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VonBonfire
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Greek.Okay it's in Latin, that makes sense now
The~Kid
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VonBonfire
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Yeah, hebrew for "so be it" or so may it be.
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VonBonfire
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Saint Theodore the Sykeote, Bishop of Anastasiopolis
Saint Theodore the Sykeote was born in the mid-sixth century in the village of Sykeon, not far from the city of Anastasiopolis (in Galatia, Asia Minor), into a pious family. When his mother Maria conceived the Saint, she had a vision of a bright star shining over her womb. She consulted a clairvoyant Elder, who explained that this was the grace of God being poured forth upon her child.
When the boy reached the age of six, his mother presented him with a golden belt, since she wanted her son to become a soldier. That night the Holy Great Martyr George (April 23) appeared to Maria in a dream, and he told her not to seek a military career for her son, because the boy was destined to serve God. The Saint’s father, Cosmas, served as a messenger for Emperor Justinian the Great (527-565), but he died at a young age. The boy remained in the care of his mother Maria. His grandmother Elpidίa, his aunt Despoinίa, and his sister Blátta also lived with them.
In school, Saint Theodore displayed great apptitude in his studies, the most important being his rare gifts of reason and wisdom. He was quiet and mild, but he always knew how to calm his comrades, and he did not allow any fights or quarrels among them.
The pious Elder Stephen also lived at Maria’s house. At the age of eight, Saint Theodore started to imitate him, eating just a small morsel of bread in the evening during Great Lent. So that his mother would not force him to dine with everyone, the boy returned home from school only toward evening, after he had partaken of the Holy Mysteries with Elder Stephen. At Maria's request, the teacher began sending him home to supper at the end of his lessons. Saint Theodore, however, ran to the church of the Great Martyr George, where the Saint appeared to him in the form of a young man, and escorted him into the church.
When Saint Theodore turned ten, he fell deathly ill. He was brought to the church of Saint John the Baptist and was placed before the altar. The boy was healed by two drops of water which fell from the face of the Savior in the dome of the temple. At this time the Great Martyr George began appearing to him at night, and also leading him to his own temple to pray until morning. His mother, fearing the dangers of the forest, urged her son not to go out at night.
Once, when the boy had already left, Maria followed him to the church, dragged him out by his hair, and tied him to his bed. That very night Saint George appeared to her in a dream, and commanded her not to hinder the child from going to church. Both Elpidίa and Despoinίa had the same vision. It was then that the women recognized Saint Theodore’s special calling, and they hindered him no longer. Even his little sister Blátta began to emulate him.
When he was twelve years old, the Saint had a dream in which he saw Christ on the Throne of Glory, Who told him, “Struggle, Theodore, so that you may obtain a perfect reward in the Kingdom of Heaven. From that time, Saint Theodore began to intensify his labors. He spent both the First Week of Great Lent and the Week of the Veneration of the Cross in complete silence.
The devil set out to destroy him. He appeared to the Saint in the form of his classmate Gerontius, and urged him to jump off a precipice, but Saint George rescued him.
One another occasion, Saint Theodore went into the desert to obtain the blessing of the Elder Glykérios. There was a terrible drought throughout the land, and the Elder said, “Child, let us pray to the Lord on bended knee, asking Him to send rain. Then we shall learn whether our prayers are pleasing to the Lord.” The Elder and his disciple prayed, and all at once it started to rain. Then the Elder told Saint Theodore that the grace of God was upon him, and blessed him to enter a Monastery when the time came.
When he was fourteen, Saint Theodore left home and lived near the church of the Great Martyr George. His mother brought him food, but Saint Theodore left everything on the stones by the church, eating only a single prosphoron each day. Even at such a young age, Saint Theodore was granted the gift of healing. Through his prayers a demon-possessed youth was restored to his right mind.
Saint Theodore fled human glory and withdrew into complete solitude. Under a large boulder not far from the church of Saint George, he dug a cave and persuaded a certain deacon to cover the entrance with earth, leaving a small opening for air. The deacon brought him bread and water, but he told no one where the Saint had hidden himself. For two years Saint Theodore lived in seclusion and complete quietude. His relatives mourned him, thinking that he had been devoured by wild beasts.
At last, the deacon finally revealed his secret, since he feared that Saint Theodore would perish in the narrow cave, and he also felt pity for his mother Maria. Saint Theodore was removed from the cave, barely alive. His mother wished to take her son home and nurse him back to health, but the Saint remained by the church of Saint George, and after several days he was completely well.
News of the young man's exploits reached the local Bishop Theodosios, who ordained him to the diaconate, and later to the holy priesthood, even though the Saint was just seventeen years old. After a certain time had passed, Saint Theodore went to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem, and there at the Khozeba Lavra near the Jordan, he was tonsured as a monk.
When he returned to his native land, he continued to live near the church of Saint George. His grandmother Elpidίa, his sister Blátta, and his mother Maria entered a women’s monastery on the Saint’s advice. His aunt Despoinίa reposed there in peace.
The ascetical life of the young Hieromonk attracted people who were seeking salvation. The Saint tonsured the young man Epiphánios, and later on a pious woman, whom the Saint healed of her sickness, brought her son Philoúmenos to him. Then the virtuous young man John also came to him. Thus, the brethren gradually gathered around the Saint.
Saint Theodore continued his strenuous ascetical labors. At his request a blacksmith made him an iron cage without a roof, so narrow that it was scarcely possible to stand. In this cage Saint Theodore wore heavy chains from Holy Pascha until the Nativity of Christ. From the Baptism of the Lord until Holy Pascha he secluded himself in his cave, from which he emerged only for Church Services on Saturdays and Sundays. Throughout the forty-day Fast the Saint ate only greens and bread on Saturdays and Sundays.
Living in such a manner, he received from the Lord the power over wild animals. Bears and wolves came to him and took food from his hand. By the Saint’s prayers, those afflicted with leprosy were healed, and demons were cast out from entire districts. In the nearby village of Magatia, when locusts threatened the crops, people turned to Saint Theodore for help. He told them to go to the church. After he served the Divine Liturgy for them, the villagers returned home and learned that all the locusts had died during the Service.
When the military commander Maurikios was returning to Constantinople by way of Galatia after fighting the Persians, the Saint predicted that he would become Emperor. His words came true, and Emperor Maurikios (582-602) granted the Saint’s request: he sent bread to the Monastery each year for the multitude of people who were being fed there.
The small temple of Saint George could not accommodate all those who wanted to pray in it. Then through the Saint's efforts, a beautiful new church was built. At that time, the Bishop of Anastasiopolis reposed. The people of the city asked Metropolitan Paul of Ancyra to install Saint Theodore as their bishop. So that the Saint would not resist, the Metropolitan's messengers and the people of Anastasiopolis dragged him out of his cell by force and carried him into the city.
As a Hierarch, Saint Theodore labored much for the welfare of the Church, but his soul yearned for solitary communion with God. After several years he went again to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem. And there, concealing his identity, he settled at the Lavra of Saint Savva, where he lived in solitude from the Nativity of Christ until Pascha. Then the Great Martyr George told him to return to Anastasiopolis.
Unknown enemies tried to poison the Saint, but the Mother of God gave him three small pieces of grain. Saint Theodore ate them and remained unharmed. Weighed down by the burden of being a bishop, Saint Theodore asked Patriarch Kyriakos of Constantinople (595-606) to release him to his own Monastery so that he might celebrate the services there.
Saint Theodore was venerated as a Saint, even during his lifetime. His sanctity was so evident that when he offered the Eucharist, the grace of the Holy Spirit appeared as a radiant purple light, shining on the Holy Gifts. Once, when the Saint elevated the diskos with the Holy Lamb and said: “Holy things are for the holy,” the Holy Lamb floated up in the air, and then settled upon the diskos once more.
In one of the cities of Galatia, a terrible event occurred: during a Church procession, the wooden crosses being carried began to strike each other by themselves. As a result, Patriarch Thomas (March 21) summoned Saint Theodore, asking him the meaning of this terrible portent. Having the gift of foresight, Saint Theodore explained that this indicated coming misfortunes for the Church of God (he was speaking of the future heresy of the Iconoclasts). In his grief the holy Patriarch Thomas begged the Saint to pray that he would soon repose, so that he would not have to witness the coming catastrophe.
In the year 610 the holy Patriarch Thomas reposed after asking for Saint Theodore's blessing. In that same year, Saint Theodore departed to the Lord.
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VonBonfire
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George the Great Martyr and Triumphant
George, this truly great and glorious Martyr of Christ, was born of a father from Cappadocia and a mother from Palestine. Being a military tribune, or chiliarch (that is, a commander of a thousand troops), he was illustrious in battle and highly honoured for his courage. When he learned that the Emperor Diocletian was preparing a persecution of the Christians, Saint George presented himself publicly before the Emperor and denounced him. When threats and promises could not move him from his steadfast confession, he was put to unheard-of tortures, which he endured with great bravery, overcoming them by his faith and love towards Christ. By the wondrous signs that took place in his contest, he guided many to the knowledge of the truth, including Queen Alexandra, wife of Diocletian, and was finally beheaded in 296 in Nicomedia.His sacred remains were taken by his servant from Nicomedia to Palestine, to a town called Lydda, the homeland of his mother, and then were finally transferred to the church which was raised up in his name. (The translation of the Saint's holy relics to the church in Lydda is commemorated on November 3; Saint Alexandra the Queen, on April 21.)
JamesTiberiusKirk
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Someone mention my name?
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VonBonfire
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The PriestMartyr Antipas
Commemorated on April 11
The PriestMartyr Antipas – a disciple of the holy Apostle John the Theologian (Comm. 26 September), was bishop of the Church of Pergamum during the reign of the emperor Nero (54-68).
During these times by order of the emperor, everyone who would not offer sacrifice to the idols lived under threat of either exile or execution. And then too on the island of Patmos (in the Aegean Sea) was imprisoned the holy Apostle John the Theologian – he to whom the Lord revealed the future judgements of the world and of Holy Church.
– "And to the Angel of the Pergamum Church write: thus sayeth He having the sword sharp of both edges: I do know thine deeds, and that thou dost live there, where doth be the throne of Satan, and that thou dost cleave unto My Name nor didst renounce My faith even in those days, in which My slain faithful witness Antipas was amongst ye, where Satan dwelleth" (Rev. 2: 12-13).
By his personal example, firm faith and constant preaching about Christ, Saint Antipas began to sway the people of Pergamum from offering sacrifice to idols. The pagan priests reproached the bishop for turning the people away from their ancestral gods, and they demanded that he stop preaching about Christ and instead offer sacrifice to the idols.
Saint Antipas calmly answered, that he was not about to serve the demon-gods, which flee before him who was but a mortal man; rather, it is the Lord Almighty that he worships and would continue to worship – the Creator of all, together with His Only‑Begotten and One-in-Essence Son and Holy Spirit. The pagan priests retorted, that their gods existed from of old, whereas Christ was not from of old and was crucified under Pontius Pilate as a criminal. The saint answered, that the pagan gods were the work of human hands and that everything said about them was filled with iniquities and vices. He steadfastly confessed his faith in the Son of God, incarnated of the Most Holy Virgin.
The enraged pagan priests dragged the PriestMartyr Antipas to the temple of Artemis and threw him into a red-hot copper bullock, wherein usually they cast the sacrifices to the idols. In the red-hot furnace the priest-martyr prayed loudly to God, imploring to accept his soul and to fortify Christians in the faith. He expired to the Lord peacefully, as though asleep (+ c. 68).
Christians by night took the body of the PriestMartyr Antipas, untouched by the fire, and with reverence they buried him at Pergamum. The tomb of the priest-martyr became a font of miracles and of healings from manifold sicknesses. Particular recourse to the PriestMartyr Antipas is made during times of tooth-ache.
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VonBonfire
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Christos Anesti!
The Monk Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Para
Commemorated on April 12
The Monk Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Para, lived during the VIII Century. He was chosen to the bishop's chair by the inhabitants of Para, who venerated the saint as a true pastor of the flock of Christ.
When the Iconoclast heresy broke out, Saint Basil resolutely came out on the side of icon veneration and refused to sign the directives for their abolition (the "Iniquitous Scroll" of the Council of 754 which had convened under the emperor Constantine V Copronymos (741-775). The saint shunned any contact with the heretics and did not permit them into his diocese. For his zeal he suffered much persecution, hunger and deprivation.
To the very end of his life Saint Basil was faithful to the Orthodox confession.
The Monk Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Para
Commemorated on April 12
The Monk Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Para, lived during the VIII Century. He was chosen to the bishop's chair by the inhabitants of Para, who venerated the saint as a true pastor of the flock of Christ.
When the Iconoclast heresy broke out, Saint Basil resolutely came out on the side of icon veneration and refused to sign the directives for their abolition (the "Iniquitous Scroll" of the Council of 754 which had convened under the emperor Constantine V Copronymos (741-775). The saint shunned any contact with the heretics and did not permit them into his diocese. For his zeal he suffered much persecution, hunger and deprivation.
To the very end of his life Saint Basil was faithful to the Orthodox confession.
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
This one is particularly good:
The Holy Nobleborn Empress of Gruzia (Georgia) Tamara the Great
Commemorated on the Sunday of Myrrh-Bearing Women and May 1
St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women in addition to her regular commemoration on May 1. In 1166 a daughter, Tamar, was born to King George III (1155–1184) and Queen Burdukhan of Georgia. The king proclaimed that he would share the throne with his daughter from the day she turned twelve years of age. The royal court unanimously vowed its allegiance and service to Tamar, and father and daughter ruled the country together for five years. After King George’s death in 1184, the nobility recognized the young Tamar as the sole ruler of all Georgia. Queen Tamar was enthroned as ruler of all Georgia at the age of eighteen. She is called “King” in the Georgian language because her father had no male heir and so she ruled as a monarch and not as a consort.
At the beginning of her reign, Tamar convened a Church council and addressed the clergy with wisdom and humility: “Judge according to righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil,” she advised. “Begin with me—if I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by upbringing and I by education will care for those souls whom God has entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, in order to escape eternal condemnation.… You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.”
The Church and the royal court chose a suitor for Tamar: Yuri, the son of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal (in Georgia Yuri was known as “George the Russian”). The handsome George Rusi was a valiant soldier, and under his command the Georgians returned victorious from many battles. His marriage to Tamar, however, exposed many of the coarser sides of his character. He was often drunk and inclined toward immoral deeds. In the end, Tamar’s court sent him away from Georgia to Constantinople, armed with a generous recompense. Many Middle Eastern rulers were drawn to Queen Tamar’s beauty and desired to marry her, but she rejected them all. Finally at the insistence of her court, she agreed to wed a second time to ensure the preservation of the dynasty. This time, however, she asked her aunt and nurse Rusudan (the sister of King George III) to find her a suitor. The man she chose, Davit-Soslan Bagrationi, was the son of the Ossetian ruler and a descendant of King George I (1014–1027).
In 1195 a joint Muslim military campaign against Georgia was planned under the leadership of Atabeg (a military commander) Abu Bakr of Persian Azerbaijan. At Queen Tamar’s command, a call to arms was issued. The faithful were instructed by Metropolitan Anton of Chqondidi to celebrate All-night Vigils and Liturgies and to generously distribute alms so that the poor could rest from their labors in order to pray. In ten days the army was prepared, and Queen Tamar addressed the Georgian soldiers for the last time before the battle began. “My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before the multitude of enemies, for God is with us.… Trust God alone, turn your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the Cross of Christ and in the Most Holy Theotokos!” she exhorted them.
Having taken off her shoes, Queen Tamar climbed the hill to the Metekhi Church of the Theotokos (in Tbilisi) and knelt before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. She prayed without ceasing until the good news arrived: the battle near Shamkori had ended in the unquestionable victory of the Orthodox Georgian army.
After this initial victory the Georgian army launched into a series of triumphs over the Turks, and neighboring countries began to regard Georgia as the protector of the entire Transcaucasus. By the beginning the 13th century, Georgia was commanding a political authority recognized by both the Christian West and the Muslim East.
Georgia’s military successes alarmed the Islamic world. Sultan Rukn al-Din was certain that a united Muslim force could definitively decide the issue of power in the region, and he marched on Georgia around the year 1203, commanding an enormous army.
Having encamped near Basiani, Rukn al-Din sent a messenger to Queen Tamar with an audacious demand: to surrender without a fight. In reward for her obedience, the sultan promised to marry her on the condition that she embrace Islam; if Tamar were to cleave to Christianity, he would number her among the other unfortunate concubines in his harem. When the messenger relayed the sultan’s demand, a certain nobleman, Zakaria Mkhargrdzelidze, was so outraged that he slapped him on the face, knocking him unconscious.
At Queen Tamar’s command, the court generously bestowed gifts upon the ambassador and sent him away with a Georgian envoy and a letter of reply. “Your proposal takes into consideration your wealth and the vastness of your armies, but fails to account for divine judgment,” Tamar wrote, “while I place my trust not in any army or worldly thing but in the right hand of the Almighty God and the infinite aid of the Cross, which you curse. The will of God—and not your own—shall be fulfilled, and the judgment of God—and not your judgment—shall reign!”
The Georgian soldiers were summoned without delay. Queen Tamar prayed for victory before the Vardzia Icon of the Theotokos, then, barefoot, led her army to the gates of the city.
Hoping in the Lord and the fervent prayers of Queen Tamar, the Georgian army marched toward Basiani. The enemy was routed. The victory at Basiani was an enormous event not only for Georgia, but for the entire Christian world.
The military victories increased Queen Tamar’s faith. In the daytime she shone in all her royal finery and wisely administered the affairs of the government; during the night, on bended knees, she beseeched the Lord tearfully to strengthen the Georgian Church. She busied herself with needlework and distributed her embroidery to the poor.
Once, exhausted from her prayers and needlework, Tamar dozed off and saw a vision. Entering a luxuriously furnished home, she saw a gold throne studded with jewels, and she turned to approach it, but was suddenly stopped by an old man crowned with a halo. “Who is more worthy than I to receive such a glorious throne?” Queen Tamar asked him.
He answered her, saying, “This throne is intended for your maidservant, who sewed vestments for twelve priests with her own hands. You are already the possessor of great treasure in this world.” And he pointed her in a different direction.
Having awakened, Holy Queen Tamar immediately took to her work and with her own hands sewed vestments for twelve priests.
History has preserved another poignant episode from Queen Tamar’s life: Once she was preparing to attend a festal Liturgy in Gelati, and she fastened precious rubies to the belt around her waist. Soon after she was told that a beggar outside the monastery tower was asking for alms, and she ordered her entourage to wait. Having finished dressing, she went out to the tower but found no one there. Terribly distressed, she reproached herself for having denied the poor and thus denying Christ Himself. Immediately she removed her belt, the cause of her temptation, and presented it as an offering to the Gelati Icon of the Theotokos.
During Queen Tamar’s reign a veritable monastic city was carved in the rocks of Vardzia, and the God-fearing Georgian ruler would labor there during the Great Fast. The churches of Pitareti, Kvabtakhevi, Betania, and many others were also built at that time. Holy Queen Tamar generously endowed the churches and monasteries not only on Georgian territory but also outside her borders: in Palestine, Cyprus, Mt. Sinai, the Black Mountains, Greece, Mt. Athos, Petritsoni (Bulgaria), Macedonia, Thrace, Romania, Isauria and Constantinople. The divinely guided Queen Tamar abolished the death penalty and all forms of bodily torture.
A regular, secret observance of a strict ascetic regime—fasting, a stone bed, and litanies chanted in bare feet—finally took its toll on Queen Tamar’s health. For a long time she refrained from speaking to anyone about her condition, but when the pain became unbearable she finally sought help. The best physicians of the time were unable to diagnose her illness, and all of Georgia was seized with fear of disaster. Everyone from the small to the great prayed fervently for Georgia’s ruler and defender. The people were prepared to offer not only their own lives, but even the lives of their children, for the sake of their beloved ruler.
God sent Tamar a sign when He was ready to receive her into His Kingdom. Then the pious ruler bade farewell to her court and turned in prayer to an icon of Christ and the Life-giving Cross: “Lord Jesus Christ! Omnipotent Master of heaven and earth! To Thee I deliver the nation and people that were entrusted to my care and purchased by Thy Precious Blood, the children whom Thou didst bestow upon me, and to Thee I surrender my soul, O Lord!”
The burial place of Queen Tamar has remained a mystery to this day. Some sources claim that her tomb is in Gelati, in a branch of burial vaults belonging to the Bagrationi dynasty, while others argue that her holy relics are preserved in a vault at the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem.
The Holy Nobleborn Empress of Gruzia (Georgia) Tamara the Great
Commemorated on the Sunday of Myrrh-Bearing Women and May 1
St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women in addition to her regular commemoration on May 1. In 1166 a daughter, Tamar, was born to King George III (1155–1184) and Queen Burdukhan of Georgia. The king proclaimed that he would share the throne with his daughter from the day she turned twelve years of age. The royal court unanimously vowed its allegiance and service to Tamar, and father and daughter ruled the country together for five years. After King George’s death in 1184, the nobility recognized the young Tamar as the sole ruler of all Georgia. Queen Tamar was enthroned as ruler of all Georgia at the age of eighteen. She is called “King” in the Georgian language because her father had no male heir and so she ruled as a monarch and not as a consort.
At the beginning of her reign, Tamar convened a Church council and addressed the clergy with wisdom and humility: “Judge according to righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil,” she advised. “Begin with me—if I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by upbringing and I by education will care for those souls whom God has entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, in order to escape eternal condemnation.… You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.”
The Church and the royal court chose a suitor for Tamar: Yuri, the son of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal (in Georgia Yuri was known as “George the Russian”). The handsome George Rusi was a valiant soldier, and under his command the Georgians returned victorious from many battles. His marriage to Tamar, however, exposed many of the coarser sides of his character. He was often drunk and inclined toward immoral deeds. In the end, Tamar’s court sent him away from Georgia to Constantinople, armed with a generous recompense. Many Middle Eastern rulers were drawn to Queen Tamar’s beauty and desired to marry her, but she rejected them all. Finally at the insistence of her court, she agreed to wed a second time to ensure the preservation of the dynasty. This time, however, she asked her aunt and nurse Rusudan (the sister of King George III) to find her a suitor. The man she chose, Davit-Soslan Bagrationi, was the son of the Ossetian ruler and a descendant of King George I (1014–1027).
In 1195 a joint Muslim military campaign against Georgia was planned under the leadership of Atabeg (a military commander) Abu Bakr of Persian Azerbaijan. At Queen Tamar’s command, a call to arms was issued. The faithful were instructed by Metropolitan Anton of Chqondidi to celebrate All-night Vigils and Liturgies and to generously distribute alms so that the poor could rest from their labors in order to pray. In ten days the army was prepared, and Queen Tamar addressed the Georgian soldiers for the last time before the battle began. “My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before the multitude of enemies, for God is with us.… Trust God alone, turn your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the Cross of Christ and in the Most Holy Theotokos!” she exhorted them.
Having taken off her shoes, Queen Tamar climbed the hill to the Metekhi Church of the Theotokos (in Tbilisi) and knelt before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. She prayed without ceasing until the good news arrived: the battle near Shamkori had ended in the unquestionable victory of the Orthodox Georgian army.
After this initial victory the Georgian army launched into a series of triumphs over the Turks, and neighboring countries began to regard Georgia as the protector of the entire Transcaucasus. By the beginning the 13th century, Georgia was commanding a political authority recognized by both the Christian West and the Muslim East.
Georgia’s military successes alarmed the Islamic world. Sultan Rukn al-Din was certain that a united Muslim force could definitively decide the issue of power in the region, and he marched on Georgia around the year 1203, commanding an enormous army.
Having encamped near Basiani, Rukn al-Din sent a messenger to Queen Tamar with an audacious demand: to surrender without a fight. In reward for her obedience, the sultan promised to marry her on the condition that she embrace Islam; if Tamar were to cleave to Christianity, he would number her among the other unfortunate concubines in his harem. When the messenger relayed the sultan’s demand, a certain nobleman, Zakaria Mkhargrdzelidze, was so outraged that he slapped him on the face, knocking him unconscious.
At Queen Tamar’s command, the court generously bestowed gifts upon the ambassador and sent him away with a Georgian envoy and a letter of reply. “Your proposal takes into consideration your wealth and the vastness of your armies, but fails to account for divine judgment,” Tamar wrote, “while I place my trust not in any army or worldly thing but in the right hand of the Almighty God and the infinite aid of the Cross, which you curse. The will of God—and not your own—shall be fulfilled, and the judgment of God—and not your judgment—shall reign!”
The Georgian soldiers were summoned without delay. Queen Tamar prayed for victory before the Vardzia Icon of the Theotokos, then, barefoot, led her army to the gates of the city.
Hoping in the Lord and the fervent prayers of Queen Tamar, the Georgian army marched toward Basiani. The enemy was routed. The victory at Basiani was an enormous event not only for Georgia, but for the entire Christian world.
The military victories increased Queen Tamar’s faith. In the daytime she shone in all her royal finery and wisely administered the affairs of the government; during the night, on bended knees, she beseeched the Lord tearfully to strengthen the Georgian Church. She busied herself with needlework and distributed her embroidery to the poor.
Once, exhausted from her prayers and needlework, Tamar dozed off and saw a vision. Entering a luxuriously furnished home, she saw a gold throne studded with jewels, and she turned to approach it, but was suddenly stopped by an old man crowned with a halo. “Who is more worthy than I to receive such a glorious throne?” Queen Tamar asked him.
He answered her, saying, “This throne is intended for your maidservant, who sewed vestments for twelve priests with her own hands. You are already the possessor of great treasure in this world.” And he pointed her in a different direction.
Having awakened, Holy Queen Tamar immediately took to her work and with her own hands sewed vestments for twelve priests.
History has preserved another poignant episode from Queen Tamar’s life: Once she was preparing to attend a festal Liturgy in Gelati, and she fastened precious rubies to the belt around her waist. Soon after she was told that a beggar outside the monastery tower was asking for alms, and she ordered her entourage to wait. Having finished dressing, she went out to the tower but found no one there. Terribly distressed, she reproached herself for having denied the poor and thus denying Christ Himself. Immediately she removed her belt, the cause of her temptation, and presented it as an offering to the Gelati Icon of the Theotokos.
During Queen Tamar’s reign a veritable monastic city was carved in the rocks of Vardzia, and the God-fearing Georgian ruler would labor there during the Great Fast. The churches of Pitareti, Kvabtakhevi, Betania, and many others were also built at that time. Holy Queen Tamar generously endowed the churches and monasteries not only on Georgian territory but also outside her borders: in Palestine, Cyprus, Mt. Sinai, the Black Mountains, Greece, Mt. Athos, Petritsoni (Bulgaria), Macedonia, Thrace, Romania, Isauria and Constantinople. The divinely guided Queen Tamar abolished the death penalty and all forms of bodily torture.
A regular, secret observance of a strict ascetic regime—fasting, a stone bed, and litanies chanted in bare feet—finally took its toll on Queen Tamar’s health. For a long time she refrained from speaking to anyone about her condition, but when the pain became unbearable she finally sought help. The best physicians of the time were unable to diagnose her illness, and all of Georgia was seized with fear of disaster. Everyone from the small to the great prayed fervently for Georgia’s ruler and defender. The people were prepared to offer not only their own lives, but even the lives of their children, for the sake of their beloved ruler.
God sent Tamar a sign when He was ready to receive her into His Kingdom. Then the pious ruler bade farewell to her court and turned in prayer to an icon of Christ and the Life-giving Cross: “Lord Jesus Christ! Omnipotent Master of heaven and earth! To Thee I deliver the nation and people that were entrusted to my care and purchased by Thy Precious Blood, the children whom Thou didst bestow upon me, and to Thee I surrender my soul, O Lord!”
The burial place of Queen Tamar has remained a mystery to this day. Some sources claim that her tomb is in Gelati, in a branch of burial vaults belonging to the Bagrationi dynasty, while others argue that her holy relics are preserved in a vault at the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem.
S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑
Hack
This is close to one of the longest posts I have seen
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
Hopefully you read it, and enjoyed it!
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
The Holy Disciples Aristarchus, Pudas and Trophymos
Commemorated on April 15
The Holy Disciples Aristarchus, Pudas and Trophymos were from among the Seventy Disciples, whom the Lord Jesus Christ had sent before him with the good-news of the Gospel (Lk. 10: 1-24).
The holy Disciple Aristarchus, a co-worker of the holy Apostle Paul, became bishop of the Syrian city of Apameia. His name is repeatedly mentioned in the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles (Acts 19: 29, 20: 4, 27: 2) and in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul (Col. 4: 10, Philemon 1: 24).
The holy Disciple Pudas is mentioned in the 2nd Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy (2 Tim. 4: 21). He occupied high position as a member of the Roman Senate. At his home the saint took in the First-Ranked Apostles Peter and Paul, and believing Christians gathered. His house was converted into a church, receiving the name "Pastorum". In it, according to tradition, the holy Apostle Peter himself served as priest.
The holy Disciple Trophymos hailed from the city of Edessa. His name is mentioned in the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles (Acts 20: 4) and in the 2nd Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy (2 Tim. 4: 20). He was a student and companion of the holy Apostle Paul, sharing with him all the sorrows and persecution.
All these three holy disciples accepted a martyr's death at Rome under the emperor Nero (54-68), concurrent with that of the Apostle Paul
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
The Il'insk-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God
Commemorated on April 16
The Il'insk-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God was written in the year 1658 by the iconographer Grigorii Konstantinovich Dubensky, – in monasticism Gennadii. In 1662 over the course of 8 days, from 16 to 24 April, tears flowed from the icon. In this same year Tatars descended upon Chernigov and devastated it. At midnight they burst into the Trinity monastery, went into the church, overturned all the icons and grabbed all the utensils, – but the wonderworking icon with its adornment remained untouched. An invisible power held back the impious from the holy icon. The Queen of Heaven likewise once had not permitted, that the enemy should enter into the cave of the Monk Antonii of Pechersk, where the brethren of the monastery had hidden. As though terrified by an incomprehensible vision, the Tatars turned to flight.
The miracle of the Mother of God from Her Chernigov Icon was described by Sainted Dimitrii of Rostov (Comm. 28 October and 21 September), in his book, "The Moistened Fleece" ("Runo Oroshennoe"). Later on Sainted John of Tobol'sk (+ 1715, Comm. 10 June) also wrote about the Chernigov Icon. A wonderworking copy of the Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God, situated in the Gethsemane skete-hermitage of the Trinity-Sergiev Lavra, was glorified in the year 1869 (account is under 1 September).
The Tambov Icon of the Mother of God
Commemorated on April 16, July 28
The Tambov Icon of the Mother of God was manifest in the year 1692. Before its glorification it was situated in the Tambov cemetery church in the name of the holy ArchDeacon Stephen. The icon was taken from the cemetery at the request of a certain seriously ill person. It had been revealed to him in a dream, that he would be healed, if a molieben were served before this icon. After fervent prayer of a molieben for the sick, he was healed. The celebration of the icon was established by decree of the Most Holy Synod on 29 March 1888.
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Deleted member 49003
Guest
This has the~kid MLB thread vibes
Monkey Man
Super Moderator
Staff member
Only difference is prolly more peeps are reading it. 
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
Glad to see you back, and thank you for the encouragement. I'm creating an abbreviated synaxarion of a sort for myself, and the forum to enjoy. Lord bless.
The Monk Zosima, Hegumen of Solovetsk
Commemorated on April 17
The Monk Zosima, Hegumen of Solovetsk, – a great luminary of the Russian North, was the founder of monastic common-life on Solovetsk Island. He was born in Novgorod diocese, in the village of Tolvui near Lake Onega. From his early years he was raised in piety, and after the death of his parents Gavriil and Varvara he gave away his possessions and accepted monastic tonsure.
In search of a solitary place the monk set off to the shores of the White Sea and at the mouth of the Suma he met the Monk German (Comm. 30 July), who told him about a desolate sea island, where formerly he had spent six years with the Monk Savvatii (Comm. 27 September).
In about the year 1436 the hermits, felicitously having made the sea voyage, landed at the Solovetsk islands. God blessed the place of their settlement with a vision to the Monk Zosima of a beautiful church in the sky. The monks with their own hands built cells and an enclosure, and they began to cultivate and sow the land. One time in late Autumn the Monk German set off to the mainland for necessary provisions. Because of the Autumn weather he was not able to return. The Monk Zosima remained all Winter alone on the island. He suffered many a temptation in struggle with the devils. Death by starvation threatened him, but miraculously two strangers having appeared left him a supply of bread, flour and oil. In Spring the Monk German returned to Solovetsk together with the fisherman Mark, and he brought supplies of food and rigging-tackle for fish nets.
When several hermits had gathered on the island, the Monk Zosima constructed for them a small wooden church in honour of the Transfiguration (Preobrazhenie) of the Lord, together with a refectory. At the request of the Monk Zosima, an hegumen was sent from Novgorod to the newly formed monastery with antimins for the church. Thus occurred the start of the reknown Solovetsk monastery. In the severe conditions of the remote island the monks knew how to arrange their economy. But the hegumens, sent from Novgorod to Solovetsk, could not withstand life in the unwontedly harsh conditions, and so the brethren chose as hegumen the Monk Zosima.
The Monk Zosima concerned himself with the building up of the inner life of the monastery, and he introduced a strict life-in-common. In 1465 he transferred to Solovetsk from the River Vyg the relics of the Monk Savvatii. The monastery suffered vexation from the Novgorod boyars (nobles), who confiscated catches of fish from the monks. The monk was obliged to set off for Novgorod and seek the protection of the archbishop. On the advice of the archbishop, he made the rounds of homes of the boyars and requested them not to allow the ruin of the monastery. The influential and rich boyarina Martha Boretskaya impiously gave orders to throw out the Monk Zosima, but then repented her action and invited him to a meal, during the time of which he suddenly beheld, that six of the illustrious boyars sat without their heads. The Monk Zosima told about this vision to his disciple Daniel and predicted for the boyars an immanent death. The prediction was fulfilled in the year 1478, when during the taking of Novgorod by Ivan III (1462-1505) the boyars were executed.
Shortly before death the monk prepared himself a grave, in which he was buried beyond the altar of the Transfiguration church (+ 17 April 1478). Later on, over his relics was built a chapel. His relics together with the relics of the Monk Savvatii were transferred on 8 August 1566 into a chapel consecrated in their memory at the Transfiguration cathedral.
Many a miracle was witnessed to, when the Monk Zosima with the Monk Savvatii appeared to fishermen perishing in the depths of the sea. The Monk Zosima is likewise a patron of bee-keeping and preserver of bee-hives, and to him is even bestown the title "Bee-keeper" ("Pchel'nik"). To the Monk Zosima often hasten those in sickness. The many hospital churches dedicated to him testify to the great curative power of his prayer before God.
Monkey Man
Super Moderator
Staff member
What a low-tier response brother; I wouldn't be proud of that.
Just sayin' and speaking for myself of course.
I'm sure 99% of atheists would agree with your post and I understand that.
Just sayin' and speaking for myself of course.
I'm sure 99% of atheists would agree with your post and I understand that.
Monkey Man
Super Moderator
Staff member
Oh, and it'd be polite to help VB keep this thread clean; its purpose is clear.
JDs Couch
Well-known member
Anyway, I'll delete those posts out of respect for MM only.
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Deleted member 49003
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Not really sure if this relates to the thread but all of these posts remind me of this.