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...
Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos before the icon “Fat Mountain”
Oh, our all-merciful Lady, Most Holy Theotokos Mary! Look upon us, Thy perishing servants, before we are vile, before we are prodigal, before we are slanderers, and above all proud, but now we have seen all our abomination before the eyes of the Lord and are no longer worthy to appear before His face, and only to Thee, the Lady, as we call upon our most merciful Intercessor. O Mother of God, do not leave us in our sins. Our undoubted hope, renew us in repentance, raise us to fulfill the commandments of God, teach us in the Church of Saints and make us worthy of Holy Communion of the Life-Giving and Divine and Terrible Mysteries; You constantly pray for us, Your Son and God, we know how much motherly prayer can do. And may you ask Christ God for our bodily health, and as the merciful one, the grace of our souls, send peace and good haste to all our neighbors, look upon our city, protected by Your protection, and show it a speedy intercession from Your miraculous and beautiful holy icon, even now we are grateful We kiss, and save him and all other cities and towns and the entire Orthodox family from all vain disasters; and repel the invasion of heresies from the tongues of foreigners that come upon us, schisms, devastation, strife and other divisions in the Church of God, as with Thy healing oil, anointed with unfeigned love, reliably rule, so that a peaceful and pious life will be our inheritance, and may we be honored with good words from To hear Thy Son and our Judge under His right Judgment, to Him be glory and honor and worship with His beginningless Father and His All-Graceful Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The prayer is different
To You, the Lady, before Your icon, bowing my proud neck in tenderness, I cry: Behold, I, a sinner, have been called from the non-existent to the existing, but soon for my countless and vile sins I will again be turned into the non-existent in the abysses of hell; but from the darkness of the stinking sins of my sins, I pray to You, Offering: save me, beg Your Son to wait again, so that a vain death will not devour me today, and that by His great mercy and with Your favorable, Most Pure, help, I will turn from darkness to Light, from self-love to love of God, from unbelief to faith, from evil to good, from the abomination of sin to reverence; If it is impossible for man to happen, then it is possible for God, and from now on I will serve to glorify Your Son, surrendering to His all-good will, so that I too may come at the terrible judgment of Christ to His good and beloved sheep for everlasting joy and life. Amen.
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...
What to pray for
Prayer before the icon of the Mother of God “Fat Mountain” can help those who need:
- gain peace of mind, calm the tossing of the spirit;
- convert (return) the lost;
- restore peace, love and mutual understanding in your home, family or relationships;
- protection from natural disasters and patronage in difficult matters;
- heal a sick child from physical and mental illnesses.
To address her, you can use a special prayer, or you can speak in words coming from the heart, but the main thing is to do this with deep faith.
The icon has three days of veneration:
- July 29/16 (new/old style) - the date of the consecration of the chapel of the Tver Smolensk Church (now destroyed) erected in honor of the icon;
- April 6/March 24 – mention of the first miracle revealed by the face of the Mother of God; in honor of this event, annual all-night vigils are held in his honor;
- November 20/7 is the day when the image was presented to Volchaninov and moved from the monastery monastery to the house of Cosmas.
These holidays are observed with special care, of course, in Tver, where the original icon was kept for so long, and now two copies of it are located.
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
Icon of the Mother of God “Fat Mountain”. Graceful power
The Icon of the Mother of God “Fat Mountain” is now not mentioned very often, although it used to be widely known. The image has another name - “Insectless”, which is associated with the deep meaning inherent in it, which is expressed in a huge number of different interpretations and descriptions of this image of the Virgin Mary.
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).
Location
The now revered image is located in the Tver Ascension Cathedral. His writing was blessed by Metropolitan (and at that time Archbishop) of Tver and Kashinsky. With the return of the icon, the number of parishioners increased noticeably.
There, in Tver, there is another list of “Fat Mountain”, created for the Church of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring” (Sorrowful Church).
It is quite difficult to find other copies of the image of the Virgin Mary in other churches, although a great many of them were made in pre-revolutionary times.
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.
Graceful power
During the three centuries before the revolution, the icon of the Mother of God “Fat Mountain” often demonstrated its miraculous power. Pious citizens took her into their homes for a while to heal their children. The copies from this face of the Mother of God also had a beneficial effect.
One of the rectors of the Smolensk Church, John the Theologian, recalled that as a child he suffered from severe eye pain. During the next attack, his mother brought the child to the icon and anointed him with oil from the lamp hanging in front of her. Each time the pain receded, and then stopped appearing altogether.
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) ...
Icon of the Mother of God “Fat Mountain”. Experience of contemplation
And dreams flee, and the truth is laid bare.
A simple crossbar.
The last sign of the last sheet, -
And the book of life in eternity closed.
(mother Maria (Skobtsova))
The Youth King in a crimson and gold himation, with a patrician clave on a tunic white as snow (Mark 9:3), sits as a Judge.
In the shuyts, the left hand of the Youth, there is a scroll from which all the seals will soon be removed. The youth looks at the ground on which His Church stands.
“Behold, the whole earth is inhabited and silent” (Zech. 1:11)
The scroll is tied four times, for in the four corners of the universe, the inhabited and inhabited earth, the Gospel of the Son of God was preached.
The features of the folds of the girdle adjacent to the shuytsa of the Judge and the Youth, the Son of God, form the figure of a sickle. The Day of the Lord has come, the Day of the last harvest... The Lord of the harvest (Matthew 9:38) looks upon the earth.
“And I turned and lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a sickle flying.” (Zechariah 5:1)
– writes one of the last prophets of Israel, Zechariah, who wrote about God’s judgment over Israel and the nations.
His harvest is the end of the age (Matthew 13:39), the end of the earthly and immersed in corruption of the world, which melts from the face of God, from the face of Christ, for the “bright fire” of His Divinity, piercing His human Flesh, shines with a new dawn over the tired and decrepit world.
And the himation of the Son of Man, the Son of Mary, burns with divine gold, through which the scarlet color of His blood appears - illuminate us with the bright fire of the Divine! (Irmos of the 7th song of the Sunday canon, 3rd tone)
The Mountain of God, embodied in the image of the slender, towering figure of the Mother of God, is a biblical symbol of the Church of God, which, according to the word of the prophet Isaiah, will reveal the light of Emmanuel to all the peoples of the earth.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it” (Isaiah 2:2)
The image of Isaiah is revealed in the icon twice - both in the very image of the Mother of God, holding the Son of God, who came to Zion, His holy mountain, and in the image of the temple of God, which stands on the rock of the Spirit.
The right hand of the Mother of God carefully holds this uncut stone (Dan. 2:44), crowned with the Cross of Her Son - holds it opposite the Child Himself, who sits on Her right hand. The Rock is a symbol of the Spirit operating in the Risen Christ (Rom. 8:11; 1 Peter 3:19) and living in the Church of Christ.
The Prophet Zechariah, who spoke in his book about numerous visions revealed to him during the construction of the Second Temple, during the return of the Old Testament Church from the Babylonian captivity, utters the words repeated by Jesus Christ in the darkness of the Gethsemane night, and the words with which the Evangelists will describe the Passion of Christ:
“And I will say to them: if it pleases you, then give Me My wages; if not, don’t give it; and they will pay me thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12); “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered!” And I will turn my hand against the little ones” (Zech. 13:7); “They will look at Him, whom they have pierced, and will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only begotten son, and mourns, as one mourns for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10); And it will happen on that day: there will be no light, the luminaries will be removed (Zech. 14:6).
All these prophecies were usually attributed to the Day of the Lord, the Day of Judgment and the Triumph of God.
The Old Testament church prepared for the Day of the Lord in order to meet it worthily, as it seemed to believers at that time. The strictness of fasting, the fulfillment of the requirements of the Law...
And against this background the prophet’s denunciation sounds:
“And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves, do you not drink for yourselves?... execute fair judgment and show mercy and compassion every one to his brother; Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the stranger or the poor, and do not think evil against one another in your hearts (Zech. 7:6;9-10).
Yes, this is how Christ will judge people -
“Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Because I was hungry (I was hungry), and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me” (Matthew 25:34-36).
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said in one of his sermons dedicated to these words of Christ:
“Were you humane on earth? When you were faced with grief, did you think about how to console? When there was hunger, and cold, and melancholy, and abandonment, and imprisonment, and captivity of illness - what did you do: did you regret it or not?
He is the Good Judge, He is the Shepherd, who came to the poor in spirit, and not to the righteous “who have fulfilled all the commandments”:
“And I will feed the sheep doomed to the slaughter, the poor sheep indeed” (Zech. 11:7).
They will share His Cross with Him, and will not try to buy the Kingdom from Him with their “righteous” deeds. And they recognize Him by touching the wounds of the nails in His hands...
“And I will bring this third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will refine them as gold is refined: they will call on My name, and I will hear them and say, “These are My people,” and they will say, “Lord.” - My God!" (Zech. 13:9)
It is no coincidence that the rock with the church crowned with a cross in the hand of the Mother of God also resembles broken bread - for in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the Son of God comes to the earth frozen in silence.
Let all the earth be silent before Him (Hab. 2:20)
On Holy Saturday, the hymn repeats these words of the prophet, showing their new, boundless depth:
Let all human flesh remain silent and stand with fear and trembling, and let nothing earthly think within itself: the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to sacrifice and be given as food to the faithful.
(Let all flesh be silent and stand with fear and trembling, not thinking about anything earthly: for the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to be slain and give Himself as food to the faithful).
Christ blesses the Church on the rock of the Spirit, blesses the Bread, which He Himself brings, like a Priest, in this Church.
And His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem to the east (Zech. 14:4)
The fat mountain, the mountain on which the rain fell, is a vivid image of Psalm 67 (vv. 16-17).
St. Athanasius the Great spoke about this psalm:
“In this psalm the prophet depicts the coming of the Lord, the overthrow of mental enemies and the end of spiritual captivity; and also teaches that the Lord is the One who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt of old. In addition to this, the sermon promises the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who receive it, and adds consolation to the Apostles with the promise of deliverance from all sorrow that befell them for preaching.”
In some depictions of the icon, in the folds of the Baby’s robe, one can discern the outline of a cup, from which, from His womb, streams of the living water promised by Christ in the Gospel flow in streams of golden himation (John 7:38).
Icon of the Mother of God "Fat Mountain"
About 250 - 300 years ago, this icon was in one of the monasteries of Tver and was presented by the abbot to Cosma Volchaninov in gratitude for the well-performed work in the monastery church. This icon was passed down from generation to generation as a shrine, but one irreverent grandson of Cosmas took the dilapidated icon into the attic. His daughter-in-law suffered many insults from her husband and his relatives. In despair, the woman decided to commit suicide in an empty bathhouse. On the way, a monk appeared to her and said: “Where are you going, unfortunate one? Go back; go, pray to the Mother of God of the Fat Mountain - and you will live well and peacefully.” The excited young woman, returning home, told everything, without hiding her criminal intentions. They began to look for the monk, but did not find him, no one except her saw him. This happened on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The icon was immediately found in the attic, cleaned of dirt and placed in a place of honor in the house. In the evening, the parish priest was invited, who performed an all-night vigil before the icon, which since then has been celebrated in the house every year on this day. For more than a hundred and fifty years, the icon was in the Volchaninov family. Ekaterina, the daughter of Vasily, the last of the Volchaninov family, having married Georgy Ivanovich Konyaev, took to herself the icon of the Mother of God as her most precious inheritance. And in Konyaev’s house, prayers and all-night vigils were held in front of this icon on March 24 and November 7 (probably this was the day the icon was transferred from the monastery to the house of Kosma Volchaninov).
In 1863, at the cemetery church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, it was decided to build a chapel in honor of St. Tikhon and St. Macarius of Kalyazin. The then owner of the icon, Georgy Konyaev (+ 1868, at the age of 97 years) wished to transfer the celibate image of the Mother of God to the temple. He turned to the clergy with a request to build another chapel for the miraculous image of the Mother of God “Fat Mountain”. At the same time, he said: “I consider the temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God the best for her, because the place on which the church was built was in the old days called a mountain, as the highest place in the city. In the past, residents brought their property to this mountain during floods and saved themselves from death here. May the Queen of Heaven, the Fat Mountain, rest with her grace on this mountain and cover all those buried here with her mercy.” On July 15, 1866, the icon was moved to the built chapel, which the next day was consecrated by Bishop Anthony of Staritsa.
On the icon, the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted standing on a semicircular elevation - a mountain; on Her left hand is the Infant God with a blessing right hand. On the head of the Mother of God is a crown, and in her hand is a small mountain, on which the top of the church with domes and crosses is visible.
Unfortunately, after the closure of the Smolensk Church, the icon disappeared. But the memory of the “Fat Mountain” icon did not disappear. With the blessing of Archbishop Viktor of Tver and Kashinsky, in 1993 a list of the “Fat Mountain” icon was written and the solemn veneration of this icon was resumed. Memory of St. The “Fat Mountain” icon of the Mother of God is celebrated three times: on July 16 in honor of the consecration of the throne, on March 24 in honor of the first miracle from the icon, and on November 7 according to ancient custom. The now revered copy of the icon is in the Ascension Cathedral in Tver.
Celebration: March 24 (April 6), July 16 (July 29), November 7 (November 20).
Akathist to the Mother of God before the icon of Her “Fat Mountain”
