Holy Relics
Gifting Homilies & Correspondence
Jul 28 - Greetings of the Theophileon Brotherhood, Mount Athos, 2007
Related Documents
Jul 28 - Remarks of Metropolitan Gerasimos at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
A Response Preached by His Eminence at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 2007
Related Documents
Jul 28 - The Gifting of the Holy Relic Great Vespers, Feast of the Dormition of Saint Anna
A Homily Preached by Very Rev. Fr. Cheroubim Apostolou, Elder of the Skete of Saint Anna, Mount Athos (July 24, 2005)
“She who was barren bore the Theotokos, nurturer of our life.”
(Kontakion on the birth of the Theotokos)
With the blessings of your Metropolitan Gerasimos, I am extremely honored and pleased to be with you to celebrate the formal Gifting of the Holy Relic of Saint Anna on the Feast of her holy Dormition. I greet you with the filial love of my brother monks at your sister Church of Saint Anna on Mount Athos. And, with the Grace that flows of the Holy Spirit that flows forth from the invocation of the Holy Trinity, I address you.
“In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Saint Anna, the ancestor of God, is the precious vessel chosen by the Holy Spirit. The good and blessed tree that is the standard of natural development, which our Lord Himself confirmed, saying, “Are grapes harvested from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matt. 7.16) Every good tree brings forth good fruit, but the bad tree brings forth bad fruit. “A sound tree cannot bear unsound fruit, nor can an unsound tree bear sound fruit” (Matt. 7.18). Saint Anna is the good tree and her lovely and most sweet fruit is our Panagia, the most beautiful fruit of human production. What the Evangelist Luke says of the parents of St. John the Forerunner pertains also to Saint Anna and her husband Joachim: “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless” (Luke 1.6). Saint Anna was virtuous in the eyes of God, and, of course, her life was pure. She walked always in accordance with the will of the Almighty, in accordance with His soul-nurturing commandments. Saint Anna, who bore the all-holy Theotokos, she who was barren and without creative power, whose womb was opened in advanced age by the Lord, to transform the disgrace of barrenness to the joy of a unique fertility, was a descendant of the tribe of David. Her parents, the priest Mathan and Anna, were pious and god-fearing and lived in Bethlehem. Mathan was a priest at the time of Cleopatra and the Persian King Soporus, before Herod Antipater, and had three daughters, Maria, Sovi, and Anna. Of these, Maria married in Bethlehem and bore the midwife Salome, Sovi also married in Bethlehem and bore Elisabeth. Anna was married in Galilee and bore the Lady Theotokos. This honor was bestowed upon her by the gift-granting Lord as a reward for her piety and her charitable works toward orphans and the poor.
But what does the name Anna mean? It means “grace.” When the Archangel Gabriel greeted the Virgin Mary in the Annunciation, he gave her the epithet “full of grace:” “Hail, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1.28). As a daughter of grace, the Virgin Mary had bestowed upon her that element which is lacking in the Old Testament: grace. The Old Testament represents the age of law. The New Testament represents the era of grace, since it is the “Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20.24) and all of the faithful “are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6.15). That is why when our Panagia reacted to the words of the archangel with modesty and simplicity, the great Archangel Gabriel hastened to explain to her: “Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace with God” (Luke 1.30).
And so this maiden, full of grace, was born of a mother whose name means, “grace.” That name was not granted to Anna by accident, nor was it by chance that Anna bore the Theotokos. We know that Saint Anna was elderly and barren. She could not conceive. The field of her female nature was barren, dry and infertile. No seed could take root and grow within it. The field of the barren Anna resembles the field of the pre-Christian world. The world had grown old in sinfulness and the law of God was not observed. A solution had to come from heaven. And the solution was the rightful reward of evil works and eternal death or forbearance and grace—salvation and liberation. But there was no salvation in the ancient world. Men lived in the shadow of original sin, in the darkness of curse, the dark threat of disintegration and death. They could not enjoy grace and the joy, which that grace brings generously to all of us. Saint Anna, by the grace of God, dispelled the disgrace of her barrenness, and also the disgrace of the curse upon those living before Christ. That is why the Kontakion on the feast of the birth of our Theotokos says: “Joachim and Anna were freed of the disgrace of childlessness, while Adam and Eve were freed of the corruption of death through your holy birth.”
My dear brethren, the blessing of God caused the barren Anna to bear fruit, in order to open the path for the grace of God to bear fruit and for the fragrant flower of salvation to blossom in the field of His creature made of dust, which was poisoned by sin. That connection between the fertility of the barren Saint Anna, and the pre-Christian world which was barren of grace is also made by the sacred hymnographer in a troparion of the Vesper Service: “Today barren gates are opened and a sacred virgin gate comes forth. Today grace begins to bear fruit.”
Anna and her husband Joachim lived a godly life and strictly observed the divine commandments. Yet, unfortunately, for many years the couple remained childless and accepted the shame of childlessness with patience and faith, having placed their hope in God, to whom, despite their advanced age, they continued to pray for offspring. And God heard their prayers and sent to Saint Anna an angel who announced to her the will of God, which was precisely to answer her desire for a child. She was then 58 years of age and Joachim was 69. Excited and joyful, Saint Anna shouted: “The Lord my God lives! Whether the child I bear be a girl or a boy, I will bring it as an offering to my God, to serve Him all its life.
And indeed she conceived, and when our Lady Theotokos reached the age of three, her mother brought her—like a three-year-old heifer—to the temple of God, “to be nourished by the angels,” as the sacred hymnographer tells us.
The reversal of the barrenness of Saint Anna was the fruit of prayer. It was impossible for her to conceive and give birth at such an advanced age. But “what is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18.27).
Now, my people look at the Holy Relic of Saint Anna! For the first time in America, a Holy Relic of Saint Anna, the grandmother of our Lord, is physically present for veneration by the faithful. To think that the New World now possesses a holy piece, not simply of history, but of our Heavenly Father’s divine plan of salvation is a blessing. From Jerusalem to Antioch to Cyprus to Mount Athos to Roseville, she has made quite a pilgrimage to find a home in your loving embrace. Something that was only Fr. Christopher’s thought has come to pass through your prayer and humility before the Lord. For the community of Roseville, California, and for the entire region as witnessed in the most impressive media attention in recent days, God’s grace has softened the hearts of many, souls saving seeds have been planted and Christ our Lord and Master is glorified.
When I return to Greece to our holy monastery, I will climb up 2000 steps to get to our main Church and then a few hundred more to reach my home. This is the same trip that Fr. Christopher and his fathers made and the same steps that thousands of pilgrims climb each year to reach our community. They come with humility and devotion, with joy and hope, and with thanksgiving and praise; not for anything that we have done, but to share in the Grace of God, which flows and works through our most pure vessel of our Lord, Saint Anna.
I share this with you because you too will become a place of pilgrimage. Orthodox and non Orthodox from throughout America will come by the thousands to seek her holy intercessions. We pray that they don’t all come at once, but when they do, you must offer proper hospitality and love them, whomever they might be. And as you love them, let the people of America learn the blessed story of Saint Anna! Let the people of America venerate her Holy Relic! Let the people of America become intoxicated with the divine fragrance of myrrh! And, let the people of America find salvation in her grandson, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Your obligation is to build our mother a proper home. Yes, her Holy Relic sits in a beautiful reliquary, but it belongs in sacred space befitting her brilliance and blessedness. Yes, you have begun construction on your first building, which will be most impressive and functional, but you need a Church. The crown of your campus is the Sanctuary and the precious jewel, her Holy Relic!
From what I understand from Fr. Christopher and your Parish Council, you have a goal this evening of funding the work undertaken for the foundation of your Church. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars might seem like a lot to one of you, but where two or three are gathered there is the Church. And, two or three hundred people, well this is a blessing, for together you can realize this goal and more through her intercessions. Rest assured that had I thought this an impossible undertaking for your parish, the Holy Spirit would not have directed us through prayer to entrust you with the Relic of Saint Anna.
As I close, let me say that it has been a blessing to be with you for the Feast of our common matron. It is rare for a monk to have the opportunity to pray services in this manner, which makes this even more special. I look forward to again serving at the Holy Altar tomorrow morning with my brother priests and to serving the Paraclesis Service to Saint Anna in English with you for the first time on Wednesday evening.
And, finally, let me remind you that in our lives many things seem impossible to us. Like the barren Saint Anna, we find ourselves in a state of powerlessness from which only prayer can remove us. Our unique armament in all these difficult moments remains prayer and humility before the Lord. And I say with certainty that the barren earth will bear fruit, and God will send down the rain of His grace, to soften our hearts so that the seeds of soul-saving success in Christ may take root.
Let us therefore invoke Saint Anna, who experienced the disgrace and sadness of childlessness and be certain that she will transform our worries into joy, our indolence into cheerfulness, our sadness into unending joyfulness and exultation.
May God bless you and ever keep you in His care. Amen.
Jul 28 - Saint Anna
A Homily Preached by V. Rev. Fr. Cherubim Apostolou of the Skete of Saint Anna, Mount Athos (Feast of St. Anna, 2005)
She who was barren bore the
Theotokos, nurturer of our life.
(Kontakion on the birth of the Theotokos)
Saint Anna, the ancestor of God, is the precious vessel chosen by the Holy Spirit. The good and blessed tree that is the standard of natural development, which our Lord Himself confirmed, saying “Are grapes harvested from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matt. 7.16) Every good tree brings forth good fruit, but the bad tree brings forth bad fruit. “A sound tree cannot bear unsound fruit, nor can an unsound tree bear sound fruit” (Matt. 7.18). Saint Anna is the good tree and her lovely and most sweet fruit is our Panagia. The most beautiful fruit of human production. What the Evangelist Luke says of the parents of St. John the Forerunner pertains also to Saint Anna and her husband Joachim: “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless” (Luke 1.6). Saint Anna was virtuous in the eyes of God, and, of course, her life was pure. She walked always in accordance with the will of the Almighty, in accordance with His soul-nurturing commandments. Saint Anna, who bore the all-holy Theotokos, she who was barren and without creative power, whose womb was opened in advanced age by the Lord, to transform the disgrace of barrenness to the joy of a unique fertility, was a descendant of the tribe of David. Her parents, the priest Mathan and Anna, were pious and god-fearing and lived in Bethlehem. Mathan was a priest at the time of Cleopatra and the Persian King Soporus, before Herod Antipater, and had three daughters, Maria, Sovi, and Anna. Of these, Maria married in Bethlehem and bore the midwife Salome, Sovi also married in Bethlehem and bore Elisabeth. Anna was married in Galilee and bore the Lady Theotokos. This honor was bestowed upon her by the gift-granting Lord as a reward for her piety and her charitable works toward orphans and the poor.
But what does the name Anna mean? It means “grace.” When the Archangel Gabriel greeted the Virgin Mary in the Annunciation, he gave her the epithet “full of grace:” “Hail, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1.28). As a daughter of grace, the Virgin Mary had bestowed upon her that element which is lacking in the Old Testament: grace. The Old Testament represents the age of law. The New Testament represents the era of grace, since it is the “Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20.24) and all of the faithful “are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6.15). That is why when our Panagia reacted to the words of the archangel with modesty and simplicity, the great Archangel Gabriel hastened to explain to her: “Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace with God” (Luke 1.30).
And so this maiden, full of grace, was born of a mother whose name means “grace.” That name was not granted to Anna by accident, nor was it by chance that Anna bore the Theotokos. We know that Saint Anna was elderly and barren. She could not conceive. The field of her female nature was barren, dry and infertile. No seed could take root and grow within it. The field of the barren Anna resembles the field of the pre-Christian world. The world had grown old in sinfulness and the law of God was not observed. A solution had to come from heaven. And the solution was the rightful reward of evil works and eternal death or forbearance and grace—salvation and liberation. But there was no salvation in the ancient world. Men lived in the shadow of original sin, in the darkness of curse, the dark threat of disintegration and death. They could not enjoy grace and the joy which that grace brings generously to all of us. Saint Anna, by the grace of God, dispelled the disgrace of her barrenness, and also the disgrace of the curse upon those living before Christ. That is why the Kontakion on the feast of the birth of our Theotokos says: “Joachim and Anna were freed of the disgrace of childlessness, while Adam and Eve were freed of the corruption of death through your holy birth.”
My dear brethren, the blessing of God caused the barren Anna to bear fruit, in order to open the path for the grace of God to bear fruit and for the fragrant flower of salvation to blossom in the field of His creature made of dust, which was poisoned by sin. That connection between the fertility of the barren Saint Anna, and the pre-Christian world which was barren of grace is also made by the sacred hymnographer in a troparion of the Vesper Service: “Today barren gates are opened and a sacred virgin gate comes forth. Today grace begins to bear fruit.”
Anna and her husband Joachim lived a godly life and strictly observed the divine commandments. Yet, unfortunately, for many years the couple remained childless and accepted the shame of childlessness with patience and faith, having placed their hope in God, to whom, despite their advanced age, they continued to pray for offspring. And God heard their prayers and sent to Saint Anna an angel who announced to her the will of God, which was precisely to answer her desire for a child. She was then 58 years of age and Joachim was 69. Excited and joyful, Saint Anna shouted: “The Lord my God lives! Whether the child I bear be a girl or a boy, I will bring it as an offering to my God, to serve Him all its life.
And indeed she conceived, and when our Lady Theotokos reached the age of three, her mother brought her—like a three-year-old heifer—to the temple of God, “to be nourished by the angels,” as the sacred hymnographer tells us.
The reversal of the barrenness of Saint Anna was the fruit of prayer. It was impossible for her to conceive and give birth at such an advanced age. But “what is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18.27). In our own lives, as well, many things seem impossible to us. We find ourselves in a state of powerlessness from which only prayer can remove us. Our unique armament in all difficult moments is prayer and humility before the Lord. And I say with certainty that the miracle will occur. The barren earth will bear fruit, and God will send down the rain of His grace, to soften our hearts so that the seeds of soul-saving success in Christ may take root.
Let us therefore invoke Saint Anna, who experienced the disgrace and sadness of childlessness and be certain that she will transform our worries into joy, our indolence into cheerfulness, our sadness into unending joyfulness and exultation.
