My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
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ON MAY 21ST OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE FEAST-DAY OF SAINT CONSTANTINE AND SAINT HELEN
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Constantine's parents were the Emperor Constantius Chorus and Empress Helena. Chlorus had further children by another wife, but by Helena, he had only the one, Constantine. Constantine fought two great battles when he came to the throne: one against Maxentius, a tyrant in Rome, and the other against Licinius not far from Byzantium. At the battle against Maxentius, when Constantine was in great anxiety and uncertainty about his chances of success, a shining cross, surrounded by stars, appeared to him in the sky in full daylight. On the cross were written the words: 'In this sign, conquer!' ("En Touto Nika"). The wonderworking Emperor ordered that a great cross be put together, like the one that had appeared, and be carried before the army. By the power of the Cross, he gained a glorious victory over enemies greatly superior in number. Maxentius drowned himself in the Tiber. Immediately after this, Constantine issued the famous Edict of Mila, in 313 A.D., to put an end to the persecution of Christians. Conquering Byzantium, he built a beautiful capital city on the Bosphorus, which from that time was named Constantinople.
At this time, Constantine fell ill with leprosy. The Pagan priests and doctor advised him to bathe in the blood of slaughtered children, which he refused to do. Then the Apostle Peter and Paul appeared to him and told him to seek out a bishop, Sylvester, who would heal him of the disease. The bishop instructed him in the Christian faith and baptized him, and the leprosy vanished from the Emperor's body.
When there was discord in the Church about the troublesome heretic Arius, the Emperor summoned the First Ecumenical Synod (Council) in the city of Nicaea, in 325 A.D., where the heresy was condemned and Orthodoxy confirmed.
Saint Helena's (Eleni), the Emperor's devout mother, was very zealous for the Christian faith. She visited Jerusalem and found the Precious and Holy Cross of the Lord, and built the Church of the Resurrection over Golgotha and many other churches in the Holy Land. This holy woman went to the Lord in 327 A.D., at the age of 80. Emperor Constantine outlived his mother by ten years and entered into rest at the age of about 60 in 337 A.D., in the city of Nicomedia. His body was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in the Queen city of Constantinople.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
We see that vice is something shameful and sinful and that it always hides itself and always takes on the semblance of good works. Saint John Chrysostom says most beautifully: "Vice has not got its own, personal face, but borrows the face of good deeds." The Savior also said: "(they) come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (St. Matthew 7:15). Call a liar a liar, and a thief a thief; a murderer a murderer, an immoral man an immoral man, and a slanderer a slanderer, and you will anger them. Call any man honest, honorable, selfless, truthful, just, conscientious, and you'll please and content him. Again I quote Saint John Chrysostom: 'Good works are something natural to man, while vice is something unnatural and false.' If a man is seized by some vice, he quickly justifies it by some good work, clothing it in the garment of good deeds. Truly, vice does not have its own, personal face, and neither has the devil, the father of vice and deception. (Source: The Prologue from Ochrid)
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THE DIVINE SERVICES FOR MONDAY THE 21ST:
Orthros (Matins) at 9:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George