The Life of Saint Alexander of Svir (+1533)

Abridged from the Life written in the Saint's Monastery in the year 1545 by his disciple Herodion, who was abbot after him. Printed in Slavonic, St. Petersburg, 1843.

The Appearance of the Sign of the Cross Near Athens in 1925

By Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, NY)

In the early 1900’s, and especially in the 1920’s, there were strong anti-Church and secularist forces in power in Greece and in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Among the actions of these forces, there was introduced, by force, the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is adequate for the functions of business, the stock-exchange, and other worldly, secular activities. Liturgically, however, it is practically useless, even harmful. It is in no way possible to reconcile the Gregorian calendar with our canonical, Orthodox Christian Paschalion. Moreover, the introduction of a Church calendar change by a local church created an unacceptable liturgical disunity within the Church Itself.

War in Ukraine

“ᴄᴀɪɴ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴᴇ? ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀ’ꜱ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴄʀɪᴇꜱ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ” (ɢᴇɴᴇꜱɪꜱ 4:10).

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The topic of the war with Ukraine causes disagreement between us even more than the issues related to the Covid epidemic and vaccination against it. Moreover, these disagreements over the war cannot be explained by the fact that there are both Russians and Ukrainians in our parishes. The issue of the war in Ukraine touches us so deeply because it lies primarily in the spiritual and moral plane. This is not a matter of politics; in relation to this war, there is a painful clash between ideology and conscience.

The Life and Teachings of Saint Syncletica of Alexandria

 

Part One

Blessed Syncletica was born in Alexandria. Her family, originally from Macedonia, was respected and wealthy. Hearing of the Alexandrians' exceptional piety, the saint's ancestors left Macedonia and moved to Alexandria, where they discovered sincere faith and true love for God.

In her parents' home, the saint received everything that could be called excellent and useful in this world. But this burdened the blessed one, for her heart was already ablaze with a desire for heavenly things and love for God. She was also distressed by the excessive care for the body, so common in wealthy homes and so despised by her. She considered her beautiful young body her most dangerous enemy and afflicted it in every way, humbling it with fasting, labors, and vigil.

Life of Holy martyrs Theopemptus and Theonas

During the first year of his persecution of Christians, Emperor Diocletian once arrived in the city of Nicomedia during his journey and there, having erected many idol images, worshipped them.

A few days later, Bishop Theopempt of Nicomedia (he was the first to suffer in the persecution of Christians by Diocletian) was captured in the outskirts of the city. When brought to trial before the king, he said:

"These gods, silver and gold, wood and stone, which you worship, are not gods at all, for they can neither breathe, nor speak, nor do anything good or evil; but the Almighty Heavenly God created heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them.

Fr. Pavel Sawabe

 

Paul (Pavel) Sawabe was the first Japanese student and catechumen of St. Nicholas of Japan after he had arrived in Hakodate, Japan in 1861. Paul was the first Japanese to embrace Orthodox Christianity and was an ardent disciple of the future St. [Nicholas and was an active missionary. Through his efforts the Japanese mission drew many new Christians and in time he became the first Japanese to be ordained to the priesthood.

On the Acquistion of the Holy Spirit (talk between St Seraphim of Sarov and Motovilov)

 

The conversation between St. Seraphim and Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov (1809–1879) about the purpose of Christian life took place in November 1831 in the forest near the Sarov Monastery and was recorded by Motovilov. The manuscript was discovered 70 years later in the papers of Nikolai Alexandrovich's wife, Elena Ivanovna Motovilova.

The apparent simplicity of the conversation is deceptive: the sermon is delivered by one of the greatest saints of the Russian Church, and the listener is a future ascetic of the faith, healed from an incurable illness by Seraphim's prayer. It was to N.A. Motovilov that St. Seraphim bequeathed before his death the material care of his Diveyevo orphans and the founding of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery.

On the Circumcision of the Lord and the New Year (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

The sacred hymns we sang this night reveal to us the profound theological meaning of today's feast, the Circumcision of the Lord. They proclaim: "The Savior, descending to the human race, accepts the swaddling clothes of a child and does not disdain the circumcision of the flesh." He was not ashamed even of the circumcision of the flesh. This is one of the ineffable mysteries—this great condescension, the extreme humility of the God-Man, our Lord, who deigned to begin a full human life and even to fulfill the statutes of the Mosaic Law, and to endure circumcision. Therefore, the sacred hymnographer is greatly amazed, contemplating the Lord not only clothed in infant swaddling clothes, but also enduring the circumcision of His holy flesh. And all this—for the sake of our salvation.

God commanded the Israelites in the Old Testament to be circumcised, and this was a sign of the Divine Covenant. He who was circumcised belonged to the people of the Covenant, to the people who held the promises of God. It was a sign of the covenant between God and the faithful Israelites. Therefore, anyone who did not receive circumcision was not considered a faithful Israelite. But this circumcision—a fleshly circumcision—was ordained by God to prepare the people and lead them to another circumcision, which would be the only true circumcision, no longer of the flesh, but of the "old man": the circumcision of passions and the investiture with the new man of Grace. Therefore, the Apostle Paul and the Fathers of our Church say that Old Testament circumcision was only a symbol of the true circumcision—Holy Baptism.

Life of St Basil the Great (+379)

 

Basil, a great saint of God and a divinely wise teacher of the Church, was born of noble and pious parents in the Cappadocian city of Caesarea , around the year 330, during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. Constantine the Great reigned from 324 to 337. His father was also named Basil , and his mother, Emmelia. The first seeds of piety were sown in his soul by his pious grandmother, Macrina, who in her youth was privileged to hear the teachings of St. Gregory the Wonderworker , and by his mother, the pious Emmelia. Basil's father instructed him not only in the Christian faith but also in secular sciences, which he knew well, as he himself taught rhetoric, oratory, and philosophy. When Basil was about fourteen years old, his father died, and the orphaned Basil spent two or three years with his grandmother, Macrina, not far from Neocaesarea, near the Iris River , in a country house owned by his grandmother, which was later converted into a monastery. From here, Basil often traveled to Caesarea to visit his mother, who lived with her other children in that city, her birthplace.

About Elder Paisios the Athonite (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

Elder Paisios has no need of our praise or promotion. With his Christ-like love, he pleased God and people and thus gained great glory in the Church of Christ.

The elder possessed a unique gift of finding a common language and helping everyone (regardless of their education, financial situation and spiritual state).