Archive for the ‘Christianity’ Category

Short history on how 8 of March Woman International Day (IWD) made up feast replaced the Real Woman Day celebrated on the Christian feast of Annunciation

Wednesday, March 8th, 2023

International Woman's day short history - 8 of march beautiful flowers - Triumph of Woman
International Woman's Day was first observed in 1911, by more than a million people around the world.
​Today is therefore the centennial observance, which is being celebrated with events in more than 100 countries, including Israel.

The International Woman Day (IWD) or the Triumph of Women has been growing as a great day to celebrate the achievemts of woman in history and their significance but most people know little or near nothing regarding that feast, that was disguised by the free world as it was connected to Communist countries of the United States of Soviet Republic (USSR) and today's People's Republic of China and Vietnam and only in 1975 accepted to be the International Woman Day be the United Nations.

Origin of 8 of March Woman's day

The earliest reported Women's Day observance, called "National Woman's Day", was held on February 28, 1909, in New York City, organized by the Socialist Party of America[14] at the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel.There have been claims that the day was commemorating a protest by women garment workers in New York on March 8, 1857, but researchers have alleged this to be a myth intended to detach International Women's Day from its socialist origin.

In August 1910, an International Socialist Women's Conference was organized ahead of the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, what made history for the modern celebration of International Women's Day, according to the ILO, was the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City on March 25, 1911, which killed 146 young workers, most of whom were immigrants.
Inspired in part by the American socialists, German delegates Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker, Paula Thiede, and others proposed the establishment of an annual "Women's Day", although no date was specified. The 100 delegates, representing 17 countries, agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights, including women's suffrage.
 
The following year, on March 19, 1911, the first International Women's Day was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In Austria-Hungary alone, there were 300 demonstrations,with women parading on the Ringstrasse in Vienna, carrying banners honoring the martyrs of the Paris Commune. Across Europe, women demanded the right to vote and to hold public office, and protested against employment sex discrimination.
IWD initially had no set date, though it was generally celebrated in late February or early March. Americans continued to observe "National Women's Day" on the last Sunday in February, while Russia observed International Women's Day for the first time in 1913, on the last Saturday in February (albeit based on the Julian calendar, as in the Gregorian calendar, the date was March 8).

In 1914, International Women's Day was held on March 8 for the first time in Germany, possibly because that date was a Sunday. As elsewhere, Germany's observance was dedicated to women's right to vote, which German women did not win until 1918. Concurrently, there was a march in London in support of women's suffrage, during which Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in front of Charing Cross station on her way to speak in Trafalgar Square.

8 of March in Modern Times the socialist faux for Annunciation

However as the Soviet system of USSR collapsed in the 1992, the feast started to take heet among other Western countries quickly, now to the point that even some country regions in Western europe do celebrate 8 of March in some kind of a form, today it is under some form celebrated or marked to more than 100+ countries.

The feast started originally in America (United States) on 27 February 1909 in New Year and has walked its way until it become official with many turmoils, public strikes of woman and woman rage. A key

What has to be said is 8 of March has been a Public feast of Great importance among all the countries from Soviet Russia (USSR) and its satellites for many years now. 

In ex-USSR not venerating the woman nearby by at least flower giving is near a crime deed, and even for a traditionally Orthodox Christian countries, where there is already a feast of triumph and Veneration of woman the day of Annunciation, 8 of March is continuously celebrated even though nowadays the original meaning of the feast as a riot of woman against unequality in socity has nearly turn to a cult towards the woman for a day.

Every year, thousands of inhabitants of the planet will celebrate a world holiday – International Women's Day, which is celebrated on March 8.

But we as Christians who live in the Church should celebrate the feast of the saint commemorated respectively and not the public holiday, which of this year is Saint Teophilakt (Bishop of Necomedia).

Many of the Christian women will accept flowers from their husbands and children, many of them especially from ex-Soviet space will celebrate women's day and even require, their portion of flowers or feel ignored if they don't.

We will celebrate it too, wishfully or not almost forced  … forgetting that the real day of the Mother and the woman is on March 25 on the Great and Beautiful feast of Annunciation, the date on which the Holy Theotokos (Virgin Mary) has received the Angel with the good news that she is about to become a Mother of The Lord Jesus Christ.

For the historical reference it is worthy to make a short historic review of the International Woman Day, for those who still value the feast as a feast that fits well together with the Christian doctrines.

March 8 – Women's Day, this holiday was first celebrated on February 28, 1909 in the USA at the initiative of the American Socialist Party and later become one of the leverages for Communist party worldwide to put attractiveness to their agendas.

The idea of creating an international women's day appeared after the rapid industrialization and economic expansion of the early 20th century, which gave rise to woman protests for the improvement of working conditions.

Historic time of the day is associated with the first mass demonstration of women workers, which took place on March 8, 1857 in New York.

Women from sewing and textile enterprises come out to protest against poor working conditions and low wages, which had a good point as America was a country which still tolerated even Black slavery of the time.

The female workers protesters were attacked and dispersed by the police, as this was seen as a social misconduct dangerous for society by the police officers back then.

Two years later, on the same month, these women formed their first trade union.

In the following years, other protests followed, the most famous of which was in 1908, when women organized a march through New York with demands for a shorter working day, better payment fees and the right to vote.

In 1965, March 8 was officially announced as a non-working day and women's holiday in the USSR. And even today the day is non-working in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union – Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, as well as in Macedonia and Mongolia etc as well as in Communist China and Vietnam.

In my homeland country Bulgaria (the history of the feast is entangled with the history of socialist oriented parties in it).
March 8 was initially "celebrated" with orgnized public talks in a narrow circle of socialists in 1911, in 1915 was the first public celebration, but the kingship and government back of the day did not look well towards this trend, even though tolerated it.

As a general standard Bulgarian holiday, March 8 began to be celebrated after September 9, 1944 with the raise of communism (and the communist revolution – that was very much externally imported by the USSR sent agents) at the finalizing days of World War II.

At first, following the trend of the newly installed pro-bolshevik governments, different meetings were held in various nationalized enterprises, factories, and institutions, where the contribution of women in production, culture, science, and public life was taken into account and praised.

After 1960, the celebration took on particularly wide proportions and became a favorite holiday of women and men of all ages, especially in government offices, perhaps also as an attempts for communist to show the betternes of the socialist regime installed in the country. To reinburse the feeling of the importance of the feast the day was made official non-working day, together with other partheon of imaginative feasts without much meaning, like is for example 1st of March, The day of Labor, the day of the Shepherd and other artificial communist party members made up ones.

The day since then has become a public holiday in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Montenegro and Vietnam.

As the Communist led countries parties did not have a good set of traditions, they had to set new ones and started the trend to celebrate the feast through men giving flowers to the women around them – mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues. As the times of Communist isolation and dictatorship in this countries was harsh time for the people, any kind of feast that can give some freshness to the gray daily routine of the working class was well and quickly accepted by society.

Gifting a flower was also advantegous for many people, as this was another way to sell flowers and make some extra cash for the poor 🙂

Internetioanl Woman Day in some of the mentioned countries including Bulgaria in the past was celebrated as the equivalent of Mother's Day, where children give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers.

And I remember when I was still in the kindergarden, we had a task to prepare special post-cards for mom with a photo of ourselves and a written text like “Mother I love you”.

After reading this short story, it will not become clear, but for the elder people it was that the holiday was not really of a big importance and was one of the many inventions of the party to build the new communist man “homo sovieticus”.

Why 8 of March was not a considered big deal in the past?

Because in 1944, the socialist party changed a traditional holiday in Bulgaria, Mother's Day, and instead of the Annunciation, that was already a public holiday dedicated to the mother / women on 25 of March, the date was moved to March 8.

A proof to that is in history, here is what was said in a message to Radio Sofia in year 1943.
– "On the Annunciation., His Eminence Metropolitan Stefan will celebrate in the metropolitan church "Saint Sophia", a temple holiday of the same, the bishop's Holy Liturgy, and the day before – a great bishop's vespers with Pentecost at 6 p.m. In 4:30 p.m. on the occasion of Mother's Day, on behalf of the church and the women's committee from the brotherhood, our famous writer and public figure Konstantin Petkanov will speak in the "Saint Sophia" church, on the topic: The Christian heart of the Bulgarian woman ". Before and after the story, the church choir will perform appropriate chants.”

This is how our ancestors celebrated mother's day, on the day of the Mother of God, when the archangel announced the great joy that the Messiah would come to redeem the world from sin. And about whether the Christian woman is equal to the man, that should be clear, for anything who has a head. By simple physiologyand psycho-somatism, woman and man are different, however in spiritual sense in the eyes of God both male and female are equal and wonderfully made by the Good god.
A proof for the spiritual equality of man and woman are the words of Saint Apostle Paul, who says:

"There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28).

In the Church, this is also the interesting and captivating thing, that everyone has their place there where he is set on, their work, their home, everyone is given his own talent to develop.

Eight of March Epitaph

Showing respect and appreciation for a woman by bying her a flower on 8th of March is a good thing, but then again this can be done any other day and each of us man who love and venerate our mothers and wifes do it every now and then.
There is also little known facts, that one who digs deeper in history of 8 of March will certainly found, which can stun him and not everything around the feast is so white and shiny as most people thing nowadays. 
But of course it is rather better to make the flower gift on the true feast when the Church and the elements and universe together with it celebartes it, and on the date when our ancestors venerated their woman too for hundreds of years before us on the Annunciation.

Saint new Martyr John the Bulgarian feast day on his martyrdom that was on 5 March 1784

Sunday, March 5th, 2023

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Life of St. Martyr John the Bulgarian – born circa year 1763 martyred 5 of March, 1784

Blessed John was a native of Bulgarian and as such he has been by inheritance an Orthodox Christian in the 18 century, where still Bulgaria was under the Ottoman Turks Slavery in which time being an Orthodox Christian was taugh as often Turks did they best to convert every Christian they can to the truthful in their opinion Islamic faith. Under the atmosphere of many great hardship for Christians.
By some chance he succumbed to the devil's wiles and denied Christ.

But after some time he realized his great transgression, feeling he fall badly from Grace and began to repent of his denial of the Christian faith.

In this state of mind, seeking to calm his conscience (internal voice of the soul who was talking in him that he did a huge wrong against the love of the Good Christ, he left his birthplace and came to Mount Athos, looking for help to heal his great soul wound.

Here John served, a spiritual elder for three years for the sake to receive a great help for his soul and receive forgiveness for his deniel of Christ. But because his conscience still troubled him, 
he was always depressed, sad, and silent and couldn't find peace with himself.

His very appearance indicated from far sight that he had suffered some great accident or badness in his life which doesn't give him any moment of peace and does not give him to living just like every ordinary person did.

As he could no longer bear the pangs of conscience of the internal man, John left Holy Mount Athos, came to Constantinople (Istanbul), dressed as a turk and in this guise entered the "Hagia Sophia (Wisdom of God)" mosque, which for many years has been the greatest symbol of Orthodox Christianity until the fall of Constantinople under Turks on May 29 1451.

There he began to cross himself with the Sign of the Cross, the Orthodox Christians does and to pray in a Christian way, which greatly smite the Agarians.

Enraged, they attacked him harshly and asked him why he was doing this? 


In a responce, he fearlessly confessed that he was a Christian, and that is why he Crossed himself as a Christian and worshiped Christ Only, who is the Son of God and true God!

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The Hagarenes tried to divert him from his firm Creed of Faith (to save his earthly life) – as it was the common norm that "anyone who did such a shameful to muslims deed was worthy for dead", but when they tried hard to make him denounce his deed, pardon himself for his "unrighteous deed against the prophet Mohammed" and the Islamic faith but failed and were completely convinced that John was adamant and will not renounce his beliefs neither sorry for his embarassment, they immediately cut off his head outside in the courtyard of Hagia Sophia.

This happened on March 5, 1784. Thus, blessed John received a bright martyr's crown from Christ God at the age of 19 (and according to other biographical sources when he was just 18 years old).

Living Source © Lives of the Saints. Synodal Publishing House, Sofia, 1991
 

Living of St. John the Bulgarian (from the Greek Neon Martirologon)

Blessed John was a native from Bulgaria, young in age, about 18 years old, handsome in face, and literate.

On some occasion that befell him, he renounced – alas! from Christ.

But then, after a short time, he became aware of the evil he had done, repented and, leaving his birthplace, came to Holy Mount Athos monk republic and stayed in the great Lavra of St. Athanasius (founded in year 963 AD), where he ministered to a crippled spiritual elder and along dedicating his time to reading the holy books.

But because his conscience was gnawing o him because, the denial of Christ committed, he always walked dark, sorrowful and silent, so that by his sad appearance he showed everyone that he had experienced some great misfortune.

So, one day, under the pretext of going to his native place, he set out and went to Constantinople, where he put a Turkish distingushing muslim uniform that every muslim wear the red hat (fez) on his head and put on red shoes on his feet, and in this guise entered the mosque of Hagia Sophia (that was then a mosque but earlier the most glorious Christian temple who Saint Constantine has built and a symbol to the world for Christian). There he began to be crossing his shoulders with the sign of the cross and perform Christian worship.

When the Agareans saw him, they were indignant and fell upon him and sternly asked him why he was doing this?

And he, fearlessly confessed that he was a Christian and as a Christian he depicts the sign of Salvation his Life giving Cross and worships Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God and God.

The Agareans tried in various ways to convert him to islam, but found no way.

Finally, seeing the steadfastness of his conviction, they beheaded him outside the courtyard of the aforementioned mosque, and in this way, on March 5, 1784, the saint received the crown of martyrdom from Christ our God, Who deserves glory and power throughout the ages!

Amen!

Living Source: From "Neon Martirologon", a translation from the Greek epic. Parthenius

Saint Martyr Kirana of Solun (Thessaloniki) a Bulgarian macedonian saint martyred on 28 February 1751

Tuesday, February 28th, 2023

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Saint Martyr Kirana (Kerana) was born in the first half of the 18th century 1731 A.D. in the Thessaloniki village of (Ossa) Avisona, in the family of pious Christians in Ottoman Macedonia which at that times was highly inhabited with Bulgarians who held that name of the time, and even today many Bulgarian have this archaic name.

A slim and beautiful girl, she was taken by a janissary (stolen kids from Bulgarian or other non-turkish nations who were grown and included in the Ottoman empire’s governance or army) who was a subashiya (tax collector who collected 10% of all the non-turks income) in her village with the idea to make her one of his wifes. After Kirana rejected him, he abducted her with a gang of janissaries.

He took her to Thessalonica, where his friends testified falsely that the girl had promised to become his wife and accept their faith. Kirana proved to be a brave and steadfast Christian – she neither wanted to marry the rapist nor convert to Islam. Because of this, she was chained and thrown into prison. The commandant of the fortress, Ali Bey, allowed the janissaries to enter to Kirana’s prison and torture her as they wished. As we read from her left Biography:

"One beat her with a tree, – another – with a knife, a third – with kicks, a fourth – with fists, until they left her near dead…

And at night the locksmith of the prison hung her by the arms and grabbed any tree found and beat her mercilessly…".


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Thus, for a week, Kirana was severely tortured. On the seventh day (February 28, 1751) she died. And then a miracle happened –

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"… a great light shone in the prison, came down from above from the roof like lightning, which surrounded the body of the martyr, spilled over the whole prison and illuminated it as if the whole sun had entered inside. It was then the fourth or fifth hour of the night (t . f. 10-11 o'clock at night)." In the morning, the Turks allowed the Christians to take the body of the martyr. They buried her outside the city, in the Christian cemetery there. Her clothes were divided among the faithful as sacred. Later, an unknown scribe compiled her life in Greek. The Church honors the memory of the holy martyr Kirana and commemorates her on February 28.

Biography source: Plamen Pavlov, Hristo Temelski Saints and spiritual leaders from Macedonia with minor modifications

The Great Epiphany, appearance of God to Men and Manifestation of the Son of God by the Baptism in River Jordan. A short biography and history of the feast and its meaning

Friday, January 6th, 2023

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Epiphany (Богоявление) icon minituature of Tomichev Psaltir (year circa 1380)

"And behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven, which said: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:16-17)

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The Baptism of Christ Ravenna Basillica – Mosaic V century

There is clear evidence of the celebration of this most ancient feast of the Lord as early as the 2nd century, but by the 4th century it was combined with the Nativity of Christ.
The common holiday for both events was called “Epiphany”, because at His baptism in the waters of the Jordan, Jesus Christ appeared to the world for public service and his hypostasis as Son of God has been manifested by the Descendent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a Pure Dove.
Through His birth He appeared to the world in the flesh. In ancient times the celebration of Epiphany (Theophany) and Nativity (Christmas) according to many liturgists has been celebrated on a single date by the whole Worldly Church both in East in West, North and South.

The term Theophany was less used though as Theophany is distinguished by the word Epiphany as (Theophany) has been a word used to also mark celebrated by Greek paganistic false believes, whether Epiphany has a meaning of the Christian meaning of God’s revealing himself for the world by the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ Son of God.

Later, the Church for different reasons the decided to celebrate the two events separately – on December 25 the Nativity of Christ, and on January 6 – the Epiphany.

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Theophany (One of the best considered iconographers Panselinos Protata circa year 1290)

There are too few details about the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ before His baptism, which we can find in the pages of the Gospel narratives as God decided to keep his aspect of his earthly presence in the flesh a secret to be only revealed in the Life in Heaven, where those chosen and sanctified by his All Filling Grace through the mysterious of the Church and all those will receive salvation will see and understand why this was hidden by us while being in the flesh .

The Saviour, Who truly strove

“And Jesus answering said unto him,Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him” (Matt. 3:15),

waited until he had reached the age of 30, required by Jewish custom for every priest or teacher, and before going out to preach publicly, he accepted the baptism of His Forerunner saint John the Baptist whose feast day is on 7th of January just a day after the day of Epiphany.

Shortly before that, John the Baptist, the son of priest Zacharias and Elizabeth, had begun his penitential preaching at God's command

Epiphany-Baptism-of-Christ-Daphni-mosaic-XI-century

Baptismal of Christ Daphni XI century mosaic

These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.” (John 1:28). John was the Angel predicted by the prophet Malachi, who was supposed to prepare the way of the Lord (Matt. 3:1).

The great Old Testament Prophet Isaiah also spoke about him:
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness says: prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths of our God in the wilderness" (Is. 40:3). His call: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matt. 3:2)

attracted the attention of even the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matt. 3:7). People from all walks of life approached him with anxiety and trust. Priests and Levites from among the Pharisees were sent to him from Jerusalem to ask him:

"Why do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" (John 1:19, 25),

Kryshtenie-Gospodne-Theophany-praznuvame-krashtenie-Gospodne

and John answered them:
"I baptize with water, but one stands among you, whom you do not know. He is the one who is coming after me, who preceded me, and whom I am not worthy to unbind the thong of His shoe" (John 1:26-27).

And behold, this One came!

"from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. And John restrained him and said: I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me? But Jesus answered him and said : Leave it now; for thus it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John admits Him" (Matt. 3:13-15).

Beautiful-orthodox-christian-icon-Theophany-Epipihany-Baptismal-of-Christ

"And when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus, after being baptized, was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form, like a dove" (Luke 3:21).

"And behold, a voice from heaven, which said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17).

At the baptism of Jesus Christ, this great secret was announced to the world, about which the Old Testament only hinted and about which ancient Egypt and India only spoke in fables – the secret of the Divine Trinity.

The Father appeared to our hearing, the Spirit appeared to human sight, and the Son – to our touch in His many years of communication with men.

The (Heavenly) Father gave His testimony about the Son, the Son was baptized, and the Holy Spirit like a dove flew over the water.

Through the testimony of John: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) and through the baptism of Jesus, Christ's mission was shown to the world and the way of our salvation was indicated.

Namely: by immersing in the waters of the Jordan, the Lord took upon Himself the sins of the human race and died under its burden, and coming out of the water shows His coming to life, His resurrection. And in us, through holy Baptism, the old sinful and cursed man must die and we come out of the holy (baptismal) font as revived, cleansed, renewed and reborn.

The Feast of the Epiphany is also called Enlightenment, because the Jordanian event enlightens us by showing us God manifested in the unfathomable mystery of the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity. Each of us through Holy Baptism is adopted by the Father of Light through the merit of the Son and through the power of the Holy Spirit. For this enlightenment, he also praised the Epiphany’s Kontaktion found in the Church service book of Menaion:

"You have appeared today to the universe, and Your light, Lord, has reflected upon us who wisely sing to You: you have come and appeared, Light unapproachable."

The feast of the Epiphany is connected with the great consecration of water, which should remind us that at the banks of the Jordan River, God has renewed through water and the Spirit our nature that has become stale from sin.

© Lives of the Saints. Synodal Publishing House, Sofia, 1991, edited by Parthenius, Bishop of Lefkada and Archimandrite Dr. Athanasius (Bonchev) with few minor inclusions and clearances by hip0 (Georgi D. Georgiev)

 

The short historical path of the Holy Relics of Saint Andrew the First-called of the Apostles of Christ

Friday, December 2nd, 2022

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Why saint Andrew the Apostle is special for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
and the Eastern Churches?

 

According to Church tradition saint Andrew the Apostle the First-called was the apostle from which wide areas of the Eastern lands was christianized, by his fervent preach of the Gospel and the good news of the Resurrection of Christ who suffered on the Cross for the salvation of mankind.
The Ecumenical Patriarchy of Constantinople and the Ancient Eastern Byzantium Church has received its apostleship in practice, exactly from st. Apostle Andrew.
During his apostleship mission saint Andrew has preached the Gospel and gave the faith for a first time in the Ist century according to Church tradition, as he passed by the Black sea borders, today part of which are in Bulgaria, he went through Romania, where he has spent some time living as a hermit in a cave and then up to Kiev and Scythia, where he made a prophecy that the Christian faith will put its Roots and that soon the pagan tribes of Kiev lands will accept the faith and put the Cross high over their lands.

When Bulgaria was later Christianized by saint Boris-Michael, and the Holy Bulgarian church was established on this lands thanks to the missionary works of Saint Kiril and Methodius, Saint Kliment of Ohrid, saint Gorazd, Naum, Sava, Angelarius and  whole pleade of saints and teachers, Bulgaria has received, also the gift of priesthood and apostleship (has received its own hierarchy of bishops governing the Bulgarian Orthodox Church), thus by spiritual line the Holy Spirit here in Bulgaria was received from Saint Andrew, later this enlightnements achievement, the Books in Church Slavonic, the services and most importantly the Cyrllic alphabet was transffered from Bulgaria and later Serbia to the endless steppes territories of capital Kiev that was a capital of the Rus at that time and in all Scythia today the territories of Russia. Thus all the Byzantine Eastern Churches and  Bulgaria

After the end of the persecution of Christians, in the 4th century AD, Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great began to erect numerous Christian temples.

Among them was the temple of the Holy Apostles in the new capital of the empire – Constantinople. After the death of St. Constantine in 337, his son, Constantius, ascended the throne.
The new ruler, fulfilling the will of his father, decided to bring to the capital of the empire the holy relics of the Apostles Andrew, Luke, Timothy and lay them in the church of the Holy Apostles, where the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor himself was buried.

Originally, the holy relics of Saint Andrew the First-Called rested at the place of his martyrdom, in Patras, in the Peloponnese, Greece. According to Western tradition, a few days before the relics were transferred to Constantinople, Regulus, who was guarding them, removed the lid of the sarcophagus in which the relics of the Apostle rested, separated from them one shoulder, three fingers of the right hand, part of the knee and a tooth.

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Holy right hand of saint Andrew the First-Called

With these relics Regulus left Patras and set out to preach the Gospel among the pagans inhabiting Scotland.
The inhabitants of the country welcomed the enlightener with great honor and together with their King accepted Holy Baptism.
In Scotland, the first Christian church was built in the name of Saint Andrew, in which parts of his holy relics were laid. Which played the role for Scotlands patron saint protector to become Saint Andrew the Apostle.

The deposition of the holy relics of Saint Apostle Andrew the First-Called in Constantinople took place on May 3, 357 in the presence of the Patriarch of Constantinople Macedonius I and Emperor Constantius.
In the 9th – 10th centuries, the Byzantine autocrats usually sent as a donation for the built monasteries and temples parts of the holy relics that rested in Constantinople, including the relics of the holy Apostles.

In the second half of the 9th century, following an urgent request and special intercession before the emperor, the honorable head of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called was delivered to the St. Andrew's Church in the city of Patras, where it rested until the middle of the 15th century.

In 1460, to the walls of The army of the Ottoman Sultan Mohammed II was approaching the town of Patras. The Governor /Archon/ of the city of Patras, Thomas Paleologus (brother of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, who died during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, father of Princess Sofia, the future wife of the Grand Duke John III of Moscow), losing all hope of preserving independence of the city, took the precious and holy treasure of the city from St. Andrew's Church and arrived in Rome with it to collect funds and forces for the liberation of the Orthodox Christian East from the yoke of the infidels.

The holy head of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle was in Rome until 1964, when, by the decision of Pope Paul VI, this shrine together with parts of the cross of St. Andrew was returned to the Greek Orthodox Church.

Now these relics are located in one of the largest cathedrals in the Balkans, Saint Andrew the First-Called in Patras, Greece, i.e. in this place where the first disciple of Christ preached and ended his martyr's earthly life.

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X shaped cross of Saint Andrew according to medieval tradition

The honorable head of the Apostle rests on the throne in a silver coffin, and behind the throne – saint Andrew's cross-relic (according to middle-ages tradition to be X shaped cross in which are embedded parts of the real cross of Saint Andrew, on which he was crucified.

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Mount Athos received the hand of St. Andrew as a gift in the Great Lavra of Athos, founded by Saint Athanasius (the Great) at the request of his friend and companion and patron of the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Phocas (963-969).
Parts of the holy relics of holy Apostle are also kept in other monasteries on Mount Athos.

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Foot Relic of Saint Andrew the Apostle

Likewise, part of the forehead bone is kept in the Saint Andrew's hermitage (scythe), in the scythe of saint Prohet Elijah is preserved the foot of the Apostle.
This walking stick was given in 1806 by Hieromonk Dionysius /in Kyzikon (Kyzicheska) Diocese/, who left the eparchy with these relics from the monastery of Saint Marina, cause the monastery was
looted and sacked by the Turks.

In the Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Holy Mount Athos, the second foot of the First Called Disciple of Christ is preserved.

Part of the relics of Saint Andrew also rest in the nun's monastery dedicated to his name, which is located on the island of Catalonia in the village of Peratata.

Fragments of the honest relics of the Apostle are also found in the monastery of Saint Nicholas on the island of Euboea.

Material written from sources according to information from the Holy Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, on the occasion of the stay from June 27 to 29, 2003 during which the the foot of St. Andrew the First-Called, was given for veneration from the monastery of saint Panteleimon, Mount Athos.

 

Transferring a part of the relics of Saint Andrew to the church dedicated to Saint Andrew in Sofia, Bulgaria

 
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In 2001, the Metropolitan of Patras, Greece at that time Nicodemus, presented a piece of holy relics from the knee of Saint Andrew and a cross in which pieces of the cross on which St. Andrew the Apostle was crucified were placed.
On November 29, 2001, on the occasion of the feast of St. Andrew the First-Called, the Reliquary was carried in a litany procession from the Bulgarian Church Synodal Palace to the capital church "Свети Андрей Първозвани / (Saint Andrew the First-called)".

A Holy Liturgy was served which was  attended by Their Eminences the Metropolitans: Metropolitan Kiril of Varna and Great Preslav, metropolitan Joseph of America and Australia, metr. Gelasius of New York, metr. Grigoriy of Velikoturno, metr. Neophyte of Dorostol and Cherven (currently Patriarch of Bulgaria) , metr. Gavriil (Gabriel) of Lovchan eparchy, His Eminence Bishop Nikolai of Znepol (then) and now metropolitan of Plovdiv, Patriarchal Vicar, Archimandrite Boris,  the secretary of Holy Synod, numerous priests, the graduates of the Sofia Theological Seminary "Saint Ivan Rilski" and many laymen.

When the litany reached its destination, the church "Stsaint Andrew the First-Called", the relics were welcomed, received and placed in the church for worship by Patriarch Maxim (Rest In Peace). Immediately after that, Great Vespers with five loaves of bread as the orthodox tradition is, was served by the Most Reverend (then) Bishop of Znepol, Nikolay, together with Archimandrite Boris and the temple clergy. The Most Holy Patriarch Maxim (already in his 90s) and some of the bishops attended the service in prayer. After the service, the relics remained exposed for worship in the House of God, which was also open at night. It should be noted that this was the only Orthodox church in Bulgaria dedicated to saint Ap. Andrei.

Also, the fact that for the first time the relics of St. Apostle Andrew are coming to our country is important. Part of the relics were transferred to the church on the island of Saint Anastasia near Burgas in the diocese of Sliven.
The reason for the transferral of relics to st. Anastasia is that according to tradition, the Apostle Andrew himself passed through this island in his apostleship mission.

Every year on November 30 – Saint. Andrew's Day, in the church the holiday is celebrated with a solemn Holy Liturgy, celebrated by His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia (today Neofitos), and in his absence, by a bishop, visiting clergy and the church clergy.

From materials from Church newspaper (official newspaper of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church)

Holy fifteen Hierarchs Martyrs of Tiberipolis a saints of high veneration in Eastern Chrstiandom and Bulgaria in Medieval times

Monday, November 28th, 2022

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The martyrs of Tiberiopolis are the bishops Timothy of Tiberiopolis and Theodore of Nicaea, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council in 325 – both escaped from Nicaea, the priests Peter, John, Sergius, Theodore and Nicephorus, the deacons Basil and Thomas, the monks Hierotheus, Daniel, Chariton, Socrates , Comasius and Eusebius, were little known saints today in Christiandom but back in time these saints has been considered of a great importance and their intercession prayers were often seeken throughout the Eastern Church in Byzantium, Bulgaria and all the Chriatinized lands and perhaps even in the west. 

They were executed on November 28, 362 during the persecutions against Christians carried out by Emperor Julian the Apostate.Since Timothy died quickly due to his age, he was replaced by the layman Etimasius.

After their execution, the fifteen martyrs were buried by the local Christians in stone sarcophagi on which their names were inscribed.

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Remains of original Basilica with Tombs of the fifteen Holy martyrs

Later, the ancient Tiveriopolis (today Strumica situated in Macedonia), where the tombs were located, was destroyed by the Avars invasions, but the memory of the martyrs' graves remains in local legends for quite some time as there were many miracles happening on their tomb.

After the conversion of Bulgaria to Christianity in year 864, by Holy Prince (King) Boris, the Baptizer King immediately ordered the Comite (his servent governor) in Taradin, who ruled these lands, to search for the relics of the fifteen Holy Tiveriopol martyrs.

According to the original plan, the holy relics were supposed to be placed in the cathedral church on the Bregalnitsa river, which was being built at that time, but since the local population complained that their spiritual heritage and protection of the area was being taken away and there was a danger of revolts, a compromise was reached to take only the relics of three saints, Timothy, Komasius and Eusebius, and the others to remain in Strumica.

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Contemporary Church dedicated to 15 Holy Hierarchs in country of Macedonia

The relics of the other saints were transferred to the new church at the time of King Simeon I (The Great).

According to the famous Medieval Theologian and Historian Theophylact of Ohrid from the beginning of the 12th century, a glorification was composed for the martyrs (which is a christian practice to glorify saints that continues to these day in the Church after new saints gets canonized), and the service was written and held in Bulgarian, which at that time was already having authentic cyrillic letters invented and translated by saint Kliment Ohridski and his pupils which just in western Bulgaria country to 3500. Some of those saint Kliment Ohridski (saint Clement of Ohrid) desciples priests as we know from the sources , composed the glorification church service in honor of the 15 Holy Hierarchs of Tiberipolis (The old Roman name for the area).

Sts_15_Martyrs_of_Tiveriopolis_icon

During the Ottoman invasion, the church of Bregalnica where relics held was destroyed and the holies were again lost.
Only saint Peter's hand remained in Strumica, but during the Balkan Wars in 1913 it was taken by the Greeks to Kukush ( Kilkis ) (Aegian Macedonia).

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Contemporary Church in Aegian Greece dedicated to 15 Holy Hierarchs of Tiberiopolis

In Strumica, however the memory of the martyrs remains, whose memory is remember by the local Bulgarians at the place where, according to tradition, they were once killed.
A modern church temple was built on the same site, which is the successor of several older temples.

Below is the list with names and the position each of this holy man had, before their martyrdom:

Theodore Θεόδωρος bishop of Nicaea
Timothy Τιμόθεος of Tiberiopolis, bishop of Nicaea
Theodore Θεόδωρος priest Tiberiopolis
Nicephorus Νικηφόρος priest of Tiberiopolis
John Ioannis priest Tiberiopolis
Peter Πέτρος priest Tiberiopolis
Sergius Σέργιος priest of Tiberiopolis
Thomas Θωμάς deacon of Tiberiopolis
Vasilii Vasileios deacon of Tiberiopolis
Komasius Κομάσιος monk Nicaea
Eusebius Ευσέβιος monk Nicaea
Daniel Δανιήλ monk Tiberiopolis
Socrates Σωκράτης monk of Tiberiopolis
Chariton Χαρίτων monk Tiberiopolis
Hierotheus Ιερόθεος monk of Tiberiopolis
Etimasius Ετιμάσιος a layman of Tiberiopolis

The 15 Holy Martyrs, today are highly venerated in region of Macedonia (today country of Macedonia), as Macedonia has been historically part of Bulgarian Kingdom as well as in Greece who are considered patron saints of city of Kikis (central Macedonia today in Greece), where the local Church of Transfiguration was deciced to be reconsecacrated in favor of the 15 holy hierarchs of Tiberipolis as the hand of saint Peter from the 15 martyrs and an old icon was brough their by war emigrants escaping the Balkan wars, this hand is kept their even today.

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Hand of Saint Peter from the 15 Tiberoupolis Martyrs holy relic

 

Living of the saints: Saint Mihail ( Michael ) Warrior the Bulgarian venerated November 22 in the Church

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022

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Свети Михаил Saint Mihail (Michael) Voyn The Warrior  is known to be Bulgarian by blood origin.
He was born in the town of Potuk (it is assumed that this is today's Batak – the same region where just few years ago the Holy New Batak Martyrs about 1200 to 8000 people who suffered under the Ottoman Turks for Christ being collectively killed in the Church of Saint Nedely in Batak on the night of 2nd of May 1876 AD and were canonized in the Church just few years ago from now).

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Holy Batak New Martyrs icon

He probably lived in the time of the pious Bulgarian king Saint Boris-Mihail (King Boris – Michael the Ist known as the the Baptizer of Bulgaria, thanks to whose decision to receive Christianit and mass baptize of the Bulgarian nation and territories of his large country and his active work and financement to support the pupils of Saint Cyril and Methodius such as Saint Kliment Ohridski, st. Naum, st. Gorazd, st. Savva, st. Angelarius and the other many uknown holy man the Old Bulgarian cyrillic church books was translated from Greek and  shortly later other Slavonic nations could received the Church service Books in Old Bulgarian cyrillic whose slightly modified version in the 16th century become the famous Church slavonic language, which is used to these day in the Slavonic churches.

Saint Mahail the Warrior was the son of rich and noble parents, loved the pure life from childhood, had the fear of God, devoted himself to prayer and fasting, generously gave alms to the poor, which is why both his parents and strangers called him "the holy child".

When he was 25 years old, he was appointed the commander of a troppers unit in the Byzantine army.
At that time of living, his birth region even though having people inhabited with Bulgarians, had not yet entered the borders of the Bulgarian state.

In a war of the Byzantine emperor Michael III (865) against the Agarians (later known as the Ottoman Turks), Saint Michael the Warrior was left by the frightened Greeks alone with his subordinate warrior mates who followed his heroism.

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Invoking the name of God like the ancient saint all the while, he managed to drive away the enemies and together with the soldiers remained unharmed.

Returning home, he performed the heroic miracle same as of Saint Great Martyr George the Victorious:

He killed a huge dragon that came out of some lake, and thus saved a virgin from being eaten by it.
But the dragon whose head he cut off struck him with its huge tail so hard that he fell down and lay unconscious for some time.

Soon after his return to his native place, he died and the Lord glorified him with incorruptible miracles.

During the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, at the very beginning of the 13th century (in year 1206), the Bulgarian king Kaloyan solemnly brought his holy relics to his Capital Tarnovo and laid them in the Patriarchal Cathedral at that time dedicated to the "Holy Ascension".

After the fall of capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo under Ottoman rule in (year 1393), the traces of the saint holy relics were lost.

The great patriarch of Tarnov (Trnovo), St. Euthymius, compiled a biography of him, which has been preserved to this day and which is the main source for us to know about the saint.

Extract From: Lives of the Saints, Synodal Publishing House, Sofia, 1991, edited by Parthenius, Bishop of Levki, and Archimandrite Dr. Athanasius (Bonchev) with minor inclusions of the author of article Hip0

Author Notes: The story with Saint George Killing the Dragon, as being found mostly in medieval sources has been largely disputed by Theologians on its authenticity as the story originates from the 11th century A.D. with an oldest source for the tale being a Georgian Manuscript. In the 12th century saint George Killing the Dragon tradition has been already well known by the Western Christians. The theologians claim the story stems out of a living of saint Thedore Tiro ( Tiron ), who was very venerated and well known in Bulgaria. That would make some doubt in the authenticity of the story of both Saint George Killing the Dragon and might make them doubt that the story of Saint Mihail  (Michael) The Bulgarian Warrior is being taken from the saint George popular legends of the 11th century. However as a source of the original living for saint Mikhael has been saint Patriarch Eutymous of Tarnov (one of the most educated man of his time), who has been also the last Bulgarian patriarch before the fallout of Bulgaria under the Ottoman Turks in the year 1396 and a spiritual father and teacher of Hesychasm and  many of the Spiritual man such as Gregory Tsamblak and saint Cyprian Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia ( 1390 – 1407 ) and many other famous copyist and enlightened people who moved out the Church service books and spiritual treasures of the Bulgarian Church as well as many holy miracle making icons and Christian art far in today's lands of Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, it is very less likely that the living of saint Mihail the warrior was compiled, based on false legends, especially by considering the fact that saint Mihael the Warrior lived only 3 centuries away from the moment in which his official spoken living was written down by saint Patriarch Eutymuous. Perhaps there is a Greek sources we don't know who was also the basis of st. Patriarch Eutymuous biography of saint Michael. The story of dragons and beasts tormenting people and regions has been common in medieval times, sometimes their real meating is interpreted by todays Theologians to be just an allegory to demonstrate the spiritual fight a certain saint has led with the originator of evil satan who as said in the holy scripture constantly fights against christians the Church and everything that is good and pleasant with the goal to destroy and kill. Other sources however such as Holy Mount Athos even by today has manuscripts written by monks of that time about the existence of large snakes and dragons who has been tormenting people and regions. We all know the numerous stories with Princesses and Dragons, but it seems these stories are based on monks testimonies about the reality of these things and later perhaps improved by people's imagination and desire of man put some difference in his every day monotonic life.
Thus some more conservative Theologians nowadays believe it is possible for such a large dragons and snakes to have existed and been conquered for real by saints, though we should keep in mind that some of the stories of the livings of medieval times has been including details, that were result of the personal imagionation of the author.

Let by the Holy Prayers of Saint Mihail The Warrior (Bulgarian) the world finds more love, peace and goodness !
Holy Father Mihail Warrior pray for us !

 

Holy righteous King Upravda Justinian (emperor Justinian I the Great) feast day 14th of November

Tuesday, November 15th, 2022

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Saint Justinian, emperor of Byzantium, was a Slav by geneology.

He was born in the village of Vedryani near the town of Sredets (today city of Sofia) in Bulgaria. His uncle Justin, born in the same village, went on foot to Constantinople, carrying nothing with him but a leather garment.

Here, thanks to his natural gifts, he quickly rose to the top, and then even became emperor. He brought to Constantinople his wife Lupkina and her sister Beglenitsa, Upravda's mother.
After the death of Justin Upravda occupied the Byzantine imperial throne under the name of Justinian. A note to make her is Upravda is an ancient Bulgarian name.

Emperor Justinian is known in history for his successful wars against the enemies of the Byzantine Empire and also for issuing the complete collection of Roman laws.

But in addition, he became famous for his services to the Christian Church and Orthodoxy.

He took great care of the spread of Christianity and the eradication of paganism.

He closed the pagan schools in Athens and ordered the sciences to be taught by monks.

He persecuted paganism most in the capital of his kingdom, Byzantium, and also in Asia Minor.
In order to convert the pagans to Christ, Justinian sent Bishop John of Ephesus to Asia Minor, who baptized about 70 thousand pagans !, and the emperor built more than 90 churches for the newly converted.

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Along with the spread of Christianity, the pious Justinian advocated for the purity of the Orthodox faith.

During his reign, the Orthodox Church continued to be disturbed by the Nestorians, who taught the heresy that Christ was not a God-man and that the Divinity only dwelt in Him as in an ordinary man.

But more than the Nestorians, the Monophysites shaked the Church, who taught other terrible heresy, telling that in Jesus Christ the Divine nature absorbed the human.

Against these arbitrary inventions of human reason, the pious king composed the song:

saint-emperor-Justinian-I-the-Bulgarian-only-begotten-son

"Only-begotten Son and Words of God", which he ordered to be sung at the Divine Liturgy Service
A liturgy song, that is being sung in every Holy Liturgy in the Church even today !

Through his efforts, in year 553 A.D., the Fifth Ecumenical Council was convened to condemn the Nestorian thoughts in the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Iva of Edessus to end the dissensions in the Church.

Hagia-Saint-Sophia-Istanbul-Constantinople

As a zealot of Orthodoxy and piety, Justinian was very concerned about the worship in the Orthodox Church and the beauty of the temples as places of worship.

In his code of laws, he included, among other things, a law on the mandatory universal celebration of the feasts of the Nativity of Christ, the Baptism of the Lord and the Resurrection, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and others.

In addition, he built many beautiful temples to the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Theotokos), the apostles and other saints. His most famous work is considered to be the church temple of Saint Sophia, God's Wisdom, in Constantinople.

Erected by the Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine, during a rebellion during the time of King Justinian, this temple was burned down.
The pious king gathered the best builders, spared no expense in gold and money, and built a temple, wondrous throughout the ages for its grandeur and beauty.

In his private life, Saint Justinian showed great piety.

Always devout, he spent Lent in strict abstinence and prayer, did not taste bread, but contented himself only with vegetables and water, and that he made every other day or two.

Thus, living in purity and piety, he reigned for 39 years and died peacefully in the Lord.

Because of his services to the Church and because of his piety, after his death he was canonized as a saint.
Together with him, his wife, Queen Theodora, who was a sinner at first, but later repented and spent the rest of her life in purity and piety, was included in the list of saints.

© Lives of the saints, translated into Bulgarian from the Church Slavonic text of Cheti-minei ("Chety-Minei") of Saint Demetrius of Rostov (with minor modifications from the publisher e.g.me hip0

P.S. The modern historians are disputing the saintship of Saint Justinian, however for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for a long time he has been considering a saint for his great endeavor for Christianity and his zealous work for enlightnment of the empire and the nations in the then known world.

Saint martyr Angel of Lerina – a Bulgarian saint confessor and the Day of Saint Archangel Michael and of all Angels Archangels and Heavenly Powers

Wednesday, November 9th, 2022

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Saint Archangel Michael (Church of Saint  Archangel Michael Tryavna, Bulgaria) iconographer Yoanikij Papavitanov

On 8th of November in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, we celebrate the day to remember the gathering of Archangel Michael with all the Angels Archangels, Cherubims and heavenly powers that have kept loyal to the Holy Trinity God – The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
The same arch-angels and powers who could do what they want and were created in the beginning of time after God as a helper Spirits to God and man.

The same angels are also supporting the whole universe with their deeds of love. They sustain the waters, make the wind blow, the clouds to move and give rain, the earth to give its fruits, possess and give wisdom or transfer secret messages from God to man when sent.

Others do protect all Christians and people from the evils of the fallen-agels who choose to misobey the True God Christ and follow the master of the evil spirits whose place is in the burning Gehenah and whose time is running out. 

They help the woman in birth-pain (like my sister Stanimira whose time to give birth is approaching), the make the organism of man to function properly. Or give the physics to make the stars shine on heaven, the Planet and heavenly bodies to move. Each and every place and Country and Church has its own guardian angels. And they're of a Big multitude the Church fathers says a lot about the Angels and many is still unknown and will be revealed in the that everyone will stand on the Judgement day in front of God and sees the Heaven and Hell realities and will stumble in fear seeing the gloriness of the archangels and cherubs (burning out of Love for God and man) made in a likeness of the Holy God.

The orthodox Church sticks clearly to the teaching of so called saint Dyonisious the Areopagites (often called in the Theology Pseudo Dyonisious), who was one of the important apostles of Christ, Athenian judge at the Areopagus Court in Athens, who lived in the first century. A convert to Christianity, he is venerated as a saint by multiple denominations.

 

The writings of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite hold great significance for the Orthodox Church. Four books of his have survived to the present day:

 

On the Celestial Hierarchy, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, On the Names of God, On Mystical Theology

In additional, there are ten letters to various people.

The book On the Celestial Hierarchies was written actually in one of the countries of Western Europe, where Saint Dionysius was preaching. In it he speaks of the Christian teaching about the angelic world. The angelic (or Celestial-Heavenly) hierarchy comprises the nine angelic Ranks:

  • Seraphim
  • Cherubim
  • Thrones
  • Dominions
  • Powers
  • Authorities
  • Principalities
  • Archangels
  • Angels

 

The account of the Synaxis of the Bodiless Powers of Heaven is located under November 8.

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The purpose of the divinely-established Angelic Hierarchy is the ascent towards godliness through purification, enlightenment and perfection. The highest ranks are bearers of divine light and divine life for the lower ranks. And not only are the sentient, bodiless angelic hosts included in the spiritual light-bearing hierarchy, but also the human race, created anew and sanctified in the Church of Christ.

There is too much to be said about Angels, Archangels, through the years from ancient times, they can heal and help, and grant special powers to man and many, many more. There were innumerable heresies who have over-deified heavenly powers, especially gnostics and that is a well known fact. For those who want to read about Angels, and their hierarchy there is a lot ot read and learn, angels has helped the saints in their hardship in fight with evilness, there is really a lot about this for those who want to further learn. 

But what is less known is here in today's relatively small country of Bulgaria, we have a local saint Angel of Lerina who is born in Bulgarian family and stems from a Bulgarian village. As his endeveour and confession of his love for Christ and the Church was enormous he has suffered martyrdom for Christ in the 17th century during the times Bulgaria was enslaved by the Ottoman Turks. Thus as there is not much written about saint Angel Lerinski (Lerina), I dedicated this small article in glory of his memory. The article is also in memoriam of my grand-grand-grand Father who was also named Angel himself, perhaps in glory of Saint Angel of Lerina.

The Life of Saint Angel of Lerina


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Saint New Martyr Angel of Lerina (Bitolski) – picture source Wikipedia

All the sources about the holy martyr Angel of Lerinsky that we have reached cite the story of Saint Paisius of Hilendar as the main source for the life of the new martyr, called Angel or Agathangel. This is what St. Paisius writes about him in the History of Slavonic Bulgaria":
           "In 1750, in Bitol, where the Turkish and Macedonian Pasha sits, the Turks tortured and beheaded a young man, handsome in face and stature, for the Christian faith. Many forced and tormented him to renounce Christ, but he wisely and courageously denounced their godless faith. The Bishop of Bitola recorded many of his answers, described his sufferings in Greek. And God showed a great sign over his powers. His name was Angel from the village of Lerin. This holy martyr Angel shone in our time in the Bulgarian land."
          The Bulgarian Orthodox Church honors the holy new martyr on November 8, the feast of the holy Archangels. Probably the veneration of the saint in our church dates from the time when he was martyred, because his martyrdom was described by Saint Paisius of Hilendar immediately after it happened, since Saint Paisius was his contemporary.

          Greek information about the new martyr Angel Lerinski appeared only in recent years.

In the electronic version of "Οι Νεομάρτυρες της Булгариас" (New Martyrs Bulgarian) Αρχιμανδρίτου του Οικουμενικού Θρόνου Θωμά Ανδρέου Ιεροκήρυκος Ιεράς Μητροπόλεως Ελευθερουπόλεως (Archimandrite of the Ecumenical See Thomas Andreu, Preacher of the Eleftheroupolis Holy Metropolis), Kavala, 2011, p.88, we read :

         "Another case of a new martyr of Greek origin is that of Angel (or Agatangel) from today's Florina (in Bulgarian Lerin). The 2009 calendar of the Holy Metropolis of Florin, Prespa and Eordei honors this new martyr, who was martyred in the monastery of Pelagonia (now Bitola, Macedonia) on February 17, 1727*. The book "History of Slavonic Bulgaria" by Paisiy Hilendarski talks about the martyrdom of the new martyr ("his name was Angel or Agatangel and he was from the village of Florina")

Saint-Agatangel_Bitolski-Greek-icon

…..
          Little is known about the new martyr. We know that he was born in 1732 in Florina, in the sanjak (prefecture) of Bitola (Monastery). When he grew up, he became a tall and handsome young man. At the age of 18, the Turks tried to convert him to Islam, but Angel – although very young – did not succumb to the temptations and then bravely accepted martyrdom. In his book Paisius Hilendarski mentions that: "In 1750 in the monastery… the Turks tortured and slaughtered a handsome young man because of his Christian faith… His name was Angel and he was from the village of Florina" His testimony in the monastery was attended by the local Greek metropolitan, who described his courage and the intelligent and logical answers he gave in court. Due to the fact that he condemned the Muslim faith with particular wisdom and courage, he was beheaded when he was only 18 years old in 1750. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church honors his memory on November 8, during the Feast of the Archangels…."

          Additional information about the holy new martyr Angel Lerinsky can be found on one of Florina's sites (http://agiospanteleimonas-florina.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_8186.html.)


          The Metropolitan of Florini, Prespa and Eordaia, Theoclitus, addresses the citizens on the occasion of the decision to start the veneration of the holy martyr Agathangel of Florina (June, 2010):

          "With special feelings of joy, emotion, holy contentment and reverence, I turn to you, the blessed children of the Greek Macedonian land, to become participants in the great spiritual joy experienced by our local Church for the first official celebration of the memory of the holy new martyr Agathangel in the seat of our metropolis Florina. It is already known to all of you. that the holy new martyr Agathangel, martyred in the Pelagonian monastery, originated from Florina, is our fellow citizen. At an early age he left Florina and went to Vutelion of Byzantium, to the monastery, seeking better living conditions. There, exercising the profession of shoemaker, he soon distinguished himself by his honesty and his diligence. …. But what distinguished him from the young people of his time was the pure and firm faith he had in Christ and in His "orthodox church". He loved Christ more than anything else in his life. No other love could "steal" the love that Agathangel had in his heart for Christ, he loved Him simply, purely, with all his heart, with all his strength, he loved Him as his poor parents and his blessed ancestors loved Him.
         

Along with the love for Christ, the saint had love for his homeland, conquered Macedonia. Almost four hundred years of slavery count the long-suffering "Greek Macedonians".
The Turkish conquerors treated them with cruelty. Sometimes with flattery, sometimes with threats, sometimes with violence, they try to make them change their faith. To deny Christ. To renounce the Orthodox faith and become Muslims.
And whoever renounces his faith renounces his homeland.

          Agathangel's heart was troubled by the fact that several of his fellow Roman Christians did not withstand the temptations or the violence, denying Christ and the country. His brave heart rebelled. He could not bear the Orthodox faith to be dishonored. For this, when during the three-day Bairam, which is celebrated after Ramadan, the forced conversion of the Orthodox increased, this young boy, not yet twenty years old, went to Constantinople, where he received a Sultan's firman, which forbade the forced conversion in the area of ​​Pelagonia.

On his return to the Monastery, the saint was arrested by those outraged by the Turkish Sultan's decision, and after cruel torture, he was beheaded on February 17, 1727.

           In a meeting we held in the Holy Metropolis, in which, in addition to the Metropolitan, the Honorable Prefect of Florini Mr. Ioannis Voskopoulas, the Mayor of Florini Mr. Stefanos Papanastasiou, the President of TEDC of N. Florinis, Mr. Dimitrios Iliadis, and the President of the monasteries of N. Florinis, Mr. Theodoros Vosdou, decided to jointly hold events in honor of the holy new martyr Agathangel…”

* 1727 is mentioned as the year of the martyrdom of St. Angel Lerinski in some sources, and sometimes it is mentioned together with 1750, in the same source. This discrepancy in the years of the martyrdom leaves the doubt that different martyrs are being talked about.


For this reason, we cannot say exactly whether the reliquary with the relics – the holy head of the new martyr Agathangel in the Kykkos monastery in Cyprus, which contains the same description of his life, but the date February 17, 1727 is indicated, refers to the same martyr, for which speaks Saint Paisius of Hilendar.

Saint Reverend Martyr Jacob Kosturski and his two disciples Deacon Jacob and Monk Dionysius † November 1, 1520

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

Icon_of_Jacob_of_Kostur-and-his-2-desciples-Yakov-and-Dyonisios_19_Century

Holy Reverend Martyr Yakov ( Jacob) was born in one of the Bulgarian village of the Kostur region in ex-Bulgarian Macedonia in the distance year 1520.
His parents names were Martin and Parascheva.

He was an experienced cattle breeder and through hard work became quite rich, but his own brother, out of envy, slandered him to the Turkish authorities for hearing the false rumor he allegedly found a hidden fortune. Saint Yakov is a saint of the pleiad of great Bulgarian saint martyrs, sadly little known today in Bulgaria today.

Therefore, Jacob sold his sheep, left his native land and went to Constantinople, where he became even richer.
Once he heard a Turk praising Christianity and telling how his wife was cured of madness through the prayers of Saint Patriarch Niphont.
Yakov was very interested in this and went to the patriarch.

The conversation they had so touched his soul that he gave away all his wealth and retired to the Agios Oros Holy Mount Athos monk republic.

There he revived the deserted Iverion old skete "Saint John the Forerunner" and lived under the guidance of a certain elder Ignatius.

Jacob labored so diligently and reached such a high spiritual perfection that he was honored with heavenly revelations: he was shown the abodes of heaven and the dungeons of hell, he began to penetrate the secret feelings and thoughts of his visitors, e.g. received by God the gift of clairvoyance.

The Lord also honored him with the gift of miracles: at his prayer, spring water flowed into the renewed hermitage, which has been called "the agiasma of Saint Jacob" ever since; twice the jar of oil filled itself when run empty by his prayers;
With his prayer he healed a Vatopedian novice monk who was seized with rabies; once rain fell from heaven in a time of drought; another time watered thirsty travelers with the stream that came out of earth but his prayers springed waters.

Desiring to give himself up to complete solitude, he and six of his disciples retired to the inner part of Mount Athos, where he spent days and nights in complete silence except on Saturdays and Sundays.

Finally he wished to go into the world to preach piety. His disciples followed him.
Everywhere the people flocked to receive his blessing and listen to his sermon.
He also performed many miracles with his prayers: he healed the insane, handed over to Satan an unrepentant Christian sorcerer to weaken the flesh (1 Cor. 5:5).

But the local Bishop Akakios, out of envy, reported to the Turkish authorities that this old foreigner was gathering a lot of people around him and could cause some rebellion.
The monk foresaw the rising danger and spent the whole night in prayer and calmly waited for the divine liturgy to end.

Early in the morning, 18 Turkish soldiers surrounded the church and captured the elder Jacob with two of his disciples – deacon Jacob and monk Dionysius (some other Biographers speak about 6 desciples).

The Turkish bey (local place governor) investigated the reverend for a long time, sometimes with exhortations, sometimes with threats, sometimes with torture, but finding no guilt in him, threw him into prison for 40 days, until he reported him to the High Gate (highest authority in the Ottoman Turkish Empire) and received an order from there.

After some time, an order came from Sultan Selim to bring the saint and his disciples to Edirne (Odrin), so that he himself could judge them.

The Sultan strictly investigated them. Venerable Jacob calmly spoke only the truth.

The Sultan ordered that he and his disciples be beaten with whips.
Not a word, not a groan was heard from the reverend.
Then they tightened Yakov and desciples deacon Jacob and Dyonisios heads with screws.

The saint did not suffer from this torture, but one of Deacon Jacob's eyes popped out of orbit.
In the meantime, the Sultan learned that the old martyr was prophetically predicting the future and jokingly asked St. James: "How many more years will I live?"
The reverend replied, "Nine months!"

holy-martyrs-Iakovos_Kastorias_Kosturski-and-his-desciples-Jacob-and-Dyonisios

His prophecy came true.
In order to find a sufficient reason to kill the innocent, the embittered sultan sent one of his pashas (bashaw – higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries, and others ) to them in prison to ask them questions about Christ and Muhammad.

Venerable Jacob boldly confessed that only Jesus Christ is the true God, which enraged the sultan and served as an occasion for new cruel tortures:

they tore apart the bodies of the martyrs, broke their jaws, cut thongs from their skins and then watered their wounds with vinegar and salt, they beat them cruelly with whips, burned their thighs with fire.

They were tortured in this way for 17 days. At last the Sultan sentenced them to be hanged (perhaps because he knew about Jude the Escariot and wanted to mock the saints).

Before the sentence was carried out, Venerable Jacob stood among his disciples and invited them to pray for the world and for the Church, thanking the Lord for honoring them to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

All three fell on the ground and worshiped God.

Then Venerable Jacob took out three hidden particles from the life-giving Mysteries of Christ and with them he gave communion to himself and his disciples.

Then he raised his hands and eyes to heaven and cried out with a loud voice:

"Lord, into Your hands I commit my spirit!" And immediately, to everyone's surprise, quietly died.

This happened on November 1st, year 1520 A.D.
Some Christians bought their honest holy relics and buried them with honors.
Over their tombs on Sundays and holidays light appeared and miracles took place.

Later, their holy relics were transferred to Mount Athos by christians, and took them three kilomers away from their in the village of Albani and laid them in three separate graves.

Over their graves on Sundays and holidays, light appeared and miracles took place!

Later from there to the area of ​​Galatista near Thessaloniki, where the rest of the monk's students settled in the monastery "St. Anastasia (Deliverer from Potions) Uzorushitelnica".

Some Christians bought their holy relics and took them three kilometers away from their homeland, in the village of Albani, and laid them in three separate graves. Over their graves on Sundays and holidays, light appeared and miracles took place. Later, their relics were transferred to Mount Athos, and from there to the village of Galatista, Thessaloniki. There was a small monastery "St. Athanasius Uzorushitelnica", which the rest of the disciples of the martyr Jacob revived. The memory of the martyrs is celebrated on November 1.

There is a special service for the Reverend Martyr Jacob and his disciples, which is served on the day of their memory in the Iverion skete "Saint John the Forerunner" on Mount Athos and in the monastery "Saint Anastasia".

The Biography compiled out of:

1. © Lives of the Saints. Synodal Publishing House, Sofia, 1991, edited by Parthenius, Bishop of Levkia and Archimandrite Dr. Athanasius (Bonchev).
2.
Hristo Temelski From the collection Saints and spiritual leaders from Macedonia