Metropolitan Jeronymos of Uganda on Water and Environment for Climate-Resilient Development

 

Clear Air, Clear Water. Credit: Michael Foley/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 / Flickr

Uganda Orthodox Church

His Eminence Metropolitan Jeronymos Muzeeyi of Kampala delivered his remarks on Water and Environment for Climate Resilient Development during the commemoration Week held in March 2023 amidst dignitaries from different divides of the country.

Reflecting on World Environment Day which was celebrated yesterday 5th June, we share his presentation which focuses on the teachings of the Ekklesia on ecological theology and humanity.

Presentation on water and environment for Climate-Resilient Development

I sincerely believe that an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to water and environmental issues can help our country Uganda, not only to be “the pearl of Africa”, but also to be truly the “Garden of Eden” of the holy scriptures. My remarks here below are a reflection of theological thoughts on the matter. Man is at the center since he was created in the image and likeness of the creator, God. And he was entrusted with the vocation “to cultivate it and to keep it” (Gen: 2:15).

1. God’s creation was very good.

When faced with the ecological crisis of our times, obviously, there are many questions that raised. One temptation can be, among the questions raised to put the blame on God, the creator. But the scriptures’ narrations have no room for such a blame. For they say: on completion of His six-day creation “God saw everything He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Very important was God’s care for water in the garden of Eden: “A stream flowed in Eden, it divided into four rivers” (Gen. 2:10). In this creation, man who was created in God’s image, had a vocation. “to … cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).

There must be a reason why. The very reason could be summarized by saying: This world was given to man as a gift, – “a gift from God the Creator, a healing gift, a gift of wonder and beauty. Therefore, man’s proper response upon receiving such a gift, is to accept and embrace it with gratitude and thanksgiving”. In otherwards using it well for the glory of God.

Metropolitan Jeronymos blessing water water during the Theophany of our Lord

• Man’s sin is the root cause of ecological crisis.

Man sinned. In his sin, everything changed. One could ask, what is sin? Sin is man’s rebellion against God the creator. His refusal to live by God’s will. It is the perversion of God’s purpose and order put in nature: (A good example in this case is homosexuality!). It is man’s deliberate refusal to have communion of love with God, fellow man and creation. As a result, man actually failed in his vocation. Instead, man was “passed under the domination of sin and of the evil”. Certainly, as a result of man’s sin, the human mind became so darkened, and the human will was impaired”. He could live by “exploitative control of resources”.

All times, he could be a being of “selfness and greed”. In this case, there was a need for an ontological transformation. This is what we call man’s repentance. You and I must repent to save human nature, to save the creation. In our fallen nature, St. Paul, could reveal the truth: “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pays” (Rom 8:22).

• Christ’s mission of re-creation.

Le me make it very clear from the outset that, true Christians are and must be environments. This is because, the incarnation of the Word of God was to liberate man from his rebellion and in the process, the whole creation. Man in Christ is a new creature, something we referred to above as ontological transformation. To accept Christ, he must repent. A new creature is a son of God. He lives by the will of God St. Paul had noted it that “Creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19). Since “It will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom. 8:21). “The loving re-creation of the world by the divine word at the incarnation of God’s Son is very crucial in our understanding of our mission as followers of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Christians have to be models and have to play a decisive role in solving the environment crisis.

• Man’s communion of love is the Key.

Earlier, we made it clear that man’s communion of love with God, his fellow man and creation was weakened as result of man’s rebellion. In Christ, man is reconciled to God. He is as well asked to live in communion of love, with fellow man and creation. Man’s vocation to receive creation as a gift from God is restored. His preparedness to us it well for the glory of God is manifested. Christ’s Church, which is an extension of the redeeming of mission, ever accept and embrace God’s gift with gratitude and thanksgiving in all its service. 

As a matter of fact, our generation has to understand that we are called upon as Christians to live fully in the communion of love for the salvation of creation. Important to note, this planet is “our home … it is also the home of everyone, as it is the home of every animal creature, as well as every form of life created by God”. Our generation should consider the same for the generation to come. The air we breathe, the water we drink and is the source of life, if it is defiled, the element and essence of our existence are threatened. This is true for us and for the generations to come.

• Efforts to protect god’s creation.

Metropolitan Jeronymos planting a tree during the feast day of the presentation of Theotokos in Magoma

God’s people are called up to protect God’s creation. Who are God’s People? These are redeemed by Christ. Living by the will of God. These are sons of God by God. These are the people prepared to fight the evils of individualism and consumerism propelling the spirit of egoism. At the center of egoism is self-interest. Very often, man puffed up by egoism in our world of technological advancement leaves no room for God. It only brings about the spirit of secularism. Here man moves away from God’s creation. He creates his own world without God. In the Garden of Eden, we saw the rivers flowing. 

In man’s megacities, we see filth liquids flowing. Man must change. Man must change. The prophetic voice of the church is about the change. And this change means addressing poverty, inequality, discrimination, marginalization, domination, exploitation, etc. in all their forms. We must become “children of God by grace” to become Children of God to be fully committed to the will of God. This means to do away with egoistic tendencies. To be children of God also means to be faithful to God’s purpose and intent for creation. Environment degradation and destruction are torment to suicide.

Passionately Drunk

 

Fr. Stephen Freeman

Glory to God For All Things

The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect. Little wonder it is known popularly as the Philokalia. That word, Philokalia, means “the love of beautiful things.” It is not a reference to expensive, decorative items, but to the things which are made beautiful by their union with God. All things are beautiful inasmuch as they are united to God, Who is Beauty itself.

Another important word in the title is the adjective, “Neptic” (νηπτικός). It has a variety of translations: sober, watchful, vigilant. It refers to those who, having their earthly senses purified, have become truly aware of God and dwell in Him. This title is especially used to describe the fathers of the Hesychast tradition in Orthodoxy, the tradition of ceaseless prayer and inner stillness associated with the monastic life.

To describe these fathers as “sober,” is very insightful. For our experience with the passions, the disordered desires of our body and soul, is often an experience of drunkenness.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thess. 5:7-10).

The man who is drunk is famously unaware of his surroundings. He stumbles physically, mentally and spiritually, barely aware of his own imbalance. The passions have the same ability to blind us. In anger we are aware primarily of our own anger. What we see, we see through the haze of the energy that pulses through our mind and body.

All of the passions have this property. They consume us and become the primary lens through which we see the world and with which we react. Thus we are described as in “delusion.” Those who see the world through their passions do not see the truth of things. They see their own passions.

There is a social aspect to the passions – they are not restricted to an individual’s experience. Whole societies, or significant segments within it, can be drunk with the same passions. Thus a whole society can be drunk with the passion of fear or hatred.  Such a passion is reinforced by being repeatedly affirmed by those around us. Many aspects of culture are simply a communion of the passions.

We live in an age where the passions are carefully studied and used as the objects of marketing. Those things that are sold to us (even those that supposedly appeal to our intellect) are marketed to our passions. Apple computer famously researches the “feel” of its packaging, presenting a sensual experience that is associated with quality, precision and value. It is a successful strategy across the whole of our culture.

However, those who are “drunk” with the passions also yield themselves as victims to their intoxication. Political parties pour massive amounts of money into their campaigns simply to create and nurture the passions by which people vote. We are not governed by reason or informed decisions. Most of what you or I think about political subjects is a description of the passions to which we are enslaved. The political cynicism of many is, to a degree, a recognition of our disgust with the politics of passion.

By the same token, most of the opinions we nurture are equally the product of our passions. We think, we believe, we decide, we act largely in accord with the passions to which we are enthralled. Theological debates are generally arguments between one person’s passions and another’s. It is a conversation between drunks.

And so the Church values the holy, sober fathers. These are the men and women who have walked the narrow way of salvation, “putting to death the deeds of the body.” Inner stillness is the state of freedom from disordered passions. The neptic fathers do not cease to desire (they are not Buddhists). But their desires have been purified and healed – restored to proper order. Sobriety means desiring the right thing in the right way at the right time. Traditionally, this purification and healing come as a result of a life of repentance, fasting and prayer. It slays demons and heals the wounds of the soul. All things are brought into obedience to Christ.

It is the life that Scripture enjoins:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he my devour. Rsist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world (1 Peter 5:8-9).

There is a story in the Desert Fathers that illustrates such vigilance. A community of monks once heard a rumor that one of their number was harboring a woman in his cell. They went to the elder and complained. While they became yet more agitated, the elder slipped away to the cell of the erring monk. Finding the woman there, he hid her in a large earthen vessel. He placed the lid on the vessel and sat on it. Soon the angry monks arrived at the cell and began to search for the woman. Out of respect for the elder they overlooked the vessel on which he was sitting. Finding nothing, they apologized to the erring monk and left. The elder, rose from his seat and said to the monk, “Pay attention to yourself.”

It is a call to sobriety. The angry monks were drunk with their own self-righteousness. Their sin was at least as great as the erring monk. The elder alone was sober. His sobriety hid the sin of a man from those who would have harmed him, and revealed the sin to the one who needed to be healed. The word of healing was kind and without judgment. “Pay attention to yourself.” It is the simple word of St. Peter, “Be sober.”

For all of us, in every moment of the day with regard to all things and all people, it is good to pay proper attention to ourselves.

This prayer of St. Isaac of Syria, great among the neptic fathers, is one of my favorites:

I knock at the door of Thy compassion, Lord: send aid to my scattered impulses which are drunk with the multitude of the passions and the power of darkness.

Thou canst see my sores hidden within me: stir up contrition – though not corresponding to the weight of my sins, for if I receive full awareness of the extent of my sins, Lord, my soul would be consumed by the bitter pain from them.

Assist my feeble stirrings on the path to true repentance, and may I find relief from the vehemence of sins through the contrition that comes of Thy gift, for without the power of Thy grace I am quite unable to enter within myself, become aware of my stains, and so, at the sight of them, be able to be still from great distraction.

 

Digital Books about the Orthodox Church, Faith, Worship and Life

 

Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries (photo from here)

 

• 1. The Orthodox Church. Its Faith, Worship and Life

• 2. Tradition and Traditions by Archmandrite Barnabas Lambropoulos.  A booklet that reveals the lameness of the heretic Protestant dogma that asserts that the Holy Bible alone is the source of the Christian faith, and that the Holy Tradition of the Church must be rejected. This booklet was written in response to a misleading and fictitious Pentecostal book.

• 3. Dogmatics Rev. John Zizioulas Metropolitan of Pergamus.  A special publication containing lessons that pertain to the Dogmatics of the Orthodox Church, in a concise and useful form, for Theology students.

• 4. Ecumenism - Book by the Holy Monastery of the Paraclete. The idea of unification moves every sensitive Christian soul and resounds its innermost desires.  This is precisely the idea that Ecumenism has also appropriated. But this unifying vision –a par excellence spiritual vision- is mainly reliant on human efforts and not the energy of the Holy Spirit.

• 5. In Search of the Truth Book by Nicholas Mavromagoulos. A composite biography that narrates ACTUAL EVENTS AND THE ACTUAL PERSONS INVOLVED, exactly as they occurred. A book that you must read, before you decide to join the Watchtower organization!

• 6. Why I Converted to the orthodox faith Book by G. PAP. The story of a former Jesuit priest.

• 7.  Romanity, or Barbarity? Book by Anastasios Philippides. The historical problems of the Roman Empire, Hellenism and the West.

• 8. PATRISTIC THEOLOGY Fr. John Romanides. Transcript of taperecorded lectures of Father John Romanides at the Thessaloniki University’s School of Theology.

• 9. ‘’I CONFESS ONE BAPTISM…’’ By Protopresbyter George D. Metallinos. Interpretation and Application Of Canon VII of the Second Ecumenical Council. By the Kollyvades and Constantine Oikonomos (A contribution to the historic-canonical evaluation of the problem of the validity of  Western baptism).

• 10. Eucharist, Bishop, Church: The Unity of the Church in the Divine Eucharist and the Bishop during the First Three Centuries - By Professor Metropolitan of Pergamus and  Chairman of the Athens Academy I. Zizioulas. Historical evidence on the Administration and the evolution of the Church during the three first centuries.

• 11. UNIA: The Face and the Disguise By Protopresbyter George D. Metallinos

• 12. Elder Porphyrios - Testimonies and Experiences - By Klitos Ioannides

• 13. The Jesus Prayer - by fr. Lev Gillet

• 14.  "Unity", "Division", "Reunion" in the light of Orthodox Ecclesiology - by fr. Alexander Schmemann

• 15.  The Spiritual Father: Spiritual paternity in the light of Orthodox Tradition

• 16.  Five types of Religious lives - One of the essays included in Essential Writings: Mother Maria Skobtsova 

• 17.  The Power of the Name - By Bishop Kallistos Ware of Diokleia

• 18.  The Papacy: Its Historic Origin and Primitive Relations with the Eastern Churches - by Abbé Guettée

• 19.  Baptism by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament - by N.Mavromagoulos

• 20.  The Fall of Orthodox England - by V.Ross

• 21.  The Way (An Introduction to the Orthodox Faith) - by Protopresbyter George Metallinos

• 22.  The Impact of Orthodox Psychotherapeutic Interventions on Depressive Symptomatology - by Dr. Z.Vujisic

• 23.  The Clash between Orthodox Patristic Theology and Franco-Latin Tradition

• 24.  Sola Scriptura - by Fr. John Whiteford

• 25.  My Exodus from Roman Catholicism - by His Grace Bishop of Nazianzus Paul de Ballester

• 26.  The Contribution of Saint Gregory Palamas to Hesychasm - by Dr. Dimitrios Tselengides

• 27.  The Western Rite and the Eastern Church

• 28.  The Elder Paisios on the secularization of Monasticism

• 29.  Basic Dogmatic Teaching - An Orthodox Handbook - by Fr. Anthony Alevizopoulos

• 30.  The Divine Liturgy

• 31.  The cure of the neurobiological sickness of religion

• 32.  NIHILISM : The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age

• 33.  Understanding the Orthodox Liturgy - by the Very Reverend Michel Najim and T.L.Frazier

• 34.  A Guide to the Triodion and Lent

• 35.  BISHOPS: HISTORY AND ORIGINS IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH - by Fr. Thomas Hopko 

• 36.  In Defence Of The Holy Icons  (book)

• 37.  THE JESUS PRAYER AND ITS APPLICATION (book) - by Archimandrite Arsenios Katerelos

• 38.   APOSTOLIC MESSAGES (book) - by Fr. George D. Metallinos - English translation 2021

• 39.   THE CHRONICLE OF THE FALL (book) - by Fr. George Prouzos - 2021 Edition

• 40.   THEODICY AND THE PRESENCE OF EVIL IN OUR WORLD - by Abbot Arsenios Katerelos

 

Book Presentations

 

• Empirical Dogmatics by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

• The intercessions of the Saints by Hypodeacon Claude Lopez-Ginisty

• Storky's Adventures (educative children's book) by Maria Dimitriadou

 Download in .doc format

Holy Bible

·         Old Testament  (Compressed .zip format)

·         New Testament (Compressed .zip format)

 

THE CROSS WITHIN THE CHURCH

 

By Fr. Stephen Freeman

Source: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/

https://oodegr.com/english

script of the homily by the reposed Elder Athanasios Mytilineos (1927 - 2006)

The Church is the Cross through History.

St. Paul wrote that he had determined to restrict his preaching to the Cross. (1 Cor. 2:2)

This was not an effort to diminish the gospel. Rather, it was an effort to rightly understand the gospel. One of the great temptations of Christianity is to allow itself to become a “religion,” that is, to serve whatever role that religions of any sort play within a culture and the life of an individual. Despite every atheist protestation, religion abides – and if there is not one that is inherited, then a culture will invent new ones.

St. Paul’s concentration on the Cross – Jesus Christ crucified – was a direct affront to religion itself. To understand this, though, requires that we see the Cross for what it is. Christianity as religion reduces the Cross to a moment in time, a historical moment that is celebrated for its importance. On the Cross, Christ died for our sins. This simple statement, however, can itself be reductionist. “Christ died, I’m forgiven, now I can get on with my life.” St. Paul has something very different in mind. He says:

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ, lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

The Cross is more than the single event in the life of Christ. It is the single event for every believer, lived moment by moment, at all times and all places. It is the very center of our being.

In Holy Baptism, we are not merely “joining the Church,” nor are we merely “washing away our sins.” Holy Baptism is not a rite of membership. Rather, Holy Baptism is being plunged into the death of Christ (Romans 6:3) and raised into the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. Believers are given a Cross to wear as part of their Baptism – a token to remind us that our new life is nothing other than living in union with the Crucified Christ.

That reality informs the commandments of Christ. We forgive our enemies because Christ forgave His enemies on the Cross (“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”) We share what we have with others (in the Cross we can live as though we own nothing). It represents the definition of love: “Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.” (Eph. 5:25).

It is the abandonment of the Cross (or its redefinition as “religious” event) that betrays the Church and its primary identity. It was inevitable, it seems, that the Church would eventually become the “religion of the empire.” It is a position that Christianity, in nearly every form, has endured since the 4th century. There is, of course, a critique of Orthodox Christianity that its very essence was betrayed in the tolerance given by Constantine and his successors. I do not agree that the Church’s essence changed – but it would be dishonest to think that its essence was not tempted and tested. Some failed the test.

Power is an ever-present temptation in this world. It offers the notion that we can, by force (of arms or law), achieve our desired ends. That was true under emperors and tsars, and remains true within modern democracies. When Pilate questioned Jesus regarding the nature of His kingdom, Christ was very clear that His kingdom “is not of this world.” He adds that were His kingdom of this world – then His disciples would arm themselves and fight. That many Christians through the ages have imagined armed struggle to be an important element of the Christian life is a testament to our confidence in the weapons of this world and our lip-service to the Kingdom of God.

The Church is the Cross through history. The reality of the crucified life has never disappeared from among us. Before Constantine, God brought forth the movements of monasticism. While Bishops were facing the temptations of imperial blandishments, the monks and nuns were refuting every worldly option. At times, the presence of monastics created a tension within the Church. The crucified life is seen most clearly when it stands out against a background of worldliness.

I think that times of turmoil, such as we endure at present, have their own form of imperial temptation. We long for order, for normalcy, for stability. That longing can make us easy prey for the various solutions offered by the world. There is an interesting phrase in the Liturgy of St. Basil. The priest prays for God to “make the evil be good by Thy goodness.” The temptation within our hearts would likely rephrase that prayer – simply saying, “Make the evil be good.”

God has never offered us any solution other than the Cross. St. Paul readily admitted that the Cross appears to be “weakness” and “foolishness.” The Cross is a clown in a world of scholars. He nevertheless declares it to be the “wisdom and power of God.”

As we gather to recall Christ’s death on the Cross we should rightly recall the Cross within us. We should recall that the weakness and foolishness of God is the path we have been commanded to walk. If we tremble at the thought, even saying, “Let this Cup pass away from me,” then, it would seem, we will have gotten it about right.

The Church is the Cross through History. It is the only gate to Pascha’s paradise.

Orthodox Monastery atop rugged Meteora clff, Greece.

 

Professor Metropolitan of Pergamus & Chairman of the Athens Academy John (Ioannis) Zizioulas (1931 - 2023), Lessons on Christian Dogmatics

 

 

Contents

Α. ON DOGMATICS AND DOGMAS

1. Definition – Sources – Content and Method of Dogmatics:

1a. Form and character of Dogmatics

1b. Dogmatics as Hermeneutics (Interpretational)

1c. The Dogmatics method

2. The term: «Dogma» and its significance

3. The affiliation of dogmas to the Holy Scriptures

4. The work of the Holy Spirit in the phrasing of the dogmas

5. The work of the Church in the phrasing of the dogmas

6. The prestige and the authority of the dogmas

 

 Β. ON COGNIZANCE AND FAITH

I. On cognizance:

 

          1a.    Cognizance of things

          1b.   Cognizance of God

          1c.    Cognizance through the Son and Logos 

          1d1. Cognizance in person  part 1: The element of Freedom

          1d2. Cognizance in person  part 2: The element of Love

II. On faith

 

C. ON GOD 

1. The biblical premises

2. Basic principles of Patristic teaching:

 

          2a. Up to the Cappadocian Fathers

          2b. The contribution of the Cappadocians

          2c. Augustine’s views

          2d. Discerning between "Theology" and "Providence"

          2e. Existential interpretation

  

D. SUPPLEMENT

1. Discernments of the Cappadocians on the “being” of God:

 

          1a.  The “whatever”, the “what” and the “how” of God

          1b.  “Essence”, “energy” and “person”

 

2. The transferral of the terms “essence”, “Energy” and “Person” into Theology (The problem of freedom)

 

          2a.   The prerequisites of the Patristic Synthesis

          2b.   The contribution of the Cappadocian Fathers – The patristic notion of the person

          2c.    Augustin’s theology and the problem of the Filioque

          2d.   The theological problem of the Filioque

          2e.   The Filioque in Theology and in Providence

          2f.    The dogma of creation - the problem of Gnosticism

          2f2.  The correction of Platonic ideas by the Christian faith

Ε. ON CREATION, SALVATION, CHRISTOLOGY AND ECCLESIOLOGY

1.  The dogma regarding Creation  

2.  Creation from nil  

3.  Existential consequences of the dogma on Creation  

4.  The consequences of man’s downfall  

5.  Christology 

6.  Salvation

7.  Ecclesiology

 

F. ECCLESIOLOGICAL TOPICS

Introduction

Questions

2.  Orthodox Ecclesiology topics:

 

      2a.   The eschatological identity of the Church

      2b.  “Therapeutic” or “Liturgical”  Ecclesiology: the synthesis of Saint Maximus the Confessor - Questions

      2c.   The Trinitarian basis of Ecclesiology

      2d.   Imagery in ontology - Questions

      2e.   Formation and structure of the Church

      2f.    The Local and worldwide Church – The Synodic institution  

      2g.   The functions of the Church – Questions

         3.   Commentary on Western Ecclesiology

 

                3a.  The dialectics of “the one” and “the many”. The priority of a universal Church

                3b.  The problem of priority between Christology and Pneumatology (of the Spirit)

                        Ecclesiological consequences

                3c.   History and Eschatology – Questions

           

G. ORTHODOXY AND WESTERN THEOLOGY

Texts by Rev. John Zizioulas (Addendum)

(Dogmatics – Therapy - Theology – Filioque – Ecclesiology – Christology – Pneumatology)

1    Introductory, basic characteristics of Western thought

1b. Western Ethicism and Dostoevsky

2.   Theology and Providence (Oekonomia) in Western thought

2b. Sickness and healing in Orthodox Theology

3.   The problem of the Filioque

4.   The existential repercussions of the Filioque  -  Questions  

5.   Ecclesiology, Christology, Pneumatology  

 

END

Lessons on Christian Dogmatics

These are the notes that were taken from the lectures of Professor I. Zizioulas (current Metropolitan of Pergamus and Chairman of the Athens Academy) at the Poemantic Division of the Thessaloniki University’s School of Theology, during the academic year 1984-1985. They are published with the blessing and the permission of the reverend Metropolitan. The notes were published with the caring and the responsibility of the students, for use during their examinations. Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Published by :  Publication Services Because of its size, this series of Dogmatics will be presented by us in segments, in the hope that the entire text that we have in hand will be made available very soon.

It is with immense joy, that we are hosts to this significant piece of work in our website. We consider this presentation an honor, and acknowledge the extremely significant opus of the reverend Metropolitan of Pergamus.   We are referring to the hand-typed notes of the reverend Metropolitan’s lessons at the University of Thessaloniki, which benefited us so much, that we wished to make them more broadly accessible.   It is our fervent desire that you study these notes, which exude the fragrance of the Orthodox faith and are delivered with scientific precision, in a simple and comprehensible manner.   We wish to thank with all our heart those who toiled and participated in the acquisition of these notes for us.   May the blessing of God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be with every person who seeks Him.