#massacre of thessalonica

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 7)

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the memory of St. Ambrose, the brilliant Bishop of Milan who influenced St. Augustine's conversion and was named a Doctor of the Church.

Like Augustine himself, the older Ambrose, born around 340, was a highly educated man who sought to harmonize Greek and Roman intellectual culture with the Catholic faith.

Trained in literature, law, and rhetoric, he eventually became the governor of Liguria and Emilia, with headquarters at Milan.

He manifested his intellectual gifts in defense of Christian doctrine even before his baptism.

While Ambrose was serving as governor, a bishop named Auxentius was leading the diocese.

Although he was an excellent public speaker with a forceful personality, Auxentius also followed the heresy of Arius, which denied the divinity of Christ.

Although the Council of Nicaea had reasserted the traditional teaching on Jesus' deity, many educated members of the Church – including, at one time, a majority of the world's bishops – looked to Arianism as a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan version of Christianity.

Bishop Auxentius became notorious for forcing clergy throughout the region to accept Arian creeds.

At the time of Auxentius' death, Ambrose had not yet even been baptized.

But his deep understanding and love of the traditional faith were already clear to the faithful of Milan.

They considered him the most logical choice to succeed Auxentius, even though he was still just a catechumen.

With the help of Emperor Valentinan II, who ruled the Western Roman Empire at the time, a mob of Milanese Catholics virtually forced Ambrose to become their bishop against his own will.

Eight days after his baptism, Ambrose received episcopal consecration on 7 December 374.

The date would eventually become his liturgical feast.

Bishop Ambrose did not disappoint those who had clamored for his appointment and consecration.

He began his ministry by giving everything he owned to the poor and to the Church.

He looked to the writings of Greek theologians like St. Basil for help in explaining the Church's traditional teachings to the people during times of doctrinal confusion.

Like the fathers of the Eastern Church, Ambrose drew from the intellectual reserves of pre-Christian philosophy and literature to make the faith more comprehensible to his hearers.

This harmony of faith with other sources of knowledge served to attract, among others, the young professor Aurelius Augustinus – a man Ambrose taught and baptized, whom history knows as St. Augustine of Hippo.

Ambrose himself lived simply, wrote prolifically, and celebrated Mass each day.

He found time to counsel an amazing range of public officials, pagan inquirers, confused Catholics, and penitent sinners.

His popularity, in fact, served to keep at bay those who would have preferred to force him from the diocese, including the Western Empress Justina and a group of her advisers, who sought to rid the West of adherence to the Nicene Creed, pushing instead for strict Arianism.

Ambrose heroically refused her attempts to impose heretical bishops in Italy, along with her efforts to seize churches in the name of Arianism.

Ambrose also displayed remarkable courage when he publicly denied communion to the Emperor Theodosius, who had ordered the massacre of 7,000 citizens in Thessalonica leading to his excommunication by Ambrose.

The chastened emperor took Ambrose's rebuke to heart, publicly repenting of the massacre, and doing penance for the murders.

“Nor was there afterwards a day on which he did not grieve for his mistake,” Ambrose himself noted when he spoke at the emperor's funeral.

The rebuke spurred a profound change in Emperor Theodosius.

He reconciled himself with the Church and the bishop, who attended to the emperor on his deathbed.

St. Ambrose died in 397.

His 23 years of diligent service had turned a deeply troubled diocese into an exemplary outpost for the faith.

His writings remained an important point of reference for the Church, well into the medieval era and beyond.

St. Ambrose has been named one of the “holy fathers of the Church, whose teaching all bishops should in every way follow.”

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT AMBROSE OF MILAN Feast Day: December 7

"It is preferable to have a virgin mind than a virgin body. Each is good if each be possible; if it be not possible, let me be chaste, not to man but to God."

Like Augustine himself, the older Ambrose, born around 340, was a highly educated man who sought to harmonize Greek and Roman intellectual culture with the Catholic faith. Trained in literature, law, and rhetoric, he eventually became the governor of Liguria and Emilia, with headquarters at Milan. He manifested his intellectual gifts in defense of Christian doctrine even before his baptism.

While Ambrose was serving as governor, a bishop named Auxentius was leading the diocese. Although he was an excellent public speaker with a forceful personality, Auxentius also followed the heresy of Arius, which denied the divinity of Christ. Although the Council of Nicaea had reasserted the traditional teaching on Jesus' deity, many educated members of the Church – including, at one time, a majority of the world's bishops – looked to Arianism as a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan version of Christianity. Bishop Auxentius became notorious for forcing clergy throughout the region to accept Arian creeds.

At the time of Auxentius' death, Ambrose had not yet even been baptized. But his deep understanding and love of the traditional faith were already clear to the faithful of Milan. They considered him the most logical choice to succeed Auxentius, even though he was still just a catechumen. With the help of Emperor Valentinan II, who ruled the Western Roman Empire at the time, a mob of Milanese Catholics virtually forced Ambrose to become their bishop against his own will. Eight days after his baptism, Ambrose received episcopal consecration on Dec. 7, 374. The date would eventually become his liturgical feast.

Bishop Ambrose did not disappoint those who had clamored for his appointment and consecration. He began his ministry by giving everything he owned to the poor and to the Church. He looked to the writings of Greek theologians like St. Basil for help in explaining the Church's traditional teachings to the people during times of doctrinal confusion. Like the fathers of the Eastern Church, Ambrose drew from the intellectual reserves of pre-Christian philosophy and literature to make the faith more comprehensible to his hearers. This harmony of faith with other sources of knowledge served to attract, among others, the young professor Aurelius Augustinus – a man Ambrose taught and baptized, whom history knows as St. Augustine of Hippo.

Ambrose himself lived simply, wrote prolifically, and celebrated Mass each day. He found time to counsel an amazing range of public officials, pagan inquirers, confused Catholics and penitent sinners. His popularity, in fact, served to keep at bay those who would have preferred to force him from the diocese, including the Western Empress Justina and a group of her advisers, who sought to rid the West of adherence to the Nicene Creed, pushing instead for strict Arianism. Ambrose heroically refused her attempts to impose heretical bishops in Italy, along with her efforts to seize churches in the name of Arianism. Ambrose also displayed remarkable courage when he publicly denied communion to the Emperor Theodosius, who had ordered the massacre of 7,000 citizens in Thessalonica leading to his excommunication by Ambrose. The chastened emperor took Ambrose's rebuke to heart, publicly repenting of the massacre and doing penance for the murders. "Nor was there afterwards a day on which he did not grieve for his mistake," Ambrose himself noted when he spoke at the emperor's funeral.

The rebuke spurred a profound change in Emperor Theodosius. He reconciled himself with the Church and the bishop, who attended to the emperor on his deathbed. St. Ambrose died in 397. His 23 years of diligent service had turned a deeply troubled diocese into an exemplary outpost for the faith. His writings remained an important point of reference for the Church, well into the medieval era and beyond. St. Ambrose has been named one of the 'holy fathers' of the Church, whose teaching all bishops should 'in every way follow.'

Ambrose joins Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great as one of the Latin Doctors of the Church.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.24 (before 1930)

367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father. 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written. 410 – The Visigoths under King Alaric I begin to pillage Rome. 1185 – Sack of Thessalonica by the Normans. 1200 – King John of England, signer of the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoulême in Angoulême Cathedral. 1215 – Pope Innocent III issues a bull declaring Magna Carta invalid. 1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague. 1482 – The town and castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army. 1516 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Syria at the Battle of Marj Dabiq. 1561 – Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony. 1608 – The first official English representative to India lands in Surat. 1643 – A Dutch fleet establishes a new colony in the ruins of Valdivia in southern Chile. 1662 – The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is legally enforced as the liturgy of the Church of England, precipitating the Great Ejection of Dissenter ministers from their benefices. 1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania. 1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, an event formerly considered the founding of the city (in 2003 the Calcutta High Court ruled that the city's foundation date is unknown). 1743 – The War of the Hats: The Swedish army surrenders to the Russians in Helsinki, ending the war and starting Lesser Wrath. 1781 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit. 1789 – The first naval battle of the Svensksund began in the Gulf of Finland.[10] 1812 – Peninsular War: A coalition of Spanish, British, and Portuguese forces succeed in lifting the two-and-a-half-year-long Siege of Cádiz. 1814 – British troops capture Washington, D.C. and set the Presidential Mansion, Capitol, Navy Yard and many other public buildings ablaze. 1815 – The modern Constitution of the Netherlands is signed. 1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri. 1820 – Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal. 1821 – The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. 1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history. 1870 – The Wolseley expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion. 1898 – Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presents a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference. 1909 – Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal. 1911 – Manuel de Arriaga is elected and sworn in as the first President of Portugal. 1914 – World War I: German troops capture Namur. 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ends as the first Allied victory in the war. 1929 – Second day of two-day Hebron massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, result in the death of 65–68 Jews; the remaining Jews are forced to flee the city.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: : Tuesday, December 20, 2022

december 20_december 7

SAINT AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN (397)

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, was born in the year 340 into the family of the Roman prefect of Gaul (now France). Even in the saint’s childhood there appeared presentiments of his great future. Once, bees covered the face of the sleeping infant. They flew in and out of his mouth, leaving honey on his tongue. Soon they flew away so high that they could no longer be seen. Ambrose’s father said that the child would become something great when he reached manhood.

After the death of the father of the family, Ambrose journeyed to Rome, where the future saint and his brother Satyrius received an excellent education. About the year 370, upon completion of his course of study, Ambrose was appointed to the position of governor (consular prefect) of the districts of Liguria and Aemilia, though he continued to live at Mediolanum (now Milan).

In the year 374 Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Mediolanum, died. This led to complications between the Orthodox and the Arians, since each side wanted to have its own bishop. Ambrose, as the chief city official, went to the church to resolve the dispute.

While he was speaking to the crowd, suddenly a child cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” The people took up this chant. Ambrose, who at this time was still a catechumen, considered himself unworthy, and tried to refuse. He disparaged himself, and even tried to flee from Mediolanum. The matter went ultimately before the emperor Valentinian the Elder (364-375), whose orders Ambrose dared not disobey. He accepted holy Baptism from an Orthodox priest and, passing through all the ranks of the Church clergy in just seven days, on December 7, 374 he was consecrated Bishop of Mediolanum. He dispersed all his possessions, money and property for the adornment of churches, the upkeep of orphans and the poor, and he devoted himself to a strict ascetic life.

Ambrose combined strict temperance, intense vigilance and work within the fulfilling of his duties as archpastor. Saint Ambrose, defending the unity of the Church, energetically opposed the spread of heresy. Thus, in the year 379 he traveled off to establish an Orthodox bishop at Sirmium, and in 385-386 he refused to hand over the basilica of Mediolanum to the Arians.

The preaching of Saint Ambrose in defense of Orthodoxy was deeply influential. Another noted Father of the Western Church, Saint Augustine (June 15), bore witness to this, having accepted holy Baptism in the year 387 by the grace of the preaching of the bishop of Mediolanum.

Saint Ambrose also actively participated in civil matters. Thus, the emperor Gracian (375-383), having received from him the “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” (De Fide), removed, by decree of the saint, the altar of Victory from the halls of the Senate at Rome, on which oaths were wont to be taken. Displaying a pastoral boldness, Saint Ambrose placed a severe penance on the emperor Theodosius I (379-395) for the massacre of innocent inhabitants of Thessalonica. For him there was no difference between emperor and commoner. Though he released Theodosius from the penance, the saint would not permit the emperor to commune at the altar, but compelled him to do public penance.

The fame of Bishop Ambrose and his actions attracted to him many followers from other lands. From far away Persia learned men came to him to ask him questions and absorb his wisdom. Fritigelda (Frigitil), queen of the military Germanic tribe of the Markomanni, which often had attacked Mediolanum, asked the saint to instruct her in the Christian Faith. The saint in his letter to her persuasively stated the dogmas of the Church. And having become a believer, the queen converted her own husband to Christianity and persuaded him to conclude a treaty of peace with the Roman Empire.

The saint combined strictness with an uncommon kindliness. Granted a gift of wonderworking, he healed many from sickness. One time at Florence, while staying at the house of Decentus, he resurrected a dead boy.

The repose of Saint Ambrose, who departed to the Lord on the night of Holy Pascha, was accompanied by many miracles. He even appeared in a vision to the children being baptized that night. The saint was buried in the Ambrosian basilica in Mediolanum, beneath the altar, between the Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius (October 14).

A zealous preacher and valiant defender of the Christian Faith, Saint Ambrose received particular renown as a Church writer. In dogmatic compositions he set forth the Orthodox teaching about the Holy Trinity, the Sacraments, and Repentance: “Five Books on the Faith” (De Fide); “Explication of the Symbol of the Faith” (Explanatio Symboli); “On the Incarnation” (De Incarnationis); “Three Books on the Holy Spirit” (De Spiritu Sancto); “On the Sacraments” (De Sacramento); “Two Books on Repentance” (De Paenitentia). In writings about Christian morality, he explained the excellence of Christian moral teaching compared to pagan moral teaching.

A well-known work of Saint Ambrose, “On the Duties of the Clergy” (De Officiis Ministrorum) evidences his deep awareness of pastoral duty. He stresses that those who serve in the Church should have not only the proper knowledge of Church services, but also the proper knowledge of moral precepts.

Saint Ambrose was also a reformer of Church singing. He introduced antiphonal singing (along the Eastern or Syrian form) into the Western Church, which became known as “Ambrosian Chant.” He also composed twelve hymns which were used during his lifetime. The hymn, “Thee, O God, we praise” (Te Deum), attributed to Saint Ambrose, entered into the divine services of the Orthodox Church (Molieben).

SAINT PHILOTEA OF TURNOVO (1060_Romania)

Saint Philothea (Philofthea) of Argesh was born in Trnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria, around 1206. Her father was a farmer, and her mother was from Wallachia. She died when Philothea was still a child, and her father remarried.

The child was often punished by her stepmother, who accused her of being disobedient, and of giving their possesions away to the poor. Her father chastised her for this, but Philothea continued to attend church services and to do good to others, just as her mother had taught her. As she grew older, she was adorned with the virtues of prayer, virginity, and almsgiving.

Saint Philothea used to bring food to her father, who was out working in the fields. Not all of the food reached him, however, because the girl would give some of it to the poor children begging in the street. When he complained to his wife that she did not prepare enough food for him, she replied, “I send you plenty of food. Ask your daughter what she does with it.”

Becoming angry with Philothea, her father decided to spy on her to see what happened to the food. From a place of concealment, he saw her giving food to the poor children who came to her. In a violent rage, he took the axe from his belt and threw it at the twelve-year-old girl, hitting her in the leg. The wound was mortal, and she soon gave her pure soul into God’s hands.

The man was filled with fear and remorse, and tried to lift his daughter’s body from the ground, but it became as heavy as a rock. Then the wretch ran to the Archbishop of Trnovo to confess his sin and explain what had happened. The Archbishop and his clergy went with candles and incense to take up the martyr’s body and bring it to the cathedral, but even they were unable to lift it.

The Archbishop realized that Saint Philothea did not wish to remain in her native land, so he began to name various monasteries, churches, and cathedrals to see where she wished to go. Not until he named the Monastery of Curtea de Argesh in Romania were they able to lift her holy relics and place them in a coffin. The Archbishop wrote to the Romanian Voievode Radu Negru, asking him to accept the saint’s relics.

The Archbishop and his clergy carried the holy relics in procession as far as the Danube, where they were met by Romanian clergy, monastics, and the faithful. Then they were carried to the Curtea de Argesh Monastery.

Many people have been healed at the tomb of Saint Philothea in a small chapel in the belltower behind the monastery church, and those who entreat her intercession receive help from her. Each year on December 7 there is a festal pilgrimage to the Monastery, and people come from all over Romania. The relics of Saint Philothea are carried around the courtyard in procession, and there are prayers for the sick.

The holy Virgin Martyr Philothea is venerated in Romania, Bulgaria, and throughout the Orthodox world.

LUKE 20:27-44

27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 28 saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. 32Last of all the woman died also. 33 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife. 34 Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him. 39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well." 40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore. 41 And He said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? 42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: 'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, 43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." ' 44 Therefore David calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?

2 TIMOTHY 2:20-26

20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

My mind often turns to St Ambrose this time of year. Not only is his feast day December 7, but he also wrote, Veni redemptor gentium, which comes to the English through Martin Luther, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, as Savior of the Nations, Come.

Sadly, there aren't many English versions that respect the Ambrosian Chant from which it was derived.

He's also widely considered to have applied Stoic thought to Christian Theology.

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, was born in the year 340 into the family of the Roman prefect of Gaul (now France). Even in the saint’s childhood there appeared presentiments of his great future. Once, bees covered the face of the sleeping infant. They flew in and out of his mouth, leaving honey on his tongue. Soon they flew away so high that they could no longer be seen. Ambrose’s father said that the child would become something great when he reached manhood.

After the death of the father of the family, Ambrose journeyed to Rome, where the future saint and his brother Satyrius received an excellent education. About the year 370, upon completion of his course of study, Ambrose was appointed to the position of governor (consular prefect) of the districts of Liguria and Aemilia, though he continued to live at Mediolanum (now Milan).

In the year 374 Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Mediolanum, died. This led to complications between the Orthodox and the Arians, since each side wanted to have its own bishop. Ambrose, as the chief city official, went to the church to resolve the dispute.

While he was speaking to the crowd, suddenly a child cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” The people took up this chant. Ambrose, who at this time was still a catechumen, considered himself unworthy, and tried to refuse. He disparaged himself, and even tried to flee from Mediolanum. The matter went ultimately before the emperor Valentinian the Elder (364-375), whose orders Ambrose dared not disobey. He accepted holy Baptism from an Orthodox priest and, passing through all the ranks of the Church clergy in just seven days, on December 7, 374 he was consecrated Bishop of Mediolanum. He dispersed all his possessions, money and property for the adornment of churches, the upkeep of orphans and the poor, and he devoted himself to a strict ascetic life.

Ambrose combined strict temperance, intense vigilance and work within the fulfilling of his duties as archpastor. Saint Ambrose, defending the unity of the Church, energetically opposed the spread of heresy. Thus, in the year 379 he traveled off to establish an Orthodox bishop at Sirmium, and in 385-386 he refused to hand over the basilica of Mediolanum to the Arians.

Displaying a pastoral boldness, Saint Ambrose placed a severe penance on the emperor Theodosius I (379-395) for the massacre of innocent inhabitants of Thessalonica. For him there was no difference between emperor and commoner. Though he released Theodosius from the penance, the saint would not permit the emperor to commune at the altar, but compelled him to do public penance.

The fame of Bishop Ambrose and his actions attracted to him many followers from other lands. From far away Persia learned men came to him to ask him questions and absorb his wisdom. Fritigelda (Frigitil), queen of the military Germanic tribe of the Markomanni, which often had attacked Mediolanum, asked the saint to instruct her in the Christian Faith. The saint in his letter to her persuasively stated the dogmas of the Church. And having become a believer, the queen converted her own husband to Christianity and persuaded him to conclude a treaty of peace with the Roman Empire.

The saint combined strictness with an uncommon kindliness. Granted a gift of wonderworking, he healed many from sickness. One time at Florence, while staying at the house of Decentus, he resurrected a dead boy.

The repose of Saint Ambrose, who departed to the Lord on the night of Holy Pascha, was accompanied by many miracles. He even appeared in a vision to the children being baptized that night. The saint was buried in the Ambrosian basilica in Mediolanum, beneath the altar, between the Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius (October 14).

Saint Ambrose was also a reformer of Church singing. He introduced antiphonal singing (along the Eastern or Syrian form) into the Western Church, which became known as “Ambrosian Chant.” He also composed twelve hymns which were used during his lifetime. The hymn, “Thee, O God, we praise” (Te Deum), attributed to Saint Ambrose, entered into the divine services of the Orthodox Church (Molieben).

A much longer Hagiography, including his many literary contributions to Christian thought he made, can be found at the OCA Website.

Lord have mercy upon me, A Sinner.

[illustratus]

St Ambrose barring Theodosius from Milan Cathedral

by Anthony van Dyck

The painting depicts the Roman emperor Theodosius I and his entourage being barred from Milan Cathedral by its archbishop Saint Ambrose, as punishment for the Massacre of Thessalonica

[blueiscoool]

Man Buys House in Greece and Discovers Roman-era Marble Statues

Two marble heads of female statues from the Roman era were found in an apartment in the centre of Thessaloniki, which was recently bought by a 35-year-old man.

According to SKAI, the new owner of the apartment found these fascinating artefacts carefully hidden in the attic.

Also found were a number of relevant documents, which according to the opinion of an archaeologist of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki, fall under Law 3028/2002 on the protection and cultural heritage.

The preliminary investigation is being carried out by the Department of Cultural Heritage and Antiquities of the Security Directorate of Thessaloniki.

The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon and was named after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great.

The city was the second largest and wealthiest in the Byzantine Empire, after Constantinople of course.

By about 50 A.D., the city was also one of the early centres of Christianity.

On his second missionary journey, Paul the Apostle visited this city’s chief synagogue on three Sabbaths and sowed the seeds for Thessaloniki’s first Christian church.

Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians.

Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament.

In 306 AD, St. Demetrius became the patron saint of the city, a Christian whom Galerius is said to have put to death.

Most scholars agree with Hippolyte Delehaye’s theory that Demetrius was not a Thessaloniki native, but his veneration was transferred to the city when it replaced Sirmium as the main military base in the Balkans.

A basilica church dedicated to St. Demetrius, Hagios Demetrios, was first built in the 5th century AD and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

When the Roman Empire was divided into the tetrarchy, the city became the administrative capital of one of the four portions of the Empire under Galerius Maximianus Caesar.

Galerius commissioned an imperial palace, a new hippodrome, a triumphal arch and a mausoleum among others.

In 379, when the Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum.

The following year, the Edict of Thessalonica made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.

In 390, Gothic troops under the Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the city’s inhabitants, who had risen in revolt against the Gothic soldiers.

Just as the city was for most of its Hellenic history, it today is Greece’s second city.

By Athens Bureau.

[artworks4]

Theodosius and Ambrose is a 1615/16 painting by Peter Paul Rubens, with assistance from his main pupil Anthony van Dyck. It is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Rubens created the preparatory drawing, with the painting almost entirely done by van Dyck, who painted his own similar version of the subject a few years later. In the Rubens version, the architectural background is less defined, Theodosius is bearded and the spear and halberd in van Dyck's own version are omitted.

 It shows the Roman emperor Theodosius I and his entourage being barred from Milan Cathedral by its archbishop Saint Ambrose, as punishment for the Massacre of Thessalonica.

Saint Ambrose barring Theodosius from Milan Cathedral is a 1619–1620 painting by Anthony van Dyck, now in the National Gallery in London.

 It draws heavily on a 1618 version of the same subject by Rubens which van Dyck had worked on as a studio assistant. In van Dyck's version, Theodosius is beardless, the architectural background is more defined and a spear and a halberd are added on the left-hand side.

Curiosity: At the Basilica of Saint Ambrogio-Milan, u do not need to go inside, but first just stop at the square in front and look for a column with two holes. A legend tells that these holes were left by the horns of the Devil who beaten against the column by Ambrose, he was stuck for 2 days before escaping and returning to Hell!

The belief also tells that if you lean your nose on those two holes you can smell a strong smell of sulfur and if you lean your ear you can hear the sounds of the underworld. 

[indiantiquest]

#Repost @womenfromhistory • • • • • ~ The warrior and poet, Telesilla ~ Telesilla (510 BC) was an ancient Greek poet, native of Argos. She was a distinguished woman who was especially renowned for her poetry and for her leadership of Argos through a political and military crisis and subsequent re-building. Antipater of Thessalonica included her in his canon of nine female poets. Only a few lines of Telesilla's poetry are extant, preserved in quotations by later authors. This is helpful in improving modern understanding of ancient Greek, especially the Argolic Doric Greek dialect in which she wrote. According to the legend, she was sickly, so she went to the Pythia to consult about her health. Pythia told her: "serve the Muses", and Telesilla devoted herself to poetry. When Cleomenes, king of Sparta, invaded the land of the Argives in 510 BC, he defeated and killed all the hoplites of Argos in the Battle of Sepeia, and massacred the survivors. Thus when Cleomenes led his troops to Argos there were no warriors left to defend it. According to Pausanias, Telesilla stationed on the wall all the slaves and all the males exempt from military service owing to their age. Also, she collected the arms from sanctuaries and homes, armed the women and put them in battle position. When the Spartans appeared, they made a battle cry to scare Telesilla and the other women, but Telesilla's army didn't scare, stood their ground and fought valiantly. The Lacedaemonians, realizing that to destroy the women would be an invidious success while defeat would mean a shameful disaster, left the city. According to Pausanias, at Argos there was a statue in front of the temple of Aphrodite dedicated to her. The statue depicted a woman who holds in her hand a helmet, which she is looking at and is about to place on her head and books lying at her feet. The festival Hybristica or Endymatia, in which men and women exchanged clothes, also celebrated the heroism of her female compatriots. . Painting : Illustration from The Idyls of Theocritus (seen on @templeofapelles ) by William Russell Flint, choosen as there is no representation of Telesilla 🎨 #telesilla #poet #history #art #arthist https://www.instagram.com/p/BsSIQ0FHqjw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1tc72ajzo8c8c

[reverendcanonbarry]

St Ambrose of Milan (340? - 397)

— A late antique mosaic of Saint Ambrose in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. This could be an actual portrait, made while Ambrose was alive.

Ambrose was born in Trier (now in Germany) between 337 and 340, to a Roman family: his father was praetorian prefect of Gaul. Ambrose was educated at Rome and embarked on the standard cursus honorum of Roman advocates and administrators, at Sirmium, the capital of Illyria. In about 372 he was made prefect of Liguria and Emilia, whose capital was Milan. 

In 374 the bishopric of Milan fell vacant and when Ambrose tried to pacify the conflict between the Catholics and Arians over the appointment of a new bishop, the people turned on him and demanded that he become the bishop himself. He was a layman and not yet baptized (at this time it was common for baptism to be delayed and for people to remain for years as catechumens), but that was no defence. Coerced by the people and by the emperor, he was baptized, ordained, and installed as bishop within a week, on 7 December 374.

He immediately gave his money to the poor and his land to the Church and set about learning theology. He had the advantage of knowing Greek, which few people did at that time, and so he was able to read the Eastern theologians and philosophers as well as those of the West.

He was assiduous in carrying out his office, acting with charity to all: a true shepherd and teacher of the faithful. He was unimpressed by status and when the Emperor Theodosius ordered the massacre of 7,000 people in Thessalonica, Ambrose forced him to do public penance. He defended the rights of the Church and attacked the Arian heresy with learning, firmness and gentleness. He also wrote a number of hymns which are still in use today.

Ambrose was a key figure in the conversion of St Augustine to Catholicism, impressing Augustine (hitherto unimpressed by the Catholics he had met) by his intelligence and scholarship. He died on Holy Saturday, 4 April 397.

[warsofasoiaf]

What exactly caused the great schism between western and eastern Christianity? Was it over some minor detail (ie what the cross should look like)? Or was it over something big?

Well, it’s worth noting that a lot of heresies within the Church throughout history have been over matters which might seem as a minor detail, but were regarded as serious matters of concern for the faithful. The hypostatic union of the Trinity is codified today, but in the early Church was a matter of fierce contention. To those who weren’t members of the Church, the difference between Miaphysitism, that Jesus had a human and divine nature that were united in a compound nature without division, and Monophysitism, that Jesus either had a singular divine nature or single nature of human and divine (thanks @racefortheironthrone), or Eutychianism which states the human nature was subsumed by the divine, seems completely esoteric and not worth excommunicating people over, but this was genuinely considered matters of spiritual life and death to honest contemplators and church theologians. So a “minor detail” might not be considered minor depending on the circumstances. 

I’m no theologian, so any serious students of Roman Catholicism and/or Eastern Orthodoxy feel free to correct anything I missed, but the Great Schism is more correctly, in my view, as a boiling over of generations-long disputes, which wasn’t even seen as a schism initially, but then events continued to push and wedge them apart.

One of the principle ideas of dispute is political, regarding the doctrine of papal supremacy. According to the Roman Catholic position, the Patriarch of Rome or the Pope, the Pope claims spiritual leadership of the Church and can set doctrine, while the Eastern Orthodox position is that the power rests within the autocephalous patriarchs, of which the key five are the Patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, with the honorifics of the Patriarch of Rome being one primarily an honorific. Power to change church creed is vested within the ecumenical councils.

Nowhere was this doctrine more realized than in the Chalcedonian Church (those followers of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon which both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy adhere to and consider canon) with the Filioque controversy. One of the most prevalent early Christian heresies was Arianism, which asserted that God the Father was superior in being to God the Son, as God the Father begat God the Son, which was in direct opposition to the Chalcedonian conception of the Trinity. Arianism was quashed in Asia Minor, but Arian monks preached Arianism to the Gothic tribes who converted. According to the Catholic point of view The Pope added the clause “Filioque” to the Nicene Creed when sending missionaries to the Arians as an exercise of papal supremacy, to provide a clarification to the Arians that would stress the co-equal nature of God the Father and God the Son, to further eliminate Arian sentiment and bring the Gothic peoples into full communion with proper church doctrine. According to the Eastern Orthodox view, this is an unacceptable innovation of a critical piece of doctrine that can only be done within the context of an ecumenical council. 

There were also cultural and ethnic concerns. The Greek East and Latin West drifted apart over plenty of issues, such as the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, and secular concerns between East and West. For a while the Popes were selected by various controllers of the Italian peninsula after the fall of Rome, first the Ostrogoths, then Byzantines, then Franks. The Pope had crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800 on Christmas Day, which rankled the Byzantine Empress Eirene, both individuals now claiming translatio imperii from the Roman Empire. This grew even further under the Imperial Holy Roman Empire started by Otto the Great whose dynasty would have such famous disputes like the Investiture Controversy. It all came to a head in the middle of the eleventh century. Churches practicing the Greek traditions were ordered to close or conform to Latin practices, which the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I, retaliated by closing all Latin-practicing churches in Constantinople. A papal envoy, Cardinal Humbert (who was not a fan of Michael I or the Greek practices) came to Constantinople, ostensibly for secular talk against the Normans who had invaded southern Italy, but also to press the Emperor to reign in Michael I’s attacks on Latin practices according to the doctrine of caesaropapism which was commonly practiced by the Constantinople Church. Michael refused, Humbert laid down a papal bull of excommunication (hilariously enough, Pope Leo IX had died in the intervening time, making the bull of excommunication null and void). Michael responded by excommunicating the legates, though only the legates, not the Pope.

This wasn’t seen in contemporary times as a schism, more of a political dispute between the two most important bishops of the two most sacred cities in Christendom after Jerusalem. There was talk of reconciliation during the Papacy of Gregory VII and Urban II, especially in regards to the First Crusade which could have been used as a springboard to reunite much of the factional concerns between east and west both secular and religious. It didn’t pan out that way, and tension only got worse with the Massacre of the Latins in Constantinople, the sacking of Thessalonica by Norman invaders, culminating in the 1204 Fourth Crusade which saw the sacking of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire, among other events.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 7)

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the memory of St. Ambrose, the brilliant Bishop of Milan who influenced St. Augustine's conversion and was named a Doctor of the Church.

Like Augustine himself, the older Ambrose, born around 340, was a highly educated man who sought to harmonize Greek and Roman intellectual culture with the Catholic faith.

Trained in literature, law and rhetoric, he eventually became the governor of Liguria and Emilia, with headquarters at Milan.

He manifested his intellectual gifts in defense of Christian doctrine even before his baptism.

While Ambrose was serving as governor, a bishop named Auxentius was leading the diocese. Although he was an excellent public speaker with a forceful personality, Auxentius also followed the heresy of Arius, which denied the divinity of Christ.

Although the Council of Nicaea had reasserted the traditional teaching on Jesus' deity, many educated members of the Church – including, at one time, a majority of the world's bishops – looked to Arianism as a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan version of Christianity.

Bishop Auxentius became notorious for forcing clergy throughout the region to accept Arian creeds.

At the time of Auxentius' death, Ambrose had not yet even been baptized. But his deep understanding and love of the traditional faith were already clear to the faithful of Milan.

They considered him the most logical choice to succeed Auxentius, even though he was still just a catechumen.

With the help of Emperor Valentinan II, who ruled the Western Roman Empire at the time, a mob of Milanese Catholics virtually forced Ambrose to become their bishop against his own will.

Eight days after his baptism, Ambrose received episcopal consecration on 7 December 374. The date would eventually become his liturgical feast.

Bishop Ambrose did not disappoint those who had clamored for his appointment and consecration.

He began his ministry by giving everything he owned to the poor and to the Church.

He looked to the writings of Greek theologians like St. Basil for help in explaining the Church's traditional teachings to the people during times of doctrinal confusion.

Like the fathers of the Eastern Church, Ambrose drew from the intellectual reserves of pre-Christian philosophy and literature to make the faith more comprehensible to his hearers.

This harmony of faith with other sources of knowledge served to attract, among others, the young professor Aurelius Augustinus – a man Ambrose taught and baptized, whom history knows as St. Augustine of Hippo.

Ambrose himself lived simply, wrote prolifically, and celebrated Mass each day.

He found time to counsel an amazing range of public officials, pagan inquirers, confused Catholics, and penitent sinners.

His popularity, in fact, served to keep at bay those who would have preferred to force him from the diocese, including the Western Empress Justina and a group of her advisers, who sought to rid the West of adherence to the Nicene Creed, pushing instead for strict Arianism.

Ambrose heroically refused her attempts to impose heretical bishops in Italy, along with her efforts to seize churches in the name of Arianism.

Ambrose also displayed remarkable courage when he publicly denied communion to the Emperor Theodosius, who had ordered the massacre of 7,000 citizens in Thessalonica leading to his excommunication by Ambrose.

The chastened emperor took Ambrose's rebuke to heart, publicly repenting of the massacre and doing penance for the murders.

“Nor was there afterwards a day on which he did not grieve for his mistake,” Ambrose himself noted when he spoke at the emperor's funeral.

The rebuke spurred a profound change in Emperor Theodosius. He reconciled himself with the Church and the bishop, who attended to the emperor on his deathbed.

St. Ambrose died in 397.

His 23 years of diligent service had turned a deeply troubled diocese into an exemplary outpost for the faith.

His writings remained an important point of reference for the Church, well into the medieval era and beyond.

St. Ambrose has been named one of the “holy fathers of the Church, whose teaching all bishops should in every way follow.”

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.29 (before 1920)

587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week. 923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany). 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6. 1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen. 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes. 1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade. 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland, in a Catholic ceremony. 1567 – The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling. 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France. 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands. 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army. 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light. 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. 1848 – Great Famine of Ireland: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police. 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia. 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty. 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. 1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States. 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed. 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. His son, Victor Emmanuel III, 31 years old, succeeds to the throne. 1901 – Land lottery begins in Oklahoma. 1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9 and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement. 1910 – The two-day Slocum massacre commences. 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Mon., Dec. 20, 2021

December 20_December 7

SAINT AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN (397)

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, was born in the year 340 into the family of the Roman prefect of Gaul (now France). Even in the saint’s childhood there appeared presentiments of his great future. Once, bees covered the face of the sleeping infant. They flew in and out of his mouth, leaving honey on his tongue. Soon they flew away so high that they could no longer be seen. Ambrose’s father said that the child would become something great when he reached manhood.

After the death of the father of the family, Ambrose journeyed to Rome, where the future saint and his brother Satyrius received an excellent education. About the year 370, upon completion of his course of study, Ambrose was appointed to the position of governor (consular prefect) of the districts of Liguria and Aemilia, though he continued to live at Mediolanum (now Milan).

In the year 374 Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Mediolanum, died. This led to complications between the Orthodox and the Arians, since each side wanted to have its own bishop. Ambrose, as the chief city official, went to the church to resolve the dispute.

While he was speaking to the crowd, suddenly a child cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” The people took up this chant. Ambrose, who at this time was still a catechumen, considered himself unworthy, and tried to refuse. He disparaged himself, and even tried to flee from Mediolanum. The matter went ultimately before the emperor Valentinian the Elder (364-375), whose orders Ambrose dared not disobey. He accepted holy Baptism from an Orthodox priest and, passing through all the ranks of the Church clergy in just seven days, on December 7, 374 he was consecrated Bishop of Mediolanum. He dispersed all his possessions, money and property for the adornment of churches, the upkeep of orphans and the poor, and he devoted himself to a strict ascetic life.

Ambrose combined strict temperance, intense vigilance and work within the fulfilling of his duties as archpastor. Saint Ambrose, defending the unity of the Church, energetically opposed the spread of heresy. Thus, in the year 379 he traveled off to establish an Orthodox bishop at Sirmium, and in 385-386 he refused to hand over the basilica of Mediolanum to the Arians.

The preaching of Saint Ambrose in defense of Orthodoxy was deeply influential. Another noted Father of the Western Church, Saint Augustine (June 15), bore witness to this, having accepted holy Baptism in the year 387 by the grace of the preaching of the bishop of Mediolanum.

Saint Ambrose also actively participated in civil matters. Thus, the emperor Gracian (375-383), having received from him the “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” (De Fide), removed, by decree of the saint, the altar of Victory from the halls of the Senate at Rome, on which oaths were wont to be taken. Displaying a pastoral boldness, Saint Ambrose placed a severe penance on the emperor Theodosius I (379-395) for the massacre of innocent inhabitants of Thessalonica. For him there was no difference between emperor and commoner. Though he released Theodosius from the penance, the saint would not permit the emperor to commune at the altar, but compelled him to do public penance.

The fame of Bishop Ambrose and his actions attracted to him many followers from other lands. From far away Persia learned men came to him to ask him questions and absorb his wisdom. Fritigelda (Frigitil), queen of the military Germanic tribe of the Markomanni, which often had attacked Mediolanum, asked the saint to instruct her in the Christian Faith. The saint in his letter to her persuasively stated the dogmas of the Church. And having become a believer, the queen converted her own husband to Christianity and persuaded him to conclude a treaty of peace with the Roman Empire.

The saint combined strictness with an uncommon kindliness. Granted a gift of wonderworking, he healed many from sickness. One time at Florence, while staying at the house of Decentus, he resurrected a dead boy.

The repose of Saint Ambrose, who departed to the Lord on the night of Holy Pascha, was accompanied by many miracles. He even appeared in a vision to the children being baptized that night. The saint was buried in the Ambrosian basilica in Mediolanum, beneath the altar, between the Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius (October 14).

A zealous preacher and valiant defender of the Christian Faith, Saint Ambrose received particular renown as a Church writer. In dogmatic compositions he set forth the Orthodox teaching about the Holy Trinity, the Sacraments, and Repentance: “Five Books on the Faith” (De Fide); “Explication of the Symbol of the Faith” (Explanatio Symboli); “On the Incarnation” (De Incarnationis); “Three Books on the Holy Spirit” (De Spiritu Sancto); “On the Sacraments” (De Sacramento); “Two Books on Repentance” (De Paenitentia). In writings about Christian morality, he explained the excellence of Christian moral teaching compared to pagan moral teaching.

A well-known work of Saint Ambrose, “On the Duties of the Clergy” (De Officiis Ministrorum) evidences his deep awareness of pastoral duty. He stresses that those who serve in the Church should have not only the proper knowledge of Church services, but also the proper knowledge of moral precepts.

Saint Ambrose was also a reformer of Church singing. He introduced antiphonal singing (along the Eastern or Syrian form) into the Western Church, which became known as “Ambrosian Chant.” He also composed twelve hymns which were used during his lifetime. The hymn, “Thee, O God, we praise” (Te Deum), attributed to Saint Ambrose, entered into the divine services of the Orthodox Church (Molieben).

THE MONK NILUS OF STOLOBENSK (1554)

Saint Nilus of Stolobnoye was born into a peasant family in a small village of the Novgorod diocese. In the year 1505 he was tonsured at the monastery of Saint Savva of Krypetsk (August 28) near Pskov. After ten years in ascetic life at the monastery he set out to the River Sereml, on the side of the city of Ostashkova; here for thirteen years he led a strict ascetic life in incessant struggle against the snares of the devil, who took on the appearance of reptiles and wild beasts. Many of the inhabitants of the surrounding area started coming to the monk for instruction, but this became burdensome for him and he prayed God to show him a place for deeds of quietude. Once, after long prayer he heard a voice saying, “Nilus! Go to Lake Seliger. There upon the island of Stolobnoye you can be saved!” Saint Nilus learned the location of this island from people who visited him. When he arrived there, he was astonished by its beauty.

The island, in the middle of the lake, was covered over by dense forest. Saint Nilus found a small hill and dug out a cave, and after a while he built a hut, in which he lived for twenty-six years. To his exploits of strict fasting and stillness [ie. hesychia] he added another—he never lay down to sleep, but permitted himself only a light nap, leaning on a prop set into the wall of the cell.

The pious life of the monk frequently roused the envy of the Enemy of mankind, which evidenced itself through the spiteful action of the local inhabitants. One time someone set fire to the woods on the island where stood the saint’s hut, but the flames went out in miraculous manner upon reaching the hill. Another time robbers forced their way into the hut. The monk said to them: “All my treasure is in the corner of the cell.” In this corner stood an icon of the Mother of God, but the robbers began to search there for money and became blinded. Then with tears of repentance they begged for forgiveness.

Saint Nilus performed many other miracles. He would refuse gifts if the conscience of the one offering it to him was impure, or if they were in bodily impurity.

Aware of his approaching end, Saint Nilus prepared a grave for himself. At the time of his death, an igumen from one of the nearby monasteries came to the island and communed him with the Holy Mysteries. Before the igumen’s departure, Saint Nilus prayed for the last time, censing around the holy icons and the cell, and surrendered his soul to the Lord on December 7, 1554. The translation of his holy relics (now venerated at the church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” in the city of Ostashkova) took place in the year 1667, with feastdays established both on the day of his death, and on May 27.

LUKE 20:27-44

27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 28 saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. 32 Last of all the woman died also. 33 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife. 34 Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him. 39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well." 40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore. 41 And He said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? 42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: 'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, 43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." ' 44 Therefore David calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?

1 TIMOTHY 5:1-10

1 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity. 3 Honor widows who are really widows. 4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God. 5 Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. 6 But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. 7 And these things command, that they may be blameless. 8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 9 Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man, 10 well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.

[dfroza]

it doesn’t matter what the fear of man tries to force in this world

because there is no fear in the sacred truth of Love.

and Love is Light that gives us assurance of the eternal hope we treasure in the heart. and so we are meant to fear God which is a state of humility that guides our words and behavior.

in Today’s reading Paul writes of this hope at the start of his Letter of First Thessalonians that illuminates a new covenant of grace in the Son:

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church gathering in Thessalonica, those living in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus the Anointed.

May grace and peace be yours [from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Anointed].

We always thank God for all of you in our prayers. Your actions on behalf of the true faith, your tireless toil of love, and your unfailing, unwavering, unending hope in our Lord Jesus the Anointed before God our Father have put you consistently at the forefront of our thoughts. O brothers and sisters loved by God, we know He has chosen you. And here is why: what you experienced in the good news we brought you was more than words channeling down your ears; it came to you as a life-empowering, Spirit-infused message that offers complete hope and assurance! We lived transparently before you so that you would know what sort of people we truly are. We did it for your sake, and you have modeled your lives after ours just as we are modeling ours after the Lord. You took to heart the word we taught with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, even in the face of trouble. As a result, you have turned into a model of faith yourselves for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. In fact, not only has the message of our Lord thundered from your gathering into Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere we go, your faith in God is talked about so we don’t even have to say a thing! You see, they go on and on telling us the story of how you welcomed us when we were introduced to you; how you turned toward God and realigned your life to serve the one true living God—leaving your idols to crumble in the dust— and how you now await the return from heaven of His Son, whom He raised from the dead—namely, Jesus—our rescuer from the wrath to come.

The Letter of First Thessalonians, Chapter 1 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 19th chapter of the book of Jeremiah that pronounces Judgment for turning from God:

[Smashing the Clay Pot]

God said to me, “Go, buy a clay pot. Then get a few leaders from the people and a few of the leading priests and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, just outside the Potsherd Gate, and preach there what I tell you.

“Say, ‘Listen to God’s Word, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem! This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. I’m about to bring doom crashing down on this place. Oh, and will ears ever ring! Doom—because they’ve walked off and left me, and made this place strange by worshiping strange gods, gods never heard of by them, their parents, or the old kings of Judah. Doom—because they have massacred innocent people. Doom—because they’ve built altars to that no-god Baal, and burned their own children alive in the fire as offerings to Baal, an atrocity I never ordered, never so much as hinted at!

“‘And so it’s payday, and soon’—God’s Decree!—‘this place will no longer be known as Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Massacre Meadows. I’m canceling all the plans Judah and Jerusalem had for this place, and I’ll have them killed by their enemies. I’ll stack their dead bodies to be eaten by carrion crows and wild dogs. I’ll turn this city into such a museum of atrocities that anyone coming near will be shocked speechless by the savage brutality. The people will turn into cannibals. Dehumanized by the pressure of the enemy siege, they’ll eat their own children! Yes, they’ll eat one another, family and friends alike.’

“Say all this, and then smash the pot in front of the men who have come with you. Then say, ‘This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: I’ll smash this people and this city like a man who smashes a clay pot into so many pieces it can never be put together again. They’ll bury bodies here in Topheth until there’s no more room. And the whole city will become a Topheth. The city will be turned by people and kings alike into a center for worshiping the star gods and goddesses, turned into an open grave, the whole city an open grave, stinking like a sewer, like Topheth.’”

Then Jeremiah left Topheth, where God had sent him to preach the sermon, and took his stand in the court of God’s Temple and said to the people, “This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies to you: ‘Warning! Danger! I’m bringing down on this city and all the surrounding towns the doom that I have pronounced. They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.’”

The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 19 (The Message)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Wednesday, September 1 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons that takes a look at sacrificial Love:

As I’ve mentioned over the years, the word “love” (i.e., ahavah) first appears in the Torah regarding Abraham’s passion for his son: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love (אֲשֶׁר־אָהַבְתָּ), and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Gen. 22:2). After journeying three days to the designated place, Abraham told his son that God himself would provide a lamb (אֱלהִים יִרְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה), and then bound Isaac, laid him upon an altar, and raised his knife to slay him (Gen. 22:8-10). At the very last moment, the Angel of the Lord called out: “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your “only son” (בֵּן יָחִיד), from me” (Gen. 22:11-12). Abraham then “lifted up his eyes” and saw a ram “caught in a thicket” which he offered in place of his son. Abraham then named the place Adonai-Yireh (יהוה יִרְאֶה), "the LORD who provides" (Gen. 22:14). The sacrifice of the lamb for Isaac portrayed the coming sacrifice of Yeshua, the great “Lamb of God” (שֵׂה הָאֱלהִים) who would be offered in exchange for the trusting sinner (John 1:29). Indeed the story of how God provided the lamb at Moriah (and later during the Passover in Egypt) foreshadowed the greater redemption given in Messiah at the "Passover cross," and may be understood as the “Gospel according to Moses” (Luke 24:27; John 5:46). Therefore, during Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment (יוֹם הַדִּין), we listen to the sound of the shofar (ram’s horn) to remind us of the provision of the Lamb of God given in place of Isaac... In other words, Rosh Hashanah is decidedly a holiday that commemorates and celebrates Yeshua our Messiah... [Hebrew for Christians]

and another about repentance:

The theme of the High Holidays is teshuvah (תְּשׁוּבָה), a word often translated as “repentance,” though it is more accurately understood as turning back (i.e., shuv) to God. In spiritual terms, teshuvah may be regarded as a practical turning away from evil and a turning toward the good, though it is simpler to regard turning to God as the means by which we turn away from evil. Indeed the Greek word translated repentance (i.e., μετάνοια) means going beyond our habitual thinking, changing our mind, and learning to see from a radically new perspective. As we turn to God, we see that “everything is new.”

Teshuvah, or “repentance,” believes that the kindness of God can give life to our dead hearts, and therefore it is first of all a matter of faith, trusting God to perform the miracle for us. However, even though it is a great gift from heaven, repentance requires honesty and acknowledgment of the truth. We must confess our inner poverty, our neediness, and mourn over the loss and harm caused by our sin (Matt. 5:2-8). Repentance turns away from our attempts to defend or justify ourselves and instead turns to God to heal our separation from Him (Rom. 8:3-4). Teshuvah buries our old nature by being made into a new creation.

It is no small thing to believe the message of Yeshua, and indeed, it involves a passionate inwardness that “scandalizes” the rational mind. Our father Abraham is extolled as the model of righteous faith, but he was tested to sacrifice the moral law (e.g., “thou shalt not murder”) when he lifted up the knife to slay his beloved son Isaac. Faith requires you to change your everyday thinking, to go beyond natural expectations, to “walk on water.” In the case of Yeshua, we are confronted with the “Absolute Paradox,” namely, the God-Man, the Infinite-made-Finite, the Holy-made-Profane, the Sinless-made-Sin, who says to you: “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). You will never die; you will never hunger; you are made whole through my brokenness; you will be cleansed by my defilement, and so on. It’s not just hard to believe, it’s impossible, which is why it is a miracle of God to be saved (Matt. 19:26). “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63). The difference is Yeshua: “Salvation is of the LORD.” We are enabled to love and know God by means of his inner life and spirit, not by means of good intentions or religious zeal. Faith itself is a miracle, the power of God. [Hebrew for Christians]

8.31.21 • Facebook

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

September 1, 2021

Stand Ye Still

“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem...to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” (2 Chronicles 20:17)

The Ammonites and Moabites and Edomites had organized “a great multitude” seeking to destroy Judah under King Jehoshaphat. But the king and his people came together to “seek the LORD” in prayer for deliverance, and God answered. “The Spirit of the LORD” spoke through Jahaziel, assuring them that “the battle is not yours, but God’s” (see 2 Chronicles 20:2, 4, 14-15).

Then the Lord sent what may have seemed a strange instruction. “Stand ye still,” He said. Just watch God do it! And He did. All their enemies were constrained by the Lord to fight and destroy each other, without the Israelites having to fight at all. Similarly, at the Red Sea when everything looked hopeless, “Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13). So, they did, and all Pharaoh’s armies were overthrown in the midst of the sea.

In Isaiah’s day, when Israel was tempted to call on pagan Egypt for help against pagan Assyria, God said concerning Israel’s armies, “Their strength is to sit still” (Isaiah 30:7). As the ship was being buffeted in the storm, and the sailors in panic were about to flee in the lifeboat, Paul said, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31). So, they stayed, and God spared every man.

There are times for action, of course, but the principle is this. When we have done all we can, and the situation seems hopeless, this is the time to sit still and trust God to work it out in His own good way. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Got any rivers you think are uncrossable? God specializes in things thought impossible! HMM

[matthewwilkinsonmusic]

Raphael’s the Holy Family with John the Baptist stunned me. I couldn’t stop looking at it. The absolute innocence and admiration in the face of St John the Baptist, the humanity of the interaction between him and Christ, the translucence of Mary’s veil, the mathematical proportions of the subjects, in my opinion make this an absolute masterpiece. Other artwork from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna include Rubens’ Theodosius and St Ambrose - which displays the story of the bravery of Bishop Ambrose when he refuses the emperor entry into the church or access to communion after he committed a massacre in Thessalonica. Then Rubens’ amazing Annunciation and Giordano’s incredibly detailed St Michael the Archangel. Vermeer’s the Art of Painting and one of the most intricately carved pendants I’ve ever seen. Finally, the incredible beauty of the museum which houses all of this magnificent art. #rubens #giordano #raphael #christianart #wien #vienna #kunsthistorischesmuseum #art #stmichael #holyfamily #stjohnthebaptist #vermeer #austria #stambrose #theodosius #thessalonica #thessaloniki https://www.instagram.com/p/CGVq59vh26e/?igshid=12rmu7wu9etq7