COVID-19 CATECHESIS
SAINT EPIPHANIUS, BISHOP OF CYPRUS
An ALMSGIVING   Opportunity
to help those impacted by Covid-19 in Serbia and the USA

Reflections and Daily Inspiration
“Many a searching, although blind, mind has mistaken religion for some philosophical system. Too irreverent and profane handling of religion often makes of it a science, a pastime study. Now and again we come by the way of such who make religion a speculation; yes, and a speculation without a question as to its nature. Do you not know that religion is one of the qualities of your soul? An essential substance, I might say, to be plain, of your self-recognizing, self-satisfied, living spirit? Those who are convinced of this fact are not indifferent to religion. Indifferentism has no place in the serious life of one who seeks to be right-minded."
- St. Sebastian Dabovich
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION
...so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind

Homily: 6th Sunday of Pascha: Healing of the Blind Man
V. Rev. Nicholas Ceko, Episcopal Deputy & Chancellor
Saint Steven's Cathedral, Dean in Alhambra, CA
FROM THE NEWS

Following the situation development in the Holy Land, we the Heads of the Three Communities, custodians of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and Resurrection, wish to inform that starting on Sunday 24th this most Holy Place will be accessible again to the faithful for visits and prayers.
SAINT OF THE DAY

 MAY 25 / MAY 12
Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus (403)
Epiphanius was a Jew by birth, but, seeing the power of the Christian Faith, he was baptized along with his sister Callithrope. At the age of twenty-six, he was tonsured a monk in the Monastery of St. Hilarion. Later, he established a separate monastery, where he became famed throughout all of Palestine and Egypt because of his asceticism, spiritual wisdom and miracle-working. Fleeing the glory of men, Epiphanius withdrew to Egypt. On the way, he met the great Paphnutius, who predicted that he would be- come bishop on the island of Cyprus. Indeed, by divine providence, after many years Epiphanius arrived on Cyprus. There he was unexpectedly chosen as bishop. At the age of sixty, he became the bishop of Salamis and, as such, governed the Church of God for fifty-five years. He lived a total of 115 years on this earth and then rested from this life, so as to live eternally in the Kingdom of Christ. Before his death, he was summoned to Constantinople by Emperor Arcadius and his wife Eudoxia to an assembly of bishops, which, according to the wish of the emperor and the empress, should have condemned St. John Chrysos- tom. Arriving in Constantinople, Epiphanius went directly to the palace of the emperor. The emperor and empress detained him for a long while trying to persuade him to declare against Chrysostom. The citizens and Chrysostom heard that Epiphanius had agreed with the emperor against Chrysostom. That is why Chrysostom wrote him a letter: “Brother Epiphanius, I heard that you advised the emperor that I should be exiled; know that you will never see your throne again.” To this, Epiphanius replied: “O suffering John, withstand insults; know that you will never reach the place to which you are exiled.” And both prophecies of these saints were quickly fulfilled. Not wanting to agree in any way with the emperor on the exile of Chrysostom, Epiphanius secretly boarded a ship and departed for
Cyprus, but he died on the ship. The emperor banished Chrysostom to Armenia, but the saint died en route. St. Epiphanius reposed in the year 403.

Among the many works of St. Epiphanius, the most famous is The Medicine Chest [ Panarion ], in which eighty heresies are listed and refuted.