On the16th of June, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the Feast-day of Our Holy Father TIKHON (Tychon), Bishop of Amathus in Cyprus

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 16th of June, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the
Feast-day of Our Holy Father TIKHON (Tychon), Bishop of
Amathus in Cyprus.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. First Tone

THOU didst prove to be a citizen of the desert, an Angel in the flesh,
and a Wonderkor, O Tikhon, our God-bearing Father. By fasting,
vigil, and prayer thou dist obtain heavenly gifts, and thou cheapest
the sick, and the soul of them that have recourse to thee with faith.
Glory To Him that hath given thee strength. Glory to Him that hath
crowned thee. Glory to Him that worketh healings for all through thee.

Kontakion Hymn. Third Tone

SHINING in ascetic toils beloved of God, O Saint Tikhon, from on
high didst thou receive the Holy Comforter’s power to destroy the
wicked idols of gross delusion and to save imperilled peoples, to
cast out demons, and to heal the sick, O blessed one; wherefore,
we honor thee as a true friend of God.

A Wonderworker, Tikhon was chosen unanimously as bishop on the death of blessed Mnemonius, and CONSECRATED Bishop by the renowned Epiphanius for the Diocese of Amathus. The purity of his life and his zealous adherence to Orthodoxy recommended him for this rank. There were still pagans in Cyprus at that time, and Tikhon undertook with Apostolic zeal to turn the unbelievers into believers, and he had great success in this. After lengthy toil in the Lord’s vineyard, he entered into the eternity of the blessed in about 425 A.D. He is named a Wonderworker because of the many Miracles that he performed during his lifetime. His father was a baker, and whenever his father left him alone in the shop, he would distribute the bread to the poor without payment. His father reproached him once for doing this, so he prayed to God and their storehouse became so full of grain that they could open the door only with difficulty. Another time he planted a dry slip from a vine and it wondrously sprouted and brought forth ripe grapes. After his death, on his annual feast-day on June 16th, it being yet early in the season, that vine would be laden with unripe grae, as its natural; but as the Divine Liturgy began, the grapes would begin to darken, and by the end of it, they would be fully ripened. The third of the Vespers Stichera in the Menaion service to Saint Tikhon alludes to this yearly miracle. (Resources: The Prologue from Ochrid and The Great Horologion)

FOR CONSIDERATION

In enumerating the miracles of the Christian Faith, we must not forget those innumerable and great miracles, the changes of heart and character in people truly converted to the Faith. How many senseless evildoers has the Faith tamed! How many robbers has it turned into innocent lambs! How many debauched men into men of chaste life! How many persecutors has it made defenders! How many self-seeking and avaricious men have it made compassionate! How many cowards has it turned onto the path of self-sacrifice! Metropolitan Philaret wrote thus about the Russian Prince Vladimir: ‘A lover of all the passions, he could not have loved them more, yet the pagan Vladimir found Christianity and became a model of pure and chaste married life. He put away from himself all the women and the concubines, and lived with Anna, faithful and devout woman. A malicious, vengeful and bloodthirsty fratricide while a pagan, he became, as a Christian, the most compassionate friend of the deprived and unfortunate. They had free access to him, and he distributed both food and money to them with a generous hand. And he even went further than that: he said that the sick were in no state to come to the palace, so he ordered that meat and fish, bread, yeast and honey be taken round the streets. The words of the Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful," penetrated into the very depths of his heart and became a principle of life for him.

____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George: