New Publications

 

«EIRMOS», Annual Scientific Yearbook•
Issue No.1, Year 1, 2004.

Published and in circulation is the 1st issue of the collective Volume “EIRMOS”, which “…..strives to comprise the first step in the expression and formulation of theological reflections and works of younger scientists. This volume will be publishing and circulating the scientific works of young theologians….. It will be written by young scientist theologians and will be directed to the broader reading public, and not exclusively to specialists. The raw material of the first volume will chiefly consist of approved dissertations and original studies..”

The first volume includes the following essays, in the following order :
1. Rev.Protopresbyter Demetrios J. Konstantelos, «The historical ecclesiastic significance of the 5th-6th Ecumenical Synod».
2. Rev.Protopresbyter Themistocles Christodoulou, «Benedictions for the deceased».
3. Thanasis N. Papathanasiou , «The transformations of the 108th Canon of the Carthagen Synod and the adventures of unhindered acceptance of Christianity».
4. Efthalia Rentetzi, Il Monastero di Hosios Lukas in Focide.
5. Constantine D. Goulas, «Saint Gregory of Nyssa’s teachings "Opposing Fate"».
6. Sotirios Despotis, «The course to Emmaus».
7. Constantine P. Papathanasiou, «Jesus and the Judeans in Saint John’s Gospel».

Dimensions 17 x 24, 565 pages.
Price 20 €.

 

 

"Minor Hieraticon", Vol. B΄ . The Divine Liturgy of Vasilios the Great.

 

In response to the need for publishing a handier Minor Hieraticon, the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece is currently circulating with the blessing of His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos the current edition as well as the 2 nd volume of the Hieraticon which includes Vespers, Matins and the Divine Liturgy of Vasilios the Great, taken from the Hieraticon which was published under the supervision of the Special Synodic Committee for the issue of a New Hieraticon.

In the present Volume B' are also included the Closing Hymns and the Introductory Hymns of all Magisterial and other feasts (selectively); the Resurrectional Closing Hymns and Verses (selectively), the Service for Holy Communion, typical formalities, as well as various other Services and Benedictions and an abridged index of feast-days.

 

Dimensions : 14 x 21 , 249 pages.
Price: 12 €
Price: 14 € ( Luxury edition, gold binding )

 

 

"Participants of a Celestial Calling",
Handbook for Hieratic Students,
Holy Synod of the Church of Greece

In our Church, which is the Body of the living Christ, Priesthood comprises the most significant gift and the foremost Sacrament: "priesthood, a divine service and the most valued amongst all things". The detailed works that are published under the above title are adequate enough to assist Hieratic students and generally anyone who is oriented towards Priesthood. The preambles are the following:
a) Archmandrite Demetrius Argyros: "Handbook for the candidate Hieratic student
and the candidate Cleric".
b) Archmandrite Theodosios Mardzouhos: " Participants of a Celestial Calling".
c) Archmandrite Paul Ioannou: "Handbook for the Hieratic Student"
d) Prot. Anthony Pinakoulas: "How a young man desiring priesthood must think".
The main purpose of preparing our hieratic staff is not just the supplementing of their knowledge; it is also that they may achieve "metamorphosis" within their New Life in Christ, "until Christ is formed within us".

Dimensions: 14 x 21, 249 pages.

To be published

 

Interpretation of the Old Testament - Vol.1 - Genesis

By Archmandrite Jeremiah Foundas, Holy Sermon Preacher of the Archdiocese of Athens and Reserve Professor of the Athens University, for Introduction to the Old Testament and the Septuagint Interpretation.

We could define the term "heresy" to mean the scorning and disregarding of the Old Testament by most of us. In accordance with our orthodox theology, the theme of not only the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well, is Christ. Both Testaments are linked together by the person of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. Where the Old Testament foretells the coming of the Messiah and prepares the world to receive Him, the New Testament expounds the fulfilling of the Old Testament prophecies pertaining to Christ. The close relationship between the two Testaments and their reference to the Persona of Christ are expressed by the profound words of Saint John the Chrysostom : "The Old Testament had anticipated the New, and the New Testament interpreted the Old. And I have said many times, that the two Testaments are the two maidservants and sisters, who are both satellites to the same Master. The Lord had been pre-announced by prophets, and Christ was proclaimed in the New Testament. The new were not actually new; as they had been anticipated by the old. The old were not extinguished, as they were interpreted within the new." Saint Augustine had also said the following wonderful words : "The New Testament is hidden inside the Old and the Old Testament unfolds within the New".
The Old Testament must be interpreted Christologically. This is the way the holy Apostles and the Fathers of our Church had interpreted it. Indeed, without its Christological interpretation, the Old Testament remains "veiled" and unintelligible (see Corinthians II, 3 12-16).
We look upon the entire Old Testament as a prophecy related to Christ, whether in verbal form, or symbolic. The theme therefore of the Old Testament, as well as the New, is Christ. The only difference is, that in the New Testament the Son of God is incarnated, while in the Old Testament He is fleshless.
We must embrace the reading of the Old Testament, for the reason that the divine revelation that is contained in the Bible was given to us progressively. In order therefore to study this revelation, we must commence from its first lessons that are contained in the Old Testament and then proceed to its advanced lessons that are contained in the New Testament, otherwise the sublime teachings of the New Testament will be entirely incomprehensible to us, and we will not be able to perceive the master plan for our salvation, which has its sources in the Old Testament (see Hebrews, 1,1). The Old Testament comprises the foundation of the New Testament. Our Church is supported on the teachings of the Prophets as well as the Apostles, that is to say, on both the Old and the New Testaments. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy (1st Sunday of Lent), we proclaim : "As the prophets had foreseen, and the Apostles had taught.. thus we believe, and thus we speak".
The New Testament did not abolish the Old Testament; it actually supplemented it. Our Lord had said : "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfil" (Matthew, 5,17).
The purpose of the Old Testament Law was to make its readers understand that they became sinners when violating its commandments and thus burdened with a sense of guilt for these violations, to cry out "Have mercy on me, the sinner". Given that salvation - as stated in the Old Testament - was to come from the long-awaited Messiah (who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God), deep down, the prayer of the Old Testament world was "My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me (save me), the sinner".
In the Old Testament, we imagine God as cultivating His garden plot, which represents the people of Israel; when this garden produced its sweetest fruit, God then picked it, He took it to Himself, and utilized this fruit of Israel for the salvation of all mankind. Who was this fruit ? It was the Most Holy Virgin Mary ! Indeed, "the Most Holy Virgin - according to saint John the Damascene and the Orthodox faith - is the summit and the summation of the entire Old Testament, and it is she, to whom every prefiguration and pre-characterization and prophecy of the Old Testament refers" (B', 9-10). She is the culmination and the fruit of every Old Testament "educative" preparation of mankind for the reception of the incarnated Saviour God, and it is for this reason that it is impossible to separate her from the human lineage of Adam. This is why the holy Father refers to her as "the daughter of Adam" (C, 2. A',6), while he refers to David as "forefather and godsire" (C,2), from whose roots the Most Holy Virgin was born "as promised" (B',7 Ed.IV,14), bearing inside her, united, both hieratic and regal roots (A',6).
It is God's desire that His garden remains unpolluted, and His people untouched by any foreign element; He desires His generation to remain undefiled and His children perpetually battling against the seed of the serpent, never compromising with it.
From the very beginning, God had proclaimed enmity between the two generations - the good and the bad (Genesis 3,15). When these two generations intermingled (Genesis chapter 6), a devastating flood ensued.
No friendship, no compromising with the alienated ones; war, against the enemies of the faith, in order to keep the people of God untainted by delusions and corruption, in order that they fulfil the purpose for which they were chosen.
It is on this basis that the wars of Israel should be comprehended, inasmuch as they were initiated at God's command, against those nations that were alien to His faith.
With the above, we wish to stress that the Old Testament must be interpreted theologically and more especially, Christologically; If we do not study it in depth, to discover its profundity, its theology, we shall never comprehend it and will look upon it as a tasteless and even scandalous narration. Thus, many people will scorn it as we already mentioned, and indeed this is what has happened.
In order to successfully interpret the Old Testament, the specialized scholar must have - among other, spiritual prerequisites - a variety of other knowledge pertinent to the realm of the Bible. For example, he must be familiar with the geography of the Old Testament, the customs of its people, as well as the language and the culture of the citizens of the Far East of ancient times that had an effect on the Old Testament; he must furthermore stay informed of the material that is continuously unearthed by these countries, to assist in his study and the verification of biblical events. It is also imperative that the scholar be familiar with the ancient Hebrew language in order to study the Old Testament, at least from the Hebrew original that we possess today (the Masoritic text), and not exclusively from the Septuagint translation.
This translation was used by the Church from the beginning, as we see it used within the New Testament; it is considered "divinely provided" as Eusebius said, and as drafted by "the finger of divine providence" as said by Androutsos, however, it has never been characterized by our Church as divinely inspired - as incorrectly believed by Economos - because divine inspiration cannot be attributed to a translation. Then again, our Church has never disapproved any alterations to the Septuagint based on the Hebrew text by ecclesiastic men, as proven by the example of Origen and his Exapla.
Where certain verses showed differences between the Hebrew and the Septuagint text, the New Testament usually preferred the Hebrew text (for example, Matth.2,15.12,18). Since it has been almost unanimously admitted that the Old Testament has been scorned by us, we must consciously realize this wrong, this damage, and "do something" to amend matters. Firstly, the Old Testament must be included in the sermons and catechism of our Church as was done by the holy Fathers who, in their homilies and speeches "toyed" with excerpts from the Old Testament and "squeezed" them in an interpretational manner, just like Gideon, in order to extract magnificent teachings.
Some of the Fathers had annotated many Old Testament Books; many even made reference to isolated chapters from its Books; this is the kind of usage of the Old Testament that the author proposes for sermons, which is an interpretational usage. We should not concoct our own moralistic sermons and in order to support them, append to them a relevant verse from the Old Testament. Such a usage will never allow us to become familiar with the charming world and theology of the Old Testament. A satisfactory means of introducing the Old Testament to an uninformed audience would be to convey the meaning of two or three chapters of an Old Testament Book in each sermon.
The present interpretational Series, titled "INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT", which commences from this volume, is divided into two sections, i.e., Part A is the practical section, written especially for the laity and is comprised of the Septuagint text, its translation and a brief analysis of each excerpt. Part B is wholly interpretational, written for the theological researchers and more specifically for the beloved students of theology of our Universities, who wish to have an up-to-date and concise memorandum to the Old Testament, based on scientific facts of recent years.
This kind of contemporary interpretational work pertaining to all the Books of the Old Testament was truly lacking in our field.
The author has undoubtedly kept in mind the patristic interpretations, especially in Part A of his work, however, he has not inserted extensive patristic texts, as he intends to provide a practical commentary on the Old Testament with patristic annotations in a separate interpretational Series which will assist as a guidebook for sermon preachers of the Divine Word.

 

Announcements

The New Theological Boarding School
of the Apostoliki Diakonia

The Theological Boarding School of the Apostoliki Diakonia has transferred (from the Kareas suburb), and has commenced operating in its recently renovated, private-owned building, near the Holy Shrine of Saint Barbara in the Attica province of the same name, which now has the capacity to host even more students (about 100).

 

 

56th International Exhibition of Frankfurt
6 - 10 October 2004

From the 6th to the 10th of October 2004, the 56th International Book Exhibition will be taking place in Frankfurt, Germany.
In this Exhibition, which is acknowledged internationally as being the largest book exhibition of its kind, the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece will be participating for the fourth consecutive year with its own Stand.
In Hall 5.1 - Stand F974, visitors can be informed of all the latest publications of the Apostoliki Diakonia, in both the Greek and the English language.
Visiting hours of the Exhibition are between 9.00 am and 18.00 pm. The public may visit the Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday, the 9th and 10th October respectively.

 

«Book Festival»

From Monday, October 4th to Sunday October 17th 2004, the 33rd "Book Festival" will take place on the Dionysios Areopagitis Avenue promenade.
The Exhibition will be open daily, between 6.00 pm and 10.30 pm, while on Fridays and Saturdays it will remain open until 11.00 pm. On Sundays from 10.00 am through to 2.00 pm and in the afternoons between 6.00 pm and 10.30 pm.
The Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece will also be participating, at Stand No.212.

 

Free pamphlets

Enquire at our bookshops for the poster on the study of the Bible, and the leaflets "The Word of God", "Repentance-Confession" and "The destructive cults" that are given away free of charge, to be distributed in your parish.

 

Suggestions

Our Church is entering the new Ecclesiastic Year (new Indictus). For the occasion, the Apostoliki Diakonia proposes the study of the following texts (in Greek):

"EUCHARIST AND CATECHISM"

by His Eminence the Bishop of Fanarion Agathangelos, General Director of the
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece

"THE CONTEMPORARY WORD OF CATECHISM"

by Spyridon Kondoyannis
Reserve Professor of the Athens University School of Theology

 

Also read the dedication on the National Holiday of October 28th :

"Dedication to the Occupation"

with texts, photo album, Book of National Martyrs.