C H R I S T I S R I S E N
Χριστὸς Ανέστη!
Χριστὸς Ανέστη!
Nine Holy Martyrs of Cyzicos
These nine brave martyrs, inflamed with love for Christ, refused to offer sacrifices to the idols or to deny Christ the Lord, for which they were brutally tortured and finally beheaded.
During the reign of Emperor Constantine, a church was built in Cyzicus in honor of these martyrs where their incorruptible relics were placed.
Countless healings have taken place over their relics. Their names were: THEOGONIUS, RUFUS, ANTIPATER, THEOCTIST, ARTEMAS, MAGNUS, THEODOTUS, THAUMASILUS AND PHILEMON. All of them despised everything temporal for the eternal, the corruptible for the incorruptible. That is why the Lord led them to His eternal home and crowned them with unfading wreaths of glory. They suffered honorably and were glorified in the eighth century.
THE FLESH PROVED POISON TO SATAN
by Saint Maximos the Confessor
HERE
11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.\
Saint John 3:22-33 KJV
22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
WHAT IS MORE RADIANT?
But the adornment of almsgiving, compassion, innocence and modesty is radiant and drives out suspicion. For natural beauty does not make a face become beautiful as much as does the disposition of one who beholds it, and nothing is more likely to produce this disposition than modesty and piety. Hence, even if a woman be beautiful but her husband hates her, she will appear to him as repulsive; if a woman does not happen to be comely but she pleases her husband, he will find her the fairest of women.
Adorn your face, therefore, with modesty, piety, almsgiving, benevolence, love, kindliness, reasonableness, mildness, and forbearance toward others. These are the pigments of virtue; by these you draw even angels; for in these you have God Himself to praise you. For if wisdom illumines the face of man, much more does virtue make the face of a woman shine forth.
No comments:
Post a Comment