ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2023
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Иулиания Лазаревская Преподобный Серафим Саровский Святитель Сильвестр Папа Римский
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Old Style
January 2 		Sunday
New Style
January 15
31st Sunday after Pentecost. Sunday before the Theophany. Tone 6.
No fast.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомForefeast of the Theophany. Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Sylvester, pope of Rome (335). Righteous Juliana of Lazarevo (1604). Совершается служба с полиелеемRepose (1833) Совершается служба с полиелеемand Second Finding (1991) of the Relics of St. Seraphim, wonderworker of Sarov

Hieromartyr Theogenes, bishop of Parium on the Hellespont (ca. 320). St. Sylvester of the Kiev Caves (12th c.).

New Confessor Smaragda, abbess, of Nezhinsk (Ukraine) (1935).

St. Theodota, mother of the first Sts. Cosmas and Damian (3rd c.). Martyr Sergius of Caesarea in Cappadocia (301). St. Ammon, monk of Tabennisi (5th c.). St. Schottin, hermit of Kilkenny, Ireland (6th c.). St. Cosmas, patriarch of Constantinople (1081). New Martyr George (Zorzes) the Georgian, at Mytilene (1770).

Repose of Hieroschemamonk Gabriel of Optina Monastery and Whitehoof Convent (1871), Abbess Thaisia of Leushino (1915), the martyred Elder Ioasaph of St. Tikhon of Kaluga Monastery (1919), and Elder Iakovos of Epirus (1961).

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

Sunday Before Theophany[1] (31st). [II Tim. 4:5–8; Mark 1:1–8]

Before the Lord’s appearance to the people, before He began the work of Divine economy[2] of our salvation, Saint John the Forerunner was sent to prepare people for receiving Him. This preparation consisted in a call to repentance. Since then, repentance has become the path to the Lord and Saviour, and the threshold to faith in Him. The Saviour Himself began His preaching with the words: Repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). Repentance and faith lead a person who seeks salvation back and forth between these two states. Repentance weighs him down with the burden of his sins and frightens him with the impartial judgement of God’s righteousness. But faith comes along and shows him the Deliverer Who has taken away the sins of the world. He who repents cleaves to the Deliverer, and laying down the burden of his sins through confession, joyfully runs after Him along the path of His commandments. Faith in this manner is born of repentance and is founded on it. He who repents holds firmly onto faith according to his feeling of deliverance. Faith is alive through repentance. Without repentance faith would be like a sapling which is without an animating current—withered and not giving of life.

[1] Theophany, or in Russian, Bogoyavlenie,  means “God has appeared.” This feast day is otherwise known as Epiphany.

[2] Throughout this book, the Russian word, domostroitelstvo, will be translated as “Divine economy,” which refers to God’s stewardship, overseeing our salvation, as a steward oversees a household. The epitome of God’s Divine economy is Christ’s incarnation, and salvation through Him.

Articles

St Sylvester the Pope of Rome

St Sylvester guided the Roman Church for more than twenty years, earning the esteem of his flock. He died peacefully in old age in the year 335.

Righteous Juliana of Lazarevo, Murom

Righteous Juliana of Lazarevo and Murom presents an astonishing example of a self-denying Russian Christian woman. She was the daughter of the nobleman Justin Nediurev. From her early years she lived devoutly, kept the fasts strictly and set aside much time for prayer.

St. Seraphim on Monastic Life

Elena Kontsevitch

“One distinguishing characteristic of the superior should be his love for his inferiors: for the true pastor, according to the words of St John Climacus, is shown by his love for his flock. For it is out of love that the Chief Shepherd was crucified on the cross.”

The Spiritual Path of St. Seraphim of Sarov

"He who truly loves God considers himself a wanderer and newcomer on earth, for in him is a striving towards God in soul and mind, which contemplates God alone." Certain people emerge as standouts in the church. Their chief characteristic is the search to live in the presence of God with every fiber of their being, and to recognize God's presence in creation and humanity. Such a saint was Seraphim of Sarov, author of the saying quoted above.

Saint Seraphim of Sarov: On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit

"However prayer, fasting, vigil and all the other Christian practices may be, they do not constitute the aim of our Christian life. Although it is true that they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end, the true aim of our Christian life consists of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.

Great in the Lord is Seraphim

In literally a few weeks, a group of Orthodox Christians established a parish in the Russian Orthodox tradition. This group included not only Russians but dyed-in-the-wool Americans. Today St Seraphim Parish also boasts Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians and other Orthodox Christians.

Greek Miracles of St. Seraphim of Sarov

As our Greek friends explained to us, very many people now know of Fr. Seraphim in Greece. Furthermore, the Russian Seraphim has become so dear to the hearts of simple believers that they take him to be their own Greek saint, and the less educated might even say that Sarov is somewhere in Greece. Nevertheless, it was not clear what made this particular church venerate him so, especially since it was located in “the boondocks”.

From the Life of St. Seraphim of Sarov

As a beginning, Prokhor set off with five companions to the Kiev Caves Lavra, desiring to receive the blessing of the Kiev Elders. Among the ascetics of that monastery was the famous elder Dositheus (who was found to be a woman after she died). That clairvoyant elder had been in continual contact with the blessed Elder Paisius Velichkovsky, and with those monastics who were of one mind with him. Dositheus gave Prokhor spiritual instruction, counselled him to study the ancient Holy Fathers on the work of interior prayer, and directed him to go to Sarov Monastery and remain there until death, for there he would find salvation.

What St. Seraphim Meant

Fr. Stephen Freeman

“Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved.” This is perhaps the most famous quote of the great Russian saint, Seraphim of Sarov. Many of his icons have this saying on them. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it. On the other hand, I think there are many who do not understand it. And understanding what he meant can take you to the very heart of Orthodoxy.

St. Seraphim of Sarov. A Sermon by St. John Maximovitch

St. John (Maximovich) of Shanghai and San Francisco

It was the same during his earthly life. Cities were being destroyed, kingdoms were being established, Napoleon advanced upon Russia with twelve nations and then left in disgrace, Moscow burned and was again raised from the ashes, Decembrists organized revolts and were then sentenced; but was as if these events did not touch St. Seraphim.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

“Our Salvation is in our Will.” St. Seraphim of Sarov

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

When he was asked one day, in what does a perishing sinner differ from a righteous man who is saving his soul, a saint, St. Seraphim answered: Only in his resolve…

Repose of the Venerable Seraphim the Wonderworker of Sarov

“While I am alive,” he once said, “there will be no fire, but when I die, my death shall be revealed by a fire.” When they opened the door, it appeared that books and other things were smoldering. St Seraphim was found kneeling before an icon of the Mother of God with his arms crossed on his chest. His pure soul was taken by the angels at the time of prayer, and had flown off to the Throne of the Almighty God, Whose faithful servant St Seraphim had been all his life.

Modern Miracles of St. Seraphim of Sarov

The following are true stories sent by readers to the editors of Pravoslavie.ru.

The Life of Saint Seraphim

Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)

Having led a heavenly life on earth, like the great desert saints of antiquity, even in these latter times of spiritual desolation, St. Seraphim is an instructor and an inspirer of the true Christian life. His Spiritual Instructions—like his celebrated Conversation with Motovilov on the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit—contain no new teaching, but simply repeat in modern times the age-old Christian teaching of the great Fathers whom he constantly cites: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Macarius the Great, Dionysius the Areopagite, Ambrose of Milan, Isaac the Syrian, Symeon the New Theologian, the Fathers of the Philokalia.

A Comparison: Francis of Assisi and St. Seraphim of Sarov

Mitrophan Lodyzhensky

In contrast to Francis, St Seraphim did not seek to “feel himself transformed into Jesus” through his prayers and labors. He prayed simply and deeply, repenting of his sins.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov

I greet you, dear friends, on the day of St. Seraphim of Sarov, wonderworker of all Russia and luminary of Russian history, the Russian land, and the Russian Church!Allow me to ask you a question: What is the main difference between our contemporaries and the venerable Sarov ascetic?

Hieromartyr Theogenes the Bishop of Parium on the Hellespont

St Theogenes received the unfading crown of martyrdom around the year 320. His body was later taken from the water by Christians and buried at the city walls. At this spot, numerous healings occurred.

Venerable Sylvester of the Kiev Near Caves

Saint Sylvester of the Caves lived during the twelfth century and was igumen of the Mikhailovsk Vydubitsk monastery at Kiev.

New Martyr George of Iberia

St George (Zorzes) was from Georgia, and was sold into slavery when he was young. His master, a Muslim from the Greek island of Mytilene, forced him to embrace Islam and renamed him Sali.
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