This Week’s Clergy Message

Dear parishioners and friends of our parish!
Dragi parohijani i prijatelji nase parohije!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!Tomorrow is Venerable Mother Parsakeva
9:00am Divine Liturgy


Draga braco i sestre u Hristu!
Sutra je Prepodobna Mati Paraskeva- PETKOVICA
9:00am Sveta Liturgija The Venerable Parasceva [Petka]

This glorious saint was of Serbian descent, and was born in the town of  Epivat between Selymbria and Constantinople. St. Parasceva’s parents were wealthy, devout Christians. They also had a son, Euthymius, who was tonsured a monk during his parents’ lifetime, and later became the famous Bishop of Madytos. The virgin Parasceva always yearned for the ascetic life  for the sake of Christ. After her parents’ repose, she left her home and went first to Constantinople, then to the wilderness of Jordan, where she lived the ascetic life until old age. Who can express all the labors, sufferings and demonic temptations that St. Parasceva endured in the course of her many years? In her old age, an angel of God once appeared to her and said: “Leave the wilderness and return to your homeland; it is necessary that you render your body to the earth there, and your soul to the habitation of the Lord.” St. Parasceva obeyed, and returned to Epivat. There she lived for two years in ceaseless fasting and prayer, then gave up her soul to God and took up her abode in Paradise. St. Parasceva entered into rest in the eleventh century.  Over the course of time her relics were translated to Constantinople, to Trnovo, again to Constantinople, and then to Belgrade Her relics now repose in Romania, in the town of Iasi. In Belgrade, the well of Sc Petka miraculously heals the sick who draw near with faith in God and low tor this saint.”

* The Greek Synaxarion records the miraculous assistance of St. Parasceva on the island of Chios in the year 1442. A certain Hieromonk Ambrose was celebrating vespers in the Church of St. Parasceva. There was no one else present in the church. Toward the end of vespers, a terrible storm struck with a great roar, and it rained

HOMILY
on how the angels do battle for the righteous

The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them (Psalm 34:7).

The angel of the Lord will do battle for those who fear God. This has been clearly shown many times, as has been recorded; and it has occurred numberless times that have not been recorded. The Archangel Michael took up arms for Joshua, the Son of Nun. An angel did battle for the righteous t ang Hezekiah and, in one night, destroyed the army of the Chaldeans. How many times have angels visited the Christian apostles and martyrs of in prison, strengthened them, and caused them to rejoice? The consolation of the righteous one comes from knowing that God is All-seeing, and sees his misfortune; that God is Omnipotent, and has power to save him from misfortune; that God is All-merciful, and will save him from misfortune. God will send His radiant angel to the aid of the righteous. The righteous one will not have to struggle against his tyrant, for the angel of God will do battle in his place. When God’s angel takes up arms, what army dares confront him? What empire will wage war against him? In an earlier Psalm, the Prophet David says: No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety (Psalm 33:16—17).

Hence, it does not help at all if the unjust, the worldly, are allies. When God’s angel takes up arms—all will burst as a bubble of water. Even when he was king, David remembered how, as a mere shepherd boy, he killed Goliath, a giant who was armed to the teeth, with a slingshot. On many occasions, David sensed the assistance of God’s angel. That is why he could with confidence console the oppressed but righteous ones with these words of comfort and strength: the angel of the Lord encamps around all who fear the Lord, and who serve Him, and an angel of God will deliver them.

O my brethren, let us not doubt these words, but carefully consider, on a daily basis, how the angel of God leaves us in sorrow when we sin, and how he hastens to our assistance with joy and unspeakable power when we repent and implore God’s mercy.

O Lord God, our Creator, the King of myriads of angels: forgive us, and save us, and protect us by Thy holy angels.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. 


REFLECTION

Examples of how the saints themselves reveal their hidden relics to men justify the honor rendered to the relics of the saints—not to mention the miraculous action of these relics, which doubly justifies them. For a long, long time, no one could locate the grave of St. Parasceva. Then it happened that a sailor died, and his body was carelessly laid in the proximity of the saint’s grave. When the body turned into carrion and began to emit an unbearable stench, a monk who lived nearby summoned the peasants to help him bury the corpse. It happened that they buried him in St. Parasceva’s own grave. That night, St. Parasceva appeared in a dream to one of those peasants (George by name) who had buried the corpse. She appeared as a beautiful and exquisitely-adorned queen, surrounded by many glorious soldiers. She said: “George, exhume my relics at once, and lay them in another place; for I can no longer endure the stench from that corpse.” Then she told him who she was, and where she was from. The same night a local peasant woman named Euphemia had the same dream. The next day, the peasants began to dig and in fact found the relics of St. Parasceva. They were extraordinarily fragrant, and soon proved to be miracle-working.

Concerning the relics of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius, St. Ambrose relates how their relics were discovered in a similar manner. One night, two handsome youths and an old man appeared to Ambrose, who was awake. He thought that the old man was the Apostle Paul. While the young men remained silent, the old man spoke to Ambrose concerning them, saying that they were Christ’s martyrs, and that their relics lay in the very place where Ambrose was praying to God at that time. He went on to say that everything else concerning them would be revealed in a book that Ambrose would find in their grave. The following day, Ambrose recounted his vision and began to dig, and found the relics of both men. From the book that he found he learned that their names were Gervasius and Protasius. In the presence of St. Ambrose, a certain blind man named Severus touched these holy relics and immediately received his sight.

Prep. Petka – Paraskeva. Ova slavna svetiteljka beše srpskoga porekla, ro?ena u gradu Epivatu (Pivat, po turski Bojados, izme?u Silimvrije i Carigrada. Roditelji sv. Petke behu imu?ni i pobožni hriš?ani, i osim Petke ima?ahu i jednoga sina, Jevtimija, koji se za života roditelja zamonaši, i docnije posta znameniti episkop Maditski. Po smrti roditelja devica Petka, vazda željna života podvižni?kog Hrista radi, napusti dom roditeljski i ode najpre u Carigrad, a potom u pustinju Jordansku, gde se podvizavala do starosti svoje. Ko bi mogao iskazati sve trudove, i patnje, i iskušenja demonska, koja pretrpe sv. Petka u toku mnogih godina? Pod starost javi joj se jednom angel Božji i re?e joj: „ostavi pustinju, i vrati se u tvoje ote?estvo: potrebno je da tamo predaš svoje telo zemlji, a dušom da se preseliš Gospodu“. Sv. Petka posluša glas s neba, ostavi omiljenu joj pustinju, i vrati se u Epivat. Tu ona, prožive još dve godine, opet u neprestanom postu i molitvi, i onda predade duh svoj Bogu i preseli se u rajska naselja. Upokojila se u XI stole?u. Mošti njene ?udotvorne u toku vremena behu prenošene: u Carigrad, u Trnovo, pa opet u Carigrad, pa u Beograd. Sada se nalaze u Rumuniji, u gradu Jašu. U beogradskom gradu nalazi se voda (agiazma) sv. Petke, koja ?udotvorno le?i sve one bolesnike, koji s verom u Boga i ljubavi prema ovoj svetiteljki k njoj priti?u.

BESEDA
o tome kako angeli vojuju za pravednike
Angel Gospodnji usta?e oko onih koji
se boje Njega (Gospoda), i izbavi?e ih. (Ps. 33, 8)
Angel ?e Gospodnji vojevati za one koji se Boga boje. To se pokazalo jasno mnogo puta, što je zapisano, i bez broja puta, što nije zapisano. Arhangel Mihail opol?i se za Isusa Navina. Angel vojeva za cara Jezekiju pravednoga, i za jednu no? uništi svu vojsku Haldejsku. Koliko puta angeli posetiše apostole i mu?enike hriš?anske u tamnici, i ukrepiše ih i razveseliše? Pravedniku je uteha to što zna da je Bog svevide?i, te vidi njegovu nevolju; i što je Bog svemogu?, te može da ga spase od nevolje; i što je Bog premilostiv, te ho?e da ga spase od nevolje. Posla?e Bog angela svoga svetloga na pomo? pravedniku; i pravednik se ne ?e boriti protiv tiranina svoga, nego ?e se angel Božji boriti mesto njega. A kad se angel Božji opol?i, kakva vojska sme mu na suprot stati? kakva li carevina s njim vojevati? U ranijem psalmu veli prorok David: ne?e se spasti car mnogom silom, niti ?e se div spasti veli?inom snage svoje, laž je konj u spasavanju. To sve ništa ne pomaže, ako je nepravda saveznik svemu tome. Kad se jedan angel opol?i protiv svega toga, sve ?e to prsnuti kao mehur od vode. David je i sam bio car, i se?ao se je dobro, kako je negde kao ?obanin iz pra?ke ubio Golijata, diva do zuba naoružana. On je više puta osetio pomo? angela Božjega. Zato on i može s takvom pouzdanoš?u da teši pritešnjene pravednike re?ima utehe i snage: angel Gospodnji usta?e za vas, o svi vi koji se Gospoda bojite i Njemu služite, i izbavi?e vas angel Božji.
O bra?o moja, ne sumnjajmo u ove re?i, nego ispitujmo svaki dan pažljivo, kako nas angel Božji ostavlja s tugom, kada grešimo, i kako nam priti?e u pomo? s radoš?u i silom neiskazanom, kada se kajemo i od Boga milost prosimo.
O Gospode Bože, Stvoritelju naš, Care bezbrojnih angela, oprosti nas i spasi nas, i zaštiti nas angelima Tvojim svetim. Tebi slava i hvala vavek.

RASU?IVANJE
Primeri kako svetitelji sami otkrivaju ljudima svoje skrivene mošti, opravdavaju poštovanje moštiju svetiteljskih, a da i ne govorimo o ?udotvornom dejstvu tih moštiju, koje ih dvostruko opravdava. Grob sv. Petke dugo i dugo niko nije znao. Jednom se desi da neki mornar umre i telo mu bi ba?eno u blizinu groba svetiteljkinog. Kada se telo pretvori u leš i po?e odavati nepodnosivi smrad iz sebe, neki monah, koji se nedaleko podvizavaše, zovnu seljake, te sahraniše leš. I desi se, da ga sahraniše u sami grob sv. Petke. Te no?i javi se sv. Petka u snu jednome od tih seljaka, što sahraniše leš, ?or?u po imenu. Javi se kao neka prekrasna i preukrašena carica, okružena mnogim i divnim vojnicima, pa re?e: „?or?e, odmah izvadi mošti moje i položi ih na drugo mesto, jer ne mogu više podnositi smrada od onoga leša“. I re?e mu sv. Petka, ko je i odakle je. Iste te no?i imala je isto takvo vi?enje i jedna seljanka iz toga mesta, Efimija. Sutradan seljaci odu, po?nu kopati, i zaista na?u mošti sv. Petke, neobi?no mirisne i, kao što se ubrzo pokazalo, ?udotvorne. – O moštima sv. Gervasija i Protasija pri?a sv. Amvrosije, kako su iste njemu na sli?an na?in bile otkrivene. Jedne no?i jave se budnome Amvrosiju dva krasna mladi?a i jedan starac, za koga Amvrosije misli, da je apostol Pavle. I dok su mladi?i ?utali starac re?e Amvrosiju o njima, da su to Hristovi mu?enici, da njihove mošti leže na onom istom mestu na kome se Amvrosije u to vreme Bogu moljaše, i da ?e sve ostalo saznati o njima iz jedne knjižice, koju ?e na?i u grobu. Sutradan objavi Amvrosije svoje vi?enje, po?nu kopati i zaista na?u mošti dvojice ljudi, o kojima iz na?ene knjižice saznaše, da se oni zvahu Gervasije i Protasije. U prisustvu sv. Amvrosija neki slepac Sevir dota?e se tih sv. moštiju i odmah progleda.