Rating: 9,9|Votes: 7
The Holy Prophet Zachariah and the Righteous Elizabeth were the parents of the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John. They were descended from the lineage of Aaron: St Zachariah, son of Barach, was a priest in the Jerusalem Temple, and St Elizabeth was the sister of St Anna, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos. The righteous spouses, "walking in all the commandments of the Lord" (Luke 1:6), suffered barrenness, which in those times was considered a punishment from God.
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
"At the time I was studying at St. Petersburg Theological Academy. I had much knowledge, but no real faith. There were ceremonies associated with the opening of the relics of St. Joasaph and I attended them unwillingly, thinking about the tremendous crowds of people thirsting for a miracle. How could miracles happen these days? ...I returned to Petersburg as another person—a believer."
Jesse Dominick
Rating: 4,5|Votes: 2
The prophet Moses occupies a unique position in the Scriptural Tradition of prophecy, having been granted not only to see the future and call the people to a greater faith in God, but alone was given to see the awesome creation of the world—that which God alone witnessed, and God alone can reveal. Moses, alone in the Scriptural canon can be called a prophet of the past, and his experience is confirmed for us in the experience of the saints in every age of the Church. He responded to the call of God and ascended the mountain to speak with Him, experiencing divine vision in His presence, and in turn offering to us the life-giving knowledge of the creation of the world, and there arose no greater prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (Deut. 34:10).
In our faith, Holy Fools often serve the same purpose as their Old Testament counterparts: that is, to warn a city, or a parish or a monastery about their failings and turning away from God. But their behaviour often isn’t just that simple, and to be a Holy Fool is a difficult and dangerous calling. It requires someone to reject the values of the world, and sometimes, even to seem to reject the teachings of the church. They forfeit the acceptance of others, and they act in ways that often convince people they are insane. It’s not unusual for holy fools to spend time locked up in madhouses and asylums, or to find themselves mocked, beaten, and thrown out of churches and monasteries. It’s not a way of life most people can tolerate or understand, either to do it or to be around it.
Rating: 2|Votes: 8
Saint John IV the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople (582-595), is famed in the Orthodox Church as the compiler of a penitential nomokanon (i.e. rule for penances), which has come down to us in several distinct versions, but their foundation is one and the same. These are instructions for priests on how to hear the confession of secret sins, whether sins already committed, or merely sins of intent.