Wisdom of the Holy Fathers
ELDER PAISIOS :
On the Jesus prayer the Elder once said: “We
should constantly and unceasingly repeat the
Jesus prayer. Only the name of Christ must
remain inside our heart and mind; when we
neglect our prayer, that is our communication
with God, then the devil finds the chance to
confuse us with negative thoughts. Thus, we
end up not knowing what we want, do, or say.”
GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE
PARISH OF ST. PARASKEVI, ST. BARBARA &
ST. JOHN THE MERCIFUL
22 Marsden Crescent, St Albans
Tel. 9367 2860
Parish Priest: Very Rev. Synesios Frangos: 0419 870 063
Assistant Parish Priest. Rev. Fr. Demosthenes Nicolaou: 0421 704 806
Email: frdemos@stparaskevi.org.au website: www.stparaskevi.org.au
PROGRAMME OCTOBER 2013
“The soft life makes people useless. Without toil
and struggle sanctification doesn’t come.”
ST. SILOUAN THE ATHONITE:
“Whoever loves the Lord remembers Him always, and this memory of the Lord
gives birth to prayer. If you do not remember the Lord, you will not pray; in the
absence of prayer the soul languishes without the love of God. For it is through
prayer that we feel the grace of the Holy Spirit. Prayer saves man from sin, for a
praying mind is busy with God and stands in humility before the Lord, whom the
soul recognizes.”
“The soul cannot know peace unless she prays for her enemies. I beseech you,
put this to the test. When a man affronts you or brings dishonor on your head, or
takes what is yours, or persecutes the Church, pray to the Lord, saying: “O Lord,
we are all Thy creatures. Have pity on Thy servants and turn their hearts to
repentance,” and you will be aware of grace in your soul. To begin with, constrain
your heart to love enemies, and the Lord, seeing your good will, will help you in
all things, and experience itself will show you the way. But the man who thinks
with malice of his enemies has not God’s love within him, and does not know
God.”
ELDER PORPHYRIOS:
"Let us scatter our love selflessly to all, without regards to the way they act
towards us. When the grace of God enters us, we will not be concerned about
whether they love us or not or whether they speak to us politely or not. We will
feel the need to love all people. It's egotism on our part to wish for others to
speak to us politely.”
Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, Troparion - Tone 4
Having learned goodness and maintaining continence in all things,
you were arrayed with a good conscience as befits a priest.
From the chosen Vessel you drew ineffable mysteries;
you kept the faith, and finished a course equal to His.
Bishop martyr Dionysius, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
PROGRAMME OCTOBER 2013
TUESDAY 1st OCTOBER:
PANAGIA GORGOEPIKOOS, Matins and Divine
Liturgy AT THE GEELONG MONASTERY.
WEDNESDAY 2nd OCTOBER:
ST’S CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA, Blessing of the
waters, Matins and Divine Liturgy, 7.30-9.30am
rd
THURSDAY 3 OCTOBER:
Evening: English Paraklisis to the Mother of God,
7.00-7.30pm
FRIDAY 4th OCTOBER:
ST JOHN LAMPADISTIS, Matins and Divine
Liturgy, 7.30-9.30am
SUNDAY 6th OCTOBER:
APOSTLE THOMAS, Matins and Divine Liturgy,
7.30-11.00am
SUNDAY 13th OCTOBER:
SUNDAY OF THE 7th ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Matins and Divine Liturgy, 7.30-11.00am
FRIDAY 18th OCTOBER:
ST LUKE THE EVANGELIST, Matins and Divine
Liturgy, 7.30-9.30am
SATURDAY 19th OCTOBER:
DIVINE LITURGY IN ENGLISH, 9.00- 10.00am
SUNDAY 20th OCTOBER:
ST GERASIMOS OF CEPHALONIA, Matins and
Divine Liturgy, 7.30-11.00am
WEDNESDAY 23rd OCTOBER:
DIVINE LITURGY OF ST JAMES THE BROTHER OF
THE LORD, at the Church of St Eustathios, Sth
Melbourne, 8.00am
SATURDAY 26th OCTOBER:
GREATMARTYR DEMETRIOS THE
MYRRHFLOWING, Matins and Divine Liturgy,
7.30-10.00am
SUNDAY 27th OCTOBER:
7th SUNDAY OF LUKE, Matins and Divine Liturgy,
7.30-11.00am
MONDAY 28th OCTOBER:
HOLY PROTECTION OF THE THEOTOKOS, Matins
and Divine Liturgy and Doxology for the National
Feast day of “OXI”, 7.30-11.00am
THE CROSS AND LOVE
"I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my
hands..."
Isaiah 49:15-16
"It is not possible to represent and to think of the cross without love.
Where the cross is, there is love. In church you see crosses everywhere
and on everything, in order that everything should remind you that you
are in the temple of the God of love, the temple of love crucified for us."
St. John of Kronstadt
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God,
have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
HALLOWEEN - Saint Nicholai Velimirovic
As Orthodox Christians we must
carefully examine every aspect of our
involvement in the world, its
activities, holidays and festivals, to be
certain whether or not these
involvements are compatible with our
Holy Orthodox Faith.
For a while now everything in the
outside world is reminding us that
Halloween is near: at school our
children are busy painting pumpkins, cutting and pasting bats, ghosts and witches
and planning the ideal costume in which to go trick-or-treating. Most of our
schools, local community organizations and entertainment on television, radio and
press will share in and capitalize upon the festival of Halloween. Many of us will
participate in this festival by going to costume parties, or by taking our children
trick-or-treating in our neighborhood after dark on October 31st.
Most of us will take part in the Halloween festivities believing that it has no deeper
meaning than fun and excitement for the children. Most of us do not know the
historical background of the festival of Halloween and its customs.
The feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times among the Celtic peoples of
Britain, Ireland and Northern France. These pagan peoples believed that physical
life was born from death. Therefore, they celebrated the beginning of the “new
year” in the fall, on the eve of October 31st and into the day of November 1st,
when, as they believed the season of cold, darkness, decay and death began.
Instructed by their priests, the Druids, the people extinguished all hearth fires and
lights and darkness prevailed. According to pagan Celtic tradition, the souls of the
dead had entered into the world of darkness, decay and death and made total
communion with Samhain, the Lord of death, who could be appeased and cajoled
by burnt offerings to allow the souls of the dead to return home for a festal visit on
this day. The belief led to the ritual practice of wandering about in the dark dressed
in costumes indicating witches, hobgoblins, fairies and demons. The living entered
into fellowship and communion with the dead by this ritual act of imitation,
through costume and the wandering about in the darkness. They also believed that
the souls of the dead bore the affliction of great hunger on this festal visit. This
belief brought about the practice of begging as another ritual imitation of the
activities of the souls of the dead on their festal visit. The implication was that any
souls of the dead and their imitators who are not appeased with “treats”, i.e.
offerings, will provoke the wrath of Samhain, whose angels and servants could
retaliate through a system of “tricks”, or curses.
In the strictly Orthodox early Celtic Church, the Holy Fathers tried to counteract
this pagan new year festival by establishing the feast of All Saints on that same day
(in the East, this feast is celebrated on another day).
The night before the feast (on “All Hallows Eve”), a vigil service was held and a
morning celebration of the Eucharist. This custom created the term Halloween. But
the remaining pagan and therefore anti-Christian people reacted to the Church’s
attempt to supplant their festival by increased fervor on this evening, so that the
night before the Christian feast of All Saints became a night of sorcery, witchcraft
and other occult practices, many of which involved desecration and mockery of
Christian practices and beliefs. Costumes of skeletons, for example, developed as a
mockery of the Church’s reverence for holy relics. Holy things were stolen and
used in sacrilegious rituals. The practice of begging became a system of
persecution of Christians who refused to take part in these festivities. And so the
Church’s attempt to counteract this unholy festival failed.
This is just a brief explanation of the history and meaning of the festival of
Halloween. It is clear that we, as Orthodox Christians, cannot participate in this
event at any level (even if we only label it as “fun”), and that our involvement in it
is an idolatrous betrayal of our God and our Holy Faith.
For if we imitate the dead by dressing up or wandering about in the dark, or by
begging with them, then we have willfully sought fellowship with the dead, whose
Lord is not a Celtic Samhain, but satan, the evil one, who stands against God.
Further, if we submit to the dialogue of “trick or treat,” our offering does not go to
innocent children, but rather to satan himself.
Let us remember our ancestors, the Holy Christian Martyrs of the early Church, as
well as our Serbian New Martyrs, who refused, despite painful penalties and
horrendous persecution, to worship, venerate or pay obeisance in any way to idols
who are angels of satan. The foundation of our Holy Church is built upon their
very blood.
In today’s world of spiritual apathy and listlessness, which are the roots of atheism
and turning away from God, one is urged to disregard the spiritual roots and
origins of secular practices when their outward forms seem ordinary, entertaining
and harmless. The dogma of atheism underlies many of these practices, denying
the existence of both God and satan. Our Holy Church, through Jesus Christ,
teaches that God alone stands in judgment over everything we do and believe and
that our actions are either for God or against God. No one can serve two masters.
Therefore, let us not, as the pagan Celts did, put out our hearth fires and wander
about in the dark imitating dead souls. Let us light vigil lamps in front of our icons,
and together with our families, ask God to grant us faith and courage to preserve as
Orthodox Christians in these very difficult times, and to deliver us from the evil
one.
Cultivate That Quiet Light, Find Strength in God
by Protodeacon Leonid Mickle
I have often heard advice similar to that given by St. Seraphim of Sarov: Cultivate
the quiet light of Christ within you, and with it you will enlighten those around
you. At times, when contemplating the zeal which so many apostles
demonstrated in their confession of the Faith before the world, I have wondered
about that advice. We know that many are perishing, that many have either never
even heard of the Orthodox Church, or are not aware that the Church is not an
ethnic clubhouse, but a source of Living Water for all. Why are we not told to
advertise, to go out with trumpets, drums, loudspeakers, bright lights, to make
the Church more visible? God sometimes provides us with wonderful answers in
unexpected settings.
God sometimes provides us with wonderful answers in unexpected settings.
Once, on a long journey, I stopped at a state information center to ask for the
best route to my destination. The clerk asked me whether I really wanted the best
route, or the quickest route. She pointed out that the best way would add about
an hour to the fourteen-hour journey I could expect via the interstate, but that, if
I had the time to take the alternate route, I would certainly enjoy the calm and
beauty of some lovely country roads. Thinking about my schedule, I chose the
interstate. I made excellent time — at least until I was pulled over for speeding. I
had saved less than an hour, lost both a sizable percentage of my salary and an
opportunity to become acquainted with some pretty country, and had briefly
been driven to anger at a state police officer who was properly doing the job for
which my taxes paid.
The little things
Shortly thereafter, I stopped in at a small church, almost two hours before the
Vigil service was to begin. I found the priest trimming the wicks and replenishing
the oil in the lamps behind the altar table. He told me that he almost always
arrived at the temple well before the scheduled service, in order to maintain the
oil lamps. I asked him whether he had ever considered using candles instead of oil
lamps. He smiled, and said, “That certainly would be the quick way. I could enter
and light the candles without giving them a thought. Without giving them a
thought! Think how great a lesson would be lost!
“Here, lighting the lamps, I must
arrange my day so that I can be
here early. I must concentrate on
my task. I must see that there is an
ample supply of oil, so that the
lamps do not go out. I cannot hurry.
I must pour carefully, lest the oil
spill onto the altar table. I must trim
and adjust the wick, then light it.
and observe the flame: If it is too
low, any little breeze may blow it
out. If it is too high, it will generate such heat that the glass will crack, or at the
least, will burn so quickly that the wick turns to ash, and the flame goes out.
If I cannot be attentive to the little tasks which God permits me to take on, how
can I hope to persevere in the greater tasks?
“Such an apparently insignificant task, and yet, it is done in the House of God, and
to the glory of God. If I cannot be attentive to the little tasks which God permits
me to take on, how can I hope to persevere in the greater tasks? If I cannot take
the necessary time and make the necessary effort to prepare these lamps, to see
that the flame remains lit but does not become a self-destructive fire, how can I
hope to do the same with my soul? How can I control my passions, and how can I
instruct others to do the same? No, sometimes the quick way, the easy way, is
not the best way. Glory to Thee, O Lord.’
While I was struck by his words, to my shame I found myself a little irritated by
them. I found myself thinking that, yes, that may well be the best way, but he has
the luxury of serving in a country church with a small congregation which does
not put great demands on his time. He has the time, he has no secular job from
which to rush to the church in time for services… Suddenly, I realized how
irrational were my thoughts, and how cunning and persistent was the enemy of
our salvation. When faced with an evident truth, the enemy challenges it by
bringing to mind external, irrelevant details, diverting our attention away from
the lesson.
We are all given talents to be used to the glory of God throughout our journey
toward salvation.