St Tikhon’s Monastery to Welcome Pilgrims for the 119th Annual Memorial Day Pilgrimage
https://www.oca.org/news/oca-news/st-tikhons-monastery-to-welcome-pilgrims-for-the-119th-annual-memorial-day-pilgrimage

Saint Michael the Confessor From his youth he longed for the monastic life and was sent by Patriarch Tarasius (784-806) to a monastery on the coast of the Black Sea. Saint Theophylactus (March 8), the future Bishop of Nicomedia also entered the monastery together with him. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/23/101466-saint-michael-the-confessor-bishop-of-synnada

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Orthodox Convert Survey to Close May 29
https://www.oca.org/news/headline-news/orthodox-convert-survey-to-close-may-29

Saint Simeon the Stylite was born in the year 521 in Antioch, Syria of pious parents John and Martha. From her youth Saint Martha (July 4) prepared herself for a life of virginity and longed for monasticism, but her parents insisted that she marry John. After ardent prayer in a church dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner, the future nun was directed in a vision to submit to the will of her parents and enter into marriage. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/24/101502-venerable-simeon-stylites-the-younger-of-wonderful-mountain

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Reflection from His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon on the Leavetaking of Pascha

Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen! Leaving the Paschal feast behind can be a source of sadness, but we must recall the words of the Lord which he told us, his disciples, at the supper on Holy Thursday: “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” The Passion and Resurrection are not an end unto themselves: they are a step toward the Ascension into heaven and the descent of the Spirit on Pentecost. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/reflections/metropolitan-tikhon/reflection-leavetaking-pascha

Jesus did not live with His disciples after His resurrection as He had before His death. Filled with the glory of His divinity, He appeared at different times and places to His people, assuring them that it was He, truly alive in His risen and glorified body. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/ascension1

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Reflection from His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon on the Feast of the Ascension

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.” So says an angel to the disciples as they watch their Lord depart. But we must always remember this departure is not permanent. On the one hand, Christ is with us, even till the end of the age, through the presence of his Spirit within us. On the other hand, the Ascension is in some sense nothing but a foreshadowing of the Second Coming. He departs for a time, until the fullness of the ages, until the fullness of the gentiles are gathered in, until the ark of the Church is filled with its passengers: and then the end will come as he reappears in the same way that he left on that day two thousand years ago.

Saint Carpus was one of the Seventy Apostles chosen and sent forth to preach by Christ (Luke 10:1). He was bishop of Verria in Macedonia.

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Saint Nilus of Stolobensk reposed on December 7, 1554 (see his Life under December 7).

Many years afterwards, hieromonk Germanus came to the island of Lake Seliger, where the holy ascetic had struggled, and immediately after him the hill-dweller and wanderer Boris. They settled together on the island and built a church in honor of the Theophany, with a chapel dedicated to Saint Basil of Moscow (August 2). ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/27/101544-translation-of-the-relics-of-venerable-nilus-of-stolobensk

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Location Announced for 21st All-American Council
https://www.oca.org/news/headline-news/location-announced-for-21st-all-american-council
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Saint Nikḗtas, Bishop of Chalcedon, lived during the second half of the eighth century. For his God-pleasing life he was consecrated as Bishop of Chalcedon. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/28/101553-saint-niketas-bishop-of-chalcedon

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Reflection from His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon on the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Council

The holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council are likened to the three-hundred and eighteen trained men of his house whom Abraham led out on a mission to rescue his nephew Lot when Lot was captured by a foreign king. This image should underscore for us the fact that Orthodox doctrine is a serious matter. Those who are led astray by false doctrines are held in the enemy’s clutches—but this enemy, the enemy of our souls, is far more dangerous than any human ruler or army. Faith, morals, practice, worship: these are not matters of indifference, but of spiritual life or death. And yet, adherence to Orthodoxy in our beliefs and actions, though necessary, is not sufficient. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/reflections/metropolitan-tikhon/reflection-sunday-fathers-first-council

May God grant His Eminence Archbishop Alejo of Mexico City and the Diocese of Mexico many years on the occasion of the anniversary of his consecration to the episcopacy!
Eis polla eti despota!!
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Texts for Liturgical Services: July 15
https://www.oca.org/liturgics/service-texts
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Saint Theodosίa of Tyre lived during the III and IV centuries. Once, during a persecution against Christians, which had already lasted for five years, the seventeen-year-old Theodosίa visited some condemned Christian prisoners in the Praetorium at Caesarea in Palestine. It was the day of Holy Pascha, and the Martyrs were speaking about the Kingdom of God. Saint Theodosίa asked them to remember her when they appeared before the Lord. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/29/107796-virgin-martyr-theodosia-of-tyre

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Saint Isaac lived during the IV century, received the monastic tonsure and pursued ascetic labors in the desert. During the reign of Emperor Valens (364-378), a zealous adherent of the Arian heresy, there was a persecution of the Orthodox, and churches were closed and destroyed. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/30/101566-venerable-isaac-founder-of-the-dalmatian-monastery-at-constantin

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May Matushka Helen's memory be eternal!
https://www.oca.org/in-memoriam/matushka-helen-pogrebniak
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The Holy Apostle Hermas was a bishop in Philippopolis, Thrace. He was a Greek, but he spent some time in Rome. The holy Apostle Paul greets him in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16:14). The Apostle Hermas endured much grief from the pagans for preaching the Gospel, but he died in peace. ...

Read more here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/05/31/101567-apostle-hermas-of-the-seventy

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Grants Available to Further the Mission of Orthodoxy
https://www.oca.org/news/headline-news/grants-available-to-further-the-mission-of-orthodoxy

His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon Presides at 119th Annual Memorial Day Pilgrimage https://www.oca.org/news/headline-news/his-beatitude-metropolitan-tikhon-presides-at-119th-annual-memorial-day-pilgrimage