Holy Apostle Thaddæus;
Holy Martyr Bássa;
Translation of the Relics of Saint Nektários
of Ǽgina
When he came to Jerusalem for a feast day, he heard the preaching of John the Forerunner. After being baptized by him in the Jordan, he remained in Palestine. He saw the Savior, and became His follower. He was chosen by the Lord to be one of the Seventy Disciples, whom He sent by twos to preach in the cities and places where He intended to visit (St. Luke. 10:1).
After the Ascension of the Savior, St. Thaddæus preached in Syria and Mesopotamia. Preaching in Edessa he converted King Abgar, the people and the pagan priests to Christ. He backed up his preaching with many miracles (about which Abgar wrote to the Assyrian emperor Nerses). He established priests there and built up the Edessa Church.
Prince Abgar wanted to reward St. Thaddæus with rich gifts, but he refused them and went preaching to other cities, converting many pagans to the Christian Faith. He went to the city of Beirut to preach, and he founded a church there. It was in this city that he peacefully died in the year 44. (The place of his death is indicated as Beirut in the Slavonic records, but according to other sources he died in Edessa, according to an ancient Armenian tradition.
2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3 KJV
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Saint Mark 3:13-21 KJV
13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.
14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:
16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.
20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
“Christians, have we understood the great responsibility that we have taken on before God through baptism? Have we come to know that we must conduct ourselves as children of God, that we must align our will with the will of God, that we must remain free from sin, that we must love God with all our hearts and always patiently await union with Him? Have we thought about the fact that our heart should be so filled with love that it should overflow to our neighbor? Do we have the feeling that we must become holy and perfect, children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven? We must struggle for this, so that we may not be shown unworthy and rejected. Let none of us lose our boldness, nor neglect our duties, nor be afraid of the difficulties of spiritual struggle. For we have God as a helper, who strengthens us in the difficult path of virtue.”
God calls dust into existence out of nothing by His will alone. And then He commands the dust into a form, a man, not with a word or a twinkle, but again, by His will. And then, breathes His own image into him.
Now think more about it. Does it make sense that His only means of communicating with us is through the 5 senses? Even a dog communicates with us by the same senses. Now consider the scripture (St. Matthew 11:27) used in today's PARAGON logo. When He says"...and he to whomsoever the Son reveals Him (the Father). Did you think it would something like: "I'd like you to meet...."
Now that you have thought about it, do you desire Christ to reveal God the Father to you? Moses didn't see the Father, with his eyes, yet the Father was revealed to him, was He not? Moreover, was Christ there in the flesh to reveal Him? Think about it!
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