The Holy Apostle Timothy was from the Lycaonian city of Lystra in Asia Minor. Saint Timothy was converted to Christ in the year 52 by the holy Apostle Paul (June 29). When the Apostles Paul and Barnabas first visited the cities of Lycaonia, Saint Paul healed one crippled from birth. Many of the inhabitants of Lystra then believed in Christ, and among them was the future Saint Timothy, his mother Eunice and grandmother Loida (Lois)
SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – “Electrifying” Your Home with the Energy of the Holy Spirit With what is your home electrified? Table lamps and ceiling fixtures, sure, but what else? The glow of screens: TVs, computers and phones. More recently, strings of Christmas lights. Anything else? “A home without a lit oil lamp in front of icons is cold and dark, but when you have a
A mighty spiritual giant who was broken by nothing and no one, and whose image does not fade with time, Venerable Maximos the Confessor is a faithful indicator, even till now, of how one may follow after Christ by that path by which he himself so faithfully followed the Lord. St. Maximos the Confessor was born in 580, a citizen of Constantinople and a nobleman. He became a high-ranking courtier at the court of the Byzantine Emperor
Saint Euthymios the Great came from the city of Melitene in Armenia, near the River Euphrates. His parents, Paul and Dionysia, were pious Christians of noble birth. After many years of marriage they remained childless, and in their sorrow they entreated God to give them offspring. Finally, they had a vision and heard a voice saying, “Be of good cheer! God will grant you a son, who will bring joy to the churches.” The child
Saint Macarius the Great was from the Thebaid of Egypt, a disciple, as some say, of Saint Anthony the Great. He was born about 331 and struggled in asceticism in the desert at Scete. Although young, he was called “the child elder” because of his great wisdom and austere manner of life. He was ordained presbyter and reposed in 391, at the age of sixty. There are fifty homilies ascribed to him. It is said
Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, was a great Father of the Church and a pillar of Orthodoxy. He was born around the year 297 in the city of Alexandria into a family of pious Christians. He received a fine secular education, but he acquired more knowledge by diligent study of the Holy Scripture. In his childhood, the future hierarch Athanasius became known to Saint Alexander the Patriarch of Alexandria (May 29). A group
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 1, 2015 Somewhere in the late 60’s (my teen years), I found myself home recuperating from an appendectomy. In those days they actually recommended a period of convalescence before returning to normal activities (today’s medical advice, written in insurance offices, deems recuperation to be a needless bit of a money-drain). But I suddenly had extra time on my hands with little to do. I searched the bookshelves for something unread,
SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Spiritual Despondency “In the Church Fathers, we have repeated warnings about despondency. We have to be careful because many people have a modern interpretation of what despondency means. So often we hear people talk about despondency as if it is the same thing as depression, the psychological condition of being down, low, lacking in joy, and seeing everything as dark; this is
SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification TOPIC OF THE WEEK – Spiritual Resources for the Twelve Days of Christmas and the New Calendar Year Christ is born! Glorify Him! Wishing you God’s abundant blessings for the new year. Adult/Family: Read the article A Time of Beginnings: 3 Resolutions for the New Year “…If we do not begin now to nurture our souls with God’s grace, when will we? If we do not resolve
Struggling with Prayer: When prayer becomes a struggle By Abbot Tryphon, November 10, 2019 When we find ourselves struggling with prayer, and feel that it has become dry and lifeless, we are sometimes tempted to stop praying. When our prayer has become a struggle, it is good to remember that God knows our needs, and even knows what we want to say when we don’t seem to know. This is the time we need to
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