Today we celebrate the Prophet Elijah!![]()
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The Holy Prophet Elijah is one of the greatest of the prophets and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. He was born in Tishba of Gilead into the Levite tribe 900 years before the Incarnation of the Word of God.![]()
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During this time the Israelite nation had fallen away from the faith of their Fathers, they abandoned the One God and worshipped pagan idols, the worship of which was introduced by the impious king Jereboam. Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab, was devoted to idol worship. She persuaded her husband to build a temple to the pagan god Baal, which led many Israelites away from the worship of the true God. Beholding the ruin of his nation, the Prophet Elijah began to denounce King Ahab for impiety, and exhorted him to repent and turn to the God of Israel. The king would not listen to him. The Prophet Elijah then declared to him, that as punishment there would be neither rain nor dew upon the ground, and the drought would cease only by his prayer. Indeed, the word of Elijah was a torch (Eccles. 48: 1). The heavens were closed for three and a half years, and there was drought and famine throughout all the land.![]()
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During this time of tribulation, the Lord sent him to a cave beyond the Jordan. There he was miraculously fed by ravens. When the stream Horath dried up, the Lord sent the Prophet Elijah to Sarephta to a poor widow, a Sidonian Gentile who suffered together with her children, awaiting death by starvation. At the request of the prophet, she prepared him a bread with the last measure of flour and the remainder of the oil. Through the prayer of the Prophet Elijah, flour and oil were not depleted in the home of the widow for the duration of the famine. By the power of his prayer the prophet also performed another miracle: he raised the dead son of the widow.![]()
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After the end of three years of drought the Merciful Lord sent the prophet to appear before King Ahab, and promised to send rain upon the earth. The Prophet Elijah told the king to order all of Israel to gather upon Mount Carmel, and also the priests of Baal. When the nation had gathered, the Prophet Elijah proposed that two sacrificial altars be built: one for the priests of Baal, and the other for the Prophet Elijah who served the True God.![]()
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The Prophet Elijah told them to call on their gods to consume the sacrificial animals with fire, and he would call on his. Whichever was first to send fire on the sacrifice would be acknowledged as the true God. The prophets of Baal called out to their idol from morning till evening, but the heavens were silent. Towards evening the holy Prophet Elijah built his sacrificial altar from twelve stones, the number of the tribes of Israel. He placed the sacrifice upon the wood, gave orders to dig a ditch around the altar and commanded that the sacrifice and the wood be soaked with water. When the ditch had filled with water, the prophet turned to God in prayer. Through the prayer of the prophet fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and even the water. The people fell down to the ground, crying out: “Truly, the Lord is God!” Then the Prophet Elijah had all the pagan-priests of Baal put to death, and he began to pray for rain. Through his prayer the heavens opened and an abundant rain fell, soaking the parched earth.![]()
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King Ahab acknowledged his error and repented of his sins, but his wife Jezebel threatened to kill the prophet of God. The Prophet Elijah fled into the Kingdom of Judea and, grieving over his failure to eradicate idol worship, he asked God to let him die. An angel of the Lord came before him, strengthened him with food and commanded him to go upon a long journey. The Prophet Elijah travelled for forty days and nights and, having arrived at Mount Horeb, he settled in a cave.![]()
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The Lord told him that the next day Elijah would stand in His presence. There was a strong wind that crushed the rocks of the mountain, then an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord was not in them. The Lord was in “a gentle breeze” (3 Kings 19: 12). He revealed to the prophet, that He would preserve seven thousand faithful servants who had not worshipped Baal.![]()
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Later, the Lord commanded Elijah to anoint Elisha into prophetic service. Because of his fiery zeal for the Glory of God the Prophet Elijah was taken up alive into Heaven in a fiery chariot. The Prophet Elisha received Elijah’s mantle and a double portion of his prophetic spirit.![]()
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According to the Tradition of Holy Church, the Prophet Elijah will be the Forerunner of the Dread Second Coming of Christ. He will proclaim the truth of Christ, urge all to repentance, and will be slain by the Antichrist. This will be a sign of the end of the world.![]()
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The life of the holy Prophet Elijah is recorded in the Old Testament books (3 Kings; 4 Kings; Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 48: 1-15; 1 Maccabees 2: 58). At the time of the Transfiguration, the Prophet Elijah conversed with the Savior upon Mount Tabor (Mt. 17: 3; Mark 9: 4; Luke. 9: 30).![]()
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Orthodox Christians of all times, and in all places, have venerated the Prophet Elijah for centuries. The first church in Russia, built at Kiev under Prince Igor, was named for the Prophet Elijah. After her Baptism Saint Olga (July 11) built a temple of the holy Prophet Elijah in her native region, at the village of Vibuta.![]()
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In iconography the Prophet Elijah is depicted ascending to Heaven in a fiery chariot, surrounded with flames, and harnessed to four winged horses. We pray to him for deliverance from drought, and to ask for seasonable weather.![]()
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(Icon: by Chantal Heinegg)
Today we celebrate the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel, one of our Parish Feasts! ![]()
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Troparion — Tone 4![]()
Gabriel, commander 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 commander of the powers on high!”![]()
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Kontakion — Tone 2![]()
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!”
Today we celebrate the Synaxis of all Saints of Britain and Ireland.![]()
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"We magnify you, O all ye saints who have shone forth in the Isles, and we honour your holy memory, for ye intercede with Christ our God on our behalf."
Today the Holy Church piously remembers the sufferings of the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Apostles Peter and Paul.![]()
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Sermon of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo![]()
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Saint Peter, the fervent follower of Jesus Christ, for the profound confession of His Divinity: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” was deemed worthy by the Savior to hear in answer, “Blessed art thou, Simon ... I tell thee, that thou art Peter [Petrus], and on this stone [petra] I build My Church” (Mt.16:16-18). On “this stone” [petra], is on that which thou sayest: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God” it is on this thy confession I build My Church. Wherefore the “thou art Peter”: it is from the “stone” [petra] that Peter [Petrus] is, and not from Peter [Petrus] that the “stone” [petra] is, just as the Christian is from Christ, and not Christ from the Christian. Do you want to know, from what sort of “rock” [petra] the Apostle Peter [Petrus] was named? Hear the Apostle Paul: “Brethren, I do not want ye to be ignorant,” says the Apostle of Christ, “how all our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor.10: 1-4)....![]()
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Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the final days of His earthly life, in the days of His mission to the race of man, chose from among the disciples His twelve Apostles to preach the Word of God. Among them, the Apostle Peter for his fiery ardor was vouchsafed to occupy the first place (Mt.10:2) and to be as it were the representative person for all the Church. Therefore it is said to him, preferentially, after the confession: “I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in the heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth: shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt.16: 19). Therefore it was not one man, but rather the One Universal Church, that received these “keys” and the right “to bind and loosen.” And that it was actually the Church that received this right, and not exclusively a single person, turn your attention to another place of the Scriptures, where the same Lord says to all His Apostles, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” and further after this, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them: and whose soever sins ye retain, are retained” (John 20: 22-23); or: “whatsoever ye bind upon the earth, shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosened in heaven” (Mt.18:18). Thus, it is the Church that binds, the Church that loosens; the Church, built upon the foundational cornerstone, Jesus Christ Himself (Eph 2:20), doth bind and loosen. Let both the binding and the loosening be feared: the loosening, in order not to fall under this again; the binding, in order not to remain forever in this condition. Therefore “Iniquities ensnare a man, and everyone is bound in the chains of his own sins,” says Wisdom (Prov 5:22); and except for Holy Church nowhere is it possible to receive the loosening.![]()
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After His Resurrection the Lord entrusted the Apostle Peter to shepherd His spiritual flock not because, that among the disciples only Peter alone was pre-deserved to shepherd the flock of Christ, but Christ addresses Himself chiefly to Peter because, that Peter was first among the Apostles and as such the representative of the Church; besides which, having turned in this instance to Peter alone, as to the top Apostle, Christ by this confirms the unity of the Church. “Simon of John” -- says the Lord to Peter -- “lovest thou Me?” -- and the Apostle answered: “Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee”; and a second time it was thus asked, and a second time he thus answered; being asked a third time, seeing that as it were not believed, he was saddened. But how is it possible for him not to believe That One, Who knew his heart? And wherefore then Peter answered: “Lord, Thou knowest all; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” “And sayeth Jesus to him” all three times “Feed My sheep” (John 20:15-17).![]()
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Besides this, the triple appealing of the Savior to Peter and the triple confession of Peter before the Lord had a particular beneficial purpose for the Apostle. That one, to whom was given “the keys of the kingdom” and the right “to bind and to loose,” bound himself thrice by fear and cowardice (Mt.26:69-75), and the Lord thrice loosens him by His appeal and in turn by his confession of strong love. And to shepherd literally the flock of Christ was acquired by all the Apostles and their successors. “Take heed, therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock,” the Apostle Paul urges church presbyters, “over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28); and the Apostle Peter to the elders: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly: not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind: neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when is appeared the Prince of pastors, ye will receive unfading crowns of glory” (1 Pet. 5:2-4).![]()
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It is remarkable that Christ, having said to Peter: “Feed My sheep,” did not say: “Feed thy sheep,” but rather to feed, good servant, the sheep of the Lord. “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor.1:13). “Feed My sheep”. Wherefore “wolfish robbers, wolfish oppressors, deceitful teachers and mercenaries, not being concerned about the flock” (Mt.7:15; Acts 20:29; 2 Pet 2:1; John 10:12), having plundered a strange flock and making of the spoils as though it be of their own particular gain, they think that they feed their flock. Such are not good pastors, as pastors of the Lord. “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11), entrusted to Him by the chief Shepherd Himself (1 Pet 5:4). And the Apostle Peter, true to his calling, gave his soul for the very flock of Christ, having sealed his apostleship by a martyr’s death, is now glorified throughout all the world.![]()
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The Apostle Paul, formerly Saul, was changed from a robbing wolf into a meek lamb. Formerly he was an enemy of the Church, then is manifest as an Apostle. Formerly he stalked it, then preached it. Having received from the high priests the authority at large to throw all Christians in chains for execution, he was already on the way, he breathed out “threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), he thirsted for blood, but “He that dwells in the Heavens shall laugh him to scorn” (Ps 2:4). When he, “having persecuted and vexed” in such manner “the Church of God” (1Cor.15:9; Acts 8:5), he came near Damascus, and the Lord from Heaven called to him: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” and I am here, and I am there, I am everywhere: here is My head; there is My body. There becomes nothing of a surprise in this; we ourselves are members of the Body of Christ. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me; it is hard for thee to kick against the goad” (Acts 9:4-5). Saul, however, “trembling and frightened”, cried out: “Who art Thou, Lord?” The Lord answered him, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.”![]()
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And Saul suddenly undergoes a change: “What wantest Thou me to do?” -- he cries out. And suddenly for him there is the Voice: “Arise, and go to the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6). Here the Lord sends Ananias: “Arise and go into the street” to a man, “by the name of Saul,” and baptize him, “for this one is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9: 11, 15, 18). This vessel must be filled with My Grace. “Ananias, however, answered: Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Thy Name” (Acts 9:13-14). But the Lord urgently commands Ananias: “Search for and fetch him, for this vessel is chosen by Me: for I shall show him what great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:11, 15-16).![]()
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And actually the Lord did show the Apostle Paul what things he had to suffer for His Name. He instructed him the deeds; He did not stop at the chains, the fetters, the prisons and shipwrecks; He Himself felt for him in his sufferings, He Himself guided him towards this day. On a single day the memory of the sufferings of both these Apostles is celebrated, though they suffered on separate days, but by the spirit and the closeness of their suffering they constitute one. Peter went first, and Paul followed soon after him. Formerly called Saul, and then Paul, having transformed his pride into humility. His very name (Paulus), meaning “small, little, less,” demonstrates this. What is the Apostle Paul after this? Ask him, and he himself gives answer to this: “I am,” says he, “the least of the Apostles... but I have labored more abundantly than all of them: yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me” (1 Cor.15:9-10).![]()
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And so, brethren, celebrating now the memory of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, remembering their venerable sufferings, we esteem their true faith and holy life, we esteem the innocence of their sufferings and pure confession. Loving in them the sublime quality and imitating them by great exploits, “in which to be likened to them” (2 Thess 3: 5-9), and we shall attain to that eternal bliss which is prepared for all the saints. The path of our life before was more grievous, thornier, harder, but “we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12: 1), having passed by along it, made now for us easier, and lighter, and more readily passable. First there passed along it “the author and finisher of our faith,” our Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Heb 12: 2); His daring Apostles followed after Him; then the martyrs, children, women, virgins and a great multitude of witnesses. Who acted in them and helped them on this path? He Who said, “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15: 5).
Today we celebrate the Synaxis of the Saints, known and unknown.![]()
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The Sunday following Pentecost is dedicated to All Saints, both those who are known to us, and those who are known only to God. There have been saints at all times, and they have come from every corner of the earth. They were Apostles, Martyrs, Prophets, Hierarchs, Monastics, and Righteous, yet all were perfected by the same Holy Spirit.![]()
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The Descent of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to rise above our fallen state and to attain sainthood, thereby fulfilling God’s directive to “be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16, etc.). Therefore, it is fitting to commemorate All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost.![]()
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This feast may have originated at an early date, perhaps as a celebration of all martyrs, then it was broadened to include all men and women who had borne witness to Christ by their virtuous lives, even if they did not shed their blood for Him.![]()
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Saint Peter of Damascus, in his “Fourth Stage of Contemplation,” mentions five categories of saints: Apostles, Martyrs, Prophets, Hierarchs, and Monastic Saints (Philokalia [in English] Vol. 3, p.131). He is actually quoting from the Octoechos, Tone 2 for Saturday Matins, kathisma after the first stichology.![]()
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Saint Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain (July 14) adds the Righteous to Saint Peter’s five categories. The list of Saint Nikodemos is found in his book The Fourteen Epistles of Saint Paul (Venice, 1819, p. 384) in his discussion of I Corinthians 12:28.![]()
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The hymnology for the feast of All Saints also lists six categories: “Rejoice, assembly of the Apostles, Prophets of the Lord, loyal choirs of the Martyrs, divine Hierarchs, Monastic Fathers, and the Righteous....”![]()
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Some of the saints are described as Confessors, a category which does not appear in the above lists. Since they are similar in spirit to the martyrs, they are regarded as belonging to the category of Martyrs. They were not put to death as the Martyrs were, but they boldly confessed Christ and came close to being executed for their faith. Saint Maximus the Confessor (January 21) is such a saint.![]()
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The order of these six types of saints seems to be based on their importance to the Church. The Apostles are listed first, because they were the first to spread the Gospel throughout the world.![]()
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The Martyrs come next because of their example of courage in professing their faith before the enemies and persecutors of the Church, which encouraged other Christians to remain faithful to Christ even unto death.![]()
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Although they come first chronologically, the Prophets are listed after the Apostles and Martyrs. This is because the Old Testament Prophets saw only the shadows of things to come, whereas the Apostles and Martyrs experienced them firsthand. The New Testament also takes precedence over the Old Testament.![]()
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The holy Hierarchs comprise the fourth category. They are the leaders of their flocks, teaching them by their word and their example.![]()
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The Monastic Saints are those who withdrew from this world to live in monasteries, or in seclusion. They did not do this out of hatred for the world, but in order to devote themselves to unceasing prayer, and to do battle against the power of the demons. Although some people erroneously believe that monks and nuns are useless and unproductive, Saint John Climacus had a high regard for them: “Angels are a light for monks, and the monastic life is a light for all men” (LADDER, Step 26:31).![]()
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The last category, the Righteous, are those who attained holiness of life while living “in the world.” Examples include Abraham and his wife Sarah, Job, Saints Joachim and Anna, Saint Joseph the Betrothed, Saint Juliana of Lazarevo, and others.![]()
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The feast of All Saints achieved great prominence in the ninth century, in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). His wife, the Holy Empress Theophano (December 16) lived in the world, but was not attached to worldly things. She was a great benefactor to the poor, and was generous to the monasteries. She was a true mother to her subjects, caring for widows and orphans, and consoling the sorrowful.![]()
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Even before the death of Saint Theophano in 893 or 894, her husband started to build a church, intending to dedicate it to Theophano, but she forbade him to do so. It was this emperor who decreed that the Sunday after Pentecost be dedicated to All Saints. Believing that his wife was one of the righteous, he knew that she would also be honored whenever the Feast of All Saints was celebrated.![]()
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(Source: OCA)
Today we celebrate Sts Peter and Febronia. They showed themselves exemplary models of Christian marriage, and are considered as the patron saints of newly-weds. 😀 ![]()
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Holy Sts Peter and Febronia pray for us!![]()
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(Icon: St Elizabeth Convent, Minsk)
Troparion ![]()
Blessed are you O Christ our God, who has revealed the fishermen to be most wise, by sending down on them the Holy Spirit; and so through them, casting the whole world in a net, O lover of mankind glory to you!![]()
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Kontakion ![]()
When the most High came down and confused the tongues, He divided the nations; but when He distributed the tongues of fire, He called all to unity. Therefore, with one voice, we glorify the All-holy Spirit!![]()
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(Icon: Agia Triada Petroupoleos)
This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost! ![]()
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In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end—the achievement and fulfilment—of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, of the new life in Christ, of grace, knowledge, adoption to God and holiness.![]()
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This double meaning and double joy is revealed to us, first of all, in the very name of the feast. Pentecost in Greek means fifty, and in the sacred biblical symbolism of numbers, the number fifty symbolizes both the fulness of time and that which is beyond time: the Kingdom of God itself. It symbolizes the fulness of time by its first component: 49, which is the fulness of seven (7 x 7): the number of time. And, it symbolizes that which is beyond time by its second component: 49 + 1, this one being the new day, the “day without evening” of God’s eternal Kingdom. With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ’s disciples, the time of salvation, the Divine work of redemption has been completed, the fulness revealed, all gifts bestowed: it belongs to us now to “appropriate” these gifts, to be that which we have become in Christ: participants and citizens of His Kingdom.![]()
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THE VIGIL OF PENTECOST![]()
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The all-night Vigil service begins with a solemn invitation:![]()
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“Let us celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit,![]()
The appointed day of promise, and the fulfilment of hope,![]()
The mystery which is as great as it is precious.”![]()
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In the coming of the Spirit, the very essence of the Church is revealed.![]()
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In the three readings of the Old Testament (Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29; Joel 2:23-32; Ezekiel 36:24-28) we hear the prophecies concerning the Holy Spirit. We are taught that the entire history of mankind was directed towards the day on which God “would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.” This day has come! All hope, all promises, all expectations have been fulfilled. At the end of the Aposticha hymns, for the first time since Easter, we sing the hymn: “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth...,” the one with which we inaugurate all our services, all prayers, which is, as it were, the life-breath of the Church, and whose coming to us, whose “descent” upon us in this festal Vigil, is indeed the very experience of the Holy Spirit “coming and abiding in us.”![]()
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Having reached its climax, the Vigil continues as an explosion of joy and light for “verily the light of the Comforter has come and illumined the world.” In the Gospel reading (John 20:19-23) the feast is interpreted to us as the feast of the Church, of her divine nature, power and authority. The Lord sends His disciples into the world, as He Himself was sent by His Father. Later, in the antiphons of the Liturgy, we proclaim the universality of the apostles’ preaching, the cosmical significance of the feast, the sanctification of the whole world, the true manifestation of God’s Kingdom.![]()
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THE VESPERS OF PENTECOST![]()
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The liturgical peculiarity of Pentecost is a very special Vespers of the day itself. Usually, this service follows immediately the Divine Liturgy, is “added” to it as its own fulfilment. The service begins as a solemn “summing up” of the entire celebration, as its liturgical synthesis. We hold flowers in our hands symbolizing the joy of the eternal spring, inaugurated by the coming of the Holy Spirit. After the festal Entrance, this joy reaches its climax in the singing of the Great Prokeimenon:![]()
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“Who is so great a God as our God?”![]()
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Then, having reached this climax, we are invited to kneel. This is our first kneeling since Easter. It signifies that after these fifty days of Paschal joy and fulness, of experiencing the Kingdom of God, the Church now is about to begin her pilgrimage through time and history. It is evening again, and the night approaches, during which temptations and failures await us, when, more than anything else, we need Divine help, that presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has already revealed to us the joyful End, who now will help us in our effort towards fulfilment and salvation.![]()
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All this is revealed in the three prayers which the celebrant reads now as we all kneel and listen to him. In the first prayer, we bring to God our repentance, our increased appeal for the forgiveness of sins, the first condition for entering into the Kingdom of God.![]()
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In the second prayer, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us, to teach us to pray and to follow the true path in the dark and difficult night of our earthly existence. Finally, in the third prayer, we remember all those who have achieved their earthly journey, but who are united with us in the eternal God of Love.![]()
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The joy of Easter has been completed and we again have to wait for the dawn of the Eternal Day. Yet, knowing our weakness, humbling ourselves by kneeling, we also know the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit who has come. We know that God is with us, that in Him is our victory.![]()
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Thus is completed the feast of Pentecost and we enter “the ordinary time” of the year. Yet, every Sunday now will be called “after Pentecost”—and this means that it is from the power and light of these fifty days that we shall receive our own power, the Divine help in our daily struggle. At Pentecost, we decorate our churches with flowers and green branches—for the Church “never grows old, but is always young.” It is an evergreen, ever-living Tree of grace and life, of joy and comfort. For the Holy Spirit—“the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life—comes and abides in us, and cleanses us from all impurity,” and fills our life with meaning, love, faith and hope.![]()
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Father Alexander Schmemann (1974) (amended)
Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus!![]()
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36 As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.”41 And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.![]()
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44 Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations,[c] beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.”![]()
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50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
Sermon by Fr. Antony Hughes for the Sunday of the Blind Man. (2008)![]()
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.![]()
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Christ is Risen!![]()
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The story of the Blind Man holds one of those intriguing little mysteries we may never understand. Why did Jesus use mud to heal the man? We simply do not know. ![]()
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One thing we learn from it is that Jesus treats everyone in full knowledge of personal uniqueness. Each human being is unique and unrepeatable with distinctive issues, concerns and needs. Thus everyone he met was worthy of his full attention. He met the needs of the person before him with wisdom and compassion understanding the distinctiveness of each one. As CS Lewis wrote, “God has an eternity to spend with each person alone.”![]()
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Therefore we can be sure that Jesus used mud not because he needed it, but because the Blind Man did. Perhaps it was a device to rivet the man’s attention to what was happening to him at that moment. ![]()
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We come from what may be history’s most distracted society. We can’t stay focused on anything for longer than a minute (if that). We value the sublime art of multi-tasking as a marketable and prized skill, instill it in our children, develop it in ourselves and then medicate our poor, depressed, fragmented selves in order to keep the unhealthy ball rolling. I would be willing to bet that the Blind Man became completely focused when Jesus spat on the ground and anointed his eyes with the moist clay. It certainly would get my attention! Jesus met every situation with wisdom and compassion because he was fully aware and awake. The Holy Scriptures tell us that God “neither slumbers nor sleeps”. It was the intent of the Lord to heal this man’s physical eyes yes, but even more to awaken his spiritual sight.![]()
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Have you ever congratulated a woman on being pregnant when she wasn’t? If you have, like me, then you will understand how important attentiveness and wakefulness are! ![]()
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Attentiveness and wakefulness give birth to wisdom. Attentiveness combined with the practice of stillness and compassion produces a sacred perspective. From this sacred perspective rises prayer, pure and unobstructed ending in a communion beyond words, beyond concepts, beyond anything the human mind can ever imagine. This is what St. Paul calls “putting on the mind of Christ.” I just attended an amazing conference sponsored by the Harvard Medical School on Meditation and Psychotherapy. Scientific research has begun to show that the brain actually frames itself around spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is transformative! One begins to see the world with spiritual eyes. All men and women become honored brothers and sisters, all of life becomes a sacrament; creation, great and small, becomes a sacred and precious conduit of grace; every waking moment becomes a doorway into the kingdom of heaven. In this way, through the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within life, becomes filled with grace, filled with light, inconceivably filled to overflowing with joy!![]()
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Of course, there is good spiritual practice and there is poor spiritual practice. As the scripture says, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” There is one, incontrovertible fruit that will always be present if a good practice is being followed. We will get to that in a moment.![]()
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The Lord told the adulterous woman after saving her life from the angry crowd, “Go and sin no more.” This means, practice the freedom you have been given this day and do not allow yourself to become enslaved again. In that same spirit the priest says in the prayer of absolution, “Having no more care for the sins you have confessed, go in peace.” “Go in peace” means go joyfully and practice the freedom you have just been given. The practice of freedom is precisely the practice of attentiveness and compassion towards oneself and towards one’s neighbor.![]()
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The Samaritan Woman was truly sinful and yet Jesus did not condemn her. He related to her his knowledge of her life in a dispassionate and non-judgmental way. She did not resist. The Lord did not create an atmosphere of fear for her. She confessed freely that he had told her “everything she had ever done”. How wonderful! And then he revealed to her heights of theology beyond anything we have previously seen in the New Testament, except perhaps in the Lord’s encounter with Nicodemus in the dark of the night.![]()
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Whatever else the mud was for, it helped to wake the Blind Man up to what was happening to him and who was doing it. In another “blind man story” Jesus has to repeat his healing method because the results were not complete. “I see men as trees walking.” I think there is more going on in the healing miracles of Christ than meets the eye. True healing occurs on many levels, physical, emotional and spiritual.![]()
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We are all sleeping. We are all, to some extent, blind. We need to be awakened. What is the incontrovertible sign of wakefulness? ![]()
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Please take this quotation from my beloved Thomas Merton to heart as a clue, “The saints are what they are, not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood makes it possible for them to admire everybody else.” If we cannot find it in our hearts to “admire everybody else”, to treat every person as Jesus treated the adulterous woman and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, then we know that we are still fast asleep. The one, sure sign of a truly Christian spiritual life is the absolute refusal to judge anyone coupled with the presence of unfailing compassion and wisdom.![]()
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Today is the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman. ![]()
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John 4:5-42![]()
5 So he came to a city of Samar′ia, called Sy′char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.![]()
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7 There came a woman of Samar′ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar′ia?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”![]()
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16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”![]()
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27 Just then his disciples came. They marvelled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, “What do you wish?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the city and were coming to him.![]()
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31 Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him food?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. 36 He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour; others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”![]()
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39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”![]()
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Have a blessed Sunday! 🙂 ![]()
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(Icon by Alexandra Tsigkou)
Today we celebrate the Myrrh-bearing women and the Noble Joseph! ![]()
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"The angel came to the myrrh-bearing women at the tomb and said: Myrrh is meet for the dead; but Christ has shown Himself a stranger to corruption! So proclaim: The Lord is risen, granting the world great mercy!"
Christ is risen! Today is known as Antipascha or Thomas Sunday.![]()
“Antipascha” does not mean “opposed to Pascha,” but “in place of Pascha.” Beginning with this first Sunday after Pascha, the Church dedicates every Sunday of the year to the Lord’s Resurrection.![]()
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Today's Gospel Reading is from the Gospel of John (20:19-29).![]()
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Jesus Appears to the Disciples![]()
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”![]()
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Jesus and Thomas![]()
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”![]()
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26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Dear all, Christ is Risen! The Holy Assumption Monastery in California is hosting a zoom retreat at 6.00 pm our time tonight. We believe you will find it very interesting! 🙂
Christ is Risen from the Dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tomb bestowing life! 😀 ![]()
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVlrpldjlwk
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Provided to YouTube by CDBabyPaschal Beginning · Archangel VoicesResurrection! Orthodox Chants and Hymns of Holy Pascha℗ 2010 Archangel VoicesReleased on: 20...
Today is Great and Holy Friday! ![]()
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Matthew 27:32-61![]()
32 As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyre′ne, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Gol′gotha (which means the place of a skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; 36 then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.![]()
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The Death of Jesus![]()
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land[d] until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, la′ma sabach-tha′ni?” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “This man is calling Eli′jah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Eli′jah will come to save him.”[e] 50 And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.![]()
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51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; 52 the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son[f] of God!”![]()
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55 There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him; 56 among whom were Mary Mag′dalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zeb′edee.![]()
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The Burial of Jesus![]()
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathe′a, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 Mary Mag′dalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulchre.
Today is Great and Holy Thursday.![]()
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By The Very Rev. Alexander Schmemann, S.T.D.![]()
Professor of Liturgical Theology, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary![]()
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Two events shape the liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples, and the betrayal of Judas. The meaning of both is in love. The Last Supper is the ultimate revelation of God’s redeeming love for man, of love as the very essence of salvation. And the betrayal of Judas reveals that sin, death and self-destruction are also due to love, but to deviated and distorted love, love directed at that which does not deserve love. Here is the mystery of this unique day, and its liturgy, where light and darkness, joy and sorrow are so strangely mixed, challenges us with the choice on which depends the eternal destiny of each one of us. “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come... having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end...” (John 13:1). To understand the meaning of the Last Supper we must see it as the very end of the great movement of Divine Love which began with the creation of the world and is now to be consummated in the death and resurrection of Christ.![]()
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God is Love (1 John 4:8). And the first gift of Love was life. The meaning, the content of life was communion. To be alive man was to eat and to drink, to partake of the world. The world was thus Divine love made food, made Body of man. And being alive, i.e. partaking of the world, man was to be in communion with God, to have God as the meaning, the content and the end of his life. Communion with the God-given world was indeed communion with God. Man received his food from God and making it his body and his life, he offered the whole world to God, transformed it into life in God and with God. The love of God gave life to man, the love of man for God transformed this life into communion with God. This was paradise. Life in it was, indeed, eucharistic. Through man and his love for God the whole creation was to be sanctified and transformed into one all-embracing sacrament of Divine Presence and man was the priest of this sacrament.![]()
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But in sin man lost this eucharistic life. He lost it because he ceased to see the world as a means of Communion with God and his life as eucharist, as adoration and thanksgiving. . . He loves himself and the world for their own sake; he made himself the content and the end of his life. He thought that his hunger and thirst, i.e. his dependence of his life on the world—can be satisfied by the world as such, by food as such. But world and food, once they are deprived of their initial sacramental meaning—as means of communion with God, once they are not received for God’s sake and filled with hunger and thirst for God, once, in other words, God is no longer their real “content,” can give no life, satisfy no hunger, for they have no life in themselves... And thus by putting his love in them, man deviated his love from the only object of all love, of all hunger, of all desires. And he died. For death is the inescapable “decomposition” of life cut from its only source and content. Man thought to find life in the world and in food, but he found death. His life became communion with death, for instead of transforming the world by faith, love, and adoration into communion with God, he submitted himself entirely to the world, he ceased to be its priest and became its slave. And by his sin the whole world was made a cemetery, where people condemned to death partook of death and “sat in the region and shadow of death” (Matt. 4:16).![]()
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But if man betrayed, God remained faithful to man. He did not “turn Himself away forever from His creature whom He had made, neither did He forget the works of His hands, but He visited him in diverse manners, through the tender compassion of His mercy” (Liturgy of Saint Basil). A new Divine work began, that of redemption and salvation. And it was fulfilled in Christ, the Son of God Who in order to restore man to his pristine beauty and to restore life as communion with God, became Man, took upon Himself our nature, with its thirst and hunger, with its desire for and love of, life. And in Him life was revealed, given, accepted and fulfilled as total and perfect Eucharist, as total and perfect communion with God. He rejected the basic human temptation: to live “by bread alone”; He revealed that God and His kingdom are the real food, the real life of man. And this perfect eucharistic Life, filled with God, and, therefore Divine and immortal, He gave to all those who would believe in Him, i,e. find in Him the meaning and the content of their lives. Such is the wonderful meaning of the Last Supper. He offered Himself as the true food of man, because the Life revealed in Him is the true Life. And thus the movement of Divine Love which began in paradise with a Divine “take, eat. ..” (for eating is life for man) comes now “unto the end” with the Divine “take, eat, this is My Body...” (for God is life of man). The Last Supper is the restoration of the paradise of bliss, of life as Eucharist and Communion.![]()
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But this hour of ultimate love is also that of the ultimate betrayal. Judas leaves the light of the Upper Room and goes into darkness. “And it was night” (John 13:30). Why does he leave? Because he loves, answers the Gospel, and his fateful love is stressed again and again in the hymns of Holy Thursday. It does not matter indeed, that he loves the “silver.” Money stands here for all the deviated and distorted love which leads man into betraying God. It is, indeed, love stolen from God and Judas, therefore, is the Thief. When he does not love God and in God, man still loves and desires, for he was created to love and love is his nature, but it is then a dark and self-destroying passion and death is at its end. And each year, as we immerse ourselves into the unfathomable light and depth of Holy Thursday, the same decisive question is addressed to each one of us: do I respond to Christ’s love and accept it as my life, do I follow Judas into the darkness of his night?![]()
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The liturgy of Holy Thursday includes: a) Matins, b) Vespers and, following Vespers, the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great. In the Cathedral Churches the special service of the Washing of Feet takes place after the Liturgy; while the deacon reads the Gospel, the Bishop washes the feet of twelve priests, reminding us that Christ’s love is the foundation of life in the Church and shapes all relations within it. It is also on Holy Thursday that Holy Chrism is consecrated by the primates of autocephalous Churches, and this also means that the new love of Christ is the gift we receive from the Holy Spirit on the day of our entrance into the Church.![]()
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At Matins the Troparion sets the theme of the day: the opposition between the love of Christ and the “insatiable desire” of Judas.![]()
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“When the glorious disciples were illumined by washing at the Supper,![]()
Then was the impious Judas darkened with the love of silver![]()
And to the unjust judges does he betray Thee, the just Judge.![]()
Consider, 0 Lover of money, him who hanged himself because of it.![]()
Do not follow the insatiable desire which dared this against the Master,![]()
0 Lord, good to all, glory to Thee.”![]()
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After the Gospel reading (Luke 12:1-40) we are given the contemplation, the mystical and eternal meaning of the Last Supper in the beautiful canon of Saint Cosmas. Its last “irmos,” (Ninth Ode) invites us to share in the hospitality of the Lord’s banquet:![]()
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“Come, 0 ye faithful![]()
Let us enjoy the hospitality of the Lord and the banquet of immortality![]()
In the upper chamber with minds uplifted....”![]()
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At Vespers, the stichira on “Lord, I have cried” stress the spiritual anticlimax of Holy Thursday, the betrayal of Judas:![]()
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“Judas the slave and Knave,![]()
The disciple and traitor,![]()
The friend and fiend,![]()
Was proved by his deeds,![]()
For, as he followed the Master,![]()
Within himself he contemplated His betrayal....”![]()
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After the Entrance, three lessons from the Old Testament:![]()
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1) Exodus 19: 10-19. God’s descent from Mount Sinai to His people as the image of God’s coming in the Eucharist.![]()
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2) Job 38:1-23, 42:1-5, God’s conversation with Job and Job’s answer: “who will utter to me what I understand not? Things too great and wonderful for me, which I knew not...”—and these “great and wonderful things” are fulfilled in the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood.![]()
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3) Isaiah 50:4-11. The beginning of the prophecies on the suffering servant of God,![]()
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The Epistle reading is from I Corinthians 11:23-32: Saint Paul’s account of the Last Supper and the meaning of communion.![]()
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The Gospel reading (the longest of the year is taken from all four Gospels and is the full story of the Last Supper, the betrayal of Judas and Christ’s arrest in the garden.![]()
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The Cherubic hymn and the hymn of Communion are replaced by the words of the prayer before Communion:![]()
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“Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant,![]()
For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies,![]()
Neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss;![]()
But like the thief will I confess Thee:![]()
Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”
With the Friday of the sixth week, Lent proper ends. Saturday and Palm Sunday form transition to the Passion Week. From Monday until Easter Sunday, the Church commemorates the Passion and death of our Lord. The days from this Saturday to Easter are "days of tears," and days of more rigorous prayer and fast.![]()
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At the grave of his friend Lazarus, Christ wept; and after He raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jews "from that day devised to put Him to death" (Jn. 11:53). Even when He was about to enter Jerusalem in triumph, we read that "when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it but the chief priests and scribes and the leading men of the people sought to destroy Him" (Lk. 19 :41-47). Christ referred to these days as the "days when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they fast in those days" (Lk. 5:35). ![]()
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On the Saturday following the fifth Sunday of Lent, called the Saturday of Lazarus, the memory of that great miracle is renewed. The Church rejoices in the fact that Christ's promise of our resurrection is sure, for even here on earth He displayed His power to raise Lazarus from the dead. It was necessary for Christ to perform such a public miracle that the people would have no doubt about Him. Jesus knew that the dead man would someday be raised from death, but He wanted to give a public expression of His knowledge. He knew that His word would create and give life because God wills it so. When He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth," His words were addressed to all people. By these words, Christ asks us for our faith, strength, and conviction.![]()
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This Saturday we will celebrate Liturgy at 10.00 am.![]()
"By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your passion, You did confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God! Like the children with the palms of victory, we cry out to You, O Vanquisher of death: Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!"![]()
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On Palm Sunday we will celebrate Liturgy at 8.00 am.![]()
"When we were buried with You in Baptism, O Christ God, we were made worthy of eternal life by Your Resurrection! Now we praise You and sing: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!"![]()
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If you would like to attend, please confirm with us in advance as places are limited.![]()
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We hope you're all having a great week!
Learn about St Modomnoc by clicking on the link below! 😀
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Hi everyone! Less than a week to go now to raise money for our community. Please consider donating your Easter gift via the Kiltwalk. For every donation we get 50 % extra which is a great help. To all of you who have donated and supported us so far, thank you very much! 😀 We are very grateful and can't wait to show you our progress. ![]()
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virtual.thekiltwalk.co.uk/fundraising/ScotlandsVirtualKiltwalk2021-NinaDon![]()
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This week, on our virtual pilgrimage we are heading down to Cornwall to meet St Buriana.![]()
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Born in Ireland, St. Buriana travelled with St. Piran in order to help convert the Cornish people. The pagan King Geraint was ruler in that area and he had a son who was paralyzed. Through the prayers of St. Buriana, his son recovered. The king was very impressed by her healing abilities and was smitten by St. Buriana’s beauty, so he captured her and held her in his prison with the intent of marrying her. When he learned of her abduction, St. Piran, with other members of their religious community, rushed through the snow to the king, to beg for her release. In reply, the king told them that if he was awoken the next morning by the calls of a cuckoo bird in the snow, he would release St. Buriana. This request was, of course, seemingly impossible as all the cuckoo birds should have been in Africa, where they spend all of the winter months. Regardless, St. Piran, with his community, and St. Buriana in her cell, prayed for a miracle to grant her release. The next morning, the cries of a cuckoo bird rang across the countryside, causing the king to wake up in terror. He released St. Buriana, who left with St. Piran and his cohort to return to their church.![]()
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According to legend, the king couldn’t stop thinking of the saint so he set off again to recapture her. When he arrived, St. Buriana immediately fell down dead. Everyone was distraught, but St. Piran reached out to her and she immediately came back to life. This finally was enough for the king. He repented for his many sins and converted to Christianity with his entire household, while St. Buriana was able to rejoin her religious community near Land’s End.![]()
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There is a large village in Cornwall named after St. Buriana near Land’s End, where there is a magnificent church named after her, which was built by King Athelstan in the tenth century. He credited the success of his mission to subdue a Cornish rebellion to a visit he made to her chapel, so he decided to build and dedicate a large church on that spot in her honor. This church has been remodeled since then, but you can still see the original arches on the inside of the church. In the churchyard, you can visit a stone cross that was installed when the church was built in the tenth century. This stone is supposed to mark the site where St. Buriana’s original chapel stood.![]()
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You emulated the Merciful One,![]()
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and received from Him the grace of healing![]()
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You shone out with the beauty of virginity healer Buriana,![]()
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and brought to faith the Cornish people.![]()
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By your prayers, heal our physical and spiritual diseases![]()
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and continually drive away the temptations of the enemy![]()
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from those who cry out in faith “Have mercy on us, O Lord.”
Pilgrimage site number 3: Newcastle upon Tyne.![]()
Meet St Bede! 🙂
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Hi guys! An online retreat hosted by Holy Assumption Monastery in Calistoga is taking place tonight at 6.00 pm. It's worth joining if you can! 🙂
A big thanks to all who have helped us raise money through the Kiltwalk so far. Your donations mean a lot. If you haven't had the chance to donate yet please use the link below. ![]()
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We will soon post pictures to share our progress with you. 🙂 ![]()
virtual.thekiltwalk.co.uk/fundraising/ScotlandsVirtualKiltwalk2021-NinaDon![]()
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For stop number two on our virtual pilgrimage, we head over to the seaside town of Whitby in North Yorkshire to visit Saint Hilda and her monastery.![]()
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(By Nina Don)![]()
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Following a turbulent childhood filled with poisonings, wars and raids, St. Hilda decided to dedicate her life to Christ at the age of 33 when she joined her first monastery as a nun. Ten years later, she founded Whitby Abbey and was named the monastery’s abbess. St. Hilda’s skill as a devout and charitable leader led to Whitby Abbey being the host of a Synod in which it was decided that Christendom in the British Isles would follow the rule of the Roman church in lieu of the individual traditions of the various Celtic expressions around Britain.![]()
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St. Hilda was known to value education greatly and her dedication to everyone in her care led her to St. Caedmon, who would go on to become the first named British poet that is known today. Caedmon was a labourer attached to the monastery to take care of the animals. He had no prior musical skills but one night in a dream, he was told to take up the harp and sing. The resulting hymn was so beautiful that St. Hilda encouraged him to embrace his newfound gift and hone his skill as much as possible. Under St. Hilda’s direction, St. Caedmon created numerous songs and poems based around the various books of the Old Testament and eventually took up the monastic tonsure himself and joined the monastery.![]()
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A legend tied to St. Hilda was that there was a plague of snakes that were tormenting the town of Whitby. In order to protect her flock, St. Hilda removed all of the snake’s heads and turned them to stone. This story was used to explain the large number of rock-like coils that littered the shoreline of Whitby, which we now know to be ammonite fossils. These fossils soon became a popular trinket to sell to visitors of the monastery by local artisans in Victorian times.![]()
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St. Hilda’s monastery was destroyed by Danish Vikings 200 years after the saint’s death. However, a new monastery was built on the same site by a Benedictine Monk. This monastery operated for 500 years until King Henry VIII shut it down, confiscated and gutted all the buildings, and left it in ruin. The monastery has spent the 500 years since that point in this ruinous state, which can still be visited today.![]()
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Perhaps, in part, due to the influence of St. Hilda on St. Caedmon’s poetical career, the small town of Whitby has attracted some rather famous authors over the years. Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland was in Whitby when his first work, a poem, was published in the local newspaper. Two years after that, he published a book of poems in Whitby using his pseudonym “Lewis Carroll” for the first time. Whitby Abbey itself makes an appearance with an even more surprising literary connection. Bram Stoker lived in the town of Whitby for six years, which in turn gave him many inspirations for his novel Dracula. Whitby is the site where Dracula’s ship washes ashore in Britain and the first thing he does when he gets off the ship is climb the steps of the ruined Whitby Abbey. ![]()
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Whether or not these authors were drawn to Whitby Abbey due to the scholarly tradition established there by St. Hilda centuries before, what is known is that she serves as an excellent reminder that we are all given talents in one form or another and that we should do what we can to develop those talents as much as possible and find a way to use those talents to the Glory of God. As St. Bede writes about St. Hilda, “[She] shone forth with such a blaze of light that she filled all Britain with the glory of [her] brilliance.”![]()
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Caedmon’s Hymn![]()
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Now we must honor the Guardian of Heaven,![]()
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the might of the Architect, and His purpose,![]()
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the work of the Father of Glory![]()
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as He, the Eternal Lord, established the beginning of wonders;![]()
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He first created for the children of men![]()
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Heaven as a roof, the Holy Creator![]()
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Then the Guardian of Mankind,![]()
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the Eternal Lord, afterwards appointed the middle earth,![]()
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the lands for men, the Lord almighty.![]()
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Fed by the abundance of your piety, O Hilda, your flock grew strong in Godliness; and among the sheep and lambs of your flock, the blessed Cædmon who through your guidance fashioned wondrous hymns to God in his native tongue, and was encouraged by you to increase the talent with which God endowed him. For that reason we rejoice in your many wondrous works, we give thanks for you to God, for gloriously is He glorified in the saints who do His works.
Dear all! Please join us for part 2 of our virtual pilgrimage, organised by our dear friend, Nina, who is raising money for the Parish by taking part in the Kiltwalk. ![]()
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We have recently secured additional space in Wellington Church. Our new space will allow us to expand our ministry and also provide a safe environment for people.![]()
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Your donations will go towards refurbishing the space and buying materials that will allow us to expand our ministry. Please click on the link below if you would like to support us. virtual.thekiltwalk.co.uk/fundraising/ScotlandsVirtualKiltwalk2021-NinaDon?fbclid=IwAR1tnaMHJwYUP...![]()
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Without further ado, meet St Kevin of Glendalough, Ireland. ![]()
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"Our first visit will be to St. Kevin of Ireland. Here he is found inside of a man-made cave, which now is called St. Kevin’s Bed. It is located in Glendalough, less than 40 KM from Dublin. After his ordination, St. Kevin ventured out and settled here on a mountain overlooking the Glendalough Lake in the remote wilderness, where he could enjoy the solitude and dedicate his life to prayer and asceticism.![]()
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One legend goes that during the beginning of Lent, St. Kevin was deep in prayer with his arms outstretched in supplication when a blackbird landed in his open palm, started building her nest and laid her eggs. As a lover of nature and a gentle steward of all of God’s creatures, St. Kevin knew he could not chase away the brooding bird and persisted to hold up the nest all of Lent until the baby blackbirds hatched and fledged. He used the pain in his arm from having to hold the nest all day, as a reminder of the suffering Christ endured during the Passion and Crucifixion. ![]()
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Pilgrims are still able to visit St. Kevin’s bed today, although it is recommended that they view it from across the lake rather than go up to the cave itself, as the path there is treacherous. In the nearby town of Glendalough, you can visit the remains of the monastery St. Kevin established including his chapel, church and a tower, which are all still standing. ![]()
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Since we are just past the halfway point of Lent, St. Kevin serves as an excellent reminder of the austere and peaceful way in which we can embrace the fast as we inch ever closer to Holy Pascha.![]()
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"You lofty trees of Ireland, ever move your verdant branches, that with the rustling of your leaves, as with the strings of a multitude of harps, you may make sweet music for the King of kings; for thus of old did you delight His faithful servant, the venerable Kevin, with your melodious song, easing the severity of his ascetic life with the beauty of your hymnody, filling his soul with exultation, and causing him to cry aloud: Let every breath praise the Lord!"![]()
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Forsaking your noble inheritance, and shunning all the crooked ways of this sin-loving world, you oriented your obedient feet to the straight and narrow path of Christ, eagerly hastening throughout your life towards heavenly Zion, wherewith all the saints and the bodiless hosts, you cry aloud with joy: Let every breath praise the Lord!"
Today, on the third Sunday of Lent, we commemorate the Holy Cross!![]()
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"Now the flaming sword no longer guards the gates of Eden; it has mysteriously been quenched by the wood of the Cross! The sting of death and the victory of hell have been vanquished; for You, O my Saviour, have come and cried to those in hell: “Enter again into paradise.”
Hi everyone! Our Team is taking part in the Kiltwalk (23-25 April).![]()
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Exciting things are on the horizon and your donations can make a great difference. Please click on the link below to read the individual bios and what we're raising money for. 😀 ![]()
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Your support is always greatly appreciated!![]()
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virtual.thekiltwalk.co.uk/teams/TheArchangelGabrielTeam
virtual.thekiltwalk.co.uk
The Archangel Gabriel Team are taking part in Scotland'sVirtualKiltwalk2021
Today we celebrate St Joseph the Patriarch, Son of Jacob and Rachel![]()
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Righteous Joseph the Fair was the son of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob and his wife Rachel (Genesis 37:3). His eleven brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Genesis 37:2) were jealous of him, because their father loved him more than his other sons, because he was the son of his old age. They feared him because he revealed his dreams, which foretold his future greatness. One dream was about how he and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field. Joseph's sheaf rose up, and the sheaves of his brothers arose and bowed down to it. In another dream the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. Jacob rebuked him for implying that his father, mother, and eleven brothers would also bow before him one day.![]()
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The brothers decided to kill Joseph, but the eldest son Reuben persuaded them not to do so. "Do not shed any blood. Cast him into this pit ... but do not lay hands upon him" (Genesis 37:32). Reuben intended to come back later and rescue Joseph, but his plans were thwarted.They stripped Joseph of his coat and threw him into the pit, and then sold him for twenty gold coins to merchants who were traveling to Egypt in a caravan. After killing a goat, they smeared its blood on the coat and brought it to Jacob saying that they had found it on the ground. Jacob recognized the coat and concluded that a wild animal must have killed Joseph.![]()
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In Egypt Joseph was sold to Potiphar, a captain of the guards. Because his master saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and that he was a successful man, he made him the overseer of his house, placing him in charge of all his possessions. The Righteous Joseph was fair of countenance, and Potiphar's wife wanted him to lie with her. He would not consent to this, but the shameless woman continued pestering him. One day she repeated her request, and he fled from her. She seized his garment as he ran away, and showed it to her husband when he returned home. Out of malice and spite, Potiphar's wife slandered the Righteous Joseph before her husband, saying that he had attempted to rape her. Believing the lie, Potiphar confined the innocent young man in a prison. There, Saint Joseph the Fair gained fame when he interpreted the dreams of two men in the prison (Genesis chapter 40).![]()
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After Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's two dreams (Genesis chapter 41), predicting seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine and misfortune for Egypt, he advised Pharaoh to appoint overseers to store one fifth of the grain harvest each year, and to reserve it for the time of famine. The Righteous Joseph was set free and was given charge of Pharaoh's household, and became the Lord of Egypt. Pharaoh was still the ruler, but Joseph answered only to him.![]()
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When famine also struck his home in the land of Canaan, ten of Joseph's brothers were sent to Egypt by Jacob in order to buy some grain. Only Benjamin stayed at home with his father. Joseph recognized them, but they did not know him. He threw them into prison for three days, then released them. He gave them provisions and sent them on their way, ordering them to send him their youngest brother.![]()
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Later, Joseph revealed himself to them, and he wept. He told them to bring his father and his entire family to Egypt. After Jacob's death, Joseph's brothers feared that he would repay them for all the evil they had done to him, so they asked for forgiveness. He replied, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20).![]()
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Before his death around 1700 B. C., the Righteous Joseph ordered that his bones be taken from Egypt to the Promised Land, which was done in the time of the holy Prophet Moses (September 4), 1496 B.C. As the father of Manassah and Ephraim, Saint Joseph is placed at the head of two of the tribes of Israel.![]()
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Saint Joseph is also commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, and on Great and Holy Monday.![]()
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(Source OCA)![]()
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Holy St Joseph, pray for us all!
How to Say Yes to God: Homily for the Feast of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos in the Orthodox Church (2018)![]()
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By Fr Philip LeMasters ![]()
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Today we celebrate the very best example of how to live faithfully as a human being before God with the feast of the Annunciation. When the Archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was to become the Theotokos, she freely accepted this extraordinary calling when she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” When she offered herself to become the Living Temple of God, she played a crucial role in how the Savior would “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.” In opening her life without reservation to Christ, she made it possible for Him to “share in flesh and blood” and participate in our humanity so “that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”![]()
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By conventional human standards, this teenage girl had no power or prominence at all. No one in first-century Palestine would have been inclined to look to her as having a role in delivering them from anything. But through her courage in accepting a calling that would impact every dimension of her life in ways that she could not possibly have fully understood, the Theotokos became a fierce warrior against evil because she broke the cycle of disobedience that went back to the rebellion of our first parents. They chose satisfying their own self-centered desires over obeying the Lord and becoming more like Him in holiness. She chose, instead, to say “yes” without reservation to the point of sharing her own flesh and blood with the Son of God, and of loving and serving Him throughout His earthly life, even as He hung on the Cross. She is the New Eve through whom the Second Adam became one of us for our salvation.![]()
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In order for the Savior to be fully divine and fully human, He had to be born of a woman. In order for Him to be the Great High Priest Who offered Himself fully on the Cross to conquer the power of death, the Messiah “had to be made like His brethren in every respect.” The Theotokos’ offering of herself in free obedience made it possible for Him to do that. Here we encounter the great mystery of divine-human cooperation or synergy, for God always respects our freedom as unique persons in responding to His will. God did not choose the Virgin Mary randomly, but prepared for her across the generations of the Hebrew people, culminating in the aged, barren couple of Joachim and Anna. Like Abraham and Sarah before them, they did not conceive simply by their own youthful physical abilities, but after painful decades of childlessness due to the miraculous blessing of the Lord. John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in the same way.![]()
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These elderly parents of newborns bear witness that something very different from birth into a world dominated by the fear of death has arrived. Now a new age of the fulfillment of God’s promises has dawned. It is fulfilled through a young girl’s amazing obedience, as the Savior becomes an unborn Child in her womb. She conceived and gave birth without passion, without a husband, and in a way that preserved her virginity. In the Theotokos’ astounding offering of herself to the Lord, the brokenness and corruption of our humanity is unwound and undone. This New Eve does not choose the satisfaction of her own desires over obedience to God, but opens every dimension of her being to share in His life. Through her, the New Adam is born Who heals all the corruption of the first.![]()
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As we celebrate the Annunciation this year only one week before Palm Sunday, the connection between the Lord’s Self-offering and hers is especially clear. Remember, however, that neither our Savior nor the Theotokos is a conventional hero. Instead of destroying His enemies through brute force, the Lord submitted to the ultimate humiliation of crucifixion, death, burial in a tomb, and descent to Hades in order to deliver us from captivity to fear of the grave and to bring us into the joy of eternal life. He does not inflict suffering upon others, but takes it upon Himself purely for our sake. The Theotokos was a young virgin, unmarried and of no particular importance in her society. Her unwed pregnancy was scandalous and certainly not a path to a conventional life. Eventually, she saw her Son and God condemned as a blasphemer and a traitor, and then nailed to the Cross. Her purity and blessedness were surely hidden from the world and known only to those who had the eyes to see her Son as the Savior, not in spite of His Passion, but because of it.![]()
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After today, there is one week of Lent left followed by Holy Week. Even as we plan how to adjust our schedules in order to enter as fully as possible into the great mystery of our salvation through the services of the Church, we must use the spiritual disciplines of the season to become more like the Theotokos in her complete obedience and receptivity to the Lord. The Archangel announced her unique calling to which she said “yes.” Through her, the Son of God united Himself with humanity. Our calling, then, is to become like her in hearing and responding to God’s calling as we unite ourselves personally with Him.![]()
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If we believe the good news of this feast, then we may shut off no part of our lives from communion with Christ in holiness. His becoming the God-Man calls us to follow the example of the Theotokos in receiving Him in a fashion that transforms every dimension of our life into a sign of His salvation. That is a tall order that we probably cannot image we would ever fulfill. We likely cannot even begin to understand how that could be possible for people like us who are gravely weakened by our sins and the slaves of our self-centered desires.![]()
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By this point in Lent, we should have a clearer sense of how hard it is to open our lives to Christ through prayer, fasting, generosity, forgiveness, and repentance. We undertake these practices so poorly and feebly, often gaining a stronger sense of our weakness than of peace, blessedness, and joy. If we have embraced the season with integrity so far, Lent will have opened our eyes a bit to the true state of our souls; and if we are honest, there is much there that we do not like to see. Though that may seem like bad news, it is actually exactly what we need. For if we are to grow in personal union with the Lord, we have to get over any self-righteous illusions that would drown out the message we need to hear. If we are to learn to say “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” we must do so as the particular people we truly are. If we try to relate to God with some kind of imaginary holiness or religiosity, we will do more harm than good to our souls. We may be able to fool ourselves, but we can never fool God.![]()
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Through the Theotokos’s response to the message of the Archangel, the Savior became one of us, uniting divinity and humanity in His own Person. By His grace, He calls and enables each of us to find the healing of our souls by sharing in His blessed life. As the Lenten journey continues with all its struggles, we have the opportunity to gain the spiritual strength to receive Him more fully as we grow into the unique persons He created us to be in His image and likeness. Let us look to the Theotokos as our hero, our great example, of what happens when a humble, obedient person says “yes” to God from the depths of her soul. There is no way other than becoming more like her to open ourselves to the victory over the fear of death that her Son accomplished through His Cross and glorious resurrection on the third day.
Happy Sunday of Orthodoxy! ![]()
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"No one could describe the Word of the Father; but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described, and restored the fallen image to its former state by uniting it to divine beauty. We confess and proclaim our salvation in word and images."
Happy St Patrick's day to you all! Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh.![]()
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Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland was born around 385, the son of Calpurnius, a Roman decurion (an official responsible for collecting taxes). He lived in the village of Bannavem Taberniae, which may have been located at the mouth of the Severn River in Wales. The district was raided by pirates when Patrick was sixteen, and he was one of those taken captive. He was brought to Ireland and sold as a slave, and was put to work as a herder of swine on a mountain identified with Slemish in Co. Antrim. During his period of slavery, Patrick acquired a proficiency in the Irish language which was very useful to him in his later mission.![]()
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He prayed during his solitude on the mountain and lived this way for six years. He had two visions. The first told him he would return to his home. The second told him his ship was ready. Setting off on foot, Patrick walked two hundred miles to the coast. There he succeeded in boarding a ship and returned to his parents in Britain.![]()
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Some time later, he went to Gaul and studied for the priesthood at Auxerre under Saint Germanus (July 31). Eventually, he was consecrated as a bishop and was entrusted with the mission to Ireland, succeeding Saint Palladius (July 7). Saint Palladius did not achieve much success in Ireland. After about a year he went to Scotland, where he died in 432.![]()
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Patrick had a dream in which an angel came to him bearing many letters. Selecting one inscribed “The Voice of the Irish,” he heard the Irish entreating him to come back to them.![]()
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Although Saint Patrick achieved remarkable results in spreading the Gospel, he was not the first or only missionary in Ireland. He arrived around 432 (though this date is disputed), about a year after Saint Palladius began his mission to Ireland. There were also other missionaries who were active on the southeast coast, but it was Saint Patrick who had the greatest influence and success in preaching the Gospel of Christ. Therefore, he is known as “The Enlightener of Ireland.”![]()
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His autobiographical Confession tells of the many trials and disappointments he endured. Patrick had once confided to a friend that he was troubled by a certain sin he had committed before he was fifteen years old. The friend assured him of God’s mercy, and even supported Patrick’s nomination as bishop. Later, he turned against him and revealed what Patrick had told him in an attempt to prevent his consecration. Many years later, Patrick still grieved for his dear friend who had publicly shamed him.![]()
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Saint Patrick founded many churches and monasteries across Ireland, but the conversion of the Irish people was no easy task. There was much hostility, and he was assaulted several times. He faced danger and insults, and he was reproached for being a foreigner and a former slave. There was also a very real possibility that the pagans would try to kill him. Despite many obstacles, he remained faithful to his calling, and he baptized many people into Christ.![]()
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The saint’s Epistle to Coroticus is also an authentic work. In it he denounces the attack of Coroticus’ men on one of his congregations. The Breastplate (Lorica) is also attributed to Saint Patrick. In his writings, we can see Saint Patrick’s awareness that he had been called by God, as well as his determination and modesty in undertaking his missionary work. He refers to himself as “a sinner,” “the most ignorant and of least account,” and as someone who was “despised by many.” He ascribes his success to God, rather than to his own talents: “I owe it to God’s grace that through me so many people should be born again to Him.”![]()
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By the time he established his episcopal See in Armagh in 444, Saint Patrick had other bishops to assist him, many native priests and deacons, and he encouraged the growth of monasticism.![]()
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Saint Patrick is often depicted holding a shamrock, or with snakes fleeing from him. He used the shamrock to illustrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Its three leaves growing out of a single stem helped him to explain the concept of one God in three Persons. Many people now regard the story of Saint Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland as having no historical basis.![]()
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Saint Patrick died on March 17, 461 (some say 492). There are various accounts of his last days, but they are mostly legendary. Muirchu says that no one knows the place where Saint Patrick is buried. Saint Columba of Iona (June 9) says that the Holy Spirit revealed to him that Patrick was buried at Saul, the site of his first church. A granite slab was placed at his traditional grave site in Downpatrick in 1899.
SUNDAY OF FORGIVENESS ![]()
Sermon by Metropolitan Anthony 12 March 1989![]()
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In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.![]()
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After these weeks of preparation during which we have examined our soul, our lives, all our relationship before the eyes and the judgement of God, we enter today into the joy of Lent. ![]()
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The word ‘lent’ means the spring; it is a beginning, and a beginning of life, a beginning of newness, a new time. It is a time when we will no longer be reminded of our own sins, no longer be confronted with images in parables of fall and repentance, but faced with the names of Saints who have started their lives as we start them: the frail, weak, vacillating, but who by the grace of God, by the power of God have become what they are: men, women, children whom we can venerate, in whom we can rejoice, who can be set as examples to us, to whom we can turn for their prayers unto salvation.![]()
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Tonight we will start on this journey; on the journey that leads us from our sinful condition, recognised, repentant unto a new time, unto the Resurrection of Christ which is the beginning for us of our own eternal life. We will start on this journey to-night as the people of Israel started from the land of Egypt for the Promised Land: still frail, still burdened, still incompletely free. But it is not by looking back at ourselves, but by looking towards the Living God Who is Life and salvation, and to the example of those who have been victorious by the power of God that we will find courage,![]()
inspiration to come to the final victory, to the newness of life which is our calling and God’s promise. ![]()
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We will have to journey together, and we must not be in any delusion: we will be difficult for one another as companions on the journey, but we will depend on one another if we want to achieve to come to an end, — in the same way in which the Israelites were in the desert: not always obedient to God, not always loyal to one another, and yet, needing each other in order to reach the promised goal.![]()
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So, let us start now; let us think of the feast which we keep next Sunday: The Triumph of Orthodoxy. It is not the triumph of the Orthodox over anyone else; it is the triumph of God over people. The triumph of His truth, the triumph of God in the lives of people.![]()
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And then, let us look at one saint after the other, and listen to what they have got to say to us: Gregory Palamas, John of the Ladder, Mary of Egypt and all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ. And we will then reach the point at which we must forget everyone and everything, and remember nothing, no one but the Lord Jesus Christ: what He is, what He has done for us, what He is doing for us. Let us learn to forget ourselves in the course of those weeks, joyfully, gratefully, that we can now turn away from ourselves and look only Godwards. ![]()
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When the time of Passion week comes, again, in a new way, with a new determination, with a new renunciation to ourselves, turn and look at God Who has become man that we may be saved, and be grateful, forget ourselves, remember only Him and He will remember us unto salvation. Amen.![]()
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(Icons: Merciful Jesus: Aidan Hart, Prodigal son: Alexandra Tsigkou)
Today we celebrate Saint Gregory Dialogus, Pope of Rome. ![]()
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He was born in Rome around the year 540. His grandfather was Pope Felix, and his mother Sylvia (November 4) and aunts Tarsilla and Emiliana were also numbered among the saints by the Roman Church. Having received a most excellent secular education, he attained high government positions.![]()
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Leading a God-pleasing life, he yearned for monasticism with all his soul. After the death of his father, Saint Gregory used his inheritance to establish six monasteries. At Rome he founded a monastery dedicated to the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, where he received monastic tonsure. Later, on a commission of Pope Pelagius II, Saint Gregory lived for a while in Constantinople. There he wrote his Commentary on the Book of Job.![]()
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After the death of Pope Pelagius, Saint Gregory was chosen to the Roman See. For seven months he would not consent to accept this service, considering himself unworthy. He finally accepted consecration only after the persistent entreaties of the clergy and flock.![]()
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Wisely leading the Church, Saint Gregory worked tirelessly in propagating the Word of God. Saint Gregory compiled the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Latin language, which before him was known only in the verbal tradition. Affirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Council, this liturgical service was accepted by all the Orthodox Church.![]()
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He zealously struggled against the Donatist heresy; he also converted the inhabitants of Brittany, pagans and Goths, who had been adhering to the Arian heresy, to the True Faith.![]()
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Saint Gregory has left behind numerous written works. After the appearance of his book, DIALOGUES CONCERNING THE LIFE AND MIRACLES OF THE ITALIAN FATHERS (DIALOGI DE VITA ET MIRACULIS PATRUM ITALIORUM), the saint was called “Dialogus.” His PASTORAL RULE (or LIBER REGULAE PASTORALIS) was well-known. In this work, Saint Gregory describes the model of the true pastor. His letters (848), dealing with moral guidance, have also survived.![]()
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Saint Gregory headed the Church for thirteen years, ministering to all the needs of his flock. He was characterized by an extraordinary love of poverty, for which he was granted a vision of the Lord Himself.![]()
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Pope Saint Gregory the Great, as he is known, died in the year 604, and his relics rest in the cathedral of the holy Apostle Peter in the Vatican.![]()
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(Source: OCA)
Today we commemorate the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste.![]()
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In the year 313 Saint Constantine the Great issued an edict granting Christians religious freedom, and officially recognizing Christianity as equal with paganism under the law. But his co-ruler Licinius was a pagan, and he decided to stamp out Christianity in his part of the Empire. As Licinius prepared his army to fight Constantine, he decided to remove Christians from his army, fearing mutiny.![]()
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One of the military commanders of that time in the Armenian city of Sebaste was Agricola, a zealous champion of idolatry. Under his command was a company of forty Cappadocians, brave soldiers who had distinguished themselves in many battles. When these Christian soldiers refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, Agricola locked them up in prison. The soldiers occupied themselves with prayer and psalmody, and during the night they heard a voice saying, “Persevere until the end, then you shall be saved.”![]()
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On the following morning, the soldiers were again taken to Agricola. This time the pagan tried flattery. He began to praise their valor, their youth and strength, and once more he urged them to renounce Christ and thereby win themselves the respect and favor of their emperor.![]()
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Seven days later, the renowned judge Licius arrived at Sebaste and put the soldiers on trial. The saints steadfastly answered, “Take not only our military insignia, but also our lives, since nothing is more precious to us than Christ God.” Licius then ordered his servants to stone the holy martyrs. But the stones missed the saints and returned to strike those who had thrown them. One stone thrown by Licius hit Agricola in the face, smashing his teeth. The torturers realized that the saints were guarded by some invisible power. In prison, the soldiers spent the night in prayer and again they heard the voice of the Lord comforting them: “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live (John 11:25). Be brave and fear not, for you shall obtain imperishable crowns.”![]()
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On the following day the judge repeated the interrogation in front of the torturer, but the soldiers remained unyielding.![]()
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It was winter, and there was a severe frost. They lined up the holy soldiers, threw them into a lake near the city, and set a guard to prevent them from coming out of the water. In order to break the will of the martyrs, a warm bath-house was set up on the shore. During the first hour of the night, when the cold had become unbearable, one of the soldiers made a dash for the bath-house, but no sooner had he stepped over the threshold, then he fell down dead.![]()
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During the third hour of the night, the Lord sent consolation to the martyrs. Suddenly there was light, the ice melted away, and the water in the lake became warm. All the guards were asleep, except for Aglaius, who was keeping watch. Looking at the lake he saw that a radiant crown had appeared over the head of each martyr. Aglaius counted thirty-nine crowns and realized that the soldier who fled had lost his crown.![]()
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Aggias then woke up the other guards, took off his uniform and said to them, “I too am a Christian,” and he joined the martyrs. Standing in the water he prayed, “Lord God, I believe in You, in Whom these soldiers believe. Add me to their number, and make me worthy to suffer with Your servants.” Then a fortieth crown appeared over his head.![]()
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In the morning, the torturers saw with surprise that the martyrs were still alive, and their guard Aggias was glorifying Christ together with them. They led the soldiers out of the water and broke their legs. During this horrible execution the mother of the youngest of the soldiers, Meliton, pleaded with her son to persevere until death.![]()
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They put the bodies of the martyrs on a cart and committed them to fire. Young Meliton was still breathing, and they left him on the ground. His mother then picked up her son, and on her own shoulders she carried him behind the cart. When Meliton drew his last breath, his mother put him on the cart with the bodies of his fellow sufferers. The bodies of the saints were tossed in the fire, and their charred bones were thrown into the water, so that Christians would not gather them up.![]()
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Three days later the martyrs appeared in a dream to Saint Peter, Bishop of Sebaste, and commanded him to bury their remains. The bishop together with several clergy gathered up the relics of the glorious martyrs by night and buried them with honor.![]()
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There is a pious custom of baking “skylarks” (pastries shaped like skylarks) on this day, because people believed that birds sing at this time to announce the arrival of spring. Forty “skylarks” are prepared in honor of the Forty Martyrs.![]()
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The names of the forty martyrs are: Cyrion (or Quirio), Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunocius (Or Eunicus), Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthius, Helianus, Sisinius, Aggias, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Leontuis, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, Aglaius, and Meliton.![]()
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(Source: OCA, Icon: Paul Drozdowski)
THE PARABLE OF THE LAST JUDGEMENT![]()
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The Sheep and the Goats![]()
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.![]()
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34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’![]()
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37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’![]()
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40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’![]()
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41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’![]()
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44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’![]()
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45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’![]()
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46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”![]()
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Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the Last Judgment. It reminds us that while trusting in Christ’s love and mercy, we must not forget His righteous judgment when He comes again in glory. If our hearts remain hardened and unrepentant, we should not expect the Lord to overlook our transgressions simply because He is a good and loving God. Although He does not desire the death of a sinner, He also expects us to turn from our wickedness and live (Ezek. 33:11). This same idea is expressed in the prayer read by the priest after the penitent has confessed his or her sins (Slavic practice).![]()
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The time for repentance and forgiveness is now, in the present life. At the Second Coming, Christ will appear as the righteous Judge, “Who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6). Then the time for entreating God’s mercy and forgiveness will have passed.![]()
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As Father Alexander Schmemann reminds us in his book GREAT LENT (Ch. 1:4), sin is the absence of love, it is separation and isolation. When Christ comes to judge the world, His criterion for judgment will be love. Christian love entails seeing Christ in other people, our family, our friends, and everyone else we may encounter in our lives. We shall be judged on whether we have loved, or not loved, our neighbour. We show Christian love when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. If we did such things for the least of Christ’s brethren, then we also did them for Christ (Mt.25:40). If we did not do such things for the least of the brethren, neither did we do them for Christ (Mt.25:45).![]()
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Today is the last day for eating meat and meat products until Pascha, though eggs and dairy products are permitted every day during the coming week. This limited fasting prepares us gradually for the more intense fasting of Great Lent.![]()
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(Source OCA)
Tomorrow, March 6th is a Memorial Saturday so please send us the names of your departed loved ones and we will remember them in the Liturgy. ![]()
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"On the day before Meatfare Sunday, on which we remember the Last Judgment, the Orthodox Church prays for those of its members who may have died unexpectedly because of wars, plagues, starvation, or any other sort of death while they were in a foreign country, or while they were travelling by sea, by land, or by air. The Church also prays for the poor, or for those who may not have received a proper burial, or who had no one to request Memorial Services to be offered for them.![]()
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We pray for the departed on this Saturday because the Orthodox Church has established Saturday as the proper day of the week for remembering the dead. On this day before we hear the Gospel about the Last Judgment, we should pause to recall our own inescapable death when we shall appear before Christ to give an account of our lives. May we have "an acceptable defence before His dread Judgment Seat."![]()
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As we prepare for the spiritual struggles of the Great Fast, we should remember that we have been given this present life for repentance and for entreating God's mercy. When Christ comes in glory to judge the world, it will be too late then to say that we repent, or to ask for mercy. Therefore, we should make the most of the time that has been given us in order to struggle against every sinful impulse which separates us from God, to confess our sins, to correct ourselves, and to pursue a life of virtue and holiness." ![]()
(Source: OCA)![]()
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"With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the souls of Your servants, where there is neither sickness nor sorrow, and no more sighing, but life everlasting."
Today we celebrate the Venerable Gerasimus of the Jordan![]()
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Saint Gerasimus was a native of Lycia (Asia Minor). From his early years he was distinguished for his piety. Having received monastic tonsure, he withdrew into the desert of the Thebaid (in Egypt). Thereafter, in about the year 450, the monk arrived in Palestine and settled at the Jordan, where he founded a monastery.![]()
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For a certain while Saint Gerasimus was tempted by the heresy of Eutyches and Dioscorus, which acknowledged only the divine nature in Jesus Christ, but not His human nature (i.e. the Monophysite heresy). Saint Euthymius the Great (January 20) helped him to return to the true Faith.![]()
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Saint Gerasimus established a strict monastic Rule. He spent five days of the week in solitude, occupying himself with handicrafts and prayer. On these days the wilderness dwellers did not eat cooked food, nor did they kindle a fire, but ate only dry bread, roots and water.![]()
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On Saturday and Sunday all gathered at the monastery for Divine Liturgy and to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In the afternoon, taking a supply of bread, tubers, water and an armload of date-palm branches for weaving baskets, the desert-dwellers returned to their own cells. Each had only old clothes and a mat, upon which he slept. When they left their cells, the door was never locked, so that anyone could enter and rest, or take whatever he needed.![]()
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Saint Gerasimus himself attained a high level of asceticism. During Great Lent he ate nothing until the very day of the All-Radiant Resurrection of Christ, when he received the Holy Mysteries. Going out into the desert for all of Great Lent, Saint Gerasimus took with him his beloved disciple Saint Cyriacus (September 29), whom Saint Euthymius had sent to him.![]()
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When Saint Euthymius the Great died, Saint Gerasimus saw how angels carried the soul of the departed up to Heaven. Taking Cyriacus with him, the monk immediately set off to the monastery of Saint Euthymius and consigned his body to the earth.![]()
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Saint Gerasimus died peacefully, mourned by his brethren and disciples. Before his death, a lion had aided Saint Gerasimus in his tasks, and upon the death of the Elder it died at his grave and was buried nearby. Therefore the lion is depicted on icons of the saint, at his feet.![]()
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(source: OCA, Icon: Orthodoxy and Animals)
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Happy Feast of St David of Wales!![]()
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Saint David, Patron of Wales, said to have been the son of a Welsh chieftain, lived in the latter half of the sixth century. Ordained to the priesthood, he studied under the tutorship of a disciple of Saint Germanus, who later became Bishop of the Isle of Man, and engaged in missionary work and the building of churches in many places. ![]()
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Eventually, he settled in the southwest corner of Wales, at Menevia. There he founded a monastery known for its extreme austerity, in imitation of the desert fathers. ![]()
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He was consecrated Bishop of the primatial See of Wales, Menevia, afterwards known as Saint David’s in his honour. He reposed in the Lord about the year 601 AD and, through the years, has been venerated as one of the greatest and most beloved saints of the British Isles.![]()
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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 David, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved."![]()
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(Source OCA, icon by Aidan Hart)
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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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)
Thank you Nina! This is lovely 😀
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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