“The Standing of Mary of Egypt” on last Thursday is the culmination of Lent. In the Church for two months now, we have been taught examples of piety: the repentance of publicans and fornicators, icon worship and hesychasm. Like the Tree of life in the middle of Paradise, the Cross of the Lord is brought to us for worship in the middle of the Lent. As a guide to heaven, “The Ladder” of St John is recommended. And as the highest example of repentance (not for imitation, but for admiration) – the life of St. Mary. The fragile female nature was capable of impossible feats, surpassing the greatest men of desert. Her story fits into a few paragraphs, but can you imagine 47 years in the desert without food and clothing? What willpower and desire to please God helped her endure the external and internal fire? On the day of her memory – on the 5th Sunday of Lent – the Canon at Matins commemorates the righteous Job and the poor Lazarus: “As Job in leprosy, eaten by worms, so Lazarus before the gates of the rich prayed: blessed is the God of our fathers. And no one gave him even a crumb from the rich man’s table, but he received instead the bosom of Abraham.” Because none of our sacrifices, nothing earthly, can compare with what God has prepared for those who love Him. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who, had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13: 45-46). This pearl is Christ. To be with Him, true Christians are willing to bare with suffering, privation, and even premature death. The main thing is that both life be Christ and death be gain (Epistle to the Philippians, 1: 21).
Parish News
Presanctified Liturgy at the parish of Iveron icon of the Mother of God in Manila on Thursday of the 5th week of Lent. The longest Divine service of this day – “Standing of St Mary of Egypt” – is the culmination of the Lenten prayer feat.
The Department of Charity and Social Ministry of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, together with the Sisterhood of Mercy in General Santos City, continue the feeding program for low-income families and those in need on the islands of Mindanao and Luzon, in the Republic of the Philippines. The chairman of the department, […]
In General Santos (Mindanao) a Sacrament of Baptism was performed by priest Roman Buniel. Taisya, Sofia, Mary and Michael entered the Holy Church
Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of the Cross, the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the parish in honor of Christ the Savior in Tagaytay, Philippines. After the service, families with children were presented with complex vitamins necessary for the proper growth and development of the […]
On March 29, the secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev) and the chairman of the missionary department of the diocese, Priest Moses Kahilig, celebrated a prayer service to St. John of Shanghai on Tubabao Island, where the saint stayed from 1949 to 1951 together with Russian refugees. On […]
In the Philippines, prayers for the repose of the innocently murdered in the Crocus City Hall were sent up. On March 24, with the blessing of His Eminence Pavel, Metropolitan of Manila and Hanoi, funeral services were held in the parishes of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese for the innocently murdered during […]
Sunday of Orthodoxy in Tagaytay. Traditional procession with icons on this day in the parish of Nativity of our Lord.