the heart of the unfortunate youth about whom the Holy Gospel speaks (Mark 9:17-29).  Then, like the terrified father of the unfortunate youth, they would ask Christ to save them from the various spiritual diseases which torture the human life.  It is not only the body that has cancer and tuberculosis but also the soul which has its own illnesses worse than tuberculosis, cancer, and every other illness.

We have said that we must go to the doctors of the soul.  Who are these doctors of the soul?  These doctors are not those who are called psychiatrists; there are some others much superior.  They are spiritual fathers.  They are illumined by the Holy Spirit and are able to examine our spiritual condition, to make a diagnosis, tell us what we have, and recommend the proper medication for the cure.  These spiritual doctors are the holy teachers and fathers of the Church.  They have lived for years in fasting, prayer and study of the scripture, they have defeated the flesh, the world and the Devil, they have examined themselves closely and are in a position to observe the human passions.  Certainly the present world despises these doctors, while it admires the doctors of this world who went abroad and studied and are paid dearly for one visit.  However, if only the world would know of the value of the spiritual doctors of the Church!
In this homily I will introduce to you such a spiritual doctor; he is Saint John of the Ladder, who our Church directed his Feast to be celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Lend and on the 30th of March.

***

Shall we describe his life?  Briefly, we say that the saint was born in the sixth century A.D.  At the young age of sixteen, he left his country and went to a high mountain, which until this day is known to all the world; he went to Mount Sinai, to that mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments.  He lived there many years under the spiritual direction of an old ascetic.  Then he left the monastery and went five miles further, to a remote place, and there he made his hut and lived an ascetic life.  Prayer, the study of Holy Scripture, and self-examination was his task.  The desert, where no noises of men could be heard, was dominated by absolute tranquility.  From time to time the singing of the birds and the voices of wild beasts interrupted the silence of loneliness.  The desert, which during the night receives a special beauty from the sweet light of the moon and the brightness of the stars, became for John the school of God.  He studied himself in depth, he saw such misery exists in man, he discerned even the smallest traces of the evil as a doctor distinguishes on the x-rays the signs of an illness, and he underwent an internal struggle, in order to defeat the sinful thoughts, to make his heart clean, and to make it a mirror of God.
Saint John of the Ladder became a spiritual mirror and an extraordinary spiritual physician.  In short order his fame spread to all the places of Palestine and Arabia.  Men in pain and suffering, beaten by various sorrows of the world, sinful men who had committed various sins and were suffering from remorses of conscience and were seeking redemption and salvation, men who were shipwrecks of this world were running to John of the Ladder, and the saint had for each one the appropriate medicine.  He never failed in diagnosis.  He was not like some psychiatrists of our days, who, while they don’t know their own selves, try to cure others, limiting the cure only to the body and the nerves; not knowing the wretch needs of a spiritual treatment, a cure which only faith in God can offer.  About which we speak the great scientists and professors of the medical science recognize; those who are not afraid to declare in medical conferences that faith is the best medicine for psychological illnesses.

***

In his time, Saint John became an excellent spiritual physician – a physician of the soul.  What did we say?  In his time?  Even though, 1,300 years have passed since he lived, even still he continues to be a doctor of the souls.  How?  With his wise treatise called “The Ladder”.  In this priceless book John describes all the psychological conditions of man, the vices and the virtues, the height and the depth, and recommends the proper medications for psychological cure.  This book takes you from the earth and elevates you to the stars.  In Greece it is not appreciated much.  It is, however, translated into many languages and is read by foreigners.
My beloved!  Since you have now heard about Saint John, the abbot of the Monastery of Sinai, I recommend to all, and particularly to the educated, teachers, professors, and medical doctors, to buy this book and study it; and when they study it, then they will confess themselves that Saint John of the Ladder is an excellent physician, a profound psychologist, philosopher and spiritual guide.

Translated in English from its original in Greek by
+Reverend Father Asterios Gerostergios
Saints Constantine and Helen
Greek Orthodox Church
Cambridge, Massachusetts – U.S.A.

This fragment was taken from the book “Fragrant Flowers”, which appeared in Greek under the title «Μυρίπνοα Άνθη» written in 1974 by Bishop Augoustinos of Florina-Greece.  The author dedicated this book to the pious and humble priests of his Diocese who read these written homilies to their congregations.

FRAGRANT FLOWERS – BY BISHOP AUGOUSTINOS KONTIOTES

“Fragrant Flowers”, written by Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotes, contains practical sermons based on the lives of 52 Saints.  This book is a small Calendar of Saints (Micron Heortologion).  The distinguished preacher and writer teaches that the Saints are the miracle of God in the course of History.  They are living proof of the truth of our holy Orthodoxy.  They are the Gospel and Epistles in application.
Whatever Christ taught, whatever the Apostles preached, the Saints applied in their real lives and they proved that the high teachings of the New Testament can likewise be applied by their fellow men.  The lives of the Apostles and the rest of the Saints prove that Christianity is a continuing and unceasing miracle.  The Saints throughout the ages show us the summit of virtue which even the most sinful man can achieve by the power of Christ.  The venerable author preaches that the Saints live in God and never cease to intercede for the struggling faithful Christians.  They live in the tradition of the Holy Church.  They live in the hearts of the faithful.  The memory of their life and their miracles, like some kind of life-giving breeze breaths into the entire Church.  Thus the Saints continue teaching and inspiring the faithful.  They are older brothers and sisters, waiting for us above in the heaven of heavens in order to concelebrate together the victory of the sacrificed lamb.
“Fragrant Flowers” is addressed not only to our Orthodox people but also to all who are interested in pure Orthodox teaching.  It is offered especially to catechists and preachers of the Word of God, clergy and laity alike, to strengthen them in their most valuable ministry in the Church.

INSTITUTE FOR BYZANTINE AND
MODERN GREEK STUDIES
115 Gilbert Road
Belmont, MA 02478-2200
Tel. 6174848584
Fax.6178763600

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www.orthodoxinfo.com/ibmgs

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
(THE VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS)
HEBREWS 4:14-16; 5:1-6)

ARE YOU PROCLAIMING

(CONFESSING) YOUR FAITH?

Τμήμα από το βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΣΠΙΝΘΗΡΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟ»!  Κήρυγμα του π. Αυγουστίνου για την Γ΄ Κυριακή των Νηστείων, την Κυριακής Σταυροπροσκυνήσεως με βάση το Αποστολικό ανάγνωσμα, μεταφρασμένο στα Αγγλικά.  Η μετάφραση στα Αγγλικά έγινε από τον ακούραστο εργάτη και αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π. Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά και με την εν Χριστώ αγάπη εις ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού της γης και επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας του σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου προς δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

Brothers, let us hold fast our profession.
-Heb.4:14 King James

Today, beloved, on the third Sunday of Lent, the Epistle reading is an excerpt from a letter to the Hebrews, written by the Apostle Paul for Hebrews who believed in Christ.  They were few compared to the rest of the Hebrews who, in spite of all the miracles that took place both before and after the Resurrection, refused to believe in Him.  These unbelieving Hebrews became furious when they heard that some of their compatriots believed in Christ.  They used every means, even the most criminal, to force them to return to Judaism.  They beat them, jailed them, tormented them, took away their properties, and set fires to their homes.  The Christian Hebrews who were prosecuted by their countrymen were hungry, naked, and homeless.  They needed consolation and support so as not to give up and deny their faith.
Now, who else more suitable to console and support these Christians than the Apostle Paul?  Paul, formerly a fanatic Hebrew who had persecuted his Christian countrymen with a passion, had changed fundamentally.  Paul came to believe in Christ, was baptized, and became Christ’s most ardent preacher.  He who previously blasphemed Christ, now preached the word of God with courage and great power and professed Christ everywhere.  He understood very well what these believing Hebrews were enduring.  He understood their sufferings.  He understood the ideological war that was being waged against them to shake their faith.  With passages taken from Holy Scripture, which the enemies of Christ interpreted any way they pleased, with lies and with forgeries, the unbelievers attempted to prove that Christ was not the Messiah for Whom the Hebrew nation had awaited for centuries.  For these reasons, Paul wrote his famous letter to his suffering Christian compatriots.  Paul was being consoling and supportive.  He proved that Christ is above the patriarchs, prophets, angels and archangels.  Christ is the Word of God, the Messiah, the redeemer of the entire world, the true God.  Paul’s arguments, taken from Holy Scripture, are indisputable.  He rebuked unbelievers and told those who were not shaken in their faith by the attacks of the enemies to take courage and strength.  Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews is a powerful weapon against all unbelievers of all times.  At the same time it is a warm invitation to all Hebrews and all unbelievers to abandon their unbelief and believe in Christ.
In this Epistle, after proving that Christ is the true God, the Apostle Paul addresses everyone, saying: Brothers, let us hold fast our profession”, that is, let us hold fast to our faith in Christ, and let us preach it and confess it everywhere without reservation, without doubt, and without fear.  We must be unshaken and brave as we profess our faith.

“Brothers, let us hold fast our profession.”  The faithful not only of that age but also of the following years when the Christian faith was persecuted, heard and practiced this counsel that was inspired by God.  Whoever read the martyrologies cannot help but stand in admiration before the heroes of the faith.  They had only to say three words to the tyrants – “We deny Christ” – to be spared the torments, to be freed from the prisons, and to be allowed to return to their homes.  But they didn’t say these words.  To the question of the tortures, “What are you?” they answered, “We are Christians”.  The martyrs professed their faith before thousands of people who shouted, “Death to the Christians”.  It was very moving to hear not only men but also women and even small children say, “We believe in Christ.  Do to us whatever you wish.  We won’t deny our faith”.
The history of our nation reveals that during the Greek Revolution of 1821, when Turks conquered the island of Chios, they brought the women and children to the seashore (the men had been killed in the fighting), put a Crucifix on the ground and told them: “Whoever spits on it will be saved; those who don’t will be killed”.  The Turks gave them some time to decide.  But no one, not a woman or child, spit on the Crucifix.  They all shouted: “We believe in Christ.  Praise be to Christ, praise be to the All-Holy Mother, praise be to All the Saints”.  In this way, professing their faith, these new martyrs sacrificed their lives.

“Brothers, let us hold fast to our profession”.  If from those heroic times of Christianity we look at our present day, will we meet the heroic spirit of the martyrs of our faith?  The kind of danger that existed when the unbelievers put knives to the necks of the Christians, saying to every on of them, “Either you deny your faith or you will be killed”, does not exist in our country today.  Unbelievers don’t put the knife to the necks of the faithful, but they wage war in another way: they scoff at the faithful.  And the so-called faithful are so timid that they cower at the scoffings, as if the unbelievers were ready to kill them.  Alas!  The martyrs weren’t afraid of the knives, the flames, or the other forms of torture.  Today, Christians are afraid of a mocking smile, a scornful word, a frown; they tremble lest they be characterized as old-fashioned; they silence their voices and refrain from making the sign of the Cross in public, hiding like little children playing hide-and-seek.  They don’t profess their faith.

Because the so-called faithful don’t profess their faith, the unbelievers and impious, observing this lack of response from the Christian people and receiving no rebukes or chastisement for their scoffing, become bold and shameless, mocking the Orthodox faith and blaspheming the clergy.  Wherever they may be, the unbelievers of today try to spread the lies of atheism.  Where is Paul to profess the faith and rebuke the impious and faithless?

Where is Paul?  You, beloved, must become Paul.  We’re not saying that you can measure up to Paul.  No.  But you can imitate Paul and the other Apostles and martyrs, and you can preach Christ within the small circle you live in.  Don’t be afraid.  Even if all those around you are scornful, sarcastic, and jeer at your faith, even if they try with a thousand and one satanic means to shake you and pull you away from Christ, you must not lose your courage.  Remain steadfast and unafraid like a rock that’s unmovable, even though it is assaulted on all sides by the waves of the ocean.  Your faith in Christ must be as solid as a rock, the Orthodox faith.  With words, with deeds, and with your Christian life, you must profess in this unbelieving and atheistic world that your faith in Christ is the only true faith.  Only then will you become like Paul, a martyr and confessor of Christ.  Then your will be among those whom the Apostle today exhorts: “Brethren, let us hold fast our profession”.

Translated in English from its original in Greek by
+Reverend Father Asterios Gerostergios
Saints Constantine and Helen
Greek Orthodox Church
Cambridge, Massachusetts – U.S.A.

The chapter was taken from the book “Sparks from the Apostle”, written by Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotes – Florina, Greece.  The book contains sermons based on the Sunday Apostolic Readings.  The distinguished preacher and writer addresses with his homilies the anxieties and the needs of our times.  In an Orthodox manner, he discusses the spiritual, ethical, and social problems that beset contemporary man.  With his homilies, which are based on the preaching of the Apostles and the Bible in general, he tries to strengthen the people of God in their Christian life.  Bishop Augoustinos’ message is convincing.  It is delivered in a lively, well written, yet simple and comprehensible way, using both Biblical and contemporary examples.  He brings the Apostolic Reading to life, and in his own unrivaled fashion, he transports the reader back to those early heroic days of the Apostles.

The Bishop speaks with pious enthusiasm, from a heart full of faith and fervor.  He strikes sensitive chords of the heart, creating a spiritual atmosphere in which the Word of God embeds itself firmly.  At the same time, he demonstrates that the message of the Holy Bible is a great and unique gift from heaven to earth, from God to man.

The present book, Sparks from the Apostles, is addressed to all who are interested in the pure Orthodox teaching of the Holy Writ.  It is offered especially to students and preachers of God’s Word, clergy and laity alike, to strengthen them in their work of preaching and catechism.

INSTITUTE FOR BYZANTINE AND
MODERN GREEK STUDIES
115 Gilbert Road
Belmont, MA 02478-2200
Tel. 6174848584
Fax.6178763600

e-mail: ibmgs3@verizon.net

www.orthodoxinfo.com/ibmgs/

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT
Mark 8:34-9:1

Τμήμα από τό βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΣΤΑΓΟΝΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΥΔΩ ΤΟ ΖΩΝ».  Κήρυγμα του π. Αυγουστίνου για την Γ΄ Κυριακή των Νηστείων την Κυριακή της Σταυροπροσκυνήσεως, μεταφρασμένο στα Αγγλικά.  Η μετάφραση στά Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π.Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί μέ τήν έν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού τής γής καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας τού σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

THERE IS A SOUL!

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Holy Scripture, my dear Christians, is like the sky.  Just as in the natural sky there are stars, in the same way in the spiritual sky, Holy Writ, there are stars.  The sayings in all the books of Holy Scripture, from Genesis, the first book, to the Revelations of John, the last, are the stars that shine and enlighten.  All the sayings have their place and value.  Just as in the physical sky some stars shine brighter than others, in the same way in the spiritual sky, the Holy Writ, some sayings radiate with exceptional brightness and make an exceptional impression on people.

One of these exceptional statements is undoubtedly one that we heard in today’s Gospel of the Third Sunday in Great Lent: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

There was, my beloved, a time on our planet when a man did not exist.  As Holy Writ assures us, of all that was created he appeared last.  His creation was the crown of divine creation.
But how did the first man appear?  Was he an accidental creation that sprouted like a mushroom out of the earth?  If we examine him, we will be convinced that he was not an accidental creation.  He is not something that grew spontaneously, instead – like the excellent work that he is – he presupposes the artist, his creator.
Let us give an example.  You see an automobile.  Can you say that the car created itself?  The car consists of many parts that are arranged in an orderly way next to one another.  Now, suppose that someone disconnects all the parts of a car, great and small, down to the screws, which are in the thousands.  If we were to put all of them in a large, empty ball and then with electricity, spin the ball, what would be the result?  Is there any hope that at some time the parts would come together and arrange themselves so that a new car would come out?  Mathematicians say that that kind of possibility does not exist.  The hand of some mechanic must assemble the different parts to make the automobile.  But if we know the automobile was made by someone, even more so must we accept the idea that man was created by supreme power, by God.
It is not only the composition and function of the various organs of man’s body that amazes us.  In examining man, one is amazed at something else – something that exists only in man – the soul.  But here an objection is raised: The body we see, but the soul we don’t.
We answer with a question: Because we don’t see something, doest that mean that it doesn’t exist?  Who has seen the air?  No one doubts that the air exists, because air existence is proven by its various functions.
The soul is invisible, but by its different workings and expressions, it has proved that it exists.  All of the phenomena that man presents are not functions of his physical existence.  They are something else.  In man there are energies that reveal a spiritual origin.
One such energy is thought.  Oh thought!  What an astonishing phenomenon!  A man can stand at one place on the planet, and with thought, he flies, passing over mountains, seas, and oceans, and in a fraction of moment reaches the most distant parts of our globe where there is someone dear to him.  The body may be in Florina, Greece, and mind in Sydney, Australia, or Toronto Canada.  Using thought, man examines all of the physical phenomena, solves the most difficult problems, and like another Archimedes cries out “Eureka, eureka!”.  With thought, man continuously discovers new things, and finds that within the tiniest portion of matter, the atom, there is enormous power.  With thought, man constructs rockets and space craft and travels in space.  Thought is something astonishing!  Indeed, a certain philosopher once said, physically, man is like a reed that easily breaks but a reed that thinks.

Thought, as it functions, proves that there is a soul.  The soul is the source of thought.  But thought isn’t the only spiritual function that proves the existence of the soul.  There is something else, greater than thought, and that is the heart, or the feelings.  Man has great and noble feelings.  A mother loves her child, a child loves its mother; a friend, a friend, the doctor, the sick person; the scientist, his science; the patriot, his country; the pious, God.  Because of this love which burns in his bosom, man dares and does wondrous things and becomes a martyr and hero.  If man were only a body, as is the case with animals, he would not have thought about anything greater and would not have sacrificed his body for the sake of his faithful execution of duty.
The soul thinks, imagines, and envisions, and man becomes a poet, philosopher, scientist, hero, martyr.  But the soul, due to its freedom – another amazing spiritual energy of man – is what pushes man toward evil and corruption, making him commit horrible crimes.  Man becomes an angel or a demon.  When man leaves the heights of virtue and falls into the depths of evil and corruption, he hears inside his soul a terrible voice – one voice, which is itself one of the greatest proofs that the soul exists.  It is the voice of conscience which at every wrongdoing cries, “Man, you are guilty!”
The soul exists.  The mind, feelings, and will shout it; the conscience shouts it.  Ancient and recent philosophers shout it.  But the greatest proof is the cross that the faithful venerate today in all the Orthodox Churches.  Throw a glance, my fellow sinful people, on the day of Veneration of the Holy Cross, on He Who is crucified and ask why the sinless Christ suffered so much?  Why did He shed His holy Blood?  The answer is that He shed it for man – to save souls of sinners from eternal death which sin brought.
Oh the soul!  The soul of the most sinful person washes itself and cleanses itself in the blood of the God-Man, and gets new strength to live the holy and spiritual life.  Because of the cross, the soul ascended to a heavenly height.  This the thief proved when he repented and cried out: “Remember me, Lord, in your Kingdom”.
My beloved!  Just as you don’t doubt you have a body, you shouldn’t doubt that you have a soul.  The body being matter is mortal, the soul immaterial is immortal.  Every time we look after the body, we must look thousands of times after the soul for its salvation, about which Christ ascended the Cross and shed
His Blood.

Translated in English from its original in Greek by
+Reverend Father Asterios Gerostergios
Saints Constantine and Helen
Greek Orthodox Church
Cambridge, Massachusetts – U.S.A.

This chapter was taken from the book “DROPS FROM THE LIVING WATER” by Bishop Augoustinos N. Kantiotes.

The author of this volume, Augoustinos Kantiontes, Bishop of Florina, Greece, is a distinguished master of the written and spoken work of God.  The special talents of this great servant of the Church are such that he understands the problems and needs of the people and is able to touch the heart of contemporary man.  He has shaped his preaching to correspond to the psychological, spiritual, and intellectual needs of today’s Christians.  The preaching of the bishop serves well those holy, liturgical and sacred purposes of the service of the word of God in the Church.

Bishop Augoustinos’ preaching is presented to the people of God with simplicity and sincerity, and feeds the spiritually hungry of our times in an Orthodox way.  It attracts and transports, teaches and inspires the listeners and readers in the life of Christ, in the life of Church.  The homilies draw on the spiritual “granary” of the Holy Writ are stamped in the hearts of people in order that they might yield, in due time, a hundredfold.  They are Biblical and Christocentric, always having Christ at their center, and offering Him as the only “Way, Truth and Life”.  The English translation and publication of these homilies of Bishop Augoustinos, based on the Sunday Gospel Readings of the year, is an act of love to the Orthodox clergy, the Sunday School teachers, and to all Orthodox Christians interested in pure, unadulterated Orthodox spiritual food.

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