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    The Cosmic Significance of Tsar Nicholas II

    “Give ear, you that rule over the multitudes and boast of many nations. For your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High, Who will search out your works and inquire into your plans” Wisdom 6:2-3. The Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II is, I would contend, one of the most significant saints of the past century and of our “modern” times. Clearly, every saint is of incalculable worth; yet there have been certain saints, throughout the course of human history, who occupy such a standing that their actions on the providential path which God ordained for them have vast implications for the world at large. Other…

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    The Saint, the Priest, and Face-tattoos

    By Fr Photios Parks Some years back, there was a point in my life when I didn’t give a second thought to the Saints. I really didn’t see how they had any place within my faith. In Bible College and in Protestant seminary, I was fed the idea that saints were either a type of good luck charm to sell my house, a statue in your yard to attract birds, or they were individuals likened to magicians whose bones were exploited in medieval times. Fortunately, I had a life-changing experience that dispelled my incorrect notions about Saints and changed my whole paradigm in the way I view these holy servants.…

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    The Tower of Skulls

    By Josef Candelario “I saw a large tower rising in the midst of the plain, as white as Parisian marble… [R]aising my eyes to the monument, I discovered that the walls, which I supposed to be built of marble or white stone, were composed of regular rows of human skulls; these skulls bleached by the rain and sun, and cemented by a little sand and lime, formed entirely the triumphal arch which now sheltered me from the heat of the sun. In some places portions of hair were still hanging and waved, like lichen or moss, with every breath of wind. The mountain breeze, which was then blowing fresh, penetrated…

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    José Muñoz-Cortez: Chosen of the Mother of God

    The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was making preparations to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, when it was shaken by the news of the tragic death of the icon’s guardian, Brother Joseph (José) Muñoz- Cortes. He was brutally murdered on the night of October 31 in a hotel room in Athens. Brother Joseph was born in Chile in 1950, into a pious Roman Catholic family of Spanish descent. He was a boy of twelve or thirteen when, passing by the Russian Orthodox church in Santiago, he was attracted by the sound of singing and went in. There he became acquainted with Archbishop…

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    The Cedar of Lebanon: St Jacob the Martyr

    As a cedar of Lebanon groweth without fear of martyrdom or death. Thou didst become a victor O Father Jacob. Thou didst conquer death in thy body when by humility thou didst control the passions and when thou wast burnt like incense as a sacrifice. Intercede with Christ to grant us great mercy. +Apolytikion in the Third Mode Above the Kadeesha River sits a pearl of ascetic struggle unworthy of the world. Burrowed in the caves of Mount Hamatoura exists the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, overlooking a land that once flourished with monastic fervor. Until the late 90’s this monastery was in ruins, uninhabited, and forgotten since times…

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    An American Saint Faces the Communists

    Bishop Barnabas (Varnava Nastich), was born in Gary, Indiana in 1914. In the nine years he lived there, he gained an outstanding appreciation for our love of freedom. Eventually, he moved to Serbia, from where his parents had come. In Serbia, St. Barnabas worked diligently against the Communists regime and was eventually brought to trial in spite of his position in the Orthodox Church. Here is part of the transcript of his interrogation for allegedly spying for the United States. Try to imagine yourself in the courtroom. ‘Q. What do you have to say? A. All your accusations are inventions and false. I tell you, I am not afraid. You may kill me,…

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    St. Peter the Aleut

    Saint Peter: The First American Born Martyr The holy martyr Peter the Aleut (or Cungagnaq in his native tongue) was a native aleut of Kodiak Island, Alaska. When missionaries came from Russia, the Aleutians were baptized by the hundreds, and at baptism he was given the name Peter. St. Peter is believed to have been baptized by Saint Herman himself, since he knew the Holy Saint personally. In 1815 a group of Aleut seal and otter hunters, including Peter, were captured by Spanish sailors while on an excursion near fort Ross. The Roman Catholics took them to Mission Dolores in San Francisco for interrogation, as they were angry with the…

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    Martyr Yevgeny Rodionov

    Martyr Yevgeny When he was 11 years old, Yevgeny Rodionov received from his grandmother a little cross on a chain. He wanted to wear it to school, but his mother, a devout atheist, warned him against it, since the communist authorities frowned on such things. Yevgeny wore it anyway and refused to ever take it off. When Yevgeny grew, up he enlisted as a soldier in the Russian army. When he was 19, he was violently taken hostage by Muslim Chechen rebels. They kept him hanging by his wrists in a basement. He was left days without food and was severely beaten. He did not take off his cross even…

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    St. Juvenaly – First Martyr of America

    The holy, glorious, right-victorious hieromartyr Juvenaly of Alaska, Protomartyr of America, was a member of the first group of Orthodox missionaries who came from the monastery of Valaam to preach the Word of God to the native inhabitants of Alaska. He was martyred while evangelizing among the Eskimos on the mainland of Alaska in 1796. His feast day is celebrated on July 2, and he is also commemorated with all the saints of Alaska (September 24), and with the first martyrs of the American land (December 12). He was born in 1761 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was named Jacob Govouchkin. In his monastic life he was tonsured and given the…