Seraphim

🔸 November 14 - Saint Justinian the Great 👑 🔸 Today, we commemorate the Emperor Saint Justinian the Great. St Justian was born in the Roman province of Dardania. His mother was the sister of the esteemed military general Justin who ensured he was well educated in jurisprudence, theology and Roman history. In 518, Justinian’s uncle became Emperor, paving the way for his own ascension to the throne. Initially acting as a regent, Justinian became the sole sovereign Emperor in 527 after his uncle’s death. Seeing himself as the new Constantine the Great, he desired a Mediterranean wide Christian political order, religiously and economically united and ruled from Constantinople. His successful military campaigns in Persia, Africa, Italy and Spain led to paganism being decisively routed among the Germanic Vandals and Visigoth tribes. During his reign, the Eastern Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. By his order, pagan schools in Athens were closed. He also sent John the Bishop of Ephesus on a mission to spread Christianity throughout Asia Minor, and John himself testifies that he baptized over 70,000 pagans. To accommodate the spiritual needs of the newly converted masses, Justinian ordered the construction of 90 new churches throughout the empire. His finest structures of the time are the famous Hagia Sophia and St Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. He also devoted much attention to the struggle with the Origenists of his time who were reviving the Nestorian heresy. To counter their heresy, the Church hymn “O Only-Begotten Son and Word of God” was composed, and Justinian commanded that it be sung in the churches. He called the 5th Ecumenical Synod in 553 which censured the teachings of Origen and affirmed the definitions of the earlier Chalcedon Synod. Justinian also concerned himself with the education of clergy and monks, ordering them to be instructed in rhetoric, philosophy and theology. The Emperor attempted to secure religious unity within the Empire through his dialogues with the Monophysites which were ultimately unsuccessful. Outliving his wife St Theodora by almost 20 years, St Justinian reposed this day in 565.

Every day presents an opportunity to correct our mistakes and move closer to becoming the person we are meant to be.

🔸 November 14 - Saint Gregory Palamas 📿🔸 Today, we commemorate Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki. He was a monk, theologian, and leading proponent of Hesychasm - the tradition of inner stillness and noetic prayer (often through repetition of the Jesus prayer), with the aim of purifying the heart and experiencing God’s uncreated energies. St Gregory was born in Constantinople in 1296 to a noble Anatolian family. Though emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos had ambitions for him to serve in the imperial court, Gregory was drawn to monasticism. He even persuaded his brothers and sisters, along with his widowed mother, to take up the monastic life. In 1318 he went to Mt Athos where he learned the tradition of hesychastic prayer. With the encroachment of the Turks, Gregory fled to Thessaloniki where he was ordained a priest in 1326. Returning to Mt Athos in 1331, he became embroiled in the ‘Hesychast Controversy’ with Barlaam, a humanist scholar and theologian from Calabria. Barlaam condemned the Latin addition of the Filioque to the Nicene Creed, arguing that since God is ultimately unknowable, it was impossible to use human reason to prove that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. He also mocked the hesychast monks as ‘navel-gazers’, ridiculing their practices as anti-intellectual. Criticizing Barlaam’s ultra-rationalism, St Gregory defended the hesychast position that while God’s Essence is ultimately inaccessible, humans can still perceive His uncreated Energies, allowing direct participation in His divinity. This Essence-Energies distinction is known as ‘Palamism’. Around 1338, St Gregory wrote the Triads defending the Athonite monks from the attacks of Barlaam, and affirming the experience of God’s uncreated Energies through Hesychasm. He defended Hesychasm at 3 Synods in Constantinople (1341, 1347 and 1351) which condemned Barlaam as a heretic. In 1347, St Gregory was made Archbishop of Thessaloniki. Captured by the Turks on a voyage to Constantinople, he was held captive for a year. After his ransom was paid, he returned to Thessaloniki where he continued his episcopal ministry until his repose in 1359.

🔸 November 14 - The Holy Apostle Philip 🔸 Today, we commemorate the Holy Apostle Philip of the Twelve. The Apostle Phillip was Born in Bethsaida near the Sea of Galilee. Well versed in the prophecies of Holy Scripture, he immediately recognized Christ as the Messiah, and was called by the Lord Himself to follow Him during His earthly life (John 1:43). Followed by a great multitude of people who witnessed His miracles, Christ said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”. The Apostle responded, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”. Christ then took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and multiplied them to feed the 5000 (John 6:1-14). At the Mystical Supper, Philip boldly asked Christ, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). After Pentecost, Philip preached the Gospel is Asia Minor where he performed many miracles including healing diseases, casting out demons, and raising the dead in Christ’s name. Passing through Lydia and Mysia, he was joined by his sister Mariamne and the Apostle Bartholomew. Together, they went to Hierapolis in Asia Minor. Hierapolis was home to a temple where the pagans worshipped a giant idol of a snake. By his prayers, Philip destroyed this serpent, and healed many who had been bitten by snakes including the wife of the city prefect, Nicanor. Learning that his wife had accepted Christianity, the prefect ordered the arrest of Philip, his sister Mariamne, and Bartholomew. After being dragged through the streets and beaten, Phillip and Bartholomew were sentenced to be crucified upside down. As they suffered, an earthquake swallowed the prefect and the pagan priests. Those who remained testified to the innocence of the Apostles, and managed to take down Bartholomew, but Philip had already reposed. A portion of his skull is kept at the Church of the Apostle Philip in Paphos, Cyprus. In a great recent discovery, his tomb was found in Hierapolis in Turkey in 2011.