Are There Virtuous Lay People in Contemporary World?

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Venerable Theodosius the Abbot of the Kiev Far Caves Monastery, and Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism in Russia

Commemorated on May 3

Saint Theodosius of the Caves, was the Father of monasticism in Russia. He was born at Vasilevo, not far from Kiev. From his youth he felt an irresistible attraction for the ascetic life, and led an ascetic lifestyle while still in his parental home. He disdained childish games and attractions, and constantly went to church. He asked his parents to let him study the holy books, and through his ability and rare zeal, he quickly learned to read the books, so that everyone was amazed at his intellect.

When he was fourteen, he lost his father and remained under the supervision of his mother, a strict and domineering woman who loved her son very much. Many times she chastised her son for his yearning for asceticism, but he remained firmly committed to his path.

At the age of twenty-four, he secretly left his parents’ home and St Anthony at the Kiev Caves monastery blessed him to receive monastic tonsure with the name Theodosius. After four years his mother found him and with tearfully begged him to return home, but the saint persuaded her to remain in Kiev and to become a nun in the monastery of St Nicholas at the Askold cemetery.

St Theodosius toiled at the monastery more than others, and he often took upon himself some of the work of the other brethren. He carried water, chopped wood, ground up the grain, and carried the flour to each monk. On cold nights he uncovered his body and let it serve as food for gnats and mosquitoes. His blood flowed, but the saint occupied himself with handicrafts, and sang Psalms. He came to church before anyone else and, standing in one place, he did not leave it until the end of services. He also listened to the readings with particular attention.

In 1054 St Theodosius was ordained a hieromonk, and in 1057 he was chosen igumen. The fame of his deeds attracted a number of monks to the monastery, at which he built a new church and cells, and he introduced cenobitic rule of the Studion monastery, a copy of which he commissioned at Constantinople.
As igumen, St Theodosius continued his arduous duties at the monastery. He usually ate only dry bread and cooked greens without oil, and spent his nights in prayer without sleep. The brethren often noticed this, although the saint tried to conceal his efforts from others.

No one saw when St Theodosius dozed lightly, and usually he rested while sitting. During Great Lent the saint withdrew into a cave near the monastery, where he struggled unseen by anyone. His attire was a coarse hairshirt worn next to his body. He looked so much like a beggar that it was impossible to recognize in this old man the renowned igumen, deeply respected by all who knew him.

Once, St Theodosius was returning from visiting the Great Prince Izyaslav. The coachman, not recognizing him, said gruffly, “You, monk, are always on holiday, but I am constantly at work. Take my place, and let me ride in the carriage.” The holy Elder meekly complied and drove the servant. Seeing how nobles along the way bowed to the monk driving the horses, the servant took fright, but the holy ascetic calmed him, and gave him a meal at the monastery. Trusting in God’s help, the saint did not keep a large supply of food at the monastery, and therefore the brethren were in want of their daily bread. Through his prayers, however, unknown benefactors appeared at the monastery and furnished the necessities for the brethren.

The Great Princes, especially Izyaslav, loved to listen to the spiritual discourses of St Theodosius. The saint was not afraid to denounce the mighty of this world. Those unjustly condemned always found a defender in him, and judges would review matters at the request of the igumen. He was particularly concerned for the destitute. He built a special courtyard for them at the monastery where anyone in need could receive food and drink. Sensing the approach of death, St Theodosius peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1074. He was buried in a cave which he dug, where he secluded himself during fasting periods.

The relics of the ascetic were found incorrupt in the year 1109, and he was glorified as a saint in 1108. Of the written works of St Theodosius six discourses, two letters to Great Prince Izyaslav, and a prayer for all Christians have survived to our time.

The Life of St Theodosius was written by St Nestor the Chronicler (October 27), a disciple of the great Abba, only thirty years after his repose, and it was always one of the favorite readings of the Russian nation. St Theodosius is also commemorated on September 2 and 28.

TROPARION - TONE 8

Having been raised on virtue, you loved the monastic life from your youth, / and having valiantly attained your desire, you lived in a cave; / you adorned your life with the radiance of fasting, persevering in prayer as though bodiless. / Like a bright lamp you illumined the Russian lands, Father Theodosius. / Entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.

KONTAKION - TONE 3

“Today the Virgin...” / Today let us honor a star of Russia, / who shone forth from the East, and came to the West. / The entire world has been enriched by wonders and blessings, / and all of us by grace / and by the establishment of the monastic rule by Blessed Theodosius.

SOURCE:

SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2013(with 2012's link here also and further, 2011, 2010, 2009 and even 2008!)

The Meeting of Holy Elders Paisios and Cleopa

From here.
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Elder Ioanichie Balan of Sihastria 1930-2007

On the way toward Karyes we made a short stop at the cell of the renowned hesychast, Paisios the Athonite, a great holy man, honored and sought out in the whole of Greece, who amazed us with his holiness and humility.

The cell of Fr. Paisios in Capsala is surrounded by grape vineyards. We knocked at the gate and waited. A monk small of stature, thin, modestly clothed, about seventy-five years of age, but luminous of face and full of humility, came and opened the gate for us. It was the Elder!

“Bless us, Fr. Paisios! We are pilgrims from Romania.”

“The Lord bless us all!”

He invited us into a small chapel next to the cell, where we venerated and sang the Axion to the Mother of God. Then he invited us into his cell for guests, about eight by twelve feet. We sat down. There were about ten of us in all. Fr. Paisios served us, according to the custom of Athonite monks, with sweets and cold water. Then he sat on a small chair on the threshold of the door.

“Fr. Paisios, we come from far away. Please – give us a profitable word.”

“Forgive me, please. I am not hieromonk and I do not dare to give a profitable word to priests,” answered the Elder.

“Nevertheless, find for us a profitable word.”

“Fathers, I have not yet finished the school of monasticism and I don’t know many words.”

Seeing his humility, Archimandrite Cleopa asked him, “Fr. Paisios, which prayer is more beneficial for a monk: to read the Psalter or to say the Jesus Prayer?”

“Both are good,” he answered, “only say them from the heart, with faith and with tears.”

“Which monastic ascetical labor is better? Common life or that of the wilderness [desert-dwelling]?”

“If you have humility,” the Elder said, “in either you can be saved. He who wants to be sure of salvation enters into a community under obedience; and he who loves stillness and prayer withdraws in solitude.”

“How can we help in the salvation of others?”

“Through prayer. The monk is first of all a man of prayer and a candle on the candlestand for everyone. Only in this way can we help and spiritually build up people. First is prayer, then the example of our life, then the word of instruction.”

“How can we obtain the gift of tears?”

“If we have the humility of the saints, we will obtain both the Prayer of the Heart and the gift of tears. I haven’t been able to obtain this gift, which is received from God by great labor.”

“What opinion do you have of Athonite monasticism today?”

“I don’t have any opinion. But I know that all came to the Holy Mountain to glorify God and to be saved. Thus all force themselves, according to their zeal and their strength, in prayer, in obedience, in fasting, in nightly vigils, and in all good works. All humble themselves, have hope, and labor and follow Christ. Who, however, will lay hold of the crown of salvation, no one knows except God alone.”

“What books must monastics read?”

“First of all the Holy Scriptures. Then the Lives of the Saints and the Patristic writings. We do not have to read or speak a lot, but we must do a lot!”

“Fr. Paisios, how many times must we partake of Holy Communion per year?”

“The promptings of the heart and our spiritual father indicate to us how many times. Some more often, others less often. But if monastics can commune once a week, it is very good. Lay people – less frequently and in accordance with what their spiritual fathers decide.”

“What other counsel can you give us?”

“Let us always be ready for death because we know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh (Mat. 25:13)”

“Fr Paisios, how many hours must a monk sleep at night?”

“If I added up how many hours I sleep lying down on a bed and how many I sleep on my feet, you would see that I sleep all day long, because I don’t keep watch with my mind in prayer!”

And we benefiting greatly from the humility and wisdom of Fr. Paisios, thanked him for receiving us and for the counsel given, asked for his blessing, and continued on our way.

(Shepherd of Souls: The Life of Elder Cleopa, Chap. 56 The Pilgrimage to Mount Athos pp. 146-149).

Source: http://classicalchristianity.com/category/bysaint/blessedeldercleopaofilie19121998/

Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great

Commemorated on January 17

Saint Anthony the Great is known as the Father of monasticism, and the long ascetical sermon in The Life of St Anthony by St Athanasius (Sections 16-34), could be called the first monastic Rule.

He was born in Egypt in the village of Coma, near the desert of the Thebaid, in the year 251. His parents were pious Christians of illustrious lineage. Anthony was a serious child and was respectful and obedient to his parents. He loved to attend church services, and he listened to the Holy Scripture so attentively, that he remembered what he heard all his life.

When St Anthony was about twenty years old, he lost his parents, but he was responsible for the care of his younger sister. Going to church about six months later, the youth reflected on how the faithful,in the Acts of the Apostles (4:35), sold their possessions and gave the proceeds to the Apostles for the needy.

Then he entered the church and heard the Gospel passage where Christ speaks to the rich young man: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me" (Mt.19:21). Anthony felt that these words applied to him. Therefore, he sold the property that he received after the death of his parents, then distributed the money to the poor, and left his sister in the care of pious virgins in a convent.

Leaving his parental home, St Anthony began his ascetical life in a hut not far from his village. By working with his hands, he was able to earn his livelihood and also alms for the poor. Sometimes, the holy youth also visited other ascetics living in the area, and from each he sought direction and benefit. He turned to one particular ascetic for guidance in the spiritual life.

In this period of his life St Anthony endured terrible temptations from the devil. The Enemy of the race of man troubled the young ascetic with thoughts of his former life, doubts about his chosen path, concern for his sister, and he tempted Anthony with lewd thoughts and carnal feelings. But the saint extinguished that fire by meditating on Christ and by thinking of eternal punishment, thereby overcoming the devil.

Realizing that the devil would undoubtedly attack him in another manner, St Anthony prayed and intensified his efforts. Anthony prayed that the Lord would show him the path of salvation. And he was granted a vision. The ascetic beheld a man, who by turns alternately finished a prayer, and then began to work. This was an angel, which the Lord had sent to instruct His chosen one.

St Anthony tried to accustom himself to a stricter way of life. He partook of food only after sunset, he spent all night praying until dawn. Soon he slept only every third day. But the devil would not cease his tricks, and trying to scare the monk, he appeared under the guise of monstrous phantoms. The saint however protected himself with the Life-Creating Cross. Finally the Enemy appeared to him in the guise of a frightful looking black child, and hypocritically declaring himself beaten, he thought he could tempt the saint into vanity and pride. The saint, however, vanquished the Enemy with prayer.

For even greater solitude, St Anthony moved farther away from the village, into a graveyard. He asked a friend to bring him a little bread on designated days, then shut himself in a tomb. Then the devils pounced upon the saint intending to kill him, and inflicted terrible wounds upon him. By the providence of the Lord, Anthony's friend arrived the next day to bring him his food. Seeing him lying on the ground as if dead, he took him back to the village. They thought the saint was dead and prepared for his burial. At midnight, St Anthony regained consciousness and told his friend to carry him back to the tombs.

St Anthony's staunchness was greater than the wiles of the Enemy. Taking the form of ferocious beasts, the devils tried to force the saint to leave that place, but he defeated them by trusting in the Lord. Looking up, the saint saw the roof opening, as it were, and a ray of light coming down toward him. The demons disappeared and he cried out, "Where have You been, O Merciful Jesus? Why didn't You appear from the very beginning to end my pain?"

The Lord replied, "I was here, Anthony, but wanted to see your struggle. Now, since you have not yielded, I shall always help you and make your name known throughout all the world." After this vision St Anthony was healed of his wounds and felt stronger than before. He was then thirty-five years of age.

Having gained spiritual experience in his struggle with the devil, St Anthony considered going into the Thebaid desert to serve the Lord. He asked the Elder (to whom he had turned for guidance at the beginning of his monastic journey) to go into the desert with him. The Elder, while blessing him in the then as yet unheard of exploit of being a hermit, decided not to accompany him because of his age.

St Anthony went into the desert alone. The devil tried to hinder him, by placing a large silver disc in his path, then gold, but the saint ignored it and passed by. He found an abandoned fort on the other side of the river and settled there, barricading the entrance with stones. His faithful friend brought him bread twice a year, and there was water inside the fort.

St Anthony spent twenty years in complete isolation and constant struggle with the demons, and he finally achieved perfect calm. The saint's friends removed the stones from the entrance , and they went to St Anthony and besought him to take them under his guidance. Soon St Anthony's cell was surrounded by several monasteries, and the saint acted as a father and guide to their inhabitants, giving spiritual instruction to all who came into the desert seeking salvation. He increased the zeal of those who were already monks, and inspired others with a love for the ascetical life. He told them to strive to please the Lord, and not to become faint-hearted in their labors. He also urged them not to fear demonic assaults, but to repel the Enemy by the power of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord.

In the year 311 there was a fierce persecution against Christians, in the reign of the emperor Maximian. Wishing to suffer with the holy martyrs, St Anthony left the desert and went to Alexandria. He openly ministered to those in prison, he was present at the trial and interrogations of the confessors, and accompanying the martyrs to the place of execution. It pleased the Lord to preserve him, however, for the benefit of Christians.

At the close of the persecution, the saint returned to the desert and continued his exploits. The Lord granted the saint the gift of wonderworking, casting out demons and healing the sick by the power of his prayer. The great crowds of people coming to him disrupted his solitude, and he went off still farther, into the inner desert where he settled atop a high elevation. But the brethren of the monasteries sought him out and asked him to visit their communities.

Another time St Anthony left the desert and arrived in Alexandria to defend the Orthodox Faith against the Manichaean and Arian heresies. Knowing that the name of St Anthony was venerated by all the Church, the Arians said that he adhered to their heretical teaching. But St Anthony publicly denounced Arianism in front of everyone and in the presence of the bishop. During his brief stay at Alexandria, he converted a great multitude of pagans to Christ.

People from all walks of life loved the saint and sought his advice. Pagan philosophers once came to Abba Anthony intending to mock him for his lack of education, but by his words he reduced them to silence. Emperor Constantine the Great (May 21) and his sons wrote to St Anthony and asked him for a reply. He praised the emperor for his belief in Christ, and advised him to remember the future judgment, and to know that Christ is the true King.

St Anthony spent eighty-five years in the solitary desert. Shortly before his death, he told the brethren that soon he would be taken from them. He instructed them to preserve the Orthodox Faith in its purity, to avoid any association with heretics, and not to be negligent in their monastic struggles. "Strive to be united first with the Lord, and then with the saints, so that after death they may receive you as familiar friends into the everlasting dwellings."

The saint instructed two of his disciples, who had attended him in the final fifteen years of his life, to bury him in the desert and not in Alexandria. He left one of his monastic mantles to St Athanasius of Alexandria (January 18), and the other to St Serapion of Thmuis (March 21). St Anthony died peacefully in the year 356, at age 105, and he was buried in the desert by his disciples.

The Life of the famed ascetic St Anthony the Great was written by St Athanasius of Alexandria. This is the first biography of a saint who was not a martyr, and is considered to be one of the finest of St Athanasius' writings. St John Chrysostom recommends that this Life be read by every Christian.

"These things are insignificant compared with Anthony's virtues," writes St Athanasius, "but judge from them what the man of God Anthony was like. From his youth until his old age, he kept his zeal for asceticism, he did not give in to the desire for costly foods because of his age, nor did he alter his clothing because of the infirmity of his body. He did not even wash his feet with water. He remained very healthy, and he could see well because his eyes were sound and undimmed. Not one of his teeth fell out, but near the gums they had become worn due to his advanced age. He remained strong in his hands and feet.... He was spoken of everywhere, and was admired by everyone, and was sought even by those who had not seen him, which is evidence of his virtue and of a soul dear to God."

The following works of St Anthony have come down to us:

Twenty Sermons on the virtues, primarily monastic (probably spurious).

Seven Letters to various Egyptian monasteries concerning moral perfection, and the monastic life as a spiritual struggle.

A Rule for monastics (not regarded as an authentic work of St Anthony).

In the year 544 the relics of St Anthony the Great were transferred to Alexandria, and after the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in the seventh century, they were transferred to Constantinople. The holy relics were transferred from Constantinople in the tenth-eleventh centuries to a diocese outside Vienna. In the fifteenth century they were brought to Arles (in France), to the church of St Julian.

TROPARION-TONE 4

You imitated the ways of zealous Elijah,
and followed the straight path of John the Baptist.
You became a desert dweller
and strengthened the world by your prayers.
Father Anthony, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.

KONTAKION-TONE 2

You rejected the tumult of this life
and lived your life to the end in solitude,
imitating the Baptist in every way.
With him we honor you, most venerable Anthony, foundation of the Fathers.

SOURCE:

SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2012(with 2011's link here also and further, 2010, 2009 and even 2008!):

The Last interview with the Great Byzantologist Sir Steven Runciman

From here.
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THE LAST INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT BYZANTOLOGIST SIR STEVEN RUNCIMAN FOR THE MAGAZINE “PEMPTOUSIA”

(Issue 4, DEC. 2000 - MAR. 2001) 

An interview conducted by the magazine PEMPTOUSIA with the great Byzantologist Sir Steven Runciman at the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, on  14/7/2000, where he was hosted during his three-day stay on Mount Athos for the arrival of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who was to inaugurate the new sacristy of the monastery and the holy community of Mount Athos.
 

PEMPTOUSIA: When did you first come to Mount Athos? 

Sir Steven Runciman: In 1936 it so happened that I was traveling on a ship towards Kavala, which approached one of the shores of Athos. The monks approached us in boats intending to help us. I could have got off on the shore, but the ship's captain insisted that we continue our course towards Kavala, and so he stopped me. I got very angry at him and talked back to him in perfect Greek. You see, when I get angry, I speak perfect Greek... In 1952 I visited Mount Athos for the first time, very briefly. A second time followed that same decade, but I was upset because everything seemed to be in a state of deterioration. Later, it was wonderful to see the live renewal when I returned here; it is now a great joy and satisfaction for me to be here, because this fact restores trust in the God-friendly human nature.  

P.: What exactly was the motive which lead you concern yourself for the greatest part of your life with the study of Byzantine civilization?  

S.S.R.: Various reasons drove me to it. When I was 7-8 years old, I started learning Ancient Greek because I liked the classical Greek language. At the same time I was quite captivated by the Middle Ages and almost nobody was interested in medieval Greece. And so I decided to make Medieval Hellenism my main interest: Greece and the neighboring Balkan states, as well as the Crusades, which were utterly destructive, resulting in the devastation of the Eastern Roman state and the enslavement of Eastern Christianity.  

P.: Had you met anyone in particular who helped you specialize in Byzantine Studies?  

S.S.R.: When I began my studies, the top Byzantologist was professor Bury, an academic who first took up studying classical Greece and then Byzantium. But he was a solitary person and did not desire any students. Furthermore, he did not like the fact that he was forced to make me his student. I had a very hard time meeting him. I first met him at his office in Cambridge. He was the most famous history professor there and he tried very hard to discourage me. In the end, he told me that I would waste my time studying Eastern Europe and the Middle Ages, unless I spoke Slavic languages. It so happened that I already knew Russian. In the end, he was forced to accept me. Despite all this, it was not always easy to approach him. Because of his old age and weakness he was absent from his office. That is why I sent him written notes and questions to his house, but they never reached his hands. Later, someone mentioned to me that Mrs Bury believed that Mr Bury should not be bothered with such things, and so she destroyed everything I sent him. In time, I discovered that every morning he took a walk around Cambridge and I would wait around for him to pass by. In fact, he liked having someone escorting him on his walk. I accompanied him holding a notebook and asking him relevant things. Indeed, he had a clever mind and great knowledge. He almost never needed to go back to texts and studies, because he always knew what to answer. In case he did not remember or did not know he would send me his scientific answer after a while . But unfortunately, he was my first and only tutor. After some time I fell sick and left Cambridge. When I later returned, he had died. From then on, I had to proceed with the subject alone. 

P: What does the average European know today about the Byzantium?

S.S.R.: The average European is starting to learn more, as today there are quite a few Byzantologists. Every year, in Britain, we schedule a Byzantological conference with a great number of interested people taking part. Also, in our universities, the students are showing a growing interest. And on the European continent, in France and Germany, there have always been schools concerned with Byzantium, which were limited I guess, but I am convinced that interest is growing there as well. In America, there is a research institution which is very 'gifted', in Washington DC, in Dumbarton Oaks. This institute was founded by an American millionaire, literally 'in love' with the Church of St Sofia in Constantinople. When I first met her, she was the wife of an American ambassador. Later on, we met in London at a lunch with my parents. She asked me what my profession was, and I answered her 'Byzantologist'. And then she told me that it was something which deeply interested her and she was planning to found this institution in Dumbarton Oaks. For all this I feel that during my long life I have seen Byzantium being considered something like a dark and almost unknown topic, while today, having many students, I am convinced that it will become more and more widely known.   

 

P.: How do the various people in Europe and America see the Byzantine civilization? 

S.S.R.: For the time being, this civilization has not penetrated their conscience too much. But now, through various universities, it is no longer a subject ignored or scorned. On the contrary, it is something that keeps developing vivaciously while in my years it was almost unknown. This realization pleases me and encourages me for the future.  

   

P.: How do the people of a Western outlook feel concerning Mount Athos? How do they see it? 

S.S.R.: I think that for them it is a puzzling place, and certainly women do not understand almost anything about Mount Athos. Of course, the visitors who come here return enthusiastic, and you now have Prince Charles as an admirer, who very much desires and is happy to stay with you. 

P.: This is why he recently stayed at Vatopedi for three nights. 

S.S.R.: Yes, he pretended he was stranded because of bad weather on the Mountain. But things were very different. He had told the people on the yacht which transported him to wait for him in Thasos, because he had supposedly seen a big storm. And, indeed, he had a lovely time. 

P.: What do you believe about the presence of Orthodoxy in modern Europe?  

S.S.R.: Sometimes – what can I say – I feel very disappointed from the other Churches of the West. However, I am glad with the thought that within the next 100 years Orthodoxy will be the only historical Church existing. The Anglican Church is in a very bad state. The Roman Catholic Church keeps losing ground. But, fortunately there is the Orthodox Church. The increasing number of people embracing Orthodoxy is impressive, especially in Britain. I believe it offers real spirituality which the other Churches cannot transmit any longer. All this leads me to the conclusion that Orthodoxy will be sustained, in contrast to the others. 

P.: What do you think Orthodoxy could offer a united Europe and generally the whole world?

S.S.R.: I should say that I very much doubt we will ever have a united Europe or world. I believe, however, that it offers a wonderful solution to the problem of unity among the Orthodox peoples, because to start with, it does not project nationalism at all. But also because through it are given wider and more liberal views in comparison to the Roman-Catholic Church. All this fills me with the conviction that Orthodoxy has a certain and very good future ahead of it.

P: Which Byzantine figure do you admire the most and why? 

S.S.R.: This is a very difficult question...! I am interested in so many personalities. But mostly I admire some religious men. Generally, the non-spiritual but important people of  Byzantium are not, generally, for me worthy of admiration. Some of them have certainly offered something. But I believe that some spiritual statures are more admirable. They have offered a lot of things and service to the European civilization. 

P.: In the monastery of Vatopedi, the renown saint and great advocate for Orthodoxy Gregory Palamas, started off as a monk remaining here for three years. The Church and especially the fathers of Mount Athos admire him a lot and highly honor him. What does the West say of him? 

S.S.R.: There still exists a prejudice against the Palamites, those who accept his theology. Personally, I find comfort in his dogmas, despite the fact that others are against it.

P.: Would you support the idea of St Sophia functioning again in the City (Istanbul) as a place of Orthodox worship?

S.S.R.: I would like that a lot, but I doubt that something like that could happen. But it would make me very happy.  

P: What do you think is the quintessence of the Byzantine empire throughout its very long history? 

S.S.R.: I think I would have to give an answer that would take a long time. In brief, the Byzantines always maintained―even if in some cases they did not fully achieve it―a high level of spirituality, and I think that this is probably the quintessence, their most important element. And I would emphasize that it is a broad and free religious state. For example, the Byzantine missions in Europe encouraged the publication of holy texts in the language of the newly formed Christians. Rome would never have done such a thing. This is something, among other things, that I very much admire about the Byzantines. 

P.: We believe that Mount Athos constitutes, in general, the continuation of this Byzantine tradition.

S.S.R.: Certainly. 

P.: And we feel greatly pleased with the progress of modern monasticism on Mount Athos. 

S.S.R.: Certainly the 'revival' of this holy site justifies the hopes of many of us. Here, one feels what Orthodoxy truly meant for the Byzantine leaders and its people. Anyhow, it is undergoing a rebirth here. 

P.: Some claim―and we would like Sir your view as an authority―that Ancient Greece was a glorious and wonderful civilization, which undoubtedly it was, while the Byzantine civilization was a dark period in the Middle Ages which repels them. Can you tell us something in relation to that?

S.S.R.: I always object against this stance! In Byzantium there was high ethos! Regarding Byzantine art there was almost never a correct appreciation of it. I personally believe that some Byzantine mosaics are more precious than all the ancient statues of the classical age. There is a lot of rattle around the Elgin marbles. They don't evoke such an admiration from me; I would prefer older works of art like for example the 'Kores'. I would never desire to own statues of realistic nature, completely human. I would be excited if they had a spiritual dimension in them, like the so expressive (expressionistic) Byzantine creations which are unique and almost unrepeatable. Something which has occurred during my lifetime is the appreciation of the various Byzantine Arts, and the decrease in the exclusive focus on the the Arts of the Golden Age of Athens. 

P: Sir, we thank you very much for your kind disposition to talk to us and we hope that holy providence will grant you more years of life, so that you can transmit your knowledge to the ones that follow in your footsteps, who in their turn will prove that the life and heart of Byzantium was, is and will be Orthodoxy. 

S.S.R.: Yes. Of course, I am already 97 years old and don't know if I can still offer anything else. But I feel revived with this visit of mine to Mount Athos. 

P.: Before we finish, one last question, what did you think of the Vatopedian choir? 

S.S.R.: I liked their chanting. It is distinguished by the lack of worldly music and creates in me a transcendent quality, which should exist in Byzantine music.

P.: We once again thank you for your trouble and your good intent to speak to us, as an expert in Byzantology, about your appreciation towards Orthodoxy as the quintessence of the bright Byzantine civilization. ________________________________________

(Greek): http://www.pemptousia.com/

Translated by the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The eminent Byzantologist Sir Steven Runciman was born on July 7, 1903. He was the grandson of the tycoon Sir Walter Runciman (1847-1937) and son of the politician Sir Walter. He studied in Eton and Trinity College of Cambridge, where he was a student of the famous professor of Modern History and Byzantologist John Bagnell Bury. He taught at this university from 1927 to 1938 and remained an honorary member until his death. He also taught in many universities in America and Europe and in the University of Constantinople from 1942 to 1945, where he taught Byzantine History and Art. He served in many diplomatic positions (an attendant of the British embassy in Sofia and Cairo) and served as a representative of the British Council in Greece from 1945 to 1947. He was a member of the British Academy of Athens, and he has been honored with numerous university degrees. Passing through Greece he had the opportunity to meet, among many others,  Giorgos Seferis, Aggelos Sikelianos and Dimitris Horn.     

This prolific historian wrote many works that quickly became as famous on an academic level as among the vast reading public. His first works are: the Roman Emperor Lekapenos and his Reign (1929), Study on the 10th Century Byzantium, The First Bulgaric State (1930) and Byzantine Civilization (1933), which he wrote when he was a lecturer in Cambridge University. The Middle Ages Manichaeism is a study on dualistic sects during the middle ages. An important work of his is also the three volume History of the Crusades (1951-1954) completing the Sicilian Vespers, a detailed history of the Mediterranean countries and civilizations of that era and the conflicts of the then political and national interests. But just as important other works of his are: The Fall of Constantinople (1965), The Great Church of Christ in Captivity (1968), the Last Byzantine Rebirth (1970), the Orthodox Church and the worldly state (1972), Byzantine Rhythm and Civilization (1975), The Byzantine Theocracy (1977). Many have been translated into Greek. Sir Steven Runciman has through his studies and work revived the Byzantine civilization from scientific indifference and research shunt. Through his work The History of the Crusades he essentially altered the beliefs of the West about the Crusades. The Times newspaper wrote for the great scientist's contribution on the particular subject: “Mapping the Middle Ages period of the endless gap between East and West in the Middle East, Runciman certainly leaned towards the Byzantine side against the prejudice and looting with which the West was occupied”. 

               

Our country honored him with a gold metal of the city of Athens (1990) and the Onassis prize (1997).

Sir Steven Runciman passed away during the time we were putting together his interview, on November 10, 2000.

Translated by the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator

Monasticism

From here.
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ORTHODOX CATECHISM TOPICS

Monasticism

By: Fr. Anthony Alevizopoulos
PhD. of Theology, PhD. of Philosophy 

http://www.egolpion.com/Monasticism.en.aspx

In our times many people and especially young people desire to see their ideas and the content of their faith embodied. To have people who live their faith and the hope in Christ with all its consequences is a great contribution to our society which, today, has an horizon­tal orientation. A contemporary Orthodox hierarch, referring to the three monastic vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience, quite aptly points out: "the evangelical exhortations of purity dedicated to God, poverty and obedience are based upon the word and example of our Lord and are recommended by the Apostles and the Fathers, as well as by the teachers and pastors of the Church, and are a divine gift which the Church received from the Lord, and which she preserves through His Grace".

Specifically, monks are not part of the Church's hierarchic structure: they do however belong to her life and participate in her sanctity. The monk is not sepa­rated from communion with his brothers nor is he indifferent to the world and its problems.

The true monk does not live inwardly, separated from the world, nor has he abandoned his responsibility for the world. He lives for the entire world with which he feels deeply united. His vocation and his charisma is to be a prophet and a preacher of the coming Kingdom, a living icon and proof of the future life.

In the life of the world the monk constitutes the indicator, the finger pointing towards heaven and reveals to the world another reality, the reality of heaven.

He deeply believes in the new creation "in Christ"; by his life he proclaims the superiority of the Kingdom of heaven vis-a-vis this life, and by his actions con­fesses: " I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and to the life of the future age".

This contribution is great, especially in today's world where everything is orientated towards the earth and runs the risk of being condemned unto death.

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH Its Faith, Worship and Life
Rev. Antonios Alevisopoulos, Th.D., Ph.D
Translated by Rev. Stephen Avramides
ATHENS 2001

Venerable Anthony of the Kiev Far Caves, Founder of Monasticism in Russia

Commemorated on July 10

Saint Anthony of the Kiev Caves was born in the year 983 at Liubech, not far from Chernigov, and was named Antipas in Baptism. Possessing the fear of God from his youth, he desired to be clothed in the monastic schema. When he reached a mature age, he wandered until he arrived on Mt. Athos, burning with the desire to emulate the deeds of its holy inhabitants. Here he received monastic tonsure, and the young monk pleased God in every aspect of his spiritual struggles on the path of virtue. He particularly excelled in humility and obedience, so that all the monks rejoiced to see his holy life.

The igumen saw in St Anthony the great future ascetic, and inspired by God, he sent him back to his native land, saying, "Anthony, it is time for you to guide others in holiness. Return to your own Russian land, and be an example for others. May the blessing of the Holy Mountain be with you.

Returning to the land of Rus, Anthony began to make the rounds of the monasteries about Kiev, but nowhere did he find that strict life which had drawn him to Mt. Athos.

Through the Providence of God, Anthony came to the hills of Kiev by the banks of the River Dniepr. The forested area near the village of Berestovo reminded him of his beloved Athos. There he found a cave which had been dug out by the Priest Hilarion, who later became Metropolitan of Kiev (October 21). Since he liked the spot, Anthony prayed with tears, "Lord, let the blessing of Mt. Athos be upon this spot, and strengthen me to remain here." He began to struggle in prayer, fasting, vigil and physical labor. Every other day, or every third day, he would eat only dry bread and a little water. Sometimes he did not eat for a week. People began to come to the ascetic for his blessing and counsel, and some decided to remain with the saint.

Among Anthony's first disciples was St Nikon (March 23), who tonsured St Theodosius of the Caves (May 3) at the monastery in the year 1032.

The virtuous life of St Anthony illumined the Russian land with the beauty of monasticism. St Anthony lovingly received those who yearned for the monastic life. After instructing them how to follow Christ, he asked St Nikon to tonsure them. When twelve disciples had gathered about St Anthony, the brethren dug a large cave and built a church and cells for the monks within it.

After he appointed Abbot Barlaam to guide the brethren, St Anthony withdrew from the monastery. He dug a new cave for himself, then hid himself within it. There too, monks began to settle around him. Afterwards, the saint built a small wooden church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God over the Far Caves.

At the insistence of Prince Izyaslav, the igumen Barlaam withdrew to the Dimitriev monastery. With the blessing of St Anthony and with the general agreement of the brethren, the meek and humble Theodosius was chosen as igumen. By this time, the number of brethren had already reached a hundred men. The Kiev Great Prince Izyaslav (+ 1078) gave the monks the hill on which the large church and cells were built, with a palisade all around. Thus, the renowned monastery over the caves was established. Describing this, the chronicler remarks that while many monasteries were built by emperors and nobles, they could not compare with those which are built with holy prayers and tears, and by fasting and vigil. Although St Anthony had no gold, he built a monastery which became the first spiritual center of Rus.

For his holiness of life, God glorified St Anthony with the gift of clairvoyance and wonderworking. One example of this occurred during the construction of the Great Caves church. The Most Holy Theotokos Herself stood before him and St Theodosius in the Blachernae church in Constantinople, where they had been miraculously transported without leaving their own monastery. Actually, two angels appeared in Constantinople in their forms (See May 3, the account of the Kiev Caves Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos). Having received gold from the Mother of God, the saints commissioned master architects, who came from Constantinople to the Russian land on the command of the Queen of Heaven to build the church at the Monastery of the Caves. During this appearance, the Mother of God foretold the impending death of St Anthony, which occurred on July 10, 1073.

Through Divine Providence, the relics of St Anthony remain hidden.
Troparion - Tone 4

Having departed from worldly tumults,
In leaving the world you followed Christ according to the Gospel.
You reached the quiet refuge of the Holy Mount Athos,
Living there a life equal to the angels.
Therefore, with the blessing of the Fathers,
You came to the Kievan hills.
There having fulfilled a life loving of labors,
You illumined your homeland.
And having shown a multitude of monastics
The pathway leading to the heavenly kingdom,
You led them to Christ.
Beseech him, O Venerable Anthony,
That he may save our souls!

Kontakion - Tone 8

From your youth you gave yourself to God whom you loved above all, O Venerable One;
And in love you followed after him with your whole soul.
Scorning the passing corruption of the world, you made a cave in the earth;
And in it you struggled nobly facing the snares of the invisible enemy,
While illumining the ends of the earth like a bright, shining sun.
Therefore, with rejoicing you entered into the heavenly chambers.
Standing now before the throne of the Master together with the angels,
Remember us who honor your holy memory,
That we may cry out to you: Rejoice, Anthony our Holy Father!

SOURCE:

SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2010(with 2009's link here also and further, 2008's):

Our Place in the World and the Hope of the World

From here.
----------------------------

ORTHODOX CATECHISM TOPICS

By: Fr. Anthony Alevizopoulos
PhD. of Theology, PhD. of Philosophy

The entire world is God's creation and therefore it is by nature good; evil does not have an ontological existence. Natural evil is the result of discord which was created after man's fall; even death is a means of educating man in order to lead him back to communion with God. Moral evil, sin, does not have its cause in man's nature, but in man's disposition.

Through man's fall, all of nature was dragged into servitude to corruption. God, however, in the person of His Incarnate Word or Logos entered into the reality of the world and renewed it. By His death, Resurrection and Ascension, He led man, whom He had assumed, to the life of incorruption and immortality; and He exalted him to the height of the glory of God the Father.

This glory, which during the second coming of our Lord shall become our possession, is prefigured in the life of the Church, and especially in the life of the saints. The bodies of the saints, the sacred relics, are surrounded by the sanctifying grace of God and become a source of divine blessings and miracles (IV Kings 13,21. Wisdom of Sirach 18,14). The grace, honor and glory which God grants to the relics of the saints consti­tute a foretaste and predepiction of man's transfiguration and that of all creation. This same grace surrounds the saints even during this life and can be discerned in some as warmth, in others as light, or through various miracu­lous energies, which are blessings for man. Even material objects in the life of the Church bear God's grace.

The presence of God's grace and glory in man and in material creation prefigures the liberation of all of creation from servitude to corruption and guarantees the certainty of our hope in life and incorruption. The world's sanctification was also wrought in the Jordan River during our Lord's Baptism. The hymns of our Church on the day of Epiphany and the prayers of the Great Sanctification of the Waters reveal the new reality of the world: "Today the earth and the sea share in the world's joy and the world is filled with gladness", states the prayer of St. Sophronios of Jerusalem.

Christ hallowed the waters of the Jordan, the banks of the river and all of creation: " You, Ο Lord, being baptized in the Jordan did sanctify its waters"; "having hallowed the waters of the Jordan You did crush the power of sin"; " Today creation is enlightened; today all things rejoice, the heavenly together with the earthly", states the hymnology of our Church.

Through the participation of the material creation in the divine worship of the Church and in the praise and doxology of God the hope of incorruption is expressed. In the Divine Liturgy all of creation is taken on and becomes a new creation in Christ. It is the bread and wine that becomes the Body and Blood of Christ, the candles, the icons, the Holy Cross; and all the material objects participate in some way in the Divine Liturgy. The water, the oil, the incense, the palms, the flowers, and even the new harvest of the crops of the earth are blessed, and the whole world regains that which it lost through man's fall: internal unity, the correct relation­ship with God, which is an eucharistic relationship, a relationship of offering in which all things are referred up and offered to God, Who becomes once again the center of the world.

The unity of the entire creation which offers up "with one mouth" doxology to the Triune God is expressed at the end of the prayer for the Great Blessing of the Waters: "...that with the elements, and men, and Angels and with all things visible and invisible they may magnify Thy most holy Name, together with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen." Man thus forsakes his autonomy and his egoistic use of God's creation; he once again finds his correct place in the world and his "royal" and "priestly" minis­try (Gen. 1, 28. 2, 15).

The Christian does not reject this world, nor does he consider it to be something negative. He is not called to abandon the world, but to serve or liturgize in it. Christ wants his faithful to be in the world; to be "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Matth. 5, 13-14). If our world is "tasteless and unsalted" and in darkness, if it follows a process of disintegration, then this means that Christians do not serve "as the salt of the earth" and the "light of the world". We must not then look for the cause of the world's misfortune in others.

This place that the Christians hold in the world implies responsibility for the preservation and the sanctification of God's creation, a task which stems from the service which God entrusted to man in Paradise ("...to cultivate and preserve", Gen. 2, 15). A Christian cannot be indifferent to the world's problems; he must labor to bring the world once again back to its doxological relationship with God. This means that the use of the world cannot have as its center the satisfaction of man's ego and the "needs" which man constantly creates.

The true believer does not attribute absolute and exclusive value to the needs of this life nor to man's abilities. He does not intervene in God's creation in an autonomous way, independent of God's will, and egocentrically; he feels that he is responsible for cre­ation. He does not seek knowledge and use of God's creation "unconditionally". The faithful does not use the powers of the world in a manner not blessed by God and contrary to the balance and harmony in creation and to the unity of God's world.

The Orthodox believer knows that man after the fall ceased to offer creation up to God as a doxology, i.e. to practice his priestly duties vis-a-vis creation; it was he who led creation into servitude to corruption. Within the Church however, he acquires the experience of freedom from this servitude. With this experience he is now called to return to the world with the assurance of the transfiguration and salvation of the entire creation. Having once again acquired within the liturgical place his correct relationship with creation and his correct place within it, he is called to practice his service as priest of the world.

This transfiguration of man and creation in the Church is still not yet the "new heavens" and the "new earth". These will become a reality during Christ's Second Coming. Thus it is that the Christian hope is "not of this world". Every chiliastic-messianic concept which looks to an establishment of an earthly kingdom and the creation of Paradise on earth, is foreign to the spirit of Christ.

Christians respect the authorities of the world and submit themselves to human laws which do not go against their Christian hope (Rom. 13, 1-8. Acts 3, 30). They do not preach a "gospel" conforming to the aspirations and the aims of this world. This is the saving message of the Church to a world which has an exclusively inter secular character and can discern no other vertical dimension in its life. It is for this reason that Orthodox Monasticism with its ascetical character and heavenly orientation offers to our society a great service. It shows to contemporary man, who is exclusively orientated towards the horizontal dimension, the vertical dimension which is at the center of monastic life.

The monks thus constitute the indicators of the reality of heaven, which man who lives in the world cannot easily grasp. Monasticism opens the way to the absolute experience of life in Christ: a way of asceticism and obedience which is followed throughout one's life without ending; a way which is at the same time danger­ous for those who fail to remain humble and steadfast in love that "seeks not its own". This life of the monastics constitutes a continuous vocation to contemporary man's disposition and an excellent prefiguration of the future life.

This anticipation of a new life creates in the Chris­tians the conviction that here on earth they are strangers and sojourners, and that in traversing this life they walk towards their true homeland (Hebrews 11, 13-16). The believer has his eyes always fixed upon heaven and considers death to be the last stop in his journey, his "passing on" or birth into the next life.

We believe that after their separation from the body the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God (Wisdom of Solomon, 3,1) and they await the resurrec­tion of the bodies, so that they may "totally" become partakers in God's love and glory. On the contrary, the souls of the unrighteous who in their lives rejected God's love and communion with Him and with the brethren, and who had as the only center of reference their "ego", are deprived of this love, for their egoism does not allow them to accept it.

Christ's Second Coming will signal the general resurrection; our bodies will be clothed with incorruption and immortality. The righteous shall be raised unto life, the unrighteous unto condemnation. This will be the general judgment of the world; God's love will judge man in accordance with the position he assumes towards it, i.e. whether he accepts it or rejects it.

The Lord desires the salvation of all men, and their return to their true homeland: to the love and commu­nion with the Triune God. This we call Paradise. By this word we do not mean a material but a spiritual reality. Holy Scripture compares this communion to the relation­ship between the Bridegroom and the Bride, and their union is compared to marriage (Rev. 19,7).

 The sons of the Kingdom shall be eternally united with Christ and shall henceforth absolutely live the condition of being "one in Christ"; then shall we be in Him participators by grace of His unity with the Father ("I in my Father and you in me" Jn 14,20). All who live in this life closed up within themselves, all those who do not rejoice in seeing the face of their brother shall be deprived of this joy. They of their own accord have chosen their eternal torment.

Christ's Second Coming is for the faithful the fulfillment of their hope, just as is the arrival of the Bridegroom for the Bride. This is why the preparation for the reception of the coming Christ constitutes the chief concern of this life.

But when shall the Lord come? Christians do not concern themselves in pinpointing a specific date. They are vigilant and take care to be ready at every moment, for the Lord shall come suddenly, when we do not expect Him (Matth. 24, 13. 33. Acts 1, 7). The Lord Himself warns us to protect ourselves from false prophets who will be workers of guile and treachery. Outwardly they shall appear in the guise of Christ or in the form of an angel (Matth. 24, 4-5. 23-27. II Cor. 11, 13-15). Their teaching shall not be identical with that of Christ; thus the knowledge of the only real truth of Christ is necessary in order to avoid error and deceit.

http://www.egolpion.com/Hope_World.en.aspx

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH Its Faith, Worship and Life
Rev. Antonios Alevisopoulos, Th.D., Ph.D
Translated by Rev. Stephen Avramides
ATHENS 2001

Venerable Therapon the Abbot of White Lake

Commemorated on May 27
Saint Therapon of White Lake, Wonderworker of Luzhetsk, in the world Theodore, was born in the year 1337 at Volokolamsk into the noble Poskochin family. From his childhood, he was raised in faith and piety, which he displayed throughout his life as a holy ascetic.

At the age of forty he was tonsured a monk by the igumen of Moscow's Simonov monastery, St Theodore, a nephew of St Sergius (November 28). As a monk in this monastery Therapon became close to St Cyril of White Lake (June 9). Together they passed through their ascetic struggles of prayer and fasting. They were under the spiritual guidance of St Sergius of Radonezh (September 25 and July 5), who visited the monastery to instruct the brethren. St Therapon went north, to the frontier of White Lake, on monastery matters. The harsh northern land attracted the ascetic, and he decided to remain there for his ascetic endeavors.

After returning with St Cyril, to whom the Mother of God had appeared, also ordering him to go to the north, St Therapon received the blessing of the igumen to go to White Lake. For a while the ascetics lived together in a cell that they had built, but later and by mutual consent, St Therapon moved to another place fifteen versts away from Cyril, between two lakes, Borodava and Pava.

Having cleared a small plot for a garden, and building a cell in the deep forest near a river, St Therapon continued his ascetic efforts as a hermit in silence. At first he endured much deprivation and tribulation in his solitude. More than once he was set upon by robbers, who tried to chase away or even kill the ascetic. In time monks began to gather to the saint, and the wilderness place was gradually transformed into a monastery, afterwards called the Theraponov.

In 1398 St Therapon built a wooden church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the monastery was gradually set in order. The monks toiled together with their saintly guide building cells, copying books, and adorning the church. (At the end of the fifteenth century on the place of the former wooden church a stone cathedral was built in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. It was painted in the years 1500-1501 by the renowned Russian iconographer Dionysius and his sons, Vladimir and Theodosius. The frescoes are devoted to the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos. The unique frescoes of the St Therapon monastery have been preserved up to the present time and are an outstanding memorial of Russian church art and painting, having world significance).

A cenobitic monastic rule was introduced at the monastery, strictly observed by the monks. St Therapon declined to head the monastery out of humility, and instead entrusted the position of igumen to one of his disciples. The holy ascetic, endowed with the gift of counsel, turned to his friend, St Cyril of White Lake for spiritual guidance just as before. News about the ascetic deeds of the saint spread far beyond the White Lake frontier.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the lands on which the St Cyril and St Therapon monasteries were built, were part of the holdings of the Mozhaisk prince Andrew (1382-1432), son of Great Prince Demetrius Donskoy (1363-1389). In the year 1408 Prince Andrew Dimitrievich, learning of the high level of spiritual life of the White Lake ascetic, asked the monastic Elder Therapon to establish a monastery in the city of Mozhaisk.

It was difficult for the saint to leave his own monastery, where he had labored for more than ten years. St Therapon was met at Mozhaisk with great honor. Soon, not far from Mozhaisk, in the locality of Lushko, St Therapon founded his second monastery on a hilly part of the right bank of the Moscow River. Its chief temple was in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, in memory of the White Lake monastery. Prince Andrew, esteeming the saint for his true humility, provided generous help in the construction and establishment of the monastery. With the blessing of St Photius, Metropolitan of Moscow (July 2 and May 27), the monastery was to be headed by an archimandrite, and St Therapon was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

St Therapon dwelt at this new monastery for eighteen years. He reposed at an advanced age, on May 27, 1426. His body was buried at the north wall of the cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. Over his grave a church was built in honor of St John of the Ladder (March 30), and renamed in 1730 for St Therapon.

Veneration of the saint began soon after his death. In 1514, the incorrupt relics of the holy ascetic were uncovered and glorified by numerous miracles. After the Moscow Council of 1547 the canonization of St Therapon of Mozhaisk took place after the igumen of the St Therapon monastery brought to Metropolitan Macarius (1543-1564) a Life of the saint.

Among the numerous disciples and conversers of St Sergius of Radonezh, the Russian Church venerates the memory of St Therapon, who in following the counsel of his great teacher and guide, combined the ascetic feats of silence and solitude with active service to his neighbor and the spiritual enlightenment of his Fatherland.

The memory of St Therapon is celebrated twice, May 27 (his repose in 1426), and December 27 (Uncovering of his relics, 1514).

SOURCE:

SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2010(with 2009's link here also and further, 2008's):

Venerable Joseph the Abbot of Volokolamsk, Volotsk

Commemorated on September 9
Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk, in the world John Sanin, was born on November 14, 1440 (1439 according to another source) in the village of Yazvisch-Pokrov, not far from the city of Volokolamsk. He was born into a pious family with his father named John (in monasticism Joannicius) and his mother Marina (in schema Maria). The seven-year-old boy John was sent to the pious and enlightened Elder Arsenius of the Volokolamsk-Exaltation of the Cross monastery to be educated.

Distinguished by rare qualities and extraordinary aptitude for church service, for one year the talented youth studied the Psalter, and, the following year, the entire Holy Scripture. He became a reader and singer in the monastery church. Contemporaries were astonished at his exceptional memory. Often, without having a single book in his cell, he would do the monastic rule, reciting from memory from the Psalter, the Gospel, the Epistles, and all that was required.

Even before becoming a monk, John lived a monastic lifestyle. Thanks to his reading and studying of Holy Scripture and the works of the holy Fathers, he dwelt constantly in contemplation of God. As his biographer notes, he "disdained obscene and blasphemous talk and endless mirth from his childhood years."

At twenty years of age John chose the path of monastic striving and, leaving his parents' home, he went off into the wilderness nigh to the Tver Savvin monastery, to the renowned Elder and strict ascetic, Barsanuphius. But the monastic rule seemed insufficiently strict to the young ascetic. With the blessing of Elder Barsanuphius, he set off to Borov to St Paphnutius of Borov (May 1), who had been a novice of Elder Nikita of the Vysotsk monastery, who in turn was a disciple of St Sergius of Radonezh and Athanasius of Vysotsk.

The simple life of the holy Elder, the tasks which he shared with the brethren, and the strict fulfilling of the monastic rule suited John's spiritual state. St Paphnutius lovingly accepted the young ascetic who had come to him, and on February 13, 1460 he tonsured him into monasticism with the name Joseph, thus realizing John's greatest wish. With love and with zeal the young monk shouldered the heavy obediences imposed upon him, in the kitchen, the bakery, the infirmary. St Joseph fulfilled this latter obedience with special care, "giving food and drink to the sick, taking up and arranging the bedding, so very anxious and concerned with everything, working, as though attending to Christ Himself."

The great spiritual abilities of the young monk were evidenced in the Church reading and singing. He was musically talented and possessed a voice that "in church singing and reading was like that of a swallow and wondrously harmonious, delighting the hearing of listeners, as much as anyone anywhere." St Paphnutius made Joseph ecclesiarch in church, so that he would observe the fulfilling of the Church rule.

Joseph spent about seventeen years in the monastery of St Paphnutius. The strict efforts of monastic obedience under the direct guidance of the experienced abbot was for him an excellent spiritual schooling, having educated him into a future instructor and guide of monastic life. Towards the end of the life of St Paphnutius, Joseph was ordained hieromonk and, in accord with the final wishes of St Paphnutius, he was appointed Igumen of the Borov monastery.

St Joseph decided to transform the monastic life along strictly coenobitic principles, following the example of the Kiev Caves, Trinity-St Sergius, and St Cyril of White Lake monasteries. But this met with strong opposition from a majority of the brethren. Only seven pious monks were of one mind with the igumen. St Joseph decided to visit Russian coenobitic monasteries, to investigate the best arrangement for monastic life. He arrived together with the Elder Gerasimus at the St Cyril of White Lake monastery, which itself presented a model of strict asceticism on the principles of a coenobitic monastery rule.

His acquaintance with the life of these monasteries strengthened St Joseph's views. But, after he returned to Borov monastery at the wish of the prince, St Joseph encountered again the former staunch resistance of the brethren to change from their customary rule. Therefore, he resolved to found a new monastery with a strict coenobitic rule, so he took seven like-minded monks to Volokolamsk, his native region, to a forest known to him since childhood.

In Volokolamsk at the time, the prince was Boris Vasilievich, the pious brother of Great Prince Ivan III. Hearing of the virtuous life of the great ascetic Joseph, he gladly received him and allowed him to settle on the outskirts of his principality, at the confluence of the Rivers Struga and Sestra. The selection of this spot was accompanied by a remarkable occurrence: a storm blew down the trees before the eyes of the astonished travelers, as though clearing the place for the future monastery. Here the ascetics set up a cross and built a wooden church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God in June 1479, which was consecrated on August 15, 1479. This day and year stand in history as the date of the founding of the monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God as "volok' lamsk" ["broken-up peninsula"], later named after its founder.

The monastery was built rather quickly. Much of the work in the construction of the monastery was done by the founder himself. "He was skilled in every human craft: he felled trees, carried logs, he chopped and sawed wood." By day he toiled with everyone at the construction of the monastery, but spent his nights in solitary cell prayer, remembering always that "Desires kill the sluggard, for his hands do not choose to do anything" (Prov 21:25).

Good reports about the new ascetic attracted disciples to him. The number of monks soon increased to a hundred men, and the venerable Joseph strove to be a good example for his monks in everything. Preaching temperance and spiritual sobriety in all things, his external appearance was no different than the others. His simple, cold-weather rags were his constant clothing, and bast shoes (made from bark) served as his footwear.

He was the first one to appear in church, he read and sang in the choir beside the others, he gave instruction and was the last to leave church. At nights the holy igumen walked around the monastery and the cells, safeguarding the peace and prayerful sobriety of the brethren entrusted him by God. If he chanced to hear a frivolous conversation, he rapped on the door and quietly withdrew.

St Joseph devoted much attention to the inner ordering of the life of the monks. He himself led a strict cenobitic life in accord with the Rule he compiled, to which all the services and obediences of the monks were subordinated, and it governed their whole life, "whether in their comings or goings, their words or their deeds." At the core of the rule was total non-covetousness, detachment from one's own will, and constant work. The brethren possessed everything in common: clothing, footwear, food and other things.

None of the brethren could take anything into their cell without the blessing of the igumen, not even a book or an icon. Part of the trapeza meal of the monks, by general consent, was given away to the poor. Work, prayer, spiritual efforts filled the life of the brethren. The Jesus Prayer never vanished from their lips. Festivity was viewed by St Joseph as a chief weapon for demonic seduction. St Joseph invariably imposed upon himself quite burdensome obediences. The monastery was occupied with the copying and transcription of Service Books and the writings of the holy Fathers, so that the Volokolamsk book collection soon became one of the finest of Russian monastic libraries.

With each passing year the monastery of St Joseph flourished all the more. In the years 1484-1485 a stone church of the Dormition of the Mother of God was built in place of the wooden one. In the Summer of 1485 "artistic masters of the Russian land" painted within it, Dionysius the Iconographer with his sons Vladimir and Theodosius. St Joseph's nephews, Dositheus and Bassian Toporkov, participated in the adornment of the new Church. In 1504 a heated church in honor of the Holy Theophany was set up, followed by the establishment of a bell-tower and next to the bell tower, a church named in honor of the Hodigitria (Directress)Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

St Joseph trained a whole school of renowned monks, some of whom gained notoriety in the arena of church-historical activity since they were "good pastors," while others gained fame with works of enlightenment. Some were remembered as worthy examples of pious monastic struggles. History has preserved for us the names of many disciples and co-ascetics of the holy Volokolamsk igumen, who continued to develop his ideas.

Among the disciples and followers of St Joseph were: the Metropolitans of Moscow and All Rus: Daniel (+ 1539) and Macarius (+1563), the Archbishop of Rostov Bassian (+1515), the Bishops of Suzdal: Simeon (+1515), Dositheus of Krutitsa (+1544), Sava of Krutitsa, called the Black, The activity and influence of St Joseph were not limited to the monastery. Many laypeople went to him to receive advice. With a pure spiritual insight he penetrated into the deep secrets of the souls of questioners and clairvoyantly revealed to them the will of God. Everyone living around the monastery considered him their spiritual Father and protector. Eminent nobles and princes asked him to be godfather for their children. They revealed their souls to him in confession, they asked for letters of guidance to help them fulfill his directives.

The common folk found at the monastery the means for sustaining their existence on occasions of extreme need. The number of those fed through monastery resources sometimes approached 700 people. "All of the Volotsk land are inclined to good, enjoying peace and quiet. And the name Joseph, as something sacred, is on everyone's lips."

The monastery was famed not only for its piety and help for the suffering, but also for its manifestations of the grace of God. During Matins of Holy Saturday, the righteous monk Bessarion once saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove, sitting upon the Shroud of the Lord, which was being carried by St Joseph. The Abbot, bidding the monk to keep silent about the vision, himself rejoiced in spirit, hoping that God would not forsake the monastery. This monk had seen the souls of dying brethren, white as snow, issuing forth from their mouths. To St Joseph himself was revealed the day of his end, and he fell asleep in the Lord with joy, having received the Holy Mysteries and assuming the schema.

The saintly life of St Joseph was neither easy nor placid. In these difficult times for the Church in Russia, the Lord raised him up as a zealous defender of Orthodoxy in the struggle with heresies and churchly disputes. St Joseph exerted quite a great effort in denouncing the Judaizers, who tried to poison and distort the foundations of Russian spiritual life. Just as the holy Fathers and teachers of the Ecumenical Councils had elaborated on the teachings of Orthodoxy in responding to the ancient heresies (which contended against the Spirit, Christ, or icons), so also St Joseph was summoned forth by God to oppose the false teachings of the Judaizers and to compile the first manual of Russian Orthodox theology, his large book The Enlightener.

Even earlier, preachers from the Khozars had come to St Vladimir (July 15), trying to convert him to Judaism. But the great Baptizer of Rus repudiated the pretensions of the rabbis. After this, St Joseph writes, "the Great Russian land dwelt for five centuries in the Orthodox Faith, until the Enemy of salvation the devil, should bring the cunning Jew to the city of Novgorod."

Along with the retinue of the Lithuanian prince Michael Olelkovich, who came to Novgorod in 1470, the Jewish preacher Skhariya (Zachariah) accompanied them. Playing upon the deficiencies of faith and of learning on the part of certain clergy, Skhariya and his accomplices sowed distrust among the petty-minded towards the church hierarchy, inclining them towards a revolt against the spiritual authorities, tempting them with the idea of "self-authority," i.e. a capricious self-determination of each individual in matters of faith and salvation. Those they tempted gradually pushed towards a full break with the Church: they disdained the holy icons, and repudiated the veneration of the saints, basic elements of Orthodox popular morality.

Ultimately, they led the religiously blind and deluded to a denial of the saving Mysteries and the fundamental teachings of Orthodoxy, outside of which there is no knowledge of God: the teaching of the Most Holy Trinity and the teaching of the Incarnation of the God-man our Lord Jesus Christ. If decisive measures were not taken, "all of Orthodox Christianity would be doomed by heretical teachings." So the question was posed for history. The Great Prince Ivan III, enticed by the Judaizers, invited them to Moscow. He had two of the most prominent of the heretics made archpriests, one at the Dormition, the other at the Archangel Michael cathedrals of the Kremlin, and he summoned to Moscow even the arch-heretic Skhariya himself.

All those close to the prince were led astray by the heresy, beginning with the clerk heading the government, Theodore Kuritsyn, whose brother became a ringleader of the heretics. Even the in-law of the great prince, Elena Voloshanka, accepted the Judaizers. And finally, the heretical Metropolitan Zosimas was installed upon the bishop's Throne of the great Moscow Hierarchs Peter, Alexis and Jonah.

St Joseph and St Gennadius, Bishop of Novgorod (December 4), called for a struggle against the spread of the heresy. St Joseph wrote his first epistle "Concerning the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity" while still a monk at the Paphnutiev Borov monastery in the year 1477. From the very beginning the Dormition Volokolamsk monastery became a bulwark of Orthodoxy in the struggle against the heresy. Here St Joseph wrote his chief works, The Enlightener, engendered with his fiery anti-heretical epistles, or as the monk himself unassumingly called them, "book exercises." The works of St Joseph and Archbishop Gennadius were crowned with success. In 1494 the heretic Zosimas was deposed from the bishop's Throne, and in the years 1502-04 the malicious and unrepentant Judaizers, who blasphemed against the Holy Trinity, Christ the Savior, the Most Holy Theotokos and the Church,were condemned at a church council.

St Joseph had many other trials and tribulations, but each time the Lord tried him according to the measure of his spiritual strength. The saint angered the Great Prince Ivan III, who only towards the end of his life reconciled with the saint and repented of his former weakness for the Judaizers. The saint also angered the Volotsk appenage prince Theodore, on whose lands Joseph's monastery was situated. In 1508 the saint suffered wrongful interdiction from St Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod (March 16), with whom, however, he soon reconciled.

In 1503, a Council at Moscow, under the auspices of St Joseph and his disciples, adopted a "Conciliar Reply" concerning the indissolubility of church properties, "therefore all church-acquired property is essentially the acquired property of God, pledged, entrusted, and given to God." The legacy of the canonical works of Igumen Joseph is notably in "The Nomocanon Codex," a vast codex of canonical rules of the Orthodox Church, begun by St Joseph and completed by Metropolitan Macarius.

There are opinions about the differences of outlook and discord between the two great pedagogues of Russian monasticism at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries: St Joseph of Volotsk and St Nilus of Sora (May 7). In the historical literature these views usually present them as proclaiming two "contrary" currents within Russian spiritual life: external action and inner contemplation. This is profoundly incorrect. St Joseph in his Rule synthesized these two aspects of the Russian monastic tradition, proceeding without interruption from the Athonite blessing given to St Anthony of the Kiev Caves, through St Sergius, and down to our own day.

The Rule presupposes the need for a full inner regeneration of man, submitting one's whole life to the task of salvation and deification [Greek theosis] not only for each individual monk, but also for the collective salvation of the whole human race. A great emphasis in the Rule is put on the demand to monastics for constant work in connection with inward and churchly prayer, "the monk should never be on holiday." Work, as "a collective deed," comprised for Joseph the very essence of church life: faith, embodied in good works, is the realization of prayer.

On the other hand, St Nilus of Sora had lived the ascetic life for a number of years on Mt. Athos, and he brought from there the teaching about the contemplative life and "the Jesus Prayer" as a means of a hesychastic service of monks to the world, as a constant spiritual activity, in connection with the physical work necessary for sustaining one's life.

But spiritual work and physical work are but two aspects of the same Christian vocation: a vital continuation of the creative activity of God in the world, encompassing as much the ideal as well as the material spheres. In this regard Sts Joseph and Nilus are spiritual brothers, varied in continuing the Church Tradition of the holy Fathers, and are heirs to the precepts of St Sergius of Radonezh. St Joseph highly regarded the spiritual experience of St Nilus and sent his own disciples to him to study inner prayer.

St Joseph was also an active proponent of a strong centralized Moscow realm. He was one of the originators of the teaching about the Russian Church as the recipient and bearer of the piety of the Byzantine Empire, "the Russian land has now surpassed all in piety." The ideas of St Joseph, possessing tremendous historical significance, were further developed later by his disciples and followers. From them came the Pskov Spaso-Eleazarov monastery Elder Philotheus with his own teaching about Moscow as the Third Rome. He declared, "Two Romes have fallen, Moscow is the third, and a fourth there shall not be."

These views of the Josephites on the significance of monasteries possessing properties for church building, and the participation of the Church in social life, were set amidst the conditions of the struggle for centralized power by the Moscow prince. His opponents were separatists who tried to disparage these views for their own political ends, surreptitiously using the teaching of St Nilus of Sora about "non-acquisitiveness," the withdrawal of monastics from worldly matters and possessions.

This supposed opposition engendered a false view on the hostility between the trends of Sts Joseph and Nilus. In actuality, both trends legitimately coexisted within the Russian monastic Tradition, complementing each other. As is evidenced from the Rule of St Joseph, its basis was complete non-acquisitiveness, and renunciation of the very concepts of "yours-mine."

The years passed. The monastery flourished with the construction work and efforts of St Joseph, and as he got old, he prepared himself for life eternal. Before his end he received the Holy Mysteries, then summoned all the brethren. He gave them his peace and blessing, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord on September 9, 1515.

The funeral oration to St Joseph was composed by his nephew and disciple, the monk Dositheus Toporkov.

The first Life of the saint was written in the 1540s by a disciple of St Joseph, Bishop Sava the Black of Krutitsa, with the blessing of Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus (+ 1564). It entered into the Great MENAION Readings compiled by Macarius. A second redaction of the Life was written by the Russified Bulgarian writer Lev the Philolog with the assistance of St Zenobius of Otensk (October 30).

Local celebration of St Joseph was established at the Volokolamsk monastery in December of 1578, on the hundred year anniversary of the founding of the monastery. On June 1, 1591, the church-wide celebration of his memory was established under Patriarch Job. St Job, a disciple of the Volokolamsk saint, tonsured St Germanus of Kazan, and was a great admirer of St Joseph and was author of the Service to him, which was included in the MENAION. Another disciple of Sts Germanus and Barsanuphius was also the companion and successor to Patriarch Job, the Hieromartyr Patriarch Hermogenes (February 17), a spiritual leader of the Russian people in the struggle for liberation under the Polish incursion.

The theological works of St Joseph comprise an undeniable contribution within the treasury of the Orthodox Tradition. As with all Church writings inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they continue to be a source of spiritual life and knowledge, and they have their own theological significance and pertinence.

St Joseph's chief book was written in sections. Its original form, completed at the time of the 1503-1504 councils, included eleven sections. In the final redaction, compiled after the death of the saint and involving a tremendous quantity of scrolls, The Book against the Heretics or The Enlightener includes sixteen sections, prefaced by An Account of the Newly-Appeared Heresies. The first section expounds the Church teaching about the teaching of the Most Holy Trinity; the second, about Jesus Christ, the True Messiah; the third, about the significance within the Church of the prophecies of the Old Testament; the fourth, about the Incarnation of God; the fifth through seventh, about the veneration of icons. In the eighth through tenth sections, St Joseph expounds on the fundamentals of Christian eschatology. The eleventh section is devoted to monasticism. In the twelfth the ineffectiveness of the anathemas and sanctions imposed by heretics is demonstrated. The final four sections consider methods of the Church's struggle with the heretics, and the means for their correction and repentance.

St Joseph is also commemorated on September 9 and February 13.
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