ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2018
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Воздвижение Креста Господня
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Old Style
September 14 		Thursday
New Style
September 27
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone 8.
Strict fast.
Wine and oil allowed.

Совершается служба великому праздникуThe Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомRepose of St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople (407).

Uncovering of the relics (2000) of Sts. Alexandra (1789), Martha (1829), and Helen (1832), of Diveyevo.

Lesna Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1683).

Martyr Papas of Lycaonia (305). St. Placilla the Empress, wife of St. Theodosius the Great (400). St. Maria of Tarsus (607). New Martyr Macarius of Thessalonica (Mt. Athos), disciple of St. Niphon, patriarch of Constantinople (1527). Holy Fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680-681).

Repose of Bishop Arsenius (Zhadanovsky) of Serpukhov, Archpriest Sergius Siderov of Kiev, and Priest Michael Shik of Moscow (1937).

Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse

St. Theophan the Recluse

[Eph. 5:20-26; Luke 3:23-4:1]

   The honourable cross is brought out for veneration in the middle of Great Lent in order to inspire those who toil in fasting to patiently bear the yoke they have taken to the end. Why is this done in September? Is it accidental? But there are no accidents for the Providential Wisdom that arranges all things. This is why: [in Russia], at least, in September the harvest is taken from the field. And so that some of the Christians might not feel too satisfied and say: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry!” and so that others might not fall in spirit because of scarcity, the elevated cross is brought before all. It reminds the former that the support of well being is not possessions, but their bearing of the cross in a Christian, inner way, should God’s goodness bring external plenitude; and it inspires the latter to possess their souls in patience, through the certainty that they will go from the cross directly to heaven. Therefore, may some endure, knowing, that they are travelling a smooth path to the heavenly kingdom; and may the others enjoy external comforts with fear, not sealing the entrance to heaven against themselves.

Articles

The Life of Saint John Chrysostom

The treasure of treatises and letters which St. John left behind, included the moving sermon that is heard at Easter Sunday services. The loss of his sermons which were not set down on paper is incalculable. Nevertheless, the immense store of his excellent literature reveals his insight, straightforwardness, and rhetorical splendour, and commands a position of the greatest respect and influence in Christian thought, rivaling that of other Fathers of the Church. His liturgy, which we respectfully chant on Sundays, is a living testimony of his greatness.

Saint John Chrysostom for the 21st Century

Fr. Josiah Trenham

The Supreme Importance of Churchmanship in an Age of Radical Individualism. Saint John taught that the κοινωνοία of the Church is a profound miracle. Whence is the origin of the Church? From where did our sacred community arise, brothers and sisters? It has no mere human foundation. The apostles did not simply gather together and come up with the idea of this organization, with certain goals, members, and dues. Not at all. The Church is the continuation of the miracle of the Nativity of Christ.

Translation of the Relics of St. John Chrysostom

St. Dimitry of Rostov

Many were John Chrysostom's struggles on earth, many are his crowns in heaven. He now cries out with the Apostle Paul, 'I am a sweet savour of Christ, having cleansed the whole world of the stench of error.

A Day in the World of St. John Chrysostom

Priest Ioan Valentin Istrati

We live in a changing world. All around are life, death, the past, and old age, passing on from one stage to the next. People become what their parents were, children grow into youths and then into adults, the elderly depart to the earth, and all are pitilessly stalked by the specter of death.

Icon of the Mother of God of Lesna

The Lesna Icon of the Mother of God was discovered on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord in 1683 by a shepherd on the branches of a pear tree, and taken to a nearby Orthodox church of the village of Bukovich, not far from the town of Lesna.
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