ᐉ Prayer to Niphont the Bishop of Cyprus

Saint Niphon of Cyprus: icon, life

"Save me, God!".
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Many saints were rewarded with the gift of miracles for their zealous adherence to the laws of God. A large number of people called Saint Niphon a persecutor of demons. Prayers to him help in our time. It is only important to deal with sincerity and from a pure heart. Only in this case will it be possible to achieve the maximum positive effect.

Folk traditions

January 5 was considered unfavorable. Allegedly, evil spirits begin to act especially violently. They prayed to Saint Niphon of Cyprus on January 5 and performed various rituals, made all kinds of amulets, and read special protective spells. It was also supposed to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos for the granting of well-being to oneself and one’s relatives.

The peasants tried to finish the most important things by Christmas. It was not allowed to work with cutting and stabbing objects, because thanks to the efforts of evil spirits, wounds or cuts received on January 5 (the Day of St. Niphon of Cyprus) did not heal for a long time or turned into serious illnesses. Housewives were busy baking gingerbread cookies in the shape of pets.

The gingerbread cookies were wrapped in clean cloth and stored until Christmas. Sewing and embroidering was forbidden, since this process supposedly shortened a person’s life.

Life of Saint Niphon

He was born in the 4th century in Paphlagonia. From childhood he began going to church services. His parents decided to send him to Constantinople for education. After his return, changes occurred in the life of Saint Niphon. He began to lead a riotous and sinful lifestyle.

There were some enlightenments when he realized how low he had fallen. But after that he continued to lead the same life again, because he thought that he would no longer be able to earn forgiveness. The turning point was a meeting with an old friend. They had not seen each other for some time and the interlocutor looked at him carefully. They were silent for some time and then he said that Nifont’s face had changed a lot and had acquired a dark color. This was precisely what became evidence of his sinful life.

Then Saint Niphon, Bishop of Cyprus, began to offer petitions to the Mother of God and beg Her for intercession. It took him a long time. But Lik brightened and gave him a smile.

From that time on he prayed constantly. If he committed a sin, then She turned away from him, and after repentance she turned her gaze again. When he became seriously ill, he was healed. After this he took monastic vows. The struggle and confrontation with his demons was long. In old age, he ended up in Alexandria and came in a vision to the patriarch. He was pointed out as worthy to receive the episcopal rank. And so it happened. The destination was the city of Constantia in Cyprus. But his reign was not long.

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On June 14/27, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Niphon of Kavsokalivsky, who labored on Holy Mount Athos.

The Monk Nifont was born around 1315 in the village of Lukovi, Despotate of Epirus. His father served as a priest there. As a ten-year-old boy, Niphon was handed over to be raised by his paternal uncle, who was a hieromonk in the Mesopotamian monastery.

Saint Niphon was tonsured a monk and served as a reader. He shone with virtues and was therefore ordained a priest before reaching canonical age. Burning with love for God and the desire for a silent life, Niphon often visited an old hermit who, before settling in the monastery of Giromeria, lived on Mount Sinai. The elder told him about the rules of hermit life, guarding the heart and inner prayer. And Niphon achieved such success in his exploits that he took it into the habit of reading the Psalter by heart, standing on one leg, so as not to allow himself to be distracted.

The glory of the hesychasts of Holy Mount Athos prompted him to leave his homeland. He joined the holy hermit Theognostus, who lived in the vicinity of the Great Lavra, where the Monk Peter of Athos (June 12) planted the seeds of ascetic life. Only three years later Theognost learned that his student was a priest. Admiring his virtues, the mentor wanted to honor him according to his rank. But Saint Niphon refused the respect shown and, leaving the teacher, went to the kathisma of Saint Basil, which was located at the southern tip of Athos. There he remained for 14 years, living alone. All these years he ate only a little dry bread once a week.

When a terrible epidemic struck the brethren of the Great Lavra and claimed the lives of almost all the priests, the abbot called Nifont to the monastery and assigned him the obedience to perform the Divine Liturgy in the southern monasteries and farmsteads of Athos. He spent three years in this ministry, but then, again consumed by the desire for silence, he settled on the site of the former monastery of Vulevtiria.

The life he spent there was worthy of an ethereal being. He had no shelter and ate only wild herbs. This aroused the envy of some monks, who accused Niphon before the abbot of the Lavra of being delusional. The saint was forced to abandon his feat and become a cleric of the Church of the Savior.

The exploits of Saint Niphon attracted many monks to him who wanted to live under his leadership. Then, trying to avoid fame, he found refuge with Saint Maximus Kavsokalivit (January 13). Niphon stayed with him for several years, imitating his exploits and keeping in his mind the memories of the grace given to him by God, so that he could later compile a biography of the teacher. When Maxim was approaching the end of his life, he gave up his cell to a student in order to build another one at some distance.

But Niphon soon left this cell and settled in a cave rising on a cliff, opposite the island of St. Christopher. Here he lived until the end of his days and agreed to accept two disciples - Mark from Illyria and his brother Gabriel.

The ascetic used the gifts of prophecy and clairvoyance to serve the monks who came to ask his advice. Saint Niphon also performed several healings.

When, after the defeat and death of the Serbian despot John Uglesi (1371), the Turkish fleet threatened the security of Athos, the abbot of the Great Lavra asked for the saint’s prayers. A few days later, three Venetian warships repelled the attack and returned part of the Turkish loot to the Lavra.

Having shone like a star on the Holy Mountain, Saint Niphon rested in the Lord in 1411 at the age of 96.

Prayer of St. Niphon, Bishop of Cyprus

O most honorable and sacred head and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the abode of the Savior with the Father, great bishop, our warm intercessor, Saint Nifont! Standing at the throne of all the King and enjoying the light of the consubstantial Trinity and cherubically with the angels proclaiming the trisagion hymn, having great and unexplored boldness towards the all-merciful Master, pray for the salvation of Christ's flock of people, anoint them in the battles and subdue all the enemy enemies under their noses; Confirm the well-being of the holy churches by the bishop with the splendor of holiness; Strengthen the monastics to the feat of the good current; preserve the reigning city and all cities and countries well, and pray to keep the holy, immaculate faith; pacify the whole world through your intercession, deliver us from good and evil, and save us from the attacks of foreigners, comfort the old, guide the young, make the fools wise, have mercy on widows, protect the orphans, grow up the babies, return the captives, heal the sick, and everywhere you call warmly and with those who flow to you by faith and fervently fall down and pray to you from all misfortunes and troubles through your intercession to free them. Pray for us to the all-generous and philanthropic Christ our God, so that on the day of His terrible coming He will deliver us from this evil state, and He will create the joys of the saints as partakers with all the saints forever and ever.

Prayers to Saint Lawrence, Bishop of Turov

During his lifetime, Lawrence glorified himself with the gift of healing the demoniac, healing them from the evil spirits that weighed down their souls.

Troparion, tone 8

All-blessed Lawrence, who has shut himself up for the Lord in a cramped place and has laboriously lived in it for many years, pray for us to the Lord, so that we, too, who have shut our senses from all sin, will receive the opening of the doors of the Lord’s mercy on the Day of Judgment.

Kontakion, tone 6

The zeal of the Lavra of the Pechers, desiring miracles of glorification, but humbling yourself, you denied him, who was tormented by the devil in poverty, to heal, sending him to the cave, where he was healed, blessed Lawrence, glorify the Lord with you, glorifying His saints.

Prayer

O most honorable and sacred head and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the abode of the Savior with the Father, great bishop, our warm intercessor, Saint Lawrence! Standing at the Throne of all the King and enjoying the light of the consubstantial Trinity and cherubically with the angels proclaiming the trisagion hymn, having great and unexplored boldness towards the all-merciful Master, pray for the salvation of Christ's flock people, establish the well-being of the holy churches: adorn the bishops with the splendor of holiness, monastics with the feat of the good course of support , the reigning city and all cities and countries, preserve well, and keep the holy immaculate faith, pacify the whole world through your intercession, deliver us from famine and destruction, and save us from the attacks of foreigners, console the old, instruct the young, make the fools wise, have mercy on widows, orphans Intercede, infants, grow up, return the captives, free those who are weak and pray to you from all misfortunes and troubles through your intercession: pray for us to the All-Bountiful and Humane-loving Christ our God, so that on the day of His Terrible Coming He will deliver us from this evil state, and He will create the joys of the saints as partakers. all the saints forever and ever. Amen.