Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
This divine Father, who was from Asia Minor, was from childhood reared in
the royal court of Constantinople, where he was instructed in both religious
and secular wisdom. Later, while still a youth, he left the imperial court and
struggled in asceticism on Mount Athos, and in the Skete at Beroea. He spent
some time in Thessalonica being treated for an illness that came from his
harsh manner of life. He was present in Constantinople at the Council that
was con¬vened in 1341 against Barlaam of Calabria, and at the Council of
1347 against Acindynus, who was of like mind with Barlaam; Barlaam and
Acindynus claimed that the grace of God is created. At both these Councils,
the Saint contended courageously for the true dogmas of the Church of
Christ, teaching in particular that divine grace is not created, but is the
uncreated energies of God which are poured forth throughout creation:
otherwise it would be impossi¬ble, if grace were created, for man to have
genuine communion with the uncreated God. In 1347 he was appointed
Metropolitan of Thessalonica. He tended his flock in an apostolic man¬ner for
some twelve years, and wrote many books and treatises on the most exalted
doctrines of our Faith; and having lived for a total of sixty-three years, he
reposed in the Lord in 1359. His holy relics are kept in the Cathedral of
Thessalonica. A full service was composed for his feast day by the Patriarch
Philotheus in 1368, when it was, established that his feast be cele¬brated on
this day. Since works without right faith avail nothing, we set Orthodoxy of
faith as the foundation of all that we accomplish during the Fast, by
celebrating the Triumph of Ortho¬doxy the Sunday before, and the great
defender of the teachings of the holy Fathers today. His Feast day is
celebrated November 27 / 14 and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.
Saint Photius the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople
As for the thrice-blessed Photius, the great and most resplendent Father and
teacher of the Church, the Confessor of the Faith and Equal to the Apostles,
he lived during the years of the Emperors Michael (the son of Theophilus),
Basil the Macedonian, and Leo his son. He was the son of pious parents,
Sergius and Irene, who suffered for the Faith under the Iconoclast Emper¬or
Theophilus; he was also a nephew of Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of
Constantinople (see Feb. 25). He was born in Constantinople, where he
excelled in the foremost imperial ministries, while ever practicing a virtuous
and godly life. An upright and honourable man of singular learning and
erudition, he was raised to the apostolic, ecumenical, and patriarchal throne
of Constantinople in the year 857.
The many struggles that this thrice-blessed one undertook for the Orthodox
Faith against the Manichaeans, the Iconoclasts, and other heretics, and the
attacks and assaults that he endured from Nicholas I, the haughty and
ambitious Pope of Rome, and the great persecutions and distresses he
suffered, are beyond number. Contending against the Latin error of the
filioque, that is, the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the
Father and the Son, he demonstrated clearly with his Mystagogy on the Holy
Spirit how the filioque destroys the unity and equality of the Trinity. He has
left us many theological writings, panegyric homilies, and epistles, including
one to Boris, the Sovereign of Bulgaria, in which he set forth for him the
history and teachings of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Having tended the
Church of Christ in holiness and in an evangelical manner, and with fervent
zeal having rooted out all the tares of every alien teaching, he departed to
the Lord in the Monastery of the Armenians on February 6, 891. His Feast
day is celebrated February 19 / 6.
Saint Mark Eugenicus, Metropolitan of Ephesus
The great teacher and invincible defender of the One, Holy, Catholic, and
Apostolic I. Church, Saint Mark, was the offspring and scion of the imperial
city, Constantinople. Reared by most pious parents, and instructed in secular
and spiritual wisdom, he became pre-eminent in both. Saint Mark lived as an
ascetic on the Princes' Islands and later in the monastery of Saint George
Magana in Constantinople. He passed through all the degrees of the
priesthood, and was finally advanced to the dignity of Archbishop and the
lofty throne of the Metropoly of Ephesus. At the insistence of Emperor John
Paleologus, the Saint was sent to the council of the Latins in Florence, to
unite the churches that had been divided for so many years. He astounded
the papal teachers with the divine wisdom of his words, and was the only one
who did not sign the blasphemous decree of that false council. Because of
this, the holy Church of Christ has ever honoured this great man as a
benefactor, teacher, sole defender, and invincible champion of the Apostolic
Confession. He reposed in 1443. His Feast day is celebrated on January 19 /
February 1.
(The Feast day of Pillars of Orthodoxy Church is celebrated on the Sunday of
the 318 Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council).