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.

Our Venerable Father Chariton was born in the city of Iconium in Asia Minor, where he was reared in the ways and standards of God. When he reached manhood, he became famous for his piety and achieved prominence in that city. In those days, the pagan Roman emperor Aurelian (270-276 A.D.) reigned in Rome. In the beginning, he did not persecute the Christians nor prevent them from worshiping the True God, even though he, himself, was an idolater. Later, though, incited by the demons that he worshiped, he raised a terrible persecution against the Christians by dispatching godless decrees to all the provinces, requiring the governors to coerce the Christians--by any means possible--to return to the worship of the idols. Those that refused to submit to his orders were to be tortured and suffer a painful death.

In Luke 10:1-17, the Lord appointed seventy men to go out as missionaries--as Apostles. Though not so prominent as the Twelve, the Church confirms that the Seventy remained true to the Lord and their calling, fulfilling a vital role in the spread of the Gospel. These were not random choices or accidental volunteers but true Disciples, True Apostles, whose labors carried the message of their Lord throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.

"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build up. For Christ did not please Himself..." (Romans 15:1-3).

There is this incessant misconception involving the way in which Orthodox Christians should live with blurred lines of confusion of what is right and wrong in terms of practice. As an Orthodox Christian, there is an emphasis on acquiring humility and patience, through continual prayer, repentance, and love towards one another. Unfortunately, this current epoch of an existence is far from what is expected from us as not only Christians, but as an entire population of humans. Through the rapid explosion of technological advances, medical science discoveries, social behavior, humans are vey lost, drifting far away from God. With all the distractions there are today, it is very easy to be possessed by the physical aspects rather than the spiritual ones.