The Great Virgin Martyr and Equal to the Apostles, Irene (May 5), although locked away in a tower so that she wouldn't be exposed to Christianity, was led to the faith by her personal tutor. Her zeal and suffering converted thousands, including her own father, a governor who tried to have her killed for her faith in Christ. He would himself come to the faith by her prayers. Even after being beheaded, St Irene continued preaching Christ—having been raised up by an angel. A local king, seeing her alive and hearing her preach, was baptized with many of his subjects.

"Be radiant, O pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your Son!"

The Angel cried to the Lady, full of grace:
Rejoice, O pure Virgin! Again, I say: Rejoice, your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb!
With Himself He has raised all the dead. Rejoice, O ye people!
Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem!
The glory of the Lord has shone on you.
Exult now, and be glad, O Zion!
Be radiant, O pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your Son!

If you left the Church to get away from hypocritical people, you should also quit your job, drop out of school, disconnect yourself from all your friends and family, and lock yourself in your room.

Or, you can see the Church for what she is: a hospital for wounded people, like you. There you are a patient as well as a practitioner. There are flaws wherever there are humans. Go for healing, but be a healer of messed up people who are sometimes rude, obnoxious and conniving in the throes of their diseases. Just like you.

Allow God's grace to transform you day by day, and to treat those who are yet being transformed with care, love and kindness.

Pray for your priest.

Have you lost your many possessions, experienced the tragic death of your sons and daughters? Are you gravely sick and your whole body covered with sores from top to toe? Are you laying on a rubbish heap, scouring your boils with shards broken pottery? You are now beginning to experience the trials of the Holy, Righteous and Long-suffering Job (May 6/ May 19), descendant of Esau the grandson of Abraham.

In all of these horrific experiences, Job did not complain of God, but patiently endured all his sufferings to the end. Therefore the Lord healed him and blessed the rest of his very long life with abundance.

Our own full healing will not come in this life, but in the meantime, we are not alone. Holy St Job is our model of patient endurance of every suffering that God sends us, and is a type of the suffering Christ.

“You enlightened the world by your perseverance, much-afflicted Job. Therefore, we all honor and praise your divinely-wise memory." --from Kontakion, Tone 8

Saint-a-day tunnel!

A pedestrian tunnel connects the main road and a wooden church dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helen (May 21/ June 3) in the mountain resort area of Straja, Romania. It features icons of 365 saints, one for each day of the year.

On May 7 (May 20) of 351, the Precious Cross appeared in the sky over Jerusalem This wondrous sign, which lasted for a whole week, came amidst the turmoil of the Arian heresy. The appearance of the glorious cross strengthened the Orthodox faithful, converted multitudes, and caused the return of many Arians to the Church.

St Cyril of Jerusalem was an eyewitness to the miracle, writing: "On the nones [or 7th] of May, about the third hour [or nine in the morning], a vast luminous body, in the form of a Cross, appeared in the heavens, just over the holy Golgotha, reaching as far as the holy Mount of Olives, seen not by one or two persons, but clearly and evidently by the whole city. This was not, as may be thought, a momentary transient phenomenon: for it continued several hours visible to our eyes, and brighter than the sun, the light of which would have eclipsed it, had not this been stronger.

The whole city, struck with a reverential fear, tempered with joy, ran immediately to the church, young and old, Christians and heathens, citizens and strangers, all with one voice giving praise to our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the worker of miracles; finding by experience the truth of the Christian doctrine, to which the heavens bear witness."

Apolytikion in the First Tone:

"The image of Thy Cross at this time shone brighter than the sun, when Thou didst spread it out from the holy Mount of Olives to Calvary; and in making plain Thy might which is therein, O Savior, Thou didst also thereby strengthen the faithful. Keep us always in peace, by the intercessions of the Theotokos, O Christ our God, and save us."

This is a time to reflect on the glorious Second Coming of Christ, when “the sign of the Son of man shall appear in heaven (Matthew 24:30).

In 1891 and 1892, St Alexis Toth (May 7/ May 20) and 361 of the Uniate parish, St. Mary's, Minneapolis, were received into the Orthodox Church of their ancestors.

The efforts of Fr Alexis were instrumental in leading 20,000 Unia immigrants in the U.S. to return home to Orthodoxy.

We hymn this confessor and defender of Orthodoxy in America:

"A worthy shepherd of the Flock of Christ.
He called back the sheep who had been led astray
And brought them by his preaching
To the Heavenly Kingdom!"

When the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian was more than one hundred years old, he took seven of his disciples to a spot outside the city of Ephesus. There he told them to dig a grave in the form of a cross. Then he climbed into the grave and told his disciples to cover him with earth. When they had buried him up to his neck, he said: "Bring a linen cloth and place it on my face, then kiss me again for the last time, because you shall not see me anymore in this life."

Later, they returned and opened the grave, but the Saint's body was not there. Each year on May 8 (May 21) a red dust would arise from the grave which the faithful collected in order to be healed of their illnesses.

Although the main Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian is on Sept 26 (Oct 9), the Church also commemorates the Apostle on May 8 to mark the annual pilgrimage to his grave.

Love your Mother. Happy Mother's Day.

Best Football Chant Ever
ХристосХристос Воскресе! Воистину воскресе!

“An explanation of how repentant sinners are to be freed from their sins is given through the prophet Isaiah [May 9/ May 22] in the words: ‘Wash yourselves and be clean. Remove the evil from your souls; learn to do what is right. Be just to the orphan, vindicate the widow.’”

☦️St Justin Martyr

St Prophet Isaiah prophesied in marvellous detail the coming of the Messiah, Christ the Saviour. He named the Messiah as God and Man, teacher of all the nations, founder of the Kingdom of God. By his clear foretelling of Christ the Savior, the Prophet Isaiah is rightly called an Old Testament Evangelist. St Isaiah foretold the birth of the Messiah from a Virgin, and with particular clarity he describes the suffering of Christ for the sins of the world, the One “wounded for our sins and tortured for our transgressions. “ By these same “wounds we were healed....” He foresees Christ’s Resurrection and the universal spreading of His Church.

The holy Prophet Isaiah also had the gift of wonderworking. During a siege of Jerusalem by enemies, the besieged had become exhausted with thirst, he by his prayer drew out from beneath Mount Sion a spring of water, which was called Siloam. It was to this same spring afterwards that the Saviour sent a man blind from birth to wash, restoring his sight. By the prayer of the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord prolonged the life of Hezekiah for 15 years. The Prophet Isaiah died a martyr’s death. By order of the Jewish king Manasseh he was sawn through by a wood-saw. The prophet was buried not far from the Pool of Siloam. The relics of the holy Prophet Isaiah were afterwards transferred by the emperor Theodosius the Younger to Constantinople and installed in the church of St. Laurence at Blachernae. Part of the head of the Prophet Isaiah is preserved in the Hilandar monastery at Mt. Athos.

When the Holy Apostle Simon (May 10/ May 23) saw the Lord, he left his home and parents and bride to follow Christ. St Simon's great and burning zeal for the Saviour and His Gospel earned him the name Simon the Zealot. The Holy Apostle proclaimed the gospel from Britain to the Black Sea. Like his Lord, he suffered death by torture and crucifixion.

"With praise let us all bless Simon, the herald of God, who established the doctrines of wisdom securely in the souls of the pious. Now he stands before the throne of glory, and rejoicing with the angels, he unceasingly prays for us all."