Friday 24 December 2010
Saturday 11 December 2010
Thursday 2 December 2010
John the Righteous of Damascus - December 4
Saint John was born in Damascus about the year 675, the son of wealthy and pious parents, of the family of Mansur. He was reared together with Saint Cosmas (see Oct. 14). who had been adopted by John's father Sergius, a man of high rank in the service of the Caliph of Damascus. Both of these young men were instructed by a certain monk, also named Cosmas, who had been taken captive in Italy by the Arabs and later ransomed by John's Father. Saint John became a great philosopher and enlightener of the age in which he lived, and was honoured by the Caliph with the dignity of counsellor.
When Emperor Leo the Isaurian (reigned 717-741) begin his war on the holy icons, John wrote epistles defending their veneration. Since the Saint, being under the Caliph of Damascus, was beyond Leo's power, the Iconoclast Emperor had a letter forged in John's handwriting which invited Leo to attack Damascus, saying the city guard was then weak; Leo then sent this letter to the Caliph, who in his fury punished John's supposed treason with the severing of his right hand. The Saint obtained the Caliph's Permission to have his severed hand again, and that night prayed fervently to the most holy Theotokos before her icon. She appeared to him in a dream and healed his hand, which, when he awoke, he found to be healed in truth. This Miracle convinced the Caliph of his innocence, and he restored John to his office as counsellor. The Saint, however, with many pleadings obtained his permission to withdraw from the world to become a monk. He assumed the monastic habit in the Monastery of Saint Sabbas. Then he had as elder a very simple and austere monk who commanded him neither to write to anyone, nor to speak of the worldly knowledge he had acquired, and John faithfully obeyed. A monk grieving over his brother's death, however, after insisting vehemently, prevailed upon John to write a funeral hymn to console him for his brother's death. When John's elder learned of his transgression of the rule he had given him, he cast him out of his cell, and would only accept him back after John had humbly, with much self-condemnation and without murmuring consented to clean all the latrines in the lavra. After his elder had received him back, our Lady appeared to the elder and sternly charged him not to hinder John any longer from his writings and composition of hymns.
In his writings he fought courageously against the Iconoclasts Leo the Isaurian and his son Constantine Copronymus. He was also the first to write a refutation of Islam. The time he had spent as a counsellor in the courts of the Moslems of Damascus had given him opportunity to learn their teachings at first hand, and he wrote against their errors with a sound understanding of their essence. Saint John was surnamed Chrysorroas ("Golden-stream") because of the eloquence of his rhetorical style and the great abundance of his writings; this name - Chrysorroas was also the name of the river that flows by Damascus. In his writings he set forth the Orthodox Faith with exactness and order. In his old age, after his foster-brother Cosmas had been made Bishop of Maiuma, John also was ordained presbyter by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Having lived eighty-four years, he reposed in peace in 760. In addition to his theological writings, he adorned the Church of Christ with metrical and prose hymns and composed many of the prosomia used as the models for the melodies of the Church's liturgical chant; he also composed many of the sacred hymns for the feasts of the Lord Saviour and the Theotokos. The life of Saint John of Damascus was written by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem
You are a guide of Orthodoxy, a teacher of piety and modesty, a luminary of the world, the God inspired pride of monastics. O wise John, you have enlightened everyone by your teachings. You are the harp of the Spirit. Intercede to Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
Come, O ye faithful, let us praise the hymn-writer, the Church's luminary and wise instructor, the hallowed John, who cast down all her enemies; for since he took up the Cross of the Lord as a weapon, he drave off the heresies, with their every delusion. And as our fervent champion with God, he granteth all the forgiveness of trespasses.
From: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=322&type=saints
When Emperor Leo the Isaurian (reigned 717-741) begin his war on the holy icons, John wrote epistles defending their veneration. Since the Saint, being under the Caliph of Damascus, was beyond Leo's power, the Iconoclast Emperor had a letter forged in John's handwriting which invited Leo to attack Damascus, saying the city guard was then weak; Leo then sent this letter to the Caliph, who in his fury punished John's supposed treason with the severing of his right hand. The Saint obtained the Caliph's Permission to have his severed hand again, and that night prayed fervently to the most holy Theotokos before her icon. She appeared to him in a dream and healed his hand, which, when he awoke, he found to be healed in truth. This Miracle convinced the Caliph of his innocence, and he restored John to his office as counsellor. The Saint, however, with many pleadings obtained his permission to withdraw from the world to become a monk. He assumed the monastic habit in the Monastery of Saint Sabbas. Then he had as elder a very simple and austere monk who commanded him neither to write to anyone, nor to speak of the worldly knowledge he had acquired, and John faithfully obeyed. A monk grieving over his brother's death, however, after insisting vehemently, prevailed upon John to write a funeral hymn to console him for his brother's death. When John's elder learned of his transgression of the rule he had given him, he cast him out of his cell, and would only accept him back after John had humbly, with much self-condemnation and without murmuring consented to clean all the latrines in the lavra. After his elder had received him back, our Lady appeared to the elder and sternly charged him not to hinder John any longer from his writings and composition of hymns.
In his writings he fought courageously against the Iconoclasts Leo the Isaurian and his son Constantine Copronymus. He was also the first to write a refutation of Islam. The time he had spent as a counsellor in the courts of the Moslems of Damascus had given him opportunity to learn their teachings at first hand, and he wrote against their errors with a sound understanding of their essence. Saint John was surnamed Chrysorroas ("Golden-stream") because of the eloquence of his rhetorical style and the great abundance of his writings; this name - Chrysorroas was also the name of the river that flows by Damascus. In his writings he set forth the Orthodox Faith with exactness and order. In his old age, after his foster-brother Cosmas had been made Bishop of Maiuma, John also was ordained presbyter by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Having lived eighty-four years, he reposed in peace in 760. In addition to his theological writings, he adorned the Church of Christ with metrical and prose hymns and composed many of the prosomia used as the models for the melodies of the Church's liturgical chant; he also composed many of the sacred hymns for the feasts of the Lord Saviour and the Theotokos. The life of Saint John of Damascus was written by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
From: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=322&type=saints
St. Barbara the Great Martyr - December 4
She was the daughter of a certain idolater named Dioscorus. When Barbara came of age, she was enlightened in her pure heart and secretly believed in the Holy Trinity. About this time Dioscorus began building a bath-house; before it was finished he was required to go away to attend to certain matters, and in his absence Barbara directed the workmen to build a third window in addition to the two her Father had commanded. She also inscribed the sign of the Cross with her finger upon the marble of the bath-house, leaving the saving sign cut as deeply into the marble as if it had been done with an iron too. (When the Synaxarion of Saint Barbara was written, the marble of the bath-house and the cross inscribed by Saint Barbara were still preserved, and many healings were worked there.) When Dioscorus returned, he asked why the third window had been added; Barbara began to declare to him the mystery of the Trinity. Because she refused to renounce her faith, Dioscorus tortured Barbara inhumanely, and after subjecting her to many sufferings he beheaded her with his own hands, in the year 290.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
From: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=321&type=saints
Thursday 25 November 2010
St. Catherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria - November 25
Saint Catherine, who was from Alexandria, was the daughter of Constas (or Cestus). She was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, most chaste, and illustrious in wealth, lineage, and learning. By her steadfast understanding, she utterly vanquished the passionate and unbridled soul of Maximinus, the tyrant of Alexandria; and by her eloquence, she stopped the mouths of the so-called philosophers who had been gathered to dispute with her. She was crowned with the crown of martyrdom in the year 305. Her holy relics were taken by Angels to the holy mountain of Sinai, where they were discovered many years later; the famous monastery of Saint Catherine was originally dedicated to the Holy Transfiguration of the Lord and the Burning Bush, but later was dedicated to Saint Catherine. According to the ancient usage, Saints Catherine and Mercurius were celebrated on the 24th of this month, whereas the holy Hieromartyrs Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria were celebrated on the 25th. The dates of the feasts of these Saints were interchanged at the request of the Church and Monastery of Mount Sinai, so that the festival of Saint Catherine, their patron, might be celebrated more festively together with the Apodosis of the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos. The Slavic Churches, however, commemorate these Saints on their original dates.
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone
Let us praise the most auspicious bride of Christ, the divine Katherine, protectress of Sinai, our aid and our help. For, she brilliantly silenced the eloquence of the impious by the sword of the spirit, and now, crowned as a martyr, she asks great mercy for all.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
O friends of martyrs, now divinely raise up a renewed chorus, praising the all-wise Katherine. For, she proclaimed Christ in the arena, trampled on the serpent, and spat upon the knowledge of the orators.
source: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=307&type=saints
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone
Let us praise the most auspicious bride of Christ, the divine Katherine, protectress of Sinai, our aid and our help. For, she brilliantly silenced the eloquence of the impious by the sword of the spirit, and now, crowned as a martyr, she asks great mercy for all.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
O friends of martyrs, now divinely raise up a renewed chorus, praising the all-wise Katherine. For, she proclaimed Christ in the arena, trampled on the serpent, and spat upon the knowledge of the orators.
source: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=307&type=saints
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Εισόδια της Θεοτόκου
21 Νοεμβρίου
Ἀπολυτίκιον
Ἦχος δ’.
Σήμερον τῆς εὐδοκίας Θεοῦ τὸ προοίμιον, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας ἡ προκήρυξις ἐν Ναῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τρανῶς ἡ Παρθένος δείκνυται, καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν τοῖς πᾶσι προκαταγγέλλεται. Αὐτῇ καὶ ἡμεῖς μεγαλοφώνως βοήσωμεν, Χαῖρε τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦ Κτίστου ἡ ἐκπλήρωσις.
Κοντάκιον
Ἦχος δ’. Ὁ ὑψωθεὶς.
Ὁ καθαρώτατος ναὸς τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ἡ πολυτίμητος παστὰς καὶ Παρθένος, τὸ Ἱερὸν θησαύρισμα τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ, σήμερον εἰσάγεται, ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυρίου, τὴν χάριν συνεισάγουσα, τὴν ἐν Πνεύματι θείῳ· ἣν ἀνυμνοῦσιν Ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ· Αὕτη ὑπάρχει σκηνὴ ἐπουράνιος.
από: www.saint.gr/1997/11/21/3671/saint.aspx
Ἀπολυτίκιον
Ἦχος δ’.
Σήμερον τῆς εὐδοκίας Θεοῦ τὸ προοίμιον, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας ἡ προκήρυξις ἐν Ναῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τρανῶς ἡ Παρθένος δείκνυται, καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν τοῖς πᾶσι προκαταγγέλλεται. Αὐτῇ καὶ ἡμεῖς μεγαλοφώνως βοήσωμεν, Χαῖρε τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦ Κτίστου ἡ ἐκπλήρωσις.
Κοντάκιον
Ἦχος δ’. Ὁ ὑψωθεὶς.
Ὁ καθαρώτατος ναὸς τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ἡ πολυτίμητος παστὰς καὶ Παρθένος, τὸ Ἱερὸν θησαύρισμα τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ, σήμερον εἰσάγεται, ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυρίου, τὴν χάριν συνεισάγουσα, τὴν ἐν Πνεύματι θείῳ· ἣν ἀνυμνοῦσιν Ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ· Αὕτη ὑπάρχει σκηνὴ ἐπουράνιος.
από: www.saint.gr/1997/11/21/3671/saint.aspx
The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
November 21
According to the tradition of the Church, the Theotokos was brought to the Temple at three years of age, where she was consecrated to God and spent her days until she was fourteen or fifteen years old; and then, as a mature maiden, by the common counsel of the priests (since her parents had reposed some three years before), she was betrothed to Joseph.
From: http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=267&type=saints
According to the tradition of the Church, the Theotokos was brought to the Temple at three years of age, where she was consecrated to God and spent her days until she was fourteen or fifteen years old; and then, as a mature maiden, by the common counsel of the priests (since her parents had reposed some three years before), she was betrothed to Joseph.
From: http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=267&type=saints
Righteous Mother Hilda of Whitby
November 17
Our righteous Mother Hilda was of noble birth, being a kinswoman of Saint Edwin, King of Northumbria (celebrated Oct. 12). At the age of thirty-three she renounced the world, and lived another thirty-three years as a nun and abbess. The last six years of her life she suffered a burning fever with patience and nobility, and reposed in peace in the year 680.
From: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=2370&type=saints
Our righteous Mother Hilda was of noble birth, being a kinswoman of Saint Edwin, King of Northumbria (celebrated Oct. 12). At the age of thirty-three she renounced the world, and lived another thirty-three years as a nun and abbess. The last six years of her life she suffered a burning fever with patience and nobility, and reposed in peace in the year 680.
From: www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=2370&type=saints
Thursday 4 November 2010
Monday 1 November 2010
Thursday 21 October 2010
Saturday 16 October 2010
Parish Announcement - Divine Liturgy
Dear Parishioners,
I feel much obliged to send my special thanks to the majority of you for your participation and contributions in the Divine Liturgy we celebrated today. Such support is the one that fills our hearts with courage and hope to continue this pilot program for at least until the year end.
I feel much obliged to send my special thanks to the majority of you for your participation and contributions in the Divine Liturgy we celebrated today. Such support is the one that fills our hearts with courage and hope to continue this pilot program for at least until the year end.
Our forthcoming Services will take place as normal at 10:00am in St. Ninian’s Church:
On the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of November – 6th and 20th November.
On the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of December – 4th and 18th December.
At the end of the year, the Parish Council will decide if this pilot program will become a regular occurrence and part of our normal annual schedule, based on two (2) factors. These factors are the financial sustainability of the St. Matthew Parish and the attendance of its members.
As you probably know, St. Matthew Parish is a non–profit, self–funding community that depends entirely on its members’ financial contributions, spiritual support and physical volunteering. However, due to recent economic recession times, additional money has been asked and is required by the Scottish Episcopal Church in order to continue using the St. Ninian’s Church and avoid relocation.
This has an effect on planning the future Divine Liturgies but it does not stop us from trying even harder to succeed further development. During the last Council meeting and after consultation from Edinburgh’s Clergy, the Parish Council came to the difficult decision to run a Collection Plate at future Services to raise the necessary funds and continue towards future plans with financial security.
All Council members are hoping that this significant decision will help with the administration of the Parish as much as it will benefit all Orthodox members with the anticipated Services.
Finally, in the case that you would like to provide any feedback and potential suggestions please do not hesitate to talk to any of the Council members, or get in touch via our e-mail and new BlogSpot.
God bless you all.
Athanasios Kitsios
President of St. Matthew Parish, Aberdeen.
Monday 6 September 2010
Welcoming Message
Dear Orthodox,
I take this opportunity such as now, when we first publish our website to write a special letter to you all. The St. Matthew Parish is in time of change, in which we have to look at how we go forward and particularly to ask for your help in making sure we understand your views.
Our common cause is to unite Orthodoxy locally first and then extend our Christian bonds further away. The prime function of our Parish so far was to preserve and cultivate the Orthodox Faith and Tradition, however the time has come to propagate our Faith and share our knowledge between us.
Technology now offers us many new opportunities to develop our communication, few of which we routinely use at work and at home, but which we have arguably not adopted fully in our Community. With the creation of this website we are now looking more closely of how we can bring more value to you, our Members.
On behalf of all our Parish Council members I would like to welcome you to this initiative, hoping that you will utilise the website and blog functions for the benefit of our community.
God bless you all.
Athanasios Kitsios
President of the St. Matthew Parish
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