Orthodox and church holidays and fasts
Today is an Orthodox church holiday: * Great Martyr Euphemia the All-Praised (memory of the miracle by which Orthodoxy was established, 451). * Equal to the Apostles Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, in holy baptism Helena (969) and other saints whose names we remember on this day... Tomorrow:
* Martyrs Proclus and Hilary (c. 98-117).
* St. Michael Malein (962) and other saints whose names we remember on this day... Holidays are expected: 07/26/2021
- * Cathedral of the Archangel Gabriel.
* St. Stephen Savvait (794) and other saints whose names we remember on this day... 07.27.2021
- * Apostle Aquila of the 70 (I) and other saints whose names we remember on this day...
07.28.2021
- * Martyrs of Kirik and Julitta, his mother (c. 305). *** Equal to the Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, in holy baptism Vasily, Baptist of Rus' (1015) and other saints whose names we remember on this day...
All Orthodox and church holidays and fasts...
Orthodox Saints of God
The holy saints of God show special love and mercy to those who honor their holy memory.
It seems to many that the saints are far from us. But they are far from those who have withdrawn themselves, and very close to those who keep the commandments of Christ and have the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The holy saints in their earthly life turned to God for help in healing their ailments, sorrows and deliverance from temptations, asking God that even after death He would honor them with the gift of helping people in various cases of life.
The saints have reached the Heavenly Kingdom and there they see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; but by the Holy Spirit they also see the suffering of people on earth. Many holy saints of God received special grace from God, and He deigned them to be intercessors before Him for deliverance from our sorrows and bodily ailments, in which they themselves were tempted.
The saints rejoice at our repentance and mourn when people leave God and become like foolish cattle. They feel sorry that people live on earth, not knowing that if they loved each other, then there would be freedom from sin on earth: and where there is no sin, there is joy and gladness from the Holy Spirit, so that, wherever you look, everything sweet, and the soul wonders why it feels so good, and praises God. The saints hear our prayers and have the power from God to help us. The entire Christian race knows about this. We must remember: in order for a prayer to be heard, one should pray to the holy saints of God with faith in the power of their intercession before God, in words coming from the heart.
In our prayers we turn to the Lord God, to His Most Pure Mother - our Intercessor and Helper, to the holy Angels and holy people - the saints of God, because for their sake the Lord God is more likely to hear us sinners, our prayers. The Saints have different names: prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, saints, unmercenaries, blessed, righteous, confessors. more>>
The Lord says: “When you light a candle, you do not put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light to everyone in the house. So let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16). Saints are bright stars that show us the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let us treasure the closeness of the holy saints of God to God and turn to them for help, remembering that they love us and care about our salvation. It is good to pray to the holy saints of God on those days when the Church celebrates their memory.
«Holy Saints of God, pray to God for us!»
Saints: life, memory, suffering...
Trinity Patericon. Venerable Euthymius of Suzdal, interlocutor of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
On July 17, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the discovery of the relics of St. Euthymius, the Suzdal miracle worker (1507), interlocutor of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
For fifty-two years the Monk Euthymius ruled the Suzdal Spaso-Euphimievsky Transfiguration Monastery. God sent him a quiet death. He died on April 1, 1404, at the age of 88. When the monk gave up his soul to the Lord, his cell was filled with a fragrance. His body was lighter than that of a living one; it seemed that the monk had not died, but was sleeping.
On July 4, 1507, a little over a hundred years after the death of St. Euthymius, the discovery of his incorruptible relics took place. Archimandrite Kirill decided to rebuild the old stone church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. When they were digging a ditch for the foundation of a new temple, they found a coffin surrounded by three stones and covered with boards, which was reported to the abbot. Having given praise to God and opened the coffin, they discovered that the saint’s body had not changed at all, the saint’s face was light, and his clothes looked as if they had only been put on yesterday. In 1511, at the renovated church, a chapel was built in memory of St. Euthymius, where a shrine with his relics was placed. The discovery of the relics of the saint marked the beginning of the church glorification of Euthymius.
Numerous miracles occurred from the saint’s shrine. One day they brought to her the boyar Afanasy, who was possessed by a demon. The patient said a lot of inappropriate things. The archimandrite and the brethren prayed for the demoniac, and he was healed. Grateful Athanasius took monastic vows with the name Abraham.
Another possessed person was also healed at the tomb of St. Euthymius. He imagined many demons rushing at him with spears. No force could restrain him, he broke free and ran out of the temple. And then one day, when he was brought to the saint’s shrine, a light suddenly shone over it and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared to the sick man, whose image was placed at the shrine along with the icon of St. Euthymius. The light that illuminated the shrine scattered the attacking demons, and the possessed man heard a voice: “Man, your sins are forgiven.” The same voice commanded him to come to church during the Liturgy. Having done this, the sufferer fell to the shrine with fervent prayer and was completely healed. After spending several days in the monastery, he thanked God, made a donation for the needs of the monastery and returned home in good health.
There was a cellarer in the monastery named Cyprian. He fell into pride and, losing all restraint, began to insult the brethren. He allocated the most meager food to the inhabitants of the monastery, and turned all his attention to the guests, while according to the behest of St. Euthymius they were to eat equally and at the same time as the brethren, with the exception of special cases. There was outrage in the monastery. And then one day the monk appeared to the cellarer in a menacing vision. Euthymius had a staff in one hand and a lit candle in the other. The cellarer, overcome with fear, promised to improve. But the next morning, when he came to his senses, he decided that it was all an obsession, and continued his rampage. Then the monk punished Cyprian with illness, which weakened all the members of his body. Repentant, the cellarer prayed to be taken to the saint’s shrine. Near her, Cyprian prayed fervently until he received healing through the prayers of St. Euthymius.
Elder Patrick told what happened to him when he was still in the monastery as a layman. He was the eldest over the entire squad of monastic fishermen in the Gorokhovetsky Monastery of St. Basil of Caesarea on Klyazma, which was assigned to the monastery. Fishing provided the monastery with a large income, and Peter (worldly name Patricia) and his retinue were a very necessary person. He happened to catch a cold and get a fever. Peter found himself unable to continue serving the brethren of the monastery, which greatly upset him. One day, the Monk Euthymius appeared to him in a vision, overshadowed him with a cross and said: “Do not complain, child Peter, do not grieve, but be healthy and keep up your service.” When Peter woke up, he felt healthy.
A resident of one village fell seriously ill: he was attacked by a fever. His family was waiting for his death. But the sufferer sent his brother for honey kvass, which was being prepared in the monastery of St. Euthymius. Arriving at the monastery, the brother ordered a prayer service for the health of the sick person, took healing kvass and went home. On the way, a demon misled him: he drank the kvass himself, and decided to call magicians to the sick man. And he immediately fell into a frenzy. Then a husband appeared to him in white robes, in a miter and with a gray beard, and began to reproach him for what he had done. He said angrily: “How dare you neglect the gift of God? Return to the monastery, venerate the shrine and hurry to your brother.” The brother returned to the monastery, repented, regained his sanity and brought honey kvass to the sick man. After praying to the monk, the patient drank a healing drink. And he dreamed that he was standing in the monastery, at the shrine of St. Euthymius. The man in white vestments and miter put his hand on his head and said; “Do not complain, do not grieve, O man, because you have labored in your weakness, and from this hour be healthy according to your faith.” When he woke up, the patient felt healed.
The miracles of St. Euthymius served as the basis for local veneration of him. No later than the 30-40s of the 15th century, the name of St. Euthymius appeared in the name of the monastery he founded. The discovery of the saint's incorruptible relics in 1507 was the beginning of his church glorification. In the middle of the 16th century, the monk of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery Gregory compiled the life of the ascetic and a service to him. At the Moscow Council of 1549, the glorification of the saint of God was secured by the highest church authority.
When in 1612 the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo militia moved to Moscow to save the capital and homeland from the Poles and impostors, the leader of the militia, Prince Dimitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who revered the memory of Saint Euthymius, had the intention of praying at the tomb of the saint. During the transition from Yaroslavl to Rostov, Dimitri Mikhailovich, having temporarily entrusted the army to Prince Khovansky and Cosma Minin, went to Suzdal to ask for blessings and help from God and His holy saint for the great work of saving the Fatherland that he had begun. Strengthened by the prayer and intercession of St. Euthymius, Prince Pozharsky returned to the militia and continued the campaign that saved Russia. Hence it is clear why in the service to St. Euthymius the Suzdal ascetic is called “the second Sergius.” When Prince Dimitry Pozharsky died in 1642, he was buried in the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, in the family tomb, near the altar of the Transfiguration Cathedral. On February 22, 1657, a shrine containing the relics of St. Euthymius was placed in the cathedral.
Presumably, at the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, a tradition developed of annual religious processions with the icon of St. Euthymius from the Euthymius Monastery to the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Suzdal Kremlin. Since the 19th century, together with another revered image - the Korsun Icon of the Mother of God - the image of St. Euthymius was worn both into the homes of Suzdal city residents and into nearby villages. At the beginning of the 20th century, the icon was brought to the district cities and industrial centers of the Vladimir province.
In February 1919, the tomb of St. Euthymius was opened, and in May 1922 it was removed from the monastery. The saint’s relics became an exhibit in the anti-religious department of the museum, and from the mid-1940s they were kept in the museum’s collections. On June 9, 1988, the relics of Euthymius were transferred by the Vladimir Museum-Reserve to the only church in the city of Suzdal operating at that time - the church in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen.
The memory of St. Euthymius of Suzdal is celebrated on April 14 and July 17.
Source:
Trinity Patericon. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2015.
July 17, 2020
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Orthodox prayers and icons of the Mother of God and saints
The word “icon” comes from the Greek language and means “image”, “image”. The image of the icon is consecrated with holy water and special prayers, through this consecration the grace of the Holy Spirit is imparted to the icon, and the icon is already revered by us as holy. According to the Orthodox dogma of icon veneration, approved by the VII Ecumenical Council, “the honor given to an icon relates to its prototype, and the one who worships the icon worships the hypostasis of the person depicted on it.” The Council especially emphasizes that we give veneration to icons, and not the worship that is due to God alone. “The icon mysteriously contains within itself the presence of the one whom it depicts, and this presence is the closer, more grace-filled and stronger, the more the icon corresponds to the church canon.”
All Icons of the Mother of God and Saints
Evfimy of Suzdal
On February 12, 1919, the saint’s tomb was opened. The result of its examination in the report of the VIII Department of the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR to the Congress of Soviets was described as follows: “a pile of bones that have decayed and crumbled over time”[7]. In May 1922, the relics were removed from the monastery. The saint’s relics became an exhibit in the anti-religious department of the museum, and from the mid-1940s they were kept in the collections.
On June 9, 1988, the relics of Euthymius were transferred by the Vladimir Museum-Reserve to the only church in the city of Suzdal operating at that time - the church in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen[1]. In 1990, this temple, along with the relics located in it, went to the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. In 2009, the territorial department of the Federal Property Management Agency filed a lawsuit to seize 13 real estate objects from the ROAC, including the Tsar Constantine Church. The Arbitration Court of the Vladimir Region upheld this claim, but representatives of the ROAC clergy placed the relics of the saints in their Iveron Synodal Church and refused to return them to the state[8]. On February 16, 2012, the head of the territorial department of the Federal Property Management Agency for the Vladimir Region, Vladimir Gorlanov, sent a claim to the Arbitration Court of the Vladimir Region, which stated that the relics of St. Euthymius and Euphrosyne of Suzdal “are the property of the Russian Federation and are classified as cultural objects”[9]. On May 31, 2012, the court decided to transfer the relics of St. Euthymius and Euphrosyne of Suzdal to the Federal Property Management Agency, and the ROAC was fined for failure to comply with the decision and refusal to transfer the relics. On January 24, 2013, the Federal Arbitration Court of the Volga-Vyatka District overturned previous decisions on the confiscation of the relics, leaving them in the possession of the ROAC. However, on August 30, 2013, bailiffs entered the Iveron Synodal Church during a service and tried to seize the relics of Saints Euthymius and Euphrosyne[10]. The Federal Property Management Agency had to re-prove its rights to the relics in the courts of general jurisdiction, which also recognized them as belonging to the state[11][12]. On July 3, 2014, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation refused to satisfy the complaint of the Primate of the ROAC, Metropolitan Feodor (Gineevsky), against the decision to confiscate the relics of Euthymius and Euphrosyne of Suzdal from the church. The decision on the complaint was published on July 16[13]. On March 25, 2015, employees of the Federal Bailiff Service carried out compulsory enforcement actions to confiscate the relics of believers of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church from the Iversky Church in Suzdal. Parishioners and priests of the ROAC tried to prevent the removal of the shrine containing the relics, but after a small clash the bailiffs managed to remove them[14]. In mid-April 2015, the relics of Euphrosyne were placed in a special shrine and placed in the Cathedral of the Deposition of the Robe in the Deposition of the Robe Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church in Suzdal. The relics of Euthymius were then placed in the Ascension Cathedral of the Alexander Monastery in Suzdal[15]. On October 10, 2015, the relics of Efimius were returned to the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Savior Evfimiev Monastery[16].
Prayer in the Christian life. What is prayer? About prayer
Prayer is the most important part of the spiritual life of every believer. Through prayer, a person turns to God, asks him and asks for forgiveness from him. In other words, prayer is nothing more than a person’s way of talking with God. About prayer...
The basis of the life of an Orthodox Christian is fasting and prayer. Prayer, said Saint Philaret of Moscow, “is a conversation between the soul and God.” And just as in a conversation it is impossible to listen to one side all the time, so in prayer it is useful to sometimes stop and listen to the Lord’s answer to our prayer.
Prayer does not require a specific time, place, circumstance or form. It can be verbose - long, and laconic - short. The prayer can be said at any time of the day or night, and anywhere. A person can pray under all circumstances of his life: when he is sick or healthy, when he is happy or sad, when he succeeds or fails, when he is in the company of his enemies or in the circle of his friends, when he is abandoned by everyone, or when he in the midst of your beloved family. But God’s temple serves as a special place of prayer. On Sundays, as well as on weekdays, if time permits, we should go to church to pray, where our brothers and sisters in Christ - Christians - gather to pray together, all together. This kind of prayer is called church prayer.
Every Orthodox Christian must pray daily, morning and evening, before and after eating food, before starting and at the end of any task (for example: before teaching and after teaching, etc.).
In the morning we pray to thank God for preserving us last night, to ask for His Fatherly blessing and help for the day that has begun.
In the evening, before going to bed, we also thank the Lord for a successful day and ask him to keep us during the night.
Before and after meals we pray to thank God for His gifts and ask Him to bless and sanctify the food.
In order for the work to be done successfully and safely, we must also, first of all, ask God for blessings and help for the upcoming work, and upon completion, thank God.
Unfortunately, many people forget about the necessity and importance of prayer, and resort to it only in cases of feeling hopeless. However, even in these cases, as practice shows, God does not forget about the person and gives him his love and support. But not a single prayer will bring anything good to a person if he simply reads it without thinking about what is said. Therefore, it is extremely important, when turning to the Creator in prayer, to truly feel every word.
God is the best of interlocutors; he will always hear a person and help him. You should not be embarrassed to talk to God even about the most secret things that are in your soul. The main thing is to do it with true faith in God.
“True prayer does not consist in words and saying them, but true prayer consists “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). When we pray to God, we must stand before Him not only in body, but also in spirit; and say prayer not only with your lips, but also with your mind and heart; and not only bow our heads and knees, but also our hearts before Him; and raise our intelligent eyes to Him with humility. For all prayer must come from the heart; and what the tongue says, the mind and heart must say.” Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk.
And no matter what happens during the day, everything happens according to the will of God; all, without exception, are circumstances in which the Lord wished to place you, so that you could be His presence, His love, His compassion. His creative mind, His courage... And, besides, whenever you encounter this or that situation, you are the one whom God put there to carry out the ministry of a Christian, to be a part of the Body of Christ and the action of God. If you do this, you will easily see that sometimes you will have to turn to God and say: “Lord, enlighten my mind, strengthen and direct my will, give me a fiery heart, help me!” At other times you will be able to say, “Oh my God, thank you!”
In the Christian catechism, that is, in the instruction on the Christian faith, it is said about prayer this way: “Prayer is the offering of the mind and heart to God and is a person’s reverent word to God.” Prayer has extraordinary power. “Prayer not only defeats the laws of nature, not only is it an insurmountable shield against visible and invisible enemies, but it even holds back the hand of the Almighty God Himself, raised to defeat sinners,” writes Saint Demetrius of Rostov.
In the New Testament, prayer is a living connection between the children of God and their infinitely good Father, with His Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Kingdom is “the unity of the entire Holy Trinity with the entire spirit.” Thus, prayer life is a constant and natural presence in the presence of the Trisagion of God and in communion with Him. Such vital communion is always possible because through baptism our being has become one with Christ. Prayer is Christian because it is communion with Christ and grows in the Church, which is His Body. Its dimensions are the dimensions of Christ's love.
“Prayer is not telling God our needs. Prayer is the condition under which Divine power can contact our spirit and act in us. God is omniscient and knows us better than we know ourselves.” Archimandrite Rafail (Karelin) (XX century).
The fate of the holy relics will be decided by the court
The subject of litigation may be the remains of Saints Euphrosyne and Efimiya of Suzdal, which are now in the possession of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church.
She received an order from the Federal Property Management Agency to return the relics to the state. But representatives of the clergy refuse to comply with it and are planning to go to court. Experts believe that such a precedent is the first in Russian history.
Euphrosyne, according to chronicle sources, lived in the 13th century, the founder and archimandrite of the Savior Euthymius Monastery, Euthymius, in the 14th century. The relics of Euphrosyne were located on the territory of the Deposition of Robe Monastery, Euphemia - Spaso-Evfimiev. After 1988, they were kept in the Tsarekonstantinovskaya Church, and now in the Iveron Synodal Church of the ROAC, a two-story pink building in the very center of Suzdal.
The fate of the shrine revered by the Orthodox is complex and dramatic.
“The relics of the Suzdal saints came to us during the years of militant atheism,” said Svetlana Melnikova, general director of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve. — In 1923, the provincial commission decided to remove the relics from the churches and transfer them to the museum. It was impossible to exhibit them due to ideological pressure. For many years they were kept in the scientific and auxiliary archaeological fund, which is why they were preserved. The Vladimir diocese turned to us with a request to transfer the relics of St. Euthymius and St. Euphrosyne to the community of the Tsar Constantine Church. And on the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus', the museum decided to make such a gift.
The museum stores acts “On the transfer of the skeletal remains of St. Euthymius and St. Euphrosyne of Suzdal,” dated June and November 1988. These important documents also bear the signature of Valentin (Rusantsov), the head of the ROAC, who died in January of this year. But then he served in the Vladimir-Suzdal diocese. With his parish in Suzdal, Valentin came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1990, and in 2001 became metropolitan of the autonomous church. It became an independent church organization back in the eighties of the last century; it is not subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church and has no spiritual communion with it.
Thus, the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Suzdal and St. Euthymius ended up in the “Suzdal autonomy,” which the Moscow Patriarchate calls a “schism.” Most of the parishes of the Autonomous Church are in the Vladimir region, and its center and the residence of the first hierarch of the church are located in Suzdal. Over the past five years, the RAOC, by decision of the Vladimir Arbitration Court, has lost ten churches, and almost all are located in the historical center of Suzdal.
“The question of the relics has arisen for a long time and has arisen once again, apparently in connection with the transfer of churches,” comments the head of the Suzdal pilgrimage service, Father Andrei (Voskoboynikov), commenting on the situation. “The diocese wants to return these relics, since Valentin simply appropriated them and illegally kept them.
According to Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal Evlogiy, the return of the relics could be a great event. Euphrosyne of Suzdal is a significant name for many believers. This year the church will celebrate the 800th anniversary of her birth.
The relics were transferred to the community of believers with the wording “for permanent storage,” that is, for indefinite use. Thus, experts believe, they were not removed from state circulation. This gives the legal basis to the authorities to fulfill their functions - to protect state property. And therefore the issue of their ownership must be resolved by federal structures strictly within the legal framework.
Some observers associate the “aggravation” of the issue with the death of Valentin. Believing that the departure of the leader sets a precedent for clarifying the fate of the church. After the death of Father Valentin, the ROAC was headed by Theodore, Archbishop of Borisov and Otradnensky. But he does not intend to retreat and will defend the right to own the shrine in court. The priest said that lawyers are already preparing an appeal to the court. Together with his lawyer, Father Theodore has already visited the museum.
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St. Euthymius of Suzdal (1316, Nizhny Novgorod - April 1, 1404, Suzdal) - founder and archimandrite of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery.
Canonized at the Second Makarievsky Council in 1549 as a venerable saint, commemorated on April 1 and July 4 (according to the Julian calendar). Born in Nizhny Novgorod, he took monastic vows in the Nizhny Novgorod Pechersky Monastery from Dionysius of Suzdal.
In 1352, at the request of the Suzdal prince Boris Konstantinovich, he was sent to him to create a new monastery in Suzdal. It was founded in the northern part of the city, across the Kamenka River. Already during the life of Euthymius, about three hundred monks lived in it, following the cenobitic rules established by him. Euthymius communicated with Sergius of Radonezh and often visited his Trinity Monastery. Died on April 1, 1404. On July 4, 1507, during the construction of a new monastery cathedral, the relics of Euthymius were found and declared incorrupt. The Venerable Euphrosyne of Suzdal (in the world Theodulia) was born in 1212 and was the daughter of Holy Prince Michael of Chernigov.
In 1233, Theodulia was betrothed to the holy noble prince Theodore Yaroslavich, the brother of St. Alexander Nevsky. Feodulia went to Suzdal, but the marriage did not take place. When the guests had already gathered for the feast, the groom unexpectedly died. Theodulia did not return home and begged the abbess of the monastery in honor of the Placement of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae to accept her. Euphrosyne’s ascetic life became known outside of Suzdal, and many came to the monastery to listen to her instructions. She had the gift of miracles and clairvoyance. According to legend, it was she who predicted the invasion of Mongol troops in Russia. During the Tatar-Mongol invasion, Suzdal was almost destroyed, but the monastery survived through the prayers of Euphrosyne. The saint died in 1250.
Holy Fathers on Prayer
“Prayer is a great weapon, an unfailing treasure, wealth that never runs out, a serene haven, a foundation of peace; prayer is the root, source and mother of countless blessings and is more powerful than royal power.” St. John Chrysostom.
“Prayer in its rank is higher than alms.” St. Isaac the Syrian.
“Prayer is the emergence in our hearts of one after another reverent feelings towards God.” St. Feofan, the Recluse of Vyshensky.
“During prayer, let our speech and supplication be combined with decorum, calmness and modesty. Let us think about the fact that we stand before the face of God and that we must please the eyes of God both by the position of the body and the sound of the voice.” Sschmch. Cyprian of Carthage.
“You must abstain from marital affairs in order to engage in prayer; to abstain from worries about wealth, from the desire for earthly glory, from the enjoyment of pleasures, from envy and every evil deed against our neighbor, so that when our soul is in silence and not disturbed by any passion, in it, as in a mirror, God’s purity and uncloudedness will be insight." St. Basil the Great.
“When starting a prayer, leave yourself, your wife, your children, part with the earth, pass through heaven, leave every creature visible and invisible, and begin by praising Him who created everything, and when you praise Him, do not wander your mind here and there, do not talk about fabulous things. pagan, but choose words from the Holy Scriptures.” St. Basil the Great.
“Every place and every time is convenient for us to pray.” St. John Chrysostom.
Orthodox prayers to the holy saints. Holy saints of God.
Orthodox prayers for those in need for various needs and infirmities.
What a Christian Should Remember
There are words of Holy Scripture and prayers that it is advisable to know by heart.
1. The Lord's Prayer “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). 2. The main commandments of the Old Testament (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). 3. The main gospel commandments (Matt. 5, 3-12; Matt. 5, 21-48; Matt. 6, 1; Matt. 6, 3; Matt. 6, 6; Matt. 6, 14-21; Matt. 6, 24-25; Matthew 7, 1-5; Matthew 23, 8-12; John 13, 34). 4.Symbol of Faith. 5. Morning prayers and evening prayers according to a short prayer book. 6. The number and meaning of the sacraments.
The sacraments must not be mixed with rituals. A ritual is any outward sign of reverence that expresses our faith. A sacrament is a sacred act during which the Church calls on the Holy Spirit, and His grace descends on the believers. There are seven such sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Communion (Eucharist), Repentance (Confession), Marriage (Wedding), Blessing of Anointing (Unction), Priesthood (Ordination) ...
