ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2023
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Свт. Алексий, митр. Московский Иверская икона Божией Матери
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Old Style
February 12 		Saturday
New Style
February 25
Cheese-fare Week—no meat; fish and dairy allowed. Tone 3.
Cheese-fare Week—no meat.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомCommemoration of all the holy and God-bearing Fathers who shone forth in the ascetic life. Совершается служба с полиелеемAppearance of the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (Mt. Athos) (9th c.). Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Meletius, archbishop of Antioch (381). Совершается служба с полиелеемSt. Alexis, metropolitan of Moscow (1378). St. Meletius, archbishop of Kharkov (1840).

St. Mary, nun (who was called Marinus), and her father, St. Eugene, monk, of Alexandria (6th c.) St. Anthony II, patriarch of Constantinople (895). St. Meletius of Lardos, founder of Ypseni Monastery (late 19th c.). St. Bassian, founder of Ryabovsk Monastery (Uglich) (1509). Hieromartyr Urbanus, pope of Rome (223-230).

New Hiero-confessor Basil (Bogdashevsky), archbishop of Kanev (1933).

St. Ethilwald of Lindisfarne (740). St. Prochorus of Georgia, builder of Holy Cross Monastery near Jerusalem (1066). New Monk-martyrs Luke (Mukhaidze) (1277) and Nicholas (Dvali) (1314), of Jerusalem, and the holy fathers of the Georgian monasteries in Jerusalem. New Martyr Christos the Gardener, of Albania, at Constantinople (1748).

Repose of the cave-dweller Anastasia (Logacheva) of Ardatov (1875).

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

Saturday. [Rom. 14:19–23, 16:25–27; Matt. 6:1–13. For the Fathers—Gal. 5:22–6:2; Matt. 11:27–30][1]

They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal. 5:24). Nowadays, this order of things has been perverted: people crucify the flesh, but not together with the affections and lusts—rather by means of affections and lusts. How people now torture their bodies with overeating, drunkenness, lustful deeds, dancing and merry-making! The most heartless master does not torture his lazy animal this way. If we were to give our flesh freedom and reason, its first voice would be against its mistress—the soul; it would say that the soul has unlawfully interfered in the flesh’s affairs, brought passions alien to it, and tortures it by carrying these passions out in the flesh. Our body’s needs are essentially simple and passionless. Look at the animals: they do not overeat, they do not sleep in excess, and having satisfied their fleshly needs at the given time, they remain calm for the entire year. Only the soul, which has forgotten its better inclinations, has by its intemperance developed out of the body’s basic needs a multitude of unnatural inclinations, which are unnatural for the body as well. It is necessary to crucify the flesh in every possible way, in order to cut the fleshly passions off from the soul which the latter has grafted onto itself. This can be done only in the reverse—that is, by not giving it enough of what is necessary, or by meeting its needs to a far lesser degree than what its nature demands.

[1] The Romans Bible verses indicated in English at the top of this entry are changed so that the texts match the Russian Bible (three of the verses which are in Chapter 14 of the Russian Bible are found in Chapter 16 in the KJV).

Articles

The Iveron Mother of God, and the Myrrh-Streaming Icons of Hawaii

In June of 2008, the “Hawaiian” Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon was officially recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia as miraculous and worthy of veneration, and was given the blessing to travel to the various churches and monasteries of Holy Orthodoxy. The original “owner” of the Icon, Reader Nectarios, was charged by the Russian Orthodox Church to be Her guardian, and provide for the safety and care of this Wonderworking Icon of Christ’s Holy Church.

The Feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, and the Veneration of Holy Icons

Hieromonk Irenei (Pikovsky)

The miraculous appearance of the icon of the Mother of God in the ninth century, during the era of iconoclastic dispute, was literally a confirmation “from above” of what had been pronounced at the Seventh Ecumenical Council on the veneration of icons.

Icon of the Mother of God “Iveron”

The widow spent the whole night in vigil, praying before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the morning, according to God’s will, she took the icon to the sea and cast it upon the water. The holy icon stood upright on the waves and began to sail westward.

Iveron Icon of the Mother of God

St. Meletius the Archbishop of Antioch

Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch, was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (ca. 357), and afterwards he was summoned to Antioch by the emperor Constantius to help combat the Arian heresy, and was appointed to that See.

St. Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia

The Lord revealed to the future saint his lofty destiny from early childhood. At twelve years of age Eleutherius went to a field and set nets to ensnare birds. He dozed off and suddenly he heard a voice: “Alexis! Why do you toil in vain? You are to be a catcher of people.”

Venerable Mary (who was called Marinus), and her father at Alexandria

Saint Mary and her father Eugene lived at the beginning of the sixth century in Bithynia (northwestern Asia Minor).

St. Anthony the Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Anthony, Patriarch of Constantinople, was a native of Asia, but lived in Constantinople from his youth.

St. Bassian of Uglich

Saint Bassian came to the Protection monastery when he was thirty-three years of age, and was soon tonsured by Saint Paisius.

St. Kristo the Gardener of Albania

The holy New Martyr Kristo was an Albanian who worked in a vegetable garden. At the age of forty, he decided to go to Constantinople to seek better business opportunities.
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