Conversation of Father John of Kronstadt with Shepherds (June 21, 1904 in Sarapul)

St. Andrew of Ufa with St. John of Kronstadt

They write from Sarapul:

“The venerable Fr. John Sergeev of Kronstadt, accompanied by His Grace Mikhei, vicar bishop of Sarapul, arrived in Sarapul on Sunday, June 20, and was met at the pier by an enormous crowd of people who had come from many villages and factories, by the clergy (up to 40 persons), representatives of the local municipal and zemstvo self-governments, and other institutions. After disembarking at the pier, the highly respected pastor, accompanied by His Grace Mikhei and a vast multitude of people, proceeded to the cathedral, where he celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with Bishop Mikhei, with the concelebration of 24 local priests and priests invited from the district.

It goes without saying that the small old cathedral was far from able to contain the entire mass of people who wished to be present in the church where the most beloved and most popular clergyman in our vast Mother Russia was praying. The majority of the worshippers crowded the square adjoining the cathedral, waiting for the exit and blessing of Fr. John of Kronstadt, the dearly beloved 'batiushka' to all.

During the divine service Fr. John delivered two sermons, and in the second he touched upon the military events in the Far East. While he was in the cathedral, several telegrams were handed to him through his cell-attendants. These telegrams were evidently petitions for the granting of health and healing. After reading the telegrams, the venerable batiushka reverently lifted his eyes to heaven; his lips were whispering, and his hands holding the telegrams were laid upon the altar. The moment was deeply moving: hearts were softened, tears welled up in the eyes. One sensed a special solemnity and the communion of the great intercessor for the Russian people with the Giver of blessings, the Lord God, taking place in the modest Russian church of a remote provincial town, amid a vast, but for the most part simple and unlearned crowd.

After the conclusion of the service, Fr. John departed from the church through the side doors to the chambers of His Grace Mikhei, his personal friend, of which the people in the church were informed. As is known, His Grace Mikhei had formerly served in the navy, holding the rank of captain of the second rank, had lived for a long time in Kronstadt, and owed his transition to his present ministry entirely to the influence of Fr. John.

On Monday, the 21st, the distinguished guest served the Liturgy in the church of the men’s monastery; on the following day, the 22nd, in the women’s monastery; and on the 23rd he departed on the same steamship.”

Supplement to the Vyatka Provincial Gazette (1904).

Conversation of Father John of Kronstadt with Shepherds 

(June 21, 1904 in Sarapul)

By Holy Hieromartyr Andrew of Ufa (Ukhtomsky)

God granted me to be a witness and a participant in a wondrous conversation which our great shepherd and man of prayer, Father John of Kronstadt, held with other shepherds of the Church of Christ. This took place on June 21, 1904, in the city of Sarapul, where batiushka had arrived at the invitation of His Grace, the Bishop of Sarapul, Mikhei. The local clergy from the surrounding area gathered in the hall of the local Theological School in expectation of the invited batiushka. When he appeared in the doorway of the hall, all those present greeted the dear guest with the singing: “Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together…” Batiushka first went into the school chapel, venerated the holy altar, and then returned to the hall and invited everyone to sit around the table. Thus began his wondrous conversation with those assembled.

Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

We will not dwell on the truly God-inspired poetic conceptions of the great hymnographer of our Church, Saint Andrew of Crete, concerning Saint Ignatius the God-bearer. That is, we will not insist on the connection he attempts to make between Christmas and the feast of the Saint (“The light-bearing day of your radiant contests proclaims to all Him who was born of the Virgin; for thirsting out of longing to delight exceedingly in Him, you hastened to be consumed by wild beasts”), nor on the parallel he draws between him and the Patriarch Abraham, wishing to emphasize the magnitude of his sacrifice and once again finding occasion to refer to the event of Christ’s Nativity (“Abraham once sacrificed his son, prefiguring the slaughter of Him who holds all things and who now hastens to be born in a cave; but you, O God-minded one, offered your whole self as a sacrifice to your Creator”). Nor yet will we refer to his remarkable inspiration of an abstract kind, seeing on the one hand the jaws of the lions as the Saint’s executioners, and on the other their entrails and stomachs as his tomb: “Let the teeth of the beasts, he says, become for me swords and rhomphaia and slaughter; and let the entrails of the lions be my tomb.” 

Prologue in Sermons: December 20

 

Don't Put Off Repentance From Day to Day

December 20
 
(John Chrysostom was appointed as Patriarch in the city of Constantinople, and this was the beginning of his teaching on repentance.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some sinners, either extremely lazy in the work of their salvation, or already sunk to the depths of evil, not caring at all about their own correction, commonly say, "What can I do? I don't go to church, I don't repent, I don't take communion because I consider myself a great sinner and not worthy of entering God's temple." So, brethren, is this excuse of sinners justified or not? Know that it is completely unjustified; for to speak thus is to disbelieve in God's mercy, which is boundless toward repentant sinners and can always, very quickly, change His wrath to mercy.

Let such sinners not speak as they speak, but rather let them go to the Lord with tears and a plea for forgiveness, and the Lord will forgive them.

The First Ecumenical Synod and the Contribution of the Cappadocian Fathers to the Symbol of Faith

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpktos and Agiou Vlasiou

This year we celebrate the anniversary of 1,700 years since the convocation of the First Ecumenical Synod, which was convened in 325 A.D. in Nicaea of Bithynia in order to confront the heresy of Arius. Arius, drawing on principles of Greek philosophy, taught that the Son and Word of God is the first creature of the Father’s creation and that “there was a time when He was not,” that is, there was a time when He did not exist. Therefore, according to Arius, the Son is a creature of the Father, created by the will of the Father. The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod condemned the heresy of Arius and composed the first seven articles of the Symbol of Faith, the well-known “Creed.”

When the First Ecumenical Synod was convened, Basil the Great had not yet been born; he was born five years after the Synod, in 330. Saint Gregory the Theologian was born in 329, four years after the Synod, and Saint Gregory of Nyssa had not yet been born either, since he was born ten years later, in 335. All three were Cappadocians and became exponents of what is known as Cappadocian theology. They accepted the decisions of the First Ecumenical Synod and played a significant role in the triumph of its decisions; most importantly, they played a decisive role in the decisions of the Second Ecumenical Synod, which took place in Constantinople in 381 A.D. This Synod completed the Symbol of the First Ecumenical Synod, which is why it is called the Nicene–Constantinopolitan Creed.

Venerable Martyr Eulogia of Samurcășești (+ 1949)

St. Eulogia of Samurcășești (Feast Day - December 19)

Venerable Eulogia was born on November 24, 1908, in the village of Nevesca (today Nimfeo), in northern Greece. At Baptism she received the name Aikaterini. Her parents, Evangelitsa and Panagiotis, belonged to an old Vlach community that had lived in those lands for generations.

Trials and suffering came upon her from an early age. She lost her mother while still a small child. After her father remarried, she endured many hardships caused by her stepmother. One day, while gathering hay, her father’s wife pushed Aikaterini off a haystack. The child fractured her spine and was left with a bodily infirmity that confined her to bed for nine years. As an invalid, at the age of ten, she was sent to Bucharest to live with her maternal uncle, Ioan Ciciu, and his wife, Epifania. In their home she spent many difficult years marked by pain and illness.

In 1927, when the young Aikaterini fell ill with peritonitis and was abandoned by her relatives, who believed she would not survive, the Mother of God appeared to her openly, together with the Holy Great Martyr Katherine, her patron saint. Coming to her bedside in the likeness of physicians, they healed her. With great humility, Saint Katherine said to the Most Holy Theotokos: “Mother of God, cut here, sew here, bind here.” And the Most Pure Virgin addressed the sick girl with gentle words. Until then, Aikaterini had suffered from a swollen abdomen and drawn-up knees. The Mother of God said to her: “Behold, my child, from now on you will become healthy.” Showing her that the cause of the illness had been removed, she added: “This was the whole illness and all the evil.” And she said again: “From now on you will be well.” At once, the young Aikaterini was healed, filled with gratitude toward God, the Mother of God, and the Holy Great Martyr Katherine.