Saint Photius the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople

Photius was a great beacon of the Church and a vigorous protector of the Church from the authority loving pope and other Roman distortions of the Faith. In six days he went through all the ranks from a  layman to patriarch. He was consecrated patriarch on Christmas day, 857 A.D.
The many struggles that this thrice-blessed one undertook for the Orthodox Faith against the Manichaeans,  the Iconoclasts, and other heretics, and the attacks and assaults that he endured from the haughty and  ambitious Pope of Rome Nicholas I, and the great persecutions and distresses he suffered, are beyond  number. Contending against the Latin error of the filioque, (the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds  from both the Father and the Son), he demonstrated clearly with his Mystagogy on the Holy Spirit how the  filioque destroys the unity and equality of the Trinity.
He has left us many theological writings, panegyric homilies, and epistles, including one to Boris, the  Sovereign of Bulgaria, in which he set forth for him the history and teachings of the Seven Ecumenical  Councils. Having tended the Church of Christ in holiness and in an evangelical manner, and with fervent  zeal having rooted out all the tares of every alien teaching, he departed to the Lord on February 6, 893.
THE HOLY PRIESTLY-MARTYR SADOK
Feast Day February 20th
Sadok was a bishop in Persia, following St. Simeon. At one time, St. Simeon appeared to him in a dream  and said: "Yesterday, I - today, you!" Sadok interpreted these words to his flock as meaning: Last year I [St.  Simeon] suffered, this year you [Sadok] will suffer. Indeed that year the Emperor Sapor arrested him with  many of the clergy and people and brought them to trial. Sapor first ordered them to worship fire and sun  as divinity. Sadok replied: "We are eagerly prepared to die for our God, but we cannot worship the sun nor  fire.” After that, they were tortured and sentenced to death by beheading. Before being beheaded, Sadok  uplifted a prayer to God: "Wash us, O Lord, from our sins in our blood!" Sadok, with his priests and faithful  gloriously gave up their bodies to death and their souls to the immortal God. They suffered in the year 342  A.D.

HYMN OF PRAISE SAINT SADOK
What is the sun? the eye that does not see.
What is fire? a servant without reason.
Emperor Sapor, to Sadok speaks:
Worship the sun and the flame,
The gods which rule the world,
According to the teaching of Zoroaster the wise.
Sadok to the Emperor, gently replied:
To you O Emperor, be health and joy,
But where does the sensible before the senseless, bow down?
Where does the corporeal, the incorporeal glorify?
The sun - beautiful as a thing of God,
The flame - wonderful as a servant of men;
But, can the created, the Creator replace?
Can the dead, a replacement for the living be?
Than the artist, is a painting better?
Than the plower, is the plow more costly?
In the heavens O Emperor, there is only one God,  
Omnipotent, Intelligent, Beautiful, and Good,
Of the visible and invisible world, the Creator,
Of everything created, the Designer,
Of all good gifts, He is the giver,
A lover of mankind and Almighty,
Him, the Only-begotten Son revealed.
From the Persian errors, He saved us,
On top of nature, He taught us to stand  
And toward the Creator, to turn our face,
To uplift to heaven, our entire soul  
There, where our homeland is,
Of angels and men; the homeland Sadok spoke  
- and Sapor beheaded him.

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Ὁ Μέγας Φώτιος (815-891)

Απόσπασμα από κήρυγμα τού πατρός Θεοδώρου Ζήση

Ο Μέγας Φώτιος είναι μία εντελώς εξαιρετική καί εξέχουσα μορφή Αγίου, διδασκάλου, λογίου,  ομολογητού, ιεραποστόλου, διπλωμάτου. Ὁ Μἐγας Φώτιος εξεπόνησε ένα μεγαλοφυές ιεραποστολικό σχέδιο, μέ τό οποίο εξετίναξε τά όρια τά πολιτιστικά καί πνευματικά τής Αυτοκρατορίας πρός τόν βορρά, πρός τούς Σλαβικούς λαούς. Ἡ μεγάλη Ρωσία καί οί Ορθόδοξοι λαοί στά Βαλκάνια οφείλουν τήν Χριστιανική τους Πίστη στό Μέγα Φώτιο. Μαθηταί τού Μεγάλου Φωτίου ήταν οἱ Θεσσαλονικείς αδελφοί, οί Άγιοι Κύριλλος καί Μεθόδιος, οί φωτισταί τών Σλάβων.
Ο Ἁγιος Φώτιος υπήρξε πολύ μεγάλος καί σπουδαίος θεολόγος. Διακρίθηκε ιδιαίτερα στό χώρο τής Δογματικής καί τής Απολογητικής καί τής πολεμικής εναντίον τών Λατίνων. Είναι ὁ πρώτος Πατριάρχης, ὁ πρώτος θεολόγος, ο οποίος αναλαμβάνει αγώνα εναντίον τού Παπισμοῦ, εναντίον τής αιρέσεως τού Filioque.
Κατόρθωσε ὁ Μέγας Φώτιος νά αναχαιτίσει τήν ἐπέκταση του παπισμού καί νά καταπολεμήσει μαζί μέ τήν αίρεση τού Filioque, επίσης καί τό Πρωτείο τού Πάπα καί νά σώσει τήν αυτονομία τής Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας. Εάν δέν μάς χάριζε ὀ Θεός τόν Μέγα Φώτιο, σήμερα όλοι θά ήμασταν ή Παπικοί ή τουλάχιστον θά ήμασταν Οὐνίτες.
Γι' αυτό και η Σύνοδος, η οποία συνήλθε τον Ιούλιο και Αύγουστο του 867 μ.Χ. στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, καθαίρεσε τον Πάπα Νικόλαο για τις αντικανονικές του ενέργειες, ενώ αποδοκίμασε τη διδασκαλία του filioque και τα ρωμαϊκά έθιμα.

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