12 St. Innocent Orthodox Church Issue #7, March 2019 ST. INNOCENT ORTHODOX CHURCH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Great Lent, The Time of HOLIDAYS & SAINTS DAYS Renewed Devotion March 3 Finding of the Precious Cross by St. Elena, mother of St. Konstantin, the Emperor March 9 Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste March 10 - 11 Forgiveness Sunday, Beginning of the Great Lent. Great Canon March 12 St. Gregory Dialogus March 17 Sunday of Orthodoxy Ven. Aleksy, Man of God Let us begin the lenten time spiritually rejoicing. with delight… March 25 Let us fast from passions as Thy grace has arisen upon ANNUNCUATION we fast from food, taking us, O Lord, the illumination MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS pleasure in the good words of our souls has shown forth; of the Spirit, that we may be behold, now is the acceptable March 30 granted to see the holy time; behold, now is the time passion of Christ our God of repentance Ven. John Climacus, author of and his holy Pascha, (Vespers Hymns). “The Ladder” There Is A Time For Everything Dear members of St. Innocent Orthodox Church Let us call brothers even those who hate us, and community! forgive all by the Resurrection. Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon Let this be our time for prayer, forgiveness of those in the tombs bestowing life! enemies, confession of sins, renewed love for God and every neighbor, and focus on Jesus Pray for us especially during this holiest of times, Christ crucified and raised from the dead. as we in our unworthiness pray for you. 12 St. Innocent Orthodox Church Issue #7, March 2019 Great Lent gloominess. On the contrary, it is a time The season of Great Lent is the time of Fasting is praiseworthy and of joyfulness and purification. We are preparation for the feast of the necessary in its time and called to “anoint our faces” and to Resurrection of Christ. It is the living “cleanse our bodies as we cleanse our place: it is better to keep to a symbol of man’s entire life which is to souls.” It is our repentance that God moderate use of good and be fulfilled in his own resurrection desires, not our remorse. We sorrow for drink, avoiding satiety, from the dead with Christ. It is a time our sins, but we do so in the joy of indicated by a slight of renewed devotion: of prayer, God’s mercy. We mortify our flesh, but fasting, and almsgiving. It is a time of heaviness, and on the other we do so in the joy of our resurrection repentance, a real renewal of our hand, avoiding excessive into life everlasting. We make ready for minds, hearts and deeds in conformity and inappropriate the resurrection during Great Lent, with Christ and his teachings. It is the abstinence. Moderation, the both Christ’s Resurrection and our time, most of all, of our return to the middle path, makes a person own. great commandments of loving God more capable of spiritual and our neighbors. https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the- orthodox-faith/worship/the-church- activity. year/great-lent - In the Orthodox Church, Great Lent is https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the- ST. AMBROSE OF OPTINA not a season of morbidity and orthodox-faith/worship/the-church- year/great-lent St. Elena and Uncovering of the Precious Cross (March 6) The Holy Empress Helen (Elena) uncovered the Precious Cross and Nails of the Lord at Jerusalem in 326. At the beginning of the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (306-337), the first Roman emperor to recognize Christianity, he and his pious mother Saint Helen decided to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. They also planned to build a church on the site of the Lord’s suffering and Resurrection, in order to reconsecrate and purify the places connected with the Savior’s death and Resurrection from the foul taint of paganism. The empress Helen journeyed to Jerusalem with a large quantity of gold. Saint Constantine wrote a letter to Patriarch Macarius I (313-323), requesting him to assist her in every possible way with her task of the restoring the Christian holy places. After her arrival in Jerusalem, the holy empress Helen began to destroy all the pagan temples and reconsecrate the places that had been defiled by the pagans. In her quest for the Life-Creating Cross, she questioned several Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search remained unsuccessful. Finally, an elderly Continued on page 5 2 12 St. Innocent Orthodox Church Issue #7, March 2019 Courage in Christ: Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (March 9) When the pagan Licinius ruled the eastern half of the The next morning Agrricola summoned them once again. Roman Empire (307-323 AD), it was his evil intent to This time he tried to persuade them by flattering words, eliminate Christianity from the lands under his control, praising their valor and their handsomeness. When the and especially, for fear of treason, among the troops. One soldiers remained unmoved, they were again thrown into of his supporters was a cruel man by the name of prison for a week to await the arrival of Licius, a prince Agricola who commanded the forces in the Armenian of some authority. town of Sebaste, in what is now eastern Turkey. Among During this time they prepared themselves for the trial of his soldiers were forty devout Christians who wielded martyrdom. One of them, Cyrion by name, exhorted his equally well the sword of battle and the sword of the fellow soldiers: spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17). These men "God so ordained that we made friends with each other formed an elite bodyguard. When it came to Agricola's in this temporary life; let us try not to separate even in attention that they were Christians, he determined to eternity; just as we have been found plea sing to a mortal force them to renounce their' faith and bow down to the king, so let us strive to be worthy of the favor of the pagan gods. He gave them two alternatives: immortal King, Christ our God." "Either offer sacrifice to the gods and earn great honors, Cyrion reminded his comrades in arms how God had or, in the event of your disobedience, be stripped of your miraculously helped them in time of battle and assured military rank and fall into disgrace." them that He would not forsake them now in their battle The soldiers were thrown into jail to think this over. That against the invisible enemy. When Licius arrived, the night they strengthened themselves singing psalms and soldiers marched to the interrogation singing the psalm, praying. At midnight they were filled with holy fear "O God, in Thy name save me" (Ps. 53), as they always upon hearing the voice of the Lord: "Good is the did when entering upon the field of contest. beginning of your resolve, but he who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 10:22 ). Continued on page 4 3 3 St. Innocent Orthodox Church Issue #7, March 2019 (Continued) Their prayer was heard. In the third only the martyrs' bones. Knowing that hour of the night a warm light Christians would collect these relics to bathed the holy martyrs and melted the eternal glory of the martyrs and Licius repeated Agricola's the ice. By this time all but one of their God, the judges ordered them to arguments of persuasion, the guards had fallen asleep. The be thrown into the nearby river. That alternating between threats and guard who was still awake had been night, however, the holy martyrs flattery. When he saw that words amazed to witness the death of the appeared to the blessed bishop of Sebaste and told him to recover the were of no avail, he ordered the soldier who had fled to the baths bones from the river. Together with soldiers sent to jail while he thought and to see that those in the water some of his clergy, the bishop went up a form of torture sure to change were still alive. Now, seeing this their minds. secretly that night to the river where extraordinary light, he glanced the bones of the martyrs shone like After prayers that night, for a upward to see where it came from stars in the water, enabling them to be second time the soldiers heard the and saw thirty-nine radiant crowns collected to the very last fragment. So voice of the Lord: descending onto the heads of the also do the holy martyrs shine like stars "He who believes in Me, though he saints, immediately, his heart was in the world, encouraging and die, yet shall he live. Be bold and enlightened by the knowledge of inspiring believers everywhere to be faithful to Christ even to the end. have no fear of short-lived torment the Truth. He roused the sleeping which soon passes; endure...that guards and, throwing off his Thus they finished the good course of martyrdom in 320, and their names are: you may receive crowns." clothes, ran into the lake shouting Acacius, Aetius, Aglaius, Alexander, The next day the soldiers were led for all to hear, "I am a Christian too!" to a lake. It was winter and a frosty Angus, Athanasius, Candidus, His name was Aglaius, and he Chudion, Claudius, Cyril, Cyrion, wind was blowing. The soldiers brought the number of martyrs once Dometian, Domnus, Ecdicius, Elias, were stripped of their clothes and again to forty. The next morning the Eunoicus, Eutyches, Eutychius, Flavius, ordered to stand through the night evil judqes came to the lake and Gaius, Gorgonius, Helianus, Herachus, in the freezing waters.