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Reflections and Daily Inspiration
The Implications of the Resurrection

When you live in the world that the Saints have shaped and you partake in the universal concelebration of heaven and earth which is celebrated in the Orthodox Church, you pulse with a trembling that speaks to you of things unspeakable and reveals to you things unseen.

If some experience has made its mark on you; if something of this sort, however small, has been given to you; if you have found consolation after great trials; if you are one who has “received experience of the Resurrection”; if you have passed, even just once but in reality, through (true) death to life: then you are able to hope. You are able to go forward. But while you are still in this world, subject as it is to change and decay, it is necessary to go forward with great trepi­dation and care, relying on love (which means the sacrifice of everything) and humility (which means the love of annihilation), so that the Other, who is the consolation of all, can appear.

It is a message of Resurrection. “One small joy that laughs at death.” A beauty that is recognized and experienced as salvation. A sober drunkenness and a calm frenzy that destroys the conditions of corruptibility and fills all things with eternity.

- Elder Vasileios  
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The Venerable Theodore the Sykeote, Bishop of Anastasiopolis (613)

Theodore was born in the village of Sykeon in Galatia, for which he was called the Sykeote. As a child of ten, he surrendered himself to strict fasting and all-night prayer after the model of Stephen, an elder who lived in his house. His mother, Maria, was a wealthy widow and intended to dedicate her son to the military profession. St. George appeared to her in a dream and informed her that Theodore was destined for the service of the King of Heaven and not a king of the earth. St. George appeared to Theodore many times, either to instruct him or to save him from certain dangers in which the evil demons had placed him. He also had several visions of the All-holy Theotokos. Theodore’s asceticism surpassed in its severity that of all the living ascetics of his time. He mortified his body through hunger, thirst, iron chains, and standing at prayer all night. He did all of this in order to bind his soul with love for God and to make his soul the complete master over his body. In response to Theodore’s love, the merciful Lord responded with love. God bestowed upon him great power over evil spirits and over all of mankind’s diseases and afflictions. He was famous everywhere as a wonderworking healer. Because of his purity and devotion, he was consecrated Bishop of Anastasiopolis against his will. He remained for eleven years at his episcopal duty, and then implored God to free him from this service in order to again dedicate himself to his beloved asceticism. After that, he returned to his monastery, where, in his old age, he rendered his soul to his Lord, for Whom he had willingly suffered much. He reposed at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Heraclius in about the year 613.