The Catalog of Good Deeds: Orthodox Christian Saints

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Our father among the saints, Nicholas, was the only child born to wealthy parents, and was instructed in the Christian faith by his uncle (also named Nicholas), who was the bishop in the town of Patara, where St. Nicholas was born. When his parents reposed, Nicholas gave away his considerable inheritance to help the poor, and entered the monastery his uncle had established. It was his uncle who tonsured Nicholas as a monk, and who ordained Nicholas a priest. Throughout his life, Nicholas was known for his love and mercy, and for miracles worked both before and after his repose. Part of his legacy can be seen in his presence in our midst even today. Many nations, including Russia, look to him as a protector of their land and people, and more than 1,200 churches are named in his honor, including 400 in Great Britain – more than any other saint. It is estimated that western artists have depicted him more frequently than any other saint, apart from the most holy Theotokos. Many people don’t realize that the “right jolly old elf” dressed in red and driving a sleigh with reindeer has his origins in this saint: “Santa Claus” is the anglicized version of “Sinter Klaus” – Dutch for, “St. Nicholas.”

Most of us are familiar with certain aspects of the life of St. Nicholas. Probably the most well-known story is how the saint secretly provided gold coins to a family where poverty threatened to cause the sale of three daughters into prostitution. The gold – in some stories, it is dropped down a chimney to land in the stockings of the daughters, which had been hung by the fire in order to dry – spared the family from such a terrible decision. Many of us also know, and, in a way, sort of enjoy, the story of how St. Nicholas, enraged by the heretical teachings of Arius, struck Arius – according to some accounts, he punched Arius in the nose – at the Council of Nicaea in the year 325. Perhaps you even know how, on two separate occasions, St. Nicholas intervened to spare three men who had been wrongfully sentenced to be executed: once, when he confronted a regional governor who had taken a bribe to find three men guilty; and again when he appeared in a dream to the Emperor Constantine to tell him that three officials of the imperial court were innocent of the charges that had been brought against them. In each case, the condemned men were set free.

While these stories are familiar to us, we seem to be less familiar with the deeper details of the life of the saint, the details that make such actions as are celebrated in these stories possible. What power makes it possible to confront a government official, risking imprisonment or even death – and St. Nicholas certainly suffered for the faith during the persecutions under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian – to save innocent lives? What power makes it possible to stand up against popular false teachings to defend the Christian faith? What power – and this is particularly crucial in our world today – makes it possible to break the grip of wealth and possessions, and to give away a fortune? There is only one power capable of doing these things: the power of the love of God in Jesus Christ, that flows through those who love God above all else, and whose love flows to everyone made in the image of God, making them sources of God’s love for each one of us to everyone around them. If we do not love God, we will not put ourselves at risk to protest injustice and unrighteousness, to spare others from suffering or to save innocent lives. If we do not love God, we will not take a stand against false teachings; and we will even make compromises with teachings and practices that do not agree with those of the Orthodox Church and faith. If we do not love God, then we cannot truly love each other as we should; and the things of this world that attract and hold our attention – wealth, fame, honor, power, pleasure – these will capture us and keep us from rising toward heaven, as St. Nicholas rose, living as an angel on the earth in the midst of others.

St. Nicholas is loved by many because he loved so richly. His love for God caused him to turn his back on the world, giving away his worldly possessions, and not seeking any worldly honors. His love for God led him to be obedient when, in pursuing a solitary life, he was instructed by God to live his life in the midst of the people around him. His love for God led him to love every one of us – and in his love for us, to seek justice and righteousness for us, and to give gifts of love.

Brothers and sisters, let us love one another as Christ loves us – for He went to His passion and death through the power of His love. Let us love one another as St. Nicholas loves us, and ask for the grace to follow the example of his life.

Holy hierarch, father Nicholas, pray to God for us!

By Fr. John McCuen

Source: http://orthodoxsermonsonline.blogspot.com/2009/12/saint-nicholas-power-of-love.html

A homily for the Apostle Andrew, the Holy and All-Praised First Called (commemorated on November 30).

Walking through this dark, cold morning, did you happen to ask yourself, “What in the world am I doing?”

What were we looking for when we got out of bed this morning? What were we looking for when we came to this place—whether we came from the other side of the world, or the other side of the street?

Have we found it? What are we looking for now?

When St. Andrew first followed Jesus, our Lord looked at him and asked, “What do you seek?”

What were we seeking when we were first called?

Something inspired us to leave everything and follow Christ to this place. Perhaps it was a fire that burned in our souls, or a light that guided us through the darkness, or a Word that spoke to us in our loneliness.

As Andrew, and Simon Peter and Phillip and Nathanael are called, they leave everything and follow Christ. And we can imagine that in those early days, there was a great deal of excitement, perhaps even some back slapping and self-congratulation. “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

We have found Him, you and I, we are the chosen ones, we can see something amazing in Jesus, and so we leave everything to follow Christ.

But it is a long path.

It stretches from the wilderness of Jordan, throughout the Galilee, across the perilous waters of that sea, to the land of the Gaderenes and back, and ultimately the path leads up the long and treacherous road to Jerusalem.

It is a path that starts out bright, hopeful, exciting, thrilling even, but it gets harder, and harder.

And standing there on the Mount of Olives, looking across the Kidron Valley at the Temple, we wonder, just as Andrew did, “Lord, all that you have foretold, when will it come to pass?” But when it becomes clear that the journey ends with a shameful, dishonorable death on Golgotha, nailed to the cross, we realize just how hard it is to follow Christ.

It was not easy for St. Andrew, and it is certainly not easy for us.

But it is frighteningly easy to fall away. So frighteningly easy to deny Christ, voluntarily or involuntarily, in word or in deed, in knowledge or in ignorance.

And so today, on this cold, dark, morning, we may feel a bit like Andrew and the other disciples who were so dispirited as Jesus hung upon the Cross. But just because we might be dispirited, does not mean that we are defeated.

In those dark days, Andrew’s faith may not have burned as bright as it once had in those exciting days of leaving everything and following Christ. And this morning maybe our faith does not burn as bright as it once did, when we first we made exciting decisions to go off in new directions. Perhaps Andrew’s faith was nothing more than the tiniest spark of a smoldering wick. And perhaps that is all the faith that we have.

But that one small spark is all it takes.

In that upper room on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, the smoldering wick of faith was fanned into a tongue of fire. No matter how weak their faith had been, each one of them became a light in the darkness, and they were sent out into the world to bring Christ to a lonely world.

At that moment Andrew began to understand his calling.

According to legend, he traveled far and wide, preaching the Gospel in Cyprus, Georgia, Romania, and Kiev. And in his most difficult moments, on those cold dark mornings, hundreds and hundreds of miles from the warm shores of the Sea of Galilee, perhaps he thought back to Jesus’ first words, “What are you seeking?”

No matter where he was, no matter what he was doing, no matter how dark or cold, he needed to look no further than his own heart, for as St. Paul says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 5.5) Filled with that love, Andrew saw the image of God in everyone he met. He saw the image of God in the poor, the angry, the sick, the despairing, the lonely, the stranger. It was this love of God that allowed him to rejoice and give thanks even as he offered his life as a martyr.

Today as we give thanks in this Liturgy, we pray to God, “Send down your holy spirit upon us and upon these gifts.” As we pray this prayer today, may God remind us of the moment that we were first called.

By the prayers of St. Andrew the First Called, may we fulfill our calling to do God’s work: being faithful in everything we do, especially those things that are annoying or unpleasant; offering a kind word to the people that God places in our life, especially the ones who are the most difficult to love; and giving thanks to God for all things, especially the crosses that we are blessed to bear on this day.

By the prayers of St. Andrew the First Called, may our hearts catch fire with faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

By Rev. Dr. J. Sergius Halvorsen

Source: https://svotssynaxis.com/2015/12/07/the-moment-we-were-first-called/

On 11 December Russian Orthodox Church commemorates Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) of Petrograd. To honor his memory, we offer you an excerpt from Fr. Yves Dubois’ sermon on this not very known, but yet great saint, originally published on Ancient Faith Radio.

Leonid Chichagov born in 1856 and martyred in 1937 was born 25 years after the death of St. Seraphim of Sarov who was the most important influence on his life.

The orphan son of a builder, St. Seraphim of Sarov was raised by an energetic and warmhearted mother who took on and looked after many orphan girls. This motherly care of orphan girls was to be the model for St. Seraphim’s dealings with the convent he guided from a distance for much of his life. From his childhood till his death St. Seraphim was the beloved of the Mother of God who appear to him 12 times and healed him several times. For many years he lived by himself in a tiny hermitage in the deep forest. For 1000 days and nights he prayed kneeling on a stone. He saw almost no one. If people came he would hide in the tall grass. Almost beaten to death by thieves, he made sure they were pardoned. This most humble and sober saint was unusually aware of the closeness of Paradise. In his old age he was seen transfigured like Christ on Mount Thabor shining with a light brighter than the sun. He has left important teachings saying that the goal of human life is to acquire the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is received in exchange for good deeds done for the love of Christ. Prayer and kind actions are the means by which we make it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and abide in us. St. Seraphim is a sure guide in Orthodoxy, and many of his disciples, all of them women, have been glorified as saints by the Orthodox Church. I shall come back later to the role of St Seraphim in the life of Leonid Chichagov.

The second influence on him was St. John of Kronstadt, his confessor for 30 years. Together with St. Seraphim, St. John of Kronstadt is known as one of the two greatest pillars of Orthodox holiness in the last two centuries.

A married parish priest in the military harbour of St. Petersburg, St. John of Kronstadt healed thousands of people by his prayers, converted vast numbers of lapsed Christians and warned his country about the imminent catastrophe and long period of terror. God worked mightily through the faith and prayer of St. John of Kronstadt because his soul was nourished daily by the Bible and the Divine Liturgy. He said he had to celebrate the Liturgy every single day, otherwise he would not be able to breathe, he would choke to death. St. John of Kronstadt is one of the most powerful

examples of Christian life we can meet.

The third saint who was close to Leonid Chichagov was Patriarch Tikhon who had been Orthodox Archbishop of New York before he guided the Russian Church during the first eight years of Communist persecution. While in America he asked Isabel Hapgood to translate the main services of our church into English and her book is still in use. At is Cathedral in New York, he served in English every other week. He is the pioneer of English language Orthodoxy. Wise, gentle and firm, he defeated the Soviet government’s attempt to set up a pseudo-church: the people remained faithful to the Patriarch whom they trusted.

The fourth saint who was close to both Patriarch Tikhon and Leonid Chichagov, Ilarion Troitsky, Abbot then Archbishop, was a brilliant young theologian and a powerful orator who convinced the Council of 1917 to elect Patriarch Tikhon. His teaching was that Orthodoxy is a community held together by the Holy Spirit, not just a set of notions about God. What matters for the Christian life is the fullness of the Church’s life, a real community of love. The Christian life cannot be fully contained in books but only in a living community. St. Ilarion Troitsky was martyred in 1929 at the age of 42 in Leningrad. Leonid Chichagov organised a magnificent funeral for him.

Four great saints surrounded Leonid Chichagov. Let us now look at his own life which started brilliantly: a happy marriage and a successful career in the Army. At 34 he was already a colonel. He had taken part in a battle and had seen the appalling lack of appropriate medical care for the wounded on the battlefield. He took some courses in medicine and wrote two books on what should be provided medically on battlefields. Those books are still in print. At 34 he left the Army, trained for the priesthood and was ordained three years later. Steadily for nearly half a century, from the day he became a priest, he began to share Christ’s descent into tragedy, rejection, suffering and death for the redemption of the world. His first task as a priest was to rebuild a ruined church with no congregation and no money.

Nine months later the church was built and had a congregation, but his wife was ill and soon died. At the age of 40 he became a monk. From that time he was no longer known as Leonid but as Seraphim Chichagov after the saint of Sarov. He became a historian, sifted fax from legends about St. Seraphim and wrote two volumes about him which reveal the nature of Orthodox holiness. He rebuilt monasteries, renovated their communities and many monks were jealous of him. He was made a Bishop not long before the Russian Revolution and had difficulties with anti-Church people in the civil service. Then the revolution came. He was jailed for two years. Released, the Patriarch appointed him as Metropolitan of Leningrad. His health declined. He witnessed the barbaric bloodbath which engulfed Russia under Stalin. He saw churches desecrated and destroyed, often by people who had previously worked for the Orthodox Church.

The enemy, the persecutors, were former Orthodox Christians turned atheists. He did not know during his earthly life that the persecution would ever end, and yet the certainty of his faith and the vigour of his prayer were never damaged. Ill and worn out at 75 he retired and went to live in the small house assigned to the Metropolitan Sergius who was head of the Russian Church at that time. Every humiliation was inflicted on the old bishops. At 81, bedridden and gravely ill he was dragged to prison, given a summary trial then shot at Butovo in the south of Moscow, where the Soviet authorities had 500 people shot daily for 30 years. At the time of his martyrdom, since Seraphim Chichagov did not know that less than 60 years later the churches would be rebuilt and that the place of his execution will be marked by a huge church in honour of all the New Martyrs.

Saint Seraphim Chichagov and all the New Martyrs of the Orthodox Church, pray to God for us. Amen.

By Fr. Yves Dubois

Source: http://www.pravmir.com/holy-martyr-seraphim-chichagov-colonel-doctor-bishop-martyr/

The Holy Church of Christ celebrates the blessed memory of Saint John Chrysostom, our great teacher, confessor, and preacher, on November 26 (November 13 according to Julian calendar). The great John is seen as the beacon of faith and enjoys indisputable authority among all Orthodox Christians. He is venerated in Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Oriental Orthodox churches, too. Many of us know a lot about this great Christian man of faith. Some of us have read his works and homilies. Let us list several facts from his life so as to praise the Lord who acts through His saints.

1. St. John Chrysostom was born in Syria in the great city of Antioch to a noble family. His father Secundus was a high-ranking military officer who died when St. John was a young boy. His mother Anthusa was widowed when she was 20. As a true Christian widow, she decided to not marry again. Instead, she devoted her life to bringing up her son.

2. The great preacher was well-versed in all Greek wisdom, i.e., in all sciences of his day. He attained outstanding mastery in the art of eloquence thanks to his teacher Libanius, a pagan rhetorician. Libanius is supposed to have said on his deathbed that John would have been his successor "if the Christians had not stolen him from us".

3. The future holy hierarch was baptized as an adult, at the age of about 20, in spite of having been born in a Christian family. Notwithstanding this fact, he was in favor of infant baptism and considered it more suitable for Christian families.

4. John spent about 4 years in extreme asceticism in a desert not far from Antioch. He became a hermit after the death of his mother. He led a stringent and extremely harsh life, as a result of which his stomach and kidneys were permanently damaged, and he is believed to have suffered from gastritis or ulcer.

5. When John returned to Antioch, he was ordained as a deacon and later as a presbyter at the age of 40 and entrusted with preaching the Word of God to the people. That was how the most fruitful period in the creative and public speaking career of this great Christian preacher from Antioch began. It was during that period that most homilies and exegetical works of the talented pastor were written. John would preach daily in front of large crowds. The people nicknamed him Chrysostom, or Gold Mouth, for his exceptional eloquence.

6. St. John Chrysostom knew the Scripture so well that his sermons include ca. 7 thousand Old Testament quotations and 11 thousand New Testament quotations.

7. St. John Chrysostom belonged to the School of Antioch. He knew Theodore of Mopsuestia and studied under Diodore of Tarsus but for some mind-boggling reason managed to avoid the extremes of their school and remained strictly Orthodox in his theology.

8. When St. John Chrysostom was appointed the Archbishop of Constantinople, he had to deal with depravity of the clergy, bribery, lavish social gatherings and enormous spendings of the Church of Constantinople. The holy hierarch fought against those vices, which made him an enemy of many people, especially Empress Eudoxia whom he publicly shamed for her transgressions.

9. St. John Chrysostom believed that you can serve Christ best by being merciful to the poor, for, by giving alms to beggars, we help Christ. That is why he is said to have ordered to sell marble plated meant for decoration of a church, donate the earned money to a hospital and build several new hospitals.

10. A wide coalition of St. John’s opponents, led by Eudoxia and Theophilus, the Archbishop of Alexandria, who wanted to bring Constantinople under his sway and influence the imperial house directly, convened a synod, which resulted in St. John’s deposition, banishment, and exile.

11. St. John was exiled to Pitiunt (Pityus) but never reached this destination, as he died at Comana Pontica on September 14, 407 during the journey due to numerous difficulties during the journey and mistreatment by his guards. When he was dying, he was comforted by an apparition of Martyr Basiliscus near his shrine, took the Holy Eucharist, and reposed in the Lord, his last words being “Glory be to God for all things.” Given that September 14 is the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Church instituted a separate commemoration of this saint on November 13 (November 26), the day when he started his ministry in Constantinople.

12. His relics were transferred to Constantinople in 438. The honorable remains of the saint were transferred to Rome during the 4th Crusade. The relics were placed in a special chapel in St. Peter Cathedral. The relics of St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian were returned to the Orthodox Church of Constantinople by the decree of Pope John Paul II in 2004.

Saint John Chrysostom remains one of the most highly revered Orthodox saints. He left a formidable treasure of homilies and exegeses of the Holy Scripture, as well as several prayers before Holy Communion and prayers used during the Sacrament of Unction. This holy hierarch of Constantinople is also famous for laying out a new rite of the Divine Liturgy based on the ancient anaphora of the Twelve Apostles, which was used in Antioch. The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom went on to become the most widely used in the Byzantine rite, which makes St. John who created this rite one of the most frequently mentioned saints in Orthodox churches—another case in point emphasizing the uniqueness of this remarkable man of God.

Kontakion — Tone 6

Having received divine grace from heaven, / with your mouth you teach all men to worship one God in Trinity. / All-blest and venerable John Chrysostom, we worthily praise you, / for you are our teacher, revealing things divine!

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog Of Good Deeds, 2018

“And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8).

The Orthodox Church has always been reach on various images and examples of holiness. Even in the first centuries of Christianity, the apostolic range, the limitless army of martyrs and hosts of fathers and mothers flourished in the Church with their piousness. The Church knows also such a degree of holiness as gratuitous healing: the saints of the Church cured corporal and spiritual diseases without taking any charge following the words of the Lord – “Freely you have received, freely give”.

There are many unmercenary doctors mentioned in the menology of the Orthodox Church and we honor a lot of names of God's faith healers such as St. Panteleimon, St. Ermolai, Ss. Sampson and Dyodim, Ss. Kyr and John, Ss. Photius and Anikita, St. Luke of Crimea, St. Agapitos of Pechora Caves and many others. Among them there are also Ss. Cosmas and Damian, but there is an interesting fact about them – the Church tradition tells about several pairs of saints with such names. We know about Cosmas and Damian from Asia (November 1), about the saints with the same names from Rome (July 1) and about the unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian from Arabia (October 17). It is very easy to mistake them especially due to the facts that their icons look similar, they have the same names and they all were honored as wonderworkers and healers.

Ss. Cosmas and Damian of Rome were skillful doctors and cured a lot of people who came to them for help. They managed to persuade some of those people to turn to Christ, the Only true Healer of our souls and bodies. Many of those who were cured by them believed then and joined the Holy Church. Roman authorities could not but learn about that, and a group of warriors was sent to the saints. When Cosmas and Damian were brought to emperor Carin (283-285), they confessed the name of Jesus Christ and refused to bring sacrifices to the pagan idols. By the prayers of the brothers, Carin himself was stricken with a severe illness, and only by their prayers he was healed then by God. The brothers were released and managed to avoid the death from the Roman authorities. However, they could not avoid martyrdom. The doctor who once had taught them medical science, was jealous of the young unmercenaries and their fame. Under the guise of gathering some rare herbals, he brought them to a high mountain and there he beat them to death with stones.

Ss Cosmas and Damian of Arabia were the contemporaries of the Roman saints and were born in Arabia, where they were practicing medicine, too. The brothers had the gift of healing other people. However, they performed their feat of martyrdom not in Arabia but in Cilicia, where they were brought by the local ruler. When they refused to bring sacrifices to pagan gods, they were subjected to torture, but God’s angel protected them from any harm. The saints were slayed with a sword as well as several other Christians who suffered with them.

On November 1, the Church commemorates Ss. Cosmas and Damian of Asia. Their pagan father died early and the kids were brought up by their mother who was a pious Christian. Later she sent her children to school where they were studying various arts and especially medicine. Soon, they became well-known as doctors all over the province of Asia. Once it happened that Damian accepted a gift from a woman whom he had cured, despite their promise not to accept anything for their help. However, he could not reject her kindness for the sake of Holy Trinity. That made Cosmas very upset, who even willed then that they would be buried separately. Only the Lord’s miraculous interference explained later the true reason of what Damian did. Cosmas and Damian died a natural death and were buried in Mesopotamia. Many healings happened near the holy relics of the Asian unmercenaries, who did not cease their prayers to God for all the people asking them for help, even after their death.

The icon of Ss. Cosmas and Damian in St. Elisabeth Convent

Already in the ancient times there was a confusion with the images of the unmercenaries. People just could not understand which icon belonged to which saints. Moreover, in the West the episodes from the lives of the Arabian and Asian healers were mixed, and some of such mistakes were even reflected in the well-known images by Fra Beato Angelico.

So, to distinguish the holy unmercenaries we need to look closer at the Orthodox icons depicting them. Cosmas and Damian of Asia are depicted with beards, holding the feathers in their right hands, which is the sign of their great education, and the open vessels with cure in their left hands. The unmercenaries from Rome are depicted as young men who are holding the crosses in their right hands as the sign of martyrdom and the vessels in their left hands since they are the healers of Christ. The Arabian doctors, according to the ancient Slavic life story, are similar to Ss. Florus and Lavrus: St. Cosmas is depicted with a short beard while Damian is looking like a young man with the short hair. What is more, we should point out that they can be also depicted wearing turbans, since their homeland was hot Arabia. In this case it is quite easy to distinguish them from other unmercenaries.

The fact that the faith healers from Rome, Arabia and Asia glorified God with their feats and mercy towards people in different parts of the Roman Empire (in the West, east and South) means that gratuitous healing was not a specific virtue that revealed in one single country - it proves the universal character of the Church of Christ. As Cyril of Alexandria said, “all over the world, the Church of God heals the sins of any kind, committed either with soul or body. Everything that is called virtue in our deeds, words and spirituality is gained in the Church”.

Let us address these God’s servants, who became the true followers of God both in Spirit and Truth, asking for their prayers, keeping in mind numerous miracles performed by their prayers and remembering the apostolic words of St. James: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

Holy unmercenaries and wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian of Asia, Rome and Arabia, pray the Lord for us!

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,
specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog Of Good Deeds, 2018

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