So I went to Church today for Othros (also known as Matins, the liturgical prayers said/sung before the Divine Liturgy), and since I'm in the choir I was all ready to stand with Regina in the choir. Regina is this wonderful older lady who's been going to the same Antiochian Orthodox Church for the last 61 years! Anyways, my Spiritual Father, Father Terry, stops me as I'm headed behind the iconostasis to grab my cassock. He says I'm not going to be singing in choir today- I'm going to be an altar server!

I was incredibly excited, but also incredibly nervous since I never served at altar before. Luckily, my priest is incredibly patient and helped guide me throughout, and the Subdeacon (who also was my sponsor when I was Chrismated) likewise helped me. I lit the charcoal for the censer, got the priest his cape (I think it's called a stole), and even got to carry the staff with the cross on it during procession. The best part was holding the candle on the stand while Father Terry gave out communion. I know I probably sound like a giddy twelve year old boy right now rather than a thirty-five year old man, but I can't help it, it was just such an amazing experience.

It's funny what we do to some Saints. We turn Saint Nicholas of Myra into Santa Claus, we turn the feast day of Saint Patrick into an excuse to drink, and as for the Holy Martyr Saint Valentine, all we think of when we hear St. Valentine is flowers, chocolates, Cupids, Valentines Day card and romance.

The funny thing is, the real Saint Valentine had nothing whatsoever to do with any of those things.

St. Valentine was born in or near Rome some time during the third century, AD. He may have been a Roman nobleman, but some traditions say he may have been a doctor or possibly even have run a shop near the forum. He was a Christian during the days of the Christian persecutions, and according to legend he cut hearts out of parchment and had them sent secretly to the Christians in the prisons in order to encourage them.

During the reign of Emperor Claudius, an edict was issued forbidding Roman Soldiers to marry. The Emperor believed that married men would be less willing to go off and die if need be in battle than men who were not tied down and would be more loyal to their wives and family than to him. Saint Valentine went out at night in secret and performed weddings for the soldiers, in defiance of the Emperor. He was arrested for his activities and thrown into prison. He was brought before Claudius and ordered to explain his actions, whereupon he greatly impressed both the Emperor and those with him in his defense of the faith. When, however, he then tried to convert Claudius, he went too far. Thrown back into prison, he was threatened with torture and death if he didn't deny his faith. Eventually, he was turned over to a trusted lieutenant of Claudius named Asterius. The idea being that perhaps seeing how easy life could be if he gave up his faith would get him to change his mind.

Asterius had a blind daughter. He'd brought her to the Shrine of Apollo the Healer and to many physicians and healers trying to have her sight restored. Saint Valentine asked if he could pray to Christ for the girl. Asterius felt it to be foolish (If Apollo couldn't cure her, how could Christ?), but he consented to allow St. Valentine to pray over her. He did so, and by a miracle of God her sight was restored. Asterius was converted, and St. Valentine baptized him, his daughter and all his household. This so enraged Claudius that he immediately ordered that Asterius, his daughter, and St. Valentine be put to death. St. Valentine was martyred Feb. 14, 270 AD.

St. Valentine gave his life in the defense of the Sanctity of Marriage and the truth of the Christian faith. It's sad that we get none of that on his feast day, at least not in the secular world. This Valentines day, try to take a moment to remember the Saint behind the Valentines Day cards and flowers.

I'm a former Irish Catholic, and I'm now an Antiochian Orthodox Christian. I have become fascinated, however, by a book called "Father Arseny, 1893-1973" all about a Russian Priest sent to the gulags by the Soviet authorities for his faith. I knew that the Soviet Union was hostile towards the Russian Orthodox Church, but like most Westerners I had no clue as to how terrible it was. People would have to hide their icons on the back sides of family photos or wall paintings in order to hide them from the authorities who could come to their homes at any time to inspect, and children were taught to turn in their parents and grandparents if they saw them engaged in subversive activities such as praying. Since the fall of communism it has come to light that during Stalin's reign alone, 600 Bishops, 40,000 Priests and 120,000 Monks and Nuns were systematically put to death.

In honor of all those Christians who suffered and died for their fate behind the Iron Curtain, here are two very short clips to testify to what they went through. The first is a rare film of the destruction of a church by Soviet Authorities under Stalin.


The second one is very short, only 11 seconds of silent film, but it is equally poignant as it shows three Priests being led off by Soviet Soldiers after the Bolshevik Revolution.


We have no idea, NO IDEA, how fortunate we are to be living in the US where religious freedom is protected.

From the Orthodoxy livejournal page:


I just thought I'd share this with anyone reading. Please keep Deacon Matthew and Reader Constantine in your prayers, as well as all the victims in Haiti.

Lyrics:

Refrain: O Rejoice Bride unwedded.
O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos. (Refrain)
O fleece bedewed with every grace. O Virgin Queen and Mother.(Refrain)
More radiant that the rays of the sun, and higher than the heavens. (Refrain)
O joy of virgin choruses, superior to the angels. (Refrain)
O brighter than the firmament and purer that the sun's light. (Refrain)
More holy than the multitude of all the heavenly armies. (Refrain)



O ever virgin Mary of all the world, the Lady.(Refrain)
O Bride all pure immaculate, O Lady Panagia. (Refrain)
O Mary Bride and Queen of all, the cause of our rejoicing. (Refrain)
O noble Maiden, gracious Queen,
supremely holy Mother. (Refrain)
More honored than the Cherubim,
beyond compare more glorious(Refrain)
Than the unbodied Seraphim, transcending the angelic Thrones. (Refrain)

Rejoice, the song of Cherubim rejoice,
the hymn of angels
Rejoice the ode of Seraphim; the joy of the archangels.
Rejoice, O peace and happiness and cause of our rejoicing.
O sacred chamber of the Word, the flower of incorruption.
Rejoice, delightful Paradise of blessed life eternal.
Rejoice O sacred Tree of life and fount of immortality.

I supplicate you, Lady now, I fervently entreat you.
O Queen of all, I earnestly implore and seek your favor.
O gracious Maiden, spotless one, O Lady Panagia.
I call upon you ardently , O holy hallowed Temple.
O help me and deliver me protect me rom the enemy.
And make me an inheritor of blessed life eternal.

Some monks once went to Abba Agathon of Thebaid, a disciple of St. Pimen, and asked him the following question; "Amongst all good works, which is the value which requires the greatest effort?"

"Forgive me," he answered, "But I think there is no labor greater than that of prayer to God. For every time man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey. Whatever good work a man undertakes, if he perseveres in it, he will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath."

This story, which appears in my "Old Orthodox Prayer Book" and which was quoted from a book of sayings of the Desert Fathers, I've found from personal experience to be true. It's no effort at all to catch my favorite TV program, or read a book, or do any number of other fun activities. But when comes to prayer, to my morning and evening prayers in particular, it's often a great struggle. My back and calves ache from standing in one spot and from the bowing involved in Orthodox prayer, I'm constantly catching my mind wandering, and I have to fight to keep my mind focused on my God, and honestly when I wake up in the morning I'm still groggy, and at night after a long days work unloading trucks I just want to crask, not spend the next twenty minutes reading the prescribed prayers from out of the Jordanville Prayerbook or the Old Orthodox Prayer Book.

That being said, I've noticed that the more you do it, the more you force yourself against nature to stand before an icon and pray to God and His Saints, the easier it gets. It never becomes easy, it becomes easier. I'm starting to learn that it's a bit like exercise- you have to train yourself to do it. That being said, those rare moments when you're completely focused and you can feel yourself in the Divine Presence, and it's those rare moments that keep me going.

When I as a Roman Catholic first encountered Eastern Orthodoxy, I noticed that they did the sign of the cross differently than I was used to. They did it "backwords," i.e. from right to left instead of from left to right. I now understand that there is an important reason for this. The sign of the cross is actually a summary of the Apostles Creed. I thought it was kind of cool, so I thought I'd share it here for anyone interested. Some of this is from what I was taught in my catechetical classes, and some is from the "Old Orthodox Prayer Book."

Starting with the hand posture, the thumb touches the index and middle finger, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. The other two fingers, the ring finger and the pinky, are folded down together into the palm, symbolizing Christ's twin natures of humanity and divinity, and his condescention of coming down from Heaven to Earth.

Placing the hand to the forehead, you're confessing that "He Who is our one true and eternal Head gave Himself as head over all Churches, that is, over His body." Next you touch the belly, confessing Christ's descent to earth. It also is a confession of Christ's incarnation within the womb of the Theotokos Mary, the belly symbolizing God's womb and at the same time the belly button symbolizing the cave or manger in which He was delivered. The hand then goes to the right shoulder, for Christ now sits at the right hand of God the Father. Finally, the hand goes to the left shoulder, symbolizing that Christ will come again and that He will render eternal punishment to those on His left but everlasting life to those on His right. Said with the words "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen," the Christian who crosses him or herself has just performed a sort of Cliff Notes version of the Apostles Creed.

The Russian Old Believers use a different hand gesture- thumb to the ring finger and pinky to symbolize the Holy Trinity, and the index and middle finger upright together, with the middle finger slightly bent. Again, the two fingers together symbolize Christ's two natures, but the bent biddle finger symbolizes the fact that Christ "bowed the Heavens and came down to Earth and became man for our salvation."

Anyways, just thought I'd share that, because it's stuff I never knew and that I think is kinda cool. 'Till next time ^_-

There is so much new age junk out there about the angels, that I felt it important to post the actual Orthodox teachings on the angels. My patron saint is St. Raphael the Archangel, so I have a special love and devotion to all the angels. Enjoy ^_^

Church Slavonic is a liturgical language you don't hear much anymore. I guess the closest equivalent would be Latin in the Western Churches, which was once a near universal language but is now only heard in a few Traditionalist Catcolic churches. Church Slavonic was used in Russia, Serbia and many other parts of Eastern Europe, but is today far more infrequent as Liturgies are said in current vernaculars.