Orthodox Saints

[Apotheoun]

St. Gregory Palamas is an example of an Eastern Orthodox saint commemorated in the Byzantine Catholic Church:

[url="http://www.metropolitancantorinstitute.org/sheetmusic/general/GF2SundayGreatVespers.pdf"][u]Vesper Propers: Second Sunday of the Great Fast: Memory of our Holy Father Gregory, Archbishop of Thessalonica[/u][/url]

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='goldenchild17' post='1534471' date='May 20 2008, 01:12 AM']If they are recognized by the Eastern Rites then I have no problem with it. I'm not sure how canonizations etc. work in the East, but if it's only individuals in the Eastern Rite that recognize them then its not good enough IMO.[/quote]
We canonize our own saints.

[irishdancer]

I pray to St. Herman of Alaska. He is one terrific saint.

[Apotheoun]

[b]St. Herman of Alaska [/b]

(1760-1836)

Monk Herman came from the town of Serpukhov, a short distance from Moscow. At the age of 16 he entered the Holy Trinity Sergius Hermitage, located on a Finnish bay about twelve miles from St. Petersburg. At that time St. Sergius Hermitage was attached to St. Sergius Lavra near Moscow and was governed by superiors sent from the Lavra. Father Herman lived in the St. Sergius Hermitage for some five or six years and later moved to Valaam Monastery situated on Lake Ladoga.

In the second half of the 18th century the boundaries of Holy Russia on the north were being enlarged with the activity of Russian promyshlenniki (scouts and pioneers). The Aleutian islands were discovered. With the discovery of these islands there was found a holy need of the evangelical light for the wild inhabitants there. For this holy task, with the blessing of the Synod, Metropolitan Gabriel entrusted Elder Nazarius, the Abbot of Valaam, to select capable men from among the Valaam brethren. Ten men were chosen, including: Archimandrite Ioasaph, Hieromonk Juvenaly, Hieromonks Athanasius and Macarius, Hierodeacons Stephen and Nektary, monk Ioasaph (tonsured into small schema), and Father Herman. In 1794 those chosen men left Valaam monastery for their appointed destination. With holy zeal the evangelizers quickly spread the evangelical light amidst the new sons of Russia. Several thousands of people accepted Christianity. A school was founded to educated the newly-baptized children. A church was built where the missionaries lived.

But by the unfathomable ways of God the general success of the mission was not long standing. After five years of his greatly profitable activity, the head of the mission, Archimandrite Ioasaph (who had been raised to the rank of a bishop) and his whole suite drowned. Before him, the zealous Hieromonk Juvenaly was vouchsafed a martyric crown, while others one after another left the mission. Finally there remained only Father Herman, and it was to him that the Lord sent grace to labor longer than all his co-brethren in enlightening the Aleuts.

Father Herman’s place of residence was Spruce Island, called by him “New Valaam”. The island is separated by a strait two miles from Kodiak Island. Spruce Island is not large and is all covered with forest. In the middle of it there runs a small river into the sea. Father Herman chose this island by himself as a place for his own seclusion, and dug there with his hands a cave in the ground and spent his first whole summer in it. By winter the Russian American Company built a cell for him near his earthen cave. He lived in this cell until his death, turning the cave into a place for his repose as a grave. Not far from the cell there rose a wooden chapel and a little wooden house for his school for the orphan Aleut children. He himself taught them the Law of God and church singing. And here he labored for more than 40 years, suffering slander and persecution for his fearlessness in the face of oppression.

Father Herman reposed in the Lord on November 15/28, 1836 at the age of 76.

[url="http://www.sainthermanpress.com/firstpage.htm"][u]Saint Herman Press[/u][/url]

[TeresaBenedicta]

Hm. Well, I'm no theologian, but I don't see anything wrong with it. I would view it as on par to us praying to those who are not yet or never will be officially canonized. People pray to JPII, Fulton Sheen, their dead relatives, and other non-canonized folks. There are plenty of Saints in heaven that have not been canonized and they can still intercede for us.

I think it may very well be as simple as... if they're in Heaven, they can hear your prayers and intercede for you. If they're not, well, no harm done, right?

The bottom line is that unless they've been canonized, we don't know for sure if they're in Heaven. Still no harm in asking for prayers though! I guess I'd kind of liken it to the prayer request form here, lol. You post a prayer request and those who see (or in the case of Heaven, hear) it, pray for you.

I mean, when I pray "All holy angels and Saints, pray for us", I'm invoking everyone who's in Heaven, not just the canonized Saints.

[Apotheoun]

[url="http://www.zenit.org/article-22650?l=english"][u]Cardinal to Bring Alexy II a Papal Message[/u][/url]

VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 2008 (Zenit.org). - Cardinal Walter Kasper left for Moscow today to take a message from Benedict XVI to Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will be in Russia through May 30. The trip was undertaken at the invitation of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the president of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, reported the pontifical council.

The program of the visit includes an inaugural celebration for the feast of Corpus Christi at the Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow.

The cardinal will be received by Patriarch Alexy II in an encounter during which the cardinal will give him the Pope's message.

The pontifical council president will also participate in a celebration for the name day of Metropolitan Kirill.

Cardinal Kasper will make a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Kazan, to venerate the icon of Our Lady, which he himself brought to Russia in 2004 in the name of Pope John Paul II.

A visit to the monastery of Diveyevo is also scheduled. [b][i]There, the cardinal will venerate a saint of the Orthodox Church, Seraphim of Sarov, particularly beloved by the Russian people.[/i][/b]

[Maggyie]

My family is named after St. Constantine. When I first found out I thought, how cool, I guess it doesn't stink so bad to have a weird last name, after all. But I wondered if it would be all right to develop a devotion to him, since the West never canonized him... Then I discovered that the Eastern Catholic Church venerates him, so problem solved!

In fact I think his feast day was just recently.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Maggie' post='1536988' date='May 21 2008, 11:48 PM']My family is named after St. Constantine. When I first found out I thought, how cool, I guess it doesn't stink so bad to have a weird last name, after all. But I wondered if it would be all right to develop a devotion to him, since the West never canonized him... Then I discovered that the Eastern Catholic Church venerates him, so problem solved!

In fact I think his feast day was just recently.[/quote]
Yes. On 21 May the Byzantine rite celebrates the feast that commemorates the Holy and Glorious Sovereigns, the Equals of the Apostles, Constantine and Helena.

The troparion for their feast day is below:

O Lord, your disciple, Emperor Constantine, who saw in the sky the Sign of your Cross, accepted the call that came straight from you, as it happened to Paul, and not from any man. He built his capital and entrusted it to your care. Preserve our country in everlasting peace, through the intercession of the Theotokos, for you alone are the Lover of Mankind.

[Selah]

[quote name='ICTHUS' post='48583' date='Oct 28 2003, 11:01 PM']I have a question:

Is it alright to ask for the intercession of Protestant martyrs? (Such as the three teenagers who gave up their lives for Christ at the Columbine massacre?)[/quote]

Funny you should bring them up. In particular, I ask Rachel Scott for her intercession. She is so very special to me <3

[Apotheoun]

[b]St. Seraphim of Sarov[/b]

St. Seraphim (born Prohor Moshnin) was born in 1759 to a merchant family in Kursk. At the age of 10, he became seriously ill. During the course of his illness, he saw the Mother of God in his sleep, who promised to heal him. Several days later there was a religious procession in Kursk with the locally revered miracle-working icon of the Mother of God. Due to bad weather, the procession took an abbreviated route past the house of the Moshnin family. After his mother put Seraphim up to the miracle-working image, he recovered rapidly. While at a young age, he needed to help his parents with their shop, but business had little appeal for him. Young Seraphim loved to read the lives of the saints, to attend church and to withdraw into seclusion for prayer.

At the age of 18, Seraphim firmly decided to become a monk. His mother blessed him with a large copper crucifix, which he wore over his clothing all his life. After this, he entered the Sarov monastery as a novice.

From day one in the monastery, exceptional abstinence from food and slumber were the distinguishing features of his life. He ate once a day, and little. On Wednesdays and Fridays he ate nothing. After asking the blessing of his starets (i.e., a spiritual elder), he began to withdraw often into the forest for prayer and religious contemplation. He became severely ill again soon after, and was forced to spend most of the course of the next three years lying down.

St. Seraphim was once again healed by the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Who appeared to him accompanied by several saints. Pointing to the venerable Seraphim, The Holy Virgin said to the apostle John the Theologian: "He is of our lineage." Then, by touching his side with Her staff, She healed him.

His taking of the monastic vows occurred in 1786, when he was 27 years old. He was given the name Seraphim, which in Hebrew means "fiery," or "burning." He was soon made a hierodeacon. He justified his name by his extraordinarily burning prayer. He spent all of his time, save for the very shortest of rests, in church. Through such prayer and the labors of religious services, Seraphim became worthy to see angels, both serving and singing in church. During the liturgy on Holy Thursday, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the form of the Son of man, proceeding into the Church with the Heavenly host and blessing those praying. The saint could not speak for a long time after being struck by this vision,.

In 1793, St. Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk, after which he served every day and received Holy Communion for a year. St. Seraphim then began to withdraw into his "farther hermitage" — the forest wilderness about five kilometers from Sarov Monastery. He achieved great perfection at this time. Wild animals — bears, rabbits, wolves, foxes and others — came to the hut of the ascetic. The staritsa (i.e., eldress) of the Diveevo monastery, Matrona Plescheeva, witnessed how St. Seraphim fed a bear that had come to him out of his hand: "The face of the great starets was particularly miraculous. It was joyous and bright, as that of an angel," she described. While living in this little hermitage of his, St. Seraphim once suffered greatly at the hands of robbers. Although he was physically very strong and was holding an axe at the time, St. Seraphim did not resist them. In answer to their threats and their demands for money, he lay his axe down on the ground, crossed his arms on his chest and obediently gave himself up to them. They began to beat him on the head with the handle of his own axe. Blood began to pour out of his mouth and ears, and he fell unconscious. After that they began to hit him with a log, trampled him under foot, and dragged him along the ground. They stopped beating him only when they had decided that he had died. The only treasure which the robbers found in his cell was the icon of the Mother of God of Deep Emotion (Ymileniye), before which he always prayed. When, after some time, the robbers were caught and brought to justice, the holy monk interceded on their behalf before the judge. After the beating, St. Seraphim remained hunched over for the rest of his life.

Soon after this began the "pillar" period of the life of St. Seraphim, when he spent his days on a rock near his little hermitage, and nights in the thick of the forest. He prayed with his arms raised to heaven, almost without respite. This feat of his continued for a thousand days.

Because of a special vision of the Mother of God he was given toward the end of his life, St. Seraphim took upon himself the feat of becoming an elder. He began to admit everyone who came to him for advice and direction. Many thousands of people from all walks of life and conditions began to visit the elder now, who enriched them from his spiritual treasures, which he had acquired by many years of efforts. Everyone saw St. Seraphim as meek, joyful, pensively sincere. He greeted all with the words: "My joy!" To many he advised: "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved." No matter who came to him, the starets bowed to the ground before all, and, in blessing, kissed their hands. He did not need the visitors to tell about themselves, as he could see what each had on their soul. He also said, "Cheerfulness is not a sin. It drives away weariness, for from weariness there is sometimes dejection, and there is nothing worse than that."

"Oh, if you only knew" he once said to a monk, "what joy, what sweetness awaits a righteous soul in Heaven! You would decide in this mortal life to bear any sorrows, persecutions and slander with gratitude. If this very cell of ours was filled with worms, and these worms were to eat our flesh for our entire life on earth, we should agree to it with total desire, in order not to lose, by any chance, that heavenly joy which God has prepared for those who love Him."

The miraculous transfiguration of the starets’ face was described by a close admirer and follower of St. Seraphim — Motovilov. This happened during the winter, on a cloudy day. Motovilov was sitting on a stump in the woods; St. Seraphim was squatting across from him and telling his pupil the meaning of a Christian life, explaining for what we Christians live on earth.

"It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us," he said.

"Father," answered Motovilov, "how can I see the grace of the Holy Spirit? How can I know if He is with me or not?"

St. Seraphim began to give him examples from the lives of the saints and apostles, but Motovilov still did not understand. The elder then firmly took him by the shoulder and said to him, "We are both now, my dear fellow, in the Holy Spirit." It was as if Motovilov’s eyes had been opened, for he saw that the face of the elder was brighter than the sun. In his heart Motovilov felt joy and peace, in his body a warmth as if it were summer, and a fragrance began to spread around them. Motovilov was terrified by the unusual change, but especially by the fact that the face of the starets shone like the sun. But St. Seraphim said to him, "Do not fear, dear fellow. You would not even be able to see me if you yourself were not in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Thank the Lord for His mercy toward us."

Thus Motovilov understood, in mind and heart, what the descent of the Holy Spirit and His transfiguration of a person meant.

The days of the commemoration of St. Seraphim are August 1 and January 15 (July 19 and January 2 by the church calendar).


[i]Troparion of St. Seraphim, Tone 4[/i]

Thou didst love Christ from thy youth, O blessed one,/ and longing to work for Him alone thou didst struggle in the wilderness with constant prayer and labor./ With penitent heart and great love for Christ thou wast favored by the Mother of God./ Wherefore we cry to thee:/ Save us by thy prayers, O Seraphim our righteous Father.


[i]Kontakion of St. Seraphim, Tone 2[/i]

Having left the beauty of the world and what is corrupt in it, O saint,/ thou didst settle in Sarov Monastery./ And having lived there an angelic life,/ thou wast for many the way to salvation./ Wherefore Christ has glorified thee, O Father Seraphim,/ and has enriched thee with the gift of healing and miracles./ And so we cry to thee:/ Rejoice, O Seraphim, our righteous Father.

[url="http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/seraphim_e.htm"][u]St. Seraphim of Sarov[/u][/url]

[misereremi]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1533352' date='May 19 2008, 03:55 PM']Nope, it is not wrong at all. In fact, Eastern Catholics venerate Orthodox saints all the time:

St. Gregory Palamas, herald of grace, pray for us.
St. Mark of Ephesus, pray for us.
St. Seraphim of Sarov, pray for us.
St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, pray for us.
St. John Maximovitch, pray for us.
St. Sergius of Radonezh, pray for us.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers . . .

O Holy Paraclete, Giver of Life, Eternal God: Mercifully bestow on us the Grace of the Life-giving Energies of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ; and let us live as faithful children of the Light, so that we – finally beholding the unfading beauty of the Vision of the uncreated Light, becoming partakers by Grace of the Divine Nature, and being transformed into the glorious Likeness of our Creator – may on the awesome Day of Judgment be reckoned among the august company of His Mother, our Lady and Queen, and all others in whom the Love of God has been perfected, and worship and bask forever in the refulgence of the true Glory. Amen.[/quote]
Amen.

I am curious about St. Theodosia martire, whose feast day is today in Greek and I think Russian Orthodox churches, and on a different day in the Roman Catholic calendar. I have read different accounts of her martyrdom. Were there two St Theodosias?

[StColette]

[quote name='misereremi' post='1546098' date='May 28 2008, 10:48 AM']Amen.

I am curious about St. Theodosia martire, whose feast day is today in Greek and I think Russian Orthodox churches, and on a different day in the Roman Catholic calendar. I have read different accounts of her martyrdom. Were there two St Theodosias?[/quote]

In the Roman Catholic calendar there are two Theodosias. One martyred during Diocletian and the other martyred by Julian the Apostate.

[misereremi]

[quote name='StColette' post='1546489' date='May 28 2008, 08:35 PM']In the Roman Catholic calendar there are two Theodosias. One martyred during Diocletian and the other martyred by Julian the Apostate.[/quote]
Ta!

[Apotheoun]

Yesterday (30 May), the Byzantine Churches celebrated the feast of [i]Venerable Isaac the Founder of the Dalmatian Monastery at Constantinople[/i].


[img]http://www.geocities.com/apotheoun/venerable_isaac.jpg[/img]


[i]Troparion - Tone 8[/i]

The image of God was truly preserved in you, O Father,
for you took up the Cross and followed Christ.
By so doing doing you taught us to disregard the flesh for it passes away
but to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal.
Therefore your spirit, venerable Isaac, rejoices with the angels.

[i]Kontakion - Tone 8[/i]

As a faithful favorite of God you became enflamed with zeal for the Church of Christ
and drew in the reins of the emperor Valens, O venerable one;
you prophetically foretold to him the captivity of the Church and of his own wretched death.
Therefore, venerable Isaac, ceaselessly pray for us who honor you.

Edited May 31, 2008 by Apotheoun

[Apotheoun]

[i]St. Hermas is commemorated on May 31 in the Byzantine Churches[/i]:

The Holy Apostle Hermas was a bishop in Philippopolis, Thrace. He was a Greek, but he spent some time in Rome. The holy Apostle Paul greets him in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16:14). The Apostle Hermas endured much grief from the pagans for preaching the Gospel, but he died in peace.

According to Tradition, St. Hermas is the author of [i]The Shepherd[/i], an instructive book based on revelations from angels.