Homily for the Commemoration of the Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Holy Martyr Justina (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for the Commemoration of the 

Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Holy Martyr Justina 

October 2
 

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

I congratulate you on the feast day of the Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Holy Martyr Justina! The Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian was once a prominent magician and sorcerer. He was personally acquainted with Satan and received from him many demons to serve. But Cyprian proved powerless against the newly converted Christian, who had been baptized only five years earlier. He could do nothing before her prayer and ascetic struggles. The devil fears the sign of the cross and can do nothing to harm Christians. This so astonished Cyprian that he abandoned his demonic arts, declaring that he would serve the God of Justina. He converted to Christ, was baptized, and was later awarded the episcopacy and a martyr's crown alongside Saint Justina.

The Holy Myrtle of Paliani and the Continuation of Tree Worship in Crete

The most characteristic case of tree worship, which has been preserved for centuries in Crete, concerns the Sacred Myrtle of Paliani.

By Eleni Vasilaki

Although as a plant the Myrtle is classified as a shrub in the Monastery of Paliani, the perennial myrtle is an entire tree, which even has its own separate celebration, on September 24, and not on August 15, when the Katholikon of the Monastery, in the courtyard of which it is located, celebrates.

Its celebration was established on this date as, it is said, September 24 was when the miraculous icon of the Panagia Myrtidiotissa was found.

In fact, the icon of the Panagia, in the case of the Holy Myrtle of Paliani, according to religious tradition, is still embedded in the trunk of the Myrtle tree today, invisible to those who do not have the power and faith to see it.

Saint Anthimos the Serpent-Hunter of Kefallonia

Venerable Anthimos Kourouklis, the Blind Ascetic of Kefallonia, who reposed on September 4th 1782, is also associated with the Greek island of Astypalea where he did missionary work and performed a number of miracles. It was here that he helped exterminate a huge serpent that nested in a small cave in the northeast of the island, known to this day as Drakospilia or Drakontospilaio (translated as Dragon Cave).

The serpent instilled such fear in the inhabitants that the entire area beyond the narrow part of the island was uninhabited. The Saint advised them to cultivate the rest of the island in order to survive; however, he encountered their resistance due to the serpent. Then Anthimos, accompanied by a few faithful witnesses to the remarkable miracle that followed, crossed the narrow passage of the island and reached an elevation from where the cave of the dragon could be discerned.

Against the Fear of Ghosts (Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko)

Against the Fear of Ghosts 

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

"And when the disciples saw [Jesus] walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out for fear" (Matt. 14:26).

We have many bad habits, customs, and rituals that have remained from ancient times, when our ancestors were still pagans. However, what is characteristic of pagans is improper for us Christians. For example, many of us suffer from a fear of ghosts. They are afraid to be alone in a room at night, and they even fear stepping outside into the darkness; every dark corner appears to them as a dread specter. In places where a corpse lay just a few days ago, or when passing through a cemetery at night, such fear knows no bounds. Likewise, how much timidity and fear are felt upon entering a forest or any secluded place! "Fear has big eyes," as the Russian proverb goes; thus, the slightest noise or rustle in a deserted area, especially at night, the echo in the forest, the shadow of a tree swaying in the wind — all of this sends the soul into indescribable shudders. Consequently, it often happens that extraordinary phenomena are perceived in places where, in reality, they do not exist at all.

Walnut Leaves at Pentecost and the Souls of the Dead

Popular Belief

According to a popular Greek Orthodox Christian folk belief, the souls of the dead in Hades ascend to the upper world every Easter for fifty days. Pentecost is the last day of the journey of the dead, the day they return to Hades. 

At the time of kneeling during the service of Pentecost Monday, when the souls of the dead return to the underworld, the living close their eyes so as not to see the souls that sadly return to Hades. People kneel on walnut leaves because they symbolize the bitterness that possesses the souls of the dead on this day, since the leaves are bitter.

They say that in Ancient Greece it was believed that the walnut tree with its deep green (black-green) color was the tree of the god Pluto (Hades), that it was the only tree in Hades, and that in its shade their souls lay down and rested.