Friday October 14 / 27 ns 2023 Holy Martyrs Nazários, Gervásios, Protásios, & Célsios; St. Cosmás the Hymnographer, Bishop of Maïouma; St. Pachómios of Chios; St. Paraskevé the New of Epivat ~ Fast day ~ QUOTES ON LOVE: Why are we here on earth? Saint Nikolai Velimirovich ~ St. Herman of Alaska ~ PARAGON TO PANAGIA

Colossians 2:6 KJV

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him

The Abyss
Fall into the abyss of cause and effect and lose your body.

Fall into the abyss of sin, fail to repent, and lose your soul.

The Two Commandments of Christ
The Two Commandments of Christ are not commandments.  They are gifts.  Christ quickens us so we are capable of loving Him and He does the same for us with our neighbors. Both are gifts

Heaven?
Do you really want to go to Heaven?
Ceaseless Prayer
And you’re already there

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The Holy Martyrs Nazários, Gervásios, Protásios, & Célsios;
St. Cosmás the hymnographer, Bishop of Maïouma;
St. Pachómios of Chíos;
St. Paraskevé the New of Epivat

FAST DAY

Nazários was born in Rome of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. His mother, Perpetua, was baptized by the Apostle Peter himself. Confessing his mother's Faith, Nazários sincerely fulfilled all the precepts of the Church. Fearlessly preaching the Gospel, Nazários went to Milan. There, he found the Christians Gervásios and Protásios in prison, and ministered to them with great love. Learning of this, the local eparch ordered Nazários to be beaten and driven from the city. His mother came to him in a vision and told him to go to Gaul, and to preach the Gospel there; and this is what Nazários did. 

After several years, Nazários returned to Milan-this time with a disciple, the young man Celsus, whom he had baptized in Gaul. There he found the brothers Gervásios and Protásios still in prison, and he was soon thrown in with them by the governor Anulinus. Christ's martyrs rejoiced because of this reunion brought about by God's providence. Emperor Nero ordered Nazários slain, and the governor brought Nazários and Celsus out of prison and beheaded them. Soon after that, General Astazius, passing through Milan enroute to battle against the Moravians, beheaded St. Gervásios along with St. Protásios. He had heard that these two brothers would not sacrifice to idols, and fearing that he might lose the battle by losing favor with his false gods, he commanded that they be executed immediately. Gervásios and Protásios were twins, born of the blessed parents Vitalius and Valeria, who were also martyred for the Faith. 

The relics of St. Nazários were translated by St. Ambrose from a garden outside the city to the Church of the Holy Apostles. The relics of St. Gervásios and St. Protásios were revealed to him in a miraculous vision.

Colossians 2:1-7 KJV

2 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

7 Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Saint Luke 9:12-18 KJV

12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.

13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.

14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.

15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.

16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?

Why are we here on earth?

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich

Why are we here on earth? To show our love for God. To learn to love God more than sin. That by our inconsequential love, we may respond to the greater love of God. 

Only God's love is a great love. God abundantly showed and shows His love for man both in Paradise and on earth. This brief earthly life is given to us as a school and as an examination to question ourselves as to whether we will respond with love to the great love of God. 

"Every day and every hour, proof of our love for God is required of us," says St. Isaac the Syrian. 

God shows His love for us every day and every hour. Every day and every moment we stand positioned between God and sin. We have either to give our love to God and elevate ourselves among the angels or to choose sin and fall into the gloom of Hades. 

Alexis, the Man of God, loved God more than he loved his parents, his wife and riches. He spent seventeen years as a beggar far away from the home of his parents, and another seventeen years Alexis spent as an unknown and scorned in the house of his parents. He did this, all for the sake of the love of God. The merciful God responded love for love for these thirty-four years of suffering. He gave Alexis eternal life and joy among His angels in the heavens and glory on earth.

“And I, a sinner, have been trying to love God for more than forty years, and cannot say that I perfectly love Him. If we love someone we always remember him and try to please him; day and night our heart is occupied with that object.

Is that how you, gentlemen, love God? Do you often turn to Him, do you always remember Him, do you always pray to Him and fulfill His holy commandments? ‘For our good, for our happiness at least let us make a vow that from this day, from this hour, from this minute we shall strive to love God above all else and to fulfill His holy will.'”

+ St. Herman of Alaska

PARAGON

The Holy Mountain Athos (mountain background) is dedicated and referred to by the monks as the PANAGIA (All Holy) Theotokos.  

In its inception, the Paragon was silently dedicated to the Virgin, asking the blessing of the Kursk Root Icon of the Theotokos since the icon had been brought here (read account below)

  

The Kursk Root Icon
 

As the foundation for St. John the Baptist Church was being dug, by the grace of God, the grace of the Holy Virgin and the charity of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and the efforts of Fr. Vladimir Boikov (pictured and who personally drove the Kursk Root Icon from the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Des Plaines, Ill.), the Kursk icon was carried in procession with chanting throughout the property. 

    The Blessed Virgin gave her blessing to the hearts, the ground, the air and the spirit that founded the Church of the Venerable Baptist - a blessing that extends beyond time.

* You are very much encouraged to read the history of the Kursk Root Icon here

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