συνοδικός
March 3 / February 18
2018 （7526）
Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή • GREAT 40 DAYS • Μεγάλη Νηστεία • GREAT FAST
DAY 13
Parents' Saturday. Remembrance of the dead
• The YAKHROMSK Icon of the Mother of God // OCT 14 //
The Yakhrom Icon of the Mother of God appeared to the holy youth Cosmas (February 18), while he was accompanying his master, a sick landowner. Cosmas had stopped at the bank of the Yakhrom River, not far from Vladimir, and the sick man fell asleep. Cosmas suddenly saw a bright light coming from a nearby tree, and heard a voice, "Attend and understand the words of life. Live a God-pleasing life and seek the joy of the righteous, and then you will delight in eternal blessings." The light had come from an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Saint Cosmas (February 18) took the icon and placed it on his master, who was immediately healed. After this, Cosmas’s term of servitude expired, so he went to the Kiev Caves monastery. After he was tonsured, he amazed even the experienced monks by his own spiritual efforts. Years later, Saint Cosmas was told by an angel to return to the place where he had found the icon. He took the wonderworking icon with him to the bank of the Yakhrom River where he had found the icon. At once, the place was again filled with light. Saint Cosmas built a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and placed the Yakhrom Icon within it.
• Martyrs LEO 莱翁 and PARIGORIUS 帕瑞格里 of Patara of Lycia (258)
Οἱ Ἅγιοι Λέων καὶ Παρηγόριος οἱ Μάρτυρες οἱ ἐν Πατάροις τῆς Λυκίας Ἀθλήσαντες
• MM MAXIMUS and his brother CLAUDIUS with wife PRAEPEDIGNA; and their sons ALEXANDER and CUTIAS; at Ostia Tiberina (295) who suffered under Diocletian
• Martyrs LUCIUS, SILVANUS, RUTULUS, CLASSICUS, SECUNDINUS, FRUCTULUS (Fructuosus) and MAXIMUS in North Africa
• MM TIMOTHY Bishop of Gaza, AGAPIUS and THECLA (also Thekla) and others of Palestine (304)
• Martyrs VICTORINUS 维克托尔, DOROTHEUS 多若德奥, THEODULUS 德奥杜洛 and AGRIPPA 阿格里帕 (320) who suffered under Licinius
Οἱ Ἅγιοι Ἀγρίππας, Βικτωρίνος, Δωρόθεος καὶ Θεόδουλος οἱ Μάρτυρες
• Virgins CONSTANTIA Augusta (also Constantina), ATTICA and ARTEMIA (354) of Rome
Constance was engaged to be married to Saint Gallican, the brother of Attica and Artemia.
• Commemoration of the New Martyrs who suffered during "Holy Night" 神圣之夜 in St Petersburg of Russia (1932)
A bloody wave of repressions drenched the entire Petersburg Diocese. During the night of 18 February 1932 the Bolsheviks arrested more than five hundred monks. Monasteries were completely devastated. It often has happened in Church history that during the most vicious times of persecution for the Orthodox Faith, God sends special men of God who are keepers of the purity of Orthodoxy. In the 30-40's the Venerable Father Seraphim of Vyritsa became one of them. At that time he was writing poems as prophesies about the future of Russia. These poems were memorized by very many people, and reached prisons and camps.
• Hosiosconfessor VLADIMIR 弗拉迪弥尔 (Basil Terent’jev) Abbot in Sergiev Posad (1872-1933) day of death in exile in Kazakhstan
• New Hieromartyr priest ALEXANDER 亚历山大 Medvedsky (1932)
• Hosiosmartyr hieromonk BENJAMIN 本亚民 (1938)
• Martyres ANNA 安纳 Chetverikova (1873-1940)
• Repose of Schemamonk CONSTANTINE Cavarnos, spiritual writer and lecturer (1918-2011)
May the Lord be merciful to the ever-memorable servant of God, Schemamonk Constantine, and give him rest in Abraham's bosom, and number him among the just.
Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἀγαπητὸς ὁ Ὁμολογητής καὶ Θαυματουργὸς Ἐπίσκοπος Σινάου
• ANGILBERT of Centula (740-814) Abbot of St Riquier in the north of France where there were some 300 monks
• BLAISE 弗莱西 of Amorion, monk of Mt Athos (9th c.)
Saint Blaise of Amorion (Amorium) was a medieval monk from the Byzantine Empire. He was born in the middle 9th century in Amorion, Anatolic Theme, he studied in Constantinople and was ordained a deacon at Hagia Sophia. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he was taken captive and sold to "Scythians" (i.e. Bulgarians) by his travel companion. According to his "Vita", his buyer was a Bulgar nobleman, who released him in the hope that Blaise would stay and provide guidance in how to life a Christian life, he made his way to Rome, where he became a monk for 18 years, during which he became famous for his piety. He went back to Constantinople to escape his growing reputation of holiness and was welcomed in the Stoudios Monastery, and he later moved to Athos, he died in 908 on a visit to Constantinople.
• COLMAN 科尔曼 bishop of Lindisfarne & Mayo (676) Last Columban Abbot of Lindisfarne, Founder of Inishbofin and Mayo
Born in Connaught in Ireland, he became a monk at Iona in Scotland. He was then chosen as third Abbot of Lindisfarne in England. He later returned to Ireland, founding a monastery on Innisboffin Island for Irish monks and a monastery for English monks ― Mayo of the Saxons.
• COLMAN of Ardboe, County Tyrone; a monastic founder in the north of Ireland
There are no less than one hundred and thirty saints, named Colman, enumerated in Irish Martyrologies and Histories. Therefore, that much confusion must exist, in distinguishing their festivals. The task of individual identification must be difficult, especially as only the simple name occurs, in many instances.
• Venerable monk COSMAS 科斯玛 of Yakhromsk (1492)
Ὁ Ὅσιος Κοσμᾶς ὁ ἐκ Ρωσίας
• DACUALENUS (Culanus) Bishop of Killcuilawn, County of Tipperary (7th c.)
• Commemoration of the translation of his relics of Passion-Bearer EDWARD the King Reception at Shaftesbury
• ETHELINA (also Eudelme) of Northumbria, patroness of Little Sodbury (now Gloucestershire)in England
• Hieroconfessor FLAVIAN 弗拉维安 the Confessor, patriarch of Constantinople (449-450) a Faithful Soldier of Christ, courageous defender and confessor of the Orthodox Faith
• HELLADIUS of Toledo (632) born in Toledo in Spain, he served at the court of the Visigothic Kings. He loved to visit the monastery of Agali (Agallia) near Toledo on the banks of the Tagus. Eventually he became a monk there and then abbot (605). In 615 he became Archbishop of Toledo
• Finding (1961) of the Relics of the NM IRENE 伊里尼 of Lesbos (1463)
The Newly Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos, Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene were martyred by the Turks on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463) ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. They began appearing to various inhabitants of Lesbos in 1959 and revealed the details of their lives and martyrdom. Saint Irene was the 12year-old daughter of the village mayor, Basil. In the spring of 1463, the Turks raided the monastery at Thermi and captured the monks. She and her family had come to the monastery to warn the monks of the invasion. The cruel Hagarenes cut off one of her arms and threw it down in front of her parents. Then the pure virgin was placed in a large earthen cask and a fire was lit under it, suffocating her within. These torments took place before the eyes of her parents, who were also put to death. Her grave and the earthen cask were found on May 12, 1961 after Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene had appeared to people and told them where to look. Others who also received the crown of martyrdom on that day were Saint Irene's parents Basil and Maria; Theodore, the village teacher; and Eleni, the 15year-old cousin of Saint Irene. Saint Irene usually appears with a long yellow dress reaching to her feet. Her blonde hair is divided into two braids which rest on either side of her chest.
Saints Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene (and those with them) are also commemorated on Bright Tuesday.
• LASAIR (also Lassar, Lassair, Laisre or Lasera) of Lasara, Ghlionn-Meadhoin (Glennan), Co. Antrim
• Sainted 莱翁 LEO I the Great, Pope of Rome (461)
Ὁ Ἅγιος Λέων πάπας Ρώμης
Probably born in Tuscany in Italy, he became Bishop of Rome in 440. He fought against many heresies. His celebrated Tomos defined the Orthodox belief in the Two Natures and One Person of Christ. It was acclaimed as the teaching of the Orthodox Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. His literary and theological legacy is comprised of 96 sermons and 143 letters – of which the best known is his missive to Saint Flavian. St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.
• NICHOLAS 尼科拉 Batonishvili, Catholicos of Georgia (1591)
Ὁ Ἅγιος Νικόλαος Πατριάρχης Γεωργίας
Nicholas Batonishvili was the son of Levan I, King of Kakheti (1520-1574). He lived during the grievous period of the Persian invasion of eastern Georgia. The young prince chose the path of monastic life and bravely helped his elder brother, King Alexandre II (1574-1605). Despite his royal blood, he preferred the monk’s habit and the sweet, light yoke of Christ to the glamour and opulence of his inheritance.
• Martyr PIULIUS (Publius) by the sword
Ὁ Ἅγιος Πιούλιος ὁ Μάρτυρας
• Hieromartyr Bishop SIMEON (Simon) of Jerusalem (107) the son of Cleophas (Alpheus, brother to Saint Joseph) and Mary (sister-in-law of the Blessed Virgin)
• THEODORE Komogovin of Serbia
• THOMA I Patriarch of Constantinople (7th c.)
by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh:
The world around us is full of hatred and turmoil, and however close we may feel to one another, however much we perceive a momentary peace in our hearts how near we are always to a moment when peace breaks down, when tensions become stronger than our sense of oneness and when strife sets in. And at those moments we must learn something which is at the very core of our relationship with men and our relationship with God, we must learn to forgive. And we do not achieve it because we expect forgiveness to be at first what it can only be at last, the Joy of reconciliation, the Joy that is born from the discovery that darkness is conquered by light, that joy has set in where bitterness and sadness were. But this is not where forgiveness begins and it is not our victory, this is a gift of mercy both divine and human forgiveness begins at the moment when offended, humiliated, betrayed, we can say in our hearts or aloud to the person who has done this "whatever you have done, I love you enough to take on all the consequences of your frailty, all the consequences of the evil which is stronger than your good will, and I will bear these consequences because my love does hot falter!" This is what God does to us; this is what absolution is when we receive it in the sacrament or penance, after our confession. Forgiveness is not given to us by God because we have already changed, neither does He forgive us because we shall change. We may change as a result of forgiveness if we only understand what it all means, but God does not wait until we have changed to forgive, otherwise no one would be forgiven. When we receive absolution when we are granted forgiveness from God, it always means that God says: I know all the depth of your faults, I know all your betrayals, I know how far from me you are, I know that your heart is grown cold and your mind darkened, I know that your will is not strong and yet, I witness before the whole of creation that my love does not falter, that ray love remains whole, that it belongs to you unreservedly; it was my joy, it has become crucifixion. It was our common life, it has now become the moment when I am on the Cross and you have brought me to it; you have been shouting «crucify Him, crucify Him» you have been walking around this Cross saying «If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the Cross.» You are responsible for it and yet my last word is: «Forgive, Father, he does not know what he is doing. Forgive Father, she does not know what she is doing.» And God takes upon Himself, by forgiving us, by witnessing that his love remains unshaken, He takes upon Himself final solidarity with us. He says to us: I called you into being, to share all my life, you have renounced it and reject it. Then I shall share all your life. I called you into eternity and bliss; you have opened up a depth of hell, I will walk into this hell. I will become man and share all the limitations, all the finitudes all the cruelty of the human condition which you have created. I will share it to the last, to the very point where your betrayal means the loss of God, and the loss of life. "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me" is the cry of Him who has willed to share with us everything, even our loss of God, because He wants to share all that is our life, because of love, and because of faith. Because not only does He loves us, but He has faith in us, that all that won't be in vain. That is forgiveness. That is the kind of forgiveness to which we are called each of us with regard to each other, indeed not to this extents, not to this depth and magnitude; but we are called to say: however cold your heart has become to me, mine is warm enough for both. We cannot share blessedness, I will share hell with you, and not only the hell which others have created for you, no, the very hell which is in your heart for me to live in. Unless we can say this, we cannot say that we begin our way to forgiveness. Oh how much we wish to be able to say: the wounds which you have dealt on me are healed, the distress is over, peace, peace divine has come, but that comes after the agony of the Garden, it comes after the betrayal or the crucifixion, it comes after the death on the Cross, after the dereliction that kills, after three days when we lie numb and dead in the tomb. It comes when resurrection comes. When we who have forgiven, are risen in such a way that we can communicate life, life with abundance, life eternal, not before. And so, here we are, in a life were nothing is unspoiled by tension, by strife, by coldness, by darkening, by hatred, by dividedness, here we are, given by God an example and indeed a challenge and an opportunity. Live in hell, walk into it. If you walk into it with a love that does not hesitate to die then hell will cease to be hell. When Christ descended into hell, into the place where God is not, when He descended into it as a man who had accepted to lose God in order to remain with man. He brought into it the fulness of His Godhead and hell is no more the place where God is not. if it is anything, it is it is a place where we bewail our treason, our lovelessness, not a place from which God has turned away. And what if we have no love, what if we cannot afford even this. If we have no love that will make us say «I will share with you dereliction, the Fall, hell, godlessness,» then we must be prepared to say: "I am like you, how can I judge you?" and humbly stay together where we are together helpless, broken, fearful defeated, turning to God and saying «help us both, because we have both lost love, we have both lost life». How wonderful it is to be able at any moment to come to a God who can absolve, forgive, because He has chosen to be with us, while we refused or proved unable to be with Him, and what joy it is to think that we can even in our fault, even in our weakness do the same with each other, break down, explode hell, make it a place of redemption, of reconciliation, of life instead of death. Glory be to God for that He has revealed us and for that He gives us power to recreate heaven where we have made hell.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
愿上帝怜恤我罪人
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
for the sake of the prayers
of Thy most pure Mother,
our holy and God-bearing fathers and all the saints, have mercy on us.
Amen.
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Blessed be God.
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