Orthodox Calendar, October 4
Hieromartyr Hierotheus, bishop of Athens
The Hieromartyr Hierotheus, the first Bishop of Athens, was a member of the Athenian Areopagos and was converted to Christ by the Apostle Paul together with Saint Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3).
The saint was consecrated by the Apostle Paul to the rank of bishop. According to Tradition, Bishop Hierotheus was present with Saint Dionysius at the funeral of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Saint Hierotheus died a martyr’s death in the first century.
Troparion – tone 1:
We the faithful all praise Hierótheus, the disciple of Paul, Hierarch of Athens, the world’s teacher and a preacher of the Faith, who revealed to us Christ’s Mysteries and poured forth streams of godly doctrine. His life was well-pleasing to God, who is greatly merciful.
Holy Confessor Priest Dumitru Stăniloae
Saint Dumitru Stăniloae was born on November 16, 1903, in the village of Vlădeni, Brașov County, as the youngest son of the devout Christians Ieremia and Reveca. His mother, a priest’s niece, had a deep desire for her youngest son to become a servant of God, particularly after she had a dream in which she was sewing a set of priestly vestments.
Dumitru loved church services and reading the Holy Scriptures from a young age. He attended the village primary school and, with great effort, later studied at the Andrei Șaguna High School in Brașov. He then studied at the Faculty of Theology in Cernăuți with the support of Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan of Transylvania, who subsequently sent him to Athens to learn Greek and complete his theological training.
In 1929, he became a lecturer at the Andreian Theological Academy in Sibiu, teaching many students. A year later, Dumitru married Maria Mihu, with whom he founded a beautiful Christian family and had three children. Their first two children died at a young age, causing the parents great sorrow. The young theologian was ordained a deacon in 1931 and, a year later, a priest, proving himself to be a chosen servant of the Church of Christ.
Between 1936 and 1946, he led the Andreian Theological Academy. During this period, he devoted himself with great piety to the Philokalic texts, which he gradually translated, initially with the help of his students from the community of Sâmbăta de Sus Monastery: the Venerables Arsenie Boca and Serafim Popescu.
He ended his teaching career in Sibiu under pressure from the communist authorities, and in 1947, he was transferred to the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest as a professor of Asceticism and Mysticism. Later, he also took on the chair of Dogmatic Theology.
In Bucharest, Saint Dumitru lived with his family in the parish house of the Old St George church and soon began participating in the meetings of the hesychast movement “The Burning Bush” at Antim Monastery, where he would read to those present from his new translations of the writings of Saint Gregory Palamas, thus providing a theological and patristic foundation for the aspirations for prayer and stillness.
On September 4, 1958, Father Dumitru Stăniloae was arrested by the communist authorities for his connections with those involved in the “Burning Bush” hesychast movement. Saint Dumitru endured years of hardship in the prisons of Jilava and Aiud, suffering many torments, insults, and humiliations.
In prison, he was spiritually strengthened by the example of many persecuted priests and Christians. Still, in his words, he encouraged many to confess Christ in the face of persecutors. Years later, Father Dumitru would testify that prison was a school of prayer. After five years of detention, he was released on January 15, 1963.
Patriarch Justinian Marina, of blessed memory, entrusted him with a position in the administration of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, and in 1965, he brought him back to the Theological Institute as a professor and mentor for doctoral students.
Saint Dumitru worked tirelessly throughout his life to translate the writings of the Holy Fathers and to compile theological works for the spiritual benefit of many. He sowed the divine seed of the Word in the spiritual fields of those who listened to him, and those taught by him became, through God’s work, fertile ground, sown with virtues and bearing much and abundant fruit.
His spiritual word came not only from his rich learning, which he had acquired since his youth, but became fruitful in the lives of his disciples because it was accompanied by deed and the work of grace.
Therefore, he was highly esteemed in the Orthodox world, especially by the monks of Mount Athos, who, quoting him in the Tomos of 1975, called him the venerable Orthodox teacher of theology.
Saint Dumitru clearly showed how important it is to read the Holy Scriptures and examine the saints’ ascetic experience and God-inspired writings, moving away from scholastic theology. Once, while visiting one of the monasteries in our country, he approached the bookshelf and dusted the volumes of the Philokalia with his finger.
Then, he asked the nuns not to allow dust to settle on the Philokalia but to read it constantly because, besides the Holy Scripture, it is the monks’ primary book. In the latter part of his life, Saint Dumitru fell ill with stomach cancer. He was confessed on his deathbed by his spiritual father, the Venerable Saint Sofian of Antim, who encouraged him to bear the sufferings of his illness with trust in God.
Before he departed from this life, Saint Dumitru Stăniloae was visited during prayer by God, the Mother of God, and saints.
Through his elevated life, he was pleasing to God and men. He ended his life on October 4, 1993, and was buried in the cemetery of Cernica Monastery. Shining in virtue, love, and humility, he became a vessel receptive to divine gifts, discernment, and theological discourse and showed himself to be a wise guide of souls on the path of salvation.
Through his holy intercessions, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Troparion, tone 5
With a triple crown adorning you: of the priesthood, Father, of good confession, and of theology, you shine like the sun, teaching us to honor the consubstantial Trinity, before Whom, Saint Dumitru, always remember us.