Author: Nicolai Gideon

The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: Venerable John Lestvichnik, Troparion, Tone I —
Thou didst prove to be a freeman of the desert, an angel in a body, and a wonder-worker, O our God – bearing Father John. By fasting, vigil and prayer thou didst obtain heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of those who have recourse to thee with faith. Glory to Him Who gave thee strength, glory to Him Who crowned thee, glory to Him Who works through thee healings for all.

Kontakion, Tone I —
Offering ever-blossoming fruits of learning from thy book, O wise one, thou delightest the hearts of those who study it seriously, O blessed one. For it is a ladder which leads up from the earth to the heavenly and abiding glory souls who with faith honour thee.

Troparion of the Sunday, Tone IV —
When the women disciples of the Lord learned from the angel / the joyous message of Thy resurrection, / they cast away the ancestral curse / and elatedly told the Apostles: / Death is overthrown! / Christ God is risen, / granting the world great mercy!

Hymn to the Theotokos, Tone IV —
The mystery of all eternity, / unknown even by angels, / through you, O Theotokos, is revealed to those on earth: / God incarnate, by union without confusion. / He voluntarily accepted the cross for us, / by which He resurrected the first-created man, / saving our souls from death.

Kontakion of the Sunday, Tone IV —
My Savior and Redeemer as God rose from the tomb and delivered the earthborn from their chains. He has shattered the gates of hell, and as Master, He has risen on the third day!

St. James the Confessor, Bishop of Catania —
No Troparion is given in the Menaion.

Kontakion —
No Kontakion is given in the Menaion.

Adoration of Cross, Troparion, Tone I —
O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.

Kontakion, Tone IV —
O Christ our God, Who wast voluntarily lifted up on the Cross, grant Thy mercies to Thy new people named after Thee. Gladden with Thy power Orthodox Christians and give them victory over their enemies. May they have as an ally that invincible trophy, Thy weapon of peace.

Another Kontakion, Tone VII —
No longer does the flaming sword guard the gate of Eden, for a glorious extinction has come upon it, the wood of the Cross. The sting has been drawn from death and the victory from hell. And Thou, my Saviour, didst come and shout to those in hell: Enter Paradise again.

Troparion of the Sunday, Tone III —
Let the heavens rejoice, / let the earth be glad! / For the Lord has shown might with His arm,/ He has trampled down death by death. / He has become the first-born of the dead. / He has delivered us from the depths of hell, / and has granted the world great mercy!

Hymn to the Theotokos, Tone III —
We praise you as the mediatrix of our salvation, / O Virgin Theotokos. / For your Son, our God, Who took flesh from you, / accepted the passion of the cross, / delivering us from corruption as the Lover of man.

Kontakion of the Sunday, Tone III —
On this day Thou didst rise from the tomb, O Merciful One, / leading us from the gates of death. / On this day Adam exults as Eve rejoices; / with the prophets and patriarchs they unceasingly praise / the divine majesty of Thy power!

St. Benedict —
No Troparion is given in the Menaion.

Kontakion, Tone VI —
Thou wast enriched by the grace of God,/ and by thy deeds didst proclaim thy name./ In prayer and fasting thou wast shown to be full of the gifts of the Spirit of God,/ O Benedict, favorite of Christ God./ And thou hast been a heal er for the infirm,// a repulser of the enemy and the ready helper of our souls.

St. Gregory Palamas, Troparion, Tone VIII—

Light of Orthodoxy, pillar and doctor of the Church, adornment of monks, invincible champion of theologians, O Gregory the wonderworker, praise of Thessalonica, preacher of grace, ever pray that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion, Tone II —

Organ of wisdom, holy and divine, bright clarion of theology, we praise thee in harmony, O divine speaker Gregory: But as a mind standing before the First Mind, direct our mind to Him, father, that we may cry: Rejoice, preacher of grace!

Kontaklon of the Sunday, Tone IV —

Now is the time for action, judgment is at our doors. So let us rise and fast, and let us offer tears of compunction with almsgiving, crying: We have sinned more than the sand of the sea. But forgive us all, O Creator, that we may receive incorruptible crowns.

Troparion of the Sunday, Tone II —

When Thou didst descend to death, O Life immortal, / Thou didst slay hell with the splendor of Thy godhead! / And when from the depths Thou didst raise the dead, / all the powers of heaven cried out: / O Giver of life, Christ our God, glory to Thee!

Hymn to the Theotokos, Tone II —

All beyond thought, all most glorious, / are your mysteries, O Theotokos. / Sealed in purity, preserved in virginity, / you were revealed to be the true Mother who gave birth to the true God. / Entreat Him to save our souls.

Kontakion of the Sunday, Tone II —

Hell became afraid, O Almighty Savior, / seeing the miracle of Thy Resurrection from the tomb! / The dead arose! Creation, with Adam, beheld this and rejoiced with Thee! / And the world, O my Savior, praises Thee forever.

The Hieromartyrs of Cherson —

No Troparion is given in the Menaion.

Kontakion, Tone II “He Who dwelleth in the highest” —

The radiant day of the pastors who were bishops in Cherson/ hath dawned with splendor./ We hymn the feast of those who suffered for the sheep of Christ./ O hieromartyrs, entreat Christ, the chief Shepherd,/ that He honor us with a place with the sheep on His right hand,/ that we may cry aloud to you:// Rejoice, O sacred fathers who shed your blood for Christ!

May our Holy Father among the Saints, Vladika Nikolaj Velimirović pray to God for those who have suffered death by the disaster in Japan.

XXIX

For all the sins of men I repent before You, Most Merciful Lord. Indeed, the seed of all sins flows in my blood! With my effort and Your mercy I choke this wicked crop of weeds day and night, so that no tare may sprout in the field of the Lord, but only pure wheat.¹

I repent for all those who are worried, who stagger under a burden of worries and do not know that they should put all their worries on You. For feeble man even the most minor worry is unbearable, but for You a mountain of worries is like a snowball thrown into a fiery furnace.

I repent for all the sick, for sickness is the fruit of sin. When the soul is cleansed with repentance, sickness disappears with sin, and You, my Eternal Health, take up Your abode in the soul.

I repent for unbelievers, who through their unbelief amass worries and sicknesses both on themselves and on their friends.

I repent for all those who blaspheme God, who blaspheme against You without knowing that they are blaspheming against the Master, who clothes them and feeds them.

I repent for all the slayers of men, who take the life of another to preserve their own. Forgive them, Most Merciful² Lord, for they know not what they do. For they do not know that there are not two lives in the universe, but one, and that there are not two men in the universe, but one. Ah, how dead are those who cut the heart in half!

I repent for all those who bear false witness, for in reality they are homicides and suicides.

For all my brothers who are thieves and who are hoarders of unneeded wealth I weep and sigh, for they have buried their soul and have nothing with which to go forth before You.

For all the arrogant and the boastful I weep and sigh, for before You they are like beggars with empty pockets.

For all drunkards and gluttons I weep and sigh, for they have become servants of their servants.

For all adulterers I repent, for they have betrayed the trust. of the Holy Spirit, who chose them to form new life through them. Instead, they turned serving life into destroying life.

For all gossipers I repent, for they have turned Your most precious gift, the gift of speech, into cheap sand.

For all those who destroy their neighbor’s hearth and home and their neighbor’s peace I repent and sigh, for they bring a curse on themselves and their people.

For all lying tongues, for all suspicious eyes, for all raging hearts, for all insatiable stomachs, for all darkened minds, for all ill will, for all unseemly thoughts, for all murderous emotions–I repent, weep and sigh.

For all the history of mankind from Adam to me, a sinner, I repent; for all history is in my blood. For I am in Adam and Adam is in me.

For all the worlds, large and small, that do not tremble before Your awesome presence, I weep and cry out: O Master Most Merciful, have mercy on me and save me!”

Source: Prayers By the Lake

The ultimate nightmare is when nobody knows who is who.

In contrast – the ultimate peace is when everyone truly knows who is who.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three distinct Persons, One in knowing each other eternally.

In the article “The Phantom Heresy: Did the Council of Ephesus (431) Condemn Chiliasm?”, published at bible.org, by Michael J. Svigel, we find the following quote:

“This teaching [of Augustine] soon became accepted as orthodoxy and has in general been so regarded in both Catholic and Protestant Churches ever since the Council of Ephesus in 431”¹

This a very good example of protestant delusion and twisting their reading of the history books to promote their own diverse² positions.

The reason it is a good example is that there simply didn’t exist a protestant confession of Christian Faith at the time of the Ephesus Council in 431, and the Roman Church, which is referred to here as Catholic, was not the papal institution that we know today.

As such those two institutions referred to here, cannot not in any possible way have accepted or regarded anything “since the Council in 431”, since the Papal Church, in its present constitution, was launched by way of schism in 1054³, just as the protestants did not see the light of day until the early 1500’s, when a runaway monk, Martin Luther, started a campaign against the Roman See, leading to a myriad of schisms from Rome in the churches of north western Europe. Obviously, these people cannot have had any opinion about the council since the time it took place!

Protestants, it seems, tend to read history to validate their own existence.

This is a good example hereof.

Fr. Thomas Hopko has given a lecture on the book “The Abolition of Man” by C.S.Lewis. It has been published on YouTube in several separate videos, and so I’ve tried to connect the dots by making it available from here.

Enjoy

[podcast]http://files.nicolaigideon.dk/podcast/Theology/The_Abolition_of_Man.mp3[/podcast]