Photios Kontoglou on the Resurrection of Christ

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Fresco of the Resurrection of Christ by Kontoglou, from the Church of Panagia Kapnikarea, Athens (source)

Photios Kontoglou: "Let us purify our senses..."
Orthodox Christians, today, the God-inspired tongue of the melodist, St. John of Damascus, says: "Let us purify our senses and we will see the unapproachable light of the Resurrection, and we will behold Christ shining forth, and we will hear Him say "Rejoice", as we sing the hymn of victory". (Canon of Pascha) Therefore, he cries to us to purify our senses, so that we might behold Christ Who is risen from the grave. We should purify our senses, because they are unclean, soiled, because we use them for fleshly and material ends.

And how are the senses cleansed? If our heart and mind are cleansed with spiritual nourishment, and with the grace of the Holy Spirit, then our senses will also be cleansed, and will changed from fleshly to spiritual. The melodist says this because he was taught this by our Lord and Savior Himself, when He said during the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And if we cleanse our senses, he says that we will see Christ "shining forth", with lightning, not dull, but most pure and shining with the uncreated Light of the Resurrection, "the unapproachable light of the Resurrection." And not only will be see Him "clearly", but we will hear Him also say (for this is why all of our senses must be pure), and His voice will not come from afar, that we might be unsure if we actually heard Him, but we will hear "clearly", with power.

We do not only soil our senses when we use them for fleshly deeds and activities, in other words, to use them for pleasures of the body, but when we use them for some deeds which even the world calls "spiritual", while they are in reality fleshly, and in some ways are even more evil than those that appear fleshly.***

These "spiritual" deeds are the evil thoughts which our nous has, seeking divine things, but are impious ones, and with these our pride is spread and our brazenness before God, because we give food to our vanity, so we appear to know more than others, while the wise Solomon said: "The beginning of wisdom (in other words, wisdom according to God) is the fear of the Lord". With these rummaging and with these philosophies, the Christian truly pollutes his senses, blunts them, and instead of making them spiritual, makes them organs of coarseness, because with them we have been studying coarse, physical things, and not spiritual things. Because, as I had said before, all of these activities appear spiritual, but in reality they are fleshly, according to the Apostle Paul, who says that we have made "the nous to be flesh", as he writes to the Colossians: "Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind." (Colossians 2:18) And in the Epistle to the Ephesians he writes: "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." (Ephesians 4:18) Why, therefore, does he say "you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds" (Ephesians 4:17)? Is he not speaking of those vain rummages which the philosophers do, even if done by those who appear more spiritual? Because that which they are speaking of is of the flesh (for "from the flesh come the things of the flesh"), in other words, we make spiritual things fleshly. Whoever seeks and studies with this fleshly spirit, first will loose the virginal simplicity of the mind, with which he was first blessed (this is the first blessedness), which our sweetest Christ has bestowed on them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". Later, he who uses his mind to excavate divine things troubles God, Who is hidden beneath undiscerning minds and covered by a dark cloud, and this is revealed by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, as he said: ""I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me." (Isaiah 65:1) St. Cyril of Alexandra says: "Faith is not something that is obtained, for it is a way of hope that beholds where there is no hope, and faith that searches for that which is lacking and cannot be found, faith is not according to the same reason as hope." And St. Basil the Great says: "The simple faith is more mighty than rational words of proof."

And many Christians pollute themselves even today, and even more so follow this form of rummage and searching  "distanced from the life of God", as St. Paul said of the Gentiles, and we stir up the faith, which these unfortunate people do not even recognize, and they "water it down" with various sciences and philosophies, with "commonly-held beliefs", while their vain thought becomes something "vain and false", abolished by arrogance and deafness to the holy Tradition of Orthodoxy, until Christianity becomes a systematic way of life, without revelation of Immortality, in other words, without Christ. And they wish to teach the simple and innocent sheep of Christ, Who blessed them with the Beatitudes, especially with the first and the eighth.

Therefore, how can people like this celebrate Christ Risen from the dead? How strange and paradoxical! Do philosophers and scientists believe? But whoever believed in a philosophy? I ask to learn. With Christ, philosophy is finished and buried for whoever believed in Him. Let us listen to St. Paul cry out: "The ancient things have passed away, for behold all things have been made new." What are the ancient things? "The vanity of the nous", the wise and mellifluous weavers of words, in order to falsely appear humble, while their pride is reavealed by their messages, like the ethical philosophers before Christ, and the current "ethical" Christians today. "Behold, all things have been made new." A voice bearing the hope of the blessed Paul, which again speaks to our heart, saying the "Rejoice" of his and our Risen Lord! "Yes, all things have been made new!" We have become new, because the Resurrection of Christ is something "new and strange", and this "newness" has made all things new, because all former things have been deposed. The old things have been deposed by Him Who "deposed death", because wherever is "The Author of Life" is lacking, there death reigns. He deposed the curse of the flesh and brought the blessing of the Spirit. He deposed knowledge and brought the Faith ("Righteousness is found from the faith").

The old things were Knowledge, searching, and man seeking blindly and not finding anything. The new is the Faith, which opens the spiritual eyes of man and beholds the Sun of Righteousness "Christ shining forth with the unapproachable light of the Resurrection." He is sufficient for all, our mind does not need anymore to seek like the philosophers of the nations, for "The Way" has been found, in other words, as He Himself said cleanly and in few words: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27)

"Any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him", anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal, can come to know the Father. Where are you going, therefore, O Christian, to come to know God and Christ, you who are blind, weak, impure, with your own power, while our Lord Himself said that only the Father can illumine the mind to come to know Christ, and Christ to come to know the Father? And you don't dare lower yourself to pray and to entreat Him to enlighten you, but you become filled with impious seeking, like the ancients beforehand who had not yet heard of Christ, speaking words with authority?  Elsewhere He says: "I am the door, I am the way, I am the teacher, I am the light, I am the physician, the intercessor" (I Timothy 2:2), the shepherd, the Rabbi. He is the "First-born of new creation", Who made "all things new", and also made "new men", "granting life to those in the graves."

Yes, with the Resurrection of Christ, all things have been made new. Because of this, the melodist says with joy and exaltation: "Come let us drink a new drink, not one marvelously brought forth from a barren rock (of philosophy), but the spring of incorruption which springs forth from the grave of Christ, in Whom we are fortified," and "Come, let us partake of the new vine of divine rejoicing on the auspicious day of the Resurrection, let us commune with the Kingdom of Christ, hymning Him as God unto the ages." (Canon of Pascha)

O Christians, my brethren, you who occupy yourselves [solely] with the sciences and with philosophies, hearken to our Lord Who speaks through the mouth of the prophet: "They have left me, Who am the spring of life, and have dug dry pits that have no water." And He says with His own mouth in the Gospel "Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back (in other wards, does not deny worldly knowledge which consumed men before I came into the world) is not fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62) And He said another time: "you do not put new wine into old wine skins".

Let us therefore purify our minds from the filth of all forms of [vain] knowledge, because otherwise, we will not be able to behold Christ "shining forth with the unapproachable light of the Resurrection", and neither will we hear Him clearly say to us "Rejoice". Eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him cannot be given with knowledge that is "empty vanity", but only with the blessed Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who is glorified unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.
Photis Kontoglou
(Kivotos Menaion, March 1st, 1952)
(source)
   
***Note: Kontoglou is referring to what many others have described as well, how we can even use external spiritual things for our pride and “spiritual gluttony”. For example, see this article by Abbot Tryphon: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2019/11/authentic-orthodoxy/.
  

Icon of Jesus Christ "The Savior of Souls", by Photios Kontoglou (source)

   

Photios Kontoglou: Faith and the Resurrection
The faith of the Christian is tested with the Resurrection of Christ, like gold in the furnace. From the whole Gospel, the Resurrection of Christ is the most unbelievable fact, totally unexpected by our logic, and a true witness to its truth. But because it is something totally unbelievable, our faith must be complete in order to believe it. We men continually say that we have faith, but we only hold what is believed from our mind. Therefore, there is no need for faith, because reason is sufficient. Faith requires unbelievable things.

Many men are faithless. The very Disciples of Christ did not put faith in the words off their Teacher, when He said that He would arise, despite all of the honor and dedication that they had towards Him, and their trust in His words. And when the Myrrhbears went at sunrise to the Tomb of Christ, and saw two Angels who spoke to them, saying that He had risen, they hastened to tell this joyous news to the Disciples, but they did not believe their words, having the notion that they were fantasies: "And their words appeared to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them."

Do you see all of the faithlessness that Christ Himself struggled against? Even with His own Disciples. Do you see with how much forbearance He endured it all? And despite this, today most of us are separated from Christ by a frozen wall, the wall of faithlessness. He opens His embrace and calls us, and we deny Him. He shows us His pierced hands and feet, and we say that we don't believe...

Yes, those who have this blessed simplicity of conscience, were blessed by the Lord, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God." And to Thomas, who needed to touch Him to believe, He said: "Because you have seen me, Thomas, do you believe? Blessed are those who have not seen and believe."

Let us entreat the Lord to grant us this rich poverty, and this pure heart, that we might be resurrected, and stand together with Him.

This "ignorance" is greater than knowledge: "This is the ignorance that is higher than knowledge." Blessed and thrice-blessed are those who have this. Christ is risen!

(source)

  

The Myrrhbearers at the Tomb of Christ, by Kontoglou (source)

  

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

"This light-bearing day has become the first and lady of days..."

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The Sunday of St. Thomas, when Christ again appeared to His Disciples after His Resurrection (source)

   

This light-bearing day [Sunday] has become the first and lady of days, in which it is worthy for the new and divine people to rejoice. And as a type of the ages, it also forms the eighth day which is to come, He Who is greatly-exalted by us and our Fathers, blessed are You, O God.
-from the Matins Canon for the Sunday of St. Thomas
 
(source)
 

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

"You gazed on the divine mysteries of Christ, Apostle Thomas..."

The Holy Apostle Thomas (source)

  

You gazed on the divine mysteries of Christ, Apostle Thomas, and mystically you have been declared to be a spiritual mixing bowl, in which the souls of believers rejoice; for with the divine net of the Spirit you drew peoples from the deep of ignorance; therefore you came from Sion as a river of grace, welling up with your inspired doctrines into the whole creation. And so, imitating the passion of Christ, you were pierced in the side and entered the darkness of incorruption; implore him to have mercy on our souls.

-Doxastikon of the Praises, in the Plagal of the Second Tone

  

(source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Nikolai Velimirovic on Christ appearing to St. Thomas

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

St. Thomas touching the Risen Christ (source)

  

"The Lord appeared this second time for Thomas' sake - for the sake of one man, one sinner. He who is surrounded by the angelic choirs that joyfully hail Him as Conqueror of death, leaves His heavenly flock and hastens to save one wandering sheep. Let all those who, coming to great glory and power in this world, forget their weak and humble friends and, with shame and scorn, draw back from them, be ashamed at His example. In His love for mankind, the Lord turned from no sort of humiliation or effort. In His love for mankind, He - glorified and almighty - came down a second time into one simple room in Jerusalem. Oh, that blessed room, out of which there poured more blessings on the human race that there could ever be from all the palaces of emperors!"
-St. Nikolai Velimirovic, "Homilies"
(source)
  
"The firmness of faith depends on God's grace. Who can comprehend the mysterious depths of God's providence? Who can say that God, in His providence, did not wish here to make use of Thomas' unbelief for the belief of many? In any case, two things have here been clearly shown: the terrible sickness of human nature, revealed in the stubborn unbelief of one of the apostles (who had innumerable reasons to believe), and God's most abundant wisdom and love. In His purity and holiness, God does not use evil that good may come, nor make use of evil means to achieve good ends, but, in His wisdom and His love for mankind, He corrects our evil ways and turns them to good."
-St. Nikolai Velimirovic, Homily: "The Gospel on the Apostle Thomas' Doubt and Faith"
(source)
  

St. Thomas touching the Risen Christ (source)

  

Christ is risen from the dead, by dead, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life! Truly the Lord is risen!

St. Gregory the Great on St. Thomas Sunday

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

St. Thomas touching the risen Christ (source)

   

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; He offered His side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out His hands, and showing the scars of His wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.

Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his Master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief.

The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.

Touching Christ, he cried out: "My Lord and my God."

Jesus said to him: "Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed."

Paul said: "Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: "You have believed because you have seen me?"

Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: "My Lord and my God."

Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see.

What follows is reason for great joy: "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts One we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: "They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works."

Therefore James says: "Faith without works is dead."
(source)
   

Christ has risen from the dead, by death he has trampled on death, and to those in the graves given life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

Homily on St. Thomas Sunday, by St. John of Kronstadt

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

St. Thomas touching the risen Christ (source)

   

Homily on St. Thomas Sunday, by St. John of Kronstadt
Christ is Risen!

Beloved brothers, so Bright Week has passed and taken with it our deeds to the throne of the Heavenly Master and Judge: there, brothers, there are our deeds now. I say this in order to frighten with the fear of the heavenly judgment those who unworthily, not Christian-like, spent the feast of the bright Resurrection of Christ and to comfort those who spent it with temperance and spiritual joy.

How did very many spend the feast of the bright Resurrection? I would not like to call to remembrance foul human deeds but they, together with those that performed them, need to be remembered and judged on behalf of God. The all-bright feast was met, after the bright Paschal service, with dark deeds: intemperance and drunkenness, fights, cursing, and all types of sin. Consider that we fasted before the feast only in order to, with even more eagerness, rush into all fleshly, sinful deeds so that we can unashamedly and with insolence indulge in every iniquity. Alas! Woe unto us!

All those who met the feast with intemperance and drunkenness, adultery, cursing, and other similar deeds of the flesh lost all the benefit which they had received (if they even received any) from the fast, lost the benefit from repentance and communion of the Holy Mysteries, trampled them as an unreasonable animal under their feet, lost the acceptable time for salvation, given them by the mercy of the Lord, time which will not be returned. It was proper to say to you during the fast, behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2) for it was just then that you had come to the saving font of repentance and to the all-cleansing, true Mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord. Now your confession and communion is put off until the next fast but who knows if the Lord will vouchsafe you to again confess and commune? Who knows if you will repose in those very iniquities with which again, after the font of repentance, you have defiled yourself? How painful, how piteous, beloved brothers, that so soon you have turned out to be betrayers of Christ and have given yourself over to the devil to serve him, the original murderer, the author of, and instructor in of every type of sin! You are, using the words of the Savior, and I, a great sinner, am as well are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do (John 8:44).

What, then, remains for us to do, beloved brothers? To pray and weep for our sins. To weep that not Christian-like and not even human-like did many of us meet the feast but like vile idol worshipers and like wild animals, which have not been fed for a long time with their favorite food. To weep that we have trampled upon the great, soul-saving Mysteries of Christ, that is, repentance and communion, and counted them as nought. To weep that the time, given for salvation, we have thoughtlessly lost. May we weep and pray to the Lord that He “not become angry with us neither destroy us with our iniquities” (first morning prayer) but would return us to the way of repentance and make us skilled performers of His commandments. Let us firmly decide from now on not to give ourselves over to intemperance and drunkenness and all the sins which follow, and with tears ask the Lord that He, with the Grace of the Holy Spirit, would strengthen us in our intentions and good deeds.

Brothers! May we all shed tears for we all unworthily met the great feast of the Lord and angered our Lord; not in this way, not in this way indeed, should we meet the feasts of the Lord. We need to meet them with spiritual joy in the Lord, for our deliverance from sins and for our eternal salvation through Christ, the Son of God, with deeds of mercy, temperance from passions, visiting the church of God in spirit and truth and with simplicity in food and clothing.

O, you, decorated with gold and a multitude of precious fabrics, women and maids! In the name of the Lord, I direct my speech to you! What a multitude of poor would you have been able to cause to rejoice on the all-bright day of the Resurrection of Christ and, in that way, worthily meet that great feast, if you would have, in generosity and Christian love, changed even a few of these decorations into money and given that money to the poor who are so many in our city? Would it not have been reasonable, in a Christian way, if you had fewer precious clothing and the money remaining you had given to the poor? What rich mercy would you have received on that day from Christ the Lord? Yes, truly Christian-like would you have then met the feast of Christ’s Resurrection. But now what? You are decorated like idols but the members of Christ are without clothes; you are satiated but the members of Christ are in want; you roll in every possible pleasure but those are in tears; we are in rich and decorated dwellings but those are in cramped conditions and uncleanness, in dwellings which are often not any better than a pigsty. We do not have Christian love and, therefore, there is no true feast of the Resurrection of Christ, for those truly celebrate the Resurrection who himself is raised from dead deeds to deeds of virtue and Christian faith and love, trampling on intemperance, luxury, and all of the passions. Brothers! May we celebrate the feasts of the Lord as Christians and not as pagans! Amen.
(source)
   

Christ has risen from the dead, by death he has trampled on death, and to those in the graves given life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

St. Paisios on Panagia liberating the Holy Mountain from the Turks

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Panagia Gerontissa ("The Abbess") (source)

 
St. Paisios on Panagia liberating the Holy Mountain from the Turks (amateur translation)
Note: Between 1821 and 1830, Mount Athos was occupied by Turkish soldiers. They eventually left the Holy Mountain on St. Thomas Sunday, which is an additional reason why all of the Athonite Fathers celebrate this feast with such rejoicing. Below is a beautiful quote of Elder Paisios attributing this to the Panagia.

   

The good God ordains everything in the best way, but much patience and care is needed, because many times, when people struggle to free themselves from the net, they get tangled further.

God with patience untangles them. This situation will not go far. God will take a broom!

In 1830, because there were many Turkish soldiers, for a period of time, at Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos, there did not remain a single monk.

The Fathers had left, some with the Holy Relics, some to help in the [Greek] Revolution.

One monk would come from afar to light the vigil lamps and to sweep.

Inside and outside of the Monastery was the Turkish army, and this poor monk that was sweeping said: “My Panagia, what will happen with this situation?”

He prayed once with pain to the Panagia, and he beheld a woman approaching—it was the Panagia—who shone and whose face was radiating light.

She took the broom from his hand and said: “You don't know how to sweep well; I will sweep.”

And she began to sweep.

Later she disappeared into the Holy Altar.

And in three days, all of the Turks had left!

They were cast out by the Panagia.

(source)

   

St. Paisios the Athonite depicted before his cell of Panagouda on Mount Athos, and Hagia Sophia, as he had a great love for his heritage (source)

   

Christ has risen from the dead, by death he has trampled on death, and to those in the graves given life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

The wondrous icon of Panagia Glykophilousa

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The wondrous icon of Panagia Glykophilousa ("The Sweet-kissing"), treasured by the Holy Monastery of Philotheou, Mount Athos - Commemorated on the Sunday of St. Thomas, and Monday of Bright Week (source)

  
Like the Panagia Portaitissa, the Glykophilousa Icon is one of those which were saved during the iconoclastic period and brought miraculously to Mount Athos. It originally belonged to Victoria, the devout wife of the senator Symeon. Victoria was one who venerated the holy icons, especially that of the Most Holy Theotokos, before which she prayed each day. Her husband was an iconoclast who found her piety offensive, for he, like Emperor Theophilos (r. 829-842), found the veneration of icons distasteful. Symeon told his wife to give him her icon so that he could burn it. In order to save the icon from being destroyed, she threw it into the sea, and it floated away standing upright on the waves. After a few years, the icon appeared on the shores of Mount Athos near the Monastery of Philotheou, where it was received with great honor and rejoicing by the Abbot and Fathers of the Monastery, who had been informed of its impending arrival through a revelation of the Theotokos.

  
A spring of holy water sprouted forth on the very spot where they placed the icon on the shore. Every year on Monday of Bright Week there is a procession and blessing of water. Numerous miracles have occurred.
  

Chapel built at the "Agiasma", where the icon of Panagia wondrously reached Mount Athos, and a spring of holy water began to flow (source)

  
Although there are many miracles of the Glykophilousa Icon, we will mention only a few. In 1713, the Mother of God answered the prayers of the devout Ecclesiarch Ioannikios, who complained about the poverty of the monastery. She assured him that she would provide for the material needs of the monastery.
  
Another miracle took place in 1801. A pilgrim, after seeing the precious offerings (tagmata) hanging from the icon, a certain pilgrim planned to steal them. He stayed in the Temple after the Ecclesiarch closed it. Then he stole the offerings and left for the port of Iveron Monastery. There he found a boat that was leaving for Ierissos. After a while the ship sailed, but despite the excellent weather, it remained stationary in the sea. When the Ecclesiarch saw what had happened, the abbot sent monks out in various directions. Two went to the port of Iveron and when they saw the immobile ship, they realized what happened. Getting into a boat they went to the ship came aboard. The guilty man who committed this fearful sacrilege asked for forgiveness. The monks were magnanimous and did not want the thief to be punished.
  
A pilgrim from Adrianopolis visited Philotheou Monastery in 1830. He listened attentively to a monk tell the story of the holy Icon and the miracles associated with it, but he regarded the account as a fictitious tale which only a child might believe. The monk was grieved at the man’s unbelief, and tried to persuade him that everything he had said was absolutely true. The unfortunate pilgrim remained unconvinced.
  
That very day, as the pilgrim was walking on an upper balcony, he slipped and began to fall. He cried out, “Most Holy Theotokos, help me!” The Mother of God heard him and came to his assistance. The pilgrim landed on the ground completely unharmed.
  

Detail: Panagia Glykophilousa (source)

  
The Glykophilousa Icon belongs to the Eleousa (the Virgin of Tenderness) category of icons, where the Mother accepts the affection shown by the Child Christ. The icon is commemorated by the Church on March 27 and also on Bright Monday. The icon depicts the Theotokos inclining toward Christ, Who embraces her. She seems to be embracing Him more tightly than in other icons, and her expression is more affectionate.
  
The Icon is located on a pillar on the left side of the katholikon (main church).
(source)
  

Holy Saturday in the Katholikon of the Philotheou Monastery, Mount Athos. The wondrous icon of Panagia Glykophilousa is seen on the veneration stand on the left (source)

  
Philotheou Monastery
The Holy Monastery of Philotheou stands among chestnut trees on a plateau on the north-eastern side of the peninsula, near the ancient Temple of Asclepius. It was founded by the Blessed Philotheus, a contemporary of St Athanasius the Athonite, around the end of the 10th century.

  
Among the Byzantine Emperors who made donations to the Monastery, the names of Nicephorus Botaneates in the 11th century, Andronicus II and Andronicus III and John V in the late 13th and in the 14th century stand out. Among Serbian princes, Stefan Dushan (1346) helped to provide the manpower for the Monastery. In the 14th century, St Theodosius, subsequently Metropolitan of Trebizond, and brother of St Dionysius, founder of the monastery of that name, was a monk in the Monastery. During the early years of Turkish rule, in the early 16th century, the Abbot Dionysios, known as the Blessed Dionysios of Olympus, succeeded in turning it from an idiorrhythmic into a coenobitic monastery. However, the reaction of Bulgarian-speaking monks was such that he was forced to leave the Monastery. In about the mid 17th century, the Tsars of Russia gave permission to the monks to go there every seven years on alms missions. The policy of support for the monasteries was also followed by the Greek princes of the Danubian provinces. Grigorios Ghikas was one of the Monastery's best known benefactors.
  

Icon depicting the Saints of Philotheou Monastery (source)

  
In the 18th century the missionary of modern Greece St Cosmas the Aetolian was a monk at Philotheou. A fire which broke out in 1871 left unscathed the new katholikon, which had been built in 1746 on the foundations of an older church, but caused the Monastery economic problems, so that in 1900 the Holy Community took it under its guardianship. Of the other buildings of the Monastery, the holy water phiale is of fine white marble, and the refectory was extended in the 16th century. Philotheou has six chapels and three outlying chapels. Of its 12 kellia, half are now uninhabited. Philotheou prides itself on the possession of the miracle-working icon of Our Lady Glykophilousa, and of our Lady Gerontissa.
  
Among the objects kept in the sacristy, pride of place goes to the right hand of St John Chrysostom, a piece of the True Cross, other relics of saints, vestments, and sacred vessels. The library contains 250 manuscripts, two liturgical scrolls, and about 2,500 printed books (of which some 500 are in Russian and Romanian). The Monastery is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, and since 1574 it has occupied twelfth place among the Athonite monastic foundations. Since 1973 its has followed the coenobitic system. At present it has about 60 monks.
(source)
  

The entrance to Philotheou Monastery, Mount Athos (source)

  
Selected hymns from the service of Panagia Glykophilousa (written by Fr. Gerasimos of Little St. Anne's Skete, of Blessed Memory), commemorated on the Sunday of St. Thomas (Antipascha) (amateur translations below).
  

Doxastikon of the Theotokos in the Plagal of the Second Tone

Who can rightly tell of your goodness towards us, the saving appearances and gifts, O Virgin Theotokos? For your Holy Icon wondrously passed over the waves and was granted to us as a divine treasure, and a pledge of salvation. Through your invisible presence, you care for us, and you drove back the foreign army that had troubled your Mountain***. Therefore, we celebrate a dual feast: the receiving of your wonderworking Icon, which we praise, and the deliverance from the tyrranical siege. We cry out to you: ever protect and keep us, as you are our protection and defender, as I call you the Most-blessed One.
  
***Note: On the Sunday of St. Thomas (Antipascha), all the Monasteries of Mount Athos commemorate the driving away of the Turks from the Holy Mountain.
  

Doxastikon of the Litia of the Theotokos in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

As the servant of the awesome mystery of the incarnation of the Word, O Ever-Virgin Theotokos, strange and paradoxical things were worked for our salvation within your womb, through your incomparable motherly goodness. For in your divine Icon, you appear full of sympathy, kissing as a mother, Him Who was incarnate through you, the Son and Word of God. This was given to us as a heavenly treasure, and was thus named “Glykophilousa”, as we celebrate its arrival, we cry out to you: Hail, O Full-of-grace, the Lord is with you, granting to us through you, the great mercy.
  

Modern rendering of the wondrous Icon of Panagia Glykophylousa (source)

  

Apolytikion in the First Tone

Your holy Icon we praise as a very precious boast of Philotheou Monastery, for in it we behold you, O Pure One, kissing Christ as a babe, and we behold your great glory, O Virgin, and we cry out: glory to your great deeds, O Pure One, glory to your sympathy, glory to your providence for us, O Spotless One.
  

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

The most-precious Icon of [Panagia] "Glykophilousa",
Which came to us from Byzantium,
Let us who have gathered venerate it, crying out:
I behold you as a Mother of the Pantocrator, [full of] sympathy,
Grant the gifts of your compassions
To those who cry out: Hail, O Queen of All.
  

Synaxarion

On this day [The Sunday of St. Thomas], we commemorate the paradoxical receiving of the wonderworking Icon of the Most-holy Theotokos that is called “Glykophilousa”, which miraculously was granted to our holy Monastery of the Venerable Philotheos, during the reign of Theophilos the Iconoclast.
  

Megalynarion

Rejoice, O divine Monastery of Philotheou, for you possess the sacred Icon of the Virgin, where she sweetly-kisses the Lord as an infant, and grants to all, grace and mercy.
(Source)
  

Replica of Panagia Glykophilousa carried in procession on the Monday of Bright Week (source)

  

Christ has risen from the dead, by death he has trampled on death, and to those in the graves given life!
Truly the Lord is risen!

Excerpt from the Homily on St. Thomas Sunday by St. John Chrysostom

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The Touching of Thomas, celebrated on the Second Sunday of Pascha (Antipascha) (http://pravicon.com/images/icon/0438/0438001.jpg)

  

Excerpt from the Homily on St. Thomas Sunday ("On the New Sunday, and on the apostle Thomas) by St. John Chrysostom (amateur translation)

I have come to be resolved of the debt that has been incurred. For though I am poor, I force myself due to your gratefulness. I promised to show the faithlessness of Thomas, and low I am at hand to give it up to you, for I am willing to be the first to pay off the first debt, that the children of those who have been gathered might not be forfeited. Work, therefore, with me to pay off this debt, and let us entreat Thomas, that his holy right hand which touched the side of the Master might be laid upon our mouths, and innervate my tongue to discourse to you, the fervent ones. I, through the intercessions of the apostle and martyr Thomas, take heart, and preach his former indecision, and his second confession, that has become our Church's armor and foundation. The Savior is coming to His own disciples through locked doors, and again proceeds as he entered, while Thomas along was missing.

This was therefore a work of divine providence, that the separation of the disciple would become a harbinger of increasing safety and surety. For if Thomas had not been absent, he would not have doubted; and if he would not have doubted, he would not have sought strangely; and if he would not have sought, he would not have felt; and if he would not have felt, he would not have been convinced of the Lord and God; and if he did not call Him Lord and God, then neither would we have been taught to hymn Him thus. For Thomas by not being present, has led us towards the truth, and later became more confirmed regarding the faith. Therefore the disciples told Thomas who came last of all: “We have seen the Lord, we have seen He Who said: 'I am the light of the word'; we have seen Him Who said: 'I am the resurrection and the life and the truth', and the words of truth we found truly shining in Him. We have seen Him Who said: 'After three days I will arise, and you will behold the resurrection', and we worshiped Him Who was resurrected. We heard Him tell us: 'Peace be unto you', and our confusion of sadness was transformed into peace and joy. We beheld His hands showing the signs of the nails, we beheld the hands that were railed against by the God-hating dogs in rage; we beheld the hands that brought about our incorruption; we also beheld the side that cried out most radiantly of all with the compassion of He Who was wounded. We beheld the side that is hymned by the angels, and is honored by the faithful, and is trembling to demons. We also received a divine breath from His divine mouth, a spiritual breath, a breath that bestows every grace. We were ordained by the Master to be masters of remission of offenses, and we became lords of the judgment of sinners, for we received the commandment form Him: 'If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.' Words like these we feasted on from the Savior, and gifts like these we received from Him. For how could we be enriched richly by the Master? And you poor man, will not remain so in the future.

What, therefore, did they say to Thomas? We have seen the Lord? Well, he told them, even if you saw Him, I certainly will not believe the rest. Having seen Him, do you preach Him? As for me, unless I behold in hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will not believe. For you did not believe until you first saw Him, and thus with me, I will not believe unless I see. Hold on, O Thomas, with this fervor, and hold on well, that you might see me and that I might confirm you in soul. Hold on, and seek Him Who says: 'Seek and ye shall find'. Do not not stand by simply as an observer, if you do not find the treasure Whom you seek. Hold on, and knock at the door of indisputable knowledge, until He opens to you, Who says: 'Knock, and the door will be opened to you.' I embrace these senseless thoughts, that cut away every senselessness; I love the manner by which you wish to learn, which dashes apart every love of strife; and I especially hear you who say many times: “Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, I will not believe.”

For by your doubting, I am taught to believe; by your forked-tongue that revealed the wound on the divine body that was pierced, I harvest the fruit for myself without pain. [For you said] unless I see with my eyes the wounds in His holy hands, then the impious would question, without accepting our words. Unless I place this my finger into the marks of the nails, then they will not receive our Gospel. Unless I place this my hand into that side, the untrampling witness of the resurrection, they will not believe my words...From now on, people will be preached of the wonders of the teacher: how will they accept these without seeing with their eyes? How will the faithless come to believe, and ultimately follow Him Whom I did? Will I say to the Judeans and Greeks that the Crucified One and my Master is risen, but I did not see Him, but simply heard of Him? And who will not laugh at my voice? Who will not ignore my preaching? It is one thing to hear, and another to see. It is one thing to receive words, and another to see and touch something. Therefore doubt conquered the mind of Thomas, and after eight days again the Master appeared to His disciples who were gathered together. He left Thomas during these days to be preached to by the others, and to fill him with the thirst for the vision of Him, and his soul was greatly inflamed with the desire to see. Therefore, at the proper time, the one who was desiring perceived the One Who is desired.

(http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/John%20Chrysostom_PG%2047-64/In%20novam%20dominicam%20et%20in%20apostolum%20Thomam.pdf)

  

Christ again appearing to His disciples, and the touching of St. Thomas (http://pravicon.com/images/icon/0438/0438002.jpg)

  

Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

Excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's Homily on St. Thomas the Apostle

St. Thomas the Apostle - Commemorated on October 6th, and the Sunday after Pascha (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s2173/s2173009.jpg)

Excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's Homily on St. Thomas the Apostle (amateur translation)
  
Note: In this beautiful encomium, the Blessed Chrysostom both praises the Holy Apostle Thomas, and uses his proclamation of Christ as God to refute the great heresy of the Arians. St. John later goes on to say that, though he may have doubted at first, having seen and partaken of Christ's Resurrection, St. Thomas became a most ardent preacher of Jesus Christ as God and Man, truly crucified and resurrected for our salvation. What a moving proposition! The Saints who work such great wonders through the Holy Spirit, and which are honored so greatly throughout the world, also greatly desire our love, humility, virtues, and just as importantly, our adherence to the true and unadulterated dogmas of the Orthodox Church of Christ. May we all hold fast to the Faith of Christ without wavering, through the intercessions of the Holy Apostle Thomas. May we be made worthy to cry out with him to Christ: "My Lord and my God!"
  

"How do I respond in reality, where will I find the word of passage? Shall I preach Thomas as being alive? But the tomb proclaims his death. Shall I relate that he is dead? I am by circumstances compelled. He is dead, and immortal, and died as a man, and hastens about the world as an angel, and accepted his passion, and cuts apart the passions, and is buried below, and above rejoices. Therefore it was not possible for him to be hidden, neither for him to disappear somewhere, for he enlightened the whole world. The grave received him, but everywhere he shines like the sun, the earth conquered the relics of the righteous one, and revealed them as wider than all creation, for his grace is sowed throughout the whole world. Every corner place has Thomas, he has filled the whole world, and remains whole in his place. His glory has gone out into all the earth, and to the ends of the earth his trophies.
  

How should I name him? Sun? For he is not held by darkness. Star? For this new day he does not hide. At all times he shines upon creation, dissolving all darkness of the world. There is no more darkness after him, darkness does not dull him, the river does not hold him back, the sea is not able to hold him, the ocean makes the man known, barbarians honor Thomas. All the nations today feast, and this cry, as a gift, they offer to the Master:

“My Lord and my God, my relative and my creator, my redeemer and my king.”
  

In this way Thomas taught us as children, granted an inheritance, as a treasure, for nature accepts the word, the whole generation is fortified by this cry, the word has reached the angels, and angels hold this confession as a shield, and all creation brandishes it as a diadem.

  

Only Arius does not accept the word, only he denies the inheritance, only he does not confess Christ the Lord as Thomas. He does not know Him as God like Thomas. He calls the Master a servant, the creator of all a creation, the beloved a bastard, the fashioner something fashioned. And yet they honor the day and celebrate with the whole world, and number themselves with the friends of Thomas. But evil does not steal virtue, neither does the deluded one share the way of truth. The flock has seen the beast, the slinger has seen the wolf, the pilot has seen the wave, the bay has seen the winter, the soldier has seen the war, Thomas has seen Arius, he sees him and drives him out. He does not accept the honor of blashphemy, he does not enter through the cave of murders, he does not graze with them. He distances himself from the way of the lawless, and abhors this warring word, and hates the mouth that speaks lies against God, and turns aside the tongue that does not call Christ Lord and God.

  

And he cries to him from the whole world: “Arius, why do you fight me? Why do you sorrow me, O oil of my head? Why do you celebrate my day, O lawless one? I don’t accept your hymn of blasphemy, I don’t agree with your false faith, I do not know your lawless dogma. Therefore, don’t honor me, you who dishonor the Fashioner. I do not accept you honor, O dishonor of your mother. You who insult the Master, how can I, the servant, heal? You who do not keep my faith, how do you celebrate my memory? You who do not agree with me, how do you embrace my tomb?

  

I taught Christ as Lord and God..."

(Note: hosted by a non-Orthodox site: http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0345-0407__Iohannes_Chrysostomus__In_sanctum_Thomam_apostolum__MGR.pdf.html)
  

St. John Chrysostom (http://fdathanasiou.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/xrysostomos1.jpg)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

The Sunday after Pascha: St. Thomas Sunday

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Icon of "Antipascha" (the Feast celebrated the Sunday after Pascha), or Christ appearing to His Disciples through closed doors, and St. Thomas putting his finger in the Lord's side. (Icon courtesy of www.eikonografos.com , used with permission)

Reading (from http://goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=1039&type=saints&date=4/26/2009&D=S):

"Though the doors were shut at the dwelling where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover, our Saviour wondrously entered and stood in their midst, and greeted them with His customary words, "Peace be unto you." Then He showed unto them His hands and feet and side; furthermore, in their presence, He took some fish and a honeycomb and ate before them, and thus assured them of His bodily Resurrection. But Thomas, who was not then present with the others, did not believe their testimony concerning Christ's Resurrection, but said in a decisive manner, "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Wherefore after eight days, that is, on this day, when the disciples were again gathered together and Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus came while the doors were shut, as He did formerly. Standing in their midst, He said, "Peace be unto you"; then He said to Thomas, "Bring hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not unbelieving, but believing."

And Thomas, beholding and examining carefully the hands and side of the Master, cried out with faith, "My Lord and my God." Thus he clearly proclaimed the two natures - human and divine - of the God-man (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-29).

This day is called Antipascha (meaning "in the stead of Pascha," not "in opposition to Pascha") because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection."

For more on St. Thomas the Apostle, see: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2008/10/st-thomas-apostle.html.

For St. John Chrysostom's Commentary on this Gospel reading, see: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2010/04/st-john-chrysostoms-commentary-on-john.html.

For a homily by St. Gregory the Great, see: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/04/thomas-didnt-believe-so-that-all-may.html.

For a homily by St. John of Kronstadt, see: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/04/homily-for-sunday-of-saint-thomas.html.

Icon of the Feast of Antipascha (http://vatopaidi.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/cebacf85cf81ceb9ceb1cebaceae-cf84cebfcf85-ceb8cf89cebcceac-2.jpg)

Apolytikion of Antipascha in the Grave Tone
Christ our God, You are the Life that dawned from the grave, though the tomb was sealed. Through closed doors You came to the Apostles. You are the Resurrection of all. And, You renewed us through them with an upright spirit, according to Your great mercy.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Thomas examined Your life-giving side with his probing right hand, O Christ our God. As You entered, though the doors were closed, he cried out to You, with the other Apostles "You are my Lord and my God."

(taken from: http://goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=1039&type=saints&date=4/26/2009&D=S)
   

The Ikos.
Who then preserved the Disciple’s palm unmelted when it approached the fiery side of the Lord? Who gave it daring, and gave it strength to handle bone of flame? Only that side which was handled; for had not the side given the power, how could a hand of clay have handled wounds which had shaken things above and things below? This grace was given Thomas, to handle it and to cry out to Christ, ‘You are my Lord and my God’.

(taken from Fr. Ephraim Lash at: http://www.anastasis.org.uk/ThomasSun.htm)
   

Christ is Risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

St. Thomas the Apostle

Icon of "Antipascha" (the Feast celebrated the Sunday after Pascha), or Christ appearing to His Disciples through closed doors, and St. Thomas putting his finger in the Lord's side. (Both this icon and the one at the bottom of the page are courtesy of www.eikonografos.com , used with permission)

Here is the excerpt from the Prologue of Ochrid (by St. Nikolai Velimerovic) about St. Thomas (whose feastday we celebrate today, October 6th of the New Calendar), the great apostle and witness to Christ's Resurrection and the Assumption of the Panagia (both this and the following quotes are taken online from http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/prolog.htm):

St. Thomas the Apostle (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s2173/s2173001.jpg)

 
"Thomas was one of the Twelve Apostles. Through his doubt in the Resurrection of Christ the Lord, a new proof was given of that wonderful and saving event. The resurrected Lord appeared to His disciples a second time, in order to convince Thomas. The Lord said to Thomas: Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas replied: My Lord and my God (John 20:27-28). After the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the apostles cast lots to see where they would each go to preach, the lot fell to Thomas to go to India. He was a little saddened that he had to go so far away, but the Lord appeared to him and encouraged him. In India, St. Thomas converted many, both aristocrats and poor, to the Christian Faith, and established the Church there, appointing priests and bishops. Among others, Thomas converted two sisters to the Faith-Tertiana and Migdonia-both wives of Indian princes. Because of their faith, both sisters were ill-treated by their husbands, with whom they no longer wanted to live after their baptism. Eventually, they were allowed to go. Being freed of marriage, they lived God-pleasing lives until their repose. Dionysius and Pelagia were betrothed, but when they heard the apostolic preaching they did not marry, but devoted themselves to the ascetic life. Pelagia ended her life as a martyr for the Faith, and Dionysius was ordained a bishop by the apostle. Prince Mazdai, Tertiana's husband, whose son, Azan, was also baptized by Thomas, condemned the apostle to death. Mazdai sent five soldiers to kill Thomas. They ran him through with their five spears, and thus the Holy Apostle Thomas rendered his soul into the hands of Christ. Before his death, he and the other apostles were miraculously brought to Jerusalem for the burial of the Most-holy Theotokos. Arriving too late, he wept bitterly, and the tomb of the Holy Most-pure One was opened at his request. The Theotokos' body was not found in the tomb: the Lord had taken His Mother to His heavenly habitation. Thus, in his tardiness St. Thomas revealed to us the wondrous glorification of the Mother of God, just as he had once confirmed faith in the Resurrection of the Lord by his unbelief."

Icon of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas (taken from the Metropolis of Artis website: http://www.imartis.gr/imartis/texni.php)

And another beautiful story from the life of St. Thomas:

"We have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (II Corinthians 5:1), says the discerning Apostle Paul. All our efforts for God on earth have this purpose: to merit, according to our power, this eternal house in the heavens not made by hands. The Indian King Gundafor decided to build himself a magnificent palace, unlike any other on earth. When Abban, his envoy, sought a skilled craftsman to build the king's palace, he met the Apostle Thomas by God's providence. St. Thomas told him that he was a craftsman, and that no one else could build what the king wanted. Thomas therefore received much gold from the king for the building of this palace. As soon as he departed from the king, he distributed all the gold to the poor. The palace site was some distance from the king's capital, and after two years the king sent servants to ask Thomas if the palace was completed. Thomas replied: ``Everything is ready except the roof,'' and he sought more money from the king; and the king gave it to him. Again, Thomas distributed it all to the poor, and went throughout the kingdom doing his work, preaching the Gospel.

Icon of St. Thomas the Apostle depicted as an architect, building a palace in the Heavens for the king through his almsgiving (source)

   
The king, learning that Thomas had not even begun to build the palace, seized him and threw him into prison. That night, the king's brother died, and the king fell into great sorrow. An angel took the soul of the deceased and, leading him through Paradise, showed him a magnificent palace, such as the mind of man could not imagine. The soul of the deceased wished to enter that palace, but the angel told him that he could not, for it was his brother's palace, which the Apostle Thomas had built with his alms. Then the angel returned the brother's soul to his body. When he came to himself, he said to the king: ``Swear to me that you will give me anything I ask.'' And the king swore. Then the brother said: ``Give me the palace that you have in the heavens.'' The king was amazed that he had a palace in the heavens. When the brother described everything in detail, the king believed and immediately released Thomas from prison. Then, when he heard the apostle's preaching of salvation and eternal life, the king and his brother were baptized. King Gundafor undertook new works of charity, and built an even more magnificent palace in the heavens for himself."

The martyrdom of St. Thomas the Apostle (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s2173/s2173006.jpg)

 
Besides tradition, we have the witness of Saints and Fathers of the Church that St. Thomas preached in India. The following powerful quote is from St. Ephraim the Syrian, in a writing on the devil. He discusses the power of the Apostles through Christ from the devil's perspective:

"The evil one wails, "Where then
can I flee from the righteous?
I incited Death to kill the apostles
as if to escape from their scourges
by their death. More than ever now
I am scourged harshly. The apostle I killed in India
[has come] to Edessa before me. Here is he and also there.
I went there, there he is.
Here and there I found him, and I am gloomy.
Did that merchant carry the bones?
Or perhaps, indeed, they carried him!"
(http://sor.cua.edu/Personage/Qadishe/StThomas.html)

 

The precious and wonderworking Skull of St. Thomas the Apostle, treasured by the Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Patmos (source)

 
St. Ephraim also refers to the transfer of St. Thomas' relics to Edessa in the 4th Century, from where they were later transfered to Constantinople, and then the west. On a related note, the Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos (Greece), near the site of the Revelation to St. John and built by St. Christodoulos, has the blessing of protecting the Holy Skull of St. Thomas, which continues to work many miracles.

St. Thomas the Apostle (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s2173/s2173004.jpg)

 
For more information on the Feast of Antipascha, or St. Thomas touching Christ's Side after the Resurrection, see: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/04/sunday-after-pascha-st-thomas-sunday.html.

In closing, I include the Oikos for today's feast, translated by Fr. Ephraim (http://www.anastasis.org.uk/6october.htm). May St. Thomas intercede for all of us! Amen!

"When Peter said to the inspired Thomas, Christ’s Disciple and great speaker of mysteries, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he said, 'If I do not see in his hands the mark of the nails, and handle his side, I will not believe’. But the Creator and Master of all things came as a slave, wishing to save all, and said to Thomas, ‘Handle the marks in my hands and side, and do not be unbelieving; for I am the Lord your God’. But he cried in repentance, ‘You are my God and Lord’."

Icon of St. Thomas the Apostle (Icon courtesy of www.eikonografos.com used with permission)

Apolytikion in the Third Tone

O Holy Apostle Thomas, intercede with the merciful God that He grant unto our souls forgiveness of offences.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Christ's Apostle, who was filled with God's divine grace, he who was His genuine and faithful servant in all truth, all-lauded Thomas exclaimed aloud in deep repentance: Thou art both my God and Lord.
(taken from: http://goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=230)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!