Bless my enemies, O Lord. And I bless them and do not curse them.
My enemies have driven me into Your arms more than my friends have.
My friends have bound me to the earth;
My enemies have loosened my bonds from the earth and have torn up all my hopes in the earth.
They have turned me into a stranger in the kingdoms of this earth and into a superfluous inhabitant of this earth.
Like an animal that finds a safer shelter when hunted down rather than when not, so have I, hunted down by my enemies, found the safest shelter by hiding under Thy tent where neither friend nor foe can slay my soul.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. And I bless them and do not curse them.
They, instead of me, have confessed my sins before the world.
☦️ St Nikolai Velimirovich, Prayers by the Lake
My enemies have driven me into Your arms more than my friends have.
My friends have bound me to the earth;
My enemies have loosened my bonds from the earth and have torn up all my hopes in the earth.
They have turned me into a stranger in the kingdoms of this earth and into a superfluous inhabitant of this earth.
Like an animal that finds a safer shelter when hunted down rather than when not, so have I, hunted down by my enemies, found the safest shelter by hiding under Thy tent where neither friend nor foe can slay my soul.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. And I bless them and do not curse them.
They, instead of me, have confessed my sins before the world.
☦️ St Nikolai Velimirovich, Prayers by the Lake
Rejoice! First flower of the Alaskan wilderness! Rejoice! First son of the Aleut nation called to the Holy Priesthood! Rejoice! Joy of the Pribilof Islands!
St. Jacob (Netsvetov), Enlightener of the Peoples of Alaska (July 26 / Aug 8) served the sick even while barely well enough to care for himself. St. Jacob was a gifted storyteller who created an alphabet for the people of Atka so they could learn to read the Gospels and the services. As a priest of the Kvikhpak Mission on the Yukon River, Father Jacob sometimes baptized hundreds of people at a time.
Righteous Father Jacob, pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved!
Icon written by Dmitri Andreyev, parishioner St Jacob of Alaska Orthodox Church, Springfield, Vermont
St. Jacob (Netsvetov), Enlightener of the Peoples of Alaska (July 26 / Aug 8) served the sick even while barely well enough to care for himself. St. Jacob was a gifted storyteller who created an alphabet for the people of Atka so they could learn to read the Gospels and the services. As a priest of the Kvikhpak Mission on the Yukon River, Father Jacob sometimes baptized hundreds of people at a time.
Righteous Father Jacob, pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved!
Icon written by Dmitri Andreyev, parishioner St Jacob of Alaska Orthodox Church, Springfield, Vermont
His body was stretched on a rack, thrown into a cauldron of boiling tar, and cast into the sea with a stone around his neck. Greatmartyr and Healer Panteleimon (July 27 / Aug 9) survived all these attempted executions. With each one of them, and more and more people came to believe in Jesus Christ. Finally, God's purpose was achieved when Panteleimon was tied to an olive tree and beheaded. The tree became covered with fruit. Many who were present at the execution were also converted to Christ. To this day, St Panteleimon is a wellspring of healing for those afflicted by diseases and suffering.
Holy Passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon, entreat the merciful God, to grant our souls forgiveness of transgressions.
Holy Passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon, entreat the merciful God, to grant our souls forgiveness of transgressions.
At the supper Christ took the bread and the wine and called on his disciples to eat and drink it as his own Body and Blood. This is the belief and practice of the early church. It became the centre of the Christian life, a life of "eucharist," which means "thanksgiving."
No evidence exists that the Holy apostles of Christ, nor their successors taught that the bread and wine of the eucharist were "mere symbols" as Protestants teach. Nor did they fall into rationalistic errors of Rome, which led to the dogma of "transubstantiation."
The Orthodox Church, as the ancient catholic and apostolic church, calls the Eucharist a “mystery” and the whole eucharistic liturgy a “spiritual and bloodless sacrifice.” These terms are used by the holy fathers themselves to describe the mystical communion of men with God, with each other, and with all men and all creation in Him through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
No evidence exists that the Holy apostles of Christ, nor their successors taught that the bread and wine of the eucharist were "mere symbols" as Protestants teach. Nor did they fall into rationalistic errors of Rome, which led to the dogma of "transubstantiation."
The Orthodox Church, as the ancient catholic and apostolic church, calls the Eucharist a “mystery” and the whole eucharistic liturgy a “spiritual and bloodless sacrifice.” These terms are used by the holy fathers themselves to describe the mystical communion of men with God, with each other, and with all men and all creation in Him through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
"Eucharist" applies not only to the elements of bread and wine, but to the whole act of gathering, praying, reading the Holy Scriptures and proclaiming God’s Word.
"We knew not whether we were in Heaven or on Earth, for surely there is no such splendour or beauty anywhere upon earth. We cannot describe it to you, only this we know, that God dwells there among humans, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. For we cannot forget that beauty."
- Envoys of Vladimir the Prince of Kiev (July 15/July 28), after witnessing the celebration of the Eucharist in the Great Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople (10th century)
The great prince took to his whole heart the word of his envoys and had himself and his nation baptized into the Orthodox Church. St. Vladimir changed completely after his baptism. He destroyed all the pagan statues and replaced them with churches.
He also attempted to live in peace as much as possible with his neighbors and had only one wife. He is described as a wolf who became a lamb.
Holy baptizer and enlightener, Holy Equal-of-the-Apostles, Vladimir, pray to Christ our God for our salvation!
- Envoys of Vladimir the Prince of Kiev (July 15/July 28), after witnessing the celebration of the Eucharist in the Great Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople (10th century)
The great prince took to his whole heart the word of his envoys and had himself and his nation baptized into the Orthodox Church. St. Vladimir changed completely after his baptism. He destroyed all the pagan statues and replaced them with churches.
He also attempted to live in peace as much as possible with his neighbors and had only one wife. He is described as a wolf who became a lamb.
Holy baptizer and enlightener, Holy Equal-of-the-Apostles, Vladimir, pray to Christ our God for our salvation!
In 2007 Father Panagiotis Tsiolis was digging in his garden and crying for a blasphemous movie that was going to be played in the cinemas. Then he heard a voice from the sky telling him: “Why do you cry priest and wail, I am too high, their arrows don’t reach me, they are going to fall on their heads.”
Kimon Mpallas
—from Ask About the Orthodox Faith
Kimon Mpallas
—from Ask About the Orthodox Faith
"All images reveal and make perceptible those things which are hidden. For example, a man does not have immediate knowledge of invisible things ... Therefore the icon was devised that he might advance in knowledge, and that secret things might be revealed and made perceptible. Therefore, icons are a source of profit, help, and salvation for all, since they make things so obviously manifest, enabling us to perceive hidden things. Thus, we are encouraged to desire and imitate what is good and to shun and hate what is evil."
☦️ St John of Damascus
☦️ St John of Damascus
The Dormition Fast
Aug 1-14 / Aug 14-28
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 and help us. Have compassion upon us; hasten, for we are lost in a throng of transgressions; do not turn your servants away with empty hands, for you alone are our only hope.
Troparia To the Theotokos, from the Service of the
Small Paraklesis (Supplicatory Prayer) To the Most Holy Theotokos
Image: Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, above the entrance to the Iveron spring, Iveron Monastery, Mt. Athos
Aug 1-14 / Aug 14-28
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 and help us. Have compassion upon us; hasten, for we are lost in a throng of transgressions; do not turn your servants away with empty hands, for you alone are our only hope.
Troparia To the Theotokos, from the Service of the
Small Paraklesis (Supplicatory Prayer) To the Most Holy Theotokos
Image: Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, above the entrance to the Iveron spring, Iveron Monastery, Mt. Athos
"When you choose a wife for yourself, you should be for her not only a husband, but a father, a mother, and a brother, because she is leaving her family for the sake of being with you and following in your path. So give her to see in your the mercy of a father, the tenderness of a mother, and the friendship of a brother."
☦️ Tsarina Martyr Alexandra Feodorovna
☦️ Tsarina Martyr Alexandra Feodorovna
☦️ "Let us lay aside all earthly cares" during the Dormition Fast and attend the Small Paraklesis and Great Paraklesis services. The theme of these services centres around the petition, “Most Holy Mother of God, save us.”
In some places, the services on weekdays during the Dormition Fast are similar to the services during Great Lent.
In the Greek tradition, during the Fast either the Great Paraklesis (Supplicatory Canon) or the Small Paraklesis is celebrated every evening except Saturday evening and the Eves of the Transfiguration and the Dormition.
Image: the Orsha Icon of the Mother of God, which miraculously appeared in 1631 at the foundation of the Kuteinsky Holy Epiphany Monastery near the city of Orsha (Belarus)
In some places, the services on weekdays during the Dormition Fast are similar to the services during Great Lent.
In the Greek tradition, during the Fast either the Great Paraklesis (Supplicatory Canon) or the Small Paraklesis is celebrated every evening except Saturday evening and the Eves of the Transfiguration and the Dormition.
Image: the Orsha Icon of the Mother of God, which miraculously appeared in 1631 at the foundation of the Kuteinsky Holy Epiphany Monastery near the city of Orsha (Belarus)