Christus Surrexit!

Christ is risen!

From the older forms of Roman rite, approved for usage within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, a summary of services for the day is given below.


above: Western mosaic, Torcello basilica

PASCHA, the Resurrection of Our Lord, called "Easter Day" by the people

Today's collect: "Deus qui hodierna": O God, Who by Thine only-begotten Son didst open wide for us the door to eternal life this day, when death was destructed: the prayers which Thou dost breathe into us, leading us, do Thou also bring to fruition, helping us. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God through all the ages of ages. Amen.

- Disentombment: early in the morning, before Matins, the clergy assemble in church and all the lights are lit. There is a solemn procession to the holy Tomb, which is censed. After a prostration the Cross is taken out of the Tomb, and as another great classicum peal (all bells at once) breaks out, "Xpistus resurgens" is sung, tone 4, while a procession encircles the church with the Cross. There is a collect, then prostration, then (as the bells begin to joyfully peal for Matins) all venerate the Cross just as on Good Fri. All images in the church are unveiled.

- Matins: Matins is very joyful and rather short, with only 3 lessons (homily on the day's Gospel from Mark by St. Gregory the Great). There is censing at each responsory and at the Te Deum and at the Benedictus. There are no commemorations at Lauds of Matins. [It should be noted that monastic forms of this Matins exist, which have 12 readings and the fullness of a usual Matins.]

- During the Third Hour (or, in later Sarum practice, the Third and Sixth Hours), the blessing of waters is done quietly, at a side altar. Then "Vidi aquam" is sung as the holy water is sprinkled on altar, clergy, and the queue of faithful who approach. Then a great Procession forms, which takes the same route as on Palm Sun. (q.v.), to the bell-pealing and the singing of "Salve, festa dies," and "Sedit angelus." Back in church, the verse is sung in a station before the rood, by clergy atop the roodscreen, turned towards the people. At the entry into the chancel "Xpistus resurgens" is sung again, the collect.

- At the beginning of this Mass, in Old English usage shown in the Winchester and Canterbury Tropers, there are verses, called the "Quem quaeritis." A chanter representing the angel at the Tomb sings in a beautiful melody, "Whom do ye seek in the sepulchre, O worshippers of Christ?" Chanters representing the myrrh-bearing women reply, "Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified, O worshippers from heaven!" Angel: "He is not here, He is risen, as He foretold..." this goes back and forth a few more times, then the officium follows immediately with its trope "Psallite": O chant unto our mighty King, now that the dominion of death is conquered! come and say: I am risen, and I am still with Thee," etc. In this Mass, the singing is very glorious. The Kyrie is sung with verses, the Gloria in Excelsis with beautiful tropes speaking of the Resurrection of Christ. There is but 1 collect, secret, and postcommunion. After the collect, but before the epistle, are sung the Royal Acclamations ("Christus vincit") before the great rood. This part is very beloved by the people, who join in with great joy and triumph. A short epistle is followed by the Graduale, Alleluya (with 2 or 3 verses!), and the glorious Sequence "Fulgens praeclara," which is older then the Sequence "Victimae paschali," and more filled with unbridled joy. The bells peal throughout the Sequence, then the Gospel from Mark is sung. The Offerenda has beautiful tropes beginning, "From the indignation and wrath of the Lord's anger, The earth trembled, yea, and was still. The graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints arose, When the Lord our God arose to judgment. Christ is risen from the dead! O come ye, let us worship, all proclaiming with a single voice: Alleluya, alleluya. These tropes just get more joyful as they go along, from that foreboding beginning. There are beautiful tropes for the Sanctus. The Canon has proper Communicantes and Hanc Igitur. There are beautiful tropes upon the Agnus, and the Communio antiphon. Today all the people commune, the Mass comes quickly to a festive end, all the bells begin again to peal, and after the giving of the blessed bread, the Priest blesses the baskets in a station with the clergy and crucifer. The blessing is of all the foods that were forbidden in Lent: "of meat, cheese, butter, eggs, and meat-pies."

- Ye Greate Picnicke. This is definitely part of today's celebration.

- At Vespers, there is a unique and glorious service: The bells peal, the soft prayers are said, then the rulers of the choir begin "Kyrie eleison." Kyrie VI (q.v. supra) is sung without verses (though, actually, in many places the verses were sung), and (in the older books) a great procession winds around the church, while the Kyrie is sung, pausing briefly at the great rood. Three psalms are sung under the 4-fold alleluya, then the Graduale from the Mass is sung again, then the Alleluya from the Mass is sung again, then the versicle and Magnificat is sung, with censing of altar, clergy, and people. After the collect, a great procession including holy oil and chrism vessels forms as Alleluya, intertwined with Ps. 112, is sung specially. At the fonts (that is, in front of the west doors) there is a station made, a collect, then the procession goes on to the rood, as an Alleluya intertwined with Ps. 113 is sung joyfully. The rood is censed. There is a collect in honour of the Cross, then the beautiful "Alma Redemptoris" is sung with alleluya, as the clergy re-enter the chancel. There is a collect of St. Mary. "Benedicamus" is sung with an alleluya on the end.

- Compline #13 is sung (online Sarum Psalter pp. 191-192), including singing the Graduale from the day's Mass again (but without verse). For Compline, two bells are rung twofold.


above: 12th-c. English icons, St. Michael's Copford

NOTES
Sometimes Western rite people hesitate about the term "Pascha." It may seem, to them, Byzantine. Eastern. Other. Not Western. But this great and holy day was called in the west of England, by the 1030s already, "Paske." In Welsh it is called "Pasg," and in Irish "Caisc," and in Manx "Yn-chaisht," that is, "The Holy." In most Western European languages the word used is some variant upon "Pascha." So, as odd as it may sound to the ears of an Anglican or a Roman-catholic, the term "Pascha" for Easter is, in its broadest outlines, merely the resurrection of an old Anglo-Saxon tradition, as well as an almost-universal usage of Western Europe. The term "Easter" also has an ancient and Orthodox lineage; there is nothing inherently wrong in the term.

The similarity of the Torcello mosaic to East Roman (Byzantine) iconography underscores the fact that one of the West's primary iconographic styles was essentially indistinguishable from the East Roman style. However, other styles are known as well, and variety is more apparent in manuscript illuminations than in surviving wall paintings of the period.


* Fast free: no restriction of food this whole week, and, by ancient Western custom, from today until Whitsunday (with the sole exception of cheesefare foods upon St. Mark's day and the Rogation days before Ascension).

** Old Sarum Rite Missal, (c) 1998, St. Hilarion Press, due to be re-issued in a scholarly format by St. John Cassian Press, in 2 volumes.

Xpucmoc Bockpece!

New Western Rite Abbot

I discovered on Tuesday, March 16, 2010, that Fr. Hieromonk David (Pierce) has been confirmed in the rank of Abbot by Metropolitan Hilarion, first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Dom David is abbot of the abbey of the Dormition of the Mother of God (of Mt. Royal) in Jacksonville, Florida. Members of the community include the well-known Fr. Augustine (Whitfield) and Br. George. Services are held in the Holyrood (Holy Cross) chapel.


above: Abbot David, at the funeral of Abbot Augustine (Whitfield)



above: Abbot David at time of divine service

Many Years! Ad multos annos, Domne!

P.S. For those who may imagine that "Dormition" is a specifically Eastern term, it is the very word used in the Sarum "Martiloge" (martyrology) to describe the feast of the Assumption on August 15. It can be said, therefore, that Dormition is a good and proper Old-English word.

Which Rite is Right?

Too many people approach Western Rite in the Eastern Orthodox Church as a theoretical exercise. One often hears (pro and con) statements about historical continuity or non-continuity, Frankish-influence issues, minutiae (e.g., what kind of vestments Eastern rite clergy should wear, when attending Western rite services), and so forth.

Oft bypassed by the non-Western-rite observer is that WR Orthodoxy faces more immediate, practical concerns: how to acquire and adorn a chapel; how to get vestments made; how to marshal a choir; and, of course, what to use for liturgical texts.

In the Antiochian Western rite in the U.S., this latter question has been largely decided and is currently settled. It is an essentially dual approach (Tridentine-Roman and traditional Anglican), avoiding pre-Reformation liturgics on the one hand, and the latest modern developments on the other.

In the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the liturgical question has not been settled definitively. Usages currently blessed include three versions of the Roman rite (Tridentine, Sarum, and Mt.-Royal) and traditional Anglican. None of these has been identified as an exclusively prescribed usage, and there has been no attempt to impose liturgical conformity. That might be a good thing, since it gives the hierarchy time to observe and assess what works and what doesn't.

The Romanian Church has parishes using a theoretical reconstruction of the lost Gallican rite, a usage kept in France in the 1960s under Abp. St. John Maximovitch. This represents yet another strain of liturgical usage. And there is potential for use of the Mozarabic rite of Spain, the Ambrosian rite of Aquileia, as well as liturgies of the Roman-Catholic religious orders.

Speaking of St. John Maximovitch, he blessed for use both Gallican and Roman rites.

It must be admitted that the "Which Rite" question remains unanswered, if one is speaking of the Orthodox Church as a whole.

note: No anonymous commenting allowed.

Western Rite Ship in London Encounters Rocks

From Fr. Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood) of Australia, Jan. 16, 2010:

"Well, our celebrations in the cathedral lasted only a few Sundays. Now Archbishop Mark has demanded that our service should finish before the Eastern Rite service in the upper church starts at 10.00 (in order not to "undermine" their service!!). This would mean my getting up at 03.00, driving out my front gate before 04.00 and starting the service in London 100 miles away at 07.30 in order to finish before they start. Our opponents know very well that this is not going to happen. They know very well that London is a very large city indeed and that our congregation is eclectic and that they simply cannot get to the church in Chiswick by 07.30. So, no more services in the cathedral. However, services continue in Southbourne and next Tuesday, we will celebrate the Epiphany in the beautiful Resurrection Chapel in central Bournemouth..."

My response: I wonder if something can still be worked out. For example, could one omit Matins and Litany, and start the eucharistic service at 8:45, make a very short sermon, and finish just before 10:00? Many parishes start at 9:00 a.m.; 8:45 is not too far off from that. I just wonder if there is some possibility yet for a work-around. Are sounds from the service below leaking into the church above? I hope our London brethren and sistren will not lose heart. In many Russian cathedrals that have an all-Slavonic Liturgy at 10:00, there will be an 8:00 a.m. English-language Liturgy (I find 8:00 rather early!) Is there any London "parishioner" whose house could be used? In Austin we meet in a small mobile-home chapel difficult to find, not well heated and cooled, having no restroom, no narthex, no church sign, and yet we have grown tremendously in just a year and are looking to buy a place. But I do admit that having disadvantageous circumstances makes it more difficult to establish more than a minimal attendance.

Our prayers are with you all in England.

Merry Christmas!

Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax!



I hope that all of our readers enjoyed a blessed Nativity and I wish all of you a joyful and spiritually prosperous New Year.

- Hieromonk Aidan+, a sinner

Now, Western Rite in England

Yes, England (which for so many decades seemed to be a land impenetrable to Western Rite Orthodoxy) now has an active W. rite mission, thanks to the labours of Fr. Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood) of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and the protecting omophor of its Metropolitan, Hilarion.

On Dec. 21, 2009, Fr. Michael wrote:

"We have now celebrated the Western Rite on two successive Sundays in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition at Chiswick in London. The Cathedral has a Lower Church (the original) and an Upper Church - which has just been finished. They have given us the Lower Church to use for Western Rite. So we celebrate our Western Rite in the Lower Church at the same time as they celebrate the Eastern Rite in the Upper Church..."

Here is a picture of the lower church as arranged for a modern Western rite service:



Describing the services being celebrated in London, Fr. Michael continued:

"Given that this is Advent and we are doing Mattins, the Great Litany and the Divine Liturgy as a continuous service, we end up only slightly ahead of them - so we all have lunch together in the church hall afterwards."

Matins, in the pre-Protestant form of W. rite, requires two hours to complete (an hour and a half, if managed extremely expeditiously). The Great Litany is a Protestant service. From these indications, it is surmised that the services being offered in the Russian Orthodox cathedral of London, are of the Protestant Rite.

May God bless the Western rite mission in England, and its faithful people. And, if it is pleasing to God, may the Western rite services which once prevailed in that land, when that land was Orthodox, also find some place there--through the prayers of all Saints of Britain and Ireland.

New Western-Rite Brotherhood in the Russian Orthodox Church

Better late than never.

We belatedly share the news, made public July 16, 2009, that a new Western rite community has been established within our Russian Church Abroad. Redacted from the Orthodox Christian West blog:

Fr. Deacon Adrian and Novice Edward (Waters) of St. Petroc Monastery are starting the new St. Aidan House in Sydney, Australia. It will be based in the Darlinghurst area. Fr. Deacon Adrian now lives in a cell in the Metropolitan's house in Croydon. Novice Edward lives in a cell in the grounds of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Strathfield. Fr. Deacon Adrian is a medical practice director; Novice Edward is a doctoral candidate currently studying statistical mathematics at Melbourne University.


From left to right: Br. Edward, Fr. Michael, Metr. Hilarion, Fr. Dn. Adrian

Please pray for the monastic strugglers of the St. Aidan House and their spiritual success! Ad multos annos! Многая лета!

Decision of the Russian Bishops, on the Western Rite

Hieromonk Aidan (Keller) spoke by telephone with Bishop Jerome (Geronim) of Manhattan on November 10, 2009 (at about noon). The news from His Grace is as follows:

The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has decided that all Western rite missions will fall under the authority of the Metropolitan, rather than the local bishop. This is true across the world, except, of course, in Russia.

This decision, like many others, has not been put down in writing, which is a particular issue of organisation not affecting the fact of the decision.

There is no change in the requirement that Western rite Liturgies include an explicit epiclesis in the anaphora or canon. The added epiclesis strengthens the epiclesis already present in the Roman Canon (St. Nicholas Cabasilas identifies the Supra Quae Propitio as that native epiclesis).


His Grace Bishop Jerome (Geronim) of Manhattan, Nov. 2009

A new version of the Psalter based largely upon the Coverdale psalms has been blessed for use by Bishop Jerome. Of course, other translations are also blessed for use, and no translation in use has been proscribed.

Vivat Metropolitanus Hilario Neo-Eboracensis. Ad multos annos, Domine!

October 2009 - Sarum Services in Florida

On Tuesday, October 27, 2009, in the evening, Fr. Hieromonk Aidan celebrated the Sarum services of Vespers and Matins in the Church of the Prophet Moses at St. Nicholas Monastery, North Fort Myers, Florida. In attendance were a mixture of Orthodox faithful and Western Christian guests.

On the morning of Wednesday, October 28, the feast of the Holy Relics on the Western calendar, Fr. Aidan celebrated the Sarum services of Terce, Sext, Liturgy, and None, together with the relics-procession appointed for the occurring feast, also in the Church of the holy Prophet Moses. Again, there were Orthodox faithful present, of Eastern and Western backgrounds, as well as Anglican visitors. Those present remarked afterwards how remarkably peaceful and graceful the services were. This was due to the presence of thousands of Saints in their precious Relics, which Mother Andrea had brought into the church and set with high honour, with cloths and flowers, in every available space. This was indeed a profound experience, to pray surrounded (physically) by a cloud of holy witnesses--the prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and ascetics of the past 2,000 years and more--a mighty host of God's hallows. Through their prayers, O Saviour, have mercy on us sinners, and save us!

Fr. Aidan serves at the Monastery as often as possible, given his duties in Austin, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Western Rite Days in Florida

From June 15 to June 19, 2009, Hieromonk Aidan stayed at the St. Nicholas Monastery in Florida, a community of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

On the evening of June 16 the Ninth Hour and Vespers were held according to the Sarum use of the Roman rite. Fr. Aidan was joined by Fr. Damian Criscella of the Church Abroad, and our dear brother Demetrio served as acolyte. Fr. Damian and Demetrio are of Italo-Orthodox heritage. The Third Hour and Divine Liturgy the next morning was also according to this same liturgical rite, the form of which which was approved within the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in September 2008. The evening and morning services were for the feast of St. Petroc, the abbot in Cornwall. Our Russian Church Abroad has a monastery dedicated to this great saint.

At Vespers and the next days' Liturgy, we were blessed to have guests who are interested in Western rite matters, a former High-Church Anglican priest, and Fr. Jim Michko of the Eastern Catholic church, with others.

The services were held in a church fitted for usual celebrations according to the Byzantine rite, but we were able to adapt fairly well. Some Western rite vestments were loaned us for this occasion, and this helped to preserve the native Western character of this holy liturgy of the Church.

Ninth Hour and Vespers on the evening of June 17 was also Sarum rite, with a festive Liturgy or Mass the following morning, June 18. The evening and morning services were in commemoration of St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, and were celebrated with the ceremony of a double feast (a high ranking in the Western rite).

Thanks to mother abbess Andrea for giving her blessing for these beautiful Western rite services, which bear testimony to the universality and openness of Holy Orthodoxy.

Here follow some photographs of the events. From Vespers on June 16, a simple feast (St. Petroc):



From Vespers on June 17, a double feast (St. Boniface; note the use here of the cuffs, which were called in the Latin church "maniculae" and at Sarum more usually took the form of a decorative attachment to the cloth of the alb itself):



Censing at the Divine Mass of St. Petroc, in the rite of a simple feast:



At the Vespers of St. Petroc:



The retrocession (return to the sacristy with the holy chalice) at the end of the Divine Mass of St. Boniface, June 18, 2009:



I can't place this next picture in context. It may be at the festal Vespers of St. Boniface, when for lack of a proper cope (a vestment similar to the phelonion and to the chasuble), a chasuble (nearest equivalent) was substituted. The use of Mass vestments at Vespers is known in Western rite, but mostly at pontifical (hierarchical) services.



Censing at the Mass of St. Petroc, June 17, 2009 (note, on the right, the beautifully-typeset edition of the Divine Office in the Sarum use which is scheduled for publication by St. John Cassian Press in Austin, Texas):



From the Mass of St. Petroc, the bow at "Orate fratres et sorores," that is, "Pray for me, brothers and sisters," which occurs just before the first epiclesis ("Come, O Holy Spirit, bless and sanctify this Sacrifice") prior to the Canon of the Mass:



Holy Petroc and Boniface, pray to God for us!

New Bishop to Work with Western Rite

In December 2008, Archpriest John Shaw of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was elevated to the grace of the Episcopate. Receiving the new title Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, His Grace will assist the Western Rite communities of the Russian Orthodox Church (amid countless other duties).

Here is a picture of Vladika Jerome taken just after his consecration:



Here is a picture of Vladika taken just before his consecration:



When yet a junior priest of the Russian Church in the 1970s, then-Fr. John Shaw became father of the Sarum rite movement which flourished more particularly in Old Calendarist and Russian Church-Abroad circles and became the most widely-published of any Western rite liturgy in modern times. Fr. John celebrated many Liturgies in the Sarum use of the Roman rite, and guided the development of the rite as it came to be published by the St. Hilarion and St. Gregory Presses. This was not an official collaboration, but was seminal in helping determine, for example, just what parts of Western observance from mediaeval England were inappropriate for Orthodox worship today. Bishop Jerome works pastorally with those who use a variety of forms of Western rite, in a judicious and Christian spirit.

Ad multos annos, Domine!

Christminster Becomes Stavropigial Institution

"On Sunday, 1 March/16 February 2009, notice was received from Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, that the monastery and mission of Christminster and Our Lady of Glastonbury Orthodox Church, in Hamilton, Ontario, would henceforth be directly under the archpastoral oversight of the Metropolitan himself, assisted by his Vicar Bishop Jerome, Bishop of Manhattan. Bishop Gabriel, the ruling Bishop of Canada, had requested this change in light of his own lack of familiarity with the Orthodox western rite and its usages.

"Bishop Jerome, the former Father John Shaw, is a long-time friend of Christminster and a scholar deeply learned in western liturgics.

"We are grateful to each of these hierarchs for their pastoral concern for the well-being of our mission and work.

Source: http://www.westernorthodox.ca/

Note from Fr. Aidan: Many Years to Abbot James and to all the faithful of Our Lady of Glastonbury!

New Patriarch for the Russian Orthodox Church

We have, of course, received the tidings that Metropolitan Kirill has been elected and enthroned as the new Patriarch of Moscow and is now the head of the largest Orthodox Church.


His Holiness Kirill, wearing the kukulion and green mandiya

In the Western rite as it was preserved in England up to the Reformation, we find the following collect for the enthronement of the Primate.

"Almighty, everlasting God, Who although Thou art Most High didst as one humble deign to come down to us: We humbly pray that this Thy servant may be promoted by the dignity of his humility upon the summit of the priesthood conferred by Thee upon him. And just as in the ministry of his governing he approacheth to ascend this pontifical throne, so also mayest Thou approach the throne of his bosom by the visitation of Thine indwelling, so that he--by the bestowal of Thy grace--may become the royal chair of Thine enthronement. Through Thee, Jesus Christ, Who with the Father co-eternal to Thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, God through all the ages of ages. Amen." (Latin translation, Fr. Aidan)

Ad multos annos, Domine! Многая лета!

Memory Eternal! Patriarch Alexey Reposes

We have received news that Patriarch Alexey of Moscow and All Russia has fallen asleep. Memory Eternal!

Pannikhida at Protection of the Holy Theotokos Russian Orthodox Church, 5401-B Clay Avenue, Austin, Texas, 78756, at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008.

"To Paradise may the angels lead thee; when thou comest, may the martyrs welcome thee, and conduct thee into the holy city, Jerusalem." - antiphon from the Roman rite funeral service (Sarum use)


His Holiness Alexey, when yet serving as a priest.



His Holiness Alexey, giving his patriarchal blessing.

Memoriam Aeternam, Domne! Вечная память!

Nov. 9 (new style Nov. 22): St. Theodore the Recruit

Today on the calendar of the Sarum use of the Roman rite we celebrate the feast of the holy martyr Theodore the Recruit. Presented below are the readings at Matins for the feast, translated into English by Hieromonk Aidan (Keller) in anticipation of their publication by St. John Cassian Press, together with all the Matins readings throughout the year for the Roman rite in the Russian Orthodox Church.



Lesson 1. In the times of the emperor Maximian, Theodore was arrested in the city of Abasia, and with him many other recruits into the army, and they were all pressured to sacrifice to the idols. But the blessed man Theodore, because he was faithful and full of the Holy Spirit, standing in the midst of the legion, said that, “I am a Christian, and I have not received a command to do sacrifice to evil graven images. For I have, for my king, Christ in heaven.” And having been led to the ruler Populius, the ruler said to him: “Theodore, sacrifice to the gods, and save thyself from these tortures which have been prepared for thee.” Theodore the blessed one said: “I do not consent to thee, and I am not afraid of thy punishments. For the expectation of good things induceth me to have confidence because of the hope which is laid up for me, and the crown which my Lord Jesus Christ hath prepared for me.” Full of indignation, therefore, the judge commanded him to be cast in prison, and be left there to die of starvation. But the blessed man Theodore was fed by the Holy Spirit. But Thou...

Lesson 2. When the ruler was sitting at tribunal again, and the blessed man Theodore had been brought in, he said to him: “Yield to me, Theodore, without torments, and do sacrifice to the gods, that I may write to the rulers of the whole round world that Theodore became a high priest. And receive from them no mean promotion, and thou wilt be a spokesman for us.” Blessed Theodore, looking up to heaven and signing himself, said to the ruler: “Even if thou wilt burn my flesh with fire, and use diverse tortures, as long as there is breath in my nostrils, I will not deny my God!” Hearing this, the ruler told the interrogators to hang him from a beam of wood and tear his sides with iron hooks. They tore him so much that even his ribs were stripped bare. But the blessed man Theodore chanted, saying: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Then the judge, after much ill-treatment, said to the holy martyr: “What dost thou desire, to be with us or with thy Christ?” With great joy the holy martyr answered him: “With my Christ I have been, and am, and will be.” But Thou...

Lesson 3. The ruler, seeing that the forbearance of the holy martyr could not be overcome by torments, rendered judgment against him, saying: “Theodore, a man who doth not obey the commands of the all-invincible princes, but believeth in Jesus Christ Who was crucified, I order to be delivered into fire.” And as soon as he had pronounced the sentence, it was carried out by word and command. And when the fire had been kindled, the blessed martyr prayed, sealing himself with the sign of the Cross. And with his hands bound behind his back, gazing up to heaven, he was accepted as a whole-burnt offering to God, like a ram chosen out of a great flock. And when he finished his prayer, the Devil’s henchmen lit the fire. But we to whom it was granted to witness it saw a great miracle in the glowing flame. For the flame became like the appearance of an arched vault, like a ship’s sail filled with the wind, and it surrounded the blessed martyr’s body like a wall, and his was not like a burning body, but like bread baked. For as the Holy Spirit came upon him the blessed martyr was in the midst of the flame without difficulty. And as he was praising and glorifying God, he gave up to Christ his spirit. And all were filled with a most sweet fragrance. And there came to him a voice from the skies, saying: “Come, Theodore, my dearly beloved, enter into the joy of thy Lord, for with fidelity hast thou finished thy battle-course.” And a certain woman named Eusebia diligently buried his body, and in that same place many miracles happen to the praise and glory of God’s name. But Thou...

(c) 2008 St. John Cassian Press

Today we also remember the repose of Schema-archbishop Theodore of Pskov Caves and West Milford.