November 16, 2011
N. Fort Myers, Florida: The Photion Circle met at St. Nicholas Monastery

The Photion Circle met at Saint Nicholas Monastery in North Fort Myers, FL, on Wednesday, November 9th. The topic was the Holy Unmercenary Physicians. Following readings from patristic texts and the synaxarion, a talk was given by Archpriest Damian Criscella (rector St. Nicholas and St. Gennaro Mission in Sunrise, FL). Father Damian stressed that these physicians of the early Church can be looked to not just for healing of body, but for healing of soul. In addition to his talk, Father Damian blessed Saint Phanourios cakes that some of the participants had baked.

The Photion Circle meets at the monastery trapeza on the second Wednesday of each month. Its patron is Saint Photios the Great (9th c.), who had an expansive library. Prior to becoming Patriarch of Constantinople, he had a circle of friends that met in his home to read aloud and discuss various books. Saint Photios served as teacher to many individuals, including Saint Cyril, enlightener-of-the-Slavs.

The next meeting of The Photion Circle will be Wednesday, December 14, 2011. Featured guest will be Anatole Kurdsjuk, author of The Long Walk Home, and Miracles Along the Way. This is a journal of his family's survival under Stalin and then the Nazis, and his dramatic escape from a German slave labor camp before being liberated by Patton’s Third Army. 

For more information about The Photion Circle, email Katherine Alderson at photioncircle@gmail.com.

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