March: Day 11: Teaching 1: Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem

March: Day 11: Teaching 1:
Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem
 
(The Need To Take Care of One's Soul, Which is Priceless)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Church today celebrates the memory of Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Saint Sophronios was born in the 6th century in the city of Damascus of pious and wealthy parents. From his youth he loved spiritual education and chastity, and with love began to study the Holy Scriptures. Having studied them, he, caring for his soul, began to visit monasteries and deserts and there collected everything useful from the lips of the Holy Fathers. Arriving in Jerusalem, he met the wise monk John Moschos in one monastery, became close to him and became attached to him like a son. Soon Jerusalem was attacked by Khozroes, the Persian king. Saints John and Sophronios left Jerusalem at this time, which in their absence was taken by the Persians, and the Tree of the Lord's Cross along with Patriarch Zacharias were taken captive.

Elder Nikolai Guryanov and the Forty Russian Martyrs Who Perished in a Frozen Lake

Below is an account of the Forty Martyrs of Russia who perished in a frozen lake while being held in the gulags, and the sole survivor, Elder Nikolai Guryanov (1909-2002), who saw the souls of his fellow athletes being taken by Angels and himself was granted at the time of their martyrdom an appearance of the Theotokos who kept him alive to complete his mission.

The account comes from Elder Nikolai Guryanov himself. The martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Russia is reminiscent of the sacrifice of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste who were martyred in a similar manner in the frozen lake of Sebaste in the year 320.

In August 1931, Nikolai was sentenced to three years of exile in the Northern Territory of Russia. According to the Elder's words, recorded by his spiritual children, the reason for his arrest was his bold word in defense of the faith and desecrated shrines. That's how he ended up in Syktyvkar, where he participated in the construction of a railway. Sometimes he had to work in icy water, which caused prisoners to die. Working in inhumane conditions, Nikolai undermined his health. In addition, he permanently injured his legs while working with railway sleepers.

March: Day 10: Teaching 2: Venerable Anastasia the Patrician

March: Day 10: Teaching 2:
Venerable Anastasia the Patrician
 
(Cherish the Priestly Blessing)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Anastasia, whose memory is celebrated today, lived during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (6th century). Having lost her husband early, she enjoyed the general respect of all who knew her. The Emperor himself showed her favor and often conversed with her. This did not please Justinian's wife, Theodora, a jealous and suspicious woman, and Theodora hated Anastasia. Then the latter left Constantinople and withdrew to Alexandria. She founded a monastery near Alexandria and lived in it for a long time, spending her time reading sacred books, singing psalms, and doing needlework. Then, desiring more difficult feats, she went to the skete of the ascetic Daniel and asked him to show her a place for a more solitary life. The elder ordered her to dress in male monastic clothing and, under the name of Anastasios, locked her in a cave, forbidding her to leave or receive anyone. Once a week, one of the brethren brought the Saint bread and water, placed this food in front of the cave and silently withdrew. In such seclusion, the Venerable Anastasia lived without leaving for seventeen years.

March: Day 10: Teaching 1: Holy Martyr Kodratos

March: Day 10: Teaching 1:
Holy Martyr Kodratos
 
(It's Not a Sin To Get Treatment)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyr Kodratos, whose memory is celebrated today, was found as a newborn infant in the wilderness near the city of Corinth. Here he was born to Rufina, the wife of a Corinthian citizen who hid in the wilderness during the persecution of Christians in the third century, and died. When Kodratos grew up, with the obvious help of Divine Providence, he learned to heal diseases, but out of love for solitude he withdrew to the mountains, where he struggled in fasting and prayer. From time to time he still visited the city to heal diseases, since, living in the wilderness, he studied many healing herbs and plants, and, moved by love for his neighbors, he shared his knowledge, helping the poor. When Decius raised a persecution of Christians, Jason, the royal official, who arrived in Corinth, summoned Kodratos and his friends and demanded that they renounce Christ. When they refused, he ordered them to be hung upside down, beaten, their bodies scraped and burned, and finally, their heads cut off. At the place of execution, where the ground was stained with the blood of the martyrs, a spring of clean water suddenly appeared.

The Purity and Triumph of Orthodoxy (St. Photios the Great)

By St. Photios the Great

19. This is the pure and genuine confession of our Christian faith. This is the divinely-wise mystagogy into our pure and undefiled religion and its sacred mysteries. According to it we think, we believe, we live until the sunset of our lives as we press on to the rising of the invisible sun. There we shall enjoy its warmth and glory without any evening, and our pleasure will be more complete and more conscious there than here. This confession you should receive and love with spotless conduct, firm knowledge, and undoubting faith; and regarding our heritage of piety do not deviate from it not even for a moment either to the right or to the left. This is the message of the Apostles; this is the teaching of the Ecumenical Synods.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Current State of Affairs (Photios Kontoglou)

 

By Photios Kontoglou

The Sunday of Orthodoxy was established in order for the Church to celebrate the restoration of the Icons and the victory of true religion over the Iconoclasts. The Iconoclasts were the modernists of that time, who began with the abolition of iconography, so that they might proceed gradually, as all such people are wont to do, to other destructive reforms, the end result being to leave nothing in Orthodoxy intact. The Icon was the symbol of Orthodoxy, and Byzantium was in turmoil over the Icons, in civil war, for 116 years. In 787 A.D., the Seventh Ecumenical Synod took place in Nicaea. This Synod proclaimed the restoration of the Icons, and put an end to the Iconoclasm which had started in 726, in the reign of Leo the Isaurian. But even after the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, Iconoclasm was revived, and so another Synod took place in Constantinople in 842, and this Synod confirmed the Seventh Ecumenical Synod. Thus did that madness of Iconoclasm cease.

March: Day 9: Holy Forty Great Martyrs of Sebaste

March: Day 9:
Holy Forty Great Martyrs of Sebaste
 
(A True Christian Should Not Fear Death)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. During the persecution of Licinius in the 4th century, in the Armenian city of Sebaste, forty soldiers of one regiment professed the Christian faith. They were respected for their bravery and zeal for military service. One day, the city governor, obeying the decree of Licinius, called the soldiers to him and demanded that they worship idols. The soldiers refused, not deceived by the honors and not afraid of threats. Imprisoned, they became even more confirmed in the faith, since the Lord Himself appeared to them and promised to help them. While in prison, they encouraged each other to feats of suffering. When the royal nobleman arrived and called the soldiers to trial, one of them, Kirion, said to his companions: “Let us not fear, brothers! Did not the Lord help us when we called on Him in battle? We prayed to God and remained victors. Let us pray to Him now and not be afraid of suffering.” Singing the Psalm: "O God, in Thy name save me..." they went to trial, endured severe scourging, but did not yield to flatteries, were not afraid of threats, were not afraid of death for Christ, and were finally placed, on a cold night, in a lake located near the city.

Orthodoxy is Christ (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Orthodoxy is Christ

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Orthodoxy is not something abstract, an unfounded faith or ideology, but Jesus Christ Himself, the Son and Word of God who became man for the salvation of humanity, as the Orthodox Church teaches.

The word "doxa" has many meanings, namely true opinion, faith, vision, sight, brilliance, brightness. In the Orthodox perspective it is true faith, which is the fruit of the revelation of God in glory, the Light.

Christ is the glory of God the Father, He was revealed to the Prophets of the Old Testament incorporeal in the Light and He assumed human nature and saved mankind. “First without flesh, then for us in the flesh.”

The Tradition of the "Kollyva-Saturday" of Saint Theodore in Oia of Santorini

Church of the Holy Theodoroi in Oia

On the first Saturday of Great Lent, the Orthodox Church honors Saint Theodore the Tiro, and specifically the “commemoration of the miracle of the kollyva by Saint Theodore the Tiro.”

Julian the Apostate - a pagan Roman Emperor - wanted to “contaminate” Christian subjects by secretly ordering during Clean Week (the first week of Great Lent starting on Clean Monday) that all food in the marketplace be sprinkled with the blood of pagan sacrifices. Saint Theodore then appeared in a dream to the then Archbishop of Constantinople and ordered him to inform all Christians so that they would not buy food from the marketplace and instead to boil kollyva for their food. Thus, the pagan emperor's purpose was thwarted, and on Clean Saturday the people gave thanks to the Saint. Since then, the Church has commemorated this event to the glory of God and to honor Saint Theodore.