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3 Hierarchs Feast Being that we lack our own Facility, we are unable to celebrate our Liturgy, even on the major Religious Days of the year. When finally we'll have our own Building, in which we shall be worshiping, we shall celebrate the Divine Liturgy on Major Holy Days. One of these special days would be to celebrate the three greatest and most resourceful Hierarchs, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostomos, meaning Golden-mouthed. Their Day every year is celebrated by the Christian Orthodox Faithful world-wide, on January the 30th. We now revert back to the 4th Century, A.D., when there were many transitions, in the Political and Religious spheres. It is important for the Christian to be somewhat acquainted with the first centuries, which form today's history of Christendom. There were no divisions in Christendom, as we witness them today. Our God-inspired Holy Fathers, who dedicated themselves completely to edify the Church, by their interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, contributed greatly toward this unity, which is a distinct inheritance of the Eastern Orthodox Christians. There were many Christian Fathers of the early Centuries. But the 3 Hierarchs stand out as the real Luminaries. The main hymn is chanted on their day, January 30th: In it, we see the impact they have had on Christians, for over 1700 years. In translation the hymn states: "The three great Luminaries of the three-sunned Godhead, became Beacons of the Universe, enlightening with the rays of the Divine Doctrines, from the flowing honey-sweet rivers of wisdom; they have inundated all creation with springs of Heavenly knowledge; Basil the Great, and the Theologian Gregory, with the renowned john the Golden-mouthed. Let us all, inspired by their teachings gather together, to honor them with hymns, because they always intercede for us to the Holy Trinity." These three Luminaries are the main theme of the week, set apart by our Archdiocese, and titled "Greek Letters Week." And when we say "Greek Letters," let us not confine the Greek, to denote the Greek Nation, or its people. Far from it. But, if you were to sift all that we respect as the basis of civilization and Christianity, so little would be left in the sieve. All knowledge, and Christian basics, preserved in their original form, are the products of Eastern Christendom. The basis of civilization belongs to the pre-Christian Greeks, who gave us the basics of Democracy, the philosophical systems, and all the sciences of today, along with the Greek language, which has the lion's share of the English language. The medical terminology is largely Greek, and when it comes to coining a new word, almost without exception, they delve into the Greek. It isn't by chance that the Bible was written in Greek; and even today, in the Roman Catholic Seminaries, as well as those, of the Protestant Denominations Greek is taught, so that they can better understand the Holy Scriptures. It would be easy to understand, that Alexander the Great, who was a student of the renowned philosopher Aristotle, had been blessed to civilize the then known world, having a common denominator --- the Greek language and philosophy. Contrary to the many Dictators down through the ages, Alexander's conquest was to civilize the world. Thus, we can conclude, that Divine Providence was at work, to prepare the Lord's coming for the salvation of all. We can easily say, that Alexander the Great was a forerunner of Christianity, being that his conquest was not to subjugate people, but to enlighten them. This he did, all the way to India, which still boast remnants of Alexander's conquests. Thus, when the Lord came in the fullness of time, the new Religion could easily be disseminated, because everyone spoke and understood Greek. To show the power of the Greek Language, the Hebrews of Egypt had lost their mother tongue. It was in the year 270 B.C. that Ptolemy the Great, one of Alexander's successors in Egypt, commissioned 72 Hebrews, Hellenistic scholars, who undertook to translate their Old Testament Book into Greek, so that the Hebrews could understand the Scriptures. This translation is known in Latin as the Septuagint, which means the translation of the Seventy. In the year 323 A.D., Constantine the Great, the Byzantine Emperor, declares Christianity as the State's official Religion. Thus, the Christians finally emerged from the Catacombs, and from the remote hiding places, to commence building their Houses of worship. However, a few years after Constantine, Julian the Apostate, the Emperor of the Byzantines, commenced to undo all that Emperor Constantine had done. He sought to revive the Ancient pre-Christian Faith, with the ancient Idolatry. As a result, the newly freed Christians, expressing their anger, sought to destroy the Pagan temples, the statues and other treasures, such as books etc. Their ignorance, of the value of what they were destroying, especially the burning of books, was unforgivable, because so much was lost. It was then, that the 3 Hierarchs used all their spiritual power to educate the Christians, that there was a lot to be learned, even from the Ancient Greek philosophy and letters. They explained the relevance of Greek philosophy and letters to Christianity, and therefore it was important, that just as the bees select the nectar from the flowers to produce honey, in a comparable manner, people could benefit much, from the eternal Greco-Christian civilization. Greek is unlike every other language. It is the vital organ of our civilization. When a new idea is seeking to be named in our Country, the search is on, digging into the Greek language, to find the appropriate word. More importantly, Greek was the language, which had the depth, and the power to precisely record the teachings of our Lord through His Apostles, so as to bequeath to us the New Testament in the original Greek. I always take pleasure personally, when the Sunday Gospel excerpt is brief, to also read it in the original language----Greek. Coming back to the 3 Hierarchs, we are cognizant of their impact, and their influence has been vibrantly felt, down through the ages, until the present day. We are especially, so very close to St. John the Chrysostom, whose Liturgy we celebrate every Sunday. Another great historical point, which is little known, about the influence of Greek Letters, philosophy and science is the revival, which took place in Europe, in the middle ages. When the Ottoman Turks overran and subjugated the vast Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Renaissance, or renewal, which influenced all of western Europe, was caused by the intelligentia, who fled from Constantinople and migrated primarily to Italy, to shed their intellectual light. It is no wonder then, that our Holy Archdiocese selected the Day of the 3 Hierarchs to request that all Parishes, celebrate the "Week of the Greek Letters." We are indeed, the proud inheritors of this invaluable treasure, for which we should always be most grateful. +Fr. George Papadeas |
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