As we pray for our dead, we remember that all the living will enter eternal life in their time. We also realise how vain and fragile our earthly lives are, how finite are our worldly comforts and wealth, how small are many of our daily concerns.
The relics discovered at Eugenios Gate at Constantinople worked numerous miracles, including surprise healings of the sick and the driving out of the demons from the possessed.
Many believe that to live by faith and to fulfil God's will requires grand gestures. Yet, it is in the small, seemingly trivial acts of kindness, in resisting the slightest inclinations towards evil, that our spiritual life flourishes.
During the reign of the emperor Nero (54-68), the Archippus, Philemon and Apphia proclaimed themselves as Christians, stood trial and were meted out brutal penalties.
His true teaching on two natures and two wills of Christ was affirmed in the doctrine of the Church almost two centuries after his death.
Fearing that his steadfastness might embolden other Christians, the governor sentenced him to be burned at the stake. He walked into the fire and surrendered his soul to the Lord.
But when the Russian Orthodox Church glorified him in 1913, it was not for his religious ministry, but for his steadfastness in the service of the Russian Orthodox Church as its Patriarch and for his martyrdom.
Saint Makary (Nevsky), Metropolitan of Moscow and Altai is the outstanding missionary saint, lauded as the “Apostle of Altai,” “Siberian Pillar of Orthodoxy,” and “living Russian saint” by his contemporaries.
With sincere repentance, he received forgiveness of his transgressions and ascended spiritually to become an apostle of the seventy.
The Great Lent has begun. What is the meaning of these forty days, why are they divided into weeks, and how does each week lead us to the Great and Holy Pascha? Paul Pinson explains.
He squandered his father's estate quickly. With freedom but no love, he became a slave. He was feeding swine, but he was not getting any food himself.
In the realm of art, there exists a profound work by the esteemed Dutch master Rembrandt, titled “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” Its depth, coupled with an unassuming simplicity, is truly remarkable.
A friend of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, he tried to persuade him to become his successor as metropolitan, but did not succeed. He is also the guardian angel of Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in 1990 – 2008.
Saint Blaise is venerated in the Eastern and Western churches as a holy healer. Believers invoke his name for protection from wild animals and the healing of illness.