Christ is Risen!
Christos Anesti
Al Maseeh Kam
Bright TuesdayApril 1/14 ns 2026
† Portaitissa Icon
• Sts. Raphael, Nicholas,and Irene of Lésbos• St. Mary of Egypt• St. Melíton, Bishop of Sardis
• Sts. Raphael, Nicholas,
and Irene of Lésbos
• St. Melíton, Bishop of Sardis
• No Fasting
The Appearance of the Iveron Portaitissa IconPhoto taken in 1927 or 1928
• No Fasting
The Appearance of the Iveron Portaitissa Icon
Photo taken in 1927 or 1928
The icon was the property of a pious widow who lived in the area of Nicaea in Asia Minor during the time of the iconoclastic emperor Theóphilos (829-842). When the emperor's men arrived there to find and destroy every holy icon, this faithful widow threw the wonderworking icon of the Theotokos into the sea. Then she beheld a strange wonder. The icon stood upright on the water and traveled westward across the waves in this position.
After a time the icon arrived in front of the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos. A certain holy hermit named Gabriel received it in his arms from the water, and he gave it to the monks. They built a little church for the icon near the gate of the monastery, and they placed the icon there. From that time it was called the Portaitissa "Gate-keeper".
Since then the Most Holy Theotokos has worked many miracles through her holy icon. She has cured those who were possessed by demons, healed those who were lame, and given sight to the blind. At the same time, she has protected the monastery from every danger and saved it from invasions of foreigners. Among those who received benefit from the Portaitissa was a Russian princess, the daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1651).
After a time the icon arrived in front of the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos. A certain holy hermit named Gabriel received it in his arms from the water, and he gave it to the monks. They built a little church for the icon near the gate of the monastery, and they placed the icon there. From that time it was called the Portaitissa "Gate-keeper".
Since then the Most Holy Theotokos has worked many miracles through her holy icon. She has cured those who were possessed by demons, healed those who were lame, and given sight to the blind. At the same time, she has protected the monastery from every danger and saved it from invasions of foreigners. Among those who received benefit from the Portaitissa was a Russian princess, the daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1651).
The icon arrived at the Holy Mountain on Bright Tuesday 1004. Therefore, the Iveron Monastery on the Holy Mountain Athos celebrates this bright festival even to the present day. The Divine Liturgy takes place in the church by the sea, where holy water gushed up when the monk Gabriel took the icon.
Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene of Lésbos were martyred by the Turks on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463) ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. For nearly 500 years, they were forgotten by the people of Lesbos, but "the righteous Judge... opened the things that were hid" (2 Macc. 12:41).
For centuries the people of Lesbos would go on Bright Tuesday to the ruins of a monastery near Thermae, a village northwest of the capital, Mytilene. As time passed, however, no one could remember the reason for the annual pilgrimage. There was a vague recollection that once there had been a monastery on that spot, and that the monks had been killed by the Turks.
In 1959, a pious man named Angelos Rallis decided to build a chapel near the ruins of the monastery. On July 3 of that year, workmen discovered the relics of St Raphael while clearing the ground.
[After the discovery of the grave, amazing phenomena started to occur. The bones were put in a sack by a Mr. Doukas Tsolakis. He was in charge of the excavations. He could not lift the sack up due to the excessive weight. Noises were heard from the bones. They were also producing a fragrant incense. One of the workers, a Mr. Leonidas Sideras kicked the sack and his leg went numb. Tsolakis' hand remained motionless. He could not lift the sack. The priest was asked to do a Trisagion-a prayer for the departed. The night before he was due to conduct the service, he was wondering what name he should use. During the night Saint Raphael appeared to the Priest. He told him who he was, and that he was born on the island of Ithaka.
Soon, the saints began appearing to various inhabitants of Lesbos and revealed the details of their lives and martyrdom. These accounts form the basis of Photios Kontoglou's 1962 book A GREAT SIGN (in Greek).
ANECDOTE:
Is not this life one of ups and downs, and to what end? Does that sound like a description of what God is? Are we not made in His image? Christians KNOW for a fact that we ARE! Then why are our lives unlike Him? {I did not say like "His" because He doesn't "have" life, HE IS LIFE!
Simple, sin brings us down, even at times without knowing how it happened, but God has NO SIN.
Pascha means Passover. Passover, means that we can pass over sin and death but there is only one way to do it.
So, in sin, we thirst each time we stop experiencing God, Who is eternal, NON STOP, love and joy.
Sin takes it away because it is not "of God". It isn't so much that sin has any power at all but we have the freedom and the power to stray from being with God and when we do, we make a non-entity our God. We cannot love both.
In the email from the priest we are encouraged to passover (PASCHA) from moment to moment, not ONCE A YEAR! But how, you may ask? It is sooo simple! Simply match remembering Christ in your heart with your breath. Impossible? Yes! Yes! but not impossible with God! Once He sees you have given up everytghing in your heart for Him alone, He makes it happen and He is not only "within", "The Kingdome of Heaven is within" but you are IN HIM.
Its even simpler. What did St. Photini need to do to be in a perpetual state of love and joy without ever thirsting for it again?
IF YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT IT - NO NEED. Simply read the Gospel from the St John the Divine 4 KJV.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Saint Luke 24:12-35 KJV
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem On the Resurrection
