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Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou deliveres an inspiring homily reflecting on the life and virtues of St. Katherine of Alexandria, highlighting her exceptional wisdom, beauty, and wealth in the ancient world. He emphasizes how St. Katherine’s gifts became her greatest temptations, yet through humility, repentance, and a deep desire for Christ, she overcame worldly ambitions and dedicated herself to God. Met. Neophytos shows the importance of using our own talents in accordance with God’s will, cultivating a genuine relationship with Christ and the Panagia (Theotokos), and seeking spiritual health over worldly recognition.
This English translation of the sermon of Metropolitan of Morphou Neophytos at the solemn Vespers of the feast of St. Katherine, which took place at the Church dedicated to the saint in the community of Byzakia under the Metropolis of Morphou, Cyprus (November 24, 2017), was provided by the Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou Homilies YouTube channel and was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios from the Orthodox Treasures YouTube channel.
🔊 Listen to an English narration of this talk on Spotify and Apple Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/02BTr4socgg9gwLbRZPPLE?si=3o6-CGm9SI-ypa2FYxw_9w
Metropolitan Neophytos:
St. Catherine was a prodigy of her time. She was lacking in nothing.
She was the cleverest daughter of Alexandria.
Do you know what Alexandria was back then?
Whatever New York, Moscow, or Paris is today; it was at the time the capital of the world.
This is what [the city] of Alexandria was at that time.
In this capital of the empire, then, [St. Katherine] was the cleverest woman.
At the time, to be a woman and clever was a dangerous thing,
unlike today when a woman has many opportunities to shine if she is skilled.
At that age, the best thing for a woman was to be a good wife to a rich man.
Rarely did women stand apart either as traders, educated people, or people of the arts.
Yet Katherine, due to her knowledge, her wisdom, the sciences she knew:
medical science and astronomy, and the many languages she spoke,
she was — as young as 18 years old —
able to stand before all the scientists, philosophers and artists of the time.
I repeat, in the then capital, not just some small city.
Furthermore, she had the wealth of her family
and she was the most beautiful daughter of Alexandria.
A saintly woman I know who lives in Crete told me that the grace of God permitted her to see
many of the women saints that we venerate.
Similarly, St. Paisios once saw St. Euphemia on Mt. Athos.
He was impressed at how short and [physically] weak the saint was, and he said,
“How is it possible for such a weak person to go through such martyrdom?”
[St. Euphemia was martyred for her faith after suffering various tortures].
She replied, “Had I known what glory, joy and grace is present in the eternal life of Christ,”
“I would have suffered twice as much.”
St. Paisios asked, “How did you endure this martyrdom? You are so small [in size].”
She replied, “The angels of God gave me strength.”
We are not alone.
The angels of Christ give us strength in the hardships of life.
All of us — as long as we have kindness and repentance.
When, however, we lack kindness and repentance,
our angel wants to come close
but our sins, our egoism, our evils prevent him.
St. Katherine was the opposite of St. Euphemia.
While St. Euphemia was — and still is — in the heaven small [in stature],
this virtuous Gerondissa of Crete told me that
St. Katherine is the tallest and the most beautiful of all the women saints.
“I have not seen a taller nor a more beautiful woman in my life than St. Katherine.”
These things challenge us, the so-called modern and curious Europeans,
[and evoke in us] admiration and surprise.
All these good things ended up being the temptation of St. Katherine.
Meaning, for such a beautiful daughter of that age, her temptation would be
to become the most prized wife of some rich man,
to have fun at her young age,
and then [he, the rich man] would find a younger and more beautiful [woman],
just like what happens in our days, sometimes.
The second temptation of the saint, besides her beauty, was her wealth.
How many rich people, throughout the ages, haven’ t been trapped in their search for wealth,
instead of realizing that [as stated in the Service of the Departure (Exodios Akolouthia)],
“All things of men are vanity; those that do not exist after death.”?
The third temptation of the saint was her knowledge, her cleverness.
How many people with an aptitude in the sciences or arts — do they not seek glory?
A scientific recognition, fame, a Nobel Prize, an Oscar?
A reward, the praise of authorities and wise people?
How many times are we not ourselves trapped in these pursuits
of the beauty and health of the body?
Whereas the Apostle Paul, who was sick all his life, appears and says,
“I begged Christ three times to make me well.”
And what did Christ say?
“Paul, My grace is sufficient for you.”
“For My strength is made perfect in weakness” [2 Corinthians 12:9].
[Paraphrasing:] “Do not seek to make your body well.”
“The grace of the Holy Spirit that I have given you is enough.”
“My strength is made perfect and is made apparent through illnesses.”
See? In the life of Christians,
all these supposed ideals posed by the modern and the old world are overturned.
They come upside down.
The up becomes down and the down becomes up.
“And he who humbles himself will be exalted.” [Luke 18:14]
Even though we say “decency [above all],”
the word “decency” is nowhere in the Gospel,
while pride is considered the worst sin.
Pride cast down the angels and made them demons.
In our days, pride is our flag.
And the search for wealth and success and the social recognition that comes with it,
along with fame, whether scientific or artistic, has become an end goal of all young people.
This hierarchy of values is, unfortunately, followed by our state and our false European education.
They do not have humility as a goal, neither wisdom in God nor philanthropy nor patience.
St. Katherine comes and all the saints, each and every one through his or her life and adventure,
to let us know that you might be sick,
but in the eyes of God you may be healthy,
because your soul is healthy.
You might be rich, but in the eyes of God, you may be poor.
Or you might be poor, but in the eyes of God you may be rich,
because you are patient and help people with the little in you possess.
St. Katherine faced the temptation of beauty, as we have said.
This specific temptation overturned her secular life and led her to sainthood
because she said, “I will find a young groom who can at least match me.”
Meaning, he must be beautiful, clever, wise and rich. He must know many things: the sciences and the arts.
Her mother was then panicked and sent her to this wise ascetic.
The ascetic told her, “If you have these requests, there is only One,”
“and this One is proven to be the creator of the universe,”
“‘The most beautiful of all mortals,’”
[from “The Life Inside a Grave”- Holy Friday Lamentations],
“our Lord Jesus Christ.”
From then on, the imagination, the desire, the cleverness, the beauty of St. Katherine
were captivated and she asks, “How can I unite with the Lord Christ?”
And then, the Panagia takes her under her wing.
This is the second thing that impresses me.
The first one is that the gifts of Saint Katherine,
at first, turned out to be her temptations.
The saint, however, restrained herself.
She set a high goal, and this high goal was not out of pride,
but out of a desire to [know] God.
[He] sent the ascetic.
The second one is how the Panagia enters her life through the ascetic.
In [St. Katherine’s] first vision, when she was still not baptized, while the Panagia approached her,
our Lord Jesus Christ, “the Most Beautiful of all,” does not want to see her.
He tells her,
“Not only are you ugly, but you also smell ugly because you have not been chrismated,”
as found in the account of the life of the saint.
He also tells her,
“You have all the demonic microbes on you because you are not baptized.”
Then, St. Katherine runs right away to get baptized.
In her second vision, Christ is not only happy to see her,
but also when the saint promises eternal virginity of body and soul,
the Panagia gives a ring to Saint Catherine, as if in a wedding,
to show that the saint is now a bride of Christ.
Thus, the Panagia is the second person who defines the life of St. Katherine.
The third, but not the last [person],
although many times He condescends to being our last choice, is Christ.
Both the gifts of the saint and the presence of Panagia — where do they lead?
They lead to Christ.
We, ourselves, have some gifts even if they are not comparable
to the cleverness, the wealth and the beauty of St. Katherine.
There is not one man without any gifts, without any talents.
Let us consider how we use our own gifts and talents in accordance with God’s will.
Is it in search of the temporary glory of men which leads to the damnation of our eternal soul?
Let us consider: what is our desire? You heard the desire of St. Katherine.
She wanted the most beautiful, the cleverest, the best of all.
And she wanted it so much that it was given to her.
From my little experience, when I have a strong desire [aligned with God’s will],
the whole universe and all the angels of God
collaborate so that it is realized.
And so it happens, sooner or later,
provided that my desire is good and in accordance with God’s will.
If it is a bad desire, if it is a desire aligned with the will of demons,
all the demons rush to realize our evilness.
Moreover, if we commit sins and do not repent and do not confess right away,
then the evil we seek does come to pass.
However, it turns against us and against our children and our grandchildren.
That’s why we need to be careful what desires we keep in our heart
and keep setting “higher” desires for ourselves.
A desire I suggest you all acquire and ask Christ for is this:
“My Christ, help me to get to know You.”
“My Christ help me learn to love You.”
“I do not know You [well enough] My Christ. I only have the impression that I know you.”
“I do not love You [well enough] My Christ. I only have the impression that I love you.”
It is one thing to be religious and another to be Christian, let alone Orthodox.
Muslims are religious too, but they are not Orthodox.
For this, the life of Saint Katherine is a life full of miracles and admiration, full of powers,
full of signs that concern our lives.
The other [important] thing [is] a relationship with the Panagia.
Whatever is impossible in our power will be given to us by Panagia.
This morning a lot of people came to confess.
All of them were telling me difficult troubles they face.
I told them, “You have this difficult problem — approach Panagia, say her Akathist Hymn,
pray one prayer rope for her every day.”
Talk to the Panagia with simple words
if you do not have time for big prayers and prayer ropes.
Do small ones, short ones, but with pain to Panagia.
The ones who take what I tell them seriously and follow them, come back and say,
“My Bishop, as you told me, the Panagia helped me.”
“And instead of giving me just one — she gave two, or six, or more.”
Panagia surely leads us to a bigger and stronger relationship with her Son, Christ.
Do you want to know Christ?
Do you want to love Christ?
First, know and love the Panagia.
We might not become “the bride of Christ,” just like St. Katherine.
We do not have her desire, we do not have her potential,
but Panagia will give us something which will suit us.
As my mother used to tell me, “to the extent of our powers.”
The Panagia knows the extent of the powers of each and every one of us.
For this, through the life of St. Catherine let us consider:
How do we make use of our talents and our gifts?
What is the relationship we have with our Panagia?
What are our desires? What desires do we cultivate?
And whether our relationship with Christ is Orthodox, or just a (superficial) pietistic relationship.
“I go every once in a while to the Liturgy, I receive the Holy Communion as a habit”
“but I do not know you, my Christ. I do not talk to You. I am afraid to even talk to You.”
Whereas you see some simple people and you tell them,
“Talk to Christ, talk to Panagia” and they do.
Some tell me, “Am I worthy to talk to Christ?”
I tell them, “Talk to a saint,”
“just like my elder, [Saint] Iakovos [Tsalikis], talked to Saint David [of Evia].”
“Can I do that?”
“Yes, you can.”
Today someone tells me, “I will start with Saint George. He is my saint.”
“He is also my saint,” I tell him.
Start talking to Saint George.
Saint George will take you to the Panagia.
The Panagia will take you to Christ.
The itinerary is always the same.
The beginning and the end is Christ.
Christ is everything.
But we can reach [Him] through the Theotokos, and a saint will take us by the hand
just like the ascetic took St. Katherine by the hand and took her to the Panagia.
Panagia is the best “matchmaker” who knows what holiness is, since she is Pan-agia [the All-holy One].
May St. Katherine give strength to all of us to make use of our gifts for the glory of God.
