The Catalog of Good Deeds

The holy Queen Ketevan was the daughter of Ashotan Mukhran-Batoni, a prominent ruler from the Bagrationi royal family. The clever and pious Ketevan was married to Prince David, heir to the throne of Kakheti. David’s father, King Alexander II (1574-1605), had two other sons, George and Constantine, but according to the law the throne belonged to David. Constantine was converted to Islam and raised in the court of the Persian shah Abbas I.

Several years after David and Ketevan were married, King Alexander stepped down from the throne and was tonsured a monk at Alaverdi. But after four months, in the year 1602, the young king David died suddenly. He was survived by his wife, Ketevan, and two children—a son, Teimuraz, and a daughter, Elene—and his father ascended the throne once more.

Upon hearing of David’s death and Alexander’s return to the royal throne, Shah Abbas commanded Alexander’s youngest son, Constantine-Mirza, to travel to Kakheti, murder his father and the middle brother, George, and seize the throne of Kakheti. As instructed, Constantine-Mirza beheaded his father and brother, then sent their heads, like a precious gift, to Shah Abbas.

Their headless bodies he sent to Alaverdi. (Since the beginning of the 11th century, Alaverdi had been the resting place of the Kakhetian kings.) The widowed Queen Ketevan was left to bury her father-in-law and brother-in-law.

But Constantine-Mirza was still unsatisfied, and he proposed to take Queen Ketevan as his wife.

Outraged at his proposition, the nobles of Kakheti rose up and killed the young man who had committed patricide and profaned his Faith and the throne. Having buried the wicked Constantine-Mirza with the honor befitting his royal ancestry, Ketevan sent generous gifts to Shah Abbas and requested that he proclaim her son, Teimuraz, the rightful heir to the throne.

While she was awaiting his reply, Ketevan assumed personal responsibility for the rule of Kakheti. Concerned that, if he denied this request, Kakheti would forcibly separate from him and unite with Kartli, Shah Abbas hastily sent Prince Teimuraz to Georgia, laden with great wealth.

In 1614 Shah Abbas informed King Teimuraz that his son would be taken hostage, and Teimuraz was forced to send his young son Alexander and his mother Ketevan to Persia. As a final attempt to divide the royal family of Kakheti, Shah Abbas demanded that the eldest prince, Levan, be brought before him, and he finally summoned King Teimuraz himself.

The shah’s intentions were clear: to hold all of the royal family in Persia and send his own viceroys to rule in Kakheti. He sought to eliminate King Luarsab II of Kartli as well, but Teimuraz and Luarsab agreed to attack the Persian army with joint forces and drive the enemy out of Georgia.

Shah Abbas sent his hostages, Queen Ketevan and her grandsons, deep into Persia, while he himself launched an attack on Kakheti.

With fire and the sword the godless ruler plundered all of Georgia. The royal palace was razed, churches and monasteries were destroyed, and entire villages were abandoned. By order of the shah, more than three hundred thousand Georgians were exiled to Persia, and their homes were occupied by Turkic tribes from Central Asia. Hunger and violence reigned over Georgia.

The defeated Georgian kings Teimuraz and Luarsab sought refuge with King George III of Imereti.

After they had spent five years exiled in Shiraz (Persia), the princes Alexander and Levan were separated from Ketevan and castrated in Isfahan. Alexander could not endure the suffering and died, while Levan went mad.

Saint Ketevan, meanwhile, remained a prisoner of the ruler of southeastern Persia, the ethnic Georgian imam Quli-Khan Undiladze, who regarded the widowed Queen of Kakheti with great respect. According to his command, Ketevan was not to discover the fate of her grandsons.

Queen Ketevan spent ten years in prison, praying for her motherland and loved ones with all her might and adhering to a strict ascetic regime. Constant fasting, prayer and a stone bed exhausted her previously pampered body, but in spirit she was courageous and full of vitality. She looked after those assigned to her care and instructed them in the spiritual life.

After some time Abbas resolved to convert Ketevan to Islam, and he announced his intention to marry her. He asked that his proposal be conveyed to her the same day she was informed of the fate of her grandsons. As a condition of their marriage, Abbas insisted that Ketevan renounce the Christian Faith and convert to Islam. In the case of her acquiescence, Imam Quli-Khan was to respect and honor her as a queen, and in the case of her refusal, to subject her to public torture.

The alarmed imam begged the queen to submit to the shah’s will and save herself, but the queen firmly refused and began to prepare for her martyrdom. (According to one foreign observer, her steadfastness delayed the Islamization of the Georgians in Persia: “In the course of a conversation at the court of Shah Abbas, where a young and recently converted Georgian was present, the question arose as to why it was that, while all young Georgians were forced to embrace Islam, their mothers were not. The explanation given by one of those present was that since the Queen would not change her faith Georgian mothers likewise refused.” (Z. Avalishvili, “Teimuraz I and His Poem ‘The Martyrdom of Queen Ketevan,’” Georgica [vol I, no. 4/5, 1937] pp. 22.)

Queen Ketevan was robed in festive attire and led out to a crowded square. Her persecutors subjected her to indescribable torment: they placed a red-hot copper cauldron on her head, tore at her chest with heated tongs, pierced her body with glowing spears, tore off her fingernails, nailed a board to her spine, and finally split her forehead with a red-hot spade.

Saint Ketevan’s soul departed from her body, and the executioners cast her mutilated body to the beasts. But the Lord God sent a miracle: her holy relics were illumined with a radiant light.

A group of French Augustinian missionary fathers, who had witnessed the inhuman tortures, wrapped Queen Ketevan’s body in linens scented with myrrh and incense and buried it in a Catholic monastery.

Some time later the holy relics of Great-martyr Ketevan were delivered to her son, Teimuraz, King of Kakheti.

Teimuraz wept bitterly for his mother and sons and buried the relics with great honor in the Alaverdi Cathedral of Saint George.

Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2016/09/13/102608-greatmartyr-ketevan-the-queen-of-georgia

I have heard about one brother, that when he came to someone’s cell and saw that the cell was untidy, he said, “Blessed is this brother, for he has forgotten about all his worries, or even about everything terrestrial, and thinks so much about spiritual things that he cannot even find time to clean his cell”.

At the same time, when he came to the cell of another brother and saw it was tidy, he said to himself, “The cell of this brother is as clean as his souls, and the condition of his cell corresponds with the condition of his soul”.

He never said about other brothers different things like “this brother is careless” or “that brother is conceited”, but he always has benefit from each of them because of his kind nature.

May the Lord make us all kind by our nature, so that we all can have benefit from each other and the we never notice the weaknesses of our neighbor.

Once an atheist asked a faithful person:

- What if you find out after your death that there is no paradise you are preaching about?

The faithful man replied:

- And what if in the end of your earthly path you find out that there is eternal hell, which you, atheists, reject?

- I hope this will never happen, - an atheist said.

- You hope? – a faithful one asked again. – This is the difference between your beliefs and mine. You live with shaky hopes, while I live with faith that if there is a creation, then there should be the Creator.

Once a donkey fell into a well and begаn to scream сalling for help. His owner came to the well and threw his hands up when he saw that there was no way to take the donkey out.

Then the owner considered: “My donkey is old, and he will not live for long. I was going to buy a young donkey anyway. This well has run dry, and I was going to fill it and dig a new one. Why not to kill two birds with one stone? I can fill the well and thus I will bury the donkey”. The master called his neighbors, they all took shovels and began to fill the well with earth. The donkey understood what was going on and began to scream again. People did not pay attention to him and silently continued to fill the well. Soon the donkey stopped screaming. When the owner looked in the well, he saw that the donkey shook the earth off from his back and trampled it down with his legs. To everyone’s surprise, quite soon the donkey could jump out of the well.

Perhaps, there are many misfortunes in our life, and perhaps later we will face even more of them. Every time another stone falls on you, remember that you can shake it off and then you can rise a bit higher. Thus, you will get out of any deep well.

Each problem is a stone, which life throws in you. However, walking on these stones you will manage to cross any rapid stream.

Once many years ago, a ship was being built on the dockyard in Holland. It was necessary to find a long and tough log to make the keel of the ship. Two workers found one log on the yard where the wood for ships was kept.

- Look, - one of them said, - what a nice log. Let’s take it…

The other one examined the log carefully and shook his head.

- No, - he said, - we cannot use this log.

- Why?

- Can you see this small wormhole? It seems there are worms inside already.

- That’s nothing. What can such a small wormhole do to such a big and tough log? You can hardly notice it. Let’s take it!

They were arguing for a while. The more careful worker finally agreed to take the log, and later the craftspeople made a keel for the ship.

The ship was out in the sea for quite a long time, and there were no storms that could harm it. However, one sunny day it became to sink for no apparent reason. When the divers were sent to examine the sunken ship, they found out that the worms inside had multiplied and finally grinded the wood down. That small wormhole became fatal for that large ship.

The same concerns a soul. If you do not kill a worm of passion at the right moment, it will multiply and cause even more new sins. It will harm the healthy tissues until it finally captures all the corners of the soul.

Whatever you are going to do, say “if there is God’s will for this” no matter what. Otherwise, what happened to one self-confident man, can happen to you too. He was going to work in his vineyard and said to his wife:

- Tomorrow early in the morning I will go to the vineyard.

- You will, if there is God’s will for this, - she said.

- I will go anyway, no matter whether there is God’s will for this or not, - the husband replied.

It was dark yet when he left the house and headed to the vineyard. On his way there, it was raining so hard that he had to turn back and go home. He came back before the sunrise and knocked at the door:

- Who’s there? – The wife asked.

- If there is God’s will for this, - he answered, - then it’s me, your husband.

Once a rich man died, and the whole city knew about his sins. His funeral was beautiful, there were many priests and even a bishop. Soon, a hyena attacked a hermit in the desert and pulled him to pieces. A monk who saw both the funerals of the sinner and the bloody remains of the pious hermit. He cried in turmoil: “Lord! Why is it like this? Why did You let the sinner to have a good life and a good death, while the pious man was doomed to have a bad life and a bad death?” Soon, a God’s angel appeared to him and explained: the rich sinner has done the only one good deed in his life, while the hermit has sinned only once.

With this beautiful funeral ceremony the Lord wanted to pay tribute to the sinner for his only good deed and to show that there is nothing to look forward for him in this life. At the same time, with this dreadful death, which was prepared for the hermit, the Lord intended to erase the only sin the man had committed, and then reward him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember this when you think about the judgements of God, and hope for God only. “Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity” (Psalms 37:1).

A doctor was asked once:

- Do you have any remedy against sin?

- Yes, - said the doctor, - here is its recipe: “Take some roots of obedience, gather some flowers of spiritual purity, pick some leaves of patience, some fruits of sincerity, but do not drink the wine of infidelity. Dry all these ingredients with the fast of abstinence, put some good deeds in the pan, add there some water of repentance, salt it with the brotherly love, add some charity and the powder of humility and kneeling. Take three spoons of God’s fear per day, dress the clothes of righteousness and do not prate, because otherwise you will get cold and be sick with sin again.

Translated from: https://azbyka.ru/days/

Question: How do you reconcile the Orthodox practice of clergy and monastics not cutting their hair with 1st Corinthians 11:14, which says: "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him"?

Answer: The way this verse is translated by the Revised Standard Version as "Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is degrading to him". The question then is whether this verse is saying it is a dishonor to a man to have long hair, or is this verse saying something about the way a man wears his hair.

It is highly unlikely that St. Paul was objecting to men simply having hair beyond a certain length. In the Ancient world, men having long hair was not regarded as abnormal, but rather was the norm. Most men did cut their hair infrequently. For example, we are told in Scripture of Absalom (the Son of King David who eventual led a revolt against his father): "at the end of every year he cut [his hair] because it was heavy on him—when he cut it, he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels according to the king’s standard" (2 Samuel 14:26). And Absalom's appearance was far from something that was considered to be odd or inappropriate, but on the contrary, we are told: "Now in all Israel there was no one who was praised as much as Absalom for his good looks. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him" (2 Samuel 14:25). Also, in the Old Testament, there were Nazirites, who would take a vow either for a period of time, or in some cases for life, and one of the things that being a Nazirite entailed was that they could not cut their hair while under the vow, unless they came into contact with a dead body (Numbers 6:1-21). Sampson was a Nazirite from birth, and so only had his hair cut once... when Delilah finally got him to explain the source of his strength (which was his Nazirite vow, symbolized by his uncut hair), and then cut off his hair, his strength was gone, and he was taken captive by the Philistines.

St. John the Baptist was a Nazirite from his birth, as was made clear by the words of the Archangel Gabriel to the St. Zachariah, "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink" (Luke 1:15, abstaining from wine being another aspect of the Nazirite vow, cf. Numbers 6:2-3).

It is also fairly clear that St. Paul himself was a Nazirite. In Acts 18:18 we read: "So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow. And in Acts 21, beginning at verse 15, we read about how St. Paul participated with four other men who had "taken a vow", and made the offerings in the Temple that those who had completed a Nazirite vow would make.

St. James, the Brother of the Lord, who was also the first bishop of Jerusalem was also a lifelong Nazirite, according to St. Epiphanius (Panarion 29.4), which fits the description he is given in Eusebius's History of the Church: "He was holy from his mother’s womb; and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath" (Ecclesiastical History 2:23:5).

Not only did Nazirites not cut their hair, but neither did the priests and Levites of the Old Testament "And they shall not shave their heads, nor shall they pluck off their hair" (Ezekiel 44:20 LXX).

The Old Testament practices have not continued in the Church according to the strict letter of the Law of Moses, because for one thing, since the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., there has been no temple, and thus the sacrificial system of the Old Testament has entirely ceased to be. However, elements of it have survived. And with respect to cutting hair, with the exception of tonsuring, neither monastics nor clergy traditionally cut their hair.

Also, according to the universal iconographic tradition of the Church, Christ Himself, and most other saints are depicted with long hair.

And so, in light of all the evidence for long hair being a part of the Biblical and Ecclesiastical Tradition of the Church, it seems most likely that what St. Paul is referring to in this passage is to wearing one's hair in a particular way -- most likely styled in a manner customary for a woman.

By Fr. John Whiteford

Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com.by/2014/07/stump-priest-men-with-long-hair.html

The icon was painted in 1991 for the iconostasis of one of the local churches in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God, which was being restored after the 30-years-long desolation (since 1961 the building was used as the storage for manure). The first miracle - the appearance of tears on the image - occurred during the Divine service on December 18, 1993. By the end of the service, the tears in the eyes of the Mother of God reached the bottom of the icon. Many miracles that occurred by the work of this icon, including cancer healing, were thoroughly studied by the Synodic committee. On October 4, 1994, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church chaired by Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and all Ukraine recognized the image as the miraculous one. The icon got the name of Boyany, the place where it revealed its miraculous power. On December 28, 1999, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church decided to organize a convent near the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God.

Nowadays, the icon is kept in its original place. It is painted in oil on a wooden plate (55x77 cm). The type of the image of the Mother of God is Odigitria. Infant Christ sits on the left hand of the Theotokos, while with Her right hand She carries Christ’s foot. The Divine Infant is dressed in a white chiton and an ochroid himation. He gives blessing with his right hand; His left hand lies on the orb. The icon is decorated with a silver cover, which was created in 1994, and with numerous donations of faithful people.

Since 1995, the day before its feast day (on September 24), an annual procession, traditionally led by the reigning hierarch, goes from Chernovtsy to Boyany (about 17 km) to venerate the icon. By the year 2003, about 2 million pilgrims have visited this place. The icon is often brought to other churches all over Ukraine so that people can venerate it. The akathist to the icon was written in 1995 in Romanian language by Fr. Adrian Akostakia. Later, in 1997, it was written in Church Slavonic language by metropolitan Onuphrius (Berezovsky).

In 1998, on the 2^nd floor of one of the convent’s buildings, a chapel was consecrated in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of Boyany. On the left wall of the chapel, there is a copy of the miraculous image, painted in oils.

Source: https://azbyka.ru/days/ikona-bojanskaja-bojanovskaja

The monks of Mt. Athos, the reigning Abbess of which is the Most Holy Theotokos, have always had a special veneration of St. Anna. The website of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Anna in Roseville, California, where a relic of St. Anna is reverently kept, talks about the Skete of St. Anna on Mt. Athos:

The Skete of St. Anna is the oldest and the largest Skete of Mount Athos, remaining in the spiritual care of the Great Lavra. It is located on the southwestern shore of the peninsula, situated some 500 meters up on the cliffs above the sea. The Skete is accessible either by boat, one hour from the port of Daphne, followed by a climb of over 2,000 steps from the sea floor (approximately one hour hike) or by foot, a six and a half hour hike from the aforementioned monastery.

The main Church of the Skete, the Kyriakon of Saint Anna, was built in the middle of the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, the Church was expanded and fully ornamented with frescoes. The library which is attached to the Church contains some 100 manuscript codices, of which three are on parchment. The treasures of the Skete include the left foot of Saint Anna, a piece of the Holy Cross, the Holy Relics of at least seventy other saints, and a miracle working icon depicting Saint Anna and her daughter Mary.

Vigil at the Skete of St. Anna

Approximately 120 brothers are attached to one of the 50+ brotherhoods of the Skete of St. Anna, most with their own residence and chapel. These brothers maintain a discipline of work, prayer, self-reflection and study. During the summer months, they also offer hospitality to their over 100 pilgrims a day. The community is administered by a Dikaios, superintendent, who is elected from among the brothers to serve the term of one year.

Abbot Antipa of the Skete of St. Anna

Situated some 50 meters above the central Church is the house (a kalyva) and chapel of the Theophileon Brotherhood. Founded by the priestmonk Theophileos in the 18th Century, the house was constructed over a small cave which the Brotherhood maintains was inhabited as early as 6th century. The cornerstone of the current building was set in 1745 while the house and chapel were renovated in 1986.

One of the elders of the Theophileon Brotherhood was the priestmonk Anthimos who reposed in 1996. Father Anthimos is considered to be one of the most recently identified “saints” of the Athonite peninsula. His relics are enshrined within their chapel, dedicated to the Feast of the Presentation of Mary to the Temple, commemorated on November 21. Three brothers currently reside in this kalyva - the V. Rev. Fr. Cherubim Apostolou, the V. Rev. Fr. Theophilos Kougioumtzidis, and the V. Rev. Fr. Anthimos Igglezis.

The religious writer Constantine Cavarnos has written about his experience of the All Night Vigil for the feast of the Dormition of St. Anna, the Skete’s patronal feast. Here is an excerpt from his book, The Holy Mountain (Institute For Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (2nd Edition, 2001):

I went by motorboat to the arsanas (landing place) of the Skete of St. Anna, on the southern side of the Athos peninsula, in order to go up to the Skete and attend the feast in commemoration of the Dormition of Saint Anna, to whom this settlement of hermits is dedicated. This Skete is built on an abrupt slope a good distance from the sea. To reach its main church (known as the kyriakon, because the monks of the settlement gather in it on Sundays (Kyriake) for corporate worship), I had to walk uphill a for about half an hour.

The all-night vigil service, which constituted the heart of the celebration, was one of the most memorable experiences I have had on the Holy Mountain. It began at 8 o'clock in the evening of the feast and continued until 8:30 in the morning, when the Divine Liturgy, which followed the great vespers and matins, ended. This service had a spiritual magnificence that moved one profoundly, evoking contrition and a strong feeling of the presence of God. The chanting was done by two choirs, each consisting of three monks, all of them having beautiful voices and well-trained in the execution of Byzantine music. They stood in stalls along the east wall of the nave that is in line with the iconostasis, and faced west towards the congregation. At the beginning of the service the church was dark, illumination being provided only by the small sacred oil-lamps in front of the icons of the iconostasis. When the right choir began to chant Psalm 140 (Septuagint): 'Lord, I have cried unto Thee; hear me: attend to the voice of my supplication ...' one of the monks lit the candles of the great chandelier (under the dome) known as the 'corona,' those of the three other chandeliers in the nave, and those before the icons of the iconostasis, in front of the Beautiful Gate, and elsewhere. Thus the intensity of the illumination gradually increased until the whole nave became well illuminated. It was a warm, pulsating light, unlike the lifeless light provided by electricity. The sacred figures depicted on the panels and walls now became visible, increasing the feeling of holiness and contact with the divine. This feeling was further strengthened by the frequent censing with the famed Athonite frankincense.

All Night Vigil Service for the feast of the Dormition of St. Anna in the Skete.

When the priest said in a loud intoned voice: 'With fear of God, with faith and with love draw near,' many of the monks and lay guests moved forward to the Beautiful Gate to partake of Divine Communion.

After the Liturgy, food was offered in the refectory to all who had attended the services.

When the meal was over, one of the monks of the Skete, a retired Metropolitan named Anthimos, delivered a moving speech, in which he related the celebration to the goals of monasticism. The chief purpose of this event, he asserted, is to lift us to God and His saints, and to arouse our zeal to imitate Saints Anna and Joachim, to strive to acquire their virtues, to rid ourselves of 'passions' (negative emotions) and evil thoughts, to cleanse our soul of everything impure, so that we might attain happiness in the other, endless life, and so far as possible in the present life also.

Pilgrims to Mt. Athos from all over the Orthodox world have for centuries visited the Skete of St. Anna and venerated her relics with great reverence and piety.

Source: http://orthochristian.com/81223.html