The Sunday after the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. This parable of God’s forgiveness calls us to “come to ourselves” as did the prodigal son, to see ourselves as being “in a far country” far from the Father’s house, and to make the journey of return to God. We are given every assurance by the Master that our heavenly Father will receive us with joy and gladness. We must only “arise and go,” confessing our self-inflicted and sinful separation from that “home” where we truly belong (Luke 15:11-24).![]()
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After the Polyeleion at Matins, we first hear the Lenten hymn “By the Waters of Babylon.” It will be sung for the next two Sundays before Lent begins, and it serves to reinforce the theme of exile in today’s Gospel.![]()
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Starting tomorrow, the weekday readings summarize the events of Holy Week. On Monday we read Saint Mark's account of the Entry into Jerusalem. On Tuesday we read how Judas went to the chief priests and offered to betray the Lord. On the night before His death, Christ tells His disciples that one of them will betray Him. He also predicts that they will desert Him and that Peter will deny Him three times. On Wednesday the Gospel describes how Judas betrayed the Savior with a kiss. Thursday's Gospel tells how Jesus was questioned by Pilate. On Friday we read the narrative of Christ's crucifixion and death.
Today we commemorate the first and second finding of the Honorable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist, John.![]()
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After the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (August 29), his body was buried by disciples in the Samarian city of Sebaste, and his venerable head was hidden by Herodias in an unclean place. Saint Joanna (June 27), the wife of King Herod’s steward Chuza (Luke 8:3), secretly took the holy head and placed it into a vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives in one of Herod’s properties.![]()
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After many years, this property passed into the possession of a government official who became a monk with the name of Innocent. He built a church and a cell there. When they started to dig the foundation, the vessel with the venerable head of John the Baptist was uncovered. Innocent recognized its great holiness from the signs of grace emanating from it. Thus occurred the First Finding of the Head. Innocent preserved it with great piety, but fearful that the holy relic might be abused by unbelievers before his own death he again hid it in that same place, where it was found. Upon his death, the church fell into ruin and was destroyed.![]()
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During the days of Saint Constantine the Great (May 21), when Christianity began to flourish, the holy Forerunner appeared twice to two monks journeying to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places, and he revealed the location of his venerable head.![]()
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The monks uncovered the holy relic and, placing it into a sack of camel-hair, they proceeded homewards. Along the way they encountered an unnamed potter and gave him the precious burden to carry. Not knowing what he was carrying, the potter continued on his way. But the holy Forerunner appeared to him and ordered him to flee from the careless and lazy monks, with what he held in his hands. The potter concealed himself from the monks and at home he preserved the venerable head with reverence. Before his death he placed it in a water jug and gave it to his sister.![]()
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From that time the venerable head was successively preserved by devout Christians until the priest Eustathius (infected with the Arian heresy) came into possession of it. He beguiled a multitude of the infirm who had been healed by the holy head, ascribing their cures to the fact that it was in the possession of an Arian. When his blasphemy was uncovered, he was compelled to flee. After he buried the holy relic in a cave, near Emesa, the heretic intended to return later and use it for disseminating falsehood. God, however, did not permit this. Pious monks settled in the cave, and then a monastery arose at this place. In the year 452 Saint John the Baptist appeared to Archimandrite Marcellus of this monastery and indicated where his head was hidden. This became celebrated as the Second Finding. The holy relic was transferred to Emesa, and later to Constantinople.![]()
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(Icon by Aidan Hart)
Dear all! Today marks the beginning of the Lenten Triodion.![]()
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The Sunday after the Sunday of Zacchaeus is devoted to the Publican and the Pharisee. At Vespers the night before, the TRIODION (the liturgical book used in the services of Great Lent) begins.![]()
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Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee who scrupulously observed the requirements of religion: he prayed, fasted, and contributed money to the Temple. These are very good things and should be imitated by anyone who loves God. We who may not fulfil these requirements as well as the Pharisee did should not feel entitled to criticize him for being faithful. His sin was in looking down on the Publican and feeling justified because of his external religious observances.![]()
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The second man was a Publican, a tax-collector who was despised by the people. He, however, displayed humility, and this humility justified him before God (Luke 18:14).![]()
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The lesson to be learned is that we possess neither the Pharisee’s religious piety nor the Publican’s repentance, through which we can be saved. We are called to see ourselves as we really are in the light of Christ’s teaching, asking Him to be merciful to us, deliver us from sin, and to lead us on the path of salvation
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Today we commemorate Saint Mariamne the sister of the Apostle Philip.![]()
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Righteous Mariamne “The Apostolic Virgin” and sister of the holy Apostle Philip (November 14), made a vow of virginity and became the companion of her brother Philip and the holy Apostle Bartholomew (June 11), actively assisting them in their apostolic work.![]()
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The Church historian Nicephorus Callistus describes their successful preaching in the Phrygian city of Hieropolis, where they were arrested and locked up in prison. They put the Apostle Philip to death on a cross, but Saint Mariamne and Saint Bartholomew were set free. Saint Bartholomew went to preach the Gospel in India. Saint Mariamne, after burying the body of Saint Philip, preached the Gospel at Lykaonia (Asia Minor). She died there in peace.
Tomorrow we commemorate the Repose of Saint Cyril, Equal to the Apostles, Teacher of the Slavs (Constantine in the schema), and his older brother Methodius (April 6). They were Slavs, born in Macedonia in the city of Thessalonica.![]()
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Saint Cyril received the finest of educations, and from the age of fourteen, he was raised with the son of the emperor. Later, he was ordained as a priest. Upon his return to Constantinople, he worked as a librarian of the cathedral church, and as a professor of philosophy. Saint Cyril successfully held debates with iconoclast heretics and with Moslems.![]()
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Yearning for solitude, he went to Mount Olympos to his older brother Methodius, but his solitude lasted only a short while. Both brothers were sent by the emperor Michael on a missionary journey to preach Christianity to the Khazars in the year 857. Along the way, they stopped at Cherson and discovered the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement of Rome (November 25).![]()
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Arriving at the territory of the Khazars, the holy brothers spoke with them about the Christian Faith. Persuaded by the preaching of Saint Cyril, the Khazar prince together with all his people accepted Christianity. The grateful prince wanted to reward the preachers with rich presents, but they refused this and instead asked the prince to free and send home with them all the Greek captives. Saint Cyril returned to Constantinople together with 200 such captives set free.![]()
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In the year 862 began the chief exploit of the holy brothers. At the request of Prince Rostislav, the emperor sent them to Moravia to preach Christianity in the Slavic language. Saints Cyril and Methodius by a revelation from God compiled a Slavonic alphabet and translated the Gospel, Epistles, the Psalter and many Service books into the Slavonic language. They introduced divine services in Slavonic.![]()
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The holy brothers were then summoned to Rome at the invitation of the Roman Pope. Pope Adrian received them with great honour since they brought with them the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement. Sickly by nature and in poor health, Saint Cyril soon fell ill from his many labours, and after taking the schema, he died in the year 869 at the age of forty-two. Before his death, he expressed his wish for his brother to continue the Christian enlightenment of the Slavs. Saint Cyril was buried in the Roman church of Saint Clement, whose own relics also rest there, brought to Italy from Cherson by the Enlighteners of the Slavs.![]()
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Please send us a message with names for the Divine Liturgy which we celebrate every Sunday in our Parish.
Today we celebrate St Caedmon! He is the first English poet whose name is known. The author of the first recorded poem in English, he is known as the Father of English Poetry. His feast day in the Church is February 11.![]()
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According to Bede, writing in the 7th century, Cædmon was a cow-herd at a Yorkshire monastery, who was unable to sing in public until he miraculously found himself able to sing the Creation, a poem of nine lines. St. Hilda, the abbess of Whitby Abbey, encouraged his new calling and asked him to join the monastery. The poem we know as "Cædmon's Hymn" was written down by Bede in Latin in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The Anglo-Saxon version commonly read today is not, in actuality, Cædmon's own work, but comes from an Anglo-Saxon translation of Bede's history made sometime during the reign of St. Alfred the Great.![]()
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Caedmon's hymn![]()
Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,![]()
the might of the architect, and his purpose,![]()
the work of the father of glory![]()
as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders;![]()
he first created for the children of men![]()
heaven as a roof, the holy creator![]()
Then the guardian of mankind,![]()
the eternal lord, afterwards appointed the middle earth,![]()
the lands for men, the Lord almighty.![]()
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Holy Caedmon, intercede for us!
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Today we celebrate the Prophet Zachariah the Sickle-Seer the eleventh of the twelve Minor Prophets. ![]()
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He was descended from the tribe of Levi, and seems to have been a priest (Nehemiah 12:4,16). He was called to prophetic service at a young age and became, in the wondrous expression of church hymnology, “a spectator of supra-worldly visions.”![]()
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The Book of the Prophet Zachariah contains inspired details about the coming of the Messiah (Zach 6:12); about the last days of the Savior’s earthly life, about the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem on a young donkey (Zach 9:9); about the betrayal of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver and the purchase of the potter’s field with them (Zach 11:12-13); about the piercing of the Savior’s side (Zach 12:10); about the scattering of the apostles from the Garden of Gethsemane (Zach 13:7); about the eclipse of the sun at the time of the Crucifixion (Zach 14:6-7).![]()
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“Enlightened by dawnings all above,” the Prophet Zachariah, “saw the future as it were the present.” According to Tradition, this “most true God-proclaimer” lived to old age and was buried near Jerusalem, beside his illustrious contemporary and companion, the Prophet Haggai (December 16). The title “Sickle-Seer” given Zachariah comes from a vision in which he saw a sickle flying in the air, destroying thieves and perjurors (Zach 5:1-3).![]()
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The holy Prophet Zachariah died around 520 B.C. His tomb was discovered in 415 in a village near Eleutheropolis (Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. VI:32, IX:17). At the prophet’s feet was the body of a child dressed in royal accoutrements. His holy relics were transferred to the church of Saint James the Brother of the Lord (October 23) in Constantinople.
Today we celebrate the Meeting of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple.![]()
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The Meeting of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ is described in the third Gospel (Luke 2:22-40). Forty days after His birth the Divine Child was brought to the Temple at Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord. According to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a male child was forbidden to enter the Temple for forty days. At the end of the time of her purification, the mother went to the Temple with the child, to offer a young lamb, two turtledoves, or pigeons to the Lord as a sacrifice. The Most Holy Virgin had no need of purification since she had given birth to the Source of purity and sanctity. Out of humility, however, she fulfilled the requirements of the Law.![]()
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At this time the righteous Elder Simeon (February 3) was living in Jerusalem. It had been revealed to him that he would not die until he beheld the promised Messiah. By divine inspiration, Saint Simeon went to the Temple at the very moment when the Most-Holy Theotokos and Saint Joseph had brought the Child Jesus to fulfil the Law.![]()
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Saint Simeon received the divine Child in his arms,1 and giving thanks to God, he spoke the words repeated by the Church each evening at Vespers: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32). Saint Simeon said to the Most Holy Virgin: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).![]()
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At the Temple was an 84-year-old widow, Saint Anna the Prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel (February 3), “who did not leave the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day." She arrived just when Saint Simeon met the Divine Child. She also gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). In the icon of the Feast, she holds a scroll which reads: “This Child has established Heaven and earth.”![]()
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Before Christ was born, the righteous men and women lived by faith in the promised Messiah and awaited His coming. The Righteous Simeon and the Prophetess Anna, the last righteous persons of the Old Testament, were deemed worthy to meet Him in the Temple.![]()
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The Feast of the Meeting of the Lord is among the most ancient feasts of the Christian Church. We have sermons by the holy bishops Methodios of Patara (+ 312), Cyril of Jerusalem (+ 360), Gregory the Theologian (+ 389), Amphilokhios of Iconium (+ 394), Gregory of Nyssa (+ 400), and John Chrysostom (+ 407).
Today we celebrate St Brigid of Kildare.![]()
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Saint Brigid, “the Mary of the Gael,” was born around 450 in Faughart, about two miles from Dundalk in County Louth. According to Tradition, her father was a pagan named Dubthach, and her mother was Brocessa (Broiseach), one of his slaves.![]()
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Even as a child, she was known for her compassion for the poor. She would give away food, clothing, and even her father’s possessions to the poor. One day he took Brigid to the king’s court, leaving her outside to wait for him. He asked the king to buy his daughter from him since her excessive generosity made her too expensive for him to keep. The king asked to see the girl, so Dubthach led him outside. They were just in time to see her give away her father’s sword to a beggar. This sword had been presented to Dubthach by the king, who said, “I cannot buy a girl who holds us so cheap.”![]()
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Saint Brigid received monastic tonsure at the hands of Saint Mael of Ardagh (February 6). Soon after this, she established a monastery on land given to her by the King of Leinster. The land was called Cill Dara (Kildare), or “the church of the oak.” This was the beginning of women’s cenobitic monasticism in Ireland.![]()
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The miracles performed by Saint Brigid are too numerous to relate here, but perhaps one story will suffice. One evening the holy abbess was sitting with the blind nun Dara. From sunset to sunrise they spoke of the joys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and of the love of Christ, losing all track of time. Saint Brigid was struck by the beauty of the earth and sky in the morning light. Realizing that Sister Dara was unable to appreciate this beauty, she became very sad. Then she prayed and made the Sign of the Cross over Dara’s eyes. All at once, the blind nun’s eyes were opened and she saw the sun in the east, and the trees and flowers sparkling with dew. She looked for a while, then turned to Saint Brigid and said, “Close my eyes again, dear Mother, for when the world is visible to the eyes, then God is seen less clearly by the soul.” Saint Brigid prayed again, and Dara became blind once more.![]()
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Saint Brigid fell asleep in the Lord in the year 523 after receiving Holy Communion from Saint Ninnidh of Inismacsaint (January 18). She was buried at Kildare, but her relics were transferred to Downpatrick during the Viking invasions. It is believed that she was buried in the same grave with Saint Patrick (March 17) and Saint Columba of Iona (June 9).![]()
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Late in the thirteenth century, her head was brought to Portugal by three Irish knights on their way to fight in the Holy Land. They left this holy relic in the parish church of Lumiar, about three miles from Lisbon. Portions of the relic were brought back to Ireland in 1929 and placed in a new church of Saint Brigid in Dublin.![]()
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The relics of Saint Brigid in Ireland were destroyed in the sixteenth century by Lord Grey during the reign of Henry VIII.![]()
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The tradition of making Saint Brigid’s crosses from rushes and hanging them in the home is still followed in Ireland, where devotion to her is still strong. She is also venerated in northern Italy, France, and Wales.![]()
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(Source: OCA)![]()
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St Brigid, pray for us!
Today we celebrate the Three Holy Hierarchs: Gregory the Theologian, St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom.![]()
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"Let us who love their words gather together and honour with hymns the three great torch-bearers of the triune Godhead: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. These men have enlightened the world with the rays of their divine doctrines. They are sweetly-flowing rivers of wisdom filling all creation with springs of heavenly knowledge. Ceaselessly they intercede for us before the Holy Trinity!"![]()
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Have a blessed weekend!
Happy feast of St Kentigern (Mungo), first Bishop of Glasgow, Scotland.![]()
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The Orthodox Church commemorates him on the 14th but in Scotland his feast day is today so happy feast to everybody. ![]()
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Saint Kentigern was from Lothian (in Scotland), and may have been of royal blood. He left home at an early age and was brought up by a hermit named Servan (July 1) on the Firth of Forth. It was Saint Servan who gave him the name Mungo (or dear friend).![]()
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Saint Kentigern Mungo labored in Strathclyde, and founded a monastery where the city of Glasgow stands today. He was made a bishop, taking Glasgow for his See.![]()
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Driven from Scotland by the enmity of a local ruler, Saint Kentigern went to Wales and founded the monastery of Saint Asaph. Eventually, he returned to Scotland and resumed his missionary work, baptizing many people.![]()
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In 584 he met Saint Columba (June 9), and exchanged croziers with him.![]()
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Saint Kentigern was a strict ascetic who travelled everywhere on foot. It is believed that he died in Glasgow around 612 at the age of eighty-five. A Gothic cathedral was built over his shrine in the thirteenth century.![]()
(Source: OCA) ![]()
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Holy Kentigern, patron of our lovely city, intercede for us!![]()
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#stmungoday #saintkentigern #patronofglasgow #orthodoxglasgow #archangelgabrielglasgow
Today we commemorate the Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana.![]()
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The Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana was born into an illustrious Roman family, and her father was elected consul three times. He was secretly a Christian and raised his daughter to be devoted to God and the Church. When she reached the age of maturity, Tatiana decided to remain a virgin, betrothing herself to Christ. Disdaining earthly riches, she sought instead the imperishable wealth of Heaven. She was made a deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in fasting and prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.![]()
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When Rome was ruled by the sixteen-year-old Alexander Severus (222-235), all power was concentrated in the hands of the regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and persecutor of Christians. Christian blood flowed like water. Tatiana was also arrested, and they brought her into the temple of Apollo to force her to offer sacrifice to the idol. The saint began praying, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed into pieces, and part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan priests and many pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from that place. Those present saw its shadow flying through the air.![]()
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Then they tore holy virgin’s eyes out with hooks, but she bravely endured everything, praying for her tormentors that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes. And the Lord heard the prayer of His servant. The executioners saw four angels encircle the saint and beat her tormentors. A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to the holy virgin. Eight men believed in Christ and fell on their knees before Saint Tatiana, begging them to forgive them their sin against her. For confessing themselves Christians they were tortured and executed, receiving Baptism by blood.![]()
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The next day Saint Tatiana was brought before the wicked judge. Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped her and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous fragrance then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on the ground and beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times. The torturers became exhausted and said that an invisible power was beating them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels warded off the blows directed at her and turned them upon the tormentors, causing nine of them to fall dead. They then threw the saint in prison, where she prayed all night and sang praises to the Lord with the angels.![]()
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A new morning began, and they took Saint Tatiana to the tribunal once more. The torturers beheld with astonishment that after such terrible torments she appeared completely healthy and even more radiant and beautiful than before. They began to urge her to offer sacrifice to the goddess Diana. The saint seemed agreeable, and they took her to the heathen temple. Saint Tatiana made the Sign of the Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a crash of deafening thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the sacrificial offerings and the pagan priests.![]()
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Once again, the martyr was fiercely tortured. She was hung up and scraped with iron claws, and her breasts were cut off. That night, angels appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds as before. On the following day, they took Saint Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast did not harm the saint, but meekly licked her feet.![]()
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As they were taking the lion back to its cage, it killed one of the torturers. They threw Tatiana into a fire, but the fire did not harm the martyr. The pagans, thinking that she was a sorceress, cut her hair to take away her magical powers, then locked her up in the temple of Zeus.![]()
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On the third day, pagan priests came to the temple intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the floor, shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana joyously praising the Lord Jesus Christ. The judge then condemned the valiant sufferer to be beheaded with a sword. Her father was also executed with her, because he had raised her to love Christ.![]()
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St Tatiana intercede for us!
Today we celebrate the Synaxis of St John the Baptist. ![]()
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In the Orthodox Church it is customary, on the day following the Great Feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, to remember those saints who participated directly in the sacred event. So, on the day following the Theophany of the Lord, the Church honors the one who participated directly in the Baptism of Christ, placing his own hand upon the head of the Savior.![]()
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Saint John, the holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, whom the Lord called the greatest of the prophets, concludes the history of the Old Testament and opens the era of the New Testament. The holy Prophet John bore witness to the Only-Begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh. Saint John was accounted worthy to baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan, and he was a witness of the Theophany of the Most Holy Trinity on the day of the Savior’s Baptism.![]()
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The holy Prophet John, the son of the Priest Zachariah and Righteous Elizabeth, was related to the Lord on His mother’s side. The holy Forerunner, John, was born six months before Christ. The Archangel Gabriel announced his birth in the Temple at Jerusalem, revealing to Zachariah that a son was to be born to him.![]()
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Through the prayers offered beforehand, the child was filled with the Holy Spirit. Saint John prepared himself in the wilds of the desert for his great service by a strict life, by fasting, prayer and sympathy for the fate of God’s people.![]()
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At the age of thirty, he came forth preaching repentance. He appeared on the banks of the Jordan, to prepare the people by his preaching to accept the Savior of the world. In church hymnology, Saint John is called a “bright morning star,” whose gleaming outshone the brilliance of all the other stars, announcing the coming dawn of the day of grace, illumined with the light of the spiritual Sun, our Lord Jesus Christ.![]()
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Having baptized the sinless Lamb of God, Saint John soon died a martyr’s death, beheaded by the sword on orders of King Herod at the request of his daughter Salome. (On Saint John the Baptist, see Mt.3:1-16, 11:1-19, 14:1-12; Mark 1:2-8, 6:14-29; Luke 1:5-25, 39-80, 3:1-20, 7:18-35, 9:7-9; John 1:19-34, 3:22-26).![]()
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(Source: OCA)
Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of Theophany.![]()
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Theophany is the Feast which reveals the Most Holy Trinity to the world through the Baptism of the Lord (Mt.3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). God the Father spoke from Heaven about the Son, the Son was baptized by Saint John the Forerunner, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son in the form of a dove. From ancient times this Feast was called the Day of Illumination and the Feast of Lights, since God is Light and has appeared to illumine “those who sat in darkness,” and “in the region of the shadow of death” (Mt.4:16), and to save the fallen race of mankind by grace.![]()
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In the ancient Church it was the custom to baptize catechumens at the Vespers of Theophany, so that Baptism also is revealed as the spiritual illumination of mankind.![]()
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The origin of the Feast of Theophany goes back to Apostolic times, and it is mentioned in The Apostolic Constitutions (Book V:13). From the second century we have the testimony of Saint Clement of Alexandria concerning the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, and the night vigil before this Feast.![]()
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There is a third century dialogue about the services for Theophany between the holy martyr Hippolytus and Saint Gregory the Wonderworker. In the following centuries, from the fourth to ninth century, all the great Fathers of the Church: Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, John of Damascus, commented on the Feast of Theophany.![]()
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The monks Joseph the Studite, Theophanes and Byzantios composed much liturgical music for this Feast, which is sung at Orthodox services even today. Saint John of Damascus said that the Lord was baptized, not because He Himself had need for cleansing, but “to bury human sin by water,” to fulfill the Law, to reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and finally, to sanctify “the nature of water” and to offer us the form and example of Baptism.![]()
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On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, the Holy Church proclaims our faith in the most sublime mystery, incomprehensible to human intellect, of one God in three Persons. It teaches us to confess and glorify the Holy Trinity, one in Essence and Undivided. It exposes and overthrows the errors of ancient teachings which attempted to explain the Creator of the world by reason, and in human terms.![]()
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The Church shows the necessity of Baptism for believers in Christ, and it inspires us with a sense of deep gratitude for the illumination and purification of our sinful nature. The Church teaches that our salvation and cleansing from sin is possible only by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, therefore it is necessary to preserve worthily these gifts of the grace of holy Baptism, keeping clean this priceless garb, for “As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).![]()
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On the day of Theophany, all foods are permitted, even if the Feast falls on a Wednesday or Friday.![]()
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(Source: OCA)
This week the First Minister gave a clear announcement indicating the very strong concern that the Scottish government is feeling about the coronavirus situation. Mainland Scotland is to enter level four restrictions by the end of the week. The First Minister has asked people not to gather in large groups and to remain at home.![]()
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The strong advice coming to us is that in-person worship should be suspended with immediate effect.![]()
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Our hosts Wellington Church of Scotland have made this decision along with Saint Mary's Cathedral and it is with a degree of sadness that we join them in making this decision.![]()
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The parish of the Archangel Gabriel is not closed and Christmas is not cancelled. We will continue to worship online with our services screened through zoom. ![]()
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We will continue to express our care for one another and use whatever means are at our disposal to communicate that care near and far.![]()
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This year many of us will be feeling bruised and hurt by all that has happened. The love of God is for all of us and we will go on proclaiming that same love to all the world.![]()
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Once more, we find that the best way to proclaim that love is by taking our own steps to reduce opportunities for the virus to spread.![]()
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The essence of the Christmas message is that God came into the world to tell us that we are loved. That message remains utterly unchanged.
Dear all! Christmas is approaching. We hope you're all keeping well!![]()
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Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil will be celebrated on Christmas Eve (Thursday 24th) at 5.00 pm. ![]()
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Divine Liturgy will be celebrated on Christmas Day (Friday 25th) at 8.00 am.![]()
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Places are filling up quickly so please let us know as quickly as possible if you would like to attend.![]()
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"Mary was of David’s seed, so she went with Joseph to register in Bethlehem. She bore in her womb the Fruit not sown by man. The time for the birth was at hand. Since there was no room at the inn, the cave became a beautiful palace for the Queen. Christ is born, raising up the image that fell of old."![]()
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Please send us names of loved ones if you would like them remembered in the services.![]()
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Have a great start to your week and we look forward to seeing you!
Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy tomorrow at 10.00 am, for the feast of St Spyridon.![]()
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Troparion — Tone 1![]()
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"You were revealed as a champion of the First Council and a wonderworker, our God-bearing father Spyridon. You spoke to one dead in the grave and transformed a serpent into gold. While chanting your holy prayers you had angels serving with you! Glory to Him Who gave you strength! Glory to Him Who granted you a crown! Glory to Him Who through you grants healing to all!"![]()
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On Sunday we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am for The Feast of the Holy Forefathers. These are the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, who lived before the Law and under the Law, especially the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said, “In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3, 22:18).![]()
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Please let us know in advance if you're planning to come. ![]()
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We look forward to seeing you!
Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy tomorrow at 10.00 am. ![]()
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On Sunday we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am for the feast of St Nicholas, the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia.![]()
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Please let us know in advance if you're planning to come. ![]()
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"In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you. Hierarch Father Nicholas, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved."![]()
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We look forward to seeing you!
Happy St Andrew's day! We wish you all a blessed and joyful day.![]()
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"Let us praise Andrew, the herald of God, the namesake of courage, the first-called of the Saviour’s disciples and the brother of Peter. As he once called to his brother, he now cries out to us: “Come, for we have found the One whom the world desires!”![]()
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St Andrew, intercede for us!![]()
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Unfortunately we are not able to celebrate the feast together this year, but below is a memory from last year. These epic biscuits were made by John. They both look and taste good! 😀
Br Basil is making some really beautiful prayer ropes in all colours and sizes. If you're interested in purchasing some please get in touch with us.![]()
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Wishing you all a blessed Sunday! 🙂
Today we commemorate Saint Stylianus of Paphlagonia.![]()
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He was born in Paphlagonia of Asia Minor sometime between the fourth and sixth centuries. He inherited a great fortune from his parents when they died, but he did not keep it. He gave it away to the poor according to their need, desiring to help those who were less fortunate.![]()
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Stylianus left the city and went to a monastery, where he devoted his life to God. Since he was more zealous and devout than the other monks, he provoked their jealousy and had to leave. He left the monastery to live alone in a cave in the wilderness, where he spent his time in prayer and fasting.![]()
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The goodness and piety of the saint soon became evident to the inhabitants of Paphlagonia, and they sought him out to hear his teaching, or to be cured by him. Many were healed of physical and mental illnesses by his prayers.![]()
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Saint Stylianus was known for his love of children, and he would heal them of their infirmities. Even after his death, the citizens of Paphlagonia believed that he could cure their children. Whenever a child became sick, an icon of Saint Stylianus was painted and was hung over the child’s bed.![]()
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At the hour of his death, the face of Saint Stylianus suddenly became radiant, and an angel appeared to receive his soul.![]()
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Known as a protector of children, Saint Stylianus is depicted in iconography holding an infant in his arms. Pious Christians ask him to help and protect their children, and childless women entreat his intercession so that they might have children. ![]()
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(source: oca)
Aidan Hart is a friend of our community and one of the best icon painters in the UK along with our very own Katherine Sanders.![]()
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The BBC Radio 4 have done a series about icon painting with Aidan Hart so tune in to learn more about this sacred art.![]()
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www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001l7x/episodes/player?fbclid=IwAR2giK0L0H3Scn7zl-FM72HJiS9hTRHfQ1CTlI...![]()
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To explore the work of Aidan and Katherine check out the links below:![]()
aidanharticons.com/![]()
katherinesandersicons.com/
BBC Radio 4 - The Creation of an Icon - Available now
www.bbc.co.uk
Available episodes of The Creation of an Icon
We are so fortunate to have so many talented artists in our parish, all with very unique styles. ![]()
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Our good friend, parishioner and artist, John Lammie, has created some lovely Celtic inspired cards for Christmas. ![]()
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All of John's art is hand painted in his studio in Glasgow.![]()
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Cards are £2.50 each![]()
A5 prints £1![]()
Original paintings £60![]()
(Wholesale prices available for bulk orders)![]()
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For more information or to place an order please get in touch with John at ironcrow.art@gmail.com or via instagram @ironcrow7.![]()
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What a beautiful way to wish your loved ones Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow we celebrate the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. There will be Divine Liturgy at 10.00 am. Please let us know if you're wanting to come.![]()
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According to Holy Tradition, the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple took place in the following manner. The parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anna, praying for an end to their childlessness, vowed that if a child were born to them, they would dedicate it to the service of God.![]()
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When the Most Holy Virgin reached the age of three, the holy parents decided to fulfill their vow. They gathered together their relatives and acquaintances, and dressed the All-Pure Virgin in Her finest clothes. Singing sacred songs and with lighted candles in their hands, virgins escorted Her to the Temple (Ps. 44/45:14-15). There the High Priest and several priests met the handmaiden of God. In the Temple, fifteen high steps led to the sanctuary, which only the priests and High Priest could enter. (Because they recited a Psalm on each step, Psalms 119/120-133/134 are called “Psalms of Ascent.”) The child Mary, so it seemed, could not make it up this stairway. But just as they placed Her on the first step, strengthened by the power of God, She quickly went up the remaining steps and ascended to the highest one. Then the High Priest, through inspiration from above, led the Most Holy Virgin into the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest entered once a year to offer a purifying sacrifice of blood. Therefore, all those present in the Temple were astonished at this most unusual occurrence.![]()
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After entrusting their child to the Heavenly Father, Joachim and Anna returned home. The All-Holy Virgin remained in the quarters for virgins near the Temple. According to the testimony of Holy Scripture (Exodus 38; 1 Kings 1: 28; Luke 2: 37), and also the historian Josephus Flavius, there were many living quarters around the Temple, in which those who were dedicated to the service of God dwelt.![]()
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The earthly life of the Most Holy Theotokos from Her infancy until She was taken up to Heaven is shrouded in deep mystery. Her life at the Jerusalem Temple was also a secret. “If anyone were to ask me,” said Saint Jerome, “how the Most Holy Virgin spent the time of Her youth, I would answer that that is known to God Himself and the Archangel Gabriel, Her constant guardian.”![]()
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But there are accounts in Church Tradition, that during the All-Pure Virgin’s stay at the Temple, She grew up in a community of pious virgins, diligently read the Holy Scripture, occupied Herself with handicrafts, prayed constantly, and grew in love for God. From ancient times, the Church has celebrated the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. Indications that the Feast was observed in the first centuries of Christianity are found in the traditions of Palestinian Christians, which say that the holy Empress Helen (May 21) built a church in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple.![]()
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Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in the fourth century, also mentions this Feast. In the eighth century Saints Germanus and Tarasius, Patriarchs of Constantinople, delivered sermons on the Feast of the Entry.![]()
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The Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple foretells God’s blessing for the human race, the preaching of salvation, the promise of the coming of Christ.
Today we celebrate St Hilda -Hild (614 -80) Abbess of Whitby.![]()
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Hilda, was of the royal house of King Edwin of Northumbria, the daughter of his nephew Hereric. She was baptized by Paulinus of York when she was thirteen years old.![]()
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Bede says that she lived to be sixty-six years old, that her life was divided into two equal parts - thirty -three years in which she lived the life of a Christain noblewoman, much given to charitable work and thirty-three years in the monastic life. ![]()
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On the way to join her sister at the royal monastery of Chelles in the Frankish kingdom, on the first stage of her journey Aidan called her back, and persuaded her to stay in Northumbria. He seems to have under-taken her spiritual direction personally, and with much care, making regular pastoral visits to her and her companions. ![]()
She spent a year together with a few young women in a place on the banks of the river Wear, following the Columban Rule, before he sent her to become abbess of a small monastery at Hartlepool.![]()
After several years during which she was 'instructed by learned men' she was sent to found a double monastery at Whitby. Double monasteries headed by noblewoman (who often had experience in administering large estates) were not uncommon on the Continent at this time: the pattern was followed in a number of Benedictine houses. ![]()
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The nuns enclosed, and spent their lives in prayer and study, while the monks celebrated the Eucharist, heard confessions, and dealt with external relations, laboured in the fields and provided for the nuns, as it sometimes was in Ireland; but Hilda's monks were scholars and her monastery had no serfs, but had a paid work force. ![]()
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The monastery at Whitby was economically self-sufficient. There was a theological school at Whitby, and it's students included five future bishops. The monastery had its own great library, copying manuscripts, tanners providing the vellum and the beekeepers providing wax for writing-pads and candles.![]()
Hilda accepted the Roman jurisdiction after the Synod of Whitby in obedience, but found it hard. She remained as abbess for a further sixteen years. She was ill for the last remaining seven years of her life, suffering from an undulant fever and increasingly severe internal pains.![]()
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Bede says that she taught her community 'to serve God obediently when in health, and to render thanks to him faithfully when in pain or bodily weakness' until 'she joyfully welcomed death, or rather, in the words of our Lord, passed from death into life'.![]()
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Extracts taken from Who are the Celtic Saints by Kathleen Jones~
Today we celebrate the Feast of St Matthew the Evangelist.![]()
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The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, was also named Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27); he was one of the Twelve Apostles (Mark 3:18; Luke 6:45; Acts 1:13), and was brother of the Apostle James Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). He was a publican, or tax-collector for Rome, in a time when the Jews were under the rule of the Roman Empire. He lived in the Galilean city of Capernaum. When Matthew heard the voice of Jesus Christ: “Come, follow Me” (Mt. 9:9), left everything and followed the Saviour. Christ and His disciples did not refuse Matthew’s invitation and they visited his house, where they shared table with the publican’s friends and acquaintances. Like the host, they were also publicans and known sinners. This event disturbed the Pharisees and scribes a great deal.![]()
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Publicans who collected taxes from their countrymen did this with great profit for themselves. Usually greedy and cruel people, the Jews considered them pernicious betrayers of their country and religion. The word “publican” for the Jews had the connotation of “public sinner” and “idol-worshipper.” To even speak with a tax-collector was considered a sin, and to associate with one was defilement. But the Jewish teachers were not able to comprehend that the Lord had “come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mt. 9:13).![]()
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Matthew, acknowledging his sinfulness, repaid fourfold anyone he had cheated, and he distributed his remaining possessions to the poor, and he followed after Christ with the other apostles. Saint Matthew was attentive to the instructions of the Divine Teacher, he beheld His innumerable miracles, he went together with the Twelve Apostles preaching to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 10:6). He was a witness to the suffering, death, and Resurrection of the Saviour, and of His glorious Ascension into Heaven.![]()
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Having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, which descended upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, Saint Matthew preached in Palestine for several years. At the request of the Jewish converts at Jerusalem, the holy Apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel describing the earthly life of the Saviour, before leaving to preach the Gospel in faraway lands.![]()
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In the order of the books of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew comes first. Palestine is said to be the place where the Gospel was written. Saint Matthew wrote in Aramaic, and then it was translated into Greek. The Aramaic text has not survived, but many of the linguistic and cultural-historical peculiarities of the Greek translation give indications of it.![]()
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The Apostle Matthew preached among people who were awaiting the Messiah. His Gospel manifests itself as a vivid proof that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold by the prophets, and that there would not be another (Mt. 11:3).![]()
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The preaching and deeds of the Saviour are presented by the evangelist in three divisions, constituting three aspects of the service of the Messiah: as Prophet and Law-Giver (Ch. 5-7), Lord over the world both visible and invisible (Ch. 8-25), and finally as High Priest offered as Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind (Ch. 26-27).![]()
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The theological content of the Gospel, besides the Christological themes, includes also the teaching about the Kingdom of God and about the Church, which the Lord sets forth in parables about the inner preparation for entering into the Kingdom (Ch. 5-7), about the worthiness of servers of the Church in the world (Ch. 10-11), about the signs of the Kingdom and its growth in the souls of mankind (Ch. 13), about the humility and simplicity of the inheritors of the Kingdom (Mt. 18:1-35; 19 13-30; 20:1-16; 25-27; 23:1-28), and about the eschatological revelations of the Kingdom in the Second Coming of Christ within the daily spiritual life of the Church (Ch. 24-25).
Tomorrow we commemorate the Holy Martyrs and Confessors Gurias, Samonas and Habibus: during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). The two friends Gurias and Samonas, preachers of the Word of God, were arrested in the city of Edessa.![]()
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The saints refused to offer sacrifice to the gods, and boldly confessed their faith in Christ. For this they were subjected to cruel tortures: they were beaten, hung up by their hands, heavy weights were tied to their feet, and they were cast into a stifling prison.![]()
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The martyrs endured everything with firmness and Samonas uttered a prayer to the Lord, which one of the witnesses to their death wrote down: “O Lord my God, against Whose will not a single sparrow falls into the snare. It was You Who made room for David in his sorrow (Ps. 4:1), Who proved the Prophet David stronger than lions (Dan. ch. 6), and granted a child of Abraham to be victor over torture and flames (Dan. ch. 3, ch. 14). You know also, Lord, the infirmity of our nature, You see the struggle set before us. Our foe strives to snatch us, the work of Your right hand, away from You and to deprive us of the glory which is in You. With Your compassionate eye watching over us, preserve in us the inextinguishable light of Your Commandments. Guide our steps by Your light, and make us worthy of Your Kingdom, for You are blessed unto ages of ages.” By night, they took the martyrs out beyond the city and beheaded them (+ 299-306). Christians buried their holy bodies with reverence.![]()
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After some years, the last pagan emperor, Licinius (311-324), began a persecution against Christians. Habibus, a deacon of the Church of Edessa whom the emperor ordered to be arrested for his zealous spreading of the true Faith, presented himself before the executioners when he learned they were searching for him. The saint confessed his faith in Christ and was sentenced to be burned alive. The martyr went willingly into the fire and with a prayer surrendered his soul to the Lord. When the fire went out, the mother and relatives of the saint found his body unharmed. They buried the martyr next to Saints Gurias and Samonas.![]()
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After the death of the saints, numerous miracles were wrought by them for those who entreated their help with faith and love. Once, a certain Gothic soldier, sent to serve at Edessa, took the pious virgin Euphemia as his wife. Before this the barbarian vowed to her mother Sophia at the graves of the Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus that he would do his spouse no harm, and would never insult her, but would always love and cherish her.![]()
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At the completion of his service in Edessa, he took Euphemia with him back to his native land. It turned out that he had deceived her, for he already had a wife at home, and Euphemia became her slave. Her evil husband threatened to kill her if she revealed to anyone that they were married. Euphemia suffered much abuse and humiliation. When she gave birth to a son, the jealous Gothic woman poisoned him. Euphemia turned with prayer to the holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus, the witnesses to the perjurer’s oath, and the Lord delivered Euphemia from her suffering and miraculously returned her to Edessa, where she was welcomed by her mother.![]()
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After a certain while the Goth was again sent to serve in Edessa. The whole city learned of his misdeeds after he was denounced by Sophia. The Goth was executed by order of the prefect of the city.![]()
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In an Akathist, the Holy Church addresses the martyrs: “Rejoice, Gurias, Samonas and Habibus, Heavenly Patrons of honourable marriage.” We pray to them for deliverance from family turmoil, and from marital difficulties, especially where one spouse hates the other without cause.![]()
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(source: oca)
Canon to the Guardian Angel!![]()
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Troparion: O Angel of God, my holy Guardian, keep my life in the fear of Christ God, strengthen my mind in the true way and wound my soul with heavenly love, so that guided by Thee, I may obtain the great mercy of Christ God.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: O holy Lady, Mother of our God, thou didst amazingly bear the Creator of all: with my Guardian Angel always pray His kindness to save my soul inhibited and bound by passions, and grant me remission of sins.![]()
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Canon, tone 8.![]()
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Song 1.![]()
Eirmos: Let us sing to the Lord Who led His people through the Red Sea, for He alone has triumphed gloriously.![]()
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Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on us.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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Grant me, Thy servant, O Saviour, worthily to sing a song and to praise the fleshless Angel, my Guide and Guardian.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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I lay alone in folly and idleness, O my Guide and Guardian; forsake not me who am perishing.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Guide my mind by thy prayer to fulfil the commandments of God, and to receive from God remission of sins, and teach me to hate all wickedness, I pray thee.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: With my Guardian Angel, O Virgin, pray for me thy servant to the Bountiful One, and teach me to fulfill the commandments of thy Son and my Creator.![]()
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Song 3.![]()
Eirmos: Thou art the strengthening of all who come to Thee, O Lord, Thou art the Light of those in darkness, and my spirit sings of Thee.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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All my thoughts and my soul I have committed to thee, O my Guardian; deliver me from all attacks of the enemy.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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The enemy troubles and tramples on me, and teaches me to follow my own desires; but, O my Guide, forsake not the dying.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Grant me to sing with thanksgiving and fervour to my Creator and God, and to thee my good Angel Guardian: O my deliverer, rescue me from foes that trouble me.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: Heal, O immaculate one, the most painful wounds of my soul, and drive away the enemies ever fighting against me.![]()
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Lord, have mercy (thrice).![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Sedalion: From the love of my soul I cry to thee, O Guardian of my soul, my most holy Angel! Protect and guard me always from the hunting of the evil one, and guide me to the heavenly life; teach me and enlighten me and strengthen me.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, who gavest birth without seed to the Lord of all, pray Him with my Guardian Angel to deliver me from all doubt, and to give to my soul feeling and light, and to cleanse me from sin, for thou alone art a quick defender.![]()
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Song 4.![]()
Eirmos: I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of Thy plan. I contemplate Thy works, and glorify Thy divine nature.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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Pray to God the Lover of men, and leave me not, O my Guardian, but ever keep my life in peace, and grant me the invincible salvation.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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As the defender and guardian of my life I received thee from God, O Angel. I pray thee, O holy one, free me from all harm.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Cleanse my foulness by thy holiness, O my Guardian, and may I be drawn from the left side by thy prayers, and become a partaker of glory.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: Perplexity confronts me through the evil surrounding me, O immaculate one, but deliver me from it speedily, for I run only to thee.![]()
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Song 5.![]()
Eirmos: Rising early we cry to Thee, O Lord; save us, for Thou art our God, and other than Thee we know none.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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As thou hast boldness towards God, my holy Guardian, pray Him to deliver me from the evils which offend me.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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O radiant light, make radiant my soul, my Guide and Guardian Angel, given me by God.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Keep me awake who sleep from the burden of my sins, O Angel of God, and by thy prayers raise me up to glorify Him.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: O Lady Mary, Virgin Mother of God, O hope of the faithful, subdue the attacks of the enemy, and to those who sing to thee give joy.![]()
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Song 6.![]()
Eirmos: Grant me a garment of Light, O Thou Who wrappest Thyself in Light for a garment, most merciful Christ our God.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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Deliver me from every misfortune and accident and save me from sorrow, I pray, O holy Angel, given to me as my good Guardian by God.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Enlighten my mind, O good one, and illumine me, I pray thee, O holy Angel, and teach me to think always positively and profitably.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Calm my heart from present disturbance, and strengthen me to be awake to the good, O my Guardian, and guide me miraculously in quietness of life.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: The Word of God dwelt in thee, O Mother of God, and showed thee to men as the heavenly ladder. For by thee the Most High descended to us.![]()
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Lord, have mercy. (Thrice)![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Kontakion: Have compassion on me, O holy Angel of the Lord, my Guardian, and leave me not, impure as I am, but irradiate me with the Divine Light, and make me worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom.![]()
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Oekos: Grant my soul, humiliated by many temptations, the ineffable Heavenly Glory, O holy intercessor and singer with the Choirs of fleshless Powers of God. Have mercy and keep me, and illumine my soul with good thoughts, that I may be enriched by thy glory, O my Angel; subdue my foes who wish me evil, and make me worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom.![]()
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Song 7.![]()
Eirmos: Having arrived in Babylon from Judea, the children of old by their faith in the Trinity trod down the flame of the furnace singing: O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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Have mercy and pray for me, O Angel of the Lord, for I have thee as my defender for the whole of my life, the Guide and Guardian, given me by God forever.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Let not my sinful pilgrim soul, given thee chaste by God, be murdered by robbers, O Holy Angel, but lead it to the way of repentance.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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My whole soul is disgraced by evil thoughts and acts, but make haste, O my Guide, and grant me healing with good thoughts, that I may always follow the right way.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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To Jesus: Fill with wisdom and divine strength all who cry with faith, through the Mother of God, to Thee, O Personal Wisdom of the Highest: O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou.![]()
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Song 8.![]()
Eirmos: The King of Heaven, Whom Hosts of Angels praise, let us praise and exalt throughout all ages.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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Strengthen the life of thy servant and never leave me, O gracious Angel, sent by God.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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I ever hymn thee, O Good Angel, Guide and Guardian of my soul, most blessed spirit.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Be my Veil and Visor in the Judgment Day of all men, when all deeds, good and evil, will be tried by fire.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: Be the help and peace of thy servant, O Ever-Virgin Mother of God, and leave me not bereft of thy protection.![]()
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Song 9.![]()
Eirmos: Saved by thee, O pure Virgin, we confess thee to be supremely the Mother of God, and with Fleshless Choir we magnify thee.![]()
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O Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on us.![]()
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Troparia:![]()
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Have mercy on me, O my only Saviour, for Thou art merciful and kind-hearted, and make me a member of the Choirs of the Righteous.![]()
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Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray for me.![]()
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Grant me ever to think and do only what is useful, O Angel of the Lord, that I may be undefiled and strong in infirmity.![]()
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:![]()
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Having boldness towards the Heavenly King, pray Him, with the other Angels, to have mercy on me, wretched as I am.![]()
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Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.![]()
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Theotokion: O Virgin, who hast great boldness towards Him Who took flesh of thee, deliver me from attachments and grant me forgiveness and salvation by thy prayers.![]()
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Prayer to the Holy Guardian Angel![]()
Holy Angel of Christ, I fall down and pray to thee, my holy Guardian, given me from holy Baptism for the protection of my sinful body and soul. By my laziness and bad habits, I have angered thy most pure light, and have driven thee away from me by all my shameful deeds, lies, slanders, envy, condemnation, scorn, disobedience, brotherly-hatred, grudges, love of money, adultery, anger, meanness, greed, excess, talkativeness, negative and evil thoughts, proud ways, dissolute madness, having self-will in all the desires of the flesh. O my evil will, which even the dumb animals do not follow! How canst thou look at me or approach me who am like a stinking dog? With what eyes, O Angel of Christ, wilt thou look at me so badly snared in evil deeds? How can I ask forgiveness for my bitter, evil and wicked deeds, into which I fall every day and night, and every hour? But I fall down and pray, O my holy Guardian: pity me, thy sinful and unworthy servant (Name). Be my helper and protector against my wicked enemy, by thy holy prayers, and make me a partaker of the Kingdom of God with all the Saints, always, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Akathist to the Holy Archangel Michael![]()
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Kontakion 1![]()
O chosen leader of the heavenly hosts and defender of the human race, we that are delivered by thee from afflictions offer unto thee this hymn of thanksgiving; and as thou dost stand before the throne of the King of Glory, do thou free us from all dangers, that with faith and love we may cry unto thee in praise:![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Ekos 1![]()
With the tongues of angels it is meet that thou be praised as first among the fiery choirs of angels, O Michael; but until we are taught by thee the tongue of the bodiless ones, hearken thou to such things as these from tongues which, though human, are yet thankful:![]()
Rejoice, primordial star of the world! Rejoice, candle of truth and righteousness brightly gleaming!![]()
Rejoice, first receiver of the rays of the uncreated light among the choirs of angels! Rejoice, captain of Angels and Archangels!![]()
Rejoice, thou in whom the glory of the Maker's right hand shineth most of all!![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom the assemblies of all the bodiless creation are adorned!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 2![]()
Perceiving with the eyes of faith the greatness of thy spiritual beauty and the power of thy right hand which beareth lightning, O Archangel of God, we, as earthly ones and wrapped in flesh, are filled with wonder, joy, and thanksgiving to the Creator of all, crying out with all the hosts of heaven: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 2![]()
A mind pure and free of passions do thou entreat for us, O most wondrous Michael, leader of the heavenly ranks, that having ascended in thought from the earthly to the heavenly, we may sing to thee a hymn of praise thus:![]()
Rejoice, nearest beholder of the ineffable beauty and goodness of God!![]()
Rejoice, intimate initiate of the all-good counsels of the Most Holy Trinity!![]()
Rejoice, faithful fulfiller of the pre-eternal judgments of the Trinity!![]()
Rejoice, thou at whom the heavenly armies are lovingly amazed!![]()
Rejoice, thou whom those born of earth glorify with faith!![]()
Rejoice, thou before whom the hosts of hades tremble!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 3![]()
Manifesting within thyself the invincible power of zeal for the glory of God, thou didst stand at the head of the choirs of angels against the malice-breathing most-proud morning star. With him and his dark comrades being cast down from on high to the nether regions, the heavenly armies most gloriously led by thee, with gladness, as with one mouth, before the throne of God cried aloud: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 3![]()
All the Christian race hath thee, O Archangel Michael, as a great protector and a wondrous helper in battle with adversaries; therefore, desiring to be vouchsafed thy most wondrous protection, we cry to thee on the day of thy festi¬val thus:![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom Satan was hurled down like lightning from Heaven!![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom the protected human race goeth up to Heaven!![]()
Rejoice, most wondrous adornment of the all-radiant world above!![]()
Rejoice, most glorious defense of the fallen world below!![]()
Rejoice, thou who wast in no wise vanquished by the powers of evil!![]()
Rejoice, thou who with all the angels of God hast been established in truth and righteousness forever by the Grace of God!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 4![]()
From the tempest of temptations and dangers do thou deliver us who with love and joy celebrate thy most radiant festival, O foremost of the angels; for thou art a great helper in misfortunes, and at the hour of death a guardian and intercessor against evil spirits for all that cry to thy and our Master and God: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos4![]()
Seeing thy boldness against the legions of Satan, all the ranks of the angels strove with joy to follow thee into battle for the name and glory of their Master, crying aloud: Who is like unto God? And knowing that Satan was cast down beneath thy feet, we cry out to thee as victor:![]()
Rejoice, thou through whom peace and tranquility were established in Heaven!![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom the spirits of evil were put down even unto hades!![]()
Rejoice, thou who dost direct the angelic armies and the hosts of the invisible world to the destruction of evil!![]()
Rejoice, thou who, unseen, dost quell the strife and turmoil of the elements of the visible world!![]()
Rejoice, wondrous defender of them that wage warfare against the spirits of evil under the heavens!![]()
Rejoice, strong helper of them that weaken amid the temptations and dangers of this age!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 5![]()
A divinely-flowing fountain of most great miracles didst thou reveal thyself to be in thy temple at Chonae, for not only was the great and terrible serpent which abode in that place destroyed by thy power, but also streams of water which heal every bodily ailment were revealed, that all might cry out with faith to the Master of the angels Who doth glorify thee: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 5![]()
Hearing and knowing thee to be a great beacon shining among the choirs of angels, O most wondrous Michael, to thee, after God and the most holy Mother of God, we flee; illumine with the rays of thy light all of us that cry unto thee:![]()
Rejoice, conductor and guardian of the God-chosen people in the wilderness!![]()
Rejoice, great intermediary of the law given on Sinai by the hand of Moses!![]()
Rejoice, thou through whom the judges and leaders of Israel found strength and protection!![]()
Rejoice, thou through whom the prophets and high priests of the Jews received the gift of knowledge from the omniscient God!![]()
Rejoice, thou who providest the God-fearing lawgivers with mystical wisdom!![]()
Rejoice, thou who places judgment and righteousness in the hearts of them that do good!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 6![]()
When once Manoah saw thee, the proclaimer of the judgments of God, he was filled with doubt and fear, think¬ing that he would live no longer on earth; but learning from his wife of the goodness of thine appearance and the meek¬ness of thy words, and that he was to beget, according to thy word, his son Sampson, in joy and thanksgiving he cried to God: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 6![]()
Thou didst shine forth wondrously with glory, O Michael, when thou didst stand before Joshua, son of Nun, in the form of a man, saying: Loose thy sandal from off thy foot; I am the supreme commander of the hosts of the Lord. Marveling at such an appearance of thine, with love we cry unto thee:![]()
Rejoice, vigilant guardian of divinely-crowned heads!![]()
Rejoice, speedy subduer of them that oppose authority as opposers of the command of God!![]()
Rejoice, pacifier of disturbance among the people!![]()
Rejoice, invisible abolisher of the customs of the impious!![]()
Rejoice, for thou dost enlighten them that doubt in the hour of cruel perplexity!![]()
Rejoice, for thou dost free the tempted from pernicious slander!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 7![]()
Desiring to show that the lot of the children of men is not haphazard, but is continually held in His right hand, the Master of all gave thee as a helper and guardian to the kingdoms of the earth, that thou mightest prepare the tribes and peoples for the eternal kingdom of God; therefore all, knowing of thy great service to the salvation of mankind, thankfully cry unto God: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 7![]()
New wonders did the Maker and Master of all show us on earth through thee, O supreme commander, when thou didst wondrously save the temple dedicated to thy name from inundation by the waters of the river, commanding the streams of the torrent to flow into a cavern of the earth: see¬ing this, the blessed Archippus with his spiritual children thankfully cried aloud to thee:![]()
Rejoice, indestructible rampart of the holy temples of God!![]()
Rejoice, invincible barrier to enemies of the Christian Faith!![]()
Rejoice, thou through whose command the elements are brought under subjection!![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom all evil designs are defeated!![]()
Rejoice, thou who bearest joy to the faithful from the throne of the Almighty!![]()
Rejoice, thou who leadest unbelievers to the path of truth and righteousness!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 8![]()
A strange miracle of thy power, O supreme commander of God, did Abbachum himself experience when, according to the command of God to transport him, thou didst bear him speedily from Judea to Babylon to give food to Daniel, who was imprisoned in the lions' den; wherefore, marvel ling at the great act of thy power, he cried out with faith: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 8![]()
Thou art in the highest, O Michael, standing before the throne of the King of Glory, yet not far from those below, battling continually with the enemies of man's salvation. Wherefore, all that desire to reach the longed-for heavenly homeland cry out to thee with one accord:![]()
Rejoice, leader of the thrice-holy hymn of the angels!![]()
Rejoice, ever ready mediator and guardian of those born of earth!![]()
Rejoice, thou who didst strike down proud Pharaoh and the unbelieving Egyptians in a wondrous manner!![]()
Rejoice, thou who didst most gloriously lead the faithful Jews in the wilderness!![]()
Rejoice, thou through whom the flame was quenched in the furnace of Babylon!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 9![]()
All the monks of holy Mount Athos in joyful trembling came, beholding how thou didst save the God-fearing youth who had been violently cast into the depths of the sea with stones by ungodly lovers of money; wherefore, the monastery adorned with thy name, having received him, thankfully cried out to the Lord: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 9![]()
The words of orators and the thoughts of philosophers do not suffice to tell of thy power, O Michael; how in one night thou didst strike down one hundred eighty-five thou¬sand of the warriors of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, that he might learn to blaspheme the name of the Lord no more. And we, honoring thy holy zeal for the glory of the true God, with gladness cry to thee:![]()
Rejoice, unconquerable leader of Orthodox armies!![]()
Rejoice, fear and downfall of the forces of error!![]()
Rejoice, implanter of right faith and reverence for God!![]()
Rejoice, uprooter of dissension and soul-harming heresies!![]()
Rejoice, thou who didst often strengthen the pious Maccabees on the field of battle!![]()
Rejoice, thou who didst strike down Heliodorus, captain of Antiochus, in the temple itself!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 10![]()
Unto us that desire to be saved be thou a firm helper, O supreme commander of God, delivering and preserving us from dangers and temptations, above all from our evil habits and sins, that progressing in faith, hope, and love, with joy because of thy most wondrous aid, we may cry unto the Master of angels and men: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 10![]()
A rampart art thou unto men that believe, O supreme commander of God, and a pillar of strength in battle with enemies visible and invisible; therefore, being delivered through thee from the nets of demons, with thankful hearts and lips we cry unto thee:![]()
Rejoice, invincible opponent of the enemies of the faith and adversaries of the Church!![]()
Rejoice, tireless helper of the humble proclaimers of the Gospel!![]()
Rejoice, thou who enlightenest them that sit in the darkness of false faith with the light of the faith of Christ!![]()
Rejoice, thou who guidest into the path of repentance and truth those made foolish by false wisdom!![]()
Rejoice, terrible avenger of those that take the name of God in vain!![]()
Rejoice, lightning-bearing chastiser of those that foolishly scoff at the mysteries of the holy Faith!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 11![]()
Every song of praise is defeated O supreme commander of God, by the multitude of thy miracles, which are per¬formed by thee not only in Heaven and on earth, but also in the dark shadows of the nether regions, where thou didst bind the serpent of the abyss with the chains of the power of the Lord, that those delivered from his malice might bless the Master of Heaven and earth, crying aloud: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 11![]()
A light-bearing servant of truth and the purity of divine worship wast thou shown to be, O supreme commander, when, foreseeing the snares of the spirit of darkness, thou didst forbid him in the name of God so that he dare not reveal the hidden body of Moses, departed leader of Israel, to the sensual sons of Israel for idolatrous veneration; there¬fore, honoring now the right-radiant feast of thy Synaxis, thankfully we cry unto thee:![]()
Rejoice, thou who didst preserve the purity of the knowledge of God among the Jews in the days of the Old Testament!![]()
Rejoice, thou who didst uproot the tares of error many times in the days of the New!![]()
Rejoice, destroyer of heathen prophets and idols!![]()
Rejoice, fortifier of Christian ascetics and passion-bearers!![]()
Rejoice, thou who fillest the weak in spirit with the power of the Grace of God!![]()
Rejoice, thou who girdest the weak in the flesh with the armor of faith!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 12![]()
Grace from God in Heaven do thou ask for us who sing to the glory of thine all-honorable name, O Michael, that overshadowed by thy protection, we may live in all piety and purity until, loosed by death from the bonds of flesh, we may be vouchsafed to stand before the fiery throne of the King of Glory, and cry aloud with the angelic choirs: Alleluia!![]()
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Ekos 12![]()
Hymning thy manifold wonders, accomplished for our salvation O Michael, we pray to the Lord and Master of all that the spirit of zeal for the glory of God that is in thee in no wise be lacking in us who cry out to thee:![]()
Rejoice, thou who dost most wondrously set upon the summit of power the faithful servants of God in a seasonable time!![]()
Rejoice, thou who dost invisibly overthrow the arrogant and unworthy from the height of power and glory!![]()
Rejoice, thou who shalt gather the chosen from the four comers of the earth on the last day!![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom sinners, like tares, according to the voice of God, shall be committed to eternal fire!![]()
Rejoice, thou by whom Satan with his angels shall be cast into the lake of fire forever!![]()
Rejoice, thou through whom the righteous shall dwell most gloriously in the mansions of the heavenly Father!![]()
Rejoice, O Michael, great supreme commander, with all the hosts of Heaven!![]()
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Kontakion 13![]()
O most wonderful leader of Angels and Archangels, for thy most marvelous service in the salvation of mankind accept from us the voice of praise and thanksgiving which we now offer unto thee, and as thou art full of the power of God, shelter us with thine immaterial wings from all ene¬mies visible and invisible, that to the Lord glorified by thee and Who hath glorified thee we may continually cry: Alleluia! Thrice.![]()
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And again Ekos 1 and Kontakion 1.![]()
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Prayer to the Holy Archangel Michael![]()
O holy and great Archangel of God Michael, first among the angels that stand before the inscrutable and transcen¬dent Trinity, overseer and guardian of the human race, who with thine armies didst crush the head of the most-proud Morning Star in Heaven and dost ever put to shame his evil and cunning on earth, to thee do we flee with faith and to thee we pray with love; ![]()
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be thou an invincible shield and a firm bulwark of the Holy Church and our homeland, pro¬tecting them with thy lightning-bearing sword from all ene¬mies, both visible and invisible. Be thou a guardian angel, a most wise counselor and helper of Orthodox Christians, of our country, bringing them from the throne of the King of kings enlightenment and power, joy, peace, and consolation. Be thou the chief captain and companion in arms of our Christ-loving armed forces, crowning them with glory and victory over adversaries, that all who oppose us may know that God and His holy angels are with us. ![]()
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And leave not without thy help and protection, O Archangel of God, also us who glorify thy holy name today; for behold, even though we be great sinners, nevertheless we desire not to perish in our iniquities, but rather to turn to the Lord and be quickened by Him unto good works. Illumine, therefore, our minds with the light of God's countenance, which con¬tinually shineth on thy lightning-like forehead, that we may understand what the good and perfect will of God is con-cerning us, and know all that which we ought to do, and that which we ought to despise and abandon. Strengthen through the Grace of the Lord our weak will and feeble state, that, made firm in the law of the Lord, we may hence¬forth cease to be tossed to and fro by earthly thoughts and the lusts of the flesh, enticed away, like senseless children, by the quickly-perishing beauties of this world, foolishly forgetting the eternal and heavenly for the sake of the corruptible and earthly. Above all these things, do thou ask for us from on high a true spirit of repentance, unfeigned sor¬row before God and contrition for our sins, that we may spend the number of days that remain to us of this transito¬ry life not in gratifying our senses and in slavery to our passions, but in wiping out the evil things we have done by tears of faith and heartfelt contrition, by struggles of purity and holy deeds of mercy. And when the hour of our end and liberation from the bonds of this body of clay draweth nigh, O Archangel of God, leave us not defenseless against the spirits of evil in the upper air, who are accustomed to hinder the ascent of man's soul on high, that guarded by thee we may attain without hindrance those most glorious dwelling-places of Paradise, where there is neither sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting, and be vouchsafed to behold the most radiant countenance of our all-beneficent Lord and Master, fall down with tears at His feet, in joy and compunction shouting aloud: Glory to Thee, our most dear Redeemer, Who, because of Thy great love for us unworthy ones, hast been pleased to send Thine angels in the service of our salvation! Amen.
Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers![]()
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The Synaxis of the Chief of the Heavenly Hosts, Archangel Michael and the Other Heavenly Bodiless Powers: Archangels Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jehudiel, Barachiel, and Jeremiel was established at the beginning of the fourth century at the Council of Laodicea, which met several years before the First Ecumenical Council. The 35th Canon of the Council of Laodicea condemned and denounced as heretical the worship of angels as gods and rulers of the world, but affirmed their proper veneration.![]()
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A Feast day was established in November, the ninth month after March (with which the year began in ancient times) since there are Nine Ranks of Angels. The eighth day of the month was chosen for the Synaxis of all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven since the Day of the Dread Last Judgment is called the Eighth Day by the holy Fathers. After the end of this age (characterized by its seven days of Creation) will come the Eighth Day, and then “the Son of Man shall come in His Glory and all the holy Angels with Him” (Mt. 25:31).![]()
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The Angelic Ranks are divided into three Hierarchies: highest, middle, and lowest.![]()
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The Highest Hierarchy includes: the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones.![]()
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The six-winged SERAPHIM (Flaming, Fiery) (Is 6:12) stand closest of all to the Most Holy Trinity. They blaze with love for God and kindle such love in others.![]()
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The many-eyed CHERUBIM (outpouring of wisdom, enlightenment) (Gen 3:24) stand before the Lord after the Seraphim. They are radiant with the light of knowledge of God, and knowledge of the mysteries of God. Through them wisdom is poured forth, and people’s minds are enlightened so they may know God and behold His glory.![]()
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The THRONES (Col 1:16) stand after the Cherubim, mysteriously and incomprehensibly bearing God through the grace given them for their service. They are ministers of God’s justice, giving to tribunals, kings, etc. the capacity for righteous judgment.![]()
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The Middle Angelic Hierarchy consists of three Ranks: Dominions, Powers, and Authorities:![]()
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DOMINIONS (Col 1:16) hold dominion over the angels subject to them. They instruct the earthly authorities, established by God, to rule wisely, and to govern their lands well. The Dominions teach us to subdue sinful impulses, to subject the flesh to the spirit, to master our will, and to conquer temptation.![]()
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POWERS (1 Pet 3:22) fulfil the will of God without hesitation. They work great miracles and give the grace of wonderworking and clairvoyance to saints pleasing to God. The Powers assist people in fulfilling obediences. They also encourage them to be patient, and give them spiritual strength and fortitude.![]()
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AUTHORITIES (1 Pet 3:22, Col 1:16) have authority over the devil. They protect people from demonic temptations, and prevent demons from harming people as they would wish. They also uphold ascetics and guard them, helping people in the struggle with evil thoughts.![]()
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The Lowest Hierarchy includes the three Ranks: Principalities, Archangels, and Angels:![]()
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PRINCIPALITIES (Col 1:16) have command over the lower angels, instructing them in the fulfilling of God’s commands. They watch over the world and protect lands, nations and peoples. Principalities instruct people to render proper honor to those in authority, as befits their station. They teach those in authority to use their position, not for personal glory and gain, but to honor God, and to spread word of Him, for the benefit of those under them.![]()
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ARCHANGELS (1 Thess 4:16) are messengers of great and wondrous tidings. They reveal prophecies and the mysteries of the faith. They enlighten people to know and understand the will of God, they spread faith in God among the people, illuminating their minds with the light of the Holy Gospel.![]()
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ANGELS (1 Pet 3:22) are in the lowest rank of the heavenly hierarchy, and closest to people. They reveal the lesser mysteries of God and His intentions, guiding people to virtuous and holy life. They support those who remain steadfast, and they raise up the fallen. They never abandon us and they are always prepared to help us, if we desire it.![]()
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All the Ranks of the Heavenly Powers are called angels, although each has its own name and position by virtue of their service. The Lord reveals His will to the highest ranks of the angels, and they in turn inform the others.![]()
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Over all the Nine Ranks, the Lord appointed the Holy Archangel Michael (his name in Hebrew means “who is like unto God”), the faithful servitor of God, as Chief Commander. He cast down from Heaven the arrogantly proud Lucifer and the other fallen spirits when they rebelled against God. Michael summoned the ranks of angels and cried out, “Let us attend! Let us stand aright before our Creator and do not consider doing what is displeasing unto God!”![]()
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According to Church Tradition, and in the church services to the Archangel Michael, he participated in many other Old Testament events.![]()
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During the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt he went before them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Through him the power of the Lord was made manifest, annihilating the Egyptians and Pharaoh who were in pursuit of the Israelites. The Archangel Michael defended Israel in all its misfortunes.![]()
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He appeared to Joshua Son of Navi and revealed the will of the Lord at the taking of Jericho (Josh 5:13-16). The power of the great Chief Commander of God was manifest in the annihilation of the 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib (4/2 Kings 19:35); also in the smiting of the impious leader Heliodorus (2 Macc. 3: 24-26); and in the protection of the Three Holy Youths: Ananias, Azarias and Misail, thrown into the fiery furnace for their refusal to worship an idol (Dan 3:22-25).![]()
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Through the will of God, the Chief Commander Michael transported the Prophet Habbakuk (December 2) from Judea to Babylon, to give food to Daniel in the lions’ den (Dan. 14:33-37).![]()
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The Archangel Michael disputed with the devil over the body of the holy Prophet Moses (Jude 1:9).![]()
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The holy Archangel Michael showed his power when he miraculously saved a young man, cast into the sea by robbers with a stone about his neck on the shores of Mt Athos. This story is found in the Athonite Paterikon, and in the Life of Saint Neophytus of Docheiariou (November 9).![]()
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We invoke Saint Michael for protection from invasion by enemies and from civil war, and for the defeat of adversaries on the field of battle. He conquers all spiritual enemies.![]()
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Holy Scripture and Tradition give us the names of the Archangels:![]()
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Gabriel: strength (power) of God, herald and servitor of Divine omnipotence (Dan 8:16, Luke 1:26). He announces the mysteries of God.![]()
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Raphael: the healing of God, the curer of human infirmities (Tobit 3:16, 12:15)![]()
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Uriel: the fire or light of God, enlightener (3 Ezdras 5:20). We pray for him to enlighten those with darkened minds.![]()
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Selaphiel: the prayer of God, impelling to prayer (3 Ezdras 5:16). He prays to God for mankind.![]()
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Jehudiel: the glorifying of God, encouraging exertion for the glory of the Lord and interceding for the reward of efforts.![]()
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Barachiel: distributor of the blessings of God for good deeds, entreats the mercy of God for people.![]()
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Jeremiel: the raising up to God (3 Ezdras 4:36)![]()
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On icons the Archangels are depicted in according to the character of their service:![]()
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Michael tramples the devil underfoot, and in his left hand holds a green date-tree branch, and in his right hand a spear with a white banner on which is outlined a scarlet cross, or sometimes a fiery sword.![]()
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Gabriel with a branch from Paradise, presented by him to the Most Holy Virgin, or with a shining lantern in his right hand and with a mirror made of jasper in his left.![]()
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Raphael holds a vessel with healing medications in his left hand, and with his right hand leads Tobias, carrying a fish for healing (Tobit 5-8).![]()
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Uriel in his raised right hand holds a naked sword at the level of his chest, and in his lowered left hand “a fiery flame.”![]()
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Selaphiel in a prayerful posture, gazing downwards, hands folded on the chest.![]()
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Jehudiel holds a golden crown in his right hand, in his left, a whip of three red (or black) thongs.![]()
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Barachiel is shown with a white rose on his breast.![]()
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Jeremiel holds balance-scales in his hand.![]()
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Each person has a guardian angel, and every nation also receives its own guardian angel from God (Dan. 10:13). When a church is consecrated, it also receives a guardian angel (Palladius, Dial. Ch. 10)
There will be Divine Liturgy tomorrow, Saturday 7th at 10.00 am. ![]()
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We will also celebrate Divine Liturgy on Sunday at 8.00 am for the feast of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven.![]()
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Please let us know in advance if you're planning to come.![]()
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Troparion Tone 4![]()
"Commanders of the heavenly hosts, we who are unworthy beseech you, by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory, and faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you: “Deliver us from all harm, for you are the commanders of the powers on high!”![]()
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Kontakion Tone 2![]()
"Commanders of God’s armies and ministers of the divine glory, princes of the bodiless angels and guides of mankind, ask for what is good for us, and for great mercy, supreme commanders of the Bodiless Hosts."
Dear all! 2020 has been a difficult year for all of us. With the holidays approaching meaningful gifts is one of the ways we can keep in touch with loved ones. ![]()
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We are fortunate to have many talented artists in our Church. One of them is, Ellie Buck who runs Twine & Thistle Cards. Check out her page here on facebook @twineandthistlecards. ![]()
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All cards are handmade in Scotland with a lot of love and care!![]()
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Today we celebrate St Demetrius, the Myrrh-gusher of Thessalonica.![]()
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"The entire world has found you to be a great champion in times of peril; for you put the heathen to flight, O victorious one. As you brought to naught the boasts of Lyaeus, and gave courage to Nestor in the stadium, in the same way, O Holy Great Martyr Dēmḗtrios, entreat Christ God, that He grant us great mercy."![]()
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May he intercede for us!
Today we celebrate the Feast of St James, the Brother of Jesus.![]()
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May this great saint intercede for us!![]()
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Troparion — Tone 4![]()
As the Lord’s disciple you received the Gospel, O righteous James; as a martyr you have unfailing courage; as God’s brother, you have boldness; as a hierarch, you have the power to intercede. Pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved.![]()
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Kontakion — Tone 4![]()
When God the Word, the Only-begotten of the Father, came to live among us in these last days, He declared you, venerable James, to be the first shepherd and teacher of Jerusalem and a faithful steward of the spiritual Mysteries. Therefore, we all honour you, O Apostle.
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1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greeting. Faith and Wisdom 2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let
Dear all! Hope you're keeping well.![]()
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This Saturday we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 10.00 am for the feast of the Prophet Hosea.![]()
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We will also celebrate Divine Liturgy on Sunday at 8.00 am for the feast of St Luke the Evangelist!![]()
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Places are filling up quickly so please contact Fr Augustine or Br Basil if you would like to attend a service. Due to Covid-19 we can only have a limited amount of people present so it is important that you get in touch with us as soon as possible if you would like to come.![]()
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We look forward to seeing you!
Today we celebrate the Synaxis of all Saints of Alaska. 😀 ![]()
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Troparion![]()
"Today Alaska rejoices and America celebrates, for the new world has been sanctified by martyrdom. Kodiak echoes with songs of thanksgiving, Iliamna and Kenai observe the festival of faith. The Apostle and martyr Juvenaly is glorified, and Peter the Aleut is exalted by his voluntary sacrifice, in their devotion and love for the Lord they willingly endured persecution and death for the Truth, now in the Kingdom of Heaven they intercede for our souls!"![]()
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"Today Valaam joins Alaska in celebrating this joyous feast, as her spiritual son Juvenaly embraces the new martyr Peter with love. Together they suffered for the Lord in America and united the old world with the new by their voluntary sacrifice. Now forever they stand before the King of glory and intercede for our souls."
Today we celebrate the Prophet Jonah!![]()
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"The memory of your Prophet Jonah, we celebrate today, O Lord. By his prayers we entreat you: O Christ God, save our souls!"
The last destination of our fantastic virtual pilgrimage is Glasgow, where our Patron, the Archangel Gabriel is waiting for us. 😀
Today we celebrate the feast of St Ninian, enlightener of Scotland.![]()
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Saint Ninian was born in Cumberland in Britain around the year 360, about a half century after the Emperor Constantius Chlorus died in the British city of York, and his son Constantine, who was with him when he died, was proclaimed Emperor. ![]()
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Ninian was born of Christian parents of noble lineage, at a time when paganism was still strong in his native land. As a young man he went to Rome, where he spent many years in study and ascetical struggles. At Rome, Saint Ninian was consecrated some time after the death of Pope Damasus in 384, and was sent back to his native island about the end of the fourth century. ![]()
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On his return journey, it is likely that he passed through Tours and met Saint Martin; what is certain is that many churches and cells associated with Saint Ninian, including his own cathedral in Whithorn, were named in honour of Saint Martin. When Saint Ninian returned to Cumberland, he established monasteries that fostered both the life of prayer and missionary labours. ![]()
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By his preaching, his godly life, and his miracles, he ministered to his own countrymen, the Britons, and also converted many of the pagan Picts, who inhabited the northern regions (in today's Scotland). He reposed in peace at his see of Whithorn in Galloway in 432.![]()
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Apolytikion of Ninian of Scotland![]()
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As the equal of the Lord's Apostles, thou didst bring the grace of good tidings to the lands of the Scots, O wise Ninian. Thou art a lamp to our feet, who enlightenest our souls to walk in the path of God's commands. Hence, we honour thee and cry unto thee with fervent faith: Entreat Christ God to grant great mercy unto us.![]()
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Kontakion of Ninian of Scotland ![]()
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To thee, our father, guide, and teacher in the Christian Faith, do we now offer fitting hymns of praise and gratitude, and, O godly boast of Cumberland, we extol thee. But since thou hast grace and boldness at the throne of God, do thou shelter and protect all who acclaim thy name, for we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Father Ninian.![]()
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(Source: GOARCH, Icon: Aidan Hart)
Today we celebrate The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. ![]()
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Troparion — Tone 1![]()
O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance. Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries. And by virtue of Your Cross, preserve Your habitation.![]()
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Kontakion — Tone 4![]()
As You were voluntarily raised upon the cross for our sake, grant mercy to those who are called by Your Name, O Christ God; make all Orthodox Christians glad by Your power, granting them victories over their adversaries, by bestowing on them the Invincible trophy, Your weapon of Peace.![]()
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Wishing you all a happy feast and a great start to your week! 🙂
The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord
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Dear all! The Virtual Kiltwalk is taking place this weekend! There is still time to make a donation if you're able. Your support means a lot to us. ![]()
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We have received such positive feedback on the Virtual pilgrimage designed by Nina, that we have created a gallery with all her beautiful art. 😀 To read more about these incredible saints and to make a donation, please follow the link below. ![]()
edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/nina
Today we celebrate a very inspirational and influential Orthodox woman, St Kassiani. May her example inspire us all!Today we celebrate St Kassiani the Hymnographer.![]()
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She was a poet who lived in the 800s, writing both liturgical verse and non-liturgical poetry. At least 23 of her compositions are included in the Orthodox liturgical books. She is notable for being only one of two Byzantine women in the Middle Ages who wrote in her own name. She also is one of the most celebrated hymnographers, and was included in lists of the 'greats' since before the fall of Constantinople.![]()
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She was a strong and outspoken woman who wasn't afraid to express herself. One of her poems reads:![]()
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I hate the fool who acts like a philosopher![]()
I hate the rich man who groans that he is poor![]()
I hate the person who is forever changing his ways![]()
I hate the judge who is a respecter of persons![]()
I hate silence when it is time to speak![]()
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When she was young, she was chosen to participate in a 'bride show' in which women were paraded in front of the Emperor so that he may choose his bride. The young Theophilos was especially attracted to Kassiani and approached her, saying "Through a woman came forth baser things," as an innuendo, referring to Eve. Kassiani rebuffed the young emperor, replying "And through a woman came forth better things," referring to Mary.![]()
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Kassiani went on to found a convent and to become an abbess. Monasticism was a common social institution for independent, unmarried women in those days.![]()
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Throughout her life, Kassiani refused to be silenced when it was time to speak. Emperor Theophilos was an iconoclast, and St. Kassiani again rebuffed him by defending the faith and the veneration of icons. For this he had her scourged and persecuted.
"You ascended to the heights of the virtues, Prophet Moses; therefore, you were deemed worthy to see the glory of God. Having received the grace-filled tablets of the Law, and bearing the grace of the writing within yourself, you were the honourable praise of prophets, and a great mystery of piety."![]()
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Holy Prophet, Moses, pray for us!Today we celebrate St Moses the Prophet, according to tradition was born a Jew in Egypt at a time when the Jewish population was enslaved to the Egyptians. Moses was abandoned by his mother only to be adopted by the Egyptian royal family. Eventually Moses was called by God to be a leader to the Jewish people, interceding for them before Pharaoh, demanding their liberation, “Let my people go!” What followed is one of the earliest recorded campaigns of mass unarmed resistance in history. Trusting not in force of arms, but in the Lord, the Jewish people prayed, and God delivered them. They won their freedom, but it was not given easily. They marched out of Egypt in search of a promised land, but Pharaoh and his army followed, only to be once again routed by the work of God.![]()
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Moses then became the great lawgiver and one of the earliest monotheists, carrying down the commandments from the Lord’s mountain: Do not worship other gods. Do not lie. Do not kill. These words, and the example of liberation on which they are borne have forever changed society.
Happy New Church Year, everybody!![]()
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"O Creator and Master of time and the ages, Triune and Merciful God of all: grant blessings for the course of this year, and in Thy boundless mercy save those who worship Thee and cry out in fear: “O Saviour, grant blessings to all mankind!”
This week, our virtual pilgrimage site is our beloved Glasgow. Read more about this city's Patron Saint, namely St Kentigern (Mungo). 🙂
Today we commemorate the beheading of St John the Baptist.![]()
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"The memory of the righteous is celebrated with hymns of praise, but the Lord’s testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner. You were shown in truth to be the most honourable of the prophets, for you were deemed worthy to baptize in the streams of the Jordan Him whom they foretold. Therefore, having suffered for the truth with joy, you proclaimed to those in hell God who appeared in the flesh, who takes away the sin of the world, and grants us great mercy."
Today we celebrate St Moses the Ethiopian. May he intercede for us all!![]()
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"You abandoned the Egypt of the passions, O Father, ascending the mount of the virtues with fervent faith, taking the Cross of Christ upon your shoulders; and being glorified in godly works, you proved to be a model for monastics, O summit of the fathers. Pray unceasingly with them that our souls may find mercy!"
Check out Nina's Kiltwalk page to learn more about our Celtic Saints. Today's Saint is Theneva of Glasgow. 😀
Hi everyone! Our dear friend and parishioner Nina, who is an artist, is creating a virtual pilgrimage on her Kiltwalk profile page (see link below) consisting of beautiful hand painted images of saints and their stories. Check it out! 🙂 ![]()
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There is still time to donate if you're able and to join our Team. For every donation we receive another 50% which makes a huge difference to us.![]()
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Thank you all for your support! 😀 ![]()
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edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/nina?fbclid=IwAR1DrCGPSS2X5AZfuGtn3694kG_9hyyu2EKSTnU_f...
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The church of Archangel Gabriel in Glasgow has become a very precious part of my life and I want to help it grow and flourish. It’s a place where everyone is welcomed, where they always serve others with joy and approach everything with a desire to provide help and support with love and faith. Thi...
Happy Feast of the Dormition! May our Lady intercede for us!![]()
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"Neither the tomb, nor death could hold the Theotokos, who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions. For being the Mother of Life, she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb."
Happy Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord! May we all give room to Jesus to transform our lives. ![]()
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"You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God, revealing Your glory to Your disciples as far as they could bear it. Let Your everlasting Light also shine upon us sinners, through the prayers of the Theotokos. O Giver of Light, glory to You!"
Dear all! We hope you are all keeping well. The Church is still praying for everyone's wellbeing and we look forward to catching up with you. We would also like to thank you for your prayers and the lovely messages you send us. 🙂![]()
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We are happy to share with you that the Hunter Foundation who organise the annual Kiltwalk, are arranging a virtual Kiltwalk from the 11th September - 13th September. This means that charities like us can continue to grow with your help. All donations are appreciated, no matter how small or big. The Hunter Foundations will add another 50% to all donations.![]()
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We understand that this is a difficult time for everybody, both spiritually and materially, but if you could support us even a little bit that would be great.![]()
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If you would like to help us raise money, please join our Team (see link below) and share it with your friends, family, colleagues and all who are interested. The more people the better.![]()
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Thank you all again for your continuous support!![]()
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edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/st-gabriel
Help Archangel Gabriel make a difference
edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com
We've created this team because we want to raise money and make a difference by participating in Edinburgh Kiltwalk 2020. Orthodox Christianity is an important part of the history of this country. It may not be known to many, but Scotland has a large amount of Orthodox saints, some are very well kno...
Today we celebrate the feast of St Panteleimon. May he intercede for us!![]()
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"You emulated the Merciful One, and received from Him the grace of healing, passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon; by your prayers, heal our spiritual diseases and continually drive away the temptations of the enemy from those who cry out in faith “Save us, O Lord.”
Happy feast of St Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles.![]()
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"By keeping His commandments and laws, holy Mary Magdalene, you followed Christ, Who for our sake was born of the Virgin, and in celebrating your most holy memory today, we receive forgiveness of sins by your prayers."
Today we celebrate St Maria Skobtsova, a very inspiring holy person that belonged to our Archdiocese. May she always intercede for us. 🙏
The incredible example of St Maria Skobtsova
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Happy feast of the Archangel Gabriel!![]()
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"You look upon God’s glory in heaven, and bring grace from on high to earth, wise Gabriel, leader of angels, minister of God’s glory, and divine defender of the world! Save and preserve those who cry to you: “Be our defence, so that no one can be against us!”
Would you like to see all of Katherines work in one complete collection? Meet saints you know and saints you haven’t all together. She is creating icons based on these which Patreons can watch and online lessons coming soon.
Happy feast of Sts Peter and Febronia, the patron saints of newly weds.![]()
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Holy Prince Peter (David in monasticism) and Holy Princess Febronia (Euphrosyne in monasticism), Wonderworkers of Murom. Prince Peter was the second son of the Murom prince Yuri Vladimirovich. He entered upon the throne of Murom in the year 1203. Several years before this Saint Peter had fallen ill with leprosy, from which no one was able to heal him. In a vision it was revealed to the prince that the daughter of a bee-keeper would be able to heal him: the pious maiden Febronia, a peasant of Laskova village in Ryazan gubernia. Saint Peter sent his emissaries to this village.![]()
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When the prince saw Saint Febronia, he fell in love with her because of her piety, wisdom and virtue, and vowed to marry her after being healed. Saint Febronia healed the prince and became his wife. The holy couple loved each other through all their ordeals. The haughty boyars did not wish to have a princess of common origin, and they urged that the prince leave her. Saint Peter refused, and so they banished the couple. They sailed off on a boat from their native city along the River Oka, and Saint Febronia continued to console Saint Peter. Soon the wrath of God fell upon the city of Murom, and the people begged the prince return together with Saint Febronia.![]()
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The holy couple was famous for their piety and charity. They died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228, having received the monastic tonsure with the names David and Evphrosyne. The bodies of the saints were put in the same grave.![]()
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Sts Peter and Febronia showed themselves exemplary models of Christian marriage, and are considered as the patron saints of newly-weds.
Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John
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Today Katherine shares her drawing of St Theneva, One of the patron saints of Glasgow.
Journey through June – Saint Theneva of Glasgow – 20/26
katherinesandersicons.wordpress.com
Today I have drawn St Theneva of Glasgow (6th or 7th century) Her feast day is 18 July and she is commemorated by the Orthodox, Anglican and Roman Catholic Church. Her life St. Theneva was born in ...
Dear all! We have now posted our first two catechetical lessons; please look on our "Notes" section. We will continue to build on this by posting something new every week. We hope you enjoy the content and that you're all keeping well! 🙏
Dear all! We will start posting catechetical material here on our page on a weekly basis. Please look on our “Notes” and “Video” sections. The material is suitable for everybody; but will be especially helpful to people who are new to Orthodoxy and for those who wish to deepen their knowledge. We hope this will be beneficial for you all!![]()
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Please know that you are all in our prayers and that we look forward to seeing you again soon.
A Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ for Missions![]()
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O Sweet Savior, Lord Jesus Christ our God, we give thanks to Thee for Thy marvelous works of salvation: For Thine Incarnation by which Thou didst heal mankind; For Thy precious and life-giving Cross and Thy triumphant Resurrection from the dead by which Thou didst trample down death and the devil, didst free us from the slavery to our sins, and didst grant to us and all who believe life eternal. ![]()
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We thank Thee for sending forth Thine apostolic witnesses to the ends of earth, and for bringing to us the saving good news here in the distant West. Implant, O Word of Father, the Gospel of salvation deeply into our hearts and minds. Evangelize us, O Christ. Grant us to ever remember Thy magnificent and saving deeds, and to meditate upon them day and night. Enlarge our hearts, O Lord, with love for those who have not been enlightened by Thy truth, here and abroad, and use us, Thine unworthy servants, to bring the knowledge of Thee to others that they may come to a saving knowledge of the truth, and that Thy Name may be praised among all the peoples of the world.![]()
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Cause Thy word to run swiftly and to gather a great harvest in our city and country, and among all the nations of the earth. Sustain, inspire, and enlighten Thy servants, our bishops, priests, monks and nuns, and missionaries who labour with the Holy Gospel in fields ripe for harvest. Enkindle missionary zeal within us. Enable us to welcome our local community to the Orthodox faith. Inspire our parish to participate in missions, domestic and international, both short-term and long-term, and call forth from our midst priests, monastics, and missionaries who will labour for the salvation of men in the front lines of Thy Church. ![]()
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Forgive us, O Merciful Lord, for the times when we are indifferent to Thy Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations, and for the times when we do not sympathize with and yearn for those outside the Church. Make our hearts generous and willing to share the treasures of our faith and the wonders of dwelling in Thy House, and receive our grateful adoration which we ascribe to Thee, together with Thine Unoriginate Father, and Thine all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Fast, Pray, and Leave Behind Your Nets:Homily for the Apostles Fast
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Katherine Sanders (our edinburgh iconographer) has been sharing daily drawings made In June. The latest one is here katherinesandersicons.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/journey-through-june-saint-hilda-of-whitby-8-30/
Journey through June – Saint Hilda of Whitby – 8/26
katherinesandersicons.wordpress.com
Today I have drawn Saint Hilda of Whitby (c 614-680) Her feast day is 17/18 November and she is recognised in the Orthodox, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. Her life (from Orthodoxwiki)...
ST SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN'S INVOCATION PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT![]()
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Come, true light.![]()
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Come. life eternal.![]()
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Come, hidden mystery.![]()
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Come, treasure without name.![]()
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Come, reality beyond all words.![]()
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Come, person beyond all understanding.![]()
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Come, rejoicing without end.![]()
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Come, light that knows no evening.![]()
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Come, unfailing expectation of the saved.![]()
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Come, the raising of the fallen.![]()
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Come, the resurrection of the dead.![]()
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Come, all-powerful, for unceasingly you create, refashion and change all things by your will alone.![]()
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Come, invisible, whom none may touch and handle.![]()
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Come, for you continue always unmoved, yet at every instant you are wholly in movement; you draw near to us who lie in hell, yet you remain higher than the heavens.![]()
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Come, for your Name fills our hearts with longing and is ever on our lips; yet who you are and what your nature is, we cannot say or know.![]()
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Come, eternal joy.![]()
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Come, unfading garland.![]()
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Come, purple vesture of our great God and King.![]()
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Come, belt of crystal set with precious stones.![]()
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Come, sandal that none dares to touch.![]()
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Come, royal robe and right hand of true sovereignty.![]()
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Come, for my wretched soul has ever longed and ever longs for you.![]()
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Come, Alone to the alone, for as you see I am alone: you have separated me from all things and made me to be alone upon the earth.![]()
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Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me, and you have caused me to long after you, the wholly inaccessible.![]()
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Come, my breath and my life.![]()
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Come, the consolation of my humble soul.![]()
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Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.![]()
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I give you thanks, for you have become one spilt with me, in a union without confusion. Unchanging and unaltered, God over all, you have yet become all in all to me: food inexplicable, freely bestowed, ever nourishing my soul; a fountain springing up within my heart, a garment of light consuming the demons, purification that washes me clean through the immortal and holy tears that are granted at your coming to all whom you visit.![]()
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I give you thanks, for to me you are a light that knows no evening, a sun that never sets. You cannot remain hidden, for you fill all things with your glory. You never hide yourself from anyone, but we are always hiding from you, not wishing to come near you. For where could you hide yourself, since you have no place in which to take your rest? Or why should you hide, since you turn away from no one and are afraid of none?![]()
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Pitch your tent within me, gracious Master; take up your dwelling in me now and remain in your servant unceasingly, inseparably, to the end. At my departure from this life and afterwards, may I be found in you and reign with you, who are God over all.![]()
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Stay with me, Master, do not leave me alone. My enemies, who seek always to devour my soul, when they find you dwelling in me, will be put to flight; they will have no power at all against me, when they see. you, who are more powerful than all, lodging in the house of my humble soul.![]()
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You did not forget me, Master, when I was in the world and sunk in ignorance, but you chose me and separated me from the world and set me in the presence of your glory. Keep me constant and unshaken in the interior dwelling-place that you have made within me, Though dead, I live when I gaze upon you; possessing you, though poor, I am for ever rich, more wealthy than any ruler. Eating and drinking you, clothing myself in you from day to day, I shall be filled with blessings and delight beyond all telling. For you are every blessing and all splendour end joy, and to you is due glory, to the Holy, Consubstantial and Life-giving Trinity, worshipped and confessed by all the faithful and adored in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages.![]()
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Amen.![]()
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#HappyPentecost #orthodoxchurch #stsymeonthenewtheologian #prayertotheholyspirit
Dear all! Please take part if you're able. This event takes place tonight from 6.00 pm - 7.30 pm.
Dear Friends, while the Covid-19 guidelines have changed slightly in Scotland, we continue to put your safety first and will remain closed for services until it is permitted to re-open. In the meantime, those of us in Scotland are able to meet with one other household at a time in a safe place - a park or garden - while maintaining a 2m distance. The better we all support these actions, the sooner we will be able to meet again for services. You are all in our prayers.
Service details are posted via facebook – please check before making a journey to the church to confirm which services are taking place. Thank you.
6-12th May
Christ is Risen! There will be morning prayer with Br Basil on Thursday 9th at 10.00 am and on Saturday 11th also at 10.00 am.
BRIGHT WEEK 2019
Christ is Risen! There will be Paschal Matins with Br Basil on Thursday 2th May and Saturday 4th May at 10.00 am.
HOLY WEEK 2019
Update: There is a mistake in the service schedule. We apologise for this. The service on Holy Friday will take place at 7.00 pm, not 5.00 pm.
We hope to see you there.
The following services are held regularly in Wellington Church. Updates and changes will be posted below and on our facebook page. If you are travelling a distance, please email Fr Augustine to confirm first. Our newsletter is sent out monthly, so please sign up if you wish to receive notices, sermons and other information.
All are warmly welcome to come and pray with us, non-Orthodox Christians may receive the blessed bread at the end of the Liturgy.
| Monday | |||
| Tuesday | 10:00 am Divine Liturgy | ||
| Wednesday | |||
| Thursday | 10:00 am Divine Liturgy | ||
| Friday | |||
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Saturday |
10:00 am Divine Liturgy | ||
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Sunday |
8.00 am Divine Liturgy |
The Sunday after the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. This parable of God’s forgiveness calls us to “come to ourselves” as did the prodigal son, to see ourselves as being “in a far country” far from the Father’s house, and to make the journey of return to God. We are given every assurance by the Master that our heavenly Father will receive us with joy and gladness. We must only “arise and go,” confessing our self-inflicted and sinful separation from that “home” where we truly belong (Luke 15:11-24).![]()
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After the Polyeleion at Matins, we first hear the Lenten hymn “By the Waters of Babylon.” It will be sung for the next two Sundays before Lent begins, and it serves to reinforce the theme of exile in today’s Gospel.![]()
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Starting tomorrow, the weekday readings summarize the events of Holy Week. On Monday we read Saint Mark's account of the Entry into Jerusalem. On Tuesday we read how Judas went to the chief priests and offered to betray the Lord. On the night before His death, Christ tells His disciples that one of them will betray Him. He also predicts that they will desert Him and that Peter will deny Him three times. On Wednesday the Gospel describes how Judas betrayed the Savior with a kiss. Thursday's Gospel tells how Jesus was questioned by Pilate. On Friday we read the narrative of Christ's crucifixion and death.
Today we commemorate the first and second finding of the Honorable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist, John.![]()
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After the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (August 29), his body was buried by disciples in the Samarian city of Sebaste, and his venerable head was hidden by Herodias in an unclean place. Saint Joanna (June 27), the wife of King Herod’s steward Chuza (Luke 8:3), secretly took the holy head and placed it into a vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives in one of Herod’s properties.![]()
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After many years, this property passed into the possession of a government official who became a monk with the name of Innocent. He built a church and a cell there. When they started to dig the foundation, the vessel with the venerable head of John the Baptist was uncovered. Innocent recognized its great holiness from the signs of grace emanating from it. Thus occurred the First Finding of the Head. Innocent preserved it with great piety, but fearful that the holy relic might be abused by unbelievers before his own death he again hid it in that same place, where it was found. Upon his death, the church fell into ruin and was destroyed.![]()
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During the days of Saint Constantine the Great (May 21), when Christianity began to flourish, the holy Forerunner appeared twice to two monks journeying to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places, and he revealed the location of his venerable head.![]()
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The monks uncovered the holy relic and, placing it into a sack of camel-hair, they proceeded homewards. Along the way they encountered an unnamed potter and gave him the precious burden to carry. Not knowing what he was carrying, the potter continued on his way. But the holy Forerunner appeared to him and ordered him to flee from the careless and lazy monks, with what he held in his hands. The potter concealed himself from the monks and at home he preserved the venerable head with reverence. Before his death he placed it in a water jug and gave it to his sister.![]()
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From that time the venerable head was successively preserved by devout Christians until the priest Eustathius (infected with the Arian heresy) came into possession of it. He beguiled a multitude of the infirm who had been healed by the holy head, ascribing their cures to the fact that it was in the possession of an Arian. When his blasphemy was uncovered, he was compelled to flee. After he buried the holy relic in a cave, near Emesa, the heretic intended to return later and use it for disseminating falsehood. God, however, did not permit this. Pious monks settled in the cave, and then a monastery arose at this place. In the year 452 Saint John the Baptist appeared to Archimandrite Marcellus of this monastery and indicated where his head was hidden. This became celebrated as the Second Finding. The holy relic was transferred to Emesa, and later to Constantinople.![]()
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(Icon by Aidan Hart)
Dear all! Today marks the beginning of the Lenten Triodion.![]()
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The Sunday after the Sunday of Zacchaeus is devoted to the Publican and the Pharisee. At Vespers the night before, the TRIODION (the liturgical book used in the services of Great Lent) begins.![]()
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Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee who scrupulously observed the requirements of religion: he prayed, fasted, and contributed money to the Temple. These are very good things and should be imitated by anyone who loves God. We who may not fulfil these requirements as well as the Pharisee did should not feel entitled to criticize him for being faithful. His sin was in looking down on the Publican and feeling justified because of his external religious observances.![]()
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The second man was a Publican, a tax-collector who was despised by the people. He, however, displayed humility, and this humility justified him before God (Luke 18:14).![]()
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The lesson to be learned is that we possess neither the Pharisee’s religious piety nor the Publican’s repentance, through which we can be saved. We are called to see ourselves as we really are in the light of Christ’s teaching, asking Him to be merciful to us, deliver us from sin, and to lead us on the path of salvation
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Official Post from Katherine Sanders
Today we commemorate Saint Mariamne the sister of the Apostle Philip.![]()
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Righteous Mariamne “The Apostolic Virgin” and sister of the holy Apostle Philip (November 14), made a vow of virginity and became the companion of her brother Philip and the holy Apostle Bartholomew (June 11), actively assisting them in their apostolic work.![]()
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The Church historian Nicephorus Callistus describes their successful preaching in the Phrygian city of Hieropolis, where they were arrested and locked up in prison. They put the Apostle Philip to death on a cross, but Saint Mariamne and Saint Bartholomew were set free. Saint Bartholomew went to preach the Gospel in India. Saint Mariamne, after burying the body of Saint Philip, preached the Gospel at Lykaonia (Asia Minor). She died there in peace.
Tomorrow we commemorate the Repose of Saint Cyril, Equal to the Apostles, Teacher of the Slavs (Constantine in the schema), and his older brother Methodius (April 6). They were Slavs, born in Macedonia in the city of Thessalonica.![]()
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Saint Cyril received the finest of educations, and from the age of fourteen, he was raised with the son of the emperor. Later, he was ordained as a priest. Upon his return to Constantinople, he worked as a librarian of the cathedral church, and as a professor of philosophy. Saint Cyril successfully held debates with iconoclast heretics and with Moslems.![]()
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Yearning for solitude, he went to Mount Olympos to his older brother Methodius, but his solitude lasted only a short while. Both brothers were sent by the emperor Michael on a missionary journey to preach Christianity to the Khazars in the year 857. Along the way, they stopped at Cherson and discovered the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement of Rome (November 25).![]()
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Arriving at the territory of the Khazars, the holy brothers spoke with them about the Christian Faith. Persuaded by the preaching of Saint Cyril, the Khazar prince together with all his people accepted Christianity. The grateful prince wanted to reward the preachers with rich presents, but they refused this and instead asked the prince to free and send home with them all the Greek captives. Saint Cyril returned to Constantinople together with 200 such captives set free.![]()
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In the year 862 began the chief exploit of the holy brothers. At the request of Prince Rostislav, the emperor sent them to Moravia to preach Christianity in the Slavic language. Saints Cyril and Methodius by a revelation from God compiled a Slavonic alphabet and translated the Gospel, Epistles, the Psalter and many Service books into the Slavonic language. They introduced divine services in Slavonic.![]()
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The holy brothers were then summoned to Rome at the invitation of the Roman Pope. Pope Adrian received them with great honour since they brought with them the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement. Sickly by nature and in poor health, Saint Cyril soon fell ill from his many labours, and after taking the schema, he died in the year 869 at the age of forty-two. Before his death, he expressed his wish for his brother to continue the Christian enlightenment of the Slavs. Saint Cyril was buried in the Roman church of Saint Clement, whose own relics also rest there, brought to Italy from Cherson by the Enlighteners of the Slavs.![]()
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Today we celebrate St Caedmon! He is the first English poet whose name is known. The author of the first recorded poem in English, he is known as the Father of English Poetry. His feast day in the Church is February 11.![]()
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According to Bede, writing in the 7th century, Cædmon was a cow-herd at a Yorkshire monastery, who was unable to sing in public until he miraculously found himself able to sing the Creation, a poem of nine lines. St. Hilda, the abbess of Whitby Abbey, encouraged his new calling and asked him to join the monastery. The poem we know as "Cædmon's Hymn" was written down by Bede in Latin in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The Anglo-Saxon version commonly read today is not, in actuality, Cædmon's own work, but comes from an Anglo-Saxon translation of Bede's history made sometime during the reign of St. Alfred the Great.![]()
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Caedmon's hymn![]()
Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,![]()
the might of the architect, and his purpose,![]()
the work of the father of glory![]()
as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders;![]()
he first created for the children of men![]()
heaven as a roof, the holy creator![]()
Then the guardian of mankind,![]()
the eternal lord, afterwards appointed the middle earth,![]()
the lands for men, the Lord almighty.![]()
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Holy Caedmon, intercede for us!
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Official Post from Katherine Sanders
Today we celebrate the Prophet Zachariah the Sickle-Seer the eleventh of the twelve Minor Prophets. ![]()
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He was descended from the tribe of Levi, and seems to have been a priest (Nehemiah 12:4,16). He was called to prophetic service at a young age and became, in the wondrous expression of church hymnology, “a spectator of supra-worldly visions.”![]()
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The Book of the Prophet Zachariah contains inspired details about the coming of the Messiah (Zach 6:12); about the last days of the Savior’s earthly life, about the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem on a young donkey (Zach 9:9); about the betrayal of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver and the purchase of the potter’s field with them (Zach 11:12-13); about the piercing of the Savior’s side (Zach 12:10); about the scattering of the apostles from the Garden of Gethsemane (Zach 13:7); about the eclipse of the sun at the time of the Crucifixion (Zach 14:6-7).![]()
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“Enlightened by dawnings all above,” the Prophet Zachariah, “saw the future as it were the present.” According to Tradition, this “most true God-proclaimer” lived to old age and was buried near Jerusalem, beside his illustrious contemporary and companion, the Prophet Haggai (December 16). The title “Sickle-Seer” given Zachariah comes from a vision in which he saw a sickle flying in the air, destroying thieves and perjurors (Zach 5:1-3).![]()
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The holy Prophet Zachariah died around 520 B.C. His tomb was discovered in 415 in a village near Eleutheropolis (Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. VI:32, IX:17). At the prophet’s feet was the body of a child dressed in royal accoutrements. His holy relics were transferred to the church of Saint James the Brother of the Lord (October 23) in Constantinople.
Today we celebrate the Meeting of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple.![]()
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The Meeting of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ is described in the third Gospel (Luke 2:22-40). Forty days after His birth the Divine Child was brought to the Temple at Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord. According to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a male child was forbidden to enter the Temple for forty days. At the end of the time of her purification, the mother went to the Temple with the child, to offer a young lamb, two turtledoves, or pigeons to the Lord as a sacrifice. The Most Holy Virgin had no need of purification since she had given birth to the Source of purity and sanctity. Out of humility, however, she fulfilled the requirements of the Law.![]()
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At this time the righteous Elder Simeon (February 3) was living in Jerusalem. It had been revealed to him that he would not die until he beheld the promised Messiah. By divine inspiration, Saint Simeon went to the Temple at the very moment when the Most-Holy Theotokos and Saint Joseph had brought the Child Jesus to fulfil the Law.![]()
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Saint Simeon received the divine Child in his arms,1 and giving thanks to God, he spoke the words repeated by the Church each evening at Vespers: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32). Saint Simeon said to the Most Holy Virgin: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).![]()
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At the Temple was an 84-year-old widow, Saint Anna the Prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel (February 3), “who did not leave the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day." She arrived just when Saint Simeon met the Divine Child. She also gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). In the icon of the Feast, she holds a scroll which reads: “This Child has established Heaven and earth.”![]()
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Before Christ was born, the righteous men and women lived by faith in the promised Messiah and awaited His coming. The Righteous Simeon and the Prophetess Anna, the last righteous persons of the Old Testament, were deemed worthy to meet Him in the Temple.![]()
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The Feast of the Meeting of the Lord is among the most ancient feasts of the Christian Church. We have sermons by the holy bishops Methodios of Patara (+ 312), Cyril of Jerusalem (+ 360), Gregory the Theologian (+ 389), Amphilokhios of Iconium (+ 394), Gregory of Nyssa (+ 400), and John Chrysostom (+ 407).
Today we celebrate St Brigid of Kildare.![]()
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Saint Brigid, “the Mary of the Gael,” was born around 450 in Faughart, about two miles from Dundalk in County Louth. According to Tradition, her father was a pagan named Dubthach, and her mother was Brocessa (Broiseach), one of his slaves.![]()
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Even as a child, she was known for her compassion for the poor. She would give away food, clothing, and even her father’s possessions to the poor. One day he took Brigid to the king’s court, leaving her outside to wait for him. He asked the king to buy his daughter from him since her excessive generosity made her too expensive for him to keep. The king asked to see the girl, so Dubthach led him outside. They were just in time to see her give away her father’s sword to a beggar. This sword had been presented to Dubthach by the king, who said, “I cannot buy a girl who holds us so cheap.”![]()
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Saint Brigid received monastic tonsure at the hands of Saint Mael of Ardagh (February 6). Soon after this, she established a monastery on land given to her by the King of Leinster. The land was called Cill Dara (Kildare), or “the church of the oak.” This was the beginning of women’s cenobitic monasticism in Ireland.![]()
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The miracles performed by Saint Brigid are too numerous to relate here, but perhaps one story will suffice. One evening the holy abbess was sitting with the blind nun Dara. From sunset to sunrise they spoke of the joys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and of the love of Christ, losing all track of time. Saint Brigid was struck by the beauty of the earth and sky in the morning light. Realizing that Sister Dara was unable to appreciate this beauty, she became very sad. Then she prayed and made the Sign of the Cross over Dara’s eyes. All at once, the blind nun’s eyes were opened and she saw the sun in the east, and the trees and flowers sparkling with dew. She looked for a while, then turned to Saint Brigid and said, “Close my eyes again, dear Mother, for when the world is visible to the eyes, then God is seen less clearly by the soul.” Saint Brigid prayed again, and Dara became blind once more.![]()
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Saint Brigid fell asleep in the Lord in the year 523 after receiving Holy Communion from Saint Ninnidh of Inismacsaint (January 18). She was buried at Kildare, but her relics were transferred to Downpatrick during the Viking invasions. It is believed that she was buried in the same grave with Saint Patrick (March 17) and Saint Columba of Iona (June 9).![]()
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Late in the thirteenth century, her head was brought to Portugal by three Irish knights on their way to fight in the Holy Land. They left this holy relic in the parish church of Lumiar, about three miles from Lisbon. Portions of the relic were brought back to Ireland in 1929 and placed in a new church of Saint Brigid in Dublin.![]()
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The relics of Saint Brigid in Ireland were destroyed in the sixteenth century by Lord Grey during the reign of Henry VIII.![]()
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The tradition of making Saint Brigid’s crosses from rushes and hanging them in the home is still followed in Ireland, where devotion to her is still strong. She is also venerated in northern Italy, France, and Wales.![]()
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(Source: OCA)![]()
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St Brigid, pray for us!
Today we celebrate the Three Holy Hierarchs: Gregory the Theologian, St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom.![]()
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"Let us who love their words gather together and honour with hymns the three great torch-bearers of the triune Godhead: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. These men have enlightened the world with the rays of their divine doctrines. They are sweetly-flowing rivers of wisdom filling all creation with springs of heavenly knowledge. Ceaselessly they intercede for us before the Holy Trinity!"![]()
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Have a blessed weekend!
Happy feast of St Kentigern (Mungo), first Bishop of Glasgow, Scotland.![]()
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The Orthodox Church commemorates him on the 14th but in Scotland his feast day is today so happy feast to everybody. ![]()
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Saint Kentigern was from Lothian (in Scotland), and may have been of royal blood. He left home at an early age and was brought up by a hermit named Servan (July 1) on the Firth of Forth. It was Saint Servan who gave him the name Mungo (or dear friend).![]()
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Saint Kentigern Mungo labored in Strathclyde, and founded a monastery where the city of Glasgow stands today. He was made a bishop, taking Glasgow for his See.![]()
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Driven from Scotland by the enmity of a local ruler, Saint Kentigern went to Wales and founded the monastery of Saint Asaph. Eventually, he returned to Scotland and resumed his missionary work, baptizing many people.![]()
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In 584 he met Saint Columba (June 9), and exchanged croziers with him.![]()
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Saint Kentigern was a strict ascetic who travelled everywhere on foot. It is believed that he died in Glasgow around 612 at the age of eighty-five. A Gothic cathedral was built over his shrine in the thirteenth century.![]()
(Source: OCA) ![]()
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Holy Kentigern, patron of our lovely city, intercede for us!![]()
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#stmungoday #saintkentigern #patronofglasgow #orthodoxglasgow #archangelgabrielglasgow
Today we commemorate the Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana.![]()
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The Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana was born into an illustrious Roman family, and her father was elected consul three times. He was secretly a Christian and raised his daughter to be devoted to God and the Church. When she reached the age of maturity, Tatiana decided to remain a virgin, betrothing herself to Christ. Disdaining earthly riches, she sought instead the imperishable wealth of Heaven. She was made a deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in fasting and prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.![]()
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When Rome was ruled by the sixteen-year-old Alexander Severus (222-235), all power was concentrated in the hands of the regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and persecutor of Christians. Christian blood flowed like water. Tatiana was also arrested, and they brought her into the temple of Apollo to force her to offer sacrifice to the idol. The saint began praying, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed into pieces, and part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan priests and many pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from that place. Those present saw its shadow flying through the air.![]()
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Then they tore holy virgin’s eyes out with hooks, but she bravely endured everything, praying for her tormentors that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes. And the Lord heard the prayer of His servant. The executioners saw four angels encircle the saint and beat her tormentors. A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to the holy virgin. Eight men believed in Christ and fell on their knees before Saint Tatiana, begging them to forgive them their sin against her. For confessing themselves Christians they were tortured and executed, receiving Baptism by blood.![]()
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The next day Saint Tatiana was brought before the wicked judge. Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped her and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous fragrance then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on the ground and beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times. The torturers became exhausted and said that an invisible power was beating them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels warded off the blows directed at her and turned them upon the tormentors, causing nine of them to fall dead. They then threw the saint in prison, where she prayed all night and sang praises to the Lord with the angels.![]()
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A new morning began, and they took Saint Tatiana to the tribunal once more. The torturers beheld with astonishment that after such terrible torments she appeared completely healthy and even more radiant and beautiful than before. They began to urge her to offer sacrifice to the goddess Diana. The saint seemed agreeable, and they took her to the heathen temple. Saint Tatiana made the Sign of the Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a crash of deafening thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the sacrificial offerings and the pagan priests.![]()
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Once again, the martyr was fiercely tortured. She was hung up and scraped with iron claws, and her breasts were cut off. That night, angels appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds as before. On the following day, they took Saint Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast did not harm the saint, but meekly licked her feet.![]()
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As they were taking the lion back to its cage, it killed one of the torturers. They threw Tatiana into a fire, but the fire did not harm the martyr. The pagans, thinking that she was a sorceress, cut her hair to take away her magical powers, then locked her up in the temple of Zeus.![]()
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On the third day, pagan priests came to the temple intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the floor, shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana joyously praising the Lord Jesus Christ. The judge then condemned the valiant sufferer to be beheaded with a sword. Her father was also executed with her, because he had raised her to love Christ.![]()
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St Tatiana intercede for us!
Today we celebrate the Synaxis of St John the Baptist. ![]()
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In the Orthodox Church it is customary, on the day following the Great Feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, to remember those saints who participated directly in the sacred event. So, on the day following the Theophany of the Lord, the Church honors the one who participated directly in the Baptism of Christ, placing his own hand upon the head of the Savior.![]()
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Saint John, the holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, whom the Lord called the greatest of the prophets, concludes the history of the Old Testament and opens the era of the New Testament. The holy Prophet John bore witness to the Only-Begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh. Saint John was accounted worthy to baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan, and he was a witness of the Theophany of the Most Holy Trinity on the day of the Savior’s Baptism.![]()
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The holy Prophet John, the son of the Priest Zachariah and Righteous Elizabeth, was related to the Lord on His mother’s side. The holy Forerunner, John, was born six months before Christ. The Archangel Gabriel announced his birth in the Temple at Jerusalem, revealing to Zachariah that a son was to be born to him.![]()
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Through the prayers offered beforehand, the child was filled with the Holy Spirit. Saint John prepared himself in the wilds of the desert for his great service by a strict life, by fasting, prayer and sympathy for the fate of God’s people.![]()
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At the age of thirty, he came forth preaching repentance. He appeared on the banks of the Jordan, to prepare the people by his preaching to accept the Savior of the world. In church hymnology, Saint John is called a “bright morning star,” whose gleaming outshone the brilliance of all the other stars, announcing the coming dawn of the day of grace, illumined with the light of the spiritual Sun, our Lord Jesus Christ.![]()
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Having baptized the sinless Lamb of God, Saint John soon died a martyr’s death, beheaded by the sword on orders of King Herod at the request of his daughter Salome. (On Saint John the Baptist, see Mt.3:1-16, 11:1-19, 14:1-12; Mark 1:2-8, 6:14-29; Luke 1:5-25, 39-80, 3:1-20, 7:18-35, 9:7-9; John 1:19-34, 3:22-26).![]()
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(Source: OCA)
Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of Theophany.![]()
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Theophany is the Feast which reveals the Most Holy Trinity to the world through the Baptism of the Lord (Mt.3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). God the Father spoke from Heaven about the Son, the Son was baptized by Saint John the Forerunner, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son in the form of a dove. From ancient times this Feast was called the Day of Illumination and the Feast of Lights, since God is Light and has appeared to illumine “those who sat in darkness,” and “in the region of the shadow of death” (Mt.4:16), and to save the fallen race of mankind by grace.![]()
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In the ancient Church it was the custom to baptize catechumens at the Vespers of Theophany, so that Baptism also is revealed as the spiritual illumination of mankind.![]()
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The origin of the Feast of Theophany goes back to Apostolic times, and it is mentioned in The Apostolic Constitutions (Book V:13). From the second century we have the testimony of Saint Clement of Alexandria concerning the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, and the night vigil before this Feast.![]()
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There is a third century dialogue about the services for Theophany between the holy martyr Hippolytus and Saint Gregory the Wonderworker. In the following centuries, from the fourth to ninth century, all the great Fathers of the Church: Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, John of Damascus, commented on the Feast of Theophany.![]()
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The monks Joseph the Studite, Theophanes and Byzantios composed much liturgical music for this Feast, which is sung at Orthodox services even today. Saint John of Damascus said that the Lord was baptized, not because He Himself had need for cleansing, but “to bury human sin by water,” to fulfill the Law, to reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and finally, to sanctify “the nature of water” and to offer us the form and example of Baptism.![]()
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On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, the Holy Church proclaims our faith in the most sublime mystery, incomprehensible to human intellect, of one God in three Persons. It teaches us to confess and glorify the Holy Trinity, one in Essence and Undivided. It exposes and overthrows the errors of ancient teachings which attempted to explain the Creator of the world by reason, and in human terms.![]()
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The Church shows the necessity of Baptism for believers in Christ, and it inspires us with a sense of deep gratitude for the illumination and purification of our sinful nature. The Church teaches that our salvation and cleansing from sin is possible only by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, therefore it is necessary to preserve worthily these gifts of the grace of holy Baptism, keeping clean this priceless garb, for “As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).![]()
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On the day of Theophany, all foods are permitted, even if the Feast falls on a Wednesday or Friday.![]()
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(Source: OCA)