CATECHESIS & DAILY INSPIRATION |
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The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, in Syria (290-303) |
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Reflections and Daily Inspiration |
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God’s saints are near to believing hearts and, like the truest and kindest of friends, are ready in a moment to help the faithful and pious who call upon them with faith and love.
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Exploring the Orthodox Household
Welcome to the Orthodox Church! Join Frederica Mathewes-Green, in this video series, on a journey into the Eastern Orthodox Church. Learn about Orthodox teachings and dogma, Orthodox architecture and terminology, and what it means to live an Orthodox life.
In this video, Frederica talks a little bit about how Orthodox Christians practice their faith at home.
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IN MEMORIAM: HIS BEATITUDE METROPOLITAN THEODOSIUS (LAZOR)
(Born in 1933)
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, was the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church in America [OCA] from 1977 until 2002.
Metropolitan Theodosius [Lazor] was born in Canonsburg, PA in 1933 to immigrant parents from Galicia, in what is today the southeastern corner of Poland. After completing undergraduate studies at Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA, he enrolled in Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, from which he received a Master of Divinity degree in 1960. He spent the next year pursuing additional studies at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, touring the Holy Land, and visiting Orthodox Christian centers throughout Europe and the Middle East.
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Principal appointed to St. Sava College in Australia
Following an extensive search for the founding principal of St. Sava College, Bishop Siluan and the Board announced that Mrs. Anastasia Anne Nicolaou has been appointed to welcome the first student cohort and guide the students on their “Path to Life” at St. Sava College.
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SAINT OF THE DAY
OCTOBER 20 / OCTOBER 7
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The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, in Syria (290-303)
These holy and wonderful martyrs and heroes of the Christian Faith were at first noblemen at the court of Emperor Maximian. The emperor himself esteemed them greatly because of their courage, wisdom and fidelity. But when the emperor heard that his two noblemen were Christians, his love for them turned into rage. Once, when there was a great sacrificial offering to idols, the emperor demanded that Sergius and Bacchus offer sacrifices with him, but they openly refused to obey the emperor in this. Beside himself with rage, the emperor commanded that their military garments, rings and emblems be stripped from them and that they be dressed in women’s clothing. He then placed iron hoops around their necks and paraded them through the streets of the city of Rome, to be mocked by everyone. Afterward, he sent them to Antiochus, his deputy in Asia, for torture. Antiochus had risen to his position with Sergius and Bacchus’s help, as they had at one time recommended him to the emperor. When Antiochus implored them to deny Christ and save themselves from dis- honorable suffering and death, these saints replied: “Both honor and dishonor, both life and death—all are the same to him who seeks the Heavenly Kingdom.” Antiochus cast Sergius into prison and ordered that Bacchusbe tortured first. His minions took turns beating the holy Bacchus until his whole body was broken. Bacchus’s holy soul departed his broken and bloodied body, and in the hands of angels was borne to the Lord. St. Bacchus suffered in the town of Barbalissos. Then St. Sergius was led out and shod in iron shoes with inward-protruding nails. He was driven, on foot, to the town of Rozapha, in Syria, and was beheaded there with the sword. His soul went to Paradise where, together with his friend Bacchus, he received a crown of immortal glory from Christ, his King and Lord. These two wondrous knights of the Christian Faith suffered in about the year 303.
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