Have you not been taught that in difficult times every Christian is himself responsible for Christianity as a whole?
That each member of the Orthodox Church has responsibility for the entire Church?
And that today the Church has enemies and is persecuted from outside as well as from within?
In such troubled times it is necessary in order to preserve Christianity that the workers of Orthodoxy work for Christ without depending on others at every step!
They are commendable when they do creative work without waiting for detailed instructions!
In the last years, evil and heresy will have spread so much that the faithful will not find a priest and shepherd to protect them from error and advise them to salvation!
Then, the faithful will not be able to accept safe instructions from people but their guide will be the texts of the Holy Fathers!
☦️ Saint John Maximovich
That each member of the Orthodox Church has responsibility for the entire Church?
And that today the Church has enemies and is persecuted from outside as well as from within?
In such troubled times it is necessary in order to preserve Christianity that the workers of Orthodoxy work for Christ without depending on others at every step!
They are commendable when they do creative work without waiting for detailed instructions!
In the last years, evil and heresy will have spread so much that the faithful will not find a priest and shepherd to protect them from error and advise them to salvation!
Then, the faithful will not be able to accept safe instructions from people but their guide will be the texts of the Holy Fathers!
☦️ Saint John Maximovich
St Photini of Samaria saw "the Water of Wisdom, and drank abundantly. She inherited the Kingdom on High and is ever glorified!"
The 5th Sunday of Pascha is the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman who spoke with Christ at Jacob's Well (John 4:1-42). In the tradition of the Church, we know her as Photini (or Photine, Photina, Svetlana). She is sometimes called the first evangelist since after her encounter with Christ at the well, she told her townspeople that she had met the Christ.
St Photini laboured fearlessly in the spread of the Gospel and finally received the crown of martyrdom in Rome with her two sons and five sisters.
The 5th Sunday of Pascha is the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman who spoke with Christ at Jacob's Well (John 4:1-42). In the tradition of the Church, we know her as Photini (or Photine, Photina, Svetlana). She is sometimes called the first evangelist since after her encounter with Christ at the well, she told her townspeople that she had met the Christ.
St Photini laboured fearlessly in the spread of the Gospel and finally received the crown of martyrdom in Rome with her two sons and five sisters.
We all greet each other with 'Christ is Risen' and answer with 'Indeed He is Risen', but I would very much like this not to be a lie. If Christ did not resurrect in our lives then we lie or say only empty words, the wrapping paper of the truth, the packaging of a beautiful gift. How can we know that we are not lying when we say 'Christ is Risen' or 'Indeed He is Risen'? We are taught by the last hymn of the Resurrection service: 'It is the day of the Resurrection. Let us shine brightly for the festival, and also embrace one another.' How can we shine brightly? Not by turning on the lights, because not even the holy light from Jerusalem illuminates us… Only Christ the Resurrected One illuminates us, by helping us to understand His will." — Fr. Claudiu Melean
“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:” Rev 12:1
The Orthodox Church declares the woman clothed with the sun
as the Theotokos, the perfect symbol of Israel and the Church, in opposition to the powers of evil. She is a radiant bride, the antithesis of the harlot of Rev. 17. The twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and may also be understood as symbolizing the twelve apostles.
Icon: “The Woman Clothed In The Sun”, Russian, 17th century
The Orthodox Church declares the woman clothed with the sun
as the Theotokos, the perfect symbol of Israel and the Church, in opposition to the powers of evil. She is a radiant bride, the antithesis of the harlot of Rev. 17. The twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and may also be understood as symbolizing the twelve apostles.
Icon: “The Woman Clothed In The Sun”, Russian, 17th century
Through a mother's prayers, an empire was defended and heresy conquered.
The Feast of Equal of the Apostles and Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen is commemorated on May 21/ June 3. "Having seen the figure of the Cross in the heavens, and like Paul not having received his call from men," Constantine, 4th century emperor of the Roman Empire -- through the influential life and prayers of his mother, St Helen-- ended three hundred years of persecution of Christians.
The emperor renounced paganism and moved the capital from ancient Rome to the city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople.
Christian confessors came out of banishment and churches were built. Yet, various heresies raged during his reign-- the most ruinous being Arianism. which denied the Divine Nature of the Son of God. By order of the emperor, the First Ecumenical Council was convened in the city of Nicea in 325. There the heresy of Arius was condemned.
Image: Cross of St. Constantine and St. Helena in Drenovë, Korçë, Albania
The Feast of Equal of the Apostles and Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen is commemorated on May 21/ June 3. "Having seen the figure of the Cross in the heavens, and like Paul not having received his call from men," Constantine, 4th century emperor of the Roman Empire -- through the influential life and prayers of his mother, St Helen-- ended three hundred years of persecution of Christians.
The emperor renounced paganism and moved the capital from ancient Rome to the city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople.
Christian confessors came out of banishment and churches were built. Yet, various heresies raged during his reign-- the most ruinous being Arianism. which denied the Divine Nature of the Son of God. By order of the emperor, the First Ecumenical Council was convened in the city of Nicea in 325. There the heresy of Arius was condemned.
Image: Cross of St. Constantine and St. Helena in Drenovë, Korçë, Albania
Once St. Matrona of Moscow asked her mother to tell a certain priest about a book in his library with a picture of the Seeker of the Lost icon.
To the priest’s surprise, the picture was found. Matrona blessed the village women to collect money for it. One man unwillingly donated a ruble. Another man gave a kopeck for a laugh. When all the money raised was brought to Matrona, she found the ruble and the kopeck and removed them saying: “Give them their money back. It spoils the rest.”
An icon painter was found and Matrona asked him to have confession and receive Holy Communion before he started work. After awhile he came to Matrona and said that he could not do it. Matrona knew that he had one serious sin, which he had not confessed and she told him to repent. [1/2]
To the priest’s surprise, the picture was found. Matrona blessed the village women to collect money for it. One man unwillingly donated a ruble. Another man gave a kopeck for a laugh. When all the money raised was brought to Matrona, she found the ruble and the kopeck and removed them saying: “Give them their money back. It spoils the rest.”
An icon painter was found and Matrona asked him to have confession and receive Holy Communion before he started work. After awhile he came to Matrona and said that he could not do it. Matrona knew that he had one serious sin, which he had not confessed and she told him to repent. [1/2]
[2/2] The icon painter went to a priest, made confession, received Holy Communion again and asked Matrona to forgive him. She answered: “Go and paint the icon of the Heavenly Queen. Now you will do it.”
With the money left over, another copy of the Seeker of the Lost icon was painted in the town of Bogoroditsk.
With the money left over, another copy of the Seeker of the Lost icon was painted in the town of Bogoroditsk.
When the Emperor Constantine sent his mother, the Empress Saint Helena (both commemorated on May 21/ June 3) to locate the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb of Jesus Christ, in 325 AD, she did so with the help of locals. To prevent early believers from venerating the site, the Roman emperor Hadrian had a temple built to Jupiter over the Holy Sepulchre in 125 AD. However. the location of the site was never forgotten. Locals believers directed St Helen to the temple and veneration and pilgrimage has continued since then.
Recently, the Holy Sepulchre was opened as part of a larger project to repair damage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Church of the Resurrection). It has been re-sealed and might not be revealed again for centuries. The True Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, also discovered by St Helen, was elevated in the Church of the Resurrection. The Feast Day of the Elevation (Exaltation) of the Cross is Sept 14/ Sept 27.
Recently, the Holy Sepulchre was opened as part of a larger project to repair damage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Church of the Resurrection). It has been re-sealed and might not be revealed again for centuries. The True Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, also discovered by St Helen, was elevated in the Church of the Resurrection. The Feast Day of the Elevation (Exaltation) of the Cross is Sept 14/ Sept 27.
“I come to You, O Christ,
Blind from birth in my spiritual eyes
And I call to You in repentance:
You are the most radiant light of those in darkness!”
The miracle described in the Gospel reading (John 9:1-38), for the Sunday of the Blind Man (Sixth Sunday of Pascha), is even more remarkable than it might seem at first.
St Basil and other Fathers tell us that our Lord didn't just give sight to a blind man born "who was blind from his birth" (John 9:1). He placed clay in the man’s empty sockets and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. When the blind man, did this, the eyes of clay became living eyes!
Saint Demetrius of Rostov, in his Great Synaxarion, mentions that the blind man's name was Celidonius. One tradition ascribes to St. Celidonius the founding of the Christian church at Nîmes in Gaul (present-day France).
Blind from birth in my spiritual eyes
And I call to You in repentance:
You are the most radiant light of those in darkness!”
The miracle described in the Gospel reading (John 9:1-38), for the Sunday of the Blind Man (Sixth Sunday of Pascha), is even more remarkable than it might seem at first.
St Basil and other Fathers tell us that our Lord didn't just give sight to a blind man born "who was blind from his birth" (John 9:1). He placed clay in the man’s empty sockets and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. When the blind man, did this, the eyes of clay became living eyes!
Saint Demetrius of Rostov, in his Great Synaxarion, mentions that the blind man's name was Celidonius. One tradition ascribes to St. Celidonius the founding of the Christian church at Nîmes in Gaul (present-day France).