Considered essential by the saints, preparation should be made to create a spiritual climate for the mind and the heart before initiating daily prayer by reading and reflecting on the Holy Scripture, the lives and the
God-given writings of the Saints.
To provide and facilitate access,
To provide and facilitate access,
the PARAGON was created.
Monday
June 23 / July 6 ns 2026
H O L Y A P O S T L E S
F A S T
Holy Martyr Agrippína
Agrippína was born and educated in Rome. From her childhood she trained herself to live an evangelical life, driving away the stench of passions from her heart and filling her heart with the sweet-smelling fragrance of purity, of virginity and chastity. She was betrothed to Christ the Lord and, as the Bride of Christ, suffered during the reign of Emperor Valerian. She endured flogging with rods until her bones were crushed. An angel of God appeared to her and strengthened her. While being tortured, St. Agrippína gave up her soul to God. Her companions, Bássa, Paula and Agathoníke, translated her relics to the island of Sicily and honorably buried them there. A Church was later built there in St. Agrippina's honor. Countless miracles were wrought from her relics. By the power of her relics, even the Hagarenes were turned away from the town where her relics reposed. St. Agrippína rested in the year 275 A.D. and was crowned with glory.
St. Bárbaros the Myrrh-Gusher
Agrippína was born and educated in Rome. From her childhood she trained herself to live an evangelical life, driving away the stench of passions from her heart and filling her heart with the sweet-smelling fragrance of purity, of virginity and chastity. She was betrothed to Christ the Lord and, as the Bride of Christ, suffered during the reign of Emperor Valerian. She endured flogging with rods until her bones were crushed. An angel of God appeared to her and strengthened her. While being tortured, St. Agrippína gave up her soul to God. Her companions, Bássa, Paula and Agathoníke, translated her relics to the island of Sicily and honorably buried them there. A Church was later built there in St. Agrippina's honor. Countless miracles were wrought from her relics. By the power of her relics, even the Hagarenes were turned away from the town where her relics reposed. St. Agrippína rested in the year 275 A.D. and was crowned with glory.
17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
21 Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.
22 I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.
23 Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother.
24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Saint Matthew 13:10-23, 9 KJV
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The Types of Prayer
From: Elder Aimilianos, Elder Joseph of Vatopedi Monastery and Elder Joseph the Hesychast
The first kind is prayer with one’s own words – the personal, ‘confessional’ prayer. It is very comforting and we should practice it, because it aids us in combating loneliness. During this kind of prayer, we simply converse with the Lord, portraying to Him with our own thoughts our concerns to our heavenly Father. As this prayer is a product of our heart, it is impossible for God to disregard such a prayer. However we have here two problems: the first is that we tend to close the perfect God in the very narrow frame of our vision: we want God to act when and exactly how we want. The second problem is the wandering of the mind.
The second kind of prayer is the linear prayer. It is like a small story – for example “Our Father”. This kind of prayer is very beautiful because they are the personal prayers of the saints and is extensively used in the Church’s services. However this type of prayer also has a problem which is shared with the first type of prayer: the wandering of the mind. This occurs because of the mass of information – that is thoughts – in the prayer, so the mind will easily wander in and out of the prayer and think about the meanings, for example, instead of praying to our Father in heaven we will start to think about our daily bread, how to acquire it and how tasty it was also!
That’s why the most powerful prayer is the cyclical prayer, the so-called “Jesus Prayer”: “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. This facility comes from it having the Name of Jesus, which itself is a source of Divine Energy, and because there isn’t many thoughts inside which will cause the mind to wander. Also, even if the mind will wander, this is very easy to observe because the cyclical prayer will cease. Besides that, a prayer rope will help even further because it uses the senses which generates the most powerful sensations, the tactile sense, and likewise, the prayer rope will assure us a constant number of prayers so we will avoid the instability of our fallen nature.
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