On the first official celebration of his memory
Holy Church of the
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Daphne, Athens
July 22 / August 4,
2015
Your Beatitude,
Holy Hierarchs,
Honorable Presbytery,
People of God, chosen people,
“Indeed, all who desire to
live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).
If the above maxim applies to all
the faithful, then it applies all the more to the Saints, those who pleased God
and became a model and example for us.
But who is considered a Saint by
the Church? Those things which are generally accepted as marks or criteria of
sainthood are:
a) Holy Baptism
b) Orthodox belief
c) Virtuous life
d) Exceptional services and
contribution to the Church
e) Working of miracles
f) Holy Relics.
These can be regarded as the
marks or criteria for someone to be a Saint. But the ultimate proof of
sainthood is the deification of the person—that is, for the Saint to have seen
the glory of God and to have come to know the mysteries concerning the Kingdom
of Heaven (cf. presentations by the God-loving Bishop of Christianoupolis, kyr
Gregory, on the criteria of Sainthood, see here: https://www.hotca.org/orthodoxy/lives-of-saints/452-the-criteria-for-sainthood-according-to-orthodox-tradition
[English translation]).
With regard to the manner by
which someone is recognized as a Saint, it must be noted that what counts is
not so much the synodal decision, but the conscience of the faithful of the
Local Church concerning the sainthood of one of its faithful members. The Synod
comes afterward to confirm this fact. It must also be emphasized that in this
case, sainthood is recognized by the Hierarchs on the basis of its
manifestation by God Himself, through the performance of (authentic) miracles
among the faithful of the local Church.
Specifically, however, with
regard to the veneration of the Holy Martyrs, even the aforementioned criteria
are not considered necessary, as Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite observes: “The
relics of the martyrs are venerated as holy even without miracles and
fragrance, since their perfect faith in God and perfect love for Him is made
manifest to all through the tangible proof of martyrdom.” It is, of course,
sufficient that the martyrdom be truly for Christ and not for some other
ideal—national, philosophical, or any other.
The Holy Synod then, even without
miracles or the flowing of myrrh, simply proclaims publicly the sanctity of the
martyr. Saint Athanasios of Paros states: “…or when has it ever been heard in
the Church of God that the Divine Martyrs should await an earthly judgment to
confirm their martyrdom and to verify those who have already sealed their end
with the confession of the divine faith, and whom Christ, the Arbiter of the
contest, immediately and at once crowned from above?” This alone must be
examined in the given case: whether the martyrdom truly occurred for Christ and
not for any other reason.
In the case of the Saint honored
today, the ever-memorable Metropolitan of our Church, kyr Kalliopios [of
Pentapolis], in the 8th Volume of TA PATRIA, gathered abundant material
from trustworthy witnesses concerning his life and martyrdom, and from this
material we glean the following.
Father Joseph, in the world
Ioannis Antoniou, son of Nikolaos and Euthymia, was born in the town of
Desfina, in the Province of Parnassida, of the Prefecture of Phocis, in the
year 1900. He was born, baptized, and raised as a pious Orthodox Christian, and
from a young age he followed the monastic life and was ordained a Priest (in
1925).
From the year 1933, Hieromonk
Joseph was enrolled in the Holy Clergy of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of
Greece, having renounced the innovation. In 1934, he undertook to serve at the
Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Aetos of Karystia, and in the same
year he was deposed by the schismatic [new calendarist] hierarchs “for Old
Calendarism.” At Theophany in 1935, he organized a grand public celebration of
the immersion of the Precious Cross with the participation of the faithful from
all the villages of the region (which followed the Patristic calendar), at the
central port of Karystos, delivering a fiery speech against the innovation of
the papal calendar. In the year 1938, he was arrested, imprisoned, unfrocked,
and forcibly shorn by the police authorities.
Concerning the virtuous life of
the ever-memorable Fr. Joseph, all who had known him bear witness. He strictly
kept the fasts, frequently conducted vigils, and unfailingly performed the
sacred services morning and evening in the churches where he served, while he
celebrated the Divine Liturgy with deep devotion to the mystery. The
ever-memorable Archbishop of Athens, kyr Chrysostomos [II], recounted
that he had observed him serving and had described him as “an earthly Angel.”
The ever-memorable Metropolitan of Piraeus and Salamis, kyr Gerontios,
along with many others, recounted his virtues of almsgiving and hospitality,
which distinguished him. During the period of the German Occupation, he
distributed all the food that the faithful gave him. The ever-memorable
Protopresbyter Fr. Spyridon Bachtalias had hosted Fr. Joseph in his home in
Zevgolatio, Corinthia, and recounted the miraculous healing of his son Dimitrios
by Fr. Joseph. Others also tell of his prophecies, which were fulfilled with
exactness.
During the Occupation, Fr. Joseph
was active in villages of mountainous Corinthia, which were under the control
of the Communist partisans. In the year 1944, when the defeat of the Axis
powers was becoming evident, the partisan organizations were preparing for the
ensuing transition of power. In mountainous Corinthia, the partisan
organizations began to engage extensively in fratricidal tactics, executing
fellow Greeks whom they considered dissenters. Thus, the population of
mountainous Corinthia mourned doubly in those days, for the executions of
innocents at the hands of both the Germans and the partisans. Fr. Joseph
considered it his duty not to remain silent, but to denounce from the pulpit
the fratricidal tactics of the atheistic partisans. He called them to
repentance and return to the ancestral faith. As a result, the partisans
decided upon his death sentence.
Fr. Joseph himself, as well as
others present at a certain Divine Liturgy one month before his death, recount
the entrance into the church of an unknown venerable elder with a white beard,
who, after the end of the Liturgy, foretold to him his martyrical death.
Fr. Joseph was arrested,
tortured, and slaughtered by the Communist partisans on the 22nd of July. They
hastily buried his body near the place of execution, outside the village of
Panariti in mountainous Corinthia. Above the site of his martyrdom, for many
nights, a light appeared like the flame of a vigil lamp.
After the liberation, his
relatives searched for the burial site in order to retrieve his relic, but they
were unable to find it—until the little donkey of Fr. Joseph, which was with
them, stopped at a certain spot, struck the ground with its front hoof, and
moved its ears, thereby in a certain manner indicating to the people the place
to dig. And indeed, there the relic of Fr. Joseph was found, along with his
monastic belt, by which he was identified. The relic was fragrant. The
fragrance of the relic persisted thereafter, as is testified also from personal
experience by the ever-memorable Metropolitan kyr Kalliopios.
The ever-memorable Fr. Joseph
fulfilled precisely the saying: “Strive for the truth unto death”
(Sirach 4:28). He spoke the truth and rebuked the fratricides, just as the
Honorable Forerunner rebuked the lawless king. His martyrdom did not occur for
the sake of political positioning, for during the first two years of the
Occupation, while the partisans were fighting against the barbarous occupier,
Fr. Joseph did not speak against them. He rebuked them when they turned against
their dissenting brethren—Greek priests, teachers, and villagers. He condemned
the fratricide and called the partisans to repentance, and for this he was put
to death. Had he, seeing the crime taking place, remained silent out of fear,
he would have saved his life. In this way, he imitated the Honorable Forerunner
and became a martyr. The proof of God's favor and the genuineness of his
martyrdom were the miracles that followed: the appearance of the light at the
place of burial, the miraculous discovery of his relics, and their exuding of
myrrh.
From the foregoing, it has been
demonstrated that the ever-memorable Fr. Joseph of Desfina truly suffered
martyrdom for his faith in Christ. This alone suffices for the recognition of
his sainthood. All the more so, since in his case all the generally accepted
criteria of sainthood are fulfilled, for Fr. Joseph:
a) was baptized in the Orthodox
Church,
b) held an Orthodox confession of
faith, for which he also endured persecutions,
c) lived a virtuous life,
d) offered greatly to the Church
through his activity, but above all through the supreme offering of his very
life,
e) there are testimonies of
miracles he performed during his life, and
f) his holy relics emit a
wondrous fragrance.
All these things led the then
Metropolitan of Achaia and all the Peloponnese, and now Archbishop of Athens
and all Greece, kyr Kallinikos, to issue on the 8th of November 1988 the
attached decision concerning the inclusion of the name of Fr. Joseph in the Synaxarion
of the Local Church of the Peloponnese.
As a result, the Holy Synod of
the Hierarchy of our Church, in its session of the 5th/18th of September 2014,
proceeded to the recognition of the sainthood of the Holy Glorious New
Hieromartyr Joseph, so that our entire Church may worthily honor and celebrate
him on the 22nd of July each year, together with Saint Mary Magdalene the
Equal-to-the-Apostles and Saint Virgin-Martyr Markella of Chios.
Today, on the day of the first
official celebration of the New Hieromartyr Joseph, let us beseech him to pray
for us—for the clergy and the people of the Genuine Orthodox, that they may
have patience in the afflictions of life, as well as in the persecutions from
those in power, which have not ceased. Let him also intercede on behalf of our
nation, that it may come to repentance and return to God, and that he may
protect us from destructive discord and fratricidal strife.
Yea, O Holy Hieromartyr Joseph,
intercede for us all. Amen.
Greek source:
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