My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True God,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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ON SEPTEMBER 29th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE FEAST-DAY OF SAINT KYRIAKOS THE ANCHORITE
Kyriakos, our holy Father, was born at Corinth in the Peloponnesus, Greece, in the year 448 A.D. during the reign of the holy Emperor Theodosius. His father, John, was a priest in Corinth. His mother's name was Evdoxia, and it was her uncle, Peter, then Bishop of Corinth, that had ordained him to the Office of Reader (Anagnostis). The blessed Kyriakos would constantly read the Holy Scripture and marveled how, from the very beginning, God, in His Divine Providence, created everything for the salvation of man, and how He glorified His Righteous ones and the Prophets of old. Indeed, he was utterly amazed, yet he had confidence in every word of the Holy Gospel. Thus inclined, his heart was aflame with divine zeal, and he decided to go to Jerusalem and live in silence. Constantly he would meditate on the words of a certain Sunday Gospel Reading that he had heard in church, which said: "If anyone is willing to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and keep on following Me" (Matthew 16:24). Therefore, he wasted no time and departed quietly for Cenchreae, where he found a ship bound for the Holy Land. He was then eighteen years old. It was the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Leo the Great.
Kyriakos arrived safely in the Holy City. At first, he found the Venerable Efstorgios who, being abundantly endowed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, had attained great spiritual heights. Nevertheless, he also heard of the virtues of Efthymios the Great. Therefore, he received permission from the divine Efstorgios and went to him. He was readily received and vested in the Monastic habit. However, the holy Efthymios, as a rule, did not accept beardless youths in his Lavra, so as not to scandalize the brethren. Therefore, Kyriakos was sent to Saint Gerasimos at the Jordan, who did receive him. He was assigned to cook and in this obedience, served the brethren diligently. There, he spent the evenings in divine prayer and would partake only of bread and water every two days. Therefore, he was greatly beloved by the Venerable Gerasimos, who, during the period of the Great Fast, took him and retreated into the wilderness of Rouba, where they shared company with pain and virtue. Also, in that area, the great Efthymios went into solitude and would administer the divine Mysteries every Sunday until the Feast of Palm Sunday. Shortly thereafter, the holy Gerasimos beheld in a vision the soul of the divine Efthymios enveloped in Light, ascending to heaven, escorted by holy Angels with exceeding honor and majesty. Saint Gerasimos took the young Kyriakos and went to the Lavra. Upon his arrival, the newly-reposed Saint Efthymios was interred with fitting reverence, and then he returned to his own monastery.
It was nine years after Kyriakos came to Jerusalem when the wondrous Gerasimos was transmitted to our desired Lord. Kyriakos was twenty-seven at this time and was in the midst of his ascetic struggles when he returned to the Lavra of Saint Afthymios. At that time, Egoumenos (Abbot) Elias was concerned with converting the Lavra into a Koinovion (coenobium). He received Kyriakos and gave him a cell (keli) where he rested. However, the Righteous young man noticed that there was hostility between both monasteries, that is, between those members of Saint Efthymios and Saint Theoktistos, because of certain offering and monies donated by one named Terevon. Kyriakos great weary of the daily scandals. Therefore, he departed and betook himself to the Monastery of Souka, where he remained many years, serving in a variety of obediences, from which he developed his patience and extreme humility. Also, when he was forty years old, he was elevated to the Priestly Office. It is said concerning him that he never let the sun set if he was the cause of a brother's anger, though he was never angry with anyone. Moreover, he was never seen eating during the day.
When he was seventy-seven years of age, he left the monastery for the desert of Natuf, followed by his disciple. Since they could not find any flood to console the necessities of nature, Kyriakos entreated God to alter the taste of certain plants, such as wild onions, from bitter to sweet. He said to his disciple, "Child, gather up these plants and boil them with salt, and blessed be the Lord Who shall satisfy us by them!" God heard his prayer and altered the bitter taste of these plants to a sweet flavor. The blessed ones survived for four years on these wild onions, for as it is said by the divine David: "Indeed I beheld not a righteous man having been forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Psalm 36:25).
"...Although he attained an advanced age, he was never negligent in his duties, that is, in chanting the hymns of the Church or caring for them that visited him. Our Saint was possessed of a meek nature, easy to approach, joyful and sweet, accepting of everyone, possessed of many good natural qualities and talents and able to foretell the future by Divine revelation. In stature, he was tall and robust, his entire body remaining sound despite his advanced age.
He constantly exhorted and confessed the Orthodox Christian Faith. It is recorded that while the blessed man struggled toward salvation in a cramped cell near the Jordan, a certain monk named Theophanes visited him, who as an adherent of the Nestorian heresy (which degrades the Son of God and the Theotokos). On learning this, Saint Kyriakos exhorted and besought him to forsake his errors and to turn to the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. "There is but one path to our salvation," the Saint said, "and that is to thing and believe as the Holy Fathers thought and believed." Theophanes asked the Saint to entreat God for him, that He grant him understanding from on high by some revelation!"
Saint Kyriakos rejoiced that his brother was willing to accept correction and enlightenment, and said to him, "Remain in my cell, and I trust that God, in His Goodness, will reveal to thee the truth." He then betook himself into solitude and began to beseech God for that brother. Then--lo!--about the ninth hour of the next day, the Nestorian beheld someone who told him sternly, "Come and learn the Truth." The stranger led him to a dark and malodorous place where he was shown heretics Nestorios, Arius, Efthychios, Dioscoros, and the other heretics in the unquenchable fire, groaning and gnashing their teeth because of the unbearable torment. The stranger then said, "Behold the abode of these and their followers who reason impiously! Thus, if this place is pleasing to thee, remain in thy false teaching; but if thou dost not wish to undergo a similar punishment, turn to the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church to which Kyriakos belongs. I say unto thee that, if a man performs all that is virtuous, yet does not believe in an Orthodox manner, he shall arrive at this place of torment." Thereafter, the herald of the divine will that had appeared became invisible, and the Nestorian, acknowledging his pernicious error, united himself to the Orthodox Church.
Toward the end of Saint Kyriakos' life, he became ill and thus surrendered up his soul to his much-desired Lord Jesus Christ, where he now rejoices with the Righteous in the brightness of the Angels, beholding all the things that he ever desired and the glory of the Holy Trinity, receiving Christ our Lord with the Unoriginate Father and the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, to Whom be Glory, Honor and Dominion and worship to Everlasting Ages. Amen. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)
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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 (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George