The Holy Fire has descended in the Lord’s Sepulcher!

Jerusalem, May 4, 2013

Thousands of people witnessed the great miracle in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, as the Holy Fire descended and lit the candles of the faithful, Interfax reported at 14:26 today Jerusalem time . The Holy Fire appeared in the altar as Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem prayed, as always miraculously happens on Holy Saturday, the eve of the feast of Christ’s Resurrection—Pascha.

After the flame’s descent, the Patriarch passed it along to the worshippers, who lit their bunches of 33 candles. This number represents the 33 years of Christ’s earthly life.

Pilgrims “washed” their faces and heads with the flame, and as every year, received no burns. The faithful lit their oil lamps with the fire to take it to their homes.

The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire was preceded by a complex ceremony: The doors of the altar—a small chapel which contains Christ’s tomb—was sealed with a large wax seal as a sign that the inspection has been completed and nothing was found within that would enable the Patriarch to light a candle on his own.

By the time the fire descended, the church was filled to over capacity. RIA Novosti reported that there were about 10,000 in the church and 10,000 more in the courtyard outside it.This included members of the Orthodox Arab population, as well as pilgrims from many different countries. Orthodox Christians from the former Soviet bloc countries, Greece, and Cypress traditionally comprise the majority.

Right after the seal was placed on the Sepulcher the young Orthodox Arabs ran into the church as they do every year, standing on each others’ shoulders and asking the Theotokos and the Lord to send down the fire, shouting, “Our faith is the right faith, our faith is the Orthodox faith!”

Not long before Patriarch Theophilos arrived, the seal was removed from the doors of the Sepulcher, and a large oil lamp and 33 candles were brought in. Then the Patriarch entered the altar, and all waited for the great event.

The Holy Fire will be brought to various Orthodox Churches in Russia, as well as to Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and other countries.

The Holy Fire was first described by a Russian monk, Daniel, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the early eighth century. “And when the ninth hour came and they began to sing the entrance hymn, ‘We sing to the Lord’, then suddenly a great cloud came from the east and hung over the open roof of that church, and a light rain fell over the Lord’s Sepulcher and drenched us well who were standing on the Tomb. Then suddenly the Holy Light shone in the Holy Sepulcher: a terrible and bright flash came forth from the Holy Tomb of the Lord,” he wrote.

hat tip: pravoslavie

Help me to see my own transgressions … and not to judge my brother!

Ilya Repin’s Two Peasant Women (1878).

“We should look upon all the faithful as one person and consider that Christ is in each one of them. We should have such love for them that we are ready to sacrifice our very lives for them. For it is incumbent upon us neither to say, nor think of any person as evil, but we must look upon everyone as good. If you see a brother afflicted with a passion, do not hate him. Hate the passion that makes war upon him. And if you see him being terrorized by the habits and desires of previous sins, have compassion on him. Maybe you too will be afflicted by temptation, since you are also made from matter that easily turns from good to evil. Love towards your brother prepares you to love God even more. The secret, therefore, of love towards God is love towards your brother. For if you don’t love your brother who you see, how is it possible to love God who you do not see? ‘For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God Whom he has not seen’ (I Jn. 4:20).”

~St. Symeon the New Theologian

hat tip: Sunday Bulletin of Holy Theophany Orthodox Church

on the Feast of Saint Nikolai of Zicha…

Kontakion in Tone Three:

    Born at Lelich in Serbia
    You served as archpastor at the church of Saint Nahum in Ohrid.
    Taking your place on the throne of Saint Sabbas at Zicha,
    You taught God’s people and enlightened them with the Gospel.
    You brought people to repentance and the love of Christ,
    And for Christ you endured suffering at Dachau.
    Therefore we glorify you, a new Nicholas well–pleasing to God.

Tutorial for Learning the Tones…

OCA Tutorial for Learning the Tones~

A self-study tool that introduces the singer to the eight tones of Common (L’vov-Bakhmetev Obikhod) and Kievan Chant. Illustrates tonal patterns for singing stichera. Future sections will treat psalm verses, troparia, and kanons. The scheme of the tutorial is to break down each tone and identify each of its musical phrases. The sequence for the proper use of the melodic phrases is fully explained as well as the “formula” (intonation patter, recitation pitch of the body of the phrase, and cadence) for each melodic line. All phrases are illustrated with musical and textual examples. Recorded choral demonstrations of the written examples for each tone are presented, including full (SATB) choir, and individual lines for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

Check it out at OCA Tutorial

The Conversion of a Samurai…

St Nikolai of Japan

St. Nikolai Kasatkin was an Orthodox priest serving Christ in Japan during the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, in the Edo period (1603-1868). Foreigners were distrusted, even hated, and it was illegal to promote any foreign faith. In the early years of his ministry, St. Nikolai was fiercely confronted by a samurai warrior and Shinto priest by the name Takuma Sawabe. Armed with his katana sword, Sawabe faced the young priest Nikolai with the intent of killing him before he did any preaching.

Fr Pavel Takuma Sawabe

With a fierce look on his face, the samurai stepped in front of Father Nikolai. What business had this man, coming into the samurai’s beloved homeland and preaching a strange faith? He would tell this young priest a thing or two! If words would not convince him, perhaps other steps must be taken.

There wasn’t much Father Nikolai could do. He knew many Japanese were against the Orthodox religion. And here in front of him stood this proud samurai, a heathen, a priest of the city’s most ancient Shinto temple, staring coldly at him and expressing his contempt of the Christian faith. Father Nikolai could not simply ignore or avoid the priest. The situation demanded initiative, and because he had been prepared by years of work, study, and hardships early in his life, Father Nikolai was able to meet even this difficult challenge. Showing loving concern, he brought about a calm discussion with the irate man. The hatred the samurai had felt could no longer hold up. He became serious and thoughtful.

Samurai of Japan

St. Nikolai continues in his own words:

“Beginning the next day, I penned to him the sacred history of the Old Testament. He produced paper and brush and proceeded to take down everything that was spoken to him. My speech was interrupted at nearly every word by objections which, in their turn, necessitated explanations. As the days passed, there were fewer and fewer objections, and he continued to record every thought and name. The process of a man’s rebirth into a new life by the hand of God was unravelling before my eyes.”

The samurai warrior-priest Takuma Sawabe was, by the grace of God, baptized in April 1868 alongside two of his friends, Sakai and Urano. He took the name Paul in baptism – and the three men became the first Japanese converts to Orthodox Christianity. In 1875, Takuma (Paul) was ordained to the Holy Priesthood, and became the first native Japanese priest ever to be ordained. Father Paul Sawabe continued to serve his new faith as his church grew over the following decades. He was to survive his mentor and bishop Nikolai by a year, dying in 1913.

May the memory of this holy warrior for Christ be eternal!

Hat tip:  Opuscula Theologica (original hat tip: Dr. David C. Ford)

the path you must tread…

Elder George of Drama 1901-1959

Never be jealous of wealth. Always live modestly and humbly, without egotism. Egotism is a terrible sin. When you hear someone being accused, even though it may be true, never add more accusations, but always say something positive and be sorry for the person. Take care to always love the poor, the elderly, the orphans, the sick. Spend time with poor people and with those whom others humble. Earn your living with the honest sweat of your brow. Don’t forget to give alms. This is the path you must tread. Always think of what good thing you will do. These are the things that make up the life of a Christian.

~Elder George of Drama

Hat tip: Holy Theophany Orthodox Church (Sunday Bulletin)

The Miracle-working Icon of St Anna…

History of the Icon

On May 9, 2004 – Mother’s Day in the U.S. – an Icon of St. Anna, the Mother of the Holy Virgin Mary, located in the Russian Orthodox Church of Our Lady of Joy of All Who Sorrow in Philadelphia began to stream myrrh. On that Sunday one of the parishioners mentioned to the parish rector, Archimandrite Athanasy that the Icon of St. Anna seemed to be “perspiring”. Upon further investigation, Fr. Athanasy notice visible liquid streams and droplets. Accumulations of the liquid were seen on the cuff on St. Anna’s left hand and on her left shoulder veil. Droplets were also found elsewhere on the Icon. This fragrant, slightly oily liquid is commonly referred to as “myrrh”. Initially the myrrh looked like tear drops, as if St. Anna was crying. More recently small, slow-moving streams of myrrh have appeared in other parts of the Icon. The Icon of St. Anna was commissioned by Fr. Athanasy in 1998, in the Mount of Olives Convent in Jerusalem. He himself had served there in 1980-1981. In 1998, the Icon was completed, blessed at the Sepulcher of our Lord in the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection, and brought to Philadelphia. Currently as of Fall 2012, the Icon resides at St. Tikhon’s Monastery and has a wonderful heavenly fragrace but is not currently weeping. Assistance and healings are still wrought by the miraculous Icon of St. Anna and She continues to work wonders for those who approach will faith.

A Miracle of St. Anna in Contemporary Romania

The Holy Object most beloved by all the Moldavian Christians is the wonderworking icon of St. Anne in Bistrita Monastery.  Innumerable miracles performed throughout the ages have closely bound the people’s hearts to Anne, the Foremother of God.  She is the patron saint of Moldavia’s towns and cities, the consolation of the sorrowing, the support of the despairing, the feeder of the hungry, and an unsleeping intercessor for everyone before the throne of God the King of all.  It would be superfluous, I think, to recount all her miracles.  We will tell of only one here as an example.

In the summer of 1969 there was a great drought in Moldavia.  The people were extremely worried, because the crops were in danger of drying up.  Finally, the priest of the village of Patraveni summoned the Christians to church and said to them:  “Brethren, God is angry because of our sins.  Tomorrow the whole village will go to pray to St. Anne.  Prepare your wagons, and bring food, candles, oil, and incense, and at five o’ clock tomorrow morning we will leave.”  The next morning, at eight o’ clock, about three hundred people with their priest at their head arrived at the gates of Bistrita Monastery.  First Divine Liturgy was celebrated, and afterwards they took the Icon out to the courtyard and performed Holy Unction, while the faithful knelt and prayed silently.  Some wept.  After everyone had been anointed with the holy oil, there was a procession with the Icon around the church, and then it was set in one place and all the people venerated it.  Afterwards the faithful knelt in two rows, and the Icon was passed over their heads as a blessing.  When all the prayers were finished it was noon, and they sat down to eat whatever they had brought with them.  Then they called their village and asked for wagons to come and pick them up.  Two or three hours went by, and still they died not appear.  Finally they learned the during the three hours they had been praying it had rained so hard in their village that the wagons, together with the animals pulling them, were completely unable to move….

- taken from the book “A Pilgrimage to Orthodox Romania” (1986) by Monk Damascene of Grigoriou Monastery, Mt. Athos

St Rapael of Brooklyn…

Last Photo Taken of Bishop Raphael (1914)

(Feast Day is celebrated on the first Saturday of November)

Saint Raphael was devoid of self-love, that passion of the soul that destroys our ability to love and to be loved.  His heart was filled only with love for God and for all men.  His eye was single, filled only with light (Mt 6:22).  Like his Master, he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28).  Like the great apostle Paul, he was ready to be poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of the faith of his people (Php 2:17).  Accepting the complete destruction of self, Saint Raphael had experienced the purification of his soul and the illuminating rays of God’s deifying grace.  He stood before his people as a Man of God, carrying on his chest the Cross of Christ, by whom the world had been crucified to him and he to the world (Gal 6:14).  The love of the Syrian people for Saint Raphael and his love for them impressed Saint Tikhon immensely.  He saw in Saint Raphael the image of a true shepherd: one who served not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, one who was not a lord over those entrusted to him but an example (1 Pt 5:2,3).

“The Life of Saint Raphael,”in Our Father Among the Saints, Raphael Bishop of Brooklyn

hat tip: Dynamis

just a symbol?

This is what Abba Daniel [June 7], the Pharanite, said: ‘Our Father Abba Arsenius [May 8] told us of an inhabitant of Scetis, of notable life and of simple faith. Through his naivete he was deceived and said, “The bread which we receive is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol.”

Two old men having learnt that he had uttered this saying, knowing that he was outstanding in his way of life, knew that he had not spoken through malice, but through simplicity. So they came to find him and said, “Father, we have heard a proposition contrary to the faith on the part of someone who says that the bread which we receive is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol.”

The old man said, “It is I who have said that.”

Then the old men exhorted him saying, “Do not hold this position, Father, but hold one in conformity with that which the catholic Church has given us. We believe, for our part, that the bread itself is the body of Christ and that the cup itself is his blood, and this in all truth, and not a symbol. But as in the beginning, God formed man in his image, taking the dust of the earth, without anyone being able to say that it is not the image of God, even though it is not seen to be so; thus it is with the bread of which he said that it is his body; and so we believe that it is really the body of Christ.”

The old man said to them, “As long as I have not been persuaded by the thing itself, I shall not be fully convinced.”

So they said, “Let us pray God about this mystery throughout the whole of this week and we believe that God will reveal it to us.”

The old man received this saying with joy and he prayed in these words, “Lord, you know that it is not through malice that I do not believe and so that I may not err through ignorance, reveal this mystery to me, Lord Jesus Christ.”

The old men returned to their cells and they also prayed to God, saying, “Lord Jesus Christ, reveal this mystery to the old man, that he may believe and not lose his reward.”

God heard both the prayers.

At the end of the week they came to church on Sunday and sat all three on the same mat, the old man in the middle. Then their eyes were opened and when the bread was placed on the holy table, there appeared as it were a little child to these three alone. And when the priest put out his hand to break the bread, behold an angel descended from heaven with a sword and poured the child’s blood into the chalice. When the priest cut the bread into small pieces, the angel also cut the child in pieces. When they drew near to receive the sacred elements the old man alone received a morsel of bloody flesh.

Seeing this he was afraid and cried out, “Lord, I believe that this bread is your flesh and this chalice your blood.” Immediately the flesh, which he held in his hand, became bread, according to the mystery, and he took it, giving thanks to God.

Then the old men said to him, “God knows human nature and that man cannot eat raw flesh and that is why he has changed his body into bread and his blood into wine, for those who receive it in faith.” Then they gave thanks to God for the old man, because he had allowed him not to lose the reward of his labor. So all three returned with joy to their own cells.’

hat tip: Mystagogy

 

beauty in worship…

The reason for and importance of beauty in Orthodox Christian worship discussed by Father James Bernstein of St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Brier, WA.