Fasting

Here is some guidance on fasting.  The Eparchy’s guidance is in bold. As with everything I share, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  There are many different reasons why one may customize their fasting regimen including eating disorders and other medical realities.   Another very important and helpful teaching is to […]

Mar. 04 Our Venerable Father Gerasimus of the Jordan

St. Gerasimus first learned about the ascetic life while he was in the Egyptian Thebaid. He went to the Jordan and founded a community in which there were seventy monks. He instituted a special rule in his monastery: each monk spent five days a week in their cell weaving baskets and rush mats. They were […]

Mar. 03 The Holy Martyr Eutropius and his Companions

The Holy martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus suffered in the city og Pontine Amasea (Asia Minor) in about the year 308. The brothers Eutropius and Cleonicus, and Basiliscus the nephew of the Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit, were comrades. After the martyric death of St. Theodore, they wound up in prison and by their preaching […]

Lenten Prayer

Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving Remember that prayer, fasting and almsgiving are tools, given by Our Lord, to help us navigate this pilgrimage of life, but especially during the desert journeys of the fasts.  They make us aware of, and able to receive, the treasures that are offered, and to avoid the hazards that are placed […]

Mar. 02 The Holy Priest Martyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrene

The Hieromartyr Theodotus, a native of Galatia in Asia Minor, was bishop of Cyrenia in Cyprus. During a time of persecution against Christians under the impious emperor Licinius, St. Theodotus openly preached Christ, calling the pagans to abandon idolatry and turn to the true God. Sabinus, the governor of Cyprus, ordered Bishop Theodotus be arrested […]

Feb. 28 Our Venerable Father and Confessor Basil, Fellow Ascetic of Procopius

St. Basil the Confessor was a monk and suffered during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian. When a persecution started against those who venerated holy icons, St. Basil and his companion St. Procopius of Decapolis were subjected to much torture and locked up in prison. Here both martyrs languished for a long […]

Feb. 27 Our Venerable Father and Confessor Procopius the Decapolite

St. Procopius the Decapolite lived during the eighth century in the region of Decapolis, to the east of Lake Galilee. There he labored for his salvation, struggling in asceticism. St. Procopius, his fellow ascetic St. Basil, and others zealous for holy Orthodoxy rose up against the Iconoclast heresy of those times. By order of the […]