| COR. ACC 0103471397 CB ERGOBANK LLC Account No 40703978000001012685 In favour of Sretensky Stauropegial Monastery ROC For the Serbian Church in Kosovo АДРЕС для почтового денежного перевода: 107031 Москва а/я 87 Сретенский монастырь архимандриту Тихону (Шевкунову) На помощь Сербской Церкви в Косово и Метохии 13 марта 2012 г. скрыть способы оплаты Комментарии Олег Андрушкевич 1 ноября 2015, 14:06 Рад возможности внести посильное пожертвование на наших единоверцев. Gorka 29 января 2014, 12:09 Как можно личным участием помочь православным братьям и сёстрам в Косово? Хотел бы поехать в Косово и помогать всем, чем смогу... Игорь, Ровно, Украина. Александр 12 июня 2013, 15:21 И еще очень важно также, чтобы звук в церкви был настроен таким образом, чтобы все прихожане хорошо слышали голос проповедника из всех пределов http://zvukihrama.ru/foto/53-xamples Михаил 14 февраля 2013, 13:26 C одной стороны помочь им надо всем - и деньгами, и непосредственным участием, с другой стороны - администрация сайта не даёт конкретных способов перечисления денежных средств и данных о контроле за ними. Пожалуста, создайте условия! Тем более, что люди сами об этом просят. Виктория 4 июня 2012, 15:31 Сестры монастыря готовы поехать в Сербию для оказания любой помощи. Как это можно осуществить? Антоний 3 июня 2012, 18:43 надо помочь 29 мая 2012, 03:39 Драга и сестре у Христу... Живимо у тешком времену и великим Само нас Господ може извести на прави пут. Слава Богу за све! Помените. Велики поздрав из за православну у Андрей 28 мая 2012, 21:43 готов поехать вместе с братией монастыря для оказания любой помощи посильной. был в Сербии 3 раза. такого братского отношения к русским нет ни в одной стране Европы. Евгений 23 мая 2012, 11:04 Дорогие наши Православные Сербские братья ! Помощи Вам Божией в трудах и твердости в Вере ! Мы - члены Русской Православной Церкви были с Вами всегда. Не оставим и сейчас ! Казак Димитрий 18 мая 2012, 01:18 Христос Воскресе!!!Отцы и братия,доколе будут продолжаться нападки на веру Православную!Пошлёт нам Господь Бог наш святого преподобного Сергия Радонежского,благословившего русского князя на битву великую! |
| Rom. 9:17/Exodus 9:16 – my power “in you”; my name may be “proclaimed.” Hebrew – show “thee”; may name might be “declared.” Rom. 9:25/Hosea 2:23 – I will call my people; I will call my beloved. Hebrew - I will have mercy (love versus mercy). Rom. 9:27/Isaiah 10:22 – only a remnant of them “will be saved.” Hebrew – only a remnant of them “will return.” Rom. 9:29/Isaiah 1:9 – had not left us “children.” Hebrew – Jehova had left us a “very small remnant.” Rom. 9:33; 10:11; 1 Peter 2:6/Isaiah 28:16 – he who believes will not be “put to shame.” Hebrew – shall not be “in haste.” Rom. 10:18/Psalm 19:4 – their “voice” has gone out. Hebrew – their “line” is gone out. Rom. 10:20/Isaiah 65:1 – I have “shown myself” to those who did not ask for me. Hebrew – I am “inquired of” by them. Rom. 10:21/Isaiah 65:2 – a “disobedient and contrary” people. Hebrew – a “rebellious” people. Rom. 11:9-10/Psalm 69:22-23 – “pitfall” and “retribution” and “bend their backs.” Hebrew – “trap” and “make their loins shake.” Rom. 11:26/Isaiah 59:20 – will banish “ungodliness.” Hebrew – turn from “transgression.” Rom. 11:27/Isaiah 27:9 – when I take away their sins. Hebrew – this is all the fruit of taking away his sin. Rom. 11:34; 1 Cor. 2:16/Isaiah 40:13 -the “mind” of the Lord; His “counselor.” Hebrew – “spirit” of the Lord; “taught” Him. Rom. 12:20/Prov. 25:21 – feed him and give him to drink. Hebrew – give him “bread” to eat and “water” to drink. Rom. 15:12/Isaiah 11:10 – the root of Jesse…”to rule the Gentiles.” Hebrew - stands for an ensign. There is nothing about the Gentiles. Rom. 15:21/Isaiah 52:15 – been told “of him”; heard “of him.” Hebrew – does not mention “him” (the object of the prophecy). 1 Cor. 1:19/Isaiah 29:14 – “I will destroy” the wisdom of the wise. Hebrew – wisdom of their wise men “shall perish.” 1 Cor. 5:13/Deut. 17:7 – remove the “wicked person.” Hebrew – purge the “evil.” This is more generic evil in the MT. 1 Cor. 15:55/Hosea 13:14 – O death, where is thy “sting?” Hebrew – O death, where are your “plagues?” |
| Feeble women by nature, but not in your minds and hearts; for womanly weakness did not appear in you in any way, but all your feats surpassed the bravery of men. Upon you were truly fulfilled the words of Scripture, which say, My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), and again, God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty (1 Cor. 1:27; cf. Ps. 8:2, Mt. 21:16). The words of our Most Holy Savior were truly in your hearts, Who said, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul (Mt. 10:28). And again the Holy Spirit says, Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord (Ps. 30:24). You completed the apostolic work before the apostles. You displayed the faith and courage of soul of the holy martyrs before them. Elias the great prophet, ablaze with Divine zeal, rebuked Ahab, and you confounded the guards of the Lord’s Tomb. Gideon once crushed a multitude of Midianites with three hundred soldiers (cf. Jdg. 7:25). You, along with the righteous men Joseph and Nikodemos, stronger than all of the Jews’ and Pilate’s fortifications became fearless ministers, ready even unto death to serve Him Who came to serve and lay down His soul for the redemption of the whole of mankind. You, O holy women, together with the Most Pure Virgin Mary, the mother of our eternal Savior, with great zeal and bravery of soul gathered to celebrate the very first service to the Savior. Therefore, you were blessed even before the apostles to preach the Resurrection of the Lord. Beloved faithful! Who are these holy Myrrhbearing Women who followed Christ together with the apostles and were accounted worthy to be witnesses to the Lord’s sufferings, and to anoint His holy Body with spices as it lay in the Tomb? The holy Gospel briefly provides us their names and deeds. The first and most full of spiritual zeal and courage is Mary Magdalene , from the city of Magdala in Galilee. The other holy Myrrhbearers are Maria, the mother of James (Mk. 16:1) and of Joses (Mk. 15:47), who is the cousin of the Mother of God; Mary, the wife of Cleopas (Jn. 19:25), and Salome, the mother of the Sons of Thunder (Mt. 27:56; 28:1; Mk. 16:1; Lk. 24:10). Then there is Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, Susanna, and many others serving Him out of their own means (Lk. 8:3). Among the Myrrhbearers were Martha and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus from Bethany, where the Savior often stayed with the holy apostles on the way to Jerusalem or Galilee. |
| He who was born of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, he who suffered greatly and without blame, he who was crucified and died on a cross between two thieves, he was the first among people to rise from the dead. ‘He has been raised, as he said he would be’ (Mt 28:6). The tomb is empty. There remain in it only the swaddling clothes in which his body was wrapped. The myrrh-bearing women came to the place of the Lord’s burial ‘very early in the morning … at the rising of the sun’ (Mk 16:2) and did not find Jesus there, for neither the stone that blocked the entrance into the cave, nor the guard who kept watch by it, nor even death itself could withstand the great power of the Living God. ‘Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure’ (Is 5:14), exultant Hades had been ready to engulf its most powerful enemy, yet instead froze in fear, for it had been illumined by the light of the Godhead. Christ has vanquished corruption and destroyed death. Through the first man, who disobeyed the Maker and fell away from the Fount of eternal life, evil came into the world and sin reigned over people. Christ ‘the last Adam’ (1 Cor 15:45) has vanquished death of the spirit, death of the soul and death of the body. ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,’ St. Paul tells us (1 Cor 15:22). All that we have lost in the first Adam we have acquired anew in Christ. The Lord’s Passover is truly the ‘great gift of the divine economy’ (St. Theodore the Studite). Having overcome the human person’s alienation from his Maker, the Saviour has granted to us the possibility of being united with him. As St. John Damascene says, through the Cross of Christ we have been ‘granted resurrection … The gates of paradise have been opened to us, our nature now sits at the right hand of God and we have become the children of God and his heirs’ (An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4). We are all called upon to be worthy of this gift. The Son of God, in assuming our nature, has become like us in all things apart from sin. Through his earthly life and sufferings on the Cross he has shown us an example of the greatest humility and obedience to the heavenly Father, an example of struggle against temptations and allurements, and through his resurrection he has destroyed the fetters of sin and granted to us the power and means to vanquish evil. It is in this struggle that one grows spiritually and becomes a morally free person. |
| And the same Apostle Paul gives us an excellent example of that kind in his famous speech in Athens Areopagus. We read in the Acts, 17, that in Athens «his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry”. Nevertheless when the philosophers and other Athens citizens had asked Paul to speak them about this «new teaching» he didn’t begin with saying: «Oh! Miserable pagans, shame on you! You worship devils instead of true God! » Not at all. On the contrary, Paul said: «Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore you worship, as unknown, this I proclame to you» (Acts, 17, 22-23, New Revised Standard Version). And, continuing his speech about true God, Paul makes a quotations of a well-known pagan poet: «As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring». (Acts, 17, 28) The name of the poet is Aratus, Greek author who lived in IV-III c. before Christ, very popular in Greek and even Latin world of that time. Paul quotes here the fifth line of Aratus’s Phaenomena. And «apostle of pagans» builds his reasoning on the base of this quotation: «Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God…» and so on. In the same speech of Paul we can see another quotation, not so clear, but anyway: «For in Him we live, and move, and have our being…» (Acts, 17, 28) Many commentators think that Epimenides, Greek philosopher and poet of VII-VI c. BC seems to be the source of these words. It’s true that sometimes Paul doesn’t give a reference to some of his quotations as these are well-known, even like proverbs. For example, Paul in his 1 epistle to Corinthians underlines: «Evil communications corrupt good manners» (1 Cor 15:33). We know how it’s quite right. Corruption is a big evil of our times. But the source of this observation is another Greek poet, Menandros. |
| Having performed the feat of redemption, through His sacrifice on the cross and glorious Resurrection the Lord opened the gates of heaven to everyone. From then on and to this day, every human being is given an opportunity to wholeheartedly embrace Christ as the true God and Saviour Who grants blessed strength for leading a life of righteousness and actively participating in the transfiguration of the world. Reflecting on the feast of Easter, Saint Nicholas of Serbia, a prominent theologian of the past century, wrote, Christ is risen – it means that life is stronger than death. Christ is risen – it means that good is stronger than evil. Christ is risen – it means that all difficulties in life are resolved (Thoughts on Good and Evil). And this Paschal joy, which is the joy of communion with God and of building up a new life (Rom 6:4) on the basis of goodness and justice, touches the hearts of millions of Christians, inspiring them to do works of charity and mercy, helping to overcome adversities, comforting them in ordeals, giving hope to the desperate and strengthening the faint-hearted. On the radiant feast of Pascha our special prayers are offered to God for people in combat zones. We as Christians cannot remain indifferent to the troubles and hardships of our brothers and sisters whose hearts are seared by the fire of internecine strife. So we lift up our fervent supplications unto the Lord that by His mercy and loving-kindness He may heal bodily and, above all else, spiritual wounds, give comfort in every sorrow and grant a lasting and just peace to the brotherly peoples that came from one Dnieper baptismal font. The earthly life of the Saviour was full of labour and sacrificial love for people, and we are called to become like Him in serving our neighbours, since any, even the smallest virtue, every effort to overcome our own selfishness for the sake of another person, draws us closer to God – the Source of life and immortality – and therefore makes us happier. May the Risen Lord Who in accord with His truthful promise abides with His followers even unto the end of the world (Mt 28:20) vouchsafe us, sinful and infirm, but thirsting for righteousness and seeking salvation, to inherit the blessed life after we complete our earthly journey, so that in the Heavenly mansions prepared… from the foundation of the world (Mt 25:34) we together with saints reign in His eternal glory (St Ambrose of Milan, Hymn “We Praise Thee, O God”). This joyful anticipation of the Kingdom of love to come, of God being everything to every one (1 Cor 15:28) is what the Church preaches at all times and even more so in the radiant Easter season. |
| By his redemptive sacrifice Christ united heaven and earth, the eternal and the temporal, the Creator and the creation, God and the human person. He has overcome the gulf which since the dawn of human history has separated the first people from their Maker. When they violated the commandments that were given to them and disobeyed their Creator, sin and death came to reign in the world. " When the fulness of the time had come, " says the apostle Paul, " God sent his Son, born of a woman, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as children " (Gal. 4:4-5). Christ, being the Lamb of God " without defect or blemish takes away the sin of the world " (1 Pet 1:19; Jn 1:29). In being obedient to the heavenly Father " to the point of death– even death on the cross " (Phil. 2:8), he brings all of humankind to its Creator, reconciling it with him. Being the Son of God by his nature, he makes us sons and daughters of God by grace. The Lord opens up to us the way of moral transformation and spiritual ascension to life everlasting and blessed with God " in the unfading day of his kingdom " (The Paschal Canon). In freeing us from enslavement to sin, in casting down " the powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places " (Eph. 6:12), the Lord is raised up to heaven, where he sits in unapproachable glory at the right hand of the pre-eternal Father. At the same time, he does not abandon us here on earth and abides eternally with his disciples who together form his Body of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Her Head, Christ himself, guides this ark of salvation through the stormy waters of the sea of life to the tranquil haven of heaven where " God may be all in all " (1 Cor. 15:28). We, Christians, who comprise the Holy Church, are to continue his glorious mission in the world. Like the great multitude of brothers and sisters in the faith who came before us – the apostles, the myrrh-bearing women, the martyrs, the saintly bishops, the venerable monks and nuns and the righteous – we are called upon to " give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the people " (1 Chr. 1:8). We are called upon to preach the Son of God and the Son of Man, who in his ineffable love for us shed his most precious blood on the Cross. We are called upon in both word and deed and with our whole lives to bear witness to people of the One who " was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities " (Isa. 53:5) and " was raised for our justification " (Rom. 4:25). |
| By his redemptive sacrifice Christ united heaven and earth, the eternal and the temporal, the Creator and the creation, God and the human person. He has overcome the gulf which since the dawn of human history has separated the first people from their Maker. When they violated the commandments that were given to them and disobeyed their Creator, sin and death came to reign in the world. “When the fulness of the time had come,” says the apostle Paul, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as children” (Gal. 4:4-5). Christ, being the Lamb of God “without defect or blemish takes away the sin of the world” (1 Pet 1:19; Jn 1:29). In being obedient to the heavenly Father “to the point of death– even death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8), he brings all of humankind to its Creator, reconciling it with him. Being the Son of God by his nature, he makes us sons and daughters of God by grace. The Lord opens up to us the way of moral transformation and spiritual ascension to life everlasting and blessed with God “in the unfading day of his kingdom” (The Paschal Canon). In freeing us from enslavement to sin, in casting down “the powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12), the Lord is raised up to heaven, where he sits in unapproachable glory at the right hand of the pre-eternal Father. At the same time, he does not abandon us here on earth and abides eternally with his disciples who together form his Body of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Her Head, Christ himself, guides this ark of salvation through the stormy waters of the sea of life to the tranquil haven of heaven where “God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). We, Christians, who comprise the Holy Church, are to continue his glorious mission in the world. Like the great multitude of brothers and sisters in the faith who came before us – the apostles, the myrrh-bearing women, the martyrs, the saintly bishops, the venerable monks and nuns and the righteous – we are called upon to “give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the people” (1 Chr. 1:8). We are called upon to preach the Son of God and the Son of Man, who in his ineffable love for us shed his most precious blood on the Cross. We are called upon in both word and deed and with our whole lives to bear witness to people of the One who “was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5) and “was raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). |
| My soul magnifies the Lord and my Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. For behold, hence-forth all generations shall call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation (Lk 1.47–50). The main theme of the feast of Mary’s entrance to the Temple, repeated many times in the liturgical services, is the fact that she enters the Temple to become herself the living temple of God, thus inaugurating the New Testament in which are fulfilled the prophecies of old that “the dwelling of God is with man” and that the human person is the sole proper dwelling place of the Divine Presence (Ezek 37.27; Jn 14.15–23; Acts 7.47; 2 Cor 6.11; Eph 2.18–22; 1 Pet 2.4; Rev 22.1–4). Today is the preview of the good will of God, of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. The Virgin appears in the temple of God, in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice, O Divine Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation (Troparion). The most pure Temple of the Saviour, the precious Chamber and Virgin, the Sacred Treasure of the Glory of God, is presented today to the house of the Lord. She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, which the angels of God do praise. Truly this woman is the Abode of Heaven! (Kontakion). The fortieth chapter of Exodus about the building of the tabernacle is read at Vespers, together with passages from the First Book of Kings and the Prophecy of Ezekiel. Each one of these readings all end with exactly the same line, “for the glory of the Lord filled the house [tabernacle] of the Lord God Almighty” (Ex 40.35; 1 Kg 8.11; Ezek 44.4). Once again on this feast, the Old Testament readings are interpreted as symbols of the Mother of God. This “glory of the Lord” is referred to the Mother of Christ and it “fills” her and all people after her who “hear the word of God and keep it” as the Gospel of the festal liturgy proclaims (Lk 11.37–28). The epistle reading at the Divine Liturgy also proclaims this very same theme (Heb 9.1–7). |
| God fulfilled the promise He had given to people in ancient times: I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death (Hos. 13:14). And in the light of Easter morning we rejoice with St. Paul that death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54)! From now on, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:39), for the deadly effect of sin is brought to naught by the power of the Risen Lord. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18), reveals to us the true riches of God’s grace – the radiance of eternal life with God and in God, when, according to the prophetic words of the Apostle, God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). For two thousand years now, the Church has been living in the unfading joy of the Resurrection, striving to make every man that cometh into the world (Jn. 1:9) a partaker of this joy. In the light of Pascha everything is different: we are not afraid of any mundane sorrows, afflictions and worldly troubles, and even difficult circumstances of these troubled times do not seem so important in the perspective of eternity granted unto us. St. Ephraim the Syrian had a remarkable thought that during the creation the Lord had put into the depths of man the entire Heavenly Kingdom which only waits for us to discover it like a precious pearl. The Kingdom is written in the soul and placed therein as a dowry, in order that, when the Heir of the Kingdom comes, He may take it with Him into the bridal chamber (Commentary on “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth…”). And this Heir – Christ – did come and rise from the dead, saving people from sins and giving us power to become the sons of God (Jn. 1:12), that we may walk before the Lord in holiness and truth, live in chastity, worthy to be called Christians, and be the salt of the earth,.. the light of the world (Mt. 5:13-14). To bear witness to the Risen Saviour, we do not have to go somewhere far, like the apostles did, who spread the marvellous Paschal light all over the world. Many people around us are in need of a living model of Christian faith working through love (Gal. 5:6). God does not demand of us some heroic deeds that are beyond our strength. He just asks us to show love to one another, to remember that by doing so we also show love to Him. A kind smile, attention and sympathy to those who are near, as well as timely words of consolation and support can become our most important deeds for the sake of our Lord. |
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