Brotherhood of Saint John the Wonderworker

We may sigh. I sigh very often myself. But we should not give up. You sigh and go on.
We should not complain about our life and be disappointed.
We should understand that these sighs are salvational, they bring us closer to perfection. Do not despair, groan for a while and go further. No need to say, "Why is this happening to me?"
This is your script. The Lord gave it to you, and you should accept it from the hands of God.
When you realize that it is from the hands of God, you will accept it with joy.
But when you do not see the point, it is unbearable.

From the book "MY GOD"
#archpriestSergiyBaranov

https://youtube.com/shorts/N_TnUkbdmFM?feature=shared

Those who do not have Christ in them are full of anxiety. But when man grasps the deepest meaning of life, then all his anxiety goes away and the Divine consolation comes and heals.

And when a man is freed from stress then all kinds of people rest near him.
Do not worry about anything. Anxiety is the devil.
When you see anxiety, know that it’s the devil’s work. When we feel anxious in our struggle, let us know that we are not moving in the space of God. God is not a tyrant to drown us.
♰Saint Paisios of Mount Athos

https://youtube.com/shorts/vGhgHhtl-kU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyyXaO7fF_c

“The beauty of woman is the greatest snare. Or rather, not the beauty of woman, but unchastened gazing! For we should not accuse the objects, but ourselves, and our own carelessness. Nor should we say, Let there be no women, but Let there be no adulteries. We should not say, Let there be no beauty, but Let there be no fornication. We should not say, Let there be no belly, but let there be no gluttony; for the belly makes not the gluttony, but our negligence. We should not say, that it is because of eating and drinking that all these evils exist; for it is not because of this, but because of our carelessness and insatiableness. Thus the devil neither ate nor drank, and yet he fell! Paul ate and drank, and ascended up to heaven!”

–St. John Chrysostom (+407)

https://orthochristian.com/81224.html

The Readings from the Regular Cycle

The Epistle

Monday of the 34th Week

The reading is from Peter’s Second Universal Letter.

2 Pet. 1:20 – 21, 2:1 – 9

Beloved, first of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but moved by the Holy Spirit holy men of God spoke. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.[RSV]

The Gospel

Monday of the 17th Week of Luke

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Mark.

Mk. 13:9 – 13

The Lord said to his disciples, “Take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say; but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XmTyfCERWXE

It must be understood that a man struggling towards perfection is not himself aware of the progress which he makes on his path. He toils with the sweat of his brow, but (so far as he can see) his labor bears no fruit. This is because grace works secretly.

☦ Saint Theophan the Recluse

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:25-29)

https://orthochristian.com/167071.html

Today the Church commemorates
Saint Xenia of Saint Petersburg.

Troparia

St. Xenia, Troparion, Tone VIII —

In thee, O mother, that which was created according to the image of God was manifestly saved./ For accepting thy cross thou didst follow after Christ,/ and praying thou didst learn to disdain the flesh,/ for thou didst transcend it to take care of thine immortal soul.// Wherefore, with the angels doth thy soul rejoice, O venerable Xenia.

Kontakion, Tone II, "Thy blood" —

Celebrating thy strange memorial, O Xenia,/ we who honor thee with love hymn Christ,/ Who giveth thee the power of healing in all things./ To Him do thou ever pray in our behalf.

On the life of St. Xenia:
https://youtu.be/3Wwe0Xa5j_g?si=SLcK71Mi30nHWpIw

If you cannot pray, force yourself to at least recite the Psalms.

The Psalms express prayerfulness, repentance, praise, gratitude, and contain emotions and experiences that can resurrect even the weakest person.

Just as when someone loses consciousness, they are given a little cold water and they recover, so too can the Psalms revive and restore a person.

Therefore, read the Psalms, and you will see that you will be comforted, strengthened, and resurrected!"

— Elder Emilianos of Simonopetra

“For various historical reasons, Orthodoxy has been associated with particular national and ethnic groups. We must not forget, however, that God, as St Paul stressed in his speech at Athens, "made from one [blood] every nation of men ... that they should seek God" (Acts 17:26–27). No nation has exclusive love. *Identifying the *nation* with the Church does damage to the "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church."* It ignores fundamental elements of the Christian creed. The fact that Orthodoxy has been accepted by and incorporated into the life of one or several nations in no way justifies the belief that it is their exclusive property. Respect for and preservation of our identity is natural and necessary, but if we limit Christ to an ethnic or national perspective we can indirectly end up denying Him.”

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, 'Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concerns', pp. 202–3.

+Eternal be his memory!

☦️☦️☦️ Video of the moment when a new miracle manifested during the canonization ceremony of 16 Romanian fathers and holy martyrs.

@Wallachian_Gazette

🇷🇴☦️✨BREAKING: Light coming from the icon of St. Arsenie (Boca) during the service proclaiming the 16 new Romanian saints today 🙏

https://youtu.be/Zz6IsUHu3h0

Two of our Orthodox Christian sisters were among those who perished Wednesday evening in the air collision over the Potomac River in Washington.

Lord, have mercy!
+Memory eternal

Saint Anthony the Great

Known as the father of monasticism, Saint Anthony was an Egyptian born in 250 to wealthy parents. After their death, he split his inheritance with his sister, gave his half to the poor and, at age 20, dedicated himself to the ascetic life. At first he lived near his village but soon withdrew into the wilderness, where he spent 20 years in isolation, seeking God through constant prayer and enduring unspeakable temptations from the enemy. Eventually, many disciples gathered around him and he guided them to salvation by his example and words. In 85 years of monastic life, only twice did he leave the desert and travel to Alexandria: once during the persecution in an attempt to join the martyrs, and once at the request of Saint Athanasius, in order to publicly condemn the Arian heresy. Though not a scholar, Anthony was a teacher and counselor of the most learned men of his time. Saint Anthony reposed in the Lord in the year 335 AD at the age of 105, leaving behind an army of disciples.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7NnduGQvjw

There is nothing higher than what is called repentance and confession. The sacrament is the offering of God's love to mankind. In this perfect way a person is free of evil. We go and confess and we sense our reconciliation with God — Joy enters us and guilt departs. In the Orthodox Church there is no impasse.
☦️Saint Porphyrios

Icon of St. John of San Francisco at Stretmsky Monastery.

Today the Church commemorates St. Irenarch of Rostov. Take a journey to his Holy Spring in Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia, with an Orthodox Christian from America as your guide. (Video is in English): https://youtu.be/Jopg79MIWNU?si=csgtSrdlinOnSihI

https://orthochristian.com/82322.html

The number of the New Martyrs of Russia (Sunday closest to Jan. 25) far exceeds that of all the martyrs who died for Christ during the first three centuries of Christianity. The Russian Church lost millions of its sons and daughters, not only at the hands of external enemies, but also those of their own country. Among those who were murdered and tortured in the years of persecution were countless Orthodox: laity, monks, priests, and bishops, whose only “crime” was their unshakable faith in God.

Among those who suffered for their faith were some who labored in America before the Russian Revolution: St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (April 7); St. Alexander Hotovitzky (Dec. 4); St. John Kochurov (Oct. 31).

☦️ Holy New Martyrs of Russia, pray for us!

The PriestMartyr Isidor was priest of the Nikol'sk church in the city of Yur'ev (Derpto, at present Taru in Estonia). According to the terms of a treaty concluded in 1463 between the Moscow Greatprince Ivan III and the Livonian knights, the latter were obligated to extend to the Orthodox at Derpto every protection. But the Livonian knights broke the treaty and began to try forcing the Orthodox into the Unia. Presbyter Isidor bravely stood forth in defense of Orthodoxy. He preferred to accept a martyr's crown rather than submit to the Catholics. Blessed Isidor together with 72 of his parishioners were drowned in the ice-hole, cut open on the feast of Theophany after the blessing of waters in the River Amovzha (or Emaiyga, now Emajogi). In Spring, during a time of flooding, the undecayed bodies of the holy martyrs, and among them the fully-vested body of the PriestMartyr Isidor, were found by Russian merchants journeying along the River bank. They buried the saints around the Nikol'sk church.

Baptism of the Lord - a fresco in the Dečani Monastery, Serbia.

https://youtu.be/F21Ta9qAOH4

https://churchmotherofgod.org/articles/great-blessing-of-water/

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/17/100216-venerable-and-god-bearing-father-anthony-the-great

Besides the Twelve Greater Apostles, the Lord chose Seventy Lesser Apostles and sent them to preach the Gospel, "After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place He intended to visit, He said to them, 'The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way: behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace be to this household'" (Luke 10:1-5). But, as Judas, one of the Twelve, fell away from the Lord, so it was with some of the Seventy who abandoned the Lord not with the intention of betrayal but because of human weakness and faintheartedness. "As a result of this, many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him" (John 6:66). As Judas' place was filled by another apostle, "So they [the Apostles] proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, 'You, Lord, Who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two You have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place'. Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles" (Acts of the Apostles 1:23-26); so also were the places of these lesser apostles filled by others that were chosen. These Seventy Lesser Apostles labored at the same work as did the Twelve Great Apostles; they were co-workers with the Twelve in spreading and establishing the Church of God in the world. They endured many sufferings and malevolent acts from men and demons, but their strong faith and fervent love for the resurrected Lord made them victors over the world and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

☦ St. Nikolai Velimirovich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhMFaWPhkA8

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/14/100191-saint-nino-nina-equal-of-the-apostles-enlightener-of-georgia

https://orthochristian.com/166366.html

https://youtu.be/0oAibwn0xs8

Archimandrite Gherasim (Iscu)
From above story

Lutheran Pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, wrote an account of the things he witnessed as a prisoner in Communist Romania. His extraordinary and moving account of what happened in the prison one Christmas Eve between an Orthodox Priest and his torturer is well worth a read:

“When I was in jail I fell very, very ill. I had tuberculosis of the whole surface of both lungs, and four vertebrae were attacked by tuberculosis. I also had intestinal tuberculosis, diabetes, heart failure, jaundice, and other sicknesses I can’t even remember. I was near to death.

At my right hand was a priest by the name of Iscu. He was abbot of a monastery. This man, perhaps in his forties, had been so tortured he was near to death. But his face was serene. He spoke about his hope of heaven, about his love of Christ, about his faith. He radiated joy.

On my left side was the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest almost to death. He had been arrested by his own comrades. Don’t believe the newspapers when they say that the Communists only hate Christians or Jews—it’s not true. They simply hate. They hate everybody. They hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate anti-Semites, they hate anti-Christians, they hate everybody. One Communist hates the other Communist. They quarrel among themselves, and when they quarrel one Communist with the other, they put the other one in jail and torture him just like a Christian, and they beat him.

And so it happened that the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest nearly to death had been tortured nearly to death by his comrades. And he was dying near me. His soul was in agony.

During the night he would awaken me, saying, “Pastor, please pray for me. I can’t die, I have committed such terrible crimes.”

Then I saw a miracle. I saw the agonized priest calling two other prisoners. And leaning on their shoulders, slowly, slowly he walked past my bed, sat on the bedside of this murderer, and caressed his head—I will never forget this gesture. I watched a murdered man caressing his murderer! That is love—he found a caress for him.

The priest said to the man, “You are young; you did not know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart.” But he did not just say the words. You can say “love,” and it’s just a word of four letters. But he really loved. “I love you with all my heart.”

Then he went on, “If I who am a sinner can love you so much, imagine Christ, who is Love Incarnate, how much He loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tortured, know that they forgive you, they love you, and Christ loves you. He wishes you to be saved much more than you wish to be saved. You wonder if your sins can be forgiven. He wishes to forgive your sins more than you wish your sins to be forgiven. He desires for you to be with Him in heaven much more than you wish to be in heaven with Him. He is Love. You only need to turn to Him and repent.”

In this prison cell in which there was no possibility of privacy, I overheard the confession of the murderer to the murdered. Life is more thrilling than a novel—no novelist has ever written such a thing. The murdered—near to death—received the confession of the murderer. The murdered gave absolution to his murderer.

They prayed together, embraced each other, and the priest went back to his bed. Both men died that same night. It was a Christmas Eve. But it was not a Christmas Eve in which we simply remembered that two thousand years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was a Christmas Eve during which Jesus was born in the heart of a Communist murderer.

These are things which I have seen with my own eyes.” ~ Richard Wurmbrand

https://youtu.be/9E6BL2NQp1Q?feature=shared

"How easily and speedily the Lord can save us! —instantaneously, unexpectedly, imperceptibly. Often during the day have been a great sinner, and at night, after prayer, I have gone to rest justified and whiter than snow by the grace of the Holy Ghost, with the deepest peace and joy in my heart!"

+ St John of Kronstadt

HYMN OF PRAISE: The Twenty Thousand Holy Martyrs of Nicomedia

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Holy Martyrs, your sufferings have passed,
Your tears wiped away, your wounds healed.
But more suffering still comes, it has not all arrived
Upon God's Church and upon her faithful.
Holy Martyrs, to you we pray:
By your prayers, watch over the Church.

Holy Martyrs, wonderful conquerors,
Against you have risen all the diabolical legions.
As great soldiers, you were without fear;
Your adversaries fell into the abyss.
You now clearly behold the Holy Trinity;
In His light you rejoice.

Holy Martyrs, we praise you for your wounds,
And for your tears and for your pure blood.
You became a fortress of defense for the Church.
Pray for us to the Savior Christ,
To make us worthy to call you brothers,
O honorable knights, children of grace!

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/08/100132-martyr-abo-the-perfumer-of-tbilisi-georgia

They Presented Unto Him Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
https://orthochristian.com/166141.html

A Homily for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ
St. Innocent of Kherson

Therefore, there are people who bring the Lord gold, there are those who bring frankincense, there are those who bring myrrh, and finally, there are those who bring several gifts together. Who are these people?

https://youtu.be/DIDzV05eTp8?feature=shared

Nativity Epistle
of His Eminence +NICHOLAS,
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad

Eminent brother-archpastors, reverend fathers,
Beloved brothers, sisters, and children in the Lord!

With a feeling of rejoicing in the Newborn Christ, I greet my brother-archpastors, reverend fathers, monastics, and all the faithful children of the Russian Church Abroad with the feast of Christ’s Nativity, salvific for the world, the Theophany, and the New Year 2025, fervently wishing everyone all-strengthening joy in the Son of God’s coming into the world.These past years have been difficult and sorrowful, but they also brought us every kind of blessing, for which we ought to offer up thanks to our Benefactor. We have attained to this festal period because God’s Providence has not forsaken us. If we have been able until the present time to bear the obligations placed upon us, this is only because the Lord Himself has given us health, strength, food, drink, clothing, and together poured out upon us His help in walking the path of our lives.The Lord, as we see in the life and Primatial service of the Holy Hierarch Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow & All Russia, who died on the feast of the Annunciation in 1925, never forsakes those faithful to Him. During the memorable period of his Patriarchate, St. Tikhon, as was the case with the multitude of new martyrs and confessors, found within himself the strength from God to boldly, wisely, and simply answer the militant godless. The example of the holy hierarch demonstrated that the Church continues its service both in times of prosperity and, especially, in periods of persecution, confession, and martyrdom. All attempts to destroy Christ’s Church have failed to yield the desired result. We see this in the events of that time, as well as in the current lawlessness being waged against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Through the prayers of the Holy Hierarch Tikhon, who reposed 100 years ago, may the Lord help us, as we reflect on the past, to see and soberly evaluate the present, and with sure hope to forge ahead into the future, feeling "the mighty hand of God" (I Peter 5:6) upon us, leading us to true happiness!
Christmastide always evokes feelings of deep love and gratitude in a faithful heart. In these days, let us also raise up our prayerful thanks to God, offering our love to Him and our neighbors. Gratitude and love are always a sacrifice. These are the two mites of the Gospel widow. And so, I ask all who can do so to give your Nativity gift toward the preservation and restoration of the historic Synodal Headquarters in New York City, the Home of our main holy icon – the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign," which appeared 730 years ago. The Holy Hierarch Tikhon, along with the Holy Hierarch Raphael of Brooklyn and the Holy Hieromartyr Alexander Khotovitsky, walked the streets of our neighborhood in Manhattan, while Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky), who labored alongside the holy Patriarch-Confessor, purchased this mansion with the help of his spiritual son, in order to establish within it the Cathedral of the Sign and the spiritual and administrative center of the Russian Church Abroad. The Holy Hierarchs John (Maximovitch) and Nikolaj (Velimirovic) stayed and served here. Councils of Bishops, clergy conferences, church-social functions, and other historic events took place here, as well as the glorification of St. Tikhon, together with all the new martyrs and confessors of the 20th century. Therefore now, offering up our thanks to God and His Most Pure Mother, let us try to manifest it also in caring for the preservation of our legacy, this great gift of God, and the Lord will not forsake us. For a grateful man will certainly be found able to receive even greater gifts and mercies from God, which I wish for our Church with a good heart. Amen.

With love in the Newborn Christ,
+NICHOLAS
Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
The Nativity of our Lord 2024/2025

https://youtu.be/ARPeBSvllEc

When you are praying alone, and your spirit is dejected, and you are wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, your own Guardian Angel, and all the saints of God. Truly they do; for they are all one in God, and where God is, there they are also. Where the sun is, thither also are directed all it's rays. Try to understand what this means. Always pray with a fervent heart; and to attain to this, never eat and drink excessively. Remember with Whom you are conversing. Men very often forget with Whom they are conversing during prayer. They forget that they are conversing with the Vigilant and the All-seeing God; that all the Heavenly Powers and the saints of God are listening to their converse.

☦ St. John of Kronstadt

"the virtues are linked one to the other, and follow as it were a sacred sequence, one depending on the other. For instance, prayer is linked to love, love to joy, joy to gentleness, gentleness to humility, humility to service, service to hope, hope to faith, faith to obedience, and obedience to simplicity."

+ St Makarios of Egypt

https://youtu.be/L8Tvl6OTPfs?feature=shared

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/03/205438-saint-euthymius-takaishvili

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CATZKrg2hAA

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/02/100008-repose-of-venerable-seraphim-wonderworker-of-sarov

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SQ2pcM6uSyU?feature=share

"Soon after the fall (of Adam) men began to turn away from God. However, an inward voice demands the acknowledgement of a higher power. Those who do not desire to revere the true God only create false gods for themselves. The more corrupt the heart is, the more repulsive and vile is the god that men worship."

+ St John of Shanghai and San Francisco

“Let us begin each new year with thanksgiving to God, not only for the benefactions we have received, but also for the trials He has allowed us to endure."

“For through them we are cleansed and draw near to holiness."

"The time you spend with God is the time you actually earn."

"When you start your day with prayer, then God's grace accompanies you every step of the way."
(St. John Chrysostom)

On 6 December, the children of the Russian Orthodox Church commemorate the Holy Right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky. In his life, he accomplished multiple outstanding feats. We laud his deserts as a military leader, battlefield commander, diplomat and politician. Yet the basis of his brilliant statesmanship was the great Christian virtues of humility, integrity and self-denial, and their exercise made his whole life a great Christian exploit.
With integrity and self-denial, he built military and political alliances essential for his country’s survival. He joined forces with the Mongol Khan to repel the crusaders from the West and won the support of the proud people of Novgorod, who were highly critical of him at the beginning.
With humility and a strong sense of purpose, he endured severe trials and made hard political choices for the long-term survival of his country and faith. The people of Novgorod rebelled against the Mongol Khan and killed the Khan's tax collectors. The Khan demanded revenge, and Russia was too weak to resist his armies. So Alexander Nevsky punished the killers of the tax collectors. What did it make him seem in the eyes of the people of Novgorod? A traitor? A self-interested ruler clinging on to power?
His life shows us the meaning of what it is to serve God. It means to be pure at heart, pray to know and follow His will, and look towards eternity. He became an instrument of the Divine providence, even when he made unpopular choices.
In today’s gospel reading, the Lord tells us to bear one another’s burdens, and so we will fulfil the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). Saint Alexander Nevsky bore his country's burdens; he took them close to his heart and worked hard to relieve them.
He died while visiting the Khan of the Golden Horde. His death was so unexpected and premature that many believed that he had been poisoned. Yet the people appreciated the wisdom of his choices and glorified his name.
For his piety, integrity and loyalty, the Lord endowed him with the gifts of wisdom and good statesmanship. He used his talent with great love for his country and people. Today, he is still one of the most beloved saints of the Russian people who invoke his name in their prayers.

Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
December 06, 2024

https://orthochristian.com/165245.html

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/12/05/103477-venerable-savva-the-sanctified

Sts. Cleopa (Ilie) and Paisie (Olaru) commemorated for first time after canonization
https://orthochristian.com/165233.html

On Monday, December 2, the feast of Sts. Cleopa and Paisie was celebrated at the monastery being built in their honor in Vadu Negrilesei, Suceava County, at the place where St. Cleopa labored for years in hermitic asceticism due to the persecutions of the communist authorities.

https://youtu.be/6Pi7peb_pKw

The Oldest Surviving Icon of the Annunciation of the Theotokos (2nd Century)

The oldest surviving icon of the Annunciation is found in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria in Rome, Italy, and dates from the second half of the second century A.D. Priscilla is thought to have been a well-to-do Roman who converted to Christianity and was martyred. These Christian catacombs, along with many others found surrounding Rome, are a treasury of early Christian iconography.

One difference between this depiction of the Annunciation and later icons is that the Mother of God is shown with her head uncovered. In Rome, young virginal maidens would always have their heads uncovered, and so the imagery is in keeping with the Christian beliefs regarding Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ. The veil worn in the East would come to dominate iconography of the Mother of God in later centuries.

Other than this difference, it is remarkable how similar this image is to the established iconography of the Annunciation: Mary seated in a high-backed chair, the Archangel Gabriel stood, robed simply, with bare feet, and arm raised to signify he is speaking:

Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee!

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/12/04/103471-glorification-of-the-priestmartyr-alexander-hotovitzky

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/12/04/103473-venerable-john-of-damascus

"How honored and magnified is mankind through the Holy Virgin Mother of God, for it has been made worthy of renewal and sonship by God; She herself was made worthy by her immeasurable humility and exceedingly great purity and holiness to be the Mother of the God-man!"

+ St John of Kronstadt

Raising Your Children in a Healthy Environment
https://orthochristian.com/165176.html

Homily on the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea

O you, my beloved Christians, always remember the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna, who so wisely raised their God-given Daughter. Strive to create favorable conditions for your own children to grow in holiness, righteousness, and goodness.

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/12/03/103466-venerable-savva-igoumen-of-zvenigorod-disciple-of-venerable-serg

Holy New Hieromartyr Gabriel II, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1659)

Gabriel was elected Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora on 23 March 1648 for a first term which lasted until 26 November 1651, and again in 1654. After the execution of Parthenios III he was appointed as the new Ecumenical Patriarch on 23 April 1657 with the support of the Greek Orthodox nobility. However the Holy Synod considered him uneducated and unsuitable for the throne, and deposed him seven days later, on 30 April 1657.

After his deposition, besides his diocese of Ganos, he was given the position of administrator (proedros) of the vacant Metropolitan See of Prousa (Bursa). Here he was accused by the Jewish community to have baptized a Muslim, even if actually the baptized was a Jew and not a Muslim. He was also charged with maintaining good relations with the Russians, at the time at war with the Ottoman Empire.

Sultan Mehmed IV was in those days in Prousa, and his Grand Vizier Mehmed Koprulu imprisoned Gabriel, and promised him freedom and honor in exchange for conversion to Islam. Gabriel refused and was tortured and finally hanged on 3 December 1659. He was buried at the Monastery of Kamariotissa in Halki.

https://orthochristian.com/164786.html

Some Thoughts on Our Cold and Poor Prayer

☦️ Many will blame the prayer or their prayer rule when they experience coldness in prayer. Saint Theophan says, “If prayer is going poorly is not the fault of the prayer but the fault of the one who is praying.” He points out that it is our haphazardness in our approach to prayer that is the most common problem. For me, this occurs when I am in a hurry. I want to rush through my prayers so I can get on with a busy day. When this happens my prayer become routine and my heart is cold in relation to the words of the prayer and it is no longer prayer. It becomes simply another task for the day.

Continue reading: https://catalog.obitel-minsk.com/blog/2019/02/some-thoughts-on-our-cold-and-poor-prayer

***
The sisters of Saint Elisabeth Convent will be happy to serve you with prayer. Please click on the link to fill out a short form to send us your prayer request 👉 https://obitel-minsk.org/prayer-request.

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/11/19/103336-venerable-hilarion-the-wonderworker-monk-of-thessalonica

On this day, 15 years ago, an Orthodox priest was martyred for preaching Christ to Muslims and converting them.

An angry Muslim entered this priest's church with a gun, and shouted "Where is the priest Daniel?"

People ran out. Fr Daniel was behind the icon-screen in the altar, and could easily have escaped out the side door through the vestry. Instead, he stepped out from the altar into the nave of the church and said, "I am Daniel." And he was shot to death in cold blood in the middle of the Church.

Fr Daniel, on the day of his martyrdom, had not yet reached his 35th birthday. He was born in the Soviet Union, and lived the first 17 years of his life behind the Iron Curtain. He loved Christ from his youth, even in officially atheist Soviet Russia, and, even though as a child and young man he was mocked by his peers and school teachers for his faith in Jesus Christ, he never abandoned his saviour.

And at the age of 34, he was granted a martyr's death for the preaching of the Gospel.

This happened only 15 years ago.

This isn't a story from centuries ago, although Fr Daniel is now numbered among those in heaven who died for the faith from the earliest years of the Church.

Glory to God who is wondrous in His saints.

https://youtube.com/shorts/rpaYIEY5kRw

This is the last passage from St. Seraphim Rose's "Nihilism":

"We must again be Christians. It is futile, in fact it is precisely absurd, to speak of reforming society, of changing the path of history, of emerging into an age beyond absurdity, if we have not Christ in our hearts; and if we do not have Christ in our hearts, nothing else matters.

It is of course possible that there may be an age beyond absurdity; is is more likely perhaps -and Christians must always be prepared for this eventuality- that there will not be, and that the age of absurdity is indeed the last age. If may be that the final testimony Christians may be able to give in this age will be the ultimate testimony, the blood of their martyrdom.

But this is cause for rejoicing and not for despair. For the hope of Christians is not in this world or in any of its kingdoms--that hope, indeed, is the ultimate absurdity; the hope of Christians is in the Kingdom of God which is not of this world."

https://www.youtube.com/live/6hCQKmZYAZs

Memory Eternal to our dear Vladyka Peter.

Submit names for commemoration at uncovering of relics of St. Olga of Alaska / OrthoChristian.Com
https://orthochristian.com/164675.html

I came to God long time ago, when my child was gravely sick. I lived by prayer and it burned in me. I strived after God and lived only by Him. Many years passed. I need to apply effort to pray and has gone cold on the spiritual. I am more drawn to the mundane. How should I bring that state back? I had great pain but felt Heaven inside of me. The pain has gone now but I can't bring that state back.
#archpriestSergiyBaranov
#questions
#orthodoxy #orthodoxchurch #Jesusprayer #orthodoxchristianity #spirituallife #russianorthodox #russianorthodoxchurch #orthodoxchristian #prayeroftheheart #hesychasm

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/11/15/103311-venerable-paisios-velichkovsky

In 1227, Georgia’s ruling sultan ordered icons of Christ and the Mother of God to be laid on the middle of the bridge over the Mtkvari River. Citizens were ordered to trample on them. Those who turned from Christ and defiled the holy icons were spared. The rest were beheaded.

For eight centuries every November 14th, Georgia has honoured the memory of the 100,000 Holy Martyrs who gave their lives for the faith.

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/11/14/103303-saint-gregory-palamas-archbishop-of-thessalonica

Do not be quick to talk about three things: about God until you estalblish faith in Him, about another's sin until you remember your own and about tomorrow until you see the dawn.

☦️ St. Nikolai Velimirovic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNBahQQzzGw

Saints Justinian and Theodora, Emperors of the Romans

Saint Justinian, a major figure in the history of the Roman state, was also a great champion of Orthodoxy, a builder of churches and an ecclesiastical writer. During his reign (527-565) Byzantium won glory with military victories in Persia, Africa and Italy, as a result of which paganism was decisively routed among the Germanic Vandals and Visigoth tribes. By command of the emperor Justinian the pagan schools in Athens were closed. Justinian sent John, the Bishop of Ephesus, throughout the regions of Asia Minor with the aim of spreading Christianity. John baptized more than seventy thousand pagans.

The emperor gave orders to build ninety churches for the newly-converted, and he generously supported church construction within the Empire. His finest structures of the time are considered to be the Monastery at Sinai, and the Church of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople. Under Justinian many churches were built dedicated to our Most Holy Lady Theotokos. Since he had received a broad education, Justinian assiduously concerned himself with the education of clergy and monks, ordering them to be instructed in rhetoric, philosophy and theology.

The right-believing sovereign devoted much attention and effort to the struggle with the Origenists of his time, who then were reviving the Nestorian heresy. To counter their heretical speculations, the Church hymn “O Only-Begotten Son and Word of God” was composed, and Justinian commanded that it be sung in the churches for the sake of Orthodox unity. From that time to the present day, this hymn is sung at the Divine Liturgy before the Small Entrance after the second Antiphon.

At the command of the sovereign, the Fifth Ecumenical Synod was convened in the year 553, censuring the teachings of Origen and affirming the definitions of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod at Chalcedon. He also attempted to secure religious unity within the Empire through his (unsuccessful) dialogues with the Monophysites.

The holy Emperor Justinian wished to have orderly rule and law within the realm. Under his guidance and supervision a complete compendium of Roman law was compiled. It has come down to us as a law codex known as the Justinian Codex.

In his personal life, Justinian was strictly pious, and he fasted often. During Great Lent he would not eat bread nor drink wine. He is also remembered for promoting the idea of “symphony” between Church and State. The holy Emperor Justinian died in the year 565.

The Empress Theodora, who died in the year 548, was also numbered among the saints with her husband. She was at first a notorious harlot and actress, and an adherent of the Monophysite heresy, but then she repented. After becoming empress, she led a virtuous life, maintaining purity of both soul and body. She provided wise counsel for her husband during his reign, and she also saved his throne during the Nika riots of 532 by her political intelligence and expertise.

https://youtu.be/gjBLp0Gh_QE

The holy skull of Saint John Chrysostom has one ear incorrupt after more than 1600 years while the other ear is decomposed according with the law of the nature. This is the ear at which Saint Paul spoke the interpretation of his epistles.

 “To destroy the fetus ‘is something worse than murder.’ The one who does this ‘does not take away life that has already been born, but prevents it from being born.’”

☦ St. John Chrysostom

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/11/13/103292-saint-john-chrysostom-archbishop-of-constantinople

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QuRtqqP1U

"Everything is trustworthy and simple if we accept Holy Tradition in addition to the Holy Scriptures; and Holy Tradition is a living, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and His Apostles until now, and which will exist until the end of the world."

☦ St. Nicholas of Japan

https://youtu.be/ssSlneNXpV8

https://youtu.be/Zi6uFrRREgo

https://substack.com/home/post/p-148390936

Fr. Gabriel is a defender of the truth

Zachariah Chugoshivli recalls:

The miracle that happened in my life was enchanting and unforgettable.

I became religious at the age of twenty-one. I hadn’t even read the Gospels all the way though yet when the enemy of man’s salvation began desiring my separation from the Church and my spiritual destruction.

Once when I was traveling to Sioni on public transportation, I wound up next to a young woman who opened the Gospel and quietly started reading to herself. I figured she was a believer and I started talking with her (I didn’t know anything about sects back then). Throughout the entire trip, she tried to convince me that Christ isn’t God and that going to church isn’t really necessary. She quoted individual verses from the Bible, which she hadn’t read to the end, and she used these incomplete quotes to lead me into confusion. I realized this later when I read the Holy Scriptures.

This interaction had a very negative influence on me, as if it had broken my soul in two just as I was taking my first steps in the Christian life. I felt some kind of heavy dichotomy, similar to a feeling of depression. I reluctantly went to Sioni Cathedral to pray, merely out of inertia. If previously I had stood joyfully at prayer and desired to hear every word, now I was no longer able to concentrate, and didn’t hear a single word. That woman’s terrible words rang out within me: “Jesus Christ isn’t God.”

Disturbed and downtrodden, I dropped to my knees and laid my head on the ground, as if I no longer had any strength to remain on my feet. Soon I felt someone place his hand on my head, and in such a painful condition, I looked up and saw an unfamiliar, but venerable-looking priest standing before me. He picked me up, looked at me with a piercing look, and said in a firm voice, “Know this! The Jews didn’t confess Jesus Christ as God, and therefore they perished. Christ truly is God! Remember this and believe me! Now you have understood it, and let your faithfulness be unbroken!”

I can’t describe my happiness—at that moment I was truly spiritually born. All evil thoughts and suspicions vanished, and my previous desire to stand in prayer returned. I later found out that this unknown monk who granted me spiritual rebirth was Fr. Gabriel.

Priests are bad, the government is bad, everything is bad. You would like Queen Tamara to be your president, and Nikolai Wonderworker to serve at your parish. But who are we ourselves?

- St. Gabriel the Confessor of Georgia

A GLASS OF WATER

A novice standing near the cell of Elder Gabriel (Urgebadze) was once approached by a group of pilgrims who asked her for some drinking water. The sister was too lazy to bring water to them, so she sent these pilgrims to the monastic refectory.

When she entered the elder’s cell, he sternly asked her, “How did it happen that you chose not to do a good deed? Go quickly, give these people water so that no one gets ahead of you. And remember that even one glass of water given to your neighbour will not go unnoticed before God.”
__________

🔔 November 2nd marks the feast day of St Gabriel (Urgebadze), archimandrite, of Mtskheta (Georgia), a beloved saint, a glorious ascetic, a fool-for-Christ and an advocate for the whole Christian world who helps sufferers and intercedes for us in the Heavenly Kingdom. His prayers and love save many people and, by God’s grace, will save many more.

Photo: a handmade icon of St Gabriel (Urgebadze), from finely ground semiprecious stones, created in the crushed stone workshop of St Elisabeth Convent.

#StElisabethConvent #obitelminsk #stgabriel #stgabrielurgebadze #orthodox #god #faith #spirituality #spirituallife #quotation #orthodoxsaint #saints #orthodoxfaith #orthodoxchurch #orthodoxwisdom

Holy New Martyr David the Great Komnenos with his sons Basil, George and Manuel and his nephew Alexios

It was 15 August 1461. Mehmed the Conqueror, after a brutal siege, occupied the capital of the Great Komnenoi, in Trebizond. The final strong bastion of Orthodoxy and Hellenism in the East ceased to illuminate. The empire was extinguished and our heritage was turned over to others. The Greeks of Pontus lived difficult and critical moments. Many times they felt the breath of death. And yet this death in this bastion of Hellenism, which is called Pontus, saw nothing but upright souls and indomitable resolve.

David, the Great Komnenos and last emperor, was a hostage in the hands of the Conqueror together with his three children and his nephew and successor Alexios V and displaced in Adrianople. The salvation of Trebizond was certainly impossible.

It is certain that the brutality of the conquest was lessened because of the capitulation. It is common that for any catastrophe only the leaders bear responsibilities. But the real causes are inherent in complex situations and a sober diagnosis cannot be determined. He who had the misfortune to govern in the last hours and experience the shock of catastrophe, is also charged offhanded as a coward and traitor. Such a double victim was the emperor David.

Here we must stress that there were many who considered resistance futile and were urging to resolve through capitulation, hoping that it would lessen the evil and wrath of the Conqueror. But we are interested in the end of the Emperor.

The anonymous synaxarion in a few lines refers to his martyric end:

"On the 26th of March of the 11th Indiction in the year 1463, on a most bitter Saturday, at the third hour, our Holy Master and King of Trebizond lord David the Great Komnenos, was incarcerated in the Tower of Adrianople, in chains."1

"On November 1st, a Sunday, in the fourth hour of the night, he was executed by sword together with his three sons and his nephew, in the year 1463, the 12th Indiction, in Constantinople."2

These above notes of the synaxarion are found in a Gospel parchment manuscript of the Monastery of the Theotokos on the island of Halki. Now the manuscript with its memories can be found in the skeuophylakion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

When David appeared before Mehmed he gave him two choices: to stay alive as long as he renounced his faith or for him and his entire family to be killed. From this terrible proposal David chose the second option, saying boldly to Mehmed: "No torture is going to bring me to the point of renouncing the faith of my fathers." So David went to eternity exchanging his royal crown for the halo of a martyr.3

Whoever has occupied themselves with the tragic end of the Trebizond Empire has classified David among the chorus of martyrs, expressing the common consciousness of the fullness of the Church.

Savvas Ioannides in his History and Statistics of Trebizond writes:

"The Greeks, to their honor, boast of two emperors: one who died bravely fighting for his country, Constantine Paleologos, and one who was martyred for his faith, David the Great Komnenos, the last Emperor of Trebizond.

So there are two elements to the national existence of all Hellenism, which are faith in the homeland and religion. Divine Providence has contributed to this with Constantine as a leader and hero of Hellenism and David as a leader and hero of Christianity."4

"For there have been many martyrs for the faith in many places, and even today in inaccessible Christian villages there have been martyric prosecutions. And it is fair that the first of all to be remembered is the last of the Great Komnenoi, David, together with his children and relatives, who preferred a martyric death instead of living and receiving honors, as we have seen others do: those who wished for the temporal rather than eternal and ephemeral honor, instead of that which comes from God and man."5

2 ὅ.π., σ. 522 (Σκευοφυλάκειο Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου, ἀριθμ. 8, φυλ. 294α).

3 WEISZ WELTGESCHICTE – GRAZ LEIPZIG 1892 VII 117.

4 Σάββα Ιωαννίδη,«Ιστορία και στατιστική της Τραπεζούντος», Θεσσαλονίκη 1988, σ. 95 (Α ἔκδοσις Κωνσταντινούπολις 1870).

5 ὅ.π., σ. 124.

6 Αρχιμ. Παναρέτου Τοπαλίδου, «Ο Πόντος ανά τους αιώνας», Δράμα 1929, σ. 63-64.

7 Ἀρχεῖον Πόντου, Αθήναι 1961, τόμος 24, σ. 28.

8 Ἰωάννου Χρυσοστόμου, εις τον Άγιον Ιερομάρτυρα Φωκά, MIGNE, P.G. 50,699.

9 Σωφρονίου Ευστρατιάδου, Μητροπολίτου πρ. Λεοντοπόλεως, «Αγιολόγιον της Ορθοδόξου εκκλησίας», Αθήναι 1995, σ. ιε .

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The scholar Archimandrite Panaretos Topalidis, abbot of the historic Monastery of the Honorable Forerunner Vazelonos, in his erudite work titled Pontus Over the Centuries, comments as follows regarding the martyric end of the Emperor:

"... and then after some months he was cruelly faced with the dilemma, either to forswear or be slaughtered with his children. He preferred the second and saw the slaughter of his sons and his nephew Alexios, and together with them he was slaughtered on the hill called 'Pegioglou' by the Turks, which according to texts, on the other side of this hill Constantine Paleologos fell in battle and was killed. And so was fulfilled the martyrdom of Hellenism in the person of its two emperors: the one who was killed in battle for the defense of freedom, and the other slaughtered in testimony for the faith."6

The chosen Pontian scientist Odysseus Lampsidis comments:

"David was a tragic hero, and by his death he sealed the history of the Great Komnenoi. Fate did not desire to grant him the death of a warrior, but ordained for him a martyric end by being 'perfected with the sword'."7

From these testimonies and opinions, we effortlessly conclude that we stand before a crowned martyr vindicated by God the just Judge, yet unjustly treated by all of Hellenism, since his sacrifice is neither highlighted nor his martyrdom honored. There are many reasons why the martyred King was not properly honored. But now we, the descendants and heirs of the Trebizond Empire, should highlight the common consciousness regarding his martyrdom for Christ, and pay him what he is due as sons of the beloved homeland, and verify the golden-mouthed saying which says: 'Just as the sun will not embarrassingly extinguish, the same goes for the memory of the martyrs."8

The ever-memorable former Metropolitan of Leontopolis, Sophronios Efstratiadis, in his scientific work titled The Hagiologion of the Orthodox Church, writes the following regarding our debt to the martyrs who were in obscurity without due honors being attributed to them:

"Wherefore we have a sacred duty to resurrect the dead of the earth and the living in heaven, and for the Church to ascribe to them her glory - the beauty, the forms and the names of the heroes of the faith - who through their blood and through their life established her foundations and are part of her undefiled crown, diamonds fallen from the precious crown, a sacred treasure of our faith. We have a sacred duty to seek and find the stars hidden by the clouds and place them among the heroes of the faith."9

...

King David willingly sacrificed everything: fatherland, nation, existence and family for the love of Christ the heavenly King. He is the good beginning among the New Martyrs of Pontian Hellenism. For this reason we should not neglect and cover over with a veil of silence the martyric death of David the last emperor of Trebizond for many serious reasons related to our nationhood, our Orthodox consciousness and the future of our historical development.

We must honor the day of his martyrdom, proving to all those who delivered to obscurity this person and his martyric end, that the children of those who were uprooted, as the years go by, that not only are they not forgotten, but rather with sacred awe they address their sacred history, they study and learn the lessons, values and power and proceed to sail around the world in the Argo that did not stop her journey. The children of the Pontians do not forget, because they have within them the voices of their fathers, as trumpeted by the ever-memorable Leonidas Iasonides: "May our throats become dry, if we forget you, O Pontian earth."

Notes:

1 Μητροπολίτου Τραπεζούντος Χρυσάνθου, «Η εκκλησία Τραπεζοῦντος», Αθήναι 1933, σ. 521.

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/31/103122-priestmartyr-john-kochurov

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/11/01/103133-holy-wonderworkers-and-unmercenaries-cosmas-and-damian-of-mesopo

https://youtu.be/618jSKxAdzg

🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊
There was one instance when some Diveyevo nuns were vouchsafed to behold the following scene: St. Seraphim was feeding bread to a frightful bear. One of the nuns, Matrona Plescheva, was at first extremely frightened but later fed the bear herself without fear. She thought, “I can’t wait to tell the sisters about this incredible miracle.” “No, matushka,” said Fr. Seraphim in answer to her thought, “Don’t let anyone know about it until eleven years after my death.” After that period of time it so happened that she told an artist about it who was painting the Elder’s portrait, and who subsequently painted him feeding the bear.

Two other sisters witnessed such a scene: Fr. Seraphim sat on a log, when suddenly out of the woods came an enormous bear on his hind legs. The nuns were quite startled. The Elder said: “Misha, why are you scaring the orphans? You’d better go and get some sort of consolation, or I won’t have anything to treat them to.” The bear returned in two hours bringing with him a fresh honeycomb, covered with leaves. The elder took the honey, gave him a piece of bread and bade him depart.
🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊
From St. Seraphim Wonderworker of Sarov and His Spiritual Heritage by Helen Kontsevich (St. Xenia Skete)

https://youtu.be/mavcTao7yOc?feature=shared

Saint Joseph I Galesiotes, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1283)

Joseph I Galesiotes was a highly educated and virtuous monk who served twice as Patriarch of Constantinople, from 1266 to 1275 and from 1282 until shortly before his death in 1283. He is most notable as an opponent of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos' (known as the Latin-minded and the Azymite) plans to unite the Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church, for which he is recognized as a confessor by the Orthodox Church.

After being married for eight years he became a monk upon the death of his spouse. He served as a Reader from 1222 until 1254, and in 1259/60 became abbot of the Lazaros Monastery on Mount Galesios near Ephesus. Joseph became the confessor to Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (reigned 1259–82). In this capacity, he was sent in 1264 by Michael to Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos to seek the lifting of the Patriarch's excommunication of the Emperor on account of the blinding of the young John IV Laskaris (r. 1258–61). Arsenios remained intransigent, however, and at length Michael deposed him and on 28 December 1266 named Joseph to the patriarchate. Joseph soon issued a pardon to the emperor, which enraged the supporters of his predecessor and exacerbated the so-called "Arsenite Schism".

In 1272 Joseph officiated at the coronation of Andronikos II Palaiologos as co-emperor, but soon fell out with Michael VIII over the latter's projected union of the Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church. For Michael, who was threatened by the ambitions of Charles of Anjou, the Union was the sole instrument for preventing a full-scale assault by the Western powers on his empire, but the clergy and people of Byzantium almost universally opposed the concessions made to the Papacy on matters of doctrine and Papal supremacy. In 1273, Joseph swore an oath not to accept the Union under the terms set out by the Pope, and in early 1274, as the Constantinopolitan delegation prepared to travel to the Synod of Lyon to effect the Union, he retired from his official duties to the Peribleptos Monastery.

Joseph resigned his office on 9 January 1275, retiring to the Monastery of Anaplous and later to the town of Chele on the Black Sea coast, before returning to Constantinople in summer 1280 to the Monastery of Kosmidion. Following the death of Michael VIII in 1282, Andronikos II reversed his father's ecclesiastical policies, deposing the Latin-minded John XI Bekkos and recalling Joseph to the patriarchate (31 December 1282). Joseph's poor health however forced him to resign his office shortly before his death on 23 March 1283.

Due to his staunch anti-Unionite stance, he was declared a confessor by his successor Gregory II. He was later canonized, and is celebrated on 30 October as a Champion of Orthodoxy.

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/28/103898-martyr-neophytus-of-urbin-georgia

"God rests within gentle hearts. The gentle and merciful shall sit fearless in His regions, and will inherit Heavenly glory."

+ St John of the Ladder

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/25/103058-saint-tabitha-the-widow-raised-from-the-dead-by-the-apostle-pete

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SeIU6IXE3Lg

https://youtu.be/Bqhen0OfB3E?feature=shared

Synaxis of the Saints of Optina / OrthoChristian.Com
https://orthochristian.com/49439.html

The greatest temple, in which God delights to dwell, is that which He skillfully crafted with His own hands, our entire being, our soul, as long as it is pure.

Purity of heart consists in the nous being free from evil thoughts, from which evil and passionate feelings originate which cause the body to be passionately excited. For it is then that both soul and body are defiled, and to a certain degree their purity and spotlessness are lost.

The first evil and passionate thought but primarily the corresponding passionate fantasy, is the starting point of all forms of sin. No sin occurs in deed if an evil thought does not precede it by means of the imagination. Therefore, in order to attain the greatest good, purity in the full sense of the word, we need to purify our nous from sinful imaginations and thoughts. Only in this way is purity acquired with a firm foundation.

If we want to stop doing evil deeds without paying attention to our inward thoughts, we labor in vain. When we have taken care to purify our soul, the God of glory will dwell in it and it will become His holy and luxurious temple, giving forth the fragrance of the incense of unceasing prayer to Him.

☦ Elder Ephraim of Arizona

When we struggle against demonic thoughts, the struggle will be considered as a martyrdom.

This is because one suffers a great deal when evil thoughts attack, and God, seeing the toil and pain of his soul,considers it to be a martyrdom.

☦ Elder Ephraim of Arizona

"The devil does not hunt after those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds. Never believe your thoughts. Live simply and without thinking too much, like a child with his father. Faith without too much thinking works wonders. The logical mind hinders the Grace of God and miracles. Practice patience without judging with the logical mind."
–St. Paisios the Athonite (+1994)

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/23/206395-saint-macarius-the-roman-of-mesopotamia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1IJ3HU1Dwo

https://youtu.be/sm2N7Ujxb_s?si=5YoGZv4HgvZfxGfk

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/22/103023-7-holy-youths-seven-sleepers-of-ephesus

https://orthochristian.com/164019.html

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/21/108926-saint-hilarion-metropolitan-of-kiev

https://youtu.be/epvD6vcKm0o

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/10/18/102996-venerable-joseph-the-wonderworker-igumen-of-volokolamsk