CATECHESIS & DAILY INSPIRATION |
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The Holy Hieromartyr Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, and Martyrs Anthia (his mother), Coremonus the Eparch, and two executioners who suffered with them (ca. 120) |
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The NATIVITY FAST
A time for preparation!
May our spiritual efforts bring us renewal in Christ!
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Reflections and Daily Inspiration |
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If our thoughts are kind, peaceful, and quiet, turned only to the good, then we also influence ourselves and radiate peace all around us - in our family, the whole country, everywhere. This is true not only here on earth, but in the cosmos as well. When we labor in the fields of the Lord, we create harmony. Divine harmony, peace, and quiet spread everywhere.
- Elder Thaddeus of Vitnovica.
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Archbishop Alexander (Golitzin) - The Importance of Mount Athos for Orthodoxy
2,619 views
In this episode, Archbishop Alexander discusses the important role that Mount Athos (the "Holy Mountain") has historically played in the life of the Orthodox Church. For more on this topic, please see Archbishop Alexander's book on Mount Athos, "The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain: Contemporary Voices from Mount Athos":
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Archbishop of Australia: The gift of forgiveness is peace of soul
In his sermon, the Archbishop focused on the last words, the prayer of Saint Stephen, while his furious persecutors were stoning him: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
“One always understands the quality and character of a person from the end of one’s life,” said the Archbishop to emphasize the transcendence that emerges in the last chapter of Saint Stephen’s life, who did not think about pain and the wounds on his body but he prayed to God for their stoners.
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Ordination in Saint Sava church in the Diocese of Zica
On Sunday of Holy Forefathers, 27 December 2020, His Grace Bishop Justin of Zica officiated the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the church of Saint Sava in Kraljevo. The Bishop was concelebrated by Archimandrite Damjan (Cvetkovic), abbot of Raca German (Avakumovic), protodeacon Aleksandar Grujovic, deacon Stefan Milosevski and newly-ordained hierodeacon Julijan, co-brother of the Raca monastery.
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SAINT OF THE DAY
DECEMBER 28 / DECEMBER 15
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The Holy Hieromartyr Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, and Martyrs Anthia (his mother), Coremonus the Eparch, and two executioners who suffered with them (ca. 120)
From a good tree comes good fruit. This wonderful saint had noble and greatly eminent parents. Eleutherius was born in Rome, where his father was an imperial proconsul. His mother Anthia heard the Gospel from the great Apostle Paul and was baptized by him. Having been left a widow early, she entrusted her only son for study and service to Anicetus the Bishop of Rome. Seeing how Eleutherius was gifted by God and illumined by the grace of God, the bishop ordained him a deacon at the age of fifteen, a priest at the age of eighteen, and a bishop at the age of twenty. Eleutherius’s God-given wisdom made up for what he lacked in years, and this chosen one of God was appointed Bishop of Illyria with his seat in Valona (Avlona), Albania. The good shepherd guarded his flock well and increased their number day by day. Emperor Hadrian, a persecutor of Christians, sent the commander Felix with soldiers to seize Eleutherius and bring him to Rome. When the raging Felix arrived in Valona and entered the church, he saw and heard the holy hierarch of God; suddenly his heart changed, and he became a Christian. Eleutherius baptized Felix and departed for Rome with him, returning joyfully as if he were going to a feast and not to trial and torture. The emperor subjected the noble Eleutherius to harsh torture: flogging, roasting on an iron bed, boiling in pitch, and burning in a fiery furnace. But Eleutherius was delivered from all these deadly tortures by God’s power. Seeing all this, Caribus the Roman eparch declared that he also was a Christian. Caribus was tortured and then beheaded, and so was Blessed Felix. Finally, the imperial executioners cut off the honorable head of St. Eleutherius. When his mother, the holy Anthia, came and stood over the dead body of her son, she also was beheaded. Their bodies were translated to Valona, where even today St. Eleutherius glorifies the name of Christ by his many miracles. He suffered during the reign of Hadrian in the year 120.
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