St. Joseph of Damascus

Joyous feast! St. Joseph the New Hieromartyr of Damascus was born in the Syrian city at the end of the 1700s under the Turkish Yoke. As a youth he became zealous for learning and quickly became well known by the Orthodox living in Damascus and so loved that in 1817 he was ordained to the priesthood at the age of twenty-four and assigned to the patriarchal cathedral in Damascus.

St. Joseph enjoyed the favor of both the patriarch who ordained him, Patriarch Seraphim of Antioch, and his successor Patriarch Methodius. He was also well loved by the Antiochian Orthodox faithful in Damascus thanks to his sermons, so much so that some called St. Joseph a new Chrysostom. When Damascus was struck by yellow fever the Saint worked tirelessly to comfort and care for the sick without regard for his own life and so became even more deeply loved by the Damascenes.

Because of his great learning St. Joseph attracted students desiring to study under him and eventually formed a patriarchal theological school in Damascus. The Saint also engaged in dialogue with the members of the then newly formed Melkite Catholic Church, bringing many of them back to the Orthodox Faith by strengthening them in their support of the Apostolic Faith and the Julian calendar when the Melkite Catholic Patriarch Clement forced the Gregorian calendar and various latinizations upon his flock. St. Joseph's influence within the Melkite Catholic Church was said to be so strong that had he not been martyred it would not have survived his lifetime because of the number of its member who were returning to Orthodoxy.

In 1860 a great persecution of all the Christians in Damascus and its region took place, with many of the Antiochian Orthodox taking refuge at the patriarchal cathedral. St. Joseph traveled along the city's rooftops from his home to get to the cathedral and strengthen the faithful there with both sermons and communion. When the cathedral was finally attacked St. Joseph was martyred together with the faithful gathered there on 10 July. For this reason we also commemorate today St. Joseph's companions in martyrdom, whose names are not known to us.

More on St. Joseph's life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!

Vatican Releases Armenian Genocide Documents

Documents detailing the atrocities committed during the Armenian Genocide will shortly be released by the Vatican City, which did not disclose their existence until this year. More here.

Holy New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke

Joyous feast! On this third Sunday after Pentecost we commemorate the Holy New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke who suffered after the Ottoman Turkish conquest of the last remnants of the East Roman Empire and the Balkans. Hierarchs, clergymen, and faithful all witnessed to Christ regardless of their level of learning, their class, or their ethnicity. Muslim converts to Orthodoxy who were martyred for their faith are also included amongst the New Martyrs. More on today's feast can be found here and here. May the New Martyrs' blessings and prayers be with us all!

St. Lazar the Tsar-Martyr

Joyous feast! St. Lazar, also known as Lazarus, is remembered primarily for his leadership of the Serbian armies at the Battle of Kosovo Polje that saw the destruction of much of the Serbian nobility and the occupation of what was left of the old Serbian Empire by the Ottoman Turks. St. Lazar first rose to prominence at the court of the last Serbian emperor, Tsar Stephen Uros V, after whose death the Saint assumed leadership of what was left of the Serbian Empire with the titles prince and autocrat, hence the common references to him as also being a tsar or 'caesar.'

Although St. Lazar labored to unify and strengthen free Serbia, his defeat and martyrdom at Kosovo Polje left Serbia without strong leadership or enough troops to continue the resistance to Ottoman encroachment and thus the battle, which equally devastated both sides, led to the extension of the Turkish Yoke to Serbia.

St. Lazar's incorrupt relics were translated from a church near Kosovo Polje to the Ravanica Monastery, which he had founded during his reign, two years after the battle in 1391. When the Ottoman Turks destroyed the Ravanica Monastery in the late 1600s the Saint's relics were removed to Srem and then to Belgrade during World War II. In 1989 on the 600th anniversary of his martyrdom St. Lazar's relics were again translated, this time to their former resting place at the Ravanica Monastery.

More on St. Lazar's life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!

Holy New Martyrs of Ajaria

Joyous feast! In Georgia the Sunday of Pentecost is also the commemoration of the Holy New Martyrs of Ajaria who suffered under the Turkish Yoke in the 18th century.

When Ajaria, a region in what today is southwestern Georgia, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire its Turkish rulers strongly encouraged its Georgian inhabitants to convert to Islam in the hope of detaching the area from its long association with the rest of Orthodox Georgia. As part of this push to convert Ajaria to Islam in 1790 the area's rulers organized a massacre of those who were steadfast in their Orthodox Faith and were encouraging others to likewise resist Islam, with the faithful being tortured and guillotined and their bodies dumped in Ajaria's rivers.

More (in Russian) on the sufferings of the Ajarian New Martyrs can be found here. May their blessings and prayers be with us all!

St. John the Russian

Joyous feast! St. John the Confessor was born in the 1600s in what today is Ukraine and raised as a devout Orthodox Christian. Drafted into military service, the Saint fought the Ottoman Turks and was captured by them in 1711 and enslaved in the village of Procopia in Asia Minor. Although St. John's master beat him and sought to convert him to Islam the Saint refused, saying that, "Neither by threats, nor with promises of riches and delights you will turn me away from my holy faith. I was born a Christian, and a Christian I shall die."

Despite his mistreatment St. John served his master zealously and was mocked by his fellow slaves for his commitment to his duties. The Saint's master, seeing his faithfulness, offered to let him live as a free man and resettle him wherever he wished, but St. John preferred to remain in his service so that he could continue his nightly prayers in the stables.

When St. John fell asleep on this day in 1730 his body was given over to the clergy of Procopia, who buried it surrounded by the village's Orthodox Christian inhabitants. Three years later the Saint's relics, having been revealed to be incorrupt in a vision, were exhumed and enshrined in Procopia's Church of St. George, later being translated in part to Panteleimonou on Mount Athos in 1881 and in 1924 to the Greek island of Eubeia together with the residents of Procopia as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

Through St. John's prayers many are helped and in the past not only Greeks, but also many Orthodox Armenians and Turkish Muslims came to St. John's relics in Procopia to be healed. More on St. John's life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!

Metropolitan Cyril of Vidin

Joyous feast! Today is the 97th anniversary of the repose of Metropolitan Cyril (Stoichkov) of Vidin of blessed memory, who served in the newly restored Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Born in what is now northwestern Bulgaria, as a young man Metropolitan Cyril became a monk at the Chiprovtsi Monastery of St. John of Rila and while there was tonsured a monk and ordained to the deaconate. At age 26 the Monastery sent the young Hierodeacon Cyril to the theological seminary in Sremski Karlovci maintained by the Orthodox Church of Austria-Hungary.

While in Austria-Hungary the future metropolitan became involved in the general movement amongst Bulgarians towards the restoration of autocephaly and the replacement of the many Greek-speaking hierarchs in Ottoman Bulgaria with Bulgarians. Consequently, after completing his studies and returning to Bulgaria the Metropolitan of Vidin, a Greek, reported Fr. Dn. Cyril to the Ottoman authorities, who arrested him and eventually exiled him to central Anatolia for his nationalism.

After 3 years of exile Fr. Dn. Cyril was released and assigned to a parish in the northeastern Wallachian city of Tulcea (now in Romania), where he was ordained a priest and eventually raised to the rank of archimandrite and assigned a parish in the city of Silistra (on the border of modern day Bulgaria and Romania).

When the Bulgarian Orthodox Church regained its autocephaly as an exarchate Fr. Cyril was actively involved in its local and national life, serving first in Silistra and then in Vidin and Skopje, where he was eventually elected Metropolitan of Skopje in 1875. When the Russo-Turkish War began Metropolitan Cyril was forced into internal exile, eventually in 1891 being elected Metropolitan of Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria.

Metropolitan Cyril was distinguished in his service as Metropolitan of Vidin for his work in improving the life of both his parishes and his clergy and became especially known for his strict standards for his clergy. Nationally he was a key figure in the development of the educational work of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, playing a particularly important role in helping to finance the construction of the compound of the theological seminary in Sofia.

The last years of Metropolitan Cyril's life were spent in seclusion and prayer. He eventually reposed on 21 May (old style), 1914, in Vidin and was buried on the grounds of the diocesan Cathedral of St. Demetrius the Great-Martyr. More (in Bulgarian) on Metropolitan Cyril's life can be found here. May his memory be eternal!

Suppressed Uprising Commemorated in Northwestern Bulgaria

Holy Trinity Monastery in Rakovitsa, Bulgaria, is commemorating today the 161st anniversary of northwestern Bulgaria's uprising against the Ottoman Turkish occupation. At the time the Rakovitsa Monastery's abbot blessed the uprising, which was supported by the area's villages, and was executed together with many other members of the brotherhood when the uprising was suppressed. Since the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turks the uprising's victims have been commemorated annually with a memorial at the Rakovitsa Monastery. More (in Bulgarian) here.

Pictured are the Rakovitsa Monastery's abbot, Archimandrite Antim, with another of the Monastery's clergymen after today's memorial.

Armenia Celebrates the Restoration of Its Independence

Armenia is celebrating Republic Day, this year marking the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian nation's restoration of its independence from the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the holiday was restored in free Armenia to celebrate its renewed independence from foreign occupation. More here.

Boyadzhik Commemorates Victims of Turkish Massacre

Yesterday marked the 135th anniversary of the slaughter of the villagers of Boyadzhik by the Ottoman Turks and was celebrated by Metropolitan Ioanikiy of Sliven with a memorial in Boyadzhik's Church of St. Demetrius. The names of the victims of the massacre have been forwarded by the Eparchy of Sliven to the Bulgarian Orthodox Holy Synod to be glorified as New Martyrs. More (in Bulgarian) here.

Turkish Writer Apologizes for Ottoman Turkish Genocides

A Turkish writer, Kemal Yalcin, has apologized to Armenians, Assyrians, and ethnic Syrians around the world for the Armenian Genocide and the Seyfo (the Assyrian/Syrian Genocide) undertaken by the Ottoman Turks and Kurds. Yalcin noted that had the Genocide not taken place Turkey today would have some 15 million additional Armenian, Assyrian, and Syrian residents (instead of a paltry 108,000). More here.

Holy New Martyrs of Damascus

Joyous feast! I've just been reading about St. Joseph of Damascus and those Damascenes martyred with him in 1860. You can read about St. Joseph's life and martyrdom here. May the New Martyrs' blessings and prayers be with us all!