Monday November 28 / December 11 ns 2023 • Holy Monk-Martyr Stephen the New, Holy Hieromartyr Irénarchos ~ Wine and olive oil are permitted

Rejoice, thou through whom joy shall shine forth; Rejoice, thou through whom the curse shall vanish.

Holy Monk-Martyr Stephen the New - The mother of Samuel, Hannah, prayed to God to give her a son and so did Anna, the mother of Stephen. Praying thus in the Church of Blachernae before the icon of the Most-Holy Theotokos, a light sleep overcame her, and she saw the Most-holy Virgin as radiant as the sun, and heard a voice from the icon: ''Woman, depart in peace. In accordance with your prayer, you have a son in your womb.'' Anna indeed conceived and gave birth to a son, the holy Stephen.

At sixteen, Stephen received the monastic tonsure on Mount Auxentios near Constantinople, from the elder John who also taught him divine wisdom and asceticism. When John entered into rest in the Lord, Stephen remained on the mountain in a life of strict asceticism, taking upon himself labor upon labor. His love of God attracted many disciples to him. 

When Emperor Constantine Copronymus was persecuting icons more ferociously than his foul father, Leo the Isaurian, Stephen showed himself a zealous defender of the veneration of holy icons. The demented emperor accepted various obscene slanders against Stephen and personally plotted intrigues to break Stephen and get him out of the way. Stephen was banished to the island of Proconnesus, then taken to Constantinople, chained and cast into prison, where he was met by 342 monks, brought from all over the world and imprisoned for their veneration of the icons. There, in prison, they carried out the whole church Typikon* as in a monastery.

Then the wicked emperor condemned Stephen to death. The saint foresaw his death forty days in advance, and asked forgiveness of the brethren. The emperor's servants dragged him from prison and, beating and pulling him, dragged him through the streets of Constantinople calling upon all those loyal to the emperor to stone this ''enemy of the emperor.'' One of the heretics struck the saint on the head with a piece of wood, and the saint gave up his soul.

As St. Stephen the Protomartyr suffered at the hands of the Jews, so this Stephen suffered at the hands of the iconoclastic heretics. This glorious soldier of Christ suffered in the year 767 at the age of fifty-three, and was crowned with unfading glory.

*Typikon - The order of services

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2 Saint Timothy 2:20-26 KJV

20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Saint Luke 19:37-44 KJV

37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Ecclesiastical Music

by Photios Kontoglou (1965)

Writer/Iconographer

Many listeners are not in a position to appreciate ecclesiastical music, which is commonly called Byzantine, because they are accustomed to hearing only worldly, European music. They should bear in mind that each of these two kinds of music— ecclesiastical and worldly— were formed by different feelings and different dispositions of soul. Worldly music expresses sensual desires and feelings. Even if these feelings are very refined (romantic, sentimental, idealistic), they do not cease from being sensual. Nevertheless, such people believe that these feelings are spiritual. However, spiritual feelings are expressed only by ecclesiastical music. Only ecclesiastical music can express the secret movements of the heart, which are completely different than what worldly music expresses. For this reason the two kinds of music are totally different, just as shown by the words: "sing" and "chant."

OUR LORD KNOWS WHAT'S IN OUR HEARTS & MINDS
WHEN WE PRAY

by Saint John of Kronstadt

God and the saints hear us during our prayer as men hear each other when talking among themselves, or as people standing in church hear the preacher, or soldiers the voice of their commander, with the difference that God and the saints hear our prayers incomparably better and more perfectly, because when we hear the words of an ordinary man we do not know what is in his heart and thoughts, and it may happen that a person, says one thing whilst he has quite another in his heart. But with God and the saints it is not so; they see all that is in our thoughts and in our heart--God Himself by His omniscience, and the saints by the grace of the Holy Spirit, in Whom they eternally rest. They see whether our words really correspond to the feeling of our heart, and if so, and the heart itself on its part is a believing, contrite, and humble one, burning with love and zeal, as well as with a desire to obtain what we ask for, then they are favorably inclined to accept our prayer and give us what we desire. God and the saints wish that during our prayer we should represent them to ourselves as living, present with us; that we should see them with our spiritual eyes. God is living.  "For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him."