Daily Reading:
23 rd Week After Pentecost
ST JOHN OF KRONSTADT
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
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1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
Luke 10:22-24
"All things are delivered to Me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." And He turned Him unto His disciples, and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."
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ST JOHN OF KRONSTADT
HOLY PROPHET JOEL
HOLY MARTYR VARUS
ST ETHBIN, MONK
Troparion of St John of Kronstadt Tone 4
With the Apostles thy message has gone out to the ends of the world,/ and with the Confessors thou didst suffer for Christ;/ thou art like the Hierarchs through thy preaching of the Word;/ with the Righteous thou art radiant with God's grace./ The Lord has exalted thy humility above the heavens/ and given us thy name as a source of miracles./ O wonderworker living in Christ forever,/ have mercy on those in trouble/ and hear us when we call to thee with faith, O our beloved shepherd John.
Another Troparion of St John of Kronstadt (composed by Archbishop Maximovich of San Francisco) Tone 4
O Wonderworker living in Christ forever,/ with love have mercy on those in danger;/ hear thy children who call upon thee with faith;/ be compassionate to those who hope for aid from thee,/ O Father John of Kronstadt, our beloved shepherd.
Troparion of the Prophet Joel Tone 4
Thou wast revealed as a treasure of sacred virtues;/ God's Prophet by the grace of the Spirit./ Thou didst foretell the outpouring of the fountain of godliness from the House of the Lord/ for us who lovingly honour thee,/ O holy Prophet Joel.
Troparion of St Varus the Martyr Tone 5
Thou didst follow in the steps of the martyrs/ and contend for the glory of Christ./ Thou wast tied to a beam and restored by the Tree of Life,/ and thine intercessions gladden our souls.
Troparion of St Ethbin Tone 8
As a disciple of our Father Samson,/ thou wast radiant in thy asceticism, O Father Ethbin,/ and having been driven out of Tantac by the unruly Franks/ thou didst seek refuge in the remoteness of Erin's green desert./ Wherefore, O Saint, pray for us that we may not be swayed from our course,/ despite all difficulties, that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion of St John of Kronstadt Tone 4
Thou wast chosen by God in infancy/ and in childhood received the gift of learning./ Thou wast called to the priesthood in a vision during sleep/ and didst become a wonderful shepherd of Christ's Church./ Pray to Christ our God/ that we may all be with thee in the Kingdom of heaven,/ O Father John, namesake of grace.
Kontakion of the Prophet Joel Tone 1
Thou didst behold God's glory/ and receive knowledge of things to come./ For the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh/ that believed on Him Who appeared on earth and made Thee wonderful, O holy Prophet Joel.
Kontakion of St Varus Tone 4
Thou hast followed Christ and drunk His chalice;/ thou didst receive the crown of martyrdom, O holy Varus./ Thou art rejoicing with the Angels: pray unceasingly for our souls.
Excerpts from the Akathist to St. John of Kronstadt:
Kontakion 5
Thou didst appear, O sacred John, as a most brilliant star of the Russian land enlightening the sinful darkness. Therefore now grant enlightenment to the sons of Russia who are surrounded by the darkness of error and have surrendered themselves to the power of the
wicked, that they may recognize their wretchedness and turn to God and in repentance cry to Him: Alleluia!
Kontakion 7
The all-good Lord, wanting to comfort His faithful people and turn the lawless from their evil deeds, raised thee up as a prophet for our land as once He did Jonah for Nineveh, the great city, that thou mightest preach the wrath of God soon coming to our land, which was
fulfilled according to thine announcement, for we remained unrepentant in our pride and did not want humbly to sing with thee to Christ our God: Alleluia!"
And the words from the final Akathist prayer to St. John of Kronstadt:
Help us too to pass the remaining time of our life in a way pleasing to God, that we may be made worthy through thy holy prayers to attain to the heavenly Kingdom and there, together with thee, Father, our intercessor and protector, to praise God Who is wonderful in His saints, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages: Amen.
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LIFE OF
ST. JOHN OF KRONSTADT
http://www.firebirdvideos.com/saintslives/lifeofkronstadt.htm
The Wonder-Working Father John Sergiev is another of the great elders and saints who were a part of the spiritual revival started by St. Paisius Velichkovsky. Widely venerated as a saint even during his lifetime, and the only married parish priest in the Russian calendar of saints, Father John is known for his spiritual gifts of powerful prayer, healing, spiritual insight and great love for all people. He also reawakened the Russian Orthodox Church to the Apostolic tradition of receiving Holy Communion at every Divine Liturgy. This is why he ismost commonly portrayed holding a Communion chalice, as he is in the Russian icon to the right.
Born to poor, devout parents in a small village in the far north of Russia, Father John experienced the power of prayer even as a child. While at the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, he wanted to be a missionary monk to Siberia, but after a vision, he realized that God wanted him to be a missionary where he was. Thus he married and was ordained priest in 1855. He was assigned to the St. Andrew Cathedral on the Island of Kronstadt, in the bay near St. Petersburg. Kronstadt was filled with unspeakable squalor and misery, disease and starvation, crime and alcoholism. However, Father John remained there for 53 years as an urban missionary, putting into action Christ's command to love our neighbor, healing people's bodies and souls, and teaching children, whom he especially loved. As his reputation as a healer and miracle-worker spread, the many requests for his help that flowed in were accompanied by much money, which he used for extensive charitable works, including buildings a "House of Industry" that provided jobs, job-training, food, shelter and medical care for the poor.
Father John managed to perfect his holiness, not in a peaceful, remote monastery, but in a large, noisy, dirty, stressful, crime-ridden city, always surrounded by crowds of people everywhere, with little time to himself. He received his strength from the overwhelming awareness of the Presence of God, from reading the Bible, and from daily serving the Divine Liturgy and receiving Holy Communion. Every day his cathedral was packed with 5,000 people for Matins and Liturgy: it lasted from 4 am until noon, because he insisted that everyone present receive Holy Communion, and because there were so many requests for his prayers. After Liturgy, he healed and prayed for those who asked his help, treating rich and poor equally, and rarely returned home before midnight. Despite his demanding schedule, he managed to maintain a spiritual diary of simple and practical Bible-based meditations, published as My Life in Christ. He teaches that the weapons in spiritual warfare are the traditional Orthodox armor: prayer, repentance, fasting, reading the Bible, and at least weekly Confession and Holy Communion. Father John was a simple parish priest, who was endowed with an absolute faith in the power of prayer, a power that he used daily, and continues to use, to help people who request his aid.
Although venerated as a saint since before his repose, he was officially glorified/ canonized in 1988. St. John's relics are located in the crypt of the St. John of Rila Women's Monastery, which he founded in northeastern St. Petersburg . Today, as even throughout the Communist era, flowers were regularly placed outside, by the street, on the window ledge closest to his burial site in the crypt on the other side of the wall.
by Jane M. deVyver, M.Th., Ph.D.
If you liked this article, you might be interested in the FIREBIRD book, RECENTLY CANONIZED ORTHODOX SAINTS: Their Lives and Icons, from which, in large part, this article is excerpted.
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