My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 24th of September Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
the Holy Martyr THECLA, the Equal to the Holy Apostles.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Forth Tone
O LORD Jesus, unto Thee Thy lamb doth cry with a great voice:
O my Bridegroom, Thee I love; and seeking Thee, I now contest,
and with Thy baptism am crucified and buried. I suffer for Thy in
Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee; fo rThy sake I die, that I may
live in Thee: accept me offered out of longing to Thee as a spotless
sacrifice. Lord, save our souls through her intercessions, since
Thou art great in mercy.
Kontakion Hymn. Plagal of Fourth Tone
O GLORIOUS virgin, thou was entrusted with an apostolate, while
shining brightly with virginal beauty and adorned with crowns of
martyrdom. And, O Thecla, thou also didst subdue the bull’s fury
and change the fire to dew by thine entreaties, O first contestant
among all womankind.
THECLA was born in Iconium of eminent pagan parents. She was betrothed at the age of eighteen to a young man, at the time that the Apostle Paul came to Iconium with Barnabas to preach the Gospel. Listening to Saint Paul for three days and nights, Thecla turned utterly to the Christian faith and vowed to live in virginity. Her mother, seeing that she shunned her betrothed and thought no more of marriage, first talked to her and then beat her and starved her. Finally, she gave her over to the judges and demanded, wicked mother that she was, that Thecla be burned. The judge threw her into the flames, but God preserved her unharmed. Thecla then became a follower of the Holy Apostle Paul, and went with him to Antioch. Attracted by Thecla’s beauty, an elder of the city attempted to violate her by force, but Thecla tore herself out of his grasp. The elder denounced her to the governor as a Christian who was averse to marriage. The governor condemned her to death and threw her to the wild beasts, but the animals would not touch the body of this holy virgin. Amazed at this, the governor asked: ‘Who are you, and what is the power that you have in you, that nothing can do you harm?’ Thecla replied: ‘I am a servant of the Living God." The the governor let her go free, and she began to preach the Gospel and succeeded in bringing many to the True Faith, among whom was an eminent and honored widow, Tryphena, After this, Saint Thecla, with the blessing of the Holy Apostle Paul, withdrew to a solitary place near Seleucia. She lived a long time there is asceticism, healing the sick with miraculous power and in this way bringing many to Christianity. The doctors in Seleucia were jealous of her and sent some young men to assault her, hoping that, in losing her virginity, she would also lose her miraculous power. Saint Thecla fled from these insolent young men and, when she saw that they would catch her, prayed to God for help in front of a rock, and the rock opened and hid the hol maiden and bride of Christ. This rock was her hiding place and her tomb. Saint John Chrysostomos says of this wonderful Christian heroine and Saint: ‘I seem to see this blessed virgin going to Christ with virginity in one hand and martyrdom in the other. [Resource: The Prologue from Ochrid]
ALSO
SAINT SILOUAN THE ATHONITE
Rejoice, of father Silouan,
inextinguishable burning of love
thy prayer for the world!"
[Akathist hymn to St. Silouan
of Athos]
God’s chosen one, conquering the hearts of academics and students, housewives and all professionals, theologians and church neophytes… Today he is known to the entire Orthodox world. Human souls humble themselves before his holiness, forgetting everything earthly and becoming filled with peace, joy and prayer. The simplicity of his communion with the Lord and his evangelical, child-like faith touch hearts. Behind it, however, there is a half-century’s worth of ascetic labour.
Russian Saint Panteleimon Monastery
on Mount Athos
Childhood and Youth of Saint Silouan
The Venerable Silouan of Athos, a new witness for God and a true man of prayer for the whole world, "who in the twentieth century glorified Mount Athos and showed in it an Angelic life" was born in Russia in 1866. He was born into the family of the peasant Ivan Antonov who lived in the village of Shovskoe in Lebedyansky District of Tambov Province. The family was large: father, mother, five sons and two daughters. The baby was baptized in the village church of the Nativity of Christ and name Simeon.
Simeon’s parents were engaged in hard peasant labor, but their life was relatively secure. They were hospitable and often provided food and shelter to those in need. From infancy, Simeon was brought up in the Orthodox Faith. Already as a schema monk on the Holy Mount Athos, Silouan used to recall how pious a man his father was: "I have never achieved the measure of my father. He was completely illiterate, yet he was a meek and wise man. I wish I could have an Elder like him; he was never irritated and always had a calm attitude."
Simeon did not have the opportunity to study muchl after only two years of school, he began to help the family with household chores. He grew up and became a strong and physically fit man. Feeling a burning love for God, Simeon began to pray fervently and with tears. Soon he decided to become a monk. However, he postponed his decision to go to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, not daring to disobey his father, who told him to complete his military service first. He served in the Royal Life Guards Sapper Battalion under the command of General Serebryakov in Saint Petersburg. In the army everyone loved Simeon as a diligent soldier. He was of a quiet nature and good conduct, and his comrades knew him as a loyal friend.
At the end of the military service, the future Saint went to the Righteous John of Kronstadt for a blessing to go to Mount Athos. Unable to speak with Father John in person, Simeon left him a note. It said, "Father, I desire to become a monk; pray that the world does not delay me." AFter the army service, Simeon stayed at home for only one week and went to the Holy Mountain.
In Autumn 1892, Simeon Ivanovich Antonov arrived at Mount Athos. He was greeted by the large and small crosses crowning the green domes of the bell tower, churches and roofs of the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon, "a place of stillness, mystery and asceticism" and a witness to the high ascetic deeds of souls striving for God. This is where Simeon began his path as a novice. He later wrote, "Believing in God is one thing, knowing Him is another."
At that time, Saint Panteleimon ‘s Monastery on Mount Athos had about 2,000 monks. At the end of the 19th century, there were five large and thirteen small churches there. All the numerous monastery buildings and outbuildings practically formed an entire city. Hundreds of pilgrims were constantly arriving from Russia and spending long periods of time in monastic residences. {Orthodox Christians visit a monastery, a place of unceasing prayer, repentance, stillness, worship, and meditation) as pilgrims and not as tourists.] This gave the novices plenty of work to do. Simeon’s first labor OBEDIENCE was work at the Monastery mill. Also, the novice Simeon spent entire days alone, carrying fifty-kilogram sacks to the third floor of the mill and pouring grain into the milestones.
Saint Elijah’s Church "on the Millstones."
Here, during Vespers in the mill Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah, to the right of the holy doors, where the holy icon of the Savior is located, the novice saw the living Christ. The Lord miraculously appeared to the young novice, filling his whole being and his very body with fiery grace of the Holy Spirit. At that moment, Simeon was made aware with all his being that his sins were forgiven. After that, a new stage began in the spiritual life of the young novice Simeon. The surrounding world was magnificent, the people were pleasant, and nature was inexpressibly beautiful. The body became lighter, the strength increased, the word of God was pleasing to the soul, and the nightly vigils in the church and especially the private prayers in the cell became sweeter. His soul, filled with joy, felt pity for all people and prayed for the whole world.
Some time after, while Brother Simeon was serving in the Monastery refectory, he had a similar visitation of Divine Grace. It happened in the morning on a Feast-Day, after the All-Night Vigil in church. In 1896, four years after entering the Monastery, Simeon was tonsured into a small Schema with the name Silouan.
"KEEP YOUR MIND IN HELL AND DESPAIR NOT" Saint Silouan.
From the day of the Lord’s appearance to him, Monk Silouan waged a fierce struggle against his passions, striving to preserve purity of mind and heart. On one of such painful nights, when, despite all his efforts, it was impossible to pray properly, Silouan, rising from his stool to bow, saw before himself a figure of a demon, standing in front of the icons and waiting for a bow to him. Father Silouan sat on his stool again and cried out to God with anguish in his heart, "Lord, You see my desire to pray to You with a pure mind, but the demons stand in my way. Teach me, what should I do to keep them at bay?
The answer from God was, "The proud always suffer from demons." "Lord" Silouan prayed, "teach me what must I do to humble my soul?" Then the Lord said to him, "Keep your mind in hell and despair not."
After this revelation, Monk Silouan firmly embarked on a spiritual path. From that day on, his favourite saying was: "Soon I shall die, and my wretched soul shall descend into cramped black hell, and there I shall languish alone and cry for the Lord, " Where are You, the Light of my soul? I cannot live without You." [Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist]
{To be continued)
___________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 