Saint Nicholas Orthodox Skete

08/31/2023

31st of AUGUST
Celebration in honor of the icon of Our Lady "The Queen"

When doctors are powerless in front of ailments, we can only rely on God and His Holy Mother. Often, help and healing come to the suffering after praying before the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary "All Queen".

The Queen of Heaven

No one in his life has ever come into contact with God as the Blessed Virgin Mary. She carried the Baby of God under her heart, fed her milk, warmed her hands with the warmth. And at the same time, she was not at all happy with her great mission.

For this, the Almighty glorified the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven, and also bestowed Her several earthly shares. One of them became the Holy Mount Athos. That is where the image of "The Queen" was written - where the Mother of God is depicted in glory - in crimson royal garments, seated with the Child of God on the throne, surrounded by singing Her angels. This icon became a blessing to the disciples from the old Joseph the Isichast.

Many pilgrims to this image of praying to the Queen of Heaven received healing from serious ailments that doctors could not overcome. Including from oncological diseases. The miraculous image of the "All Queen" is kept in the Vatopeda Monastery.

What do they pray about in front of the icon of the Queen?

Before this, Christians ask the Mother of God to heal them from cancer and other serious ailments, ease their suffering, deliver them from witches and evil spirits, as well as alcoholism, drug addiction and other harmful passions.

05/30/2023

07/12/2022

12 июля/29 июня - день памяти Паисия Святогорца (1994).

Ублажа́ем тя, преподо́бне о́тче Паи́сие, и чтим святу́ю па́мять твою́, наста́вниче мона́хов и собесе́дниче А́нгелов.

Схимонах Паисий Святогорец (в миру Арсений Езнепидис; 25 июля 1924 — 12 июля 1994) – один из самых уважаемых греческих старцев и духовных светил греческого народа XX века, старец Афонской горы, известный своими духовными наставлениями и подвижнической жизнью.
Паисий родился в турецкой Каппадокии, как раз перед обменом населения между Грецией и Турцией в 1924 году. В сентябре 1924 года семья Езнепидисов поселилась в городе Коница в Эпире, в 66 км от Янины. Арсений здесь вырос и после окончания школы получил профессию плотника.
В 1945 году Арсений был призван в действующую армию, где три с половиной года служил радистом. В то время в Греции шла гражданская война. После окончания войны он хотел начать монашескую жизнь, но было необходимо сначала помочь своим сёстрам.
В 1950 году он пошел на гору Афон: стал послушником духовника Кирилла, будущего игумена монастыря Кутлумуш на Афоне. Затем Кирилл направил послушника в монастырь Эсфигмен, где Арсений, будучи послушником в течение 4 лет, принял в 1954 году рясофор с именем Аверкий и перешёл в обитель Филофей, там стал учеником отца Симеона. В 1956 году отец Симеон постриг Аверкия в малую схиму с именем Паисий, в честь митрополита кессарийского Паисия II, который тоже был родом из Фарасы Каппадокийской.
В 1958 году из Стомио Коницкой его просили прийти помочь остановить распространение протестантских учений. Старец пошёл и жил в обители Рождества Богородицы в Стомио, оттуда отправился в 1962 году на Синай.
В 1964 году Паисий вернулся на Афон и поселился в Иверском скиту. В 1966 году он тяжело заболел и ему отняли большую часть легких. С мая 1978 года отец Паисий поселился в келье Панагуда монастыря Кутлумуш. Сюда к нему потянулись тысячи людей.
В октябре 1993 года поселился в монастыре св. Иоанна Богослова в Суроти.
Старец Паисий скончался 12 июля 1994 года, неподалеку от Салоник, в Свято-Иоанно-Богословском монастыре, расположенным близ Суроти, где был и похоронен за алтарём монастырского храма преподобного Арсения Каппадокийского.

Преподобному Паисию Святогорцу

Тропарь, глас 5

Боже́ственныя любве́ о́гнь прие́мый, / превосходя́щим по́двигом вда́лся еси́ весь Бо́гови, / и утеше́ние мно́гим лю́дем был еси́, / словесы́ боже́ственными наказу́яй, / моли́твами чудотворя́й, / Паи́сие Богоно́се, / и ны́не мо́лишися непреста́нно // о всем ми́ре, преподо́бне.

Кондак, глас 8

А́нгельски на земли́ пожи́вый, / любо́вию просия́л еси́, преподо́бне Паи́сие, / мона́хов вели́кое утвержде́ние, / ве́рных к житию́ свято́му вождь, / вселе́нныя же утеше́ние сладча́йшее показа́лся еси, / сего́ ра́ди зове́м ти: // ра́дуйся, о́тче всеми́рный.

06/20/2022

Превыше всего любовь.
Без любви молитва не приносит пользы, совет уязвляет, а указание приносит вред и разрушает другого человека, который чувствует, любим мы его или нет, и реагирует соответствующим образом. Любовь, любовь, любовь! Давайте будем бескорыстно раздавать всем свою любовь, не обращая внимания на их отношение к нам. Когда войдет в нас благодать Божия, тогда мы не будем интересоваться тем, любят нас или нет, хорошо ли с нами разговаривают. Мы будем ощущать необходимость любить всех, и наше стремление будет направлено на то, чтобы любить и молиться за них от всей души.

Преподобный Порфирий Кавсокаливит

06/11/2022

“The way of the Church is love; this differs from the manner of the legalists.
The Church sees everything with forbearance and seeks to help each person, no matter what he may have done, no matter how sinful he may be.”

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos

06/06/2022

А знаете, почему дом превращается в ад? Где нет поста, нет утренней и вечерней молитвы, где нет чистой жизни, где в церковь не ходят, а с утра пьют, курят и ругаются, там воистину дом становится адом. И диавол заходит туда, и тогда уже горе человеку во все дни, которые он проживет на земле! Целый день проклятия, целый день мордобой, целый день мучения: туда ведь вошел диавол! Диавол несет с собой ненависть, ссоры, гнев, ярость, ругань, проклятия, сквернословие, побои, убийства, пьянство, разврат. Вот так вот! Куда ни войдет, диавол всё разрушает. И дом превращается в ад!

А где утром встают, и воздают поклонение Богу, и отправляются на работу с молитвой в душе, и постятся в святые посты, и подают милостыню, и читают священные книги, и терпят скорби и невзгоды с радостью, там благословение Божие и по Его милости всё устраивается на пользу души и нам во спасение.

Архимандрит Клеопа (Илие) (+1998)

05/31/2022

Where there is anxiety and despair, there is a demonic spiritual life. You should not feel anxiety over anything at all. Anxiety comes from the devil. Wherever you see anxiety, you must know that the devil has been at work. The devil will not go against the current. If there is a predisposition, he will push in that direction in order to cause us trouble and deceive us. When in the course of our spiritual struggle we feel anxiety we must know that we are not moving within the realm of God.

St. Paisios of Mount Athos

05/17/2022

Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol reveals to us a vision of Elder Ephraim of Arizona.
When I went to Arizona, Fr. Ephraim told me: "I want to tell you what I experienced when I came to America."
And then I asked him, "Father, how did you succeed, from the Holy Mountain, a hesychast, without worldly knowledge to live in America, with the specifics of these places?" And he told me: "I really encountered many temptations, many dangers. They wanted to kill me. They were trying to destroy me... on a physical level and on a spiritual one as well... Many dangers, many temptations and many sorrows... And many troubles...
Many times I wondered myself: Did I do a good thing by coming here? And what can I do, a simple and humble monk, on a continent with so many problems, so many difficulties and so many weirdnesses?
So... as he prayed, being troubled, he saw himself in a jungle, with all the specifics of the jungle! And it was full of wild beasts! And he was in the jungle, holding a small child in his arms... and the wild beasts were following him... wildly trying to tear his body to pieces. So, running, he was in great trouble and great fear! He reached a difficult path, with very narrow edges, and it was only a hollow through which he could get out. And the beasts, from right to left, were trying to tear him and the baby to pieces. And struggling to get out from that narrow path, a great dragon, a snake, came out before him, ready to swallow him! When he saw that he had no escape and he was ready to be torn by the dragon, shouted: "My Holy Mother!" After he called the Mother of God, he heard the voice of the Theotokos, who spoke, saying, "Michael!" And by saying "Michael", Michael the Archangel showed up before him, and fought with that dragon, and hit him hard and the dragon disappeared and everything returned to calm.
When the peace came back, Fr. Ephraim, being troubled said: "What does this vision mean?" And he prayed to God, saying: "What does this vision mean, O Lord? This terrible and indescribable vision that I saw... That disturbing vision." And God said unto him, "This will be your life: full of persecutions, sadness and dangers, bodily and spiritual dangers!" And the Father asked: "And the baby? What does it mean?" And God answered him: "The baby is your soul! You have to save your soul no matter how many obstacles you will face!" Father came to his senses and he understood that this was his mission! And he had great trials...
Let me just mention something from Arizona. He lived in a desert in which no man had ever lived since the creation of the earth. As it is stated by scientists and researchers, no man has ever lived in that desert! An endless desert, full of cactus's, snakes with bells and tigers... Wild beasts! Nobody lived there!
When Father Ephraim was passing by plane on his way to Phoenix, to hear confessions, saw the desert from above, from the plane's window. And God told him that: "This is where I want you to build a monastery!" And he saw St. Anthony the Great who said to him: "Here I want you to build a monastery!"
But how to build a monastery in the desert of Arizona? He went there by car, being accompanied by three other cars and the local Metropolitan. The Father said nothing to anyone. He just said, "Let's go through the desert, to see a town..." "Father, in the desert? The road is difficult and dangerous!" He said, "It doesn't matter, let's see it!"
Passing through the desert, by the place where the monastery is now, they all heard bells! Bells like in Mount Athos ringing in the desert! All three-four cars stopped! They got down and said to each another: "Do you hear the bells?" The Metropolitan heard the bells, so did Fr. Ephraim, and the fathers and those who accompanied them.
And they built the first monastery of St. Anthony the Great, in which Elder Ephraim is today buried.

04/29/2022

When they asked Pope Thauphilos III
(He is the only Patriarch who enters the holy grave and comes out the carrier of the holy light)
What does it feel about when he sees the holy light coming out of the grave and what happens in detail before the light comes out, he says: "Praying in front of the stone on which the pure body of Christ was placed with strength, and continue to pray with fear and strength, and it is a prayer that was and still recites, and when the miracle of the holy light (fire) Holy) from within the holy stone On whom the holy body of Christ was laid.
And this holy light is blue and then changes into several colors, which cannot be explained within the boundaries of human science, because its gloom is like the cloud coming out of the lake, and it appears as a wet cloud but is a holy light.
The appearance of the holy light comes annually in different forms, it repeatedly fills the room where the tomb of Christ is located. And the most important characteristics of the holy light is that it does not burn, and I have received this holy light for sixteen years, and my beard has not burned. And he appears as a pillar of light, and from him the lighting of the candles that I carry, and then go out and give the holy light to the Armenian Patriarch and the Coptic, and all those present."
And the Holy Light lights some candles of the self-righteous believers, and illuminates the high lampshades in front of all those present.
This holy light flies like a pigeon to the whole church, and enters the small churches lighting up all the candles.
I want to put the characteristics of the holy light among the two points: A) It will not burn any part of the body if it falls on it, and it will burn them on the wahya that has supernatural qualities.
b) emerges with the orthodox patriarch's prayers.
C) He lights the candles of some believers himself, and moves from one side to another to light the candles in the holy church. And many say they have changed after the presence of this holy wonder.
The perfect miracle happened in 1579 with the Armenians, when the Armenians paid money to the Turks to agree to enter the Patriarch except throwing into the holy grave until the light came out, while the Orthodox Patriarch was standing sad with his patronage at the door near the column that burst from the middle and exploded He is the Holy Light, and that is as you see In this picture.
And I saw that a person was close, believe in Christ. And there is also a soldier man who witnessed this miracle if he was standing on a building near the gate of the Church of the Resurrection, he shouted with the loudest voice: that Jesus is God and threw himself from the top of 10 meters, and nothing of harm happened to him, and followed his footprints on the stones that became soft as a candle under him, and she is a witness on This one is The miracle, despite the Turks tried to wipe it out, they couldn't, they burned this martyr near the gate of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, then the Greeks gathered his bones and put them in the Benagia monastery, and his bones remained until the nineteenth century, and they spread a good smell.
And this incident happened during the era of Sultan Murad the V, and in the era of Patriarch Safronius the V. And the column with the hurt pain in it is still a witness to this miracle to this day. And the Orthodox visitors kiss this column when entering the Holy Resurrection Church.
Those who deny the crucifixion of Christ and his resurrection, and put obstacles in the way of this miracle, there is a well-known historian called the Beroni told that a Muslim ruler put a copper fern instead of the ferns that burn for the failure of the miracle, but when the holy light bursts, the copper wires lit up, glory to the Holy Trinity . . Amen

04/28/2022

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ!

«Сей день егоже сотвори Господь, возрадуемся и возвеселимся вонь».

Возрадуемся и возвеселимся ныне. Возрадуемся, ибо Христос воскрес из мертвых.

Как после темной ночи разгоняют тьму яркие лучи солнца, так мрак душ наших уничтожает Воскресший Христос!

Погрузился некогда во тьму душевную согрешивший Адам. Вкусил от древа, о котором сказал ему Бог: «в день, в который... вкусишь от него, смертью умрешь» (Быт. 2:17). Внешне не умер Адам именно в тот день, но духовно тогда для него наступила смерть.

Печать смерти легла на него, исчезла радость общения с Богом, Источником Жизни. Печаль легла на его сердце, скорби стали обуревать его душу. Дух его носил зерно смерти, пока наконец не умерло его тело, а душа сошла во ад.

Ныне же воскрес Христос, всем нам жизнь даруя!

Истребляя грех, вливает в нас струю жизни.
Воскресаем мы сперва душой, чтобы после воскреснуть и телом.

Как жизнь Адама после греха омрачилась ожиданием и сознанием смерти, так, после Воскресения Христова, у верующих в Него, жизнь озаряется ожиданием и предвкушением своего будущего воскресения.

Уже теперь дает Христос ощутить радость и сладость Его Благости. Укрепляет наши души и тело Божественными Своими Таинствами. Исполняет с верой возносимые Ему молитвы. Утешает нас в скорбях наших. Наполняет иногда нас невыразимым умилением и теплотой духовной после благоговейного причащения святых Его Тайн или усердной молитвы.

Всякое добро дарует Он нам еще в сей жизни, ибо жив Он, попрал смерть и воскрес из мертвых.

Возрадуемся в сей день и приступим ко Христу, как к Живому Источнику вечной жизни.

Святитель Иоанн Шанхайский и Сан-Фоанцисский Чудотворец

04/27/2022

The history of Pascha-egg cracking in Greece

Greeks have been cracking red eggs at Pascha for many centuries. The tradition, although it is also a fun game, is of course steeped in religious symbolism as well.

Despite this deep religious meaning, egg cracking has evolved into a fun tradition for the faithful of all ages in Greece and beyond, which many look forward to each Pascha.

Traced back to the early Christians of Mesopotamia, the custom of painting eggs red — in memory of the blood of Christ shed at His crucifixion — spread into Eastern Europe and Siberia through the Orthodox Churches, and later into Western Europe through the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

However, the tradition evolved across Europe, with people from many different cultures — especially this in Eastern Europe — painting elaborate, multi-colored Pascha eggs.

The Greek tradition of red Pascha eggs has deep religious significance
In Greece, dying eggs red, symbolizing Christ’s blood, has held strong throughout the millennia as an Pascha tradition. The egg in itself is a symbol, as its hard shell represents the sealed tomb of Jesus — the cracking of which symbolizes His resurrection from the dead and exit from the tomb.

Due to its religious significance, the egg serves as an emblem of the resurrection, and its decorated Pascha variations are globally recognized as a symbol of the most special day on the Christian calendar — Pascha, the event that sealed the promise for eternal life.

According to some followers of Pascha Christianity, we owe the Pascha tradition of painting eggs red to Mary Magdalene.

This tradition of some believers states that Mary Magdalene brought cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and that the eggs in her basket miraculously turned brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ.

How to play tsougrisma with Pascha eggs
In Greece, egg cracking, or tsougrisma (τσούγκρισμα in Greek), starts on the night of the Resurrection Service , the night before Pascha, and continues the next day at the Greek Pascha feast.

The red painted eggs are tapped against each other and cracked together between two people as they exchange the traditional Pascha greeting “Christos anesti!” (“Christ has risen”) – “Alithos anesti!” (“He Truly Has”).

Tsougrisma is really easy for anyone to play, and has very simple rules. Each player holds a red egg, and one taps the end of their egg against the end of the other player’s egg. The goal is to crack the opponent’s egg — without cracking yours, of course.

The rule is that you start with the same ends, pointy to pointy. When one end is cracked, the winner uses the same end of their egg to try to crack the other, undamaged end of the opponent’s egg.

It then all comes down to whichever egg remains undamaged. The player who successfully cracks the eggs of the other players is declared the winner and, it is said, will have good luck during the year.

Traditionally, when tapping the egg, the first player would say to his opponent “Christos anesti” (“Christ has risen!”), to which the second person responds “Alithos anesti!” (“He Truly Has”) as they return the tapping on their end.

Global popularity of egg cracking
Variations of egg cracking are practiced in a few countries — but the game is not always as spirited as in the Greek Pascha custom.

In Italy they have the same game, called “scuccetta,” only it is done with plain eggs, not red ones. In parts of Austria, Bavaria and German-speaking Switzerland the egg cracking of colored Pascha eggs is popularly known as “Ostereiertitschen” or “Eierpecken.”
https://greekreporter.com/2022/04/23/why-greeks-crack-red-eggs-on-easter/