St. Alexandra of Diveyevo

Joyous feast!

Today we commemorate St. Alexandra (Melgunova), founder and first abbess of the Diveyevo Monastery of the Holy Trinity. Born a noblewoman in Ryazan, early in her marriage St. Alexandra (then named Agafia) was widowed and decided to dedicate her life to God, becoming a nun at St. Florus' Monastery in Kiev.

After receiving visions from the Mother of God and the death of her only child St. Alexandra moved from Kiev to Diveyevo, where she began the building of the monastery with funds from the sale of her lands. The first cells for the future sisterhood were built around the Monastery's Church of the Kazan Icon with the blessing of the Sarov elders, among them St. Seraphim of Sarov.

After Mother Alexandra's repose St. Seraphim told pilgrims to visit her grave and ask for her prayers, prophesying the later uncovering of her relics and her glorification by the Russian Orthodox Church. Of the Saint he said, "She was a great woman, a saint; her eyes were fountains of tears, her humility was inscrutable, her prayers to God were pure, and her love for everyone was unfeigned!"

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

Clean Monday

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”

So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
Who knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind Him —
A grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the people,
Sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes;
Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,
And the bride from her dressing room.
Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,
Weep between the porch and the altar;
Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should rule over them.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?'"

From the prophecy of St. Joel.

Quote of the Day: St. Jonah the Prophet

It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord...but the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left?"

From the Prophecy of St. Jonah.

Quote of the Day: St. Jonah the Prophet

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord...and Jonah...cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

So the people of Nineveh believe God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, "Let neither man nor beast...taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?"

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

From the Prophecy of St. Jonah.

Fast of the Ninevites

We've arrived again at the Fast of Nineveh, the three-day fast commemorating the repentance of Nineveh and God's mercy on the Assyrian people. Many Orthodox - in Greece, Russia, and elsewhere - mark the approach of Lent with a fast-free week, but the Syrians, Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians, and Indians rigorously observe the Fast of Nineveh to prepare for the coming Great Fast.

Historically the Fast of the Ninevites originated in Mesopotamia, where it was kept strictly by the Assyrians and from whom it was passed to other parts of the Orthodox world. In the past the fast was six days long, but was later reduced to three. More on the fast can be found here.

"The Ninevites trembled at the voice of Jonah, the son of Mattai, and took refuge in penitence by watching, fasting and prayer; and by tears and groans the sentence of judgment pronounced by Jonah concerning the destruction of Nineveh was annulled. Blessed is the Compassionate One who turned them from evil to good!" (A prayer of the West Syrian Rite.)

Whether you're celebrating a week free from fasting or following the example of the Ninevites, God help you in your preparation for the approaching Pascha of His Son!

Excerpts from an Appeal from Archbishop Mark of Berlin

On 11 September 2011 the world [marks] a sorrowful anniversary - 10 years since the terrorist act in New York, when multitudes of innocent people died. This terrorist act, along with those that followed, clearly showed that wickedness, lawlessness and hatred are becoming more brazen. It has demonstrated how defenseless man is in this world. Also clear is that behind today’s terrorist acts are the bold lust for power and cynical political calculation.

The events in Beslan...once again showed the world how man is becoming degraded when he sinks into fanaticism in the name of ideology - whether religious, nationalistic or political. People today often hide behind faith in their god, but in reality they have lost all piety and as a result have no respect for humanity.

A human being who severs his relationship with God is transformed into a hater of mankind. We belong to that One Church which was established by the Savior. This deprives us of the right to hate, to treat others with disdain or despise their beliefs.

Belonging to the true Church of Christ, Catholic and Apostolic, obliges us to live fully in accordance with the commandments of the Gospel and to serve as an example of true Christian life to others. The living truth of Christ reveals to us our own sins and failings. With a pure heart, we repent in the fact that we ourselves serve as a poor example to the world of life according to the Gospel. Through genuine repentance, by transforming our hearts, we can bring others to the truth of Christ, but we cannot do this through self-aggrandizement or condemnation.

In...Russia, militant Islam is developing, as well as other militant ideologies of different colorations, from fascist to pseudo-liberal. But in my opinion, indifference to our own faith and to the beliefs of others contains no less a danger than alien fanaticism or cynicism and corruption. We Orthodox must truly grow into our faith and our traditions, we must fill ourselves with Christ and His love, and not simply fulfill some external rituals which we barely even understand. We must all learn to listen to our own hearts, listen to God, to immerse ourselves in prayer, and heed the words and thoughts of our neighbors.

How often we dismiss the sorrows and joys of our neighbors. Meanwhile, we forget: He who cannot listen to one’s neighbor can hardly listen to himself, being unable to hear the call of his heart, and heed God in his heart, his conscience. He does not then understand what is happening in his own heart. This is the first thing that we must learn. Only then can we be suffused with love and respect for man as God’s creation and can hope that the Lord will also bring others to this view of life, His holy gift.

11 September falls on a Sunday this year, and moreover, this is a day of fasting, precisely because this day, St. John the Baptist, who fervently loved God, was unjustly slain. Through prayer and fasting, said the Savior, the devil goeth not out but by prayer and fasting...

The full 11 September appeal by Archbishop Mark (Arndt) can be found here.

Quote of the Day: St. Moses the Black

To die to one’s neighbor is this: To bear your own faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad. Do no harm to anyone, do not think anything bad in your heart towards anyone, do not scorn the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his neighbor, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbor. This is what dying to one’s neighbor means.

Transfiguration of the Lord

Joyous feast! I'm still on holiday and don't have a lot of time right now to follow the news, much less post any of it (less than a week until I finish moving back to the Midwest!), but it's a great feast day of the church year and so I wanted to post a link for more information on today's commemoration.

"You were transfigured on the mount, O Christ our God, revealing Your glory to Your disciples as much as they were able to bear it. Shine forth also Your everlasting light upon us sinners, through the prayers of the Theotokos. O Giver of light, glory to You!"

Quote of the Day: St. John Chrysostom

Let us afford our children from the first an incentive to goodness from the name that we give them. Let none of us hasten to call his children after his forebearers, his father and mother and grandfather and grandmother, but rather after the righteous - martyrs, bishops, apostles. Let one be called Peter, another John, another bear the name of one of the saints. Let the names of the saints enter our homes through the naming of our children.”

Quote of the Day: Fr. Tryphon (Parsons) of Vashon

When in my mid-20s I decided to take up weightlifting and joined a traditional Italian family-owned weightlifting gym. On my first trip to the gym I clearly remember standing there, feeling intimidated by all the equipment and not knowing where to begin. After observing my feeble attempt at lifting a weight that was too heavy for a beginner, a professional weightlifter came over and offered to guide me in the use of the weights.

There was another young first timer, but he was too proud to let anyone tell him what to do. I, however, agreed to let the pro teach me. A year later this pro came over, complemented me on my progress, and quietly pointed out the odd shape of the other young man, the one who'd been too proud to allow someone else to tell him anything. This fellow looked oddly like an ape, muscular on the front of his chest, but nowhere else. He was so concentrated on looking good to himself he had failed to notice that he'd created a body that looked off-kilter.

Pride is like that in the quest for deepening our relationship with Christ. If we don't want anyone telling us what do to or pointing out areas of our lives that need change, [then] we can become off-kilter spiritually. The spiritual father gives direction and sets standards that, like the weightlifting instructor, are based on experience. If we become defensive we miss the opportunity to grow spiritually...

Quote of the Day: From the Didache

The way of life, then, is this: First, you shall love God, Who made you; second, love your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you. And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. For what reward is there for loving those who love you? Do not the nations do the same? But love those who hate you, and you shall not have an enemy.

Quote of the Day: From the Life of Patriarch Paul of Pech

Once, approaching the Patriarchate, His Holiness Paul noticed many cars near the entrance and became interested in whose they were. He was told that these cars belonged to hierarchs. To this the Patriarch replied with a smile: "If they, who know the Savior’s commandment about unacquisitiveness, have such cars, just imagine what kind of cars they would have if there this commandment did not exist!

Quote of the Day: St. Augustine of Hippo

The more days of fasting there are, the better the healing is; the longer the period of abstinence, the more abundant the gain of salvation is.

Quote of the Day: Elder Ephraim of Philotheou

Compel yourselves; say the prayer; stop idle talk; close your mouths to criticism; place doors and locks against unnecessary words. Time passes and does not come back, and woe to us if time goes by without spiritual profit.

Pentecost

"Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-giving, and Undivided Trinity, always, now and forever, and to the ages of ages!"

On this 7th Sunday after the Lord's Pascha we celebrate the descent and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the disciples in the Holy City, Jerusalem, and the revelation of God as Trinity to the fledgling Church. By the Holy Spirit the disciples were empowered to preach the good news of the Resurrection not only in Palestine, but to the ends of the world. More on the significance of this great feast and its significance in the life of all Christians can be found here.

As last night's hymns said, "Let us celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the appointed day of promise, and the fulfillment of hope, the mystery which is as great as it is precious!" Amen.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Thomas Hopko

There was a whole thousand years when the Church had multiple rites of praise to God. In fact, the irony is, the time when there were the most multiple rituals for the sacraments and the services was the time there was the greatest unity in doctrine and spiritual life, evangelism, et cetera. In any case, the ritual is not of the essence of the Faith. Language isn’t, calendars are not…all those things are not part of the essence of the Faith. But unless we have the desire for unity, which then would lead us to feel that we have an absolute obligation from God to distinguish between what is really essential and what is not, we are never going to be united.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Alexander Elchaninov

Only the first steps in the approach to God are easy; the feeling that we have wings, the enthusiasm caused by the certainty that we are approaching God, are followed by a gradual cooling down, by doubt. In order to sustain our faith, it is necessary to make an effort, to struggle, to fight for it.

From page 98 of "The Diary of a Russian Priest," a posthumous compilation of the notes of Fr. Alexander, who served as a priest in a Russian Orthodox parish in the south of France after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Ascension of the Lord

Glory to Jesus Christ! Слава Иисусу Христу! Having spent 40 days with His disciples, today the Lord ascends into heaven to complete the deification and glorification of our flesh through His enthronement at the right hand of God the Father.

As St. John Chrysostom wrote, "We who seemed unworthy of the earth, are now raised to heaven. We who were unworthy of earthly dominion have been raised to the kingdom on high, have ascended higher than heaven, have come to occupy the King's throne, and the same nature from which the Angels guarded Paradise, stopped not until it ascended to the throne of the Lord."

More on today's feast can be found here. I hope and pray that you have a blessed and joyous feast wherever you are today! "God is with us!"

Quote of the Day: St. John of Kronstadt

Leave all human injustices to the Lord, for God is the Judge; but as to yourself, be diligent in loving everyone with a pure heart.

Quote of the Day: St. Raphael of Lesbos

Have faith that is as unshakable as a rock, so that nothing frightens you...the person who has deep faith within himself, fixes his attention on the good path, and seeks to improve the condition of his soul and to adapt his thought to the good is happy... The happiness of man consists in faith in God and in good acts which are done with love.