"Before I am an athlete, I am an Orthodox Christian."
Novak Djokovic is often described as best athlete in the world. He has donated millions of dollars to humanitarian causes: early childhood education, medical supplies, disaster relief worldwide, and churches and monasteries. In 2011, Djokovic donated €100,000 to the reconstruction of the church of St. Archangel Michael Church in Belgrade, which was damaged during NATO bombings in 1999.
Novak Djokovic is often described as best athlete in the world. He has donated millions of dollars to humanitarian causes: early childhood education, medical supplies, disaster relief worldwide, and churches and monasteries. In 2011, Djokovic donated €100,000 to the reconstruction of the church of St. Archangel Michael Church in Belgrade, which was damaged during NATO bombings in 1999.
A young catechumen to Fr. Seraphim Rose: “Father, I am reading the Fathers diligently! Every evening when I go home I read the saints and Orthodox theology. I read nothing but Orthodox works." Fr. Seraphim’s reply: “Go home and read Dickens."
What was Father saying? Let me make an attempt at explaining. Our faith is a practical one, not merely an ideology. The Lord taught us to pray that Heaven would come down to earth. What is the use of amassing an impressive collection of theological books but having no practical spritual life and eyes that are closed to the suffering of others— even our very neighbours and fellow Orthodox parishioners. What is the use of becoming a keyboard warrior for the Faith without any practical attempt at developing an ascetic life of love, humility and charity? Do we love Jesus Christ enough to see the true needs of others and help them even in small ways, or do we dismiss them as intellectually and morally inferior?
What was Father saying? Let me make an attempt at explaining. Our faith is a practical one, not merely an ideology. The Lord taught us to pray that Heaven would come down to earth. What is the use of amassing an impressive collection of theological books but having no practical spritual life and eyes that are closed to the suffering of others— even our very neighbours and fellow Orthodox parishioners. What is the use of becoming a keyboard warrior for the Faith without any practical attempt at developing an ascetic life of love, humility and charity? Do we love Jesus Christ enough to see the true needs of others and help them even in small ways, or do we dismiss them as intellectually and morally inferior?
St Seraphim of Sarov: “Acquire a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved.” Are we living our faith in such a way that we are truly acquiring the Holy Spirit, as St Seraphim declared as the aim of the Christian life? Or, are we wasting our lives in the deception of a self-righteous, falsely pious, joyless intellectual bubble? God grant us repentance while there is still time.
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
Holy water, red like blood, flows from the tree in Vounina, Greece where New Martyr Nicholas of Vounina (May 9/ May 22) was murdered by Arabs in 720. After the departure of the Arabs, the bishop of Larissa transferred the relics of St. Nicholas and his co-martyrs to the city. However, the relics of St. Nicholas miraculously appeared in a hollow in the trunk of the oak tree.
In 985, Prince Euthymianus of Thessalonika was stricken with leprosy. He was directed to go to the mountain of Vounenissa and immerse his sick body in the holy spring next to the place of burial of Martyr Nicholas. Euthymianus built a church to house St Nicholas’ holy relics. After a second revelation, he found the spring, and in the Name of the Holy Trinity, immersed himself thrice in its miraculous waters, and was healed. The oak of St. Nicholas still stands.
In 985, Prince Euthymianus of Thessalonika was stricken with leprosy. He was directed to go to the mountain of Vounenissa and immerse his sick body in the holy spring next to the place of burial of Martyr Nicholas. Euthymianus built a church to house St Nicholas’ holy relics. After a second revelation, he found the spring, and in the Name of the Holy Trinity, immersed himself thrice in its miraculous waters, and was healed. The oak of St. Nicholas still stands.
Every year on the anniversary of St Nicholas’ martyrdom according to the Julian calendar, services are held next to the oak, and from it pours blood-like liquid. The faithful carefully collect it and with faith use it to heal physical and spiritual maladies. The Holy Martyr Nicholas is especially renowned for healing diseases of the skin.
Video source: Kosmas.gr on Facebook
Video source: Kosmas.gr on Facebook
Glory to Thy Precious Cross O Lord! At the Red Sea, Moses prefigured the Holy Cross.
“Lifting up the rod, he stretched out his hand and split the Sea for Israel to cross on land. Then he stretched it out again, and the sea returned and covered Pharaoh's chariots. The Cross was thus portrayed as our invincible armor. So let us sing to the Lord, Christ our God, for He is greatly glorified.”
—Katavasias of the Cross, Ode i. Mode pl. 4 on the commemoration of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord (Aug 1/ Aug 14)
“Lifting up the rod, he stretched out his hand and split the Sea for Israel to cross on land. Then he stretched it out again, and the sea returned and covered Pharaoh's chariots. The Cross was thus portrayed as our invincible armor. So let us sing to the Lord, Christ our God, for He is greatly glorified.”
—Katavasias of the Cross, Ode i. Mode pl. 4 on the commemoration of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord (Aug 1/ Aug 14)
Pray for the people of Greece. Several villages and monasteries in the Attica region have been evacuated because of raging wildfires fanned by intense winds.
Several monasteries have also been evacuated, including the Holy Dormition Monastery in Penteli and St. Ephraim the New Monastery in Nea Makri which firefighters are battling to save.
Several monasteries have also been evacuated, including the Holy Dormition Monastery in Penteli and St. Ephraim the New Monastery in Nea Makri which firefighters are battling to save.
The Most-Holy Theotokos was prepared for her death, announced to her by the angel Gabriel as she visited Gethsemane to honour her Son. At the commemoration of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos (Aug 15/ Aug 28 ), let us remember that we also have an end, a dormition.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
“You should know than the remedy against temptation is not only prayer but also spiritual joy, and joy turned into gladness. ‘Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,’ exhorts the Saviour (Matthew 5:12).
Some people might think this is a pleonasm, but joy and gladness are not the same thing. Joy is a spiritual state that you feel vibrating in you; you have a state of joy. Gladness is the manifestation of this joy, the fruit of internal joy.
When your soul is sad, when your soul is closed off, it cannot be glad. And we absolutely need to cultivate joy.
—His Eminence Iustinian Chira, Archbishop of Maramures, Romania (1921 - 2016)
Some people might think this is a pleonasm, but joy and gladness are not the same thing. Joy is a spiritual state that you feel vibrating in you; you have a state of joy. Gladness is the manifestation of this joy, the fruit of internal joy.
When your soul is sad, when your soul is closed off, it cannot be glad. And we absolutely need to cultivate joy.
—His Eminence Iustinian Chira, Archbishop of Maramures, Romania (1921 - 2016)
Not too many years ago the Abbess of a convent of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, a woman of righteous life, was delivering a sermon in the convent church on the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God. With tears she entreated her nuns and the pilgrims who had come for the feast to accept entirely and wholeheartedly what the Church hands down to us, taking such pains to preserve this tradition sacredly all these centuries—and not to choose for oneself what is “important” and what is “dispensable”; for by thinking oneself wiser than the tradition, one may end by losing the tradition.
Thus, when the Church tells us in her hymns and icons that the Apostles were miraculously gathered from the ends of the earth in order to be present at the repose and burial of the Mother of God, we as Orthodox Christians are not free to deny this or reinterpret it, but must believe as the Church hands it down to us, with simplicity of heart.
☦️ Fr. Seraphim Rose, introduction to The Orthodox veneration of the Theotokos by St. John Maximovitch
☦️ Fr. Seraphim Rose, introduction to The Orthodox veneration of the Theotokos by St. John Maximovitch
“We venerate your most pure image, O Good One.”
The icon of the Holy Face of Jesus Christ, "The Saviour Not Made by Hands" (Mandylion) was made by the Lord Himself, who pressed His Holy Face on a cloth and gave it to an artist commissioned by Abgar, who ruled at Edessa, in Syria. The commemoration of its translation to Constantinople is commemorated on Aug 16/ Aug 29.
Abgar, who was stricken with leprosy, had sent the artist, Ananias, to Jerusalem to paint a likeness of the Divine Teacher. When Ananias returned to Edessa with the cloth, it brought miraculous healing to Abgar. The ruler put the Holy Napkin in a gold frame adorned with pearls and placed it in a niche over the city gates. On the gateway above the icon he inscribed the words, “O Christ God, let no one who hopes on Thee be put to shame.”
The icon of the Holy Face of Jesus Christ, "The Saviour Not Made by Hands" (Mandylion) was made by the Lord Himself, who pressed His Holy Face on a cloth and gave it to an artist commissioned by Abgar, who ruled at Edessa, in Syria. The commemoration of its translation to Constantinople is commemorated on Aug 16/ Aug 29.
Abgar, who was stricken with leprosy, had sent the artist, Ananias, to Jerusalem to paint a likeness of the Divine Teacher. When Ananias returned to Edessa with the cloth, it brought miraculous healing to Abgar. The ruler put the Holy Napkin in a gold frame adorned with pearls and placed it in a niche over the city gates. On the gateway above the icon he inscribed the words, “O Christ God, let no one who hopes on Thee be put to shame.”
Arabs, who later seized the city, did not prevent the veneration of the icon, which by that time had wrought countless miracles. In 944, emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitos paid a ransom for the icon, The icon was then brought to Constantinople.
Christ our God, as we behold the victorious image or Your true incarnation, we honour it with veneration!
Christ our God, as we behold the victorious image or Your true incarnation, we honour it with veneration!