In no age is it safe to be a Christian. Living safely is not our first concern. Anysia the Righteous Virgin-martyr of Thessaloniki (Dec 30/ Jan 12) lived in especially unsafe and unwelcoming times for Christians. Christ was her first Love.
The Co-Emperor Maximian (286-305) issued an edict stating that anyone had the right to kill Christians with no fear of punishment. Once, when Saint Anysia was on her way to church, a pagan soldier stopped her and demanded that she come to the festival of the sun and offer a sacrifice. At first, St. Anysia gently pulled herself away from him, but when the soldier forcefully grabbed her and attempted to tear the veil from her head, she shoved him, spit in his face and declared, “My Lord Jesus Christ forbids you!”Enraged, the soldier ran her through with his sword. She was buried near the city gates. A chapel was built over her grave.
The Co-Emperor Maximian (286-305) issued an edict stating that anyone had the right to kill Christians with no fear of punishment. Once, when Saint Anysia was on her way to church, a pagan soldier stopped her and demanded that she come to the festival of the sun and offer a sacrifice. At first, St. Anysia gently pulled herself away from him, but when the soldier forcefully grabbed her and attempted to tear the veil from her head, she shoved him, spit in his face and declared, “My Lord Jesus Christ forbids you!”Enraged, the soldier ran her through with his sword. She was buried near the city gates. A chapel was built over her grave.
May we imitate the love St. Anysia showed to her Lord: “I love You, my Bridegroom, and in seeking You I endure suffering. In baptism I was crucified so that I might reign in You, and I died so that I might live with You. Accept me as a pure sacrifice, for I have offered myself in love.”— from the Troparian
The relics of St. Anysia are contained in the Church of St. Demetrios in Thessaloniki.
The relics of St. Anysia are contained in the Church of St. Demetrios in Thessaloniki.
"Contemporary people, even when they come to the Church, do not wish to genuinely change their mindset. They do not wish to genuinely repent (for 'repentance' in the biblical sense is a change of mindset). They want at once to be both Orthodox and friends of this world. People have absolutely no desire to make this choice, and so they begin to want to 'sanctify everything.' This gives rise to the invention of new virtues, foreign to the holy fathers (such as 'tolerance of spiritual delusion'). The old terms, such as 'love' and 'marriage', take on entirely new meanings. And we begin to encounter the opinion that since there are many 'good' or 'nice' people outside the Church, Christianity isn't something they really need after all. Christianity becomes something that is desirable but not essential.”
☦️ Hieromartyr Daniel Sysoev, “Marriage to a Non-believer?”
☦️ Hieromartyr Daniel Sysoev, “Marriage to a Non-believer?”
Cheer up!
“O sinful descendant of Adam, cheer up! Light lit up in your dungeon: God descended to the lower land of your banishment, in order to elevate you in your heavenly fatherland that you had lost. You wished to know good and evil: He left you this knowledge. You wanted to become like God, and from that you became like the devil by your soul, and like beasts and cattle by your body: God, uniting you to Himself, makes you god by grace. He forgives you your sins. Not only this! He extinguishes the root of evil from your soul, the very infection of sin, poison, thrown into your soul by the devil, and He gives you medicine for the entire way of your earthly life, for curing you from sin, no matter how many times you would get infected by it, because of your infirmity. This remedy is confession of sins.”
☦️ St Ignatius Brianchaninov
“O sinful descendant of Adam, cheer up! Light lit up in your dungeon: God descended to the lower land of your banishment, in order to elevate you in your heavenly fatherland that you had lost. You wished to know good and evil: He left you this knowledge. You wanted to become like God, and from that you became like the devil by your soul, and like beasts and cattle by your body: God, uniting you to Himself, makes you god by grace. He forgives you your sins. Not only this! He extinguishes the root of evil from your soul, the very infection of sin, poison, thrown into your soul by the devil, and He gives you medicine for the entire way of your earthly life, for curing you from sin, no matter how many times you would get infected by it, because of your infirmity. This remedy is confession of sins.”
☦️ St Ignatius Brianchaninov
In 2017, a crowd of people enjoying a day at a Sochi beach, watched curiously as a pod of dolphins swam up to the beach and left an object behind. The object turned out to be the icon "The Mother of God - The Sign.”
https://ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/06/10/chudo_chudnoe/
https://ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/06/10/chudo_chudnoe/
The earliest known prayer to the Theotokos (Greek, Θεοτοκος, meaning “Bearer of God”) is found on a fragment of papyrus dating back to approximately AD 250.
"Beneath thy compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble, but rescue us from dangers, only pure one, only blessed one."
"Beneath thy compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble, but rescue us from dangers, only pure one, only blessed one."
Forefeast of the Nativity (Dec 23/ Jan 5)
Today the Virgin cometh to give birth ineffably/ to the preeternal Word in the cave./ Dance, O world! And having heard this,/ with the angels and shepherds glorify// the preeternal God, Who is to appear as a little babe.
—Kontakion of the Forefeast Tone III "Today the Virgin"
Today the Virgin cometh to give birth ineffably/ to the preeternal Word in the cave./ Dance, O world! And having heard this,/ with the angels and shepherds glorify// the preeternal God, Who is to appear as a little babe.
—Kontakion of the Forefeast Tone III "Today the Virgin"
“As acceptable victims and freshly plucked flowers, as divine first-fruits and newborn lambs, you were offered to Christ who was born as a child, holy innocents. You mocked Herod’s wickedness; now we beseech you: ‘Unceasingly pray for our souls.’”
Let us remember not only the holy innocents condemned by Herod, but also the tens of millions of children who have died by abortion.
Let us remember not only the holy innocents condemned by Herod, but also the tens of millions of children who have died by abortion.