June: Day 18: Teaching 2: Holy Martyr Leontios of Tripoli

June: Day 18: Teaching 2:
Holy Martyr Leontios of Tripoli

(The Conquering Power of Christian Kindness)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyr Leontios, whose memory is celebrated today, was a Greek, served as a commander in the Roman army under Emperor Vespasian and lived in the city of Tripoli, near Mount Lebanon. He professed the Christian faith. This is how he was awarded the crown of martyrdom from the pagans together with two warriors, Christians, Hypatios and Theodoulos. Hadrian, a Roman dignitary, a zealot of paganism and an enemy of Christianity, went to Phoenicia to persecute Christians there. Having learned about Leontios, who himself rejected idols and turned others away from worshiping them, Hadrian sent the tribune Hypatios with soldiers after him. Near the city Leontios himself met them with his soldiers and, promising to show them whom they were looking for, invited them to his house for rest, offered them a meal, received them with the same cordiality with which we receive our dear friends, and after the meal announced that he himself was Leontios, a friend not of the pagan gods, but of the Christian. Then Hypatios and the soldier Theodoulos fell at his feet and said: "We too want to be Christians." Leontios prayed; suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed Hypatios and Theodoulos, and rain fell on them from the cloud. Saint Leontios called upon the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and thus baptized them.

June: Day 18: Teaching 1: The Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God

June: Day 18: Teaching 1:
The Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God

(Can We Always Hope To Receive What We Ask From the Mother of God?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Eternal monuments of the miraculous help of the Queen of Heaven to suffering Christians are Her numerous miraculous icons, which adorn the Russian land. Among them, the Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God, the feast in honor of which is now celebrated, has been reverently venerated in Holy Rus' since ancient times. This miraculous icon was painted in the twelfth century, by order of the Holy Grand Prince of Vladimir, Andrew Yuryevich Bogolyubsky. In 1157, when the pious prince was leaving Vyshgorod to return to his homeland, the land of Suzdal, he took with him the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God that had been in the Convent of Maidens, upon the advice of his boyars. During his journey from Vyshgorod to Rostov, he did not cease to perform prayers before the icon of the Mother of God. When they were approaching the city of Vladimir, at one place near the Klyazma River the horses harnessed to the sleigh in which the holy icon was being carried stopped. They changed horses several times, but none of them could move the sleigh. The Grand Prince then ordered the tents to be pitched and then, together with those accompanying him, he prayed for a long time before the icon of the Mother of God. The Mother of God then appeared to him with a charter in her hand and commanded him to remain forever in Vladimir, and on that place (ten miles from the city) to build a monastery and a church in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God. The pious and God-fearing prince did not hesitate to fulfill the command of the Queen of Heaven and erected a monastery on the site of Her appearance, calling it Bogolyubov. At the same time, to glorify this miraculous event, he ordered icon painters to depict the radiant face of the Mother of God in the form in which She appeared to him. The newly painted icon was called Bogolyubsky ("the God-lover") and was to be celebrated annually on June 18. Local residents soon began to venerate it as miraculous. 

An Equation to Determine the Duration of the Apostles' Fast

The Lent of Summer or of the Holy Apostles, is in the month of June during the harvest, but it does not have a specific and fixed duration.

It depends on when Easter is.

In the days of old, before the internet and before churches handed out calendars, when pious people wanted to figure out how long the Apostles' Fast would be in a particular year, which was important because it usually fell during the June harvest season, they figured out in a practical way when it would be and how long it would last. They did this by remembering the following saying:

"As many days as there are left in April and three in May." 

("Όσες μέρες περισσεύουν του Απρίλη και τρεις του Μάη.")

Homily Three for the Sunday of All Saints (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Three for the Sunday of All Saints 
 
By St. John of Kronstadt

"Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).

Today is the Sunday of All Saints, that is, the Sunday dedicated to the remembrance and glorification of all the Holy Saints of God, and especially the Holy Martyrs for the faith of Christ, their ardent love for God and neighbor, their every patience, self-denial, abstinence, obedience to the faith, unwavering devotion to the Lord and the Holy Church, their strength and humility, simplicity and gentleness, their holiness and perfection. Here they were people like us, but by faith, love and zeal for God, patience and forcing themselves to every virtue, repentance and withdrawal from every sin and lawlessness, they pleased God and attained eternal peace and blessedness; and we are invited to follow them, praying day and night to God for the salvation of us all. 

They seem to speak to us from heaven: "Behold, we have labored, by the grace of God, temporarily for God and our souls, and now we rejoice forever; we did not spare our much-suffering, corruptible flesh, we wore it out with fasting, labors, unceasing prayers, or we were oppressed and tormented in every way by unrighteous persecutors; now we are crowned with crowns of incorruption from the life-giving right hand of Christ God; we have hated the all-pervasive and all-destructive sin and have clung with all our hearts to God and His holy commandments, and by this we have become forever blessed." 

June: Day 17: Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael

June: Day 17:
Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael
 
(An Example of Life Given To Us By the Holy Martyrs: Firmness in Faith and Love)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel, and Ishmael, celebrated today, were Persians, brothers, children of noble parents, raised in the Orthodox faith by a Christian mother. They were once sent to the Emperor Julian to negotiate peace. At first received favorably, they were persecuted when Julian learned that they were Christians. When, during a pagan celebration at which Julian was present, they stood at a distance, praying for the enlightenment of the pagans and refused to take part in sacrifices to idols, Julian ordered that they be tortured. Iron nails were driven into their heads, sharp needles were stuck into the nails of their hands and feet. The Martyrs endured all this with unwavering patience, drawing strength from prayer. Finally, they were executed. When the order was given to burn their bodies, suddenly an earthquake occurred and hid them underground... But two days later, through the prayers of Christians, their relics appeared on the surface of the earth and were buried with reverence.

Homily One for the First Sunday After Pentecost, the Sunday of All Saints (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily One for the First Sunday After Pentecost, the Sunday of All Saints 

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1960)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

On this day, at the conclusion of all the great feasts – the Bright Resurrection of Christ, His glorious Ascension into Heaven and the sending of the Holy Spirit from the Father upon the Apostles, the Holy Church solemnly commemorates all the saints who have pleased God from the beginning of time and have been glorified by God, who are already celebrating in Heaven the great victory of the Conqueror of death and hades, our Savior. This is the blessed fruit of the suffering, death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are the gracious fruits of the coming of the All-Holy Spirit of God and His presence in the Church of Christ. These are the first-born of humanity redeemed by the Blood of Christ and renewed by the grace of the Spirit of God, brought to God the Father by Jesus Christ.

Homily Two for the Sunday of All Saints (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two for the Sunday of All Saints 
 
By St. John of Kronstadt

The current Sunday is called the Sunday of All Saints. In celebrating in honor of all Saints, we remember all those who have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, namely: the forefathers and patriarchs, prophets and apostles, martyrs and hierarchs, hieromartyrs and venerable martyrs, the venerable and the righteous, holy fools for Christ, as well as all holy women and other nameless Saints, with all of whom we honor the Most Holy One, surpassing all Angelic orders, our Lady Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary.

Celebrating All Saints soon after the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Church intends to demonstrate to us the glory and grace of the Holy Spirit – God, who sanctifies, enlightens, fortifies, and glorifies all saints of the human race, in both the Old and New Testaments; in particular, she intends to showcase the fruits brought forth through the Apostles by the coming of the Holy Spirit – how He sanctified beings akin to us, bestowed wisdom upon them, elevated them to the rank of Angels, and led them to God: some crowned for the feats of martyrdom, others for their virtuous lives. The All-Holy Spirit accomplishes that which transcends the laws of nature.

Homily Two on All Saints Day (Righteous Alexei Mechev)

Homily Two on All Saints Day*

By Righteous Alexei Mechev

(Delivered on May 17, 1915)

The Sunday after Pentecost, my beloved, is dedicated to the memory of all the Saints. The Holy Fathers established this feast on the first Sunday after the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, with the intention of showing the faithful the fruits that the Holy Spirit produced on earth; to teach us how He raised people like us to the angelic rank and made us heirs of blessedness.

The holy people are our first, best friends and intercessors for us before God. They, like us, had neither a special body nor a special soul, they were of the same nature as us. But with the assistance of the grace of the Holy Spirit they attained blessed eternal life, which we too can attain if we desire it and strive for it ourselves. Living in heaven, enjoying indescribable blessedness, they do not forget us. Whereas it is not so among us, sinners, here on earth. It happens with us thus: the most sincere friends leave and forget their friends when they are in happiness, glory and honor, and they - in their former miserable and unenviable lot. Separated from us by that light and blessedness which our mind cannot understand and language cannot express, they can never forget us and help us in everything. Heaven and earth have more than once witnessed their good deeds to the human race. More than once, through the prayers of the saints, the sky, heated by the rays of the sun, was covered with dark clouds and poured heavy rain on the earth, petrified by the prolonged heat.

June: Day 16: Saint Tychon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Amathus

June: Day 16:
Saint Tychon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Amathus
 
(Lessons From His Life: 
a. How Should Children Be Raised? 
b. One Should Possess a Childlike Simplicity of Faith)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Tychon of Amathus, whose memory we celebrate today, was a miracle worker even in his childhood. His father sold grain, and the holy youth helped his father in the trade, but instead of selling it for money, he gave the grain away to the poor for free. When his father learned of this, he was very sad, because the grain trade was the only means of subsistence for his family, and he became angry with his son. But the holy youth, who knew the Holy Scriptures well, said to his father: "Calm down, father, I have not squandered your property, but lent it to God, and I have a true receipt in His Holy Scriptures, which says: he who has mercy on the poor lends to God." The youth, in the simplicity of his soul, believed the words of the Holy Scriptures so much that he invited his father to see if the wheat in his granary was exhausted, and what happened? That part of the granary which had been empty before was now full of the best wheat.