Sainted Nicholas of Myra – the Transfer of the Relics from Lycian Myra to Bari in Italy

May 22, 2013 | Saints & Martyrs, Uncategorized

Commemorated on May 9

      Sainted Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia – the Transfer of the Relics from Lycian Myra to Bari in Italy: The Vita about his life is located under the 6 December feastday.
      In the XI Century the Byzantine Greek empire was living through some terrible times. The Turks put an end to its influence in Asia Minor, they destroyed cities and villages, the murdered the inhabitants, and they accompanied their cruel outrage with the desecration of churches, holy relics, icons and books. The Mussulmen attempted also to destroy the relics of Saint Nicholas, deeply venerated by all the Christian world.
      In the year 792 the caliph Aaron Al’-Rashid sent Khumeid at the head of a fleet to pillage the island of Rhodes. Having lain waste this island, Khumeid set off to Lycian Myra with the intent to rob from the tomb of Saint Nicholas. But instead of it he robbed another, standing alongside the crypt of the saint. Just as they succeeded in committing this sacrilege, a terrible storm lifted upon the sea and almost all the ships were shattered into pieces.

The desecration of holy things shocked not only Eastern, but also Western Christians. Christians in Italy were particularly apprehensive for the relics of Saint Nicholas, and among them were many Greeks. The inhabitants of the city of Bari, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, decided to save the relics of Saint Nicholas.
      In the year 1087 merchants from Bari and Venice set out to Antioch for trade. Both these and others also had proposed on the return trip to take up the relics of Saint Nicholas and transport them to Italy. In this plan the men of Bari commissioned the Venetians to land them at Myra. At first two men were sent in, who in returning reported that in the city – all was quiet, and in the church where rested the glorified relics, they encountered only four monks. Immediately 47 men, having armed themselves, set out for the church of Saint Nicholas. The monk-guards, suspecting nothing, showed them the raised platform, beneathe which was concealed the tomb of the saint, where by custom, they anointed foreigners with myrh from the relics of the saint. The monks told them during this about an appearance of Saint Nicholas that evening to a certain elder. In this vision Saint Nicholas ordered the cautious preserving of his relics. This account encouraged the barons, – they saw an avowal for them in this vision and as it were a decree from the saint. In order to facilitate their activity, they revealed their intent to the monks and offered them money – 300 gold coins. The monk-guards refused the money and wanted to warn the inhabitants about the misfortune threatening them. But the newcomers bound them and put their own guards at the doorway. They took apart the church platform beneathe which stood the tomb with the relics. In this effort the youth Matthew was excessive in his especial zeal, wanting to as quickly as possible to find the relics of Saint Nicholas. In his impatience he broke the cover and the barons saw, that the sarcophagus was filled with fragrant holy myrh. The compatriots of the barons, the presbyters Luppus and Drogus, made a litany, after which the break of Matthew began to flow with myrh from the overflowing sarcophagus of the relics of the saint. This occurred on 20 April 1087.
      Seeing the absence of a container chest, presbyter Drogus wrapped the relics in the cover cloth, and in the company of the barons he carried them to the ship. The monks – having been set free, alerted the city with the sad news about the abduction of the relics of the Wonderworker Nicholas by foreigners. A crowd of people gathered at the shore, but it was too late…
      On 8 May the ships arrived in Bari, and soon the joyous news made the rounds of all the city. On the following day, 9 May 1087, they solemnly transported the relics of Saint Nicholas into the church of Saint Stephen, situated not far from the sea. The solemn bearing of the relics was accompanied by numerous healings of the sick, which inspired still greater reverence for the Saint of God. A year afterwards a church was built in the name of Saint Nicholas and consecrated by Pope Urban II.
      This event, connected with the transfer of the relics of Saint Nicholas, evoked a particular veneration for the Wonderworker Nicholas and was marked by the establishing of a special feastday on 9 May. At first the Feastday of the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas was observed only by the people of the city of Bari. In the other lands of the Christian East and West it was not adopted, despite the fact that the transfer of the relics was widely known about. This circumstance is to be explained by the custom in the Middle Ages of venerating primarily the relics of local saints. Moreover, the Greek Church did not establish the celebration of this remembrance, since for it the loss of the relics of Saint Nicholas was a sad event.
      The Russian Orthodox Church celebration of the memory of the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Lycian Myra to Bari in Italy on 9 May was established soon after the year 1087, on the basis of an already established veneration by the Russian people of the great Saint of God, brought over from Greece simultaneously with the acceptance of Christianity. The glorious accounts about the miracle-workings, done by the saint on both land and sea, were widely known to the Russian people. Their inexhaustible strength and abundance testify to the especially graced help of the great Saint of God for suffering mankind. The image of Saint Nicholas, a mighty Wonderworker and Benefactor, became especially dear to the heart of the Russian people, since it inspired deep faith and hope for his intercession. The faith of the Russian people in the abundant aid of the Saint of God was marked by numerous miracles.
      A significant body of literature was compiled about him very early in Russian writings. Accounts about the miracles of Saint Nicholas done in the Russian land were recorded early on in deep antiquity. Soon after the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Lycian Myra to Bari, there appeared a Russian redaction of his Vita and an account about the Transfer of his holy relics, written by one contemporary to this event. Earlier still was written a laudation to the Wonderworker. And each week on Thursday, the Russian Orthodox Church honours his memory in particular.
      In honour of Sainted Nicholas were erected numerous churches and monasteries, and with his name Russian people are wont to name their children at Baptism. In Russia are preserved numerous wonderworking icons of the saint. Most reknown among them are the images of Mozhaisk, Zaraisk, Volokolamsk, Ugreshsk and Ratny. There was neither house nor temple in the Russian land, in which there was not an image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. The significance of the graced intercession of the great Saint of God is expressed by the ancient compiler of the Life-Vita, in the words of whom Sainted Nicholas “did work many glorious miracles both on land and on sea, aiding those downtrodden in misfortune and rescuing the drowning, carried to dry land from the depths of the sea, raising up others from corruption and bringing them home, liberating from chains and imprisonment, averting felling by the sword and freeing from death, and granting much healing to many: sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute. He brought riches to many suffering in abject poverty and want, he provided the hungry food and for each in their need he appeared a ready helper, an avid defender and speedy intercessor and protector, and such as appeal to him he doth help and deliver from adversity. Both the East and the West know of this great Wonderworker, and all the ends of the earth know his miracle-working”.

© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.

Nobody Will Know

May 17, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Fri­day. [Acts 5:1–11; John 5:30–6:2] Why did An­a­ni­as and Sapphira sin so bad­ly? Be­cause they forgot that God sees their deeds and thoughts. If they kept in mind that God sees ev­ery­thing both in­ter­nal and ex­ter­nal more clear­ly than all peo­ple see, even with re­gard to them­selves, it would not have en­ter­ed their mind to lie in such a way be­fore the A­pos­tles. This is why all of our sins and sin­ful plans a­rise. We con­trive to con­ceal ev­ery­thing from the gaze of man, and think that ev­ery­thing is fine. Peo­ple seem not to see any­thing, as­sume we are in good shape; but this does not change our es­sen­tial noth­ing­ness. Know­ing this, re­peat each of you to your­self: why doth Sa­tan fill my heart to lie be­fore the face of God? His eyes which are brighter than the sun see in­to the in­ner­most re­cess­es of the heart; nei­ther night nor sea, nor cave are con­ceal­ed from Him. Re­mem­ber this and so ar­range your in­ward and out­ward be­hav­iour, though it be un­seen. If the All-see­ing One were al­ien to us, it would be pos­si­ble to re­gard His om­ni­science in­dif­fer­ent­ly. But He is judge, and He of­ten pro­nounces His judg­ment, by vir­tue of His Om­ni­science, soon­er than we ex­pect. It could be that He has al­ready pro­nounced judg­ment up­on us the very mo­ment we thought to hide our­selves and our sins with a dark lie, say­ing, “God doesn’t see!”

Living Deeds

May 16, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Thurs­day. [Acts 4:23–31; John 5:24–30] And they shall come forth; they that have done good, un­to the res­ur­rec­tion of life; and they that have done evil, un­to the res­ur­rec­tion of dam­na­tion (John 5:29). This is how ev­ery­thing ends! As each riv­er flows in­to its own sea, so the flow of each of our lives comes, at last, to a place ac­cord­ing to its na­ture. Those who will be res­ur­rect­ed un­to life will al­so be at the judg­ment; but the judg­ment will on­ly seal their jus­ti­fi­ca­tion, and de­ter­mine their life, while the oth­ers will be res­ur­rect­ed on­ly to hear the con­dem­na­tion of eter­nal death. Their life and death are char­ac­ter­ized even now — be­cause some do liv­ing deeds, while oth­ers do dead and dead­en­ing deeds. Living deeds are those which are done ac­cord­ing to the com­mand­ments, with joy of the spir­it, un­to the glo­ry of God; dead deeds are those which are done in op­po­si­tion to the com­mand­ments with for­get­ful­ness of God, to please one­self and one’s pas­sions. Dead deeds are all which al­though in form may not op­pose the com­mand­ments, are done with­out any thought a­bout God and eter­nal sal­va­tion, ac­cord­ing to some as­pect of self-love. God is life; on­ly what con­tains part of Him is a­live. And so who­ev­er has on­ly dead and dead­en­ing deeds is bound di­rect­ly for death, and on the last day will come out in­to the con­dem­na­tion of death; but who­ev­er has all liv­ing deeds is bound for eter­nal life, and on the last day will come and re­ceive it.

Quotes from The Philokalia Vol. 1, pg 169

May 15, 2013 | Uncategorized, Wisdom

We are not mightier than Samson, wiser than Solomon, more knowledgeable about God than David, and we do not love God better than did Peter, prince of the apostles. So let us not have confidence in ourselves; for he who has confidence in himself will fall headlong.

Let us learn humility from Christ, humiliation from David, and from Peter to shed tears over what has happened; but let us also learn to avoid the despair of Samson, Judas, and that wisest of men, Solomon.

The more the rain falls on the earth, the softer it makes it; similarly, Christ’s holy name gladdens the earth of our heart the more we call upon it.

Quotes from The Philokalia Vol.  1, pg 169

The Truth of Christ is clear

May 14, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Tues­day. [Acts 4:1–10; John 3:16–21] He that believeth not in the Son of God is con­demn­ed al­ready (John 3:18). For what? For the fact that when light is all a­round, he re­mains in dark­ness, due to his love for it. Love of dark­ness and ha­tred of the light make him en­tire­ly to blame, even with­out his de­ter­min­ing where the truth lies; be­cause he who has sin­cere love for the truth will be led by this love from the dark­ness of de­cep­tion to the light of truth. One ex­am­ple is the ho­ly apos­tle Paul. He was a sin­cere lov­er of the truth, devoted with all his soul to what he con­sid­ered to be true, with­out any self-in­ter­est. There­fore, as soon as he was shown that the truth lay not in what he con­sid­ered to be true, that very mo­ment he cast aside the old — which proved to be un­true — and cleaved with all his heart to the new, which was tan­gi­bly proven to be the truth. The same oc­curs with ev­ery sin­cere lov­er of truth. The truth of Christ is clear as day: seek and ye shall find. Help from a­bove is al­ways read­y for one who sin­cere­ly seeks. There­fore, if some­one re­mains in the dark­ness of un­be­lief, it is on­ly due to his love for that dark­ness, and for this he is al­ready con­demn­ed.

We Crucify The Lord by our sins

May 13, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Mon­day. [Acts 3:19–26; John 2:1–11] Re­pent ye there­fore, and be con­vert­ed, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of re­fresh­ing shall come from the pres­ence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). Thus spoke the ho­ly apos­tle Pe­ter to the Jews who cru­ci­fied the Lord, com­fort­ing them that they did it out of ig­no­rance. But we are cru­ci­fy­ing the Lord with­in our­selves for a sec­ond time, not out of ig­no­rance, but through our sins; but the most mer­ci­ful one re­ceives us too when we re­pent and turn to Him with all of our heart. We did this dur­ing Great Lent. Each came run­ing to the Lord with tears of re­pen­tance over his sins; and the more sin­cere­ly one did this, the more strong­ly did he feel the re­fresh­ment of for­give­ness, pro­ceed­ing from the face of the Lord, through the hands and word of ab­so­lu­tion of God’s priest. Now what is left for us to do? To be on guard a­gainst new falls, so that we would not fall again in­to the guilt of cru­ci­fy­ing the Lord. The A­pos­tle says that heav­en on­ly re­ceiv­ed the Lord Je­sus un­til the times of res­ti­tu­tion of all things (cf. Acts 3:21). Then He again will come and set forth judg­ment. With what eyes will those who pierced His side look up­on Him! In­deed, we too will have to stand in their ranks if we stop bring­ing forth fruits of re­pen­tance and re­turn to our old ways.

Walk in the spirit

May 10, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Fri­day. [Acts 3:1–8; John 2:12–22] There are cer­tain in­div­id­u­als whom the ho­ly fa­thers praise for their Chris­tian lives, for they rose from the dead be­fore the gen­er­al res­ur­rec­tion. What is the se­cret of such a life? They mastered the char­ac­ter­is­tic fea­tures of a life ac­cord­ing to the res­ur­rec­tion as they are shown in the word of God, and made them their own in­ner prop­er­ties. The fu­ture life is de­void of all that is flesh­ly: there men nei­ther mar­ry, nor are wo­men giv­en in mar­riage, there they will not eat dead food, and they will re­ceive a spir­i­tu­al bod­y. Thus, who­ev­er lives es­tranged from all flesh­ly things re­ceives in him­self, or re­turns to him­self, el­e­ments of the fu­ture life ac­cord­ing to the res­ur­rec­tion. Reach the point that all flesh­ly things with­in you die, and you will be res­ur­rect­ed be­fore the fu­ture res­ur­rec­tion. The apos­tle in­di­cates the path to this when he says: Walk in the Spir­it, and ye shall not ful­fil the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). And he at­tests that through this path it is sure­ly pos­si­ble to at­tain what is a­wait­ed: he that soweth to the Spir­it, he says, shall of the Spir­it reap life ev­er­last­ing (Gal. 6:8).

Truth of The Resurrection

May 8, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Wednes­day. [Acts 2:22–36; John 1:35–51] The mind can prove the truth of the Res­ur­rec­tion through rea­son based on the scrip­tures, and a non-be­liev­er can­not but ad­mit the pow­er of its ar­gu­ments, as long as a sense of truth is not yet dead in him. A be­liev­er does not need proof, be­cause the Church of God is fill­ed with the light of the Res­ur­rec­tion. Both of these in­di­ca­tors of truth are faith­ful and con­vinc­ing. But count­er-rea­son­ing can spring up and con­tra­dict mind’s rea­son, and faith can be tram­pled and shak­en by per­plex­i­ties and doubts, com­ing from with­out and aris­ing with­in. Is there no in­vin­ci­ble wall a­round the truth of the Res­ur­rec­tion? There is. It will oc­cur when the pow­er of the Res­ur­rec­tion, re­ceiv­ed al­ready at bap­tism, be­gins to ac­tive­ly be re­veal­ed as it purges the cor­rup­tion of soul and bod­y, and es­tab­lish­es with­in them the be­gin­nings of a new life. He who ex­pe­ri­en­ces this will walk in the light of the Res­ur­rec­tion, and any­one talk­ing a­gainst the truth of the Res­ur­rec­tion will seem to him in­sane, like a per­son say­ing in the day­time that it is night.

Pascha Celebration 2013

May 5, 2013 | Children & Youth, Istochnik Choir, News & Events, Uncategorized

Come and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Serbian food and dancing.

When: May 5, 2013
Where: 2148 Michelson Drive, Irvine, CA

View Photos of Plastanica Lamentations (May 3)

View Photos of Children Egg Coloring

View Photos of Resurrectional Matins

View Photos of Great and Holy Pascha

View Video of Plastanica Lamentations (May 3)

View Video of Children Egg Coloring (May 3)

View Video of Resurrectional Matins (May 4)

View Video of Great and Holy Pascha Divine Liturgy (May 5)

View Video of Istochnik Choir Concert (May 5)

View Video of Great and Holy Pascha Celebration Banquet & Music (May 5)

The Cross Of Joy

May 3, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

The cru­ci­fix­ion of Christ the Lord and the syn­ax­is of Arch­an­gel Ga­bri­el! A new con­sol­ing com­bi­na­tion! Ga­bri­el pro­claims be­fore­hand the birth of the Fore­run­ner; Ga­bri­el brings good ti­dings to the Vir­gin; he, very like­ly, pro­claim­ed the joy of the birth of the Sav­iour; no one else pro­claim­ed to the wo­men a­bout the res­ur­rec­tion of Christ the Lord. There­fore Ga­bri­el is the her­ald and bear­er of ev­ery joy. The cru­ci­fix­ion of Christ is the joy and glad­ness of all sin­ners. A sin­ner, com­ing to a feel­ing of his sin­ful­ness and of the all-righ­teous truth of God, has no­where to take shel­ter, ex­cept un­der the shad­ow of the cross. Here he ac­cepts the as­sur­ance that he has no for­give­ness while he stands alone be­fore God with his sins and even with tears over them. The on­ly sal­va­tion for him is in the death on the cross of the Lord. On the cross the hand­writ­ing of all sins was torn a­part (cf. Col 2:14). And each who ac­cepts this with com­plete faith is made a par­tic­i­pant in this mys­tery of for­give­ness. As this faith rip­ens, con­fi­dence of for­give­ness rip­ens as well, and al­so com­fort from the feel­ing of en­ter­ing in­to the state of for­give­ness for all ages. The cross is the source of joy, be­cause a sin­ner drinks with faith from it the joy of for­give­ness. In this sense, it is in its own way an arch­an­gel, bring­ing good ti­dings of joy.