О часех Святыя Пасхи и всея Светлыя седмицы.Подобает ведати, яко от сего дне святыя и великия Недели Пасхи даже до субботы, часы сице поются.
Иерей: Благословен Бог наш:
Лик: Аминь. Христос воскресе из мертвых, смертию смерть поправ, и сущим во гробех живот даровав. трижды.
Таже глаголем трижды:
Воскресение Христово видевше, поклонимся Святому Господу Иисусу, Единому Безгрешному. Кресту Твоему покланяемся, Христе, и святое Воскресение Твое поем и славим: Ты бо еси Бог наш, разве Тебе иного не знаем, имя Твое именуем. Приидите, вси вернии, поклонимся святому Христову Воскресению: се бо прииде Крестом радость всему миру. Всегда благословяще Господа, поем Воскресение Его: распятие бо претерпев, смертию смерть разруши.
Таже ипакои, глас 4, единощи:
Предварившия утро яже о Марии, и обретшия камень отвален от гроба, слышаху от Ангела: во свете присносущнем Сущаго с мертвыми что ищете, яко человека? Видите гробныя пелены, тецыте и миру проповедите, яко воста Господь, умертвивый смерть: яко есть Сын Бога, спасающаго род человеческий.
Таже кондак, глас 8, единощи:
Аще и во гроб снизшел еси, Безсмертне, но адову разрушил еси силу, и воскресл еси яко Победитель, Христе Боже, женам мироносицам вещавый: радуйтеся, и Твоим апостолом мир даруяй, падшим подаяй воскресение.
Таже и сей тропарь единощи:
Во гробе плотски, во аде же с душею яко Бог, в раи же с разбойником, и на Престоле был еси Христе, со Отцем и Духом, вся исполняяй Неописанный.
Слава:
Яко Живоносец, яко рая краснейший, воистинну и чертога всякаго царскаго показася светлейший, Христе, гроб Твой, источник нашего воскресения.
И ныне, Богородичен:
Вышняго освященное Божественное селение, радуйся. Тобою бо дадеся радость, Богородице, зовущим: благословенна Ты в женах еси, Всенепорочная Владычице.
Таже Господи, помилуй, 40.
Слава, и ныне:
Честнейшую Херувим:
Именем Господним благослови, отче.
Иерей: Молитвами святых отец наших:
Мы же речем: Аминь.
И паки глаголем подобне: Христос воскресе:трижды.
Слава, и ныне:
Господи, помилуй. Трижды.
Благослови.
И отпуст
Приидите, ублажим Иосифа приснопамятнаго, в нощи к Пилату пришедшаго и Живота всех испросившаго: даждь ми Сего страннаго, Иже не имеет где главы подклонити: даждь ми Сего страннаго, Егоже ученик лукавый на смерть предаде: даждь ми Сего страннаго, Егоже Мати зрящи на кресте висяща, рыдающи вопияше и матерски восклицаше: увы Мне, Чадо Мое! увы Мне, Свете Мой и утроба Моя возлюбленная! Симеоном бо предреченное в церкви днесь собыстся: Мое сердце оружие пройде, но в радость воскресения Твоего плачь преложи. Покланяемся страстем Твоим, Христе (трижды), и Святому Воскресению.
How are you to know if you are living according to the will of God?
Here is a sign: if you are distressed over anything it means that you have not fully surrendered to God’s will, although it may seem to you that you live according to his will. He who lives according to God’s will has no material cares. If he has need of something, he offers himself and the thing he wants to God; and if he does not receive it, he remains as unworried as if he had got what he wanted.
- St. Silouan the Athonite
There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God’s Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration. “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Rom. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God’s wisdom, nor our infirmity God’s omnipotence.
— My Life in Christ (autobiography of St. John of Kronstadt)
Magnificat of Holy Nativity (to the Theotokos, Virgin)
(via simplyorthodox)
Friends, please consider signing this “Call for Mercy” petition sponsored by Voice of the Martyrs, requesting the release of a Christian woman sentenced to death for her faith. They are now over halfway to their goal of 1 million signatures!
And pray. Oh brothers and sisters, let us stand together to pray for the persecuted church.
Asia Bibi, a Christian wife and mother in Pakistan, was arrested by police on June 19, 2009, and charged with blasphemy after she engaged in a religious discussion with co-workers. Many of the local women, including Asia, worked on the farm of Muslim landowner Muhammad Idrees. Her family was one of only three Christian families in a village of more than 1,500 families. During their work, many of the Muslim women had pressured Asia to renounce Christianity and accept Islam.
On June 19, 2009 there was an intense discussion among the women about their faith. The Muslim women told Asia about Islam, and, according to VOM sources, Asia responded by telling the Muslim women that Jesus is alive. “Our Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for our sins…Our Christ is alive.” She told them. Upon hearing this response, the Muslim women became angry and began to beat Asia. Then some men took her and locked her in a room. They announced from mosque loudspeakers that she would be punished by having her face blackened and being paraded through the village on a donkey.
Local Christians informed the police, who took Asia into protective custody before the Muslims could carry out their plan. Christians urged the police not to file blasphemy charges, but the police claimed they had to go forward because of pressure from local Muslim leaders.
After a lengthy trial, on Nov. 8, 2010, Asia Bibi was sentenced to death by a judge. The judge also fined Asia $1,190 (U.S.) and told her she had seven days to appeal the decision. Her attorneys filed the appeal promptly, and now wait for the Lahore High Court to rule. If the appeal is rejected, Asia would be the first woman to be lawfully executed under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. She remains in prison, waiting to hear the high court’s ruling.
On Jan. 4, 2011 the governor of Punjab province, where Asia lives, was assassinated by a member of his security team. Though a Muslim, Salmaan Taseer had spoken out repeatedly in favor of a pardon for Asia Bibi and for a reexamination of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Governor Taseer also met with Asia in prison. On March 2, 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian member of Pakistan’s cabinet and another person who had spoken out on behalf of Asia Bibi, was also assassinated for his support of her.
The Voice of the Martyrs has supported Asia Bibi and her family since the time of her arrest. In July, 2011, VOM launched www.CallForMercy.com in an effort to gather 1,000,000 signatures from around the world asking for Asia’s release.
Hebrews 13:3 - “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.”
Visit http://www.callformercy.com/ to sign the petition on behalf of Asia Bibi.
Today the Holy Orthodox Church piously remembers the Holy Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria! (Note: in some jurisdictions she is commemorated on November 24 and on December 7)
Catherine was the daughter of King Constus. After the death of her father, she lived with her mother in Alexandria. Her mother was secretly a Christian who, through her spiritual father, brought Catherine to the Christian Faith. In a vision, St. Catherine received a ring from the Lord Jesus Himself as a sign of her betrothal to Him. This ring remains on her finger even today. Catherine was greatly gifted by God and was well educated in Greek philosophy, medicine, rhetoric and logic. In addition to that, she was of unusual physical beauty. When the iniquitous Emperor Maxentius offered sacrifices to the idols and ordered others to do the same, Catherine boldly confronted the emperor and denounced his idolatrous errors. The emperor, seeing that she was greater than he in wisdom and knowledge, summoned fifty of his wisest men to debate with her on matters of faith and to put her to shame. Catherine outwitted and shamed them. In a rage, the emperor ordered all fifty of those men burned. By St. Catherine’s prayers, all fifty confessed the name of Christ and declared themselves Christians before their execution. After Catherine had been put in prison, she converted the emperor’s commander, Porphyrius, and two hundred soldiers to the true Faith, as well as Empress Augusta-Vasilissa herself. They all suffered for Christ. During the torture of St. Catherine, an angel of God came to her and destroyed the wheel on which the holy virgin was being tortured. Afterward, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to her and comforted her. After many tortures, Catherine was beheaded at the age of eighteen, on November 24, 310. Milk, instead of blood, flowed from her body. Her miracle-working relics repose on Mount Sinai.
(From “Prologue of Ochrid” by St. Nikolai Velimirovic)
(1 Фес. 4, 1-12; Лк. 11, 42-46).
Господь начинает укор Своим современникам тем, что они “нерадят о суде и любви Божией”. Иссякновение правды и любви - корень всякого нестроения как в обществе, так и в каждом человеке. Само же оно происходит от преобладания самолюбия или эгоизма. Когда эгоизм вселится в сердце, то в нем распложается целое полчище страстей. Сам он поражает правду и любовь, требующих самоотвержения, а страсти, им порождаемые, изгоняют все другие добродетели. И становится человек, по сердечному строю, негодным ни к чему истинно доброму. Дать “десятину с мяты, руты и всяких овощей” еще может, а сделать что-либо посущественнее не находит в себе мужества. Это не значит, чтоб и внешнее поведение его было безобразно. Нет, оно всячески скрашивается добропорядочностью, только сам в себе он “гроб скрытый, над которым люди ходят и не знают того”. Начало самоисправления - начало возникновения в сердце самоотвержения, вслед за которым восстанавливается правота и любовь, а от них потом начинают оживать одна за другою и все прочие добродетели. Человек по сердечному строю становится тогда благообразен перед очами Божиими, хотя для людей, снаружи, может иногда казаться невзрачным. Но суд людской не важное дело, лишь бы суд Божий был не против нас.
~ Святитель Феофан Затворник
[I Thess. 4:1-12; Luke 11:42-46]
The Lord reproaches His contemporaries by saying that they pass over the judgement and the love of God. The drying up of righteousness and love is the root of all disharmony both in society and in every person. It comes from the predominance of self-love or egoism. When egoism enters the heart an entire horde of passions is multiplied. It itself strikes out against righteousness and love, which require selflessness; while the passions generated from it chase away all other virtues. And the person becomes, by his heart’s disposition, unsuitable for anything that is truly good. He can still tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, but he does not have the courage to do anything more substantial. This does not mean that his outer behaviour is improper. No, in every way it is adorned with decency, only on the inside he is as a grave which appeareth not, and the men that walk over it are not aware of it. The beginning of self-correction is the beginning of the appearance of selflessness in the heart, after which righteousness and love are restored. Then, one after the other, all other virtues begin coming to life. Then the person becomes noble in the eyes of God because of his heart’s dispositon, although on the outside he may sometimes seem unprepossessing to other people. But the judgement of man is not an important thing, provided that God’s judgement is not against us.
~ St. Theophan the Recluse
(via paharwell)
November 8
The Holy Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Powers of heaven
The angels of God were celebrated by men from earliest times but this celebration was often turned into the divinization of angels (II Kings 23:5). The heretics wove all sorts of fables concerning the angels. Some of them looked upon angels as gods; others, although they did not consider them gods, called them the creators of the whole visible world. The local Council of Laodicea (four or five years before the First Ecumenical Council) rejected the worship of angels as gods and established the proper veneration of angels in its Thirty-fifth Canon. In the fourth century, during the time of Sylvester, Pope of Rome, and Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, the present Feast of Archangel Michael and all the other heavenly powers was instituted for celebration in the month of November. Why precisely in November? Because November is the ninth month after March, and March is considered to be the month in which the world was created. Also, as the ninth month after March, November was chosen for the nine orders of angels who were created first. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul (who was taken up into the third heaven), described these nine orders of angels in his book, On the Celestial Hierarchies, as follows: six-winged Seraphim, many-eyed Cherubim, God-bearing Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Virtues, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. The leader of all the angelic hosts is the Archangel Michael. When Satan, Lucifer, fell away from God and drew a part of the angels with him to destruction, then Michael stood up and cried out before the faithful angels: “Let us attend! Let us stand aright! Let us stand with fear!” and all of the faithful angelic heavenly hosts cried out: “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory!” Concerning the Archangel Michael, see Joshua 5:13-15 and Jude 1:9. Among the angels there reign perfect oneness of mind, oneness of soul, and love. The lower orders also show complete obedience to the higher orders, and all of them together to the holy will of God. Every nation has its guardian angel, as does every Christian. We must always remember that whatever we do, in open or in secret, we do in the presence of our guardian angel. On the day of the Dread Judgment, the multitude of the hosts of the holy angels of heaven will gather around the throne of Christ, and the deeds, words, and thoughts of every man will be revealed before all. May God have mercy on us and save us by the prayers of the Archangel Michael and all the bodiless heavenly powers. Amen.
(Text taken from Prologue of Ohrid.)
