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religious-extremist · 11 months ago

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Hello! im the anon that wanted to ask about orthodoxy. i know this will likely be very difficult to answer, but are you able to tell me a bit about how saints play a role? if not, perhaps you could speak on your personal relationships with/thoughts on the saints? and please dont apologize, your offer of information was more than kind and im very grateful!

St. Nikolai Velimirovich said, "If a person wants to get an idea about the pyramids of Egypt, he must either trust those who have been in immediate proximity to the pyramids, or he must get next to them himself. There is no third option. In the same way a person can get an impression of God: he must either trust those who have stood and stand in immediate proximity to God, or he must take pains to come into such proximity himself."

I am a prodigal, an unworthy sinner, an ungrateful and wicked servant. I deserve not to look upon the face of God being such a terrible person that I am. If I dared to come near Him at the wedding feast, my clothing will accuse me for it is not a wedding garment. The saints are important because they are people who now stand beside the throne of God and they intercede for us.

1 Kingdoms 13:28 "Far be it from me to sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will serve the Lord and show you the good and right way."

Genesis 20:3-7 God tells Abimelech to ask Abraham to pray for him, otherwise he is a dead man for taking Sarah from him)

Exodus 8:4-6, 8:24-25, 9:28-29, 10:16-18, 32:31-32, Pharaoh asking Moses to pray for him and Moses praying for Pharaoh

Numbers 12:10-13, 14:11-19 Aaron begging Moses to pray for Miriam to be healed of her leprosy and Moses interceding for the Israelites before God

Deuteronomy 9:20, 9:25-26 Moses praying for Aaron and the Israelites

1 Kingdoms 7:8, 13:19 Samuel interceding for the Israelite to be victorious over the Philistines, Israelites asking Samuel to pray for them so the Lord is not angry that they asked a king for themselves

3 Kingdoms 13:6 King Jeroboam asks the man of God to pray for him to God to restore his hand that withered away and he prays and it's restored immediately

3 Kingdoms 17:20-23 Elijah prays over the widow's dead son's body and he is brought back to life

God is not the God of the dead but of the living, Christ said in the book of Matthew. The saints are not dead, they stand before the throne of God interceding for us.

Throughout the history of the church, there have been so many saints who lived venerable lives, sacrificing their lives in the name of Christ as brave martyrs (like St. Eleftherios who is celebrated today), saints who helped so many people in their afflictions (St. John the Merciful who gave away all he had to the poor), saints who performed many miracles (some recent ones are St. Nektarios who healed the sick, St. Porphyrios who was blind but prophesied so many things about the future, St. Paisios the Athonite, St. Joseph the Hesychast, etc.).

Here, in our current life, in this present day and hour, we in the Church who strive to love God are, in Orthodox theology, considered the Church Militant. We who love God are all soldiers of Christ and being alive on this earth and striving to do God's will, we are always battling against the forces of the enemy, the evil one. The saints who have struggled to love Christ and won the struggle, living until the end of their earthly lives as faithful Christians, they are considered to be the Church Triumphant. We are striving to be triumphant like them, triumphant against the passions, temptations, and addictions; against pride, selfishness, gluttony, immorality, and all sins.

One particular saint who has helped me a lot is St. Xenia of St. Petersburg. She was homeless, she was considered a fool-for-Christ. She sought not earthly glory and she hid her virtues so well. She was so poor, not because she did not have money, but because whatever money she had, she gave to others. She sacrificed her comforts so that God would comfort her. St. Paisios the Athonite said, "When we cease seeking consolation from man, then we will receive consolation from God." Such people who have achieved it are people like St. Xenia.

I had been struggling with finding a job for years and praying to have a home to call my own. I am not an educated person, I did not even graduate high school. I did not even have a house to go, I feared I would be homeless. St. Xenia helped me get a house. I prayed a few akathists to her and in the same month, I received a house as an unexpected gift from my in-laws. I have received a lot of help from other saints as well, St. Xenia is just one of the recent ones.

Anyway, this was a really long answer, hopefully it's not too boring and if it is, I'm sorry. lol.

#ask #eastern orthodox

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thesynaxarium · 2 years ago

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Today we celebrate our Venerable Father Seraphim of Vyritsa. Saint Seraphim is most well known known for a letter that he sent to his spiritual child, a bishop who was in a Soviet prison at that time; this homily "This was from me" is written as a consolation and counsel to the bishop to let him know that God the Creator addresses to the soul of man. Seraphim was born Basil Mouraviov in 1866; he married and had three children. Before agreeing with his wife to separate and enter into the monastic life, he once saw a dream where he was on a pilgrimage to visit a monastery of St. Nicholas and on the way there he lost his way and ventured into a forest. In the forest, an old man asked him for directions to that same monastery; the old man had a satchel on his back and an axe in his hand. He realised that this man was St. Seraphim of Sarov. At the age of 54, in 1920, he and his wife quietly separated and entered the monastic life. He entered the Lavra of St. Alexander Nevsky, taking on the name of "Barnabas." He was renamed "Seraphim" in 1927, in honour of St. Seraphim of Sarov, when he entered the Great Habit. He eventually became the spiritual father of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, where, as a clairvoyant staretz, he also confessed thousands of laity. He said, "I am the storage room where people's afflictions gather." In imitation of his patron saint, he prayed for a thousand nights on a rock before an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He reposed in the Lord in 1949. Source: https://orthodoxwiki.org/Seraphim_of_Vyritsa (at Vyritsa, Leningradskaya Oblast', Russia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqBonn0rz2o/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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discoveringorthodoxy · 2 years ago

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St. Xenia of St. Petersburg

My joy, Christ is Risen!

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ! I pray that you all have a blessed Triodion! Today I would like to look into the life of St. Xenia of St. Petersburg.

A few months ago, I had briefly read over this saint when looking at patron saints for dating. However, I ended up forgetting about her story. A few weeks later, I was talking with my boyfriend at the time about my concerns on getting a job after I graduate from college. We were also going through some conflicts in our relationship and I felt like I didn't know what I was going to do. That night, I had a beautiful dream. While I don't remember the exact details of the dream, I do remember one thing. On my kitchen counter sat an icon covered in silver of a saint. And despite not recognizing who this saint was, I was able to call out her name: St. Xenia.

Ever since then, I've felt like St. Xenia has been watching over me and has been interceding for me. So, I want to look more in depth about her story today.

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While not much is known about St. Xenia (Feast Day: January 24th)'s early life, we do know that she lived during the reigns of the Empresses Elizabeth Petrovna (reigned 1741 -1762) and Catherine II (reigned 1762 to 1796). She was also the wife of an imperial chorister, Col. Andrei Theodorovich Petrov, which hints to the fact that she may have been of the lesser nobility (Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg).

After her wedding to Col. Andrei, the two of them lived in Saint Petersburg. However, one night, despite being young and in good health, Andrei suddenly passed while at a drinking party. This caused St. Xenia to become a widow at the age of 26. She was especially distraught because he had died without partaking in the Holy Mysteries of Confession or Holy Communion (Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg). This incident caused her to examine herself and she began to lose interest in all earthly joys. This caused her to begin to follow a difficult path of foolishness for the sake of Christ.

St. Xenia began to wear her husband's clothing, insisting that she be addressed as "Andrei Theodorovich". She would tell people that it was she, not her husband, who had died that night. While she didn't experience a physical death, she had abandoned her former way of life and underwent a spiritual rebirth (Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg).

St. Xenia then began to give away all of her possessions, including her house, money, and personal belongings. After St. Xenia gave her house to her friend Paraskeva Antonova, her relatives had concluded that the saint had gone insane. So, they petitioned to the trustees of her husband's estate so that Xenia would be unable to dispose of her wealth. However, after speaking to her, the trustees decided that Xenia was in a right and sound mind and had the right to dispose of her property. After leaving nothing for herself, the Saint began to walk through the poor section of Petersburg and lived on the streets. She refused any assistance from her relatives and was happy to be free from worldly attachments. Eventually, when her husband's red and green uniform wore out, she wore rags of the same colors (Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg).

After a while, she vanished from St. Petersburg for 8 years. It is believed that during this time, she visited holy Elders and ascetics in Russia to seek instruction in the spiritual life. She may have also visited St. Theodore of Sanaxar (February 19), who was also formerly a military man. St. Theodore's life had changed when a young officer died at a drinking party. This officer could have potentially been St. Xenia's husband (Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg).

Eventually, St. Xenia returned to the poor section of Saint Petersburg, where she was most often found in the vicinity of the parish of St. Matthias. This area is where the poorest people lived in shabby hats (Holy Blessed St. Xenia). Once she returned, she was mocked and insulted because of her behavior. At first, the people thought that this woman was a simple minded beggar and would often persecute and laugh at her. However, the saint remained meek. There was only once where the people of the Petersburg Borough saw her angry. The street boys, after seeing the ragged old woman, began to laugh at and torment her. While she normally took this without so much a murmur, this time was different. This time, the boys not only verbally abused her but physically abused her. They began to throw mud and rocks at her. So, she flew at them, waving her cane in the air at them. The residents in the area were so startled to see this that they took immediate steps to prevent any further offenses toward her (Holy Blessed St. Xenia).

Occasionally, the Saint would receive support from the community. People began to invite her into their homes and offer her warm clothes and money. However, she wouldn't accept the clothes and only took a small amount of money (small copper pennies that were also called "the king on horseback") from people, which she would immediately use to help the poor. One time when she was distributing her coins to the poor, she came across a devout woman on the street. After handing her a 5 kopeck coin, she told her, "Take this five piece, here is the king on horseback; it will be extinguished." After accepting the piece, the woman went back home. As soon as she arrived at her street, she realized that her house was on fire. The woman ran to her home and she arrived as the flames were being quenched (Holy Blessed St. Xenia). The woman then realized that this is what St. Xenia was prophesying.

When a new church was being built in the cemetery, St. Xenia would secretly bring bricks to the site.

Soon, everyone began to notice her great virtue and spiritual gifts. Despite not wanting to, she became known as someone pleasing to God. People would say, "Xenia does not belong to this world, she belongs to God." People thought of it as a blessing when she would come to their home or shops.

45 years after the death of her husband, St. Xenia reposed at the age of 71. She was buried in the Smolensk cemetery. By the 1820s, people would flock to her grave to pray for her, asking her to intercede for them. Because so many people would take earth from her grave, it had to be replaced every year. Eventually, a chapel was build over her.

Today, St. Xenia is known as an intercessor for finding a job, spouse, or home. She is also known as the patron saint of St. Petersburg.

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St. Xenia is a blessed woman and an inspiration. It must have been really hard living the life she did, especially if she came from a nobility background.

I love St. Xenia's story. She had everything and gave it all up for God. She indeed was "dead" but became alive in Christ. If I were to do what she did today, I know it would be a struggle, especially with how modern life is. I would be mocked and scorned for it, but St. Xenia took that mocking wit meekness. It's beautiful. Knowing me, my first response would be to take revenge on the people mocking me by saying something back, but instead I need to learn to follow St. Xenia's example.

I'm blessed that such a saint is looking out for me. Recently, I had been praying for her intercessions in regards to finding a spouse. And while I'm nowhere near getting married (and not yet dating), I know that she is interceding for me.

Until next time and may God bless all of you!

Your sister in Christ,

Joanna

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Works Cited:

“Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg.” Orthodox Church in America, https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2011/01/24/100297-blessed-xenia-of-st-petersburg.

“Holy Blessed St. Xenia.” St Xenia Orthodox Church, https://www.stxenia.org/stxenia.

“Xenia of St. Petersburg, Fool-For-Christ .” Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=402.

#Eastern Orthodox #Orthodox Saint #Russian Orthodox #Greek Orthodox #Life of a Saint #Lives of the Saints #St Xenia #Xenia #Prophecy #Spouse #Job #article

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awesomechocolatesauce · 2 years ago

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What was your favorite song from Anastasia? Mine is "Stay, I Pray You"

Oooh, that's a good question. I have a lot of nostalgia for "There's a Rumor in Saint Petersburg" and "Once Upon a December" because of the movie, but I really loved "In a Crowd in a Thousands" from the musical. They were all amazing. 💕

#anastasia the musical #anastasia broadway #anastasia #asks #jessica answers #jessica's personal stuff

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orthodoxydaily · 1 year ago

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Saints&Reading: Wednesday, August 2, 2023

orthodox peace fellowship

august 2_july 20

THE HOLY PROPHET ELIAS/ELIJAH ( 9th. c B.C)

Saint Elijah, one who saw God, a miracle worker and a zealot for faith in God, was born of the tribe of Aaron from the town Tishba for which he was called the Tishbite. When St. Elijah was born, his father Savah saw an angel of God hovering around the child, wrapping the child in fire and giving him a flame to eat. That foreshadowed Elijah's fiery character and his God-given fiery power. He spent his entire youth in godly thoughts and prayers, withdrawing frequently into the wilderness to contemplate and to pray in solitude. At that time, the Jewish kingdom was divided into two unequal parts: the kingdom of Judah, consisting of only two tribes, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with their capital in Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Israel, consisting of the remaining ten tribes with their money in Samaria. The first kingdom was governed by the descendants of Solomon, and the second kingdom was ruled by the descendants of Jeroboam, the servants of Solomon. The most significant confrontation the prophet Elijah had was with the Israelite King Ahab and his evil wife, Jezebel. For they, Ahab and Jezebel worshipped idols and turned the people away from serving the One and Living God. Before this, Syrian Jezebel persuaded her husband to erect a temple to the Syrian god Baal and ordered many priests to serve this false god. Through great miracles, Elijah displayed the power and authority of God: he closed up the heavens so that there was not any rain for three years and six months; he lowered a fire from heaven and burned the sacrifice to his God, which the pagan priests of Baal were unable to do; he brought down rain from heaven by his prayer; miraculously multiplied flour and oil in the home of the widow in Zerepath, and resurrected her son; he prophesied to Ahab that the dogs will lick up his blood and to Jezebel that the dogs will consume her flesh, all of which happened as well as many other miracles did he perform and prophesy. On Mount Horeb, he spoke with God and heard the voice of God in the calm of a gentle breeze. Before his death, he took Elisha and designated him as his successor in the prophetic calling; by his mantle, he divided the waters of the Jordan River; finally, he was taken up into the heavens in a fiery chariot by flaming horses. He appeared on Mount Tabor to our Lord Jesus Christ together with Moses. Before the world's end, St. Elijah will appear again to end the anti-Christ's power (Revelation, Chapter 11).

ST. ALEXIS MEDVEDKOV, ARCHPRIEST OF UGINE (1934), ELIAS FONDAMINSKII (1942), PRIEST DEMETRIUS KLEPININE (1944), YURI SKOBTSOV (1944), AND NUN MARIA (SKOBTSOVA) (1945), OF PARIS

St Alexis Medvedkov, archpriest of Ugine (1934)

St Alexis of Ugine was born in Russia in 1867. Afterward, he went to seminary and became a reader and choir director at a St Petersburg parish. He felt unworthy of the priesthood but finally accepted ordination, encouraged by St John of Kronstadt. He was sent to serve a village 60 miles from the capital. As was the case for many priests, his meager salary was not enough. Side by side with his neighbors, he worked the land. Yet he also lived a life of mind and spirit, saving money to buy the writings of the Church Fathers. He was also a parent -- he and his wife had two daughters. His pastoral zeal was recognized -- in 1916, at age 49, he was made an archpriest. Then the following year, in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, he was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death. Remarkably, his eldest daughter freed her father by offering herself as a hostage in his place. The effects of torture remained with him for the rest of his life. Because of nerve damage, his right eye was always wider than his left.

In 1919 the entire family managed to escape to Estonia, where Fr Alexis worked in a mine and then as a night watchman. In 1923 he became an assistant priest at a local parish, also helping in the parish school. In 1929, following prolonged illness, his wife died.

After this heavy blow, he was invited by Metropolitan Evlogy in Paris to come to France. He was sent to the town Ugine, near Grenoble, to serve as rector of St Nicholas Russian Orthodox church. A local factory employed 600 Russian immigrants.

He often celebrated the Liturgy on weekdays, Sundays, and feast days. He was known for how carefully he intoned each word when he stood in the sanctuary. After services, he would stay on to do memorial services and meet whatever other needs were brought to him by his parishioners, never charging money.

His congregation proved difficult. The parish council was dominated by secular-minded lay people of a military background, men used to giving orders, whose primary interest was politics. Some harassed Fr Alexis during services. Some were abusive. When insulted, he replied with silence. He patiently endured the criticism of those who regarded the services as too long or criticized him for not dressing better.

His health declined -- doctors diagnosed cancer of the intestines. In July 1934, he was taken to hospital. He died on the 22nd of August. On the advice of a physician who warned that Fr Alexis' cancer-ridden body would rapidly decompose, he was buried in a double coffin.

His parishioners, even those who had been hostile, came to remember him as an exceptionally modest man, shy, full of gratitude, prayerful, outgoing, compassionate, slow to criticize, eager to forgive, generous with what little he had, who never turned his back on anyone in need.

A friend who visited him during those final weeks of his life recalled him saying: "In my parish, the true parishioners are the children, the children of my parishioners ... and if those children live and grow up, they will form the inner Church. And we, too, belong to that Church as long as we live according to our conscience and fulfill the commandments ... Do you understand what I mean? In the visible Church, there is an invisible Church, a secret Church. In it are found the humble who live by grace and walk in the will of God. They can be found in every parish and every jurisdiction. The emigration lives through them and by the grace of God."

It was a life of ordinary sanctity -- small deeds of holiness performed daily that were either taken for granted or ridiculed. He might have been entirely forgotten had it not been for a decision by the Ugine town council in 1953 to build flats on the site of the cemetery. The remains of those buried in the old cemetery were moved. On the 22nd of August, 1956, precisely 22 years after Fr Alexis's death, workmen came to his grave and found that his double coffin had entirely disintegrated. Still, his body, priestly vestments, and the Gospel book buried with him had not decayed.

I have left out many details of his life. Still, you see the main lines: great suffering, endurance, patient service to impatient people, belief in the face of disbelief, an uprooted life, the early death of his wife, his own brutal death, a love of prayer, a constant witness to God's love -- and then a sign after death that served to resurrect his memory and inspired the decision that this humble priest ought to be remembered by the Church. The memory of the Church is the calendar of the saints.

St Eli Fondemensky of Paris ( 1942)

Born in February 17, 1880, in Moscow, Russia — November 19, 1942, in Auschwitz, Nazi-occupied Poland),

He was a Russian author (writing under the pseudonym I. Bunakov) and political activist in the 1910s, one of the leaders of the Esers party, in 1917, a senior member of Alexander Kerensky's Provisional government

In 1918, Fondaminsky took part in the Iași Conference. In Paris, where he has been living since 1919, Fondaminsky veered off from the left and became an influential newspaper editor (Sovremennye Zapisky, among others), author of philosophical essays, and in the later years — much-admired philanthropist, supporting Christian magazines and charity funds. In his biography of Mother Maria Skobtsova, Pearl of Great Price, Father Serge Hackel wrote that Fondaminsky gave occasional lectures at the Sunday afternoon gatherings at the house on the Rue de Lourmel.

Facing the Nazi occupation, Fondaminsky refused to leave Paris, saying he would accept his destiny, whatever it would be. Arrested in July 1941 as a Jew and sent to the concentration camp, he adopted Christianity and was received into the Russian Orthodox Church not long before being sent to Auschwitz. Ilya Fondaminsky died there on November 19, 1942, aged 62.

Priest Dimitry Klepinine (1944)

Father Dimitri Klepinin was born in 1904 in Russia to an educated, cultivated, devout Orthodox family. His mother, Sophia, helped establish Orthodox schools in Odessa, where they lived, and became active in providing help and support to the city’s poor. The Klepinin family fled Russia after the Communist Revolution, first residing in Constantinople, then Yugoslavia, and finally in Paris, France. A turning point in Dimitri’s life occurred in 1923 when his beloved mother died. He described this experience in a letter to a friend:

“…the first time I understood the significance of suffering…But joy returned to me when I remembered the Savior’s words: ‘Come to Me, all who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. I had come to my mother’s grave with the heavy burden of worldly worries. Everything seemed confused and unsolvable when suddenly I found the light yoke of Christ. I’ve never known a day more joyful than that day, and I thank God for all He’s given me to bear. After that experience, I reoriented my life, and it became easier to resolve certain problems."

In 1925, Dimitri enrolled in the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris, and after graduating in 1929, he received a scholarship to study in America at the New York Protestant Theological Seminary. Returning to Paris, he worked various jobs while remaining active in the Church, directing the parish choir. Dimitri married Tamara Baimakova in 1937 and was ordained by Metropolitan Evlogy. A daughter Helen was born in 1939, and a son Paul in 1942. Father Dimitri’s life was forever changed in 1939. He was assigned as the parish priest at the shelter for the poor operated by an Orthodox nun, Mother Maria Skobtsova. Significantly for his life and that of Mother Maria, that same year France was invaded and conquered by the German Nazis. Mother Maria (now St. Maria of Paris) had opened a home and shelter to minister to the poor of Paris. As the Nazis began the mass arrests of French Jews in 1942, many sought help and refuge at Mother Maria’s shelter. As a shield against deportation to a concentration camp, many Jews sought to obtain baptismal certificates from Father Dimitri. While initially troubled by engaging in such deception, he realized his Christian Faith and priesthood demanded that he act. He placed a small mark on the false certificates to remember which were authentic and which were not.

Christ would give me that paper if I were in their place. So I must do it… …If a man surprised by a storm takes shelter in a church, do I have the right to close the door?

During war, suffering, and mass arrests, one of Father Dimitri’s parishioners wrote of the experience of celebrating Pascha with him in 1942. It was to be his final Pascha at his parish:

Outside there were restrictions, anguish, and war. Here in the church, lit up by our candles, was our priest, all vested in white, as if borne on the wings of the winds. With his face radiant, he proclaimed, “Christ is risen!”. And we responded, “Truly He is risen!” causing the shadows to scatter.

In February, 1943, the Gestapo arrived at Mother Maria’s shelter and arrested Mother Maria, her son Yuri and several others. In Yuri’s pocket, they discovered a letter from a Jewish family to Father Dimitri requesting a baptismal certificate. Father Dmitri was absent during the raid, but the following day, he calmly celebrated a final Divine Liturgy in the church and went to face the Gestapo.

Two months later, Father Dimitri and Mother Maria's son Yuri were sent to a prison camp. In the camp, Father Dimitri continued to function as a priest. The Orthodox prisoners were permitted to set up a chapel where the Divine Liturgy was served daily. Father Dimitri could sketch the chapel, which he smuggled out to his wife. In letters he wrote to his family, he encouraged his wife to remain strong:

Make the morose thoughts go away with the Jesus Prayer, take Communion as often as possible…Don’t let despondency or irritation take root in you, and dash and confess to a priest.

Of his own life he wrote:

I am fully aware that the will of God is being carried out and that a new obedience in the Church is beginning for me.

After a year, Father Dimitri was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany and then to the camp at Dora. His health was broken; suffering from pneumonia, he died on February 9, 1944, and his body was burned in the Buchenwald crematorium. When word reached his family that Father Dmitri had died, Metropolitan Evlogy officiated at a solemn funeral service in the Paris Cathedral. On January 16, 2004, Father Dimitri, Mother Maria, her son Yuri and associate Elia Fondaminski were all glorified as martyrs/saints of the Orthodox Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Their memory is kept each year on their feast day of July 20

Saint Marie of Paris (1945)

Mother Maria was born in Latvia in 1891. Like many of the pre-Revolutionary Russian intelligenstia, she was an atheist and a political radical in her youth but gradually came to accept the truths of the Faith. After the Revolution, she became part of Paris's large Russian emigre population. There she was tonsured as a nun by Metropolitan Evlogy, and devoted herself to a life of service to the poor. With a small community of fellow believers, she established 'houses of hospitality' for the poor, the homeless, the alcoholic and visited Russian emigres in mental hospitals. In 1939 Metropolitan Evlogy sent the young priest Fr Dimitry to serve Mother Maria's community; he proved to be a partner, committed even unto death, in the community's work among the poor. When the Nazis took Paris in 1940, Mother Maria, Fr Dimitry, and others of the community chose to remain in the city to care for those who had come to count on them. As Nazi persecution of Jews in France increased, the Orthodox community's work naturally expanded to include protection and care of these most helpless ones. Father Dimitri was asked to provide forged certificates of baptism to preserve the lives of Jews and always complied. Eventually, this work led to the arrest of Mother Maria, Fr Dimitri, and their associates. A fragment survives of the Gestapo's interrogation of Fr Dimitri:

Hoffman: If we release you, will you give your word never again to aid Jews? Klepinin: I can say no such thing. I am a Christian and must act as I must. (Hoffman struck Klepinin across the face.) Hoffman: Jew lover! How dare you talk of helping those swine as being a Christian duty! (Klepinin, recovering his balance, held up the cross from his cassock.) Klepinin: Do you know this Jew? (For this, Father Dimitri was knocked to the floor.) "Your priest did himself in," Hoffman said afterward to Sophia Pilenko. "He insists that if he were to be freed, he would act exactly as before." Mother Maria, Fr Dimitri, and several of their colleagues were sent to the Nazi concentration camps (Mother Maria to Ravensbruck, Fr Dimitri to Buchenwald) where, after great suffering, they perished. It is believed that Mother Maria's last act was to take the place of a Jew being sent to death, voluntarily dying in his place.

JAMES 5:10-20

10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment. 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the church's elders, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. 19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover many sins.

LUKE 4:22-30

22 So all bore witness to Him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?" 23 He told them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.' " 24 Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel during Elisha the prophet's time, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. 28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then, passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

#ortthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #easternorthodoxchurch #originofchristianity #spirituality #holyscriptures #bible #gospel #saints #russiansaints #paris

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onlyonetwo · 2 years ago

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Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. You’ll never win in life praying on the next man’s downfall. Some of y’all need to find purpose and stop trying disrupt the peaceful lives that people are in pursuit of. If you were doing everything in your power to be productive 24 hrs a day. I promise you would have time to hate on the next man. Run through this human race with horse blinders on. I promise you’ll live a better life than you portray. 📸 @mindofjr (at Saint Petersburg, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqYRqlEuFL_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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noeticprayer · 4 months ago

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The Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pochaev

Reading from the Synaxarion:

The Icon of the Mother of God of Pochaev - Metropolitan Neophytus, a bishop belonging to the see of Constantinople, was traveling through Volhynia in Ukraine where he was given hospitality by a pious woman, Anna Goyskaya. The bishop gave this woman an icon of the holy Theotokos, which began to work miracles, including the healing of her blind brother. In 1597 the icon was given to the monks residing in Pochaev near the border of Galicia, where the Mother of God had appeared in 1340, leaving an imprint of her footprint in the rock, from which a stream gushed forth. In 1675 when the Lavra of Pochaev was besieged by the Moslem Turks, it was saved by the miraculous intervention of the Mother of God through her wonderworking icon. Even though the Lavra of Pochaev came into Uniate hands for over a century, miracles continued to be worked through the holy icon. Since its return to the Orthodox Catholic Church in 1831, the icon has been a grace-bestowing support for Orthodox Christians, especially those in western Ukraine and the Carpathian region.

Apolytikion of Icons of the Holy Theotokos of Pochaev in the Plagal of the First Tone

They that pray before thy holy icon, O sovereign Lady, are made worthy of healing, receive the gift of understanding of the true Faith, and repel the attacks of the Hagarenes; likewise for us who fall down before thee, do thou ask for forgiveness of our sins. Enlighten our hearts with devout purpose and raise thy prayer to thy Son for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion of Icons of the Holy Theotokos of Pochaev in the First Tone

Thine icon of Pochaev, O Theotokos, hath been shown to be a source of healing and a confirmation of the Orthodox Faith. Therefore deliver us who flee to it from danger and temptation; preserve thy Lavra unharmed; strengthen Orthodoxy in the neighbouring lands; and loose thy suppliants from sins; for thou canst do whatsoever thou dost will.

Icon of the Mother of God

Reading from the Synaxarion:

The Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All That Sorrow" - As with so many other icons of the Theotokos, wonderworking copies of this icon have been found throughout Orthodox Russia, each with its own history and moving collection of miracles. In this icon, the most holy Mother of God is depicted standing full stature sometimes with, sometimes without the Divine Child in her arms; she is surrounded by all manner of the sick and the suffering, to whom Angels of the Lord bear gifts of mercy, consolation, and suitable aid from the most holy Theotokos. The icon "Joy of all that Sorrow" was inspired by the hymn of the same name; see page 222 in Great Compline. Through one copy of this icon, the sister of Patriarch Joachim was healed at the end of the seventeenth century in Moscow, from which time the feast was established. Another copy of the icon was found in Saint Petersburg; on July 23, 1888, during the severe thunderstorm, lightning struck a chapel at a glass factory, burning the int erior walls of the church, but leaving the icon unsinged. From the violent disturbance of the air, the icon was knocked to the floor, the poor-box broke open, and twelve copper coins adhered to the icon in various places; afterwards many miracles were worked by the grace of the holy icon.

Apolytikion of Icon of the Mother of God in the Fourth Tone

To God's Birthgiver let us run now most earnestly, we sinners all and wretched ones, and fall prostrate in repentance, calling from the depths of our souls: Lady, come unto our aid, have compassion upon us; hasten thou, for we are lost in a throng of transgressions; turn not thy servants away with empty hands, for thee alone do we have as our only hope.

Kontakion of Icon of the Mother of God in the Plagal of the Second Tone

We have no other help, we have no other hope, but thee, O sovereign Lady; do thou help us. In thee do we hope, and of thee do we boast, for we are thy servants. Let us not be put to shame.

Epistle Reading

The Reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 14:9-18

Brethren, to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written. "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." So each of us shall give account of himself to God. Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean. If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; he who thu s serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Gospel Reading

The Reading is from the Gospel According to Matthew 12:14-16; 22-30

At that time, the Pharisees took counsel against Jesus, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all, and ordered them not to make him known.

Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" But when the Pharisees heard it they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."

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