The mystical theology as a path of man for the divine Knowledge in the writings of Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor

 In early Christianity the term mystikos referred to three dimensions, which soon became intertwined, namely the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative. The biblical dimension refers to “hidden” or allegorical interpretations of Scriptures. The liturgical dimension refers to the liturgical mystery of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ at the Eucharist. The third dimension is the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God. The link between mysticcal theology and the vision of Divine was introduced by the early Church Fathers, who used the term as an adjective, as in mystical theology and mystical contemplation. Gregory's of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagite and Maximos the Confessor truly get to know God not by apprehending him with human's understanding, but through of mystical theology. The reasoning powers must enter into a passive stillness, allowing the highest faculty in the human person to possess God with a knowledge that exceeds understanding. This knowledge is a darkness that is beyond light. Keywords: Mystical theology, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, Knowledge of God, affirmative and negative theology.

Powerful Women in Byzantine Empire: The Life and Ideology of the Empress Theophano (941-after 978)

View of Powerful Women in Byzantine Empire The Life and Ideology the Empress Theophano 941 after 978 Powerful Women in Byzantine Empire: The Life and Ideology of the Empress Theophano (941-after 978)

The knowledge of the Medicine in the writings of Basil of Caesarea/ El conocimiento de la Medicina en los escritos de Basilio de Cesarea

 El conocimiento de la Medicina en los escritos de Basilio de Cesarea

El coneixement de la Medicina en els escrits de Basilio de Cesarea

O conhecimento da Medicina nos escritos de Basílio de Cesaréia

The knowledge of the Medicine in the writings of Basil of Caesarea

Eirini ARTEMI1

Resumen: La medicina es un regalo de Dios para las personas. Basil insistió en que los monjes y muchas otras personas deberían usarlo en su vida diaria, porque es muy útil para el florecimiento de la vida humana. Conoce bien el campo de la medicina, por lo que algunas de sus referencias a problemas o tratamientos médicos se acercan tanto a las descripciones actuales de los libros de texto médicos. En su comentario sobre el profeta Isaías, se refiere a las definiciones de cirugía, hematoma, herida. Destaca los problemas médicos del embarazo y las enfermedades oftalmológicas. ¿Basil consideró la medicina mejor que la gracia de Dios? ¿Puede su enseñanza sobre la medicina persuadir a los cristianos de esta era a confiar en los médicos en lugar de en los milagros? ¿Puede su enseñanza y su actitud general hacia las enfermedades pandémicas del siglo IV ser un ejemplo para que las personas y los médicos enfrenten los problemas médicos como deben ser? ¿Hay fronteras entre la fe y la medicina?

Palabras-clave: Basilio de Cesárea – Cristianismo – Medicina – Enfermedades.

Abstract: The medicine is a gift of God to people. Basil insisted that monks and many other people should use it in their daily life, because is quite useful for the flourishing of human life. He is well acquainted with the field of medicine, so that some of his references to medical problems or treatments are so close to today's descriptions of medical textbooks. In his commentary on the prophet Isaiah, he refers to definitions of surgery, bruise, wound. He underlines the medical problems of pregnancy and ophthalmological diseases. Did Basil consider medicine better than the grace of God? Can his teaching about the medicine persuade Christians of this era to trust doctors instead of miracles? Can his teaching and his general attitude to the pandemic diseases of the fourth century be an example for people and doctors to face the medical problems as they should be? Are there boarders between faith and medicine?

1 Adjunct Professor in Hellenic Open University. E-mail: eartemi@theol.uoa.gr.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

34

Keywords: Basil of Casarea – Christianity – Medicine – Diseases.

ENVIADO: 10.4.2021

ACEPTADO: 02.06.2021

***

I. On the Connection Between Sickness and Sin in the Old Testament

The fall of Adam and Eve from Paradise had as a result the appearance of pain and sickness in the life of human beings. Their disobedience to God’s order: “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die”2 became the entrance of sin into the world and the advent of death, decay, and disease. “The effects of this disobedience were built into the very nature of being human”3. So disease became a basic part of human experience, though the Biblical story reveals clear that that's not the way it was presumed to be by God's original plan.

In the Old Testament the disease was thought as punishment for human sins and it had a role in God’s plan for the salvation of Israel4. This principle was at the core of Old Testament’s teaching and stated that those who kept God's will were rewarded with health and happiness5, while those who violated it were punished with pain and

2 GENESIS 3:3.

3 GENESIS 3:16-17. ANANDA B. GEYSER - FOUCHE, THOMAS M. MUNENGWA, “The concept of vicarious suffering in the Old Testament”, HTS Theological Studies, v. 75, n. 4, Pretoria, 2019, 1-10.

4 DEUTERONOMY 29:22-23: “The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the Lord has afflicted it all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger”.

5 EXODUS 23:25: “You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you”. Ex.15:26: “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer”.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

35

diseases6. Initially, the principle of retribution, the revenge referred to the whole population of Israel7. So in the Old Testament the idea of sickness was directly related to sin and had as a purpose to destroy the sinners whose sin was made by themselves or it was inheritance from their ancestors, “Every other malady and affliction, even though not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will inflict on you until you are destroyed”8.

The disobedience to God’s orders had as consequence the separation from God. This condition brought sickness, misery and death in the life of the sinner9. Generally, in the Old Testament there was the form sin - punishment- disease and death10. Besides this sickness as a justification of the result of human’s sin, there was the view that illness was something natural for any mortal being. Qoheleth supported that death, pain and illness are a normal, unavoidable and natural part of life “under the sun”11. Of course, sickness and sufferings were not always the result of sin. There was the example of Job whose suffering was not a punishment. Its ongoing purpose was to refine Job's righteousness to refine Job's righteousness.

To sum up, sickness and death was the result; God’s punishment of human’s sin in the most of Old Testament’s references. This punishment covered not only the person who did the sin, but sometimes the consequences of disobedience against God influenced his family, his ancestors or his whole nation. The exceptions of the connection sin - punishment- disease and death can be found in Job and in Qoheleth.

6 Ibidem.

7 DAVID HAMIDOVIĆ, “About the Blurred Concept of Retribution”, in D. Hamidović, A. Thromas, and M. Silvestrini, (eds), “Retribution” in Jewish and Christian Writings A Concept in Debate, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe, vol. 492, (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2019), pp 1-12, esp. p. 5: “The term נקם ) naqam) mainly designates the “revenge” of God against sinners as in Ex. 32:34; Num. 31:3; 1 Sam. 20:6; Jerem. 15:15, for example. In carrying out his “revenge” God wishes to restore the original balance of the world and/or the respect of the Covenant contract. “Revenge” therefore is a divine punishment”.

8 DEUTERONOMY 28:61.

9 PSALMS 37 (38): 3-4: “There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin”.

10 ZEPHANIAH 1:17: “I will bring distress on men. So that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; And their blood will be poured out like dust”.

11 ECCLESIASTES 3: 1-3; 1: 14.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

36

Additionally, in the Old Testament, it is underlined that God was the great physician and healer in times of illness12. It was He that restored people to health by using human “instruments” like medicines, physicians and of course His divine intervention, “The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a sensible person will not hesitate to use them. Didn't a tree once make bitter water fit to drink, so that the Lord's power might be known? He gave medical knowledge to human beings, so that we would praise him for the miracles he performs. The druggist mixes these medicines, and the doctor will use them to cure diseases and ease pain. There is no end to the activities of the Lord, who gives health to the people of the world. My child, when you get sick, don’t ignore it. Pray to the Lord, and he will make you well”13.

II. On the Connection Between Sickness and Sin in the New Testament

In the New Testament the sickness and death are not connected always with the sin. In the story of the blind man, his blindness was not the result of his sin or of any sin of his parents. It was blind, in order to Christ to reveal His divinity and glory: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world”14.

The texts in the New Testament clearly indicate that the reason for someone to be healed from any sickness is primarily to be healed from his passions. Another important reason for someone’s healing was his faith to God or the faith of his relatives15. After the healing many of the previous ill people glorified God and thanked Him for their recovering. In the episode that Christ healed Peter's mother-in-law, it was stated that “the fever left her. She arose and served Him”16. And in the

12 EXODUS 15: 26; 2 CHRONICLES 7: 14; PSALM. 106 (107): 20.

13 WISDOM OF SIRACH 38: 1-9.

14 JOHN 9:3.

15 MARK 9:14-29; MARK 2:3-12; MATTHEW 9:2-8; LUKE 5:17-26; MATTHEW 8:5- 13; LUKE 7:2-10; JOHN 4:47-54.

16 MATTHEW 8:14-15; MARK 1:30; LUKE 4:38.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

37

healing of the paralytic it is noted “he rose before them, and took up that on which he lay, and went home, glorifying God”17.

The healing of the diseases and the resurrection of dead people showed that the only way for someone’s recovery from an illness was to be purified from the sins, to believe in God and to ask His help. Kris D' Atri underlines that “The healings served as evidence that the Kingdom of God had come; they affirmed Jesus’ authority as son of God; they revealed God’s mighty power in the world”18. In the Kingdom of God, man will become free from the slavery of sin. He will obtain again the goods of his primordial situation before the original sin. The Preternatural Gifts of Integrity, Immortality,19 Infused Knowledge, and Impassibility - Don't feel pain or harm-, Freedom from concupiscence -sexual desire-, ignorance, and sin, Lordship over the earth.20

In the Acts, the Apostles managed to heal people on the name of Christ, but before that they had prayed to God, so they connected the health with the prayer, the faith and the relevance of God’s glory. Peter in his epistle explained the spiritual aspects of healing: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed”21.

Of course, the faith is important for healing of any disease, but nowhere in Bible we have any references that Christians should not go for a treatment to a doctor or to

17 LUKE 5:25.

18 KRIS D' ATRI, “Health and Healing in the New Testament”, 9-10.

19 NIKOLAOS P. VASILIADES, Mystery of Death, (Athens: Sotir, 1980), (in greek) 59, 60: “However, we must make two basic clarifications. First, the immortality of the soul was not its natural attribute; it is a gift of grace of God. Secondly, in this way the creation of the body and of its soul, which is the work of the unalloyed divine love, also demonstrates the savior of divine wisdom and the divine economy about human being. And behold why? If God created man immortal, then the man would have to be without inclination to the sin, then God would limit the freedom of man. If again God created man mortal, he would be responsible for his death,” Cf EIRINI ARTEMI, “Firstborn from the dead became. The death and the resurrection of the incarnate Word in the texts of Cyril of Alexandria,” (in greek) 24grammata, 2014, 1-2, ref. 4.

20 NIKOLAOS E. MITSOPOULOS, Introduction into Orthodox Dogmatic and Ethic Theology, (Athens 1993), (in greek) 118, 119. Eirini Artemi, “Firstborn from the dead became”, (in greek) 1-2, ref. 4.

21 I PETER. 2:24.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

38

have a medicine healing. For this reason in Christianity, there were and are many doctors who try to heal people. Generally, we could say with certainty that there are two ways that God accomplishes healing in this world. The first category is through natural law’s healing which is beautifully exemplified through medicine in every era. The second category is through supernatural acts of healing that are alive and well today, and best understood through the Word of God, not the scientific method.

III. Basil of Caesarea, the science of Medicine and his knowledge about it

Basil of Caesarea served God and people as a bishop and as a doctor. He had studied medicine, because he wanted to learn more about his fragile health as Gregory Nazianzus referred on his funeral oration on Basil: “Medicine, the result of philosophy and laboriousness, was rendered necessary for him by his physical delicacy, and his care of the sick. From these beginnings he attained to a mastery of the art, not only in its empirical and practical branches, but also in its theory and principles”22.

Basil underlines that medicine was the gift of God to people. He reasoned that God created plants, minerals, and sea creatures to feed people and gave humans the intellectual ability to use them as cures. The medical art had been vouchsafed people by God and was given to men to relieve the sick, in some degree at least23, but this should not make people reject the hope in God24. At the same time, Basil supports

22 GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Funeral Oration on Basil the Great, Or. 43, 23. 61-6, PG 36, 528Β.

23 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, 55, engl. trans. by M. Monica Wagner, The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 9, Wash., D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1962, p. 59-60 (=PG 31, 1044BC): “the medical art has been vouchsafed us by God, who directs our whole life, as a model for the cure of the soul, to guide us in the removal of what is superfluous and in the addition of what is lacking. Just as we would have no need of the farmer's labor and toil if we were living amid the delights of paradise, so also we would not require the medical art for relief if we were immune to disease, as was the case, by God's gift, at the time of Creation before the Fall. After our banishment to this place, however, and after we had heard the words: 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread,' through prolonged effort and hard labor in tilling the soil we devised the art of agriculture for the alleviation of the miseries which followed the curse, God vouchsafing us the knowledge and understanding of this art. And, when we were commanded to return to the earth whence we had been taken and were united with the pain ridden flesh doomed to destruction because of sin and, for the same reason, also subject to disease, the medical art was given to us to relieve the sick”.

24 Ibidem.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

39

with passion the use of medicine by ordinary people and even by monks, because he argues that the medical art produces very important and useful fruits25. In his writings there are “numerous references and allegories relating the physician’s role as one of physical healer who grasps the metaphysical elements of life through the practice of the medical arts”26. Basil argues that when a physician heals with medicines, people experience a miracle of God’s creation no less wonderful than those of the Bible. But he supports with emphasis that all healing ultimately has its routes to God: “God sometimes cures us... without visible means when he judges this mode of treatment beneficial to our souls; and again He wills that we use material remedies for our ills... to provide an example for the proper care of the soul”27.

Basil tries hard convincing Christians that medical science was a donation from God to people, not a pagan deception. By purifying medicine of pagan associations, the bishop of Caesarea rejected doubts and misunderstandings that bishops or wealthy Christians harboured about supporting institutions that provided medical care or using for healing from any disease the medical art28. He supports that people who are weak and ill need the service of medicine29. The medical art uses medicines which sometimes are bitter but they help human body to be cured and heal a lot of illness which can be deadly for man30.

The bishop of Caesarea himself is well acquainted with many details in the field of medicine, so that some of his references to medical problems or treatments are so close to today's descriptions of medical textbooks. Specifically, besides the information about the conception of a child and its pregnancy in the womb by the

25 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Haexaemeron, 5.4.20, PG 29, 101C. EIRINI ARTEMI, “Church Fathers and the development of medicine in their writings”, Papyri - Scientific Journal, 6 (2017), 21-31, esp. p. 25, www.academy.edu.gr.

26 JOHN W. LOVE, “The Concept of Medicine in the Early Church”, The Linacre Quarterly, 75:3, (2008) 225-238, esp. 233. DOI: 10.1179/002436308803889503.

27 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, 55, PG 31, 1045CD, transl. by Timothy Miller in Timothy S. Miller, “Basil’s House of Healing”, Christian History 101 (2011), 30-36, esp. 35.

28 TIMOTHY S. MILLER, “Basil’s House of Healing”, esp. 35.

29 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Homily on the beginning of the Proverbs, PG 31, 393B.

30 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, 55, english trans. by Wagner, Ididem, 61 (=PG 31, 1044D).

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

40

mother31 in the writings of St. Basil the great someone can read the most detailed description of surgery, bruise and trauma which can be parallelized with today scientific texts32.

Basil speaks about human body, showing his knowledge about physiology and medicine. He bases on them in order to explain and support fasting according to Christian way of life. He says that the human body is very beautiful33. It is “a vessel divinely moulded”34 and “is an instrument of the human being, an instrument of the soul, and the human being is principally the soul in itself”35. Basil explains that many diseases have a strong connection with food “In as much as our body is susceptible to various hurts, some attacking from without and some from within by reason of the food we eat, and since the body suffers affliction from both excess and deficiency”36. So fasting is good not only for the soul but for the body, too37. It is “mother of health”38, because the latter gets rid of some destroying things which are related to food39.

31 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Against Eunomium, II, PG 29, 581A. Basil mentions three stages of embryonic development: conception (σύλληψις), construction (διάπλασις), and shaping (μόρφωσις).

32 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Commentary on the book of Isaiah, 1, 1838-50, PG 30, 148A. english trans. by Nikolai A. Lipatov, St. Basil the Great. Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, in Texts and Studies in the history of theology, vol. 7, Wolfram Kinzig, Markus Vinzent (eds), Mandelbactal/ Cambridge:edition Cicero, 2001, p. 21: “So then, if a wound is a rupture of the body’s coherence when the connection is severed over a small area; and a bruise is the suffused mark of a blow when the body is crushed by a solid object striking it, and this too is inflicted on one part of the body; and an inflammation is a fiery swelling, when fluids flow together to the afflicted part and inflame the affected member with unnatural heat...”.

33 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Haexaemeron, 9, PG 29, 257BC.

34 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Haexaemeron, 9, PG 29, 264A.

35 BASIL OF CAESAREA, PG 29, 264B. English transl. by Nonna Verna Harrison, St. Basil the Great: On the Human Condition (Popular Patristics Series 30; Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005), 31-64.

36 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, 55, english trans. by M. Monica Wagner, The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 9 (Wash., D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1962), 60 (=PG 31, 1044B).

37 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Homily on Fasting, 1, PG 31, 164Β, 177Α.

38 Ibidem, PG 31, 173C.

39 Ibidem.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

41

On the other hand, the bishop of Caesarea explains how evil heavy consumption of wine is for the human body and he describes the results of the drunkenness similar with the way that doctors describe them today40.

Generally, Basil tries to show how medicine is important in people’s life. Also he explains that some things as fasting that help soul make and the body healthier. The Christian approach to health care integrates both spiritual and medical treatments for sickness and diseases. The possibility of miraculous cure should not prevent Christians to use medical remedies, and “the availability of medical remedies did not deter them from praying for divine healing”41.

IV. Basil and his nursing to sick, ill and lepers. Foundation of the first hospital the “Basileias”

Basil as a monk and as a bishop later tried to find a way to serve suffering. His idea was to build a charitable institution that would provide healing and cure to ill people, to poor. Despite his fragile health and his infirmities, he didn’t want other people to suffer without having any hope of remedy. Basil’s idea of creating of hospital was born in the period of a famine in 368/367, or in 369/370 during which he had organized a distribution of food. In his hospital, medical staff was employed and took care of both the pagans and the Christians42. In 372, he managed to create the organization43 of his dreams, which included many buildings, the “Basileias”44

40 Ibidem, PG 31, 184A.

41 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Epistles 94; 150; 174, PG 32, 489-492; PG 32, 601-604; PG 32, 656.

42 GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, oration 43, 61-63, PG 36, 528.GARY B. FERNGREN, Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009, 124.

43 Ibidem, p. 125: “It included a separate section for each of six groups: the poor, the homeless and strangers, orphans and foundlings, lepers, the aged and infirm, and the sick. The keluphokomeia housed lepers, who were gathered together from the countryside around Caesarea into one place where they could be cared for”.

44 Gregory Nazianzen called this new city, the organization that Basil built as Basileias in the honor of his friend, “Go forth a little way from the city, and behold the new city, the storehouse of piety, the common treasury of the wealthy, in which the superfluities of their wealth, aye, and even their necessaries, are stored, in consequence of his exhortations, freed from the power of the moth, no longer gladdening the eyes of the thief, and escaping both the emulation of envy, and the corruption

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

42

cantering on a church. By this way he wanted to show that the medicine and philanthropy should have a reference to God and He will be their central point. Basil appeared the medicine as a gift of God and managed to persuade wealthy people to invest in this attempt45. Also, he explained to poor and ill how important was the medical art for their health without rejecting the prayers to God, His divine grace and the miracles.

In “Basileias” Basil showed his care for any sick, and tried to heal the wounds and to deal with lepers. The latter were rejected by all; they were obliged to leave their houses, their cities and to isolate themselves in leper colonies that nobody who was healthy could come. This was essentially like a very slow death. Basil took care of them. He served them as a doctor, as Christian as a priest. For Him, these people were the Image of God. Believing in God and without fear cared these infectious patients, washed out their wounds, cooked soup for them, gave them the “kiss of peace”46 and remained most of the day with them.

Of course he knew how dangerous the Leprosy was. But his faith to the grace of God, served them as well as he could without any fear of a possible infection for himself. By this way the lepers were housed in a place that they lived as humans, they had nourishment, medical care and general care and most of all they had love and sympathy47. of time: where disease is regarded in a religious light, and disaster is thought a blessing, and sympathy is put to the test..” GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, PG 36, 529-530. Matt. 6:19.

45 GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, PG 36, 531, transl. by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 7, ed. by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894). Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight: “He... took the lead in pressing upon those who were men, that they ought not to despise their fellowmen, nor to dishonour Christ, the one Head of all, by their inhuman treatment of them; but to use the misfortunes of others as an opportunity of firmly establishing their own lot, and to lend to God that mercy of which they stand in need at His hands”.

46 PETER BROWN, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (Hanover and London: Brandeis University Press/University of New England Press, 2002), 40.

47 JEAN BERNARDI, La Prédication des Peres Cappadocienes: Le Prédicateur et Son Auditoire (Marseille: Sopic 1968), 104-108. Carlo Calleja, “The Orations of the Cappadocian Fathers on Lepers: A

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

43

In “Basileias”, there were doctors with medical knowledge and not healers. Additionally, the important was that the healing of any sickness combined the treatment of the physical ills of the patients with ministering to their spiritual diseases48. Of course Basil didn’t discard the secular medicine for treatments with supernatural means only. He knew the catalytic role of the medical art in therapy of sickness, but as a Christian couldn’t reject that God is the omnipotent healer of human body and soul49.

Basil managed to serve God and man as an image of God. He first left the world in order to dedicate himself to God. He explained the significance of the monastery for a Christian monk but he didn’t neglect people who were poor, weak, orphans and ill. By this way, as a bishop fought against heresies, against injustice but also took care of any man in need. He joined the monastery, but eventually brought the monastery to the world through the city of Basilias.

Conclusions

Man was created by God to live without pain, sickness and death. Unfortunately, after Adam’s and Eve’s fall, evil, illness and death came to our lives. In the Old Testament, sickness was the result of sin of the ills or of their parents. Diseases were the result of theodicy of God to people who didn’t follow His Commandments. Of course, in the Old Testament, there were cases that illness and pain were not a kind of punishment for sinner, but it was the trial for the relevance of their fruit of holiness, as Job did. In

Blueprint for Exhorting Solidarity with the Socially Alienated Today”. Lumen et Vita 9.2 (2019), 1-20, esp. 4. Doi:10.6017/lv.v9i2.11123. “For these reasons, historians have argued that “the hospital was, in origin and conception, a distinctively Christian institution”, GARY B. FERNGREN, Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity, The John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 2009, 124.

48 BASIL OF CAESAREA, To Eustathius the physician, letter 189, Transl. by Blomfield Jackson, From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Ed. by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight: “medicine is seen, as it were, with two right hands; you enlarge the accepted limits of philanthropy by not confining the application of your skill to men's bodies, but by attending also to the cure of the diseases of their souls”.

49 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, 55, PG 31, 1048B: “God's grace is as evident in the healing power of medicine and its practitioners as it is in miraculous cures”.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

44

the New Testament, Christ and the apostles underlined that no ironclad relationship exists between suffering and sin. Just because people suffered trials or tragedies did not mean God was punishing them for some sin.

Besides God’ help for man’s recovery from any disease, people tried to find remedy and healing for their sickness in the medical art. Apostles and Church Fathers didn’t reject medicine which was though as a gift from God to people. Of course they didn’t stop saying that God was and is the omnipotent healer, but also underlined the necessity of the existence of doctors and medicines in human life. So in early years of Christianity, there are many references to Christian doctors who helped the ill with their medical art. Some of them were Luke the evangelist, Panteleimon, Damian and Cosmas, who were known as the “Anargyroi”, Basil of Caesarea and many others.

These people had studied the medical art and they were physicians and pharmacists. Additionally, Basil though that the medicines were gifts of God for the natural healing of disease, because He had created herbs and all the other natural things which were the ingredients of medicines, “...the herbs which are the specifics for each malady do not grow out of the earth spontaneously; it is evidently the will of the Creator that they should be brought forth out of the soil to serve our need. Therefore, the obtaining of that natural virtue which is in the roots and flowers, leaves, fruits, and juices, or in such metals or products of the sea as are found especially suitable for bodily health, is to be viewed in the same way as the procuring of food and drink”50.

Basil’s of Caesarea didn’t care only of the theological problems of his era and to teach people theological ethics according to Christianity. He managed with practical efforts to organize charitable able in Caesarea and to build the institution “Basileias”. Through his writings, it is profane that this Church Father, who had studied medicine besides with his other important studies of rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, music, had the medical art in high regard. Doctors served men, healing of men’s bodies and Christian doctors tried to cure the human body and the spiritual ills.

50 BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, 55, engl. trans. by M. Monica Wagner, The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 9, Wash., D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1962, 330-337.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

45

In his writing, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, he analyses how important if the fast for human body and soul.

Finally, Basil was the father of the first organized hospital for poor and lepers. There, sick could be cured by doctors and nurses. Basil himself served the most serious sick, the lepers, with compassion and Christian love. This Christian philanthropy was motivated by Christ- like agapeic service. Gregory Nazianzen on his funeral oration on Basil of Caesarea explain the importance of Basil’s hospital for the lepers, for these unfortunates. They were “dead before death and have already perished in most parts of their bodies.

They are driven from cities, homes, market places, and sources of water, even from their best friends. They are recognized by their names rather than by their bodily appearance.” These sickest of the sick, the Basileias’s most numerous patients, were lepers. Physicians didn’t know how to cure them, but Basil didn’t felt discouraged. These people deserved care as all the other sick. In his hospital, there was a place of them and much love. They were served by the bishop of Caesarea Himself. Basil put into practice the example of Jesus Christ and behaved to people as real image of God.

***

Bibliography Fuentes

BIBLE, translation into English, New King James Version.

BASIL OF CAESAREA, Haexaemeron, PG 29, 4 - 208.

BASIL OF CAESAREA, Against Eunomium, II, PG 29, 573-652.

BASIL OF CAESAREA, Commentary on the book of Isaiah, PG 30, 117-668, english trans. by Nikolai A. Lipatov, St. Basil the Great. Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, in Texts and Studies in the history of theology, vol. 7, Wolfram Kinzig, Markus Vinzent (eds), (Mandelbactal/ Cambridge: edition Cicero, 2001). BASIL OF CAESAREA, Homily on Fasting, 1, PG 31, 164 – 184. BASIL OF CAESAREA, Ascetical Works, PG 31, 869-1305, engl. trans. by M. Monica Wagner, The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 9 (Wash., D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1962).

BASIL OF CAESAREA, Epistles 94; 150; 174, PG 32, 489-492; PG 32, 601-604; PG 32, 656.

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

46

BASIL OF CAESAREA, To Eustathius the physician, letter 189, Transl. by Blomfield Jackson, From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Ed. by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.

GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Funeral Oration on Basil the Great, Or. 43, PG 36, 493 - 608.

Bibliografía

ARTEMI, EIRINI, “Firstborn from the dead became. The death and the resurrection of the incarnate Word in the texts of Cyril of Alexandria” 24grammata, 2014.

ARTEMI, EIRINI, “Church Fathers and the development of medicine in their writings”, Papyri - Scientific Journal, 6 (2017), 21-31, esp. p. 25, www.academy.edu.gr

ATRI, KRIS D' “Health and Healing in the New Testament”, 9-10.

BERNARDI, JEAN, La Prédication des Peres Cappadocienes: Le Prédicateur et Son Auditoire (Marseille: Sopic 1968).

BROWN, PETER, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (Hanover and London: Brandeis University Press/University of New England Press, 2002).

CALLEJA, CARLO, “The Orations of the Cappadocian Fathers on Lepers: A Blueprint for Exhorting Solidarity with the Socially Alienated Today”. Lumen et Vita 9.2 (2019), 1-20, Doi:10.6017/lv.v9i2.11123

FERNGREN, GARY B, Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).

GEYSER, ANANDA B., - FOUCHE, THOMAS, Munengwa, M.M “The concept of vicarious suffering in the Old Testament”, HTS Theological Studies, v. 75, n. 4, (Pretoria, 2019), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v75i4.5352.

HAMIDOVIĆ, DAVID, “About the Blurred Concept of Retribution”, in D. Hamidović, A. Thromas, and M. Silvestrini, (eds), “Retribution” in Jewish and Christian Writings A Concept in Debate, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe, vol. 492, (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2019), 1-12.

HARRISON, NONNA VERNAM St. Basil the Great: On the Human Condition (Popular Patristics Series 30; Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005).

LIPATOV, NIKOLAI A., St. Basil the Great. Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, in Texts and Studies in the history of theology, vol. 7, Wolfram Kinzig, Markus Vinzent (eds), (Mandelbactal/ Cambridge: Edition Cicero, 2001)

LOVE, JOHN W., “The Concept of Medicine in the Early Church”, The Linacre Quarterly, 75:3, (2008) 225-238, DOI: 10.1179/002436308803889503

MILLER, TIMOTHY S., “Basil’s House of Healing”, Christian History 101 (2011), 30-36

MITSOPOULOS, NIKOLAOS, E., Introduction into Orthodox Dogmatic and Ethic Theology, (Athens 1993) (in greek)

VASILIADES, NIKOLAOS P., Mystery of Death, (Athens: Sotir, 1980), (in greek).

Ricardo da COSTA (org.). Mirabilia Journal 32 (2021/1)

Jan-Jun 2021

ISSN 1676-5818

47

WAGNER, M. MONICA The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 9 (Wash., D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1962).

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ in the Greek Orthodox Church

13

Hymns of Matins of the

Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

Eirini ARTEMI

Abstract: Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ in the Greek Orthodox Church. Christmas is celebrated with Matins (Orthros) and Divine Liturgy worship services for the Holy Nativity. The Christmas hymnology is the fruit of the dogmatic theology of the Church. In this paper we will deal with only with the Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. How do these hymns display and express the theology of the incarnation of the eternal living World? The theology of these hymns underlines that Holy Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, bore in a fleshly manner the Only-begotten Word of God made flesh (body and soul). These two natures, human and divine, were hypostatically united into the one personhood of Jesus Christ. This historic event is celebrated at Christmas feast. Without the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Divine Logos, the redemption of the human race from the shackles of death and sin would be impossible. Christ forms a bridge between absolute infinite God and finite humanity. Ηe is uniquely qualified to be the perfect mediator between God and man. His humanity resembles us in everything except sin, as he was sinless. These hymns express the original joyful excitement at the thought for God’s appearance on earth as total man and remained total God.

 Dr. Eirini Artemi is adjunct professor in the Hellenic Open University in the postgraduate level in theology and professor in the Israel Institute of Biblical Languages of Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Also, she teaches Patristic Theology and Church History in the Orthodox Department of Theology School of the University of Kinshasa - Congo.

STUDII ŞI ARTICOLE

Eirini

ARTEMI

14

Keywords: Christmas, Theanthropos, divine Liturgy, Orthos, Romanos the Melodist, Orthodox Greek Church

Introduction

The feast of Christmas is the celebration of the world’s salvation through the Son of God who became man for our sake that, through him, we might ourselves become divine, sons of God the Father by the indwelling of his Holy Spirit in us. Despite the great importance of the feast of Christmas, Christians celebrated this with Epiphany in the one great feast of God’s appearance on earth in the form of the human Messiah of Israel. The celebration of both of two feasts, Christmas and Epiphany, took place in one day until the middle of the fourth century or in the first two decades of fifth century. Christians though that the day of the death of Christ or of any saint was more significant than his birthday. They avoided celebrating birthdays of saints, including Christ’s1. The day of the death, the day of the martyrdom became the real birthday of Saints and of Christ because they were led into the kingdom of heaven, in a new heavenly afterlife. Based on this opinion Christ’s resurrection was the first important feast for Christians. Then the feast of His Epiphany on 6th of January was more widespread than His birth.

Of course we have some testimonies in patristic texts about the date of the celebration of Christmas as a separate feast but this had to do with specific circumstances and not with something that existed

1 Joseph F. KELLY underlines that: “This is important for Christmas since some early Christians, especially Origen of Alexandria, objected to birthday celebrations because the Bible mentions only two of them: one for Pharaoh (Genesis 40:20) and one for Herod (Mark 6:21; Matthew 14:6) which both resulted in executions! However, when Christians became interested in Christ’s birthday, acceptance of the martyrs’ “birthdays” guaranteed that no real opposition would occur”. See: Joseph F. KELLY, “The Birth of Christmas”, Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University (2011), 11-18, https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/159119.pdf, esp. 12. Cf. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Stromata I, 21,145.5; ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA, Commentary on Matthew XIV, 6.

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

15

for whole Christian people of the that era. It is accepted according to the writing of Ambrose of Milan that the Church of Rome had separated the feast of Nativity of Christ from His Epiphany in 366 but it is not clear the date of the celebration2.

F. C. Conybeare supports that the date 25th December was chosen as an attempt of Christian Fathers to “hallow in the Christian way a day round which more than any other the associations of the older religion centered”3. Pagans celebrated the feast of “Deus Sol Invictus” and it was supported that this feast influenced the date of Christmas. According to this argument, Christmas was celebrated on December 25th in 336, during the time of the Emperor Constantine the Great in order to offset the pagan festival of the Invincible Sun which occurred on that day, as it is referred above. The 25th of December was established by the Church to make a polemic against the pagans’ worship of the sun and the stars and to call for the adoration of Christ, the “True Sun of Righteousness”4, who is Himself worshiped by all of the elements of nature. Also, J.F. Kelly coincides on this opinion5.

Cullmann argues and notes that:

2 AMBROSE OF MILAN, Concerning Virginity, 3.1., trans. by H. de Romestin, E. de Romestin and H.T.F. Duckworth (From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 10), ed. by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896; Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34073.htm.: “For he, when on the Nativity of the Saviour in the Church of St. Peter you signified your profession of virginity by your change of attire (and what day could be better than that on which the Virgin received her child?) while many virgins were standing round and vying with each other for your companionship. You, said he, my daughter, have desired a good espousal. You see how great a crowd has come together for the birthday of your Spouse, and none has gone away without food. This is He, Who, when invited to the marriage feast, changed water into wine”.

3 F. C. CONYBEARE, “The History of Christmas”, in The American Journal of Theology 3 (1) (1899), p. 1-21, în mod special p. 3.

4 Malachi 4.2, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA): “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings”.

5 Joseph F. KELLY, “The Birth of Christmas”, p. 15.

Eirini

ARTEMI

16

“Our Christmas festival of December 25th was unknown to the Christians of the first three centuries. Down to the beginning of the fourth century this day, subsequently to become a central date in the Christian Church, was allowed by the Christians to pass by unhonoured and unsung, without any assembling together for worship, and without Christ's birth being so much as mentioned”6.

The scholars, based in the writing of John Chrysostom7, agree that the choice of the date of 25th December for the feast of the Nativity of Christ was chosen because of ecclesiastic reasons. The important thing of this feast is not the date of the celebration of incarnation but the fact of incarnation itself and the birth of Christ.

The Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ in the Greek Orthodox Church. Their dogmatic and theological analysis

In the beginning of the Service of Matins, the apolytikion “the Troparion (Tone 4)” is said: “Your Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! For by it, those who worshipped the stars, were taught by a Star to adore You, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know You, the Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to You”.

God with His Birth enlightens all people’s mind in the way that everyone can obtain the light of knowledge in order to understand the mystery of the incarnation of Logos. By this way, the psalm finds its real meaning “and in your light we will see light”8. Besides, John the evangelist underlines that “God is Light and in Him is no Darkness at all”9. So, the birth of Christ brought the light of knowledge of God

6 Oscar CULLMAN, “The Origin of Christmas”, in O. CULLMAN, The Early Church, A.J.B. Higgens (eds), London: SCM Press, 1956, p. 21-36, aici p. 21.

7 JoHN CHRYSOSTOM, To the birthday of our Salvator, Jesus Christ, PG 49, 354, 358-360.

8 Psalm 35, 10 (36, 9).

9 1 Jn 1, 5.

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

17

which always accompanied communion with God, and this was the end of the absence of knowledge of God, the darkness of human ignorance. In Maximus’ the confessor writing, it is said that the knowledge of God is used in relation to the Incarnation. Only God can make himself known, as He does in the person of his Son incarnate among us10. The whole nature took part in this divine revelation. For this reason an unusual star became the light to the Wise Men (Magi, Astronomers), in order to be guided into Christ.

Next hymns are three kathismata. In the first Kathisma hymn (tone 4), it is written:

“Come, O faithful! Let us go to see where Christ was born. We shall follow the wise men, kings from the East, and be led by the guiding star to the place where angels sing unceasing praise. Shepherds in the fields offer fitting hymns: “Glory in the highest to Him who today was born” of the Virgin Theotokos “in a cave in Bethlehem of Judah!”.

In this hymn, there is a synopsis of the events of the Nativity of Christ as they are narrated by Matthew and Luke in their gospels11. In their gospels, there is a reference to the Magi who came from the East, to the shepherds and to angels who praised and worshipped the New Born Child, the incarnate God12. Also, we have the characterization of

10 MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR, Two Hundred Chapters on Theology, 2, 24, PG 90, 1136B. Cf. Eirini ARTEMI, Christos TEREZIS, “The mystical theology as a path of man for the divine Knowledge in the writings of Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor”, in De Medio Aevo 13 (2019), p. 153-176, aici p. 168.

11 Matt. 2, 1-12. Lk. 2, 1-20.

12 John Chrysostom underlines: “Today, Bethlehem has become like the firmament above, for in that town angels hymning God take the place of the stars and the Sun of righteousness in a marvelous way takes the place of the physical sun. Where God so wills the laws of nature are overcome. And God so willed, it was in His power, and He did save man, for all things are obedient to God. Today, the eternal One becomes what He was not. While still being God, He also became human without ceasing to be divine. This wondrous and ineffable condescension was hymned with a loud voice by all His angels” (JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Ηomily on the Nativity of Christ, PG 56, 385Β).

Eirini

ARTEMI

18

the Holy Virgin as “Theotokos”. This term for Holy Virgin Mary summarizes the whole theology of Incarnation of Cyril of Alexandria. The bishop of Alexandria, using the term Theotokos, declared the hypostatic union of Godhead and Manhood in one person, Jesus Christ. He was a perfect man with a body (sarx) and a soul (nous), and he was born by the Virgin Mary. It was obvious that Holy Virgin Mary did not give birth to a common man in whom the Word of God dwelt, lest Christ be thought of as a God-bearing man. For all this, the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos13.

In the second Kathisma hymn (tone 4), it is written:

“Why do you marvel, O Mary? Why are you amazed at what has come to pass? “I have given birth in time to a timeless son; I cannot explain how He was conceived in me. I have known no man; how then shall I bear a child? Who has ever seen a birth without seed?” When God so wills, as it is written, “The order of nature is overcome”. Christ is born of the virgin in Bethlehem of Judah”.

In this hymn there are the basic parts of Christological teaching of the Orthodox Church, developed by Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria. These Fathers’ theology of the person of Jesus is widely seen as a vital underpinning of Orthodox Christology. The words of hymn are paraphrases of Athanasius’ words in his homily on the Nativity of Christ: “I behold a strange mystery: instead of the sun, the sun of righteousness contained ineffably in the Virgin. Seek not how this is so, for where God wills the order of nature is overcome. It was His will, He had the power to do so, and thus He came down and saved us”14. The eternal Son of God became in time total man and remained total God through the womb of the Holy Virgin Mary. He became similar to us except the original sin and the inclination to the sin 13 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, Third letter to Nestorius, PG 77, 112A. Cf. Eirini Artemi, “Cyril of Alexandria’s critique of the term Theotokos”, in Acta Theologica 2 (2012), p. 13, https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2435/2376.

14 ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, Ηomily on the Nativity of Christ, https://www.oca.org/holy-synod/statements/his-beatitude-metropolitan-tikhon/nativity-2012 (27 Febr. 2021).

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

19

because He was conceived in the womb of Theotokos with only the grace of the Holy Spirit and without any seed of a man.

In the third Kathisma hymn (tone 4), it is written:

“How can a womb contain Him whom nothing can contain? How can He remain in His father's bosom, yet rest in his mother's arms? It is His good pleasure to accomplish this. Having no flesh, He purposely assumes it for our sake. He who is becomes what He never was. He shares our substance without forsaking His own nature. Desiring to make us citizens of the world on high, Christ, the Only-begotten of the Father, is born on earth as a man”.

In this troparion, the question, which is expressed based on logic, is how the One who is beyond place and time entered a human womb, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Also, this hymn as the previous one describes very comprehensively the whole Christological problem. God, who is eternal, became the incarnate Christ and he was both fully God and fully man. His divine nature did not alter His human nature, and His humanity did not diminish His divinity. He was born, having two perfect natures, divinity and humanity, from the first second of his conception in the womb of the Holy Virgin Mary. The mystery of the incarnation of Christ is miraculous, in which the harmonious synthesis of the opposites of two different worlds, the visible and the invisible, is achieved. In the incarnation there is the harmonious synthesis of opposites: Christ was incarnate and wanted to receive the whole humanity, for the salvation of man, the “timeless” God came into in human existence for our salvation.

The phrase “desiring to make us citizens of the world on high” reminds us of the words of the Apostle Paul and of John Chrysostom. Specifically, Paul writes in his epistle to Hebrews: “Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters[n] in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people”15. In another

15 Hebr. 2, 17, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

Eirini

ARTEMI

20

sentence of the same epistle Paul underlines that “Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death”16. Additionally, John Chrysostom explains that:

“For this cause (he means) He took on Him our flesh, only for Love to man, that He might have mercy upon us. For neither is there any other cause of the economy, but this alone. For He saw us, cast on the ground, perishing, tyrannized over by Death, and He had compassion on us. To make reconciliation, he says, for the sins of the people. That, He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest”17.

In next troparion, it is said: “Today all things are filled with joy, for Christ is born of the Virgin”. In this hymn there is the participation of the universe in joy of birth of Christ, who was born by the Virgin. The whole universe did not escape the judgment of the Fall. The original condition of nature, which was perfect, began to degenerate after the Fall. Christ’s birth brings life, harmony and reconciliation. Human sin has not only broken humanity’s relationship to God; it has also corrupted the natural order so that God’s incarnation entails the restoration of creation to what it was intended to be. All things feel joy because of God’s birth as human, because as the Apostle Paul writes “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom”18.

In next hymn (Idiomelon), it is said that:

16 Hebr. 2, 14-15, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

17 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Homily of Hebrews, 5.2, PG 63, 47B-C. Trans. by Frederic Gardiner, From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14. Ed. by Philip Schaff, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/240205.htm.

18 Rom. 8, 21, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

21

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace! Today Bethlehem receives Him Who reigns forever with the Father. Today angels glorify the newborn babe in hymns worthy of God: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”.

The hymn starts and finishes with the same phrase from the gospel of Luke: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men of His will”19. With the phrase “Glory to God in the highest” is underlined that the glory of God is the result of His love, to save man from sin and death. The devil threw man and dragged him into sin, hatred, carnage, wars, sorrow, despair and nihilism. Hatred, malice and the deception of lies, were trying to prevail. The birth of Jesus Christ marked the end of the darkness of falsehood and the decay of sin. The Son of God became man and was born to reveal the truth and the light of God and to lift up the sins of all sinful people, in order to set free people. God’s love was revealed: “For God so loved the world, which he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”20.

Then, the phrase “Peace on Earth” shows God’s will and gift which is peace. From the moment Jesus Christ was born as total man on earth, remaining total God, peace came in the world. Christ himself did not just speak of peace, but gave peace: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you”21.

Generally, this angelic hymn proclaimed the good will of God to men, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things”22 and “recapitulate all things in Christ”23, in the Incarnate and the enfleshed Word of God, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead

19 Lk. 2, 14, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

20 Jn 3, 16, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

21 Jn. 14, 27, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

22 Col. 1, 20, transl. New International Version (NIV).

23 Eph. 1, 10, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

Eirini

ARTEMI

22

bodily”24, “and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority”25 and “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power”26 in the body of Him of the Church in which “He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence”27.

The verse “Who reigns forever with the Father” shows the coeternity of God Son with God Father. On the other hand, the tense that is used in this hymn is present because the birth of Christ as a real event of the Lord should be in present tense because Christ as God is always present in the Church.

In the Sessional Hymn (tone 8) is written:

“Calling the magi by a star, Heaven brought the first fruits of the Gentiles to You, A babe lying in the manger: They were amazed to see neither scepter nor throne, but only utter poverty. For what is meaner than a cave, what is more humble than swaddling clothes? Yet there shone forth the wealth of Your divinity: glory to You, O Lord!”.

The hymn refers again to the Magi and to the nature. All these bring presents to God. With the word “utter poverty” isn’t meant only the place that Christ was born and the clothes that He wore, but metaphorically this verse reminds us the verse of the Second Epistle to Corinthians: “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich”28.

24 Col. 2, 9, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

25 Col. 2, 10, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

26 Eph. 1, 19, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

27 Col. 1, 18, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

28 2 Cor. 8, 9, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

23

The next hymn (Kontakion) in the Matins of the day of Christ’s Nativity is written by Romanos the Melodist: “Today the Virgin gives birth to the Supersubstantial One, and the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable One! Angels, with shepherds, glorify Him! The wise men journey with the star! Since for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child!”

In this hymn, Romanos the Melodist expresses the theology of the Incarnation of the World into four verses: “the Virgin gives birth”, “the transcendent (Supersubstantial) One”, “unapproachable One”, “Since for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child”. There is the summary of the Christology of Cyril of Alexandria. The Second Person of the Trinity is hyperousios (the transcendent One). He is the unapproachable One and the eternal God. In this hymn, the christological importance of the Virgin birth cannot be underestimated, because Mary’s virginity is a sign of her Son’s uniqueness. Andrew Plishka based on the theological analysis of Kallistos Ware29 about the connection between Virgin Birth and the Uniqueness of Christ explains that this “points out three ways in which this is true. The fact that Jesus had no earthly father points beyond his situation within time and space to his heavenly origin. Christ is within history yet above it, immanent yet transcendent. Secondly, the virginal conception by Mary underscores the divine initiative in the plan of redemption. Finally, Jesus’ birth from a virgin mother points to his eternal pre-existence, for a child conceived and born in the usual human manner is a new person. Jesus Christ is not a new person, but the second person of the Trinity, who has “become” something which he was not, who now lives as a human30 as well as God”31.

29 Kallistos WARE, The Orthodox Way, Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980, p. 101.

30 Joseph RATZINGER, Introduction to Christianity, New York: Seabury, 1979, p. 208: “the Christian belief in the divine Sonship of Jesus does not hinge on the fact that he had no human father-that his divinity would not be affected if he were the product of a normal human marriage, This is because his Sonship is an ontological reality, not a biological one”.

Eirini

ARTEMI

24

In this hymn, as we referred there is the Christology of Cyril of Alexandria and it encapsulates the Christological message of the feast of the Nativity. The incarnation of the eternal, inapproachable and transcendent Word was the way for the whole human race’s salvation32. The question is why Romanos used the characterization Virgin instead of Theotokos. We cannot say that there is a specific case, the only thing that we could underline is that with the term “Virgin”, Romanos points out that the birth of Christ became without the participation of any man. Mary gave birth but remained a virgin. Through her womb, the Supersubstantial became total man and remained total God. As God rules the Universe but in earth, a cave, a humble place became the place for His birth. This kontakion transfers us in heaven and at the same time on earth. Angles with shepherds say hymns and glorify God and the real Wise Men recognize that something important the heavenly star shows to them. The new born Child is the incarnate eternal God who was born for the salvation of human mankind, “For our sakes, God, Who is before all the ages, is born a little Child”.

Romanos continues and says in the next part of his kontakion:

“Bethlehem has opened Eden: come, let us see! We have found joy hidden! Come, let us take possession of the paradise within the cave. There the unwatered stem has appeared, from which forgiveness blossoms forth! There the undug well is found from which David longed to drink of old! There the Virgin has borne a child and at once the thirst of Adam and David is made to cease. Therefore let us hasten to this place where for our sake the Eternal God was born as a little child!”.

Through the connection of Eden and Bethlehem Romanos present the birth of Jesus Christ, the enfleshed God as an invitation

31 Andrew PLISHKA, Christology and the Marian Kontakia of Saint Romanos the Melodist, Master’s theses (Loyola University Chicago, 1983), p. 46 (on-line: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/3386).

32 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, De incarnatione Unigenitii (Sources Chrétiennes 97), 68, p. 131-144 (= PG 75, 1196C-D).

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

25

to any man, who wants in order to re-enter in paradise since the humankind is deified by Christ’s participation in human nature33. In poetic symbolism the purity of Mary’s womb is likened with the inner place of the cave, the unwatered stem, the undug well. By this way Romanos underlines the paradoxical message of the birth of Christ34. The significant element is that Romanos doesn’t focus on the person of Christ but mainly on the person of the Holy Virgin Mother. She is the one who dominates the context of the hymn.

The next hymn is written by Andrew of Jerusalem, later Andrew of Crete, and has four stanzas:

“Celebrate, O righteous; rejoice greatly, O heavens; dance for joy, mountains, for Christ is born; and like a cherubim the Virgin makes a throne, carrying at her bosom God the Word made flesh. Shepherds glorify the new-born Child, Magi offer the Master gifts. Angels sing praises saying: Lord past understanding, glory to You!.

It was the good pleasure of the Father: the Word became flesh, and the Virgin bore God made man. A star spreads abroad the tidings: The Magi worship, the shepherds stand amazed and the creation is filled with the mighty joy!

Virgin Theotokos, you have borne the Savior and have overthrown the curse of Eve. For you have become the mother of Him in Whom the Father was well pleased, and have carried at your bosom God the incarnate Word. We cannot fathom the mystery: but we all glorify it by faith alone, and crying out with you we say: Lord past all understanding, glory to You!

Come, let us sing the praises of the mother of the Savior, who after bearing child still remained virgin. Rejoice, living City of the King in which Christ has dwelt, bringing to pass our salvation. With Gabriel we sing your praises; with the shepherds we glorify you, crying: Theotokos, intercede for our salvation with Him Who took flesh from you!”.

33 Mary CUNNINGHAM, “Eastern Orthodoxy”, ch. 11. in Timothey LARSEN (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Christmas, in online (October 2020), p. 126-140 (în mod special p. 130).

34 Ibidem.

Eirini

ARTEMI

26

In these hymns Andrew of Jerusalem praise the significant role of Theotokos to Christ’s incarnation. The title “Theotokos” is used in order to underline to summarize the Christology of Cyril of Alexandria and general the theology of the Church for Theotokos. He ventured to call the holy Virgin Theotokos35, not as if the nature of the Word or his divinity had its beginning from the holy Virgin, but because of her was born that holy body with a rational soul, to which the Word, being personally united, is said to be born according to the flesh’36. Christ became perfect man and remained perfect God, the two natures being brought together in a true union, there was of both one Christ and one Son; for the difference of the natures was not taken away by the union, but rather the divinity and the humanity make perfect for us the one Lord37.

Andrew of Jerusalem/ of Crete refers indirectly to the Holy Virgin Mother as the One who “has overthrown the curse of Eve”. Also, he argues that the mystery of Incarnation of Logos cannot be searched by logic but only with the faith. The verse “We cannot fathom the mystery” summarizes the theology of St. Andrew about the supernatural Mystery of the Economy of Salvation that had been hidden from ages and from generations38. So the mystery of Incarnation is “supernaturally, beyond logic, beyond any words”39. Andrew’s hymn refers to the person of the Holy Virgin Mother the Logos more than the other hymns of the matins of Nativity of Christ and continuously underlines that Logos was born of Her, for the sake of the redemption, salvation and deification of humankind40.

35 ANDREW OF JERUSALEM/ OF CRETE, On the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Mother, 3, PG 97, 856C.

36 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, Epist. 1 Ad Nestorium, PG 77, 45C.

37 E. ARTEMI, “Cyril of Alexandria's critique of the term Theotokos...”, p. 1-16. Available from: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid= S101587582012000200001&lng=en&nrm=iso (cited 26/2/2021).

38 Col. 1, 16, transl. in English by New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).

39 ANDREW OF JERUSALEM/ OF CRETE, On the dormition of the Holy Virgin Mary, 2, 13, PG 97, 1077B. IDEM, On the nativity of the Holy Virgin Mary, 1, PG 97, 808B, 809B.

40 Ibidem, 1, PG 97, 813D, 814A; IDEM, On the Holy Nativity, 4, PG 97, 864 C.

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

27

God is the creator and preserver of the universe, so does the entire universe in heaven and in earth have an active part in the happiness of the glory for Christ’s nativity. By their hymns, Andrew, Romanos and the other writers try to show the reconciliation between Man and the Universe through the birth of Christ. According to the Bible, in the beginning the relationship between God and man was harmonious. It was broken as a result of a seemingly innocent temptation, but the consequences of this act have proved to be terrible. Man’s attempts to restore harmony remained powerless, thus God himself had to interfere. The task of the incarnate God, Jesus Christ, was to conquer death and to restore man’s status in harmony with God – the universe. Therefore the birth of Christ was a necessary condition for the reconciliation between man and God. For this reason, Angels, Magi, Shepherds, stars, animals and the cave worship the Incarnate Christ as an action.

In the following hymn of Germanus, possibly the Bishop of Constantinople in 8th century, the hymnographer says:

“When it was time for Your coming on earth, the first taxation of the world was held; and then You made ready to enroll the names of all who believed in Your birth. For this cause Caesar published such a decree, since Your timeless and eternal Kingdom was newly made manifest. Therefore as we pay our earthly tribute money, we offer You, also, the wealth of our Orthodox faith, O God and Savior of our souls!”.

He means that we orthodox people praise the Lord for the enrichment of Orthodox Theology, coming from the incarnation of the Word of God. And so we can boast of the enrichment of the Theology of the Fathers of the Church, of the Theology of icons, of art, of the general tradition of the Church.

The last hymn, the hymn of John the monk argues that:

“Today Christ is born of the Virgin in Bethlehem! Today He Who knows no beginning begins to be; today is the Word made flesh! The powers of heaven greatly rejoice, and the earth with mankind makes glad. The Magi offer gifts, the shepherds

Eirini

ARTEMI

28

proclaim the marvel, and we cry aloud without ceasing: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of His will!”.

Once again we see the Church through this Hymn to call the faithful to experience the birth of the Incarnate Logos as a living reality of today. Using the verbs in present tense, the writer of the hymn deletes the boarders of the time and place for the historic event of Christ’s birth and enters all of us in the participation of the eternal present of the reconciliation of God with man.

Conclusions

The portrayal of the Birth of Christ is based on the Bible's witness and on the tradition of the Church, as summarized in the hymn of that day: “On this day, the Virgin begets the hypersubstantial One, and the earth offers up a cavern for the unapproachable One. Angels sing in glorification, together with shepherds. The Magi travel onward, accompanying a star. For our sakes, therefore, a new Child was born: the timeless God”. The question that exists in believers’ mind is why it is used the present tense for the historic event of the Nativity of Christ which took place once before 2021 and more years41 instead of the past tense.

Saint Nicodemus of Mount Athos gives us the answer, emphasizing that orators tend to utter the past in the present tense, to show them as present in the eyes of the listeners and then to make them more spectators than listeners42.Time within the Church is relativized, abolished and all the past become present, so that the faithful can take part in experience with his mind, as if they are taking moment at this very moment. The chronicle becomes timeless, eternal

41 Nobody really knows exactly when Jesus was born. Some scholars think that he was born between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C., based partly on the biblical story of Herod the Great. Cf. John P. MEIER, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, vol. 1 (Anchor Bible Reference Library 1991), p. 373-433.

42 NIKODEMOS HAGIORITIS, Εορτοδρόμιον ήτοι ερμηνεία εις τούς ασματικούς κανόνας των Δεσποτικών και Θεομητορικών εορτών, τ. Α΄, Thessaloniki, Orthodox Kipseli, 1987, p. 152.

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

29

and idiotic. And not only the past becomes present, but also future. This is strange! How does a future event, which we do not know and has not yet taken place, be present? It is this abolition and relativization of time? The historical event becomes timeless, eternal and idiotic. And not only the past becomes present, but also the future. Also, in the hymns, the person of the Holy Virgin Mother is honored because She is the New Eve. She became the bridge between man and God. In her womb, the mystery of Incarnation took place.

____________ ___________

Bibliography

Sources

1. ANDREW OF JERUSALEM/ CRETE, On the dormition of the Holy Virgin Mary, PG 97, 806-1332

2. ANDREW OF JERUSALEM/ CRETE, On the nativity of the Holy Virgin Mary, 1, PG 97, 808-1332.

3. AMBROSE OF MILAN, Concerning Virginity, trans. by H. de Romestin, E. de Romestin and H.T.F. Duckworth (From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 10), ed. by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Buffalo, NY, Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896; Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34073.htm

4. ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, Ηomily on the Nativity of Christ, https://www.oca.org/holy-synod/statements/his-beatitude-metropolitan-tikhon/nativity-2012

5. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Stromata, 1-4, Athens 1999.

6. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, Third letter to Nestorius, PG 77, 106C-121D.

7. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, De incarnatione Unigenitii (Sources Chrétiennes 97), Paris, Editions du Cerf, 1964 (= PG 75, 1190-1254)

8. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, To the birthday of our Salvator, Jesus Christ, PG 49, 347-362

9. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Ηomily on the Nativity of Christ, PG 56, 385-397.

Eirini

ARTEMI

30

10. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Homily of Hebrews, trans. by Frederic Gardiner (From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14), Ed. by Philip Schaff, Buffalo, NY, Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/240205.htm

11. MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR, Two Hundred Chapters on Theology, PG 90, 1083-1462

12. NIKODEMOS HAGIORITIS, Εορτοδρόμιον ήτοι ερμηνεία εις τούς ασματικούς κανόνας των Δεσποτικών και Θεομητορικών εορτών, τ. Α΄, (Thessaloniki: Orthodox Kipseli, 1987)

13. ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA, Commentary on Matthew.

14. The Hymns of the Matins of the Nativity of Christ, Athens, Apostoliki Diakonia, 2000.

Secondary Bibliography

15. ARTEMI, E.,“Cyril of Alexandria’s critique of the term Theotokos by Nestorius Constantinople”, in Acta Theolοgica, 2 (2012), p. 1-16. Available from: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script= sci_arttext&pid=S1015-87582012000200001&lng=en&nrm=iso [cited 26/2/2021].

16. IDEM/, TEREZIS, Christos “The mystical theology as a path of man for the divine Knowledge in the writings of Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor”, in De Medio Aevo, 13 (2019), p. 153-176.

17. CONYBEARE, F. C. “The History of Christmas”, in The American Journal of Theology, 3 (1899), p. 1-21.

18. CULLMAN, Oscar, “The Origin of Christmas”, in O. CULLMAN, The Early Church, A.J.B. Higgens (eds), London, SCM Press, 1956, p. 21-36.

19. CUNNINGHAM, Mary, “Eastern Orthodoxy”, in Timothey LARSEN (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Christmas, in online (October 2020), p. 126-140.

20. KELLY, Joseph F. “The Birth of Christmas”, Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University (2011), p. 11-18, https://www.baylor. edu/content/services/document.php/159119.pdf,

Hymns of Matins of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

in the Greek Orthodox Church

31

21. MEIER, John P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, v. 1 (Anchor Bible Reference Library 1991), p. 373-433.

22. PLISHKA, Andrew, Christology and the Marian Kontakia of Saint Romanos the Melodist, Master’s theses, Loyola University Chicago, 1983, https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/3386

23. RATZINGER, Joseph, Introduction to Christianity, New York, Seabury, 1979.

24. WARE, Kallistos, The Orthodox Way, Crestwood, N.Y., St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980.

Γιατί ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση συνέβη τὸ 1821 καὶ ὄχι νωρίτερα; Μερικὲς σκέψεις γιὰ τὴν ἔναρξη τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς Ἐπανάστασης

Ἔκδοση Ἱερᾶς Μητροπόλεως Τριμυθοῦντος

Ἰδάλιο - Κύπρος 2021

ΑΦΙΕΡΩΜΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ

ΕΠΙ Τῌ ΕΥΚΑΙΡΙᾼ ΤΗΣ ΣΥΜΠΛΗΡΩΣΗΣ 200 ΕΤΩΝ

ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΕΝΑΡΞΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΩΝΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΘΝΟΥΣ

ΚΑΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΥΡΚΩΝ

(1821-2021)

Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ

ΑΦΙΕΡΩΜΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ

ΕΠΙ Τῌ ΕΥΚΑΙΡΙᾼ ΤΗΣ ΣΥΜΠΛΗΡΩΣΗΣ 200 ΕΤΩΝ

ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΕΝΑΡΞΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΩΝΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΘΝΟΥΣ

ΚΑΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΥΡΚΩΝ

(1821-2021)

Ἔκδοση Ἱερᾶς Μητροπόλεως Τριμυθοῦντος

Ἰδάλιο - Κύπρος 2021

Ἐπιμέλεια:

Ἀνδρέας Ζαχαρίου – Ματθαῖος Ματθαίου

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ

Ἀφιερωματικὸς Τόμος

ἐπὶ τῇ εὐκαιρίᾳ τῆς συμπλήρωσης 200 ἐτῶν ἀπὸ τὴν ἔναρξη

τοῦ Ἀγώνα τοῦ Ἔθνους κατὰ τῶν Τούρκων

(1821-2021)

ISBN: 978-9925-7822-0-8

Copyright

Ἱερὰ Μητρόπολις Τριμυθοῦντος

Τ.Θ. 11001, 2550 Ἰδάλιον

Τηλ.: +357-22527000, Fax: +357-22526363

E-mail: info@imtrimythountos.org.cy

Ἱστοσελίδα: www.imtrimythountos.org.cy

Γενικὴ ἐπιμέλεια - Ἐποπτεία Τόμου

Α. Ζαχαριου

Ἐπίκουρος Καθηγητὴς Θεολογικῆς Σχολῆς

Πανεπιστημίου Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, Τιφλίδα

Διόρθωση δοκιμίων - Ἐπιμέλεια κειμένων

Μ. Ματθαιου

Φιλόλογος

5

ΠΕΡΙΕΧΟΜΕΝΑ

ΠΡΟΛΟΓΟΣ ....................................................................... 7

ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΓΡΑΦΙΕΣ ......................................................... 8

ΧΑΙΡΕΤΙΣΜΟΙ

Χαιρετισμὸς Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Νέας Ἰουστινιανῆς καὶ

πάσης Κύπρου κ.κ. Χρυσοστόμου Β΄.................................11

Χαιρετισμὸς Μητροπολίτου Κερκύρας, Παξῶν καὶ Δι-

αποντίων Νήσων κ. Νεκταρίου......................................... 15

Χαιρετισμὸς Μητροπολίτη Τριμυθοῦντος καὶ Προέ-

δρου Λευκάρων κ. Βαρνάβα..............................................17

ΜΕΛΕΤΕΣ

Εἰρήνης Ἀβρ. Ἀρτέμη,

Γιατί ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση συνέβη τὸ 1821 καὶ ὄχι

νωρίτερα; Μερικὲς σκέψεις γιὰ τὴν ἔναρξη τῆς Ἑλλη-

νικῆς Ἐπανάστασης ......................................................... 21

Χριστόδουλου Β. Βασιλειάδη,

Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης. Ὁ γέρος τοῦ Μωριᾶ .............. 29

Κωστῆ Ἰω. Κοκκινόφτα,

Κύπριοι ἀγωνιστὲς στὴν Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση ............ 43

Περιεχόμενα

6

Ἀθηνᾶς Ν. Κονταλῆ,

Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση καὶ Μοναστήρια. Τὸ παρά-

δειγμα τῆς Ἱερᾶς Μονῆς Φενεοῦ Κορινθίας .................... 61

Γεώργιου Μ. Κουννούσιη,

Τὸ κοινοτικὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ κοινωνικὸ ἔργο τῶν Ὀρθο-

δόξων τὴν περίοδο τῆς Τουρκοκρατίας ........................... 81

Πέτρου Ἀθ. Παναγιωτόπουλου,

Ἡ ἔνοπλη συμμετοχὴ τοῦ Κλήρου στὸν Ἀγῶνα τῆς

Ἐθνεγερσίας .................................................................... 99

Γιάννη Ἀ. Παπαγεωργίου,

Ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση τοῦ 1821 κάτω ἀπὸ τὸ πρῖ-

σμα τῶν γεωπολιτικῶν συμφερόντων τῆς Βρετανικῆς

Αὐτοκρατορίας ...............................................................141

Φαίδωνος Θ. Παπαδόπουλου,

Ἐξισλαμισμοὶ καὶ λινοβαμβακισμὸς στὴν περιφέρεια

τῆς Μητρόπολης Τριμυθοῦντος ...................................... 155

Γεώργιου Ἰω. Στούκη,

Νεομάρτυρες: Ἀγωνιστὲς τῆς πίστης καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερί-

ας ....................................................................................175

Ἀγγελικῆς Δ. Χατζηιωάννου,

Ὁ ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ε΄ (1746-1821) καὶ ἡ στάση του

ἀπέναντι στὴν Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση .......................... 205

Βιβλιοπαρουσιάσεις ....................................................... 227

21

Γιατί ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση

συνέβη τὸ 1821 καὶ ὄχι νωρίτερα;

Μερικὲς σκέψεις γιὰ τὴν ἔναρξη τῆς

Ἑλληνικῆς Ἐπανάστασης

Δρ. Εἰρήνης Ἀβρ. Ἀρτέμη

Συνεργαζόμενο Ἐπιστημονικὸ Προσωπικό, ΕΑΠ

Σύντομη ἱστορικὴ ἀναδρομὴ στὴν περίοδο τῆς Τουρ-

κοκρατίας

Ὁ Ἑλληνισμὸς ἐπὶ 400 χρόνια γνώρισε τὴν τουρκικὴ κα-

τάκτηση καὶ μαζί της ὅλα τὰ δεινὰ ποὺ ἐπέβαλλαν οἱ

κατακτητὲς στὸν ὑπόδουλο ἑλληνικὸ χριστιανικὸ πληθυσμό.

Στὶς 29 Μαΐου τὸ 1453 ἡ ἅλωση τῆς Κωνσταντινούπολης, τῆς

Ἑπτάλοφης, εἶναι πιὰ γεγονός. Σιγὰ – σιγὰ ὅλες οἱ περιοχὲς

τῆς Βυζαντινῆς Αὐτοκρατορίας πέφτουν στὰ χέρια τῶν Τούρ-

κων. Φυσικὰ εἶναι καὶ κάποιες ποὺ βρίσκονται ἤδη ἀπὸ τὸ

1204, γιὰ μεγαλύτερο ἢ μικρότερο χρονικὸ διάστημα, στὴν

κυριαρχία τῶν Λατίνων καὶ κυρίως τῶν Βενετῶν, τῶν Γενου-

ατῶν καὶ τῶν Φράγκων. Τὸ «ἑάλω ἡ Πόλις» σήμανε, λοιπόν,

τὴν ὑποδούλωση τοῦ ἑλληνικοῦ κόσμου σὲ ξένους ἀλλόπιστους

κυριάρχους γιὰ περισσότερους ἀπὸ τέσσερεις αἰῶνες. Μέσα

σὲ δύσκολες συνθῆκες, τὸ ἑλληνικὸ Ἔθνος στηρίχθηκε κυρίως

στὴν ὀρθόδοξη πίστη καὶ τὴν ἑλληνικὴ γλῶσσα. Διατήρησε,

Εἰρήνης Ἀβρ. Ἀρτέμη

22

ἔτσι, τὴν ἰδιαιτερό-

τητά του καὶ διεκ-

δίκησε μὲ βήματα

σταθερὰ τὴν ἐλευ-

θερία του μὲ τὴ με-

γάλη Ἐπανάσταση

τῆς Παλιγγενεσίας

τοῦ 18211.

Στὴν περίοδο

τῆς Τουρκοκρατίας

οἱ Ἕλληνες εἶχαν

νὰ ἀντιμετωπίσουν

τὸ παιδομάζωμα.

Ὁ Ἀσιάτης δυνά-

στης πίστευε πὼς

ὅ,τι εἶχε κατακτή-

σει τοῦ ἀνῆκε. Ἔτσι σχεδὸν πάντα ἔπαιρνε ὅ,τι ἤθελε ἀπὸ

τὸν Ἕλληνα Χριστιανὸ ραγιᾶ. Μία εἰκόνα τῆς τραγικῆς ζωῆς

τῶν Χριστιανῶν ραγιάδων τῆς πρώιμης Τουρκοκρατίας μᾶς

δίνει ὁ ἐκπρόσωπος τοῦ δόγη τῆς Βενετίας, κάτι σὰν πρέσβης

στὴν Κωνσταντινούπολη, ὁ ὁποῖος γράφει στὸν δόγη του στὶς

4 Ἀπριλίου 1579 τὰ ἑξῆς: «…οἱ Χριστιανοὶ ὑπήκοοι Ὀθω-

μανοὶ τόσον ἐκείνης τῆς χώρας (τῆς Πελοποννήσου), ὅσον

καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, εὑρίσκονται τώρα εἰς ἐσχάτην ἀπόγνωσιν

καὶ ἀνέκφραστον λύπην, διότι εἰς διάστημα εἴκοσι πέντε

ἡμερῶν ὑπέστησαν ὅλας αὐτὰς τὰς ἀνυποφόρους ἐπιβα-

ρύνσεις, ἤτοι νὰ καταβάλλουν τὸ συνηθισμένον “χαράτσι”,

νὰ πληρώσουν τὴν ἀγγαρείαν, ποὺ ὀνομάζεται “ἀβαρίτς”,

διὰ τὸν ἐξοπλισμὸν τῶν γαλερῶν, νὰ δώσουν τὰ παιδιά

των, ἵνα τὰ κάμουν ἀζαμογλάνια (παιδομάζωμα), νὰ δώ-

1. Κ. Παπαρρηγόπουλου, Ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ Ἔθνους, τόμ. ΙΗ΄,

ἔκδ. National Geographic, Ἀθήνα 2005, σσ. 10-15.

Σημαία τοῦ ναύαρχου Ἀνδρέα Μιαούλη,

μὲ ὀκτὼ ὁριζόντιες γραμμὲς καὶ κυανὸ

σταυρό. Συλλογὴ Ἐθνικοῦ

Ἱστορικοῦ Μουσείου

23

Γιατί ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση συνέβη τὸ 1821 καὶ ὄχι νωρίτερα;

σουν ἀδιακρίτως κατοικίαν καὶ τροφὴν εἰς τοὺς σπαχῆδες

ποὺ συναθροίζονται διὰ τὸν κατὰ τῆς Περσίας πόλεμον,

καὶ τέλος νὰ ἀπογυμνωθοῦν ἀπὸ τοὺς σπαχῆδες καὶ ἀπὸ

τὸ ὀλίγον ἐκεῖνο ποὺ τοὺς ἀπέμεινεν εἰς τὰ χωρία των, τὰ

ὁποῖα εἶναι πτωχὰ καὶ πληρώνουν τοὺς σπαχῆδες οἱ κάτοι-

κοι καὶ μὲ τὸ αἷμα των ἀκόμη!»2.

Τὰ φοβερότερα ἴσως δεινὰ τοῦ σκλαβωμένου ραγιᾶ θὰ

μποροῦσαν νὰ χαρακτηριστοῦν τὸ παιδομάζωμα καὶ ὁ ἐξι-

σλαμισμός. Μὲ τὸ πρῶτο οἱ ραγιάδες ἔχαναν τὰ παιδιά τους,

ἀφοῦ ἀρχικὰ διάλεγαν ἀγόρια ἕξι ἢ ἑπτὰ ἐτῶν, κατόπιν ὅμως

τὰ ἀγόρια ποὺ ἁρπάζονταν ἦταν ἡλικίας δέκα ἕως δεκαπέντε

ἐτῶν3. Τὰ παιδιὰ αὐτὰ ἐπάνδρωναν τὰ τάγματα τῶν Γενίτσα-

ρων4 καὶ τὸν ἀνώτατο διοικητικὸ μηχανισμὸ τῆς Αὐτοκρατο-

ρίας. Ὁ θεσμὸς αὐτὸς παράκμασε ἤδη ἀπὸ τὶς ἀρχὲς τοῦ 18ου

αἰ. Μία ἄλλη πληγὴ γιὰ τοὺς ραγιάδες, ὅπως προαναφέρθηκε,

ἀποτελοῦσε ὁ ἐξισλαμισμὸς ποὺ εἴτε γινόταν λόγῳ ἀφόρη-

των καταπιέσεων εἴτε ἐξαιτίας τῶν μεγάλων προνομίων ποὺ

λάμβαναν οἱ προσήλυτοι, οἱ ὁποῖοι πολλὲς φορὲς ἔφταναν νὰ

γίνουν μέχρι βεζίρηδες καὶ πασάδες ἀκόμη5: «Μέσῳ τῆς ἐξω-

μοσίας ὁ βαθιὰ πληγωμένος καὶ ἀπογοητευμένος ραγιᾶς

ἔκανε τὸ ἀπεγνωσμένο βῆμα τῆς ἀλλαξοπιστίας, γιὰ νὰ

λυτρωθεῖ ἀπὸ τὰ δεινὰ τοῦ ζυγοῦ τῆς δουλείας καὶ νὰ κα-

λυτερεύσει τοὺς ὅρους τῆς ζωῆς του»6.

2. Ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ Ἔθνους – Ὁ Ἑλληνισμὸς ὑπὸ ξένη κυριαρ-

χία (1453-1669), Τουρκοκρατία – Λατινοκρατία, τόμ. Ι΄, ἔκδ. Ἐκδοτικὴ

Ἀθηνῶν, Ἀθήνα 2009, σ. 65.

3. Κ. Παπαρρηγόπουλου, Ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ Ἔθνους, τόμ. ΙΗ΄,

σ. 18.

4. Στὸ ἴδιο, σσ. 18-22.

5. Στὸ ἴδιο.

6. Ἀθ. Δέμου, «Ἡ ζωὴ τῶν Ἑλλήνων – ραγιάδων στὰ χρόνια τῆς Τουρ-

κοκρατίας», Πρωινὸς Λόγος, 23 Μαΐου 2014.

Εἰρήνης Ἀβρ. Ἀρτέμη

24

Τέλος, στὴν περίοδο αὐτῶν τῶν σκοτεινῶν χρόνων οἱ ὑπό-

δουλοι Ἕλληνες εἶχαν νὰ ὑποστοῦν τὸ χαράτσι7, τὸν κεφαλικὸ

φόρο8, τὴν ἀγγαρεία γιὰ τὸν ἐξοπλισμὸ τῶν γαλερῶν, ἐνῶ

ἕνα σημαντικὸ μέρος τῶν μορφωμένων Ἑλλήνων μετανάστευ-

αν σὲ Φράγκικες περιοχές. Χαρακτηριστικὴ περίπτωση εἶναι

ἐκείνη τῶν Φαναριωτῶν ποὺ μεταλαμπάδευσαν τὶς γνώσεις

τους σὲ περιοχὲς τῆς Εὐρώπης ποὺ κατέφυγαν, συμβάλλοντας

ἔτσι σημαντικὰ στὴν ἀνάπτυξη τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπιστη-

μῶν στὶς χῶρες αὐτές.

Ὅλα τὰ παραπάνω χαλύβδωσαν τὴ θέληση τῶν ὑπόδου-

λων γιὰ ἐλευθερία καὶ ὅταν οἱ συνθῆκες ὡρίμασαν διεκδίκη-

σαν τὴν ἐλευθερία τους, τὴν ἐθνικὴ ταυτότητά τους γιὰ τοὺς

ἴδιους καὶ ἕνα ἐλεύθερο Κράτος.

7. Τὸ χαράτσι βασίστηκε σὲ ἀρχὴ τοῦ Κορανίου καὶ ἡ καταβολή του

συμβόλιζε τὴν ὑποταγὴ τῶν ἀπίστων, ἐξαγοράζοντας τὴν ἀνεκτικότητα

τοῦ κράτους. Ὡς βασικὸς τακτικὸς φόρος, εἶχε διττὸ χαρακτῆρα. Ἀπὸ τὴ

μία ἦταν φόρος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς (haraci muvazzaf) καὶ ἀπὸ τὴν ἄλλη φόρος

ἐπὶ τοῦ εἰσοδήματος (haraci mukaseme). Ὁ πρῶτος ἦταν πάγιος ἐτήσιος

φόρος ποὺ βάρυνε τὴ γῆ καὶ ὄχι τὴν παραγωγή. Ἦταν δηλαδὴ ἔγγειος

φόρος.

8. Ὁ cizye ἢ κεφαλικὸς φόρος: Αὐτὸν τὸν φόρο τὸν κατέβαλλαν κάθε

χρόνο μόνο οἱ μὴ μουσουλμάνοι ὑγιεῖς ἄνδρες, οἱ ἱκανοὶ γιὰ ἐργασία, καὶ

προοριζόταν γιὰ εἰδικὸ τμῆμα τοῦ αὐτοκρατορικοῦ θησαυροφυλακίου. Τὸ

ποιοὶ ὅμως ἦταν ἱκανοὶ γιὰ ἐργασία ἐπαφίετο στὴ διάκριση τῶν εἰσπρα-

κτόρων ποὺ πάντα ἔδειχναν ἕναν ὑπερβάλλοντα ζῆλο, ὅσο ἡ ἀξιοσύνη

τους μετριόταν καὶ ἡ ἀμοιβή τους ἐξαρτιόταν ἀπὸ τὸ ποσὸ ποὺ θὰ προ-

ωθοῦσαν στὴν Κωνσταντινούπολη, στὸ σουλτανικὸ ταμεῖο. Ὁ κεφαλικὸς

φόρος εἶναι τὸ τίμημα ποὺ μὲ βάση τὸν ἱερὸ νόμο πλήρωναν οἱ «ἄπιστοι»

προκειμένου νὰ ἐξασφαλίζουν τὴ ζωή τους καὶ τὴν ἄδεια νὰ κατοικοῦν

στὴν ἐπικράτεια τοῦ Ἰσλάμ, διατηρώντας τὴ θρησκεία τους μὲ τὴν ἐγγύ-

ηση καὶ τὴν προστασία τοῦ Κράτους. Ἀπὸ τὴν πληρωμή του ἐξαιροῦνταν

οἱ γυναῖκες, τὰ ἄνηβα παιδιά, οἱ κληρικοὶ καὶ οἱ ἀνάπηροι καὶ ὅσοι ἀπα-

σχολοῦνταν σὲ κρατικὴ ὑπηρεσία. Φυσικὰ καὶ ὁποιοσδήποτε ἄλλος ποὺ

δὲν ἦταν μουσουλμάνος εἶχε τὴ δυνατότητα νὰ ἀπαλλαγεῖ ἀπὸ αὐτόν, ἂν

βέβαια ἀσπαζόταν τὸν Ἰσλαμισμό.

25

Γιατί ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση συνέβη τὸ 1821 καὶ ὄχι νωρίτερα;

Τὸ ξέσπασμα τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς Ἐπανάστασης τὸ 1821

Στὴν Εὐρώπη τοὺς δύο τελευταίους αἰῶνες ἐκτυλίσσο-

νταν σπουδαῖες κοινωνικὲς καὶ πολιτικὲς ἀνακατατάξεις.

Ἤδη στὴν Ἀγγλία τὸν 17ο καὶ 18ο αἰ. κυρίαρχο ρόλο ἀρχίζει νὰ

παίζει τὸ κεφάλαιο καὶ ἡ συσσώρευσή του στὰ μέλη τῆς νέας

ἀστικῆς τάξης9. Στὰ τέλη τοῦ 18ου αἰ. οἱ κοινωνικὲς καὶ πο-

λιτικὲς ἐντάσεις ἐντείνονται μὲ ἀποκορύφωμα τὸ ξέσπασμα

τὸ 1789 τῆς Γαλλικῆς Ἐπανάστασης. Ἐκτὸς ἀπὸ τὰ διάφορα

πολιτικὰ καθεστῶτα ποὺ ἄρχιζαν νὰ παρακμάζουν ἐκείνη τὴν

ἐποχή, καταλυτικὸ ρόλο εἶχαν καὶ οἱ ἰδέες τοῦ Διαφωτισμοῦ

ἢ Αἰῶνα τῶν Φώτων. Πρόκειται γιὰ τὴν οἰκονομική, κοινωνικὴ

καὶ γενικότερη ἰδεολογικὴ κρίση ποὺ ἔθετε σκοπὸ τὴ βελτί-

ωση τῆς ἀνθρώπινης κοινωνίας καὶ μιλοῦσε γιὰ ἰσότητα τῶν

πολιτῶν, ἰσονομία, ἀμφισβήτηση κάθε εἴδους αὐθεντίας καὶ

ἀνεξιθρησκία10.

Οἱ ἰδέες αὐτὲς βρῆκαν γόνιμο ἔδαφος καὶ στοὺς Ἕλληνες

μορφωμένους ποὺ ζοῦσαν ἐκείνη τὴν ἐποχὴ στὴν Εὐρώπη, σὲ

μερικοὺς κληρικούς, σὲ Φαναριῶτες, ἀστοὺς καὶ ἐμπόρους,

ἀλλὰ κυρίως στὸν Ρήγα Φεραῖο καὶ τὸν Ἀδαμάντιο Κοραῆ11.

Αὐτοὶ τὶς υἱοθέτησαν καὶ προσπάθησαν νὰ τὶς μεταδώσουν

στὸν ὑπόδουλο Ἑλληνισμὸ μέσῳ βιβλίων ποὺ τυπώνονταν

στὴ Λειψία, στὴ Βιέννη καὶ σὲ ἄλλες εὐρωπαϊκὲς πόλεις, μὲ

ἄνοιγμα σχολείων στὴν ὑπόδουλη πατρίδα καὶ συγχρόνως μὲ

φλογερὰ κηρύγματα. Ἔτσι πνευματικὰ ἄρχιζε ὁ Νεοελληνι-

κὸς Διαφωτισμὸς νὰ προετοιμάζει τὸ ἔδαφος γιὰ τὸν ἔνοπλο

ξεσηκωμὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων12.

9. Γ. Μαργαρίτη, Σπ. Μαρκέτου, Ν. Ροτζώκου, Κ. Μαυρέα, Ἑλληνικὴ

Ἱστορία – Νεότερη καὶ Σύγχρονη Ἑλληνικὴ Ἱστορία, Γ΄, ΕΑΠ, Πάτρα

1999, σ. 31.

10. Στὸ ἴδιο, σσ. 32, 30.

11. Στὸ ἴδιο, σ. 57.

12. Στὸ ἴδιο, σ. 195.

Εἰρήνης Ἀβρ. Ἀρτέμη

26

Στὴν ἐπανάσταση τῶν Ἑλλήνων βοήθησε πολιτικὰ καὶ

ἀπὸ τὴν ὑψηλὴ θέση ποὺ κατεῖχε τότε στὴ Ρωσία ὡς Ὑπουρ-

γὸς Ἐξωτερικῶν ὁ Ἰωάννης Καποδίστριας. Αὐτὸς κατόρθωσε

νὰ ἐμποδίσει τὴν καταστολὴ τῆς ἔνοπλης ἐπανάστασης τῶν

Ἑλλήνων στὰ διάφορα μέρη τῆς ὑποδουλωμένης Ἑλλάδας

ποὺ εἶχε ἀρχίσει νὰ ἐκδηλώνεται σὲ διάφορες χρονικὲς στιγ-

μές. Ἔτσι, ἐνῶ στὴ Βιέννη ἡ Ἱερὰ Συμμαχία Ἀγγλίας, Γαλ-

λίας, Πρωσίας, Ρωσίας καὶ Αὐστροουγγαρίας, στὸν ἀπόηχο

τῆς ἥττας τοῦ Ναπολέοντα τὸ 1815, ἀποφάσισε νὰ καταπνί-

ξει ἔνοπλα τὶς ἐπαναστάσεις στὸ Πεδεμόντιο καὶ στὴ Νάπο-

λη, ἄφησε τοὺς Ἕλληνες νὰ ἀντιμετωπισθοῦν μόνο ἀπὸ τοὺς

Ὀθωμανοὺς κατακτητές13.

Σημαντικὸ ρόλο εἶχε καὶ ἡ ἵδρυση τῆς Φιλικῆς Ἑταιρείας

ἕνα χρόνο πρίν, τὸ 1814. Ἐκεῖ στὴν Ὀδησσὸ δημιουργεῖται ἡ

Φιλικὴ Ἑταιρεία μὲ σκοπὸ τὴν πλήρη προετοιμασία τῆς Ἐπα-

νάστασης14. Ἔτσι οἱ συνθῆκες ὡρίμαζαν μέρα μὲ τὴ μέρα. Οἱ

προηγούμενες ἐπαναστάσεις, ὁ Διαφωτισμὸς μὲ τὶς ἰδέες του

περὶ ἐλευθερίας καὶ ἡ ἵδρυση τῆς Φιλικῆς Ἑταιρείας προε-

τοίμασαν κατάλληλα τὸ ἔδαφος γιὰ τὴν ἔναρξη τῆς μεγάλης

Ἐπανάστασης τὸ 1821.

Φυσικὰ ὑπάρχουν πολλὲς ἀντικρουόμενες συνθῆκες γιὰ

τὶς αἰτίες, οἱ ὁποῖες προκάλεσαν τὴν ἐξέγερση τῶν Ἑλλήνων

ἀκριβῶς στὴ συγκεκριμένη χρονικὴ στιγμή. Εἶχαν προηγηθεῖ

κάποιες ἐπαναστάσεις, ὅπως ἐκείνη τοῦ Λάμπρου Κατσώ-

νη, ποὺ εἶχαν προλειάνει τὸ ἔδαφος. Ἄλλοι ὑποστηρίζουν ὅτι

ἡ ἐξέγερση ξέσπασε μέσα σὲ βαθιὰ οἰκονομικὴ κρίση, ποὺ

ὑποβάθμιζε τὴ θέση τῶν Ἑλλήνων, κάνοντας τοὺς φτωχοὺς

ἄθλιους καὶ τοὺς πλούσιους πένητες. Παράλληλα ὑπῆρχε ἡ

ἄποψη ὅτι ἐπειδὴ οἱ Ἕλληνες πλούτιζαν καὶ μορφώνονταν

δὲν μποροῦσαν πιὰ νὰ ἀνεχτοῦν μὲ στωικότητα τὴν κατά-

13. Στὸ ἴδιο, σ. 58.

14. Στὸ ἴδιο, σσ. 58-60.

27

Γιατί ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ Ἐπανάσταση συνέβη τὸ 1821 καὶ ὄχι νωρίτερα;

κτησή τους ἀπὸ τοὺς Ὀθωμανούς. Ταυτόχρονα δημιουργεῖται

μία συμμαχία ὅλων τῶν πλούσιων Ἑλλήνων, ἐμπόρων, κα-

πεταναίων, Φαναριωτῶν, προυχόντων μὲ σκοπὸ νὰ ξεφύγουν

ἀπὸ τοὺς Τούρκους15. Ἐπιπλέον, οἱ Ἕλληνες μὲ τὴν ὕπαρξη

τῶν Κλεφτῶν καὶ τῶν Ἁρματολῶν εἶχαν ἤδη καλλιεργήσει τὴν

ἱκανότητα στὸν ἀνταρτοπόλεμο καὶ πολλοὶ ἀπὸ αὐτοὺς εἶχαν

ἀναπτύξει σπουδαῖες πολεμικὲς ἱκανότητες.

Ἕνας ἄλλος σημαντικὸς παράγων γιὰ τὸ ὅτι ἡ Ἐπανά-

σταση ἔγινε τὸ 1821 ἦταν τὸ ὅτι σπουδαῖοι Ἕλληνες σὲ πο-

λιτικὸ καὶ στρατιωτικὸ ἐπίπεδο βρέθηκαν νὰ κυριαρχοῦν στὸ

προσκήνιο τῆς συγκεκριμένης χρονικῆς στιγμῆς καὶ ποὺ πα-

ρόλες τὶς ἀδυναμίες τους καὶ τὰ πάθη τους πάνω ἀπὸ ὅλα

ἔβαλαν τὴν ἐλευθερία τῆς πατρίδας τους. Ἔτσι σπουδαῖο

ρόλο διεδραμάτισαν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ Ὑψηλάντη, Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ

Δημήτριος, ὁ Καποδίστριας, σὲ στρατιωτικὸ ἐπίπεδο, ὁ Κολο-

κοτρώνης, ἡ Μπουμπουλίνα, ὁ Καραϊσκάκης, ἡ Μαυρογένους,

ὁ Παπαφλέσσας, ὁ Λόρδος Βύρωνας, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Φιλέλληνες

ποὺ στήριξαν τὴν Ἐπανάσταση, καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ ἀνώνυμοι

καὶ ἐπώνυμοι ποὺ θυσίασαν τὴ ζωὴ καὶ τὴν περιουσία τους

γιὰ νὰ δοῦν τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐλεύθερη.

Ἐκτὸς ὅλων τῶν ἀνωτέρω σημαντικὸ ὑπῆρξε τὸ γεγονὸς

ὅτι οἱ Ἕλληνες σὲ ὅλα αὐτὰ τὰ χρόνια τῆς σκλαβιᾶς διατή-

ρησαν τὶς παραδόσεις τους, τὴ γλῶσσα τους καὶ τὴ θρησκεία

τους. Ἐὰν τὰ εἶχαν χάσει θὰ ἐξαφανίζονταν ἀπὸ τὸ προσκή-

νιο τῆς ἱστορίας, ὅπως τονίζει καὶ ὁ ἀρχαῖος Ἀθηναῖος ἱστορι-

κὸς Θουκυδίδης.

Συμπεράσματα

Ἡ πτώση τῆς Βασιλεύουσας τὸ 1453 ὑπῆρξε ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς

πιὸ ζοφερῆς περιόδου γιὰ τὸν Ἑλληνισμό. Σιγὰ – σιγά, ἐκτὸς

15. Στὸ ἴδιο, σσ. 60-61.

Εἰρήνης Ἀβρ. Ἀρτέμη

28

μερικῶν ἐξαιρέσεων, ὅλες οἱ περιοχὲς τῆς Βυζαντινῆς Αὐτο-

κρατορίας ποὺ ἀφοροῦσαν τὸν ἑλλαδικὸ χῶρο κατακτήθηκαν

ἀπὸ τοὺς Ὀθωμανούς. Οἱ Ὀθωμανοὶ ἔφεραν τὸν σκοταδισμὸ

στοὺς Ἕλληνες. Οἱ συνήθειές τους ἦταν ἐκείνη τὴν ἐποχὴ πολὺ

μακριὰ ἀπὸ τὸν πολιτισμὸ τόσο τῆς Βυζαντινῆς Αὐτοκρατο-

ρίας, ὅσο καὶ τῶν Εὐρωπαίων. Τὸ παιδομάζωμα, ὁ κεφαλικὸς

φόρος ἢ χαράτσι, ὁ ἐξισλαμισμὸς καὶ τόσα ἄλλα δεινὰ ἦταν

ἐκεῖνα ποὺ ταλάνιζαν τὸν ἑλληνικὸ πληθυσμό16. Μέσα στὴν

περίοδο τῆς τουρκικῆς κατάκτησης οἱ Ἕλληνες στηρίχτηκαν

στὴν Ἐκκλησία, τὴ θρησκεία τους, καὶ διατήρησαν τὴν πα-

ράδοση, τὴ γλῶσσα τους καὶ τὴν ἱστορία τους. Ἔτσι μέσα

τους καλλιεργοῦσαν τὸ ὄνειρο τῆς λευτεριᾶς. Οἱ καταστάσεις,

ἰδεολογικές, πολιτικὲς καὶ κοινωνικές, ἄρχισαν νὰ ἀλλάζουν

ἄρδην στὴν Εὐρώπη. Ἡ ἐπανάσταση τοῦ Καπιταλισμοῦ ποὺ

ἄρχιζε νὰ συντελεῖται σὲ διάφορες εὐρωπαϊκὲς χῶρες, ἡ Γαλ-

λικὴ Ἐπανάσταση, ὁ Διαφωτισμός, ὁ Νεοελληνικὸς Διαφωτι-

σμός, οἱ πρῶτες πολεμικὲς συγκρούσεις τῶν Ἑλλήνων μὲ τοὺς

Ὀθωμανοὺς ἄρχιζαν νὰ λειαίνουν τὸ ἔδαφος γιὰ τὴν ἐξέγερση

τῆς Παλιγγενεσίας τὸ 1821. Τέλος, οἱ σημαντικοὶ καὶ ἱκανοὶ

ἄνθρωποι σὲ στρατιωτικό, πολιτικὸ καὶ γενικότερα διπλωμα-

τικὸ ἐπίπεδο, ποὺ ὑπῆρξαν ἐκείνη τὴ στιγμὴ στὸ προσκήνιο

τῆς ἱστορίας, διαδραμάτισαν καταλυτικὸ ρόλο στὸ ξέσπασμα

τῆς Ἐπανάστασης τοῦ 1821.

16. Κ. Παπαρρηγόπουλου, Ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ Ἔθνους, τόμ. ΙΗ΄,

σσ. 10-15.

ISBN: 978-9925-7822-0-8