Posts Tagged ‘hand’

Holy fifteen Hierarchs Martyrs of Tiberipolis a saints of high veneration in Eastern Chrstiandom and Bulgaria in Medieval times

Monday, November 28th, 2022

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The martyrs of Tiberiopolis are the bishops Timothy of Tiberiopolis and Theodore of Nicaea, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council in 325 – both escaped from Nicaea, the priests Peter, John, Sergius, Theodore and Nicephorus, the deacons Basil and Thomas, the monks Hierotheus, Daniel, Chariton, Socrates , Comasius and Eusebius, were little known saints today in Christiandom but back in time these saints has been considered of a great importance and their intercession prayers were often seeken throughout the Eastern Church in Byzantium, Bulgaria and all the Chriatinized lands and perhaps even in the west. 

They were executed on November 28, 362 during the persecutions against Christians carried out by Emperor Julian the Apostate.Since Timothy died quickly due to his age, he was replaced by the layman Etimasius.

After their execution, the fifteen martyrs were buried by the local Christians in stone sarcophagi on which their names were inscribed.

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Remains of original Basilica with Tombs of the fifteen Holy martyrs

Later, the ancient Tiveriopolis (today Strumica situated in Macedonia), where the tombs were located, was destroyed by the Avars invasions, but the memory of the martyrs' graves remains in local legends for quite some time as there were many miracles happening on their tomb.

After the conversion of Bulgaria to Christianity in year 864, by Holy Prince (King) Boris, the Baptizer King immediately ordered the Comite (his servent governor) in Taradin, who ruled these lands, to search for the relics of the fifteen Holy Tiveriopol martyrs.

According to the original plan, the holy relics were supposed to be placed in the cathedral church on the Bregalnitsa river, which was being built at that time, but since the local population complained that their spiritual heritage and protection of the area was being taken away and there was a danger of revolts, a compromise was reached to take only the relics of three saints, Timothy, Komasius and Eusebius, and the others to remain in Strumica.

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Contemporary Church dedicated to 15 Holy Hierarchs in country of Macedonia

The relics of the other saints were transferred to the new church at the time of King Simeon I (The Great).

According to the famous Medieval Theologian and Historian Theophylact of Ohrid from the beginning of the 12th century, a glorification was composed for the martyrs (which is a christian practice to glorify saints that continues to these day in the Church after new saints gets canonized), and the service was written and held in Bulgarian, which at that time was already having authentic cyrillic letters invented and translated by saint Kliment Ohridski and his pupils which just in western Bulgaria country to 3500. Some of those saint Kliment Ohridski (saint Clement of Ohrid) desciples priests as we know from the sources , composed the glorification church service in honor of the 15 Holy Hierarchs of Tiberipolis (The old Roman name for the area).

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During the Ottoman invasion, the church of Bregalnica where relics held was destroyed and the holies were again lost.
Only saint Peter's hand remained in Strumica, but during the Balkan Wars in 1913 it was taken by the Greeks to Kukush ( Kilkis ) (Aegian Macedonia).

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Contemporary Church in Aegian Greece dedicated to 15 Holy Hierarchs of Tiberiopolis

In Strumica, however the memory of the martyrs remains, whose memory is remember by the local Bulgarians at the place where, according to tradition, they were once killed.
A modern church temple was built on the same site, which is the successor of several older temples.

Below is the list with names and the position each of this holy man had, before their martyrdom:

Theodore Θεόδωρος bishop of Nicaea
Timothy Τιμόθεος of Tiberiopolis, bishop of Nicaea
Theodore Θεόδωρος priest Tiberiopolis
Nicephorus Νικηφόρος priest of Tiberiopolis
John Ioannis priest Tiberiopolis
Peter Πέτρος priest Tiberiopolis
Sergius Σέργιος priest of Tiberiopolis
Thomas Θωμάς deacon of Tiberiopolis
Vasilii Vasileios deacon of Tiberiopolis
Komasius Κομάσιος monk Nicaea
Eusebius Ευσέβιος monk Nicaea
Daniel Δανιήλ monk Tiberiopolis
Socrates Σωκράτης monk of Tiberiopolis
Chariton Χαρίτων monk Tiberiopolis
Hierotheus Ιερόθεος monk of Tiberiopolis
Etimasius Ετιμάσιος a layman of Tiberiopolis

The 15 Holy Martyrs, today are highly venerated in region of Macedonia (today country of Macedonia), as Macedonia has been historically part of Bulgarian Kingdom as well as in Greece who are considered patron saints of city of Kikis (central Macedonia today in Greece), where the local Church of Transfiguration was deciced to be reconsecacrated in favor of the 15 holy hierarchs of Tiberipolis as the hand of saint Peter from the 15 martyrs and an old icon was brough their by war emigrants escaping the Balkan wars, this hand is kept their even today.

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Hand of Saint Peter from the 15 Tiberoupolis Martyrs holy relic

 

Little known facts about the dedication to Saint Martyr George The Glory-Bringer and his veneration across contries and religions

Saturday, May 8th, 2021

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  • Largest part of body holy relics of the saints are kept in the town of Lod city 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv in the Central District of Israel. Back in the history due to the emerging veneration for saint George by both Christians and Muslims the town was temporary holding the name Georgioupolis, while his head relics is kept in Rome. There is a coptic monastery in Cairo pretending to hold personal belongings of saint George. In Saint Catherine Monastery (Mount of Sinai) are kept the three fingers of the arm of st. George. Churches dedicated to the saint started being built across the Roman empire even in the fourth century quite soon after his martyrdom, highest concentration of monasteries in his honor were born in Palestine. Biographics (Living) of saint George are written by the Byzantine authors saint Andreas of Cretes (written in 8-th century), Arcadius of Cyprus, Teodoris Quaestor, saint Gregory of Cyprus, saint Saint Symeon the Metaphrast (written 10th century).


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Saint Simeon Metaphrast (μεταφράξειν – translator and a historian of Byzantine empire passed on to Christ, 960 year famous for collecting and systemizing biographies of many saints, his works are important source of history on Byzantine empire)

  • Hundreds of Apocrypths are dedicated to the glorious living of the saint and his amazing miracles, written mainly in Latin, Greek, Syrac, Arabian, Coptic, Ethiopian and other multitude of other languages. The most famous apocrypha on saint is so called "Greek Vienna's Palimpsest" (5th century). as well as the "The Deeds of Saint George" (from 6-th century., as well as "The Martyrdom of George" etc. The Apocrypha's text are evidently full of hyperbolas and many unhistorical facts different from the true living facts of the saint. The fallacies and apocryphas have been condemned by the Decretum Gelasianum ( thought to be Decretal of the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome 492–496 ) as heretical and blemish for the memory of the saint.


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The miracle of Saving the Princess from the Dragon (one of the many apocryphas tradition about st. George) – Depiction Decani Monastery Serbia

  • Saint great martyr George together with The Holy Theotokos Mother Mary is a protector of Georgia (the country near Russia and not the State of the US :)).


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Georgian Metal carved ancient icon of saint George

In Georgia the local verbal tradition assigns a family relation with the first missionary and Baptizer of Georgia saint Nino. The first Church dedicated to saint George in Georgia is built in year 335 ! by King Mirian on the burial place of Saint Nino. In 1098 year saint George has been proclaimed protector of England, after appearing in a vision to the participants to Crusades of that time. One hundred years later during reign of Richard the Lion Heart the status of protector of the Army becomes an official in the West. In year 1222 The Synod of Oxford decides, that saint George is to be venerated throughout the whole kingdom of England on 23 of April (old style calendar) – 6th of May in the current Gregorian public calendar we use – still venerated on the same date in Bulgaria even to this day, while the remembrance day of the saint has been publicly proclaimed as labor free.

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  • In 14th century he is proclaimed a protector of England. In the beginning of 20th century the creator of the Scout Movement Lord Baden-Powell choose saint George for a protector of the Scouts. Saint George is considered protector of Moscow and Catalonia, until 18th century he was officially venerated as a protector of Portugal. In Greece he is venerated as agios Georgios, in Russia he is venerated under alternative names Jurij / Yurij (Юрий) and Egorij (Егорий). In year 1030 Grand prince of Kiev Yaroslav established in Kiev and Novgorod monasteries in honour of saint George (Yuriev Monastery) and gives an order the remembrance of saint George to be considered throughout Russian on 26th of November. The saint has been commonly depicted in Kings coins and seals. In Islam Saint George is famous under the name Djordjis (Djordjic).


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  • His Living is translated in Arabian in the beginning of 8th century and through Arabian-Christians becomes popular among Arabian-muslims. In Arabian apocrypha text his biography is included in "The History of Prophets and Kings" from the 10-th century, where he is presented as a pupil of one of the apostles of Isa Īsā ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary). In the Islamic apocrypha st. George is said to have been put to tortures, but even though killed multiple times he always have been resurrected by Allah as a faithful servent. In some Arabian icons on the horse of saint George there is a small human figure with a muslim clothes and a water vessel at hand.


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  • The iconography depicts also the miracle in Ramela that happened during a Church being built in dedication of Saint George, where one of the bought from far a stone pillar for the Church by a poor widow has been transferred by saint George miraculously via the sea by his all powerful prayer and placed to be the second Church holder right sight holder as well as the miracle when a Saracen Muslim soldier shoot towards the icon depiction of st George as an attempt to show that the saint icon is nothing more than a painted tree and immediately onwards his hand started unbearable hurting.


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Saint George's (Aravijska)'s Miracle Making icon of Holy Mount Athos Zographous Monastery St. Mrtr. George the GloryBringer

  • The healing of the unberable came only after a Christian priest give the adive to the soldier to light up a sanctuary lamp in front of the same icon of saint George and to annoint himself with the oil from the burning chancel-lamp. After the miraculous healing the soldier confessed to be Christian and has been immediately punished with a maryrdom death. The name of the martyr is not preserved but the miraculous event is depicted on the arabian ancient icons.


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Saint George the glorybringer in Church of saint George village Zlatolist (Bulgaria)

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The Famous Miracle making icon of saint George from Hadji-Dimovo Monastery Bulgaria

  • Another interpretation of why there is depiction of a figure on the backside of the horse of saint George is the so called "Miracle of saint George with the Paphlagonian" that is connected with my homeland Bulgaria. The history says a young-man of Paphlagonia, who has been taken as acaptive by the bulgarians and given as a slave to a wealthy bulgarian nobleman from Preslav. Once when the slave was carrying vessel with a hot water to his master towards the second floor of the house, out of nowhere appeared saint George, he put him backwards on his horse and bring him back to Paphlagonia. In Paphlagonia at this time his parents were already serving a Memorial service for the forgiveness of the sins of their boy thinking he has been already killed in captivity. Being reunited with his parents the youngster thought he has been dreaming to see his parents again out of a sudden and what show him that the miracle translation of the boy from one location back to his parents was a reality was the vessel with water which was still held in his hand, thus as a remembrance of the miracle the boy is depicted on the back of saint George's horse.

 

There is much more to be said about this glorious saint, as there is plenty of miracles and stories monasteries and Churches events and venerations facts over the last 21 centuries in which the East and The World become Christian,  but as the Gospel says it looks all the books on the world written won't be able to contain it.

The Non Hand made Image of God “Mandylion” – The Saviour not made by hands icon in Eastern Orthodox Church

Friday, August 16th, 2019

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Short History of Non Hand Made Image of God

The question of how really the Lord Jesus Christ looked liked during his earthly living is a question actively intriguing billion of people that lived over the centuries from year 33 A.D. in which Jesus Christ raised from the death as the Gospel testifies. Even for non Christian reliigon in pagan world before the Incarnation of Christ and the Old Hebrew Testament this question has been of interest whether the Abrahamic religions such as Jewish faith and Islam (as emerged in the 7th century) makes it clear that Image of God should not be made. However this Monotheistic religions did not went through the revelation given in Christian faith that God is Three in Faces but one in Essence and that The Holy Trinity. Thus the Icon Image being depicted in Christianity is an Image showing us a close copy to the Image of God The Son (The second Hypostasis / Face of God)  during his Humanity Saviour Mission as he was living and seen by our living ancestors while still being in fleshly earthly Body on Earth before his crucifixion / execution on the Cross of Golgotha in 33 A.D. in Jerusalem.

Hence the veneration of the Image of the Lord Jesus Christ is not in reality a break up of any of the 10 Commandments which says "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" – (Hebrew: לֹא-תַעֲשֶׂה לְךָ פֶסֶל, וְכָל-תְּמוּנָה) as Jewish, Muslim and other people of Abrahamic religions claims but is a close copy of visualized graphical depiction, how Jesus (The Begotten Son of God before all Ages) looked like – there was no other way as Photography was not yet discovered so Jesus as a Son of God used this miracle to leave us a memory about his physical and spiritual likeness.. The Non-Hand Image of God is just an Image very much like on the Photo, you see an Image of someone but you cannot know exactly who he is he good except if you already don't know him and the photo is just a remembrance of him in the similar manner the Non-Hand Made image of God is a remembrance of God for those who believed in Him and already know him with their spirits, e.g. Christians. And a testimony memory for his physical existence in the world 2000 years ago.


The Non Hand made image (icon – word rooted from Greek εικών) also known as Acheiropoieta (Byzantine Greek: αχειροποίητα, "made without hand") is a painted copy surviving over the centuries to another Image the so called Image of Edessa known also under the term of Mandylion – a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of Jesus had been imprinted as Jesus took a simple cloth (used for painting pictures put it on his face and miraculously imprinted  exact copy of his face.

This Imprinted Image has been very famous through the last 21 centuries and has been an object of interest to innumerous number of Christians and scholars and is known to have made multiple miracles, used as a shield for cities, have cured the incurrable sick king Abgar V-th (The King of Edessa) who attempted to find a cure for his terrible skin disease across all known and best medicians, pharmacists, herbalists, magicians etc. healers with various methods but none helped.
 

King Abgar healed by Jesus's Non Hand Made Image of God Mandylion

 

The most ancient known reference to the Non-Hand-Made story in History has been recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History.

It was retold in elaborated form by Ephrem the Syrian in the fifth-century Syriac Doctrine of Addai.
An early version of the Abgar legend exists in the Syriac Doctrine of Addai, an early Christian document from Edessa. The Epistula Abgari is a Greek recension of the letter of correspondence exchanged between Jesus Christ and Abgar V of Edessa, known as the Acts of Thaddaeus. The letters were likely composed in the early 4th century.
The legend became relatively popular in the Middle Ages (In the West), even though it was well known in the East for centuries. The letters were translated from Syriac into the Greek, Armenian, Latin, Coptic and Arabic languages.

The Letters tells us the story of King Abgar being seriously desperated heard about Jesus whose fame has been growing as a healer who can heal any disease, because of the already famous multple miracles done by him of healing people who suffered diseases from birth, for healing leppers and giving sight to blind people from birth, resurrecting death people, such as Lazarus who was dead for 4 days until Jesus Resurrected him from the Grave.

Hearing about this great things done by this new healer King Abgar due to his inability to travel long distances sent his servant portrait-painter Anananias with a letter addressed to Jesus in which he was begging him to come to Edessa and heal him from his leprosy. Ananias was told by prince Abgar that in case if Jesus is unable to come to Edessa for some reason, Ananias should paint a picture of Jesus's face and bring it back to the kings palace, firmly hoping and believing that only seing the image will immediately heal him.

The servent went to search for Jesus and found him, preaching the Good news of Salvation being fulfilled in himself and stayed, kept himself on a side and tried to paint Jesus face on a number of times as each time he started painting the face of Jesus in a very short while the face has changed so he couldn't complete it and have to start again.
After some time Jesus has called him took the cloth (napkin) and placed the cloth on his face and an image depicting has face has imprinted on the cloth.

The Image of Christ on the cloth was brought to the King and as Abgar kissed the Image on the napkin with Love and Faith and the sickness disappeared as he was completely cured, only a small part of his face was still having the trace of the disease. After this glorious Miracle King Abgar ordered that the idols on the Entry Gate of the City that were believed to protect the city from Evil should be and in their place the Non-Hand made image of Jesus Christ to be put on top of the city Entry Gate having the Image stuck onto wood, surrounded with a gold frame and ornamented with pearls. Prince Abgar also wrote above the icon on the gateway:
 

"O Christ our God, no-one who hopes in Thee will be put to shame" !

 

, to let everyone know about the Great power of the one who is depicted on the Mandilyon cloth, just as well as a protection sign for the city from all evil and invaders as he was convinced the image of Christ had the power to not only heal him but had the Power to protect his city from the numerous barbaryan raids that were so common during Ist century.

In the coming centuries The Non Hand Made Image of God have been said to have cured multiple people from all kind of diseases.

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Abgar receiving the Non Hand Made Image of Christ cloth icon – Saint Catherin (Ekaterina) Monastery Sinai 10th century

According to the eastern Tradition, Jesus has said to the survent to convey message to the the King that this Image of Him will cure most of the disease of the king but the complete healing will be completed by Jesus's desciple Thaddaeus (who was one of the 70th Apostles). This letter was brought to King Abgar too. The Orthodox Tradition believed in the Church is that the words of Jesus fulfilled, King Abgar biggest part of body lepper buds, have been healed and only a small part on his face remaimed and this was also healed by disciple Thaddaeus who after the Crucifix and Resurrection of Christ in the 3rd day after his execution went to the King and have preached the Good news of Gospel that Christ has resurrected and asked the king to repent and shortly baptized him in the New Christian faith In the Name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Immediately after Baptism King Abgar become completely healed. More on the Story for the Image Not Made By Hands can be red here.

 

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Saint Apostle Thaddeus arriving to King Abgar V of Eddessa and healing – icon X-th Saint Catherin's Monastery Sinai

The Jesus Image of Edessa – a Syrian city in upper Mesopotamia on the Banks of Euphrates  (today city of Urfa in Turkey), painted copy has been made on number of occasions through the history before the original clothed image disappeared mysteriously in the 13th century as it was stolen by the Roman Catholic Crusaders during IV-th Crusade whose goal was the liberation of the Holy Lands (Jerusalem and the other biblical cities from the Muslim) in year 1204.  After the hungry and and mad crusaders destroed (sacked out) Constantinople they took the Mandylion have reappeared as a relic in King Louis IX of France's Sainte-Chapelle Church in Paris and has been said to have been there until its total disappearance in the French Revolution (during which many holy relics were stolen by revolutionists, many of whose are known to have been Masons as well as many relics were destroyed).

This Non-Hand Made image of Jesus Christ known in Church Slavonic under the term (Убрус / Ubrus) is considered the first icon ("image"). In the Eastern Orthodox Church (Bulgarian, Russian, Greek, Serbian, Macedonian, Moldovian, Syrian, Antiochian, Jerusalem's Churches) and the rest of Oriental Orthodox Churches (Armenian, Copts, Syriacs, Jacobites etc.) according to Church Tradition.

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Christos Acheiropoietos (Non-hand-made-image)  of Jesus Christ given to King Abgar of Edessa
(Novgorodian Russian Icon circa 1100)

 

The Eastern Orthodox Church observes a feast for this icon on August 16 (August 29 in N.S.), which commemorates its translation from Edessa to Constantinople and is being observed with a Church service Holy Liturgy.

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Ancha Icon of the Savior ანჩისხატი (Traditionally considered to have been the tile Kiramidion a tile copy of the Mandylion) – "holy tile" imprinted with the face of Jesus Christ miraculously transferred by contact with the Image of Edessa (Mandylion).

Ancha icon is dated to the 6th-7th century, it was covered with a chased silver riza and partly repainted in the following centuries. The icon derives its name from the Georgian monastery of Ancha in what is now Turkey, whence it was brought to Tbilisi in 1664.

Holy Face of Genoa

Mandylion image is also point of high interest in the Roman Catholic Church too as well as to some more conservative Protestant denominations (though perhaps most of them are rejecting that story as a pious myth.).
In Western Tradtion the Ubrus's copy there is the famous Holy Face of Genoa (which is a donation by the Byzantine Emperor John V Paleologos to Doge of Genos Leonardo Montaldo in the 14th century it was carefully studied by Colette Dufour Bozzo that the image is on cloth that is on a wooden board (the wooden board is a typical plane on which icons are being painted) and is dated also to 14th century.

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Holy face of Genoa 14th Century with face made more visible

 

Holy Face of San Silvestro

 

Holy Face of San Silvestro (Saint Silvester) image was kept in Rome's Church San Silvestro in Capite and is now
kept in Matilda chapel Vatican Palace. Its earliest existence known is from 1517 (at that year the nuns were forbidden to exhibit it) as people often has mixed it up with the Veronica Veil (another famous Jesus cloth face imprint often called Volto Santo – holy face).

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Veronica Veil

 

The Western Roman Catholic tradition recounts that Saint Veronica from Jerusalem encountered Jesus along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary. When she paused to wipe the blood and sweat (Latin sudor) off his face with her veil, his image was imprinted on the cloth. The Veronica Veil tradition however is legendary and not accepted in Eastern Orthodox Churches as this tradition is quite new first to occur somewhere in the middle ages, like in the 16th century and was not known at all in Christiandome prior to that.

The act of Saint Veronica wiping the face of Jesus with her veil is celebrated in the sixth Station of the Cross in many Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran rites, Methodist and Western Orthodox churches.

 

Image of the Saviour Other traditional Orthodox Copy icons

It is notable to mention few very famous Russian iconography interpretation, many of the interpretations are taken by the Russian Iconography from the sample Novgorodian Russian Icon which of itself has been an exact copy, the Russian and Greek monks have made of the Origianl Non Hand Made Cloth image that has been on top of Byzantine Eastern Empire Capital Constantinople's city hanging on the entry Gate.

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Спас Мокрая Брада (Spas Mokraja Brada – The Saviour Wet Beard) Russian Orthodox Icon 16th Century

Even today, many of the Eastern Orthodox Church are having a copy interpretation of the icon hanging on top of the Dveri (The Inner part Alter Church Doors) – see below picture for reference:

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Non-Hand Made Image copy of the Saviour Jesus Christ hanging on top of Church Alter Walls (Dveri) on top of the priest head

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The Mandylion by Simeon Ushakov – year 1658.

As well as the bit newer but very beautiful Russian Iconograph interpretation  of  Image of Saviour from Harkov.

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Harkovskij Spas icon Harkov Saviour from 18th century Russian Orthodox Icon

Thomas Sunday – The day of Disbelievers

Monday, April 28th, 2014

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A week passed since we Christian celebrated Resurrection of Christ (Pascha). Each year on first Sunday after Easter in orthodox Church is celebrated the so called Thomas Sunday. So why is it called Thomas Sunday and why it is the day of disbelievers?
The root of this ancient Christian feast comes after commemoration of Christ desciple St. Thomas who disbelieved the testimony of ( 10 apostles ) and the Virgin Mary  that Jesus Christ is Risen from the Death.

The disbelieve of Thomas was logical and human cause even though Thomas was with the Apostles with Christ for 3 years, saw all Jesus miracles and shared the Secret Supper (Last Supper), and even knew in advance (heard by Jesus on Last supper) that Jesus will betrayed mocked, hanged on the Cross and Rise from the death on the third day, he disbelieved.

Thomas Sunday (Sundy of Thomas) is "the day of Disbelievers", because all are disbelievers in moments of their life not only those who believe God but all the humanity!  Even the most faithful Christian, be it a deacon, monk or priest has difficult moments in life where God's existence or providence for one's faith is seriously questioned.
The fallen nature of man is such that the initial belief in God given to man in Eden (Paradise garden) is broken, and only in Jesus's name through the Gift of Faith given by the Holy Spirit, believe in God is restored.

Thomas very much like unto everyone of us doubted the rumors of Christ resurrection and said he would only believe in Resurrected Christ only if he sees his hands nails print and put his fingers into Christ’s wounds to test he is not seeing a Ghost but Christ is alive in a body after his death.

Here is the Gospel reading re-telling the story in short:

“Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” (John 20:19)

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:24-26)

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

We Christians should be joyful for have not seen Christ in Flesh but have believed for we are blessed for his believe without seeing.

By same faith in God without seeing him even in old times the Jews were led by the Lord God in the desert have won wars by their believing without seeing God, prophets has prophecised, Simeon (The God receiver) hold The Savior (Christ) in his hands, by faith David won the battle with Goliath, by faith we understand the universe was formed at God’s command, by faith we know that the visible came out of the invisible.

o Kyrios mou kai o Theos mou (Greek) – My Lord and my God (Jn. 20:28) this declaration of faith clearly shows an unexpressable excitement of Thomas and his unexpectency to see Christ resurrected. Here it is interesting that here the son of God Jesus Christ is called by Thomas exactly how Jewish used to call God Yahweh (One and Only God) in the Old testament.

Today the evangical story is very accurate for our generation – a generation of disbelievers, even we who say we believe often doesn’t justify our believe with our deeds, we say we believe but we don’t keep God’s commandment “to love God and our neigbor like ourselves.” Often only difference between believers and disbelievers is on Sunday we believers visit Church and “play Christians”, but even but in daily life our deeds are same like unbelievers. Often many are disbelievers not because they reject God but because they never heard the Gospel or misheard it, also we disbelieve because we’re very much like st. Thomas, we often say “I will believe in God if I see him”, but even Thomas who saw God before the Crucifix and knew him disbelieved – a proof that often seing once could still leave space for doubt. The glorious event of Christ showing himself Alive to Thomas was made by Christ to establish the Church and strengthen faith of first Christians in resurrection. Nowadays there are plenty of people who question God’s existence saying that they will believe if they see but they’re not given to see the resurrected Christ because God knows that even if we see the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected we would try to rationally explain the phenomenon with holograms, modern technology or science.

Thomas Sunday is not only a day of Thomas disbelieve it is a day of disbelieve of all humanity. , St. Thomas should be an example even to all of us Christian disbelievers and non-believers that even if we disbelieve and doubt and strive to see God, He is powerful to come and appear Resurrected in His Glory to our souls.
Let us therefore have the Wisdom of the Holy Apostles and say together with them “Lord, Increase our faith.” Luke 17:5

Curious: Old ladies from Plovdiv, Bulgaria are knitting mobile and computer equipment hand made cases

Monday, November 11th, 2013

new business idea manual hand crafted knitted mobile device cases

While reading one of my daily tech news websites today I stimbled on very unusual news and a business idea, worthy to re-blog 😉 The idea of the new Innovative business is just genious and simple as that – knitted digital equipment cases. There are plenty of old ladies in Bulgaria who are used to knitting sweaters, hats and all kind of hand made winter clothes. Knitting was among the must have skills for ladies in Bulgaria until some years time even my grandmother when a bit younger used to knit in most of her free time. Thus most of grandmothers in Bulgaria still when get old and have a lot of free time, kill their time with the craft they learned as young. For the young European people who probably never heard of it knitting is unique kind of manufacture for producing winter clothes from yarn.

yarn in different colors the base material for knitting

Knitting was a top ladies craft before the boom of industrial manufacture before 19th century industrial revolution, nowadays its almost a forgotten craft. Now some genious people in Bulgaria decided to give work to this old ladies and pay them for knitting computer and mobile equipment cases (cases for Tablets, Smartphones, Notebooks etc.) Knitting of mobile equipment cases opens new work places and introduces new way for old people to earn some extra income, such extra income is absolutely necessary in Bulgaria nowdays as most old ladies receive ridiculous pension of 120 to 150 EUR per month (money insufficient to pay expensive winter heating bills and so expensive food that is nowdays in Bulgaria).

lady knitting a sweater or some kind of clothe

The company who invented this new business and introduced it for the masses is Snug Essentials and is started by enthusiastic young people who had grandmothers practicing the old craft. The innovative product is distributed via Etsy Global Platform for distributing hand crafted goods as well as in   Facebook, Twitter and Ebay. As of time of writting the companyis extremely small 6 old grandmas work on producing the knitted cases for digital equipment but the tendency is this to rise soon, as there are plenty of people who love the hand made cases.
The price of a case is also not too high, it costs only around 10$ per knitted case. Here are few nice knitted cases produced by grandmas 🙂

notebook laptop in knitted hand made case

Your girlfriend will love it if you gift her one of these 🙂

knitted notebook case original business idea

 

Still Here

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

Aloha. Still here. Two days ago I ran Heroes 3 under my FreeBSD box successfully, there was a terrible bug in fullscreen mode which needed fix I’ve used the loki’s site patch to patch the heroes 3 start binary with xdelta. The loki installer was a terrible pain in the ass I used my l337test sk!llZ :} to be able to patch the binary by hand. About the last post yes I was desperate still not good still living. Today I was on exam again a failure probably, nothing new.

As I often used to say in the fast if something starts bad then it overs bad too. See my life show this very well. I’m suffering terrible and still waiting for something to set me free to happen. What would be the turning point? Will there be turning point at all? No idea. If God is such good and powerful as he said in the bible and his promises are true then he will deliver me and set me free on a good ground. Still hoping … Prodigy — Speedway, else the earth is probably his favourite experiment.

How to add sidebar to single.php (Single Posts) to your wordpress blog default theme

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Until recently, I have used a default wordpress theme which historically is a bit old and used to be a default theme to the older versions of wordpress.
Since however, I’ve went to many updates and on the other hand I do like and enjoy the template I have decided to continue use it for my blog until this very day.

However this nice theme’s default behaviour is a bit weird, since by default the Single opened posts are configured in a way that the usual index page sidebar is missing.
As in the sidebar there are plenty of navigation buttons and search in the blog button, at a certain moment I have realized it’s probably not a good idea that the single.php (single blog posts) open up with the right sidebar missing.

Thus I’ve decided to put back the missing sidebar in the single posts, with a hope that this will be helpful to my readers and hence have positive impact on the overall blog user experience.

Doing so prooved to be rather easy, here is how I added back the right sidebar to my wordpress single posts :

1. Edit blog/wp-content/themes/default/single.php

debian:~# vim /var/www/blog/wp-content/themes/default/single.php

2. In the single.php look up for the code:

<div id="content" class="widecolumn">

Substitute this html code with:

<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn">

3. Next find the code: <?php get_footer(); ?>

Right before the get_footer(); php function add in the function;

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

Tadam! Refresh a single post in Firefox and you should see your blog index.php sidebar to show up.

Pomorie Monastery Holy relics from st. George’s day pictures

Friday, May 13th, 2011

Here are the pictures of the holy relics which were temporary sojourned in Pomorie’s Monastery for veneration in the the period 04.05.2011 – 14.05.2011.

It’s been like a tradition that the monastery is blessed with having a different saints holy relics on the Monastery feast day (St. George’s day).

Last year in the monastery were exhibited for veneration the holy relics (the hand remains) of St. Dasius

This year the holy relics the good tradition by God’s grace was continued as the holy relics of the saints:

  • Saint Great Martyr George
  • Saint Venerable Macrina
  • Saint Marina
  • Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina

were for veneration in the Monastery Church called also Saint Great Martyr George / Sveti Velikomachenik Georgi

Here are the pictures of the holy relics I was able to obtain:

Holy relics of the hand of saint great martyr George / Georgi Saint Great Martyr George hand holy relics
Saint Venerable Macrina Holy Relics picture from Pomorie Monastery Saint Venerable Macrina Holy Relics (hand bone)
Saint Cyprian and Justina holy relics Saint Cyprian and Justina Holy relics
Saint Martyr Marina Holy relics (hand bone) Saint Martyr Marina Holy relics
There were also few other particles of saints which are permanently in the Pomorie monastery and christian pilgrims can freely go there to venerate them so I would not post pictures of this holy relics here.

What is really striking is that all the Holy relics had a very specific odor (similar to Roses) but as the monk Father Sergii said (an Odor not of this world).
God’s grace can be felt with one’s spiritual heart when he is near the holy relics of this great saints, the monk father Sergii also told me that the reason for the odor is that God testifies in through the odor that the holy relics belong to his holy saints.
Each saint holy remains had a different (parfume like) odor, it’s really amazing and hard to believe if you don’t smell it yourself but I have smelled the scent myself, the almost 15th century old bones (miraculously preserved by today) emits a specific beautiful odor.
The preservation of this holy relics for all this centuries is another great miracle of God, as any normal not hermetically preserved bone kept for veneration for all this years would have decayed by so far, however this saints relics are obviously not!
As you can see truly Great is God in his saints! Glory be to the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit now and forever and ever. Amen!

Thomas Sunday (Doubting Thomas) the end of the bright Paschal Week

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

St Apostle Thomas touching the wounds of our saviour Christ

Today in the Orthodox Church, we commemorate the great miracle of our saviour Christ appearing to st. Apostle Thomas, who failed to believe to the rest of the holy apostles that they have seen our saviour alive.

Thomas wanted said that he won’t belief if he doesn’t touch and see the incorruptable risen body of our saviour Jesus.

Our Lord by his great mercy has appeared once again to the pupils dinnering with them.
Thomas was with the teachers and the door was locked (as the fear of persecution for Christ’s testimonial was among the aposltes).
Suddenly our Saviour entered the room where all the pupils were gathered through the locked door (a Glorious miracle inconceivable for our minds).

As the Lord knew about Thomas weak belief and his disbelief in his prophecised Resurrection in the third day, when Christ entered he has addressed Thomas and told him to come forth and see and touch his wounds and see that a spirit has no bones and flesh, (obviously Thomas erroneously thought that the resurrection from the death would be in spirit and no physical body will be present (this kind of belief today is also wide-spread inside many heretical christian groups)).
The Lord continued on and told Thomas, “Thomas you have seen and believed, now blessed is those who haven’t seen me and believed”!

Here is part of the daily troparion:

Touch my rib with a hand, Thomas, speaks Christ, and come and touch (feel) the scars from the nails.
With faith do test it, and be a believer and not a non-believer. Thomas has touched with a finger to the Master and loudly shouted:
"You are my Lord and my God, most merciful Glory to you!"

This Sunday is also the day marking the end of the bright week of the Resurrection.
Let we all the Orthodox Christians be a believers as Thomas and be blessed in accordance to our saviour’s word, as we haven’t seen the Lord’s Risen glorified body as Thomas and the rest of the holy apostles did.