The Wisdom of God’s own seven pillars are ye all, a seven-branched lamp that was shineth with the Light Divine, ye Great Martyrs that were before the Martyrs, O all-wise Maccabees, with them pray ye the God of all that we who now sing your praises may be saved.
Kontakion – Second Mode
Submitting to the laws of the Lord’s divine teachings, you strove to keep them blamelessly, O Martyr Markella. And fearing the violence of your father, you fled from him and dwelt in the mountains. Pursuing you he found you and slew you, O undefiled bride of Christ.
Glory to Him who strengthened you.
Glory to Him who crowned you.
Glory to Him who works healings for all through you.
Apolytikion – First Mode
Mother Maria of Paris is commemorated on July 20.
You can read about the life of St. Maria of Paris on the Greek Archdiocese website here and on OrthodoxWiki here.
A wonderful audio resource on her life is within the Patristic Nectar series on Contemporary Women Saints.
Pray for us St. Maria!
(more…)This Martyr, who was from Antioch in Syria, contested during the reign of Gallienus, about the year 260. Through the working of the evil one, his friendship with a certain Christian priest named Sapricius was turned to bitter hatred. Nikiphoros, repenting of his enmity, tried both through intermediaries and in person to be reconciled with Sapricius, but to no avail. Later, when the persecution broke out under Valerian and Gallienus, Sapricius was seized as a Christian. When Saint Nikiphoros learned that Sapricius had been arrested by the pagans and was enduring torments for Christ, he sent intermediaries to Sapricius, begging his forgiveness; but Sapricius would not forgive him. Later, as Sapricius was being taken to beheading, Nikiphoros, hoping that Sapricius, at his end, in such a holy hour, would at last forgive him, met him on the way, fell before him, and fervently asked his forgiveness; but Sapricius forgave him not. Wherefore, though Sapricius had passed through many sufferings, and the crown of martyrdom was now awaiting him, because he disdained the chief commandments of love and forgiveness, the grace of God, which had been strengthening him in his torments, departed from him, and he told his executioners he would sacrifice. Nikiphoros immediately confessed Christ before them, and being himself beheaded, took the crown that Sapricius had cast away.
GOARCH Website
“Herman of Alaska was a Russian Orthodox monk from Valaam Monastery in Russia who traveled with eight other monks in 1793 to bring the Gospel to the native Aleuts and Eskimos in the Aleutian Islands. As part of the Russian colonization of the Americas, Russians had been exploring and trading there since at least 1740. Thus, he marks the first arrival of Orthodox Christian missionaries in North America. He preached the love of Christ to the Aleutians and drew many to the Church through his charitable life, caring for their orphans, building a school, and frequently defending them from the injustices and exploitation of the Russian traders. He was known to them as Apa which means “Grandfather.” He lived most of his life as the sole resident of Spruce Island, a tiny wooded island near Kodiak Island.” (OrthodoxWiki)
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The second wave of influenza in the fall of 1918 was the worst yet. By the time Father Nicola Yanney reached Wichita, Kansas, a citywide quarantine was in effect. A 16-year-old girl had already died, creating a sense of panic. The missionary priest — his territory reached from Missouri to Colorado and from Oklahoma to North Dakota — couldn’t even hold her funeral in the city’s new Orthodox sanctuary. As he traveled back to his home church in Kearney, Nebraska, he kept anointing the sick, hearing confessions and taking Holy Communion to those stricken by the infamous “Spanish flu.”
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