Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord and of all the Saints!

Although the Church marks the memory of one or another saint every day of the year, today is a special day. Today we celebrate absolutely all of the saints: those whom we know, those about whom we have yet to learn, as well as those known only to our Lord God. The problem is that we earthly and sinful people are not always capable of recognizing holiness. Therefore, without a doubt, there are people who lived sanctified and God-pleasing lives, but were not noticed by the Church hierarchy and thus no one here on earth has glorified them. No one has composed troparia or canons in their honour. No one has painted icons with their likenesses. The memory of these God-pleasers here on earth has been lost. This of course does not mean that these people have disappeared. No, the Lord God knows and remembers each of His faithful servants and settles them in a place of rest in the Heavenly Kingdom! Since our Heavenly Father remembers them, we, who are created in His image and likeness, are obliged to emulate Him and also try to glorify all the saints. Today this is what we are doing.

Of course, it is not enough to glorify all the saints only once a year with a church service and think that we have worthily remembered them. We have to try to emulate the saints in our own lives. This is the most honourable and correct way of glorifying them. To do this, we must first study their lives. Thankfully, in our time, it is very easy to find, save, and disseminate information. We can find practically anything on the internet, including the lives of the saints, as well as the written works of many of these saints. Each person has his or her own favourite internet sites, YouTube channels, Instagram pages, etc. It would be good if amongst our favourite sites there were webpages on which the lives of the saints are posted. Perhaps if we begin to use the internet for the study of the lives of the saints, we will discover for ourselves new saints and, through the study of their lives, will learn to better battle our passions and sins, in such a way becoming, at least in part, like them.

Today let’s fervently pray to all the saints that they, through their prayers for us, strengthen us on our journey to the Kingdom of God.

priest Alexis

P.S.

Last Sunday, on the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, several terrorist attacks took place in Dagestan. During these attacks, quite a few people were killed, including an Orthodox priest, Father Nicholas, who for 44 years served in one parish. He wasn’t killed by chance, but because he was an Orthodox priest. Sunday evening Father Nicholas was shot beside his church, which the terrorist had come to set on fire. At another church in Dagestan, Michael, a church custodian, was killed. He tried to stop the murderers at the entrance to the church and was killed in the process. Because of his efforts, the clergy and parishioners were able to lock the doors and save themselves. In such a way, the Church acquired two new martyrs. We don’t know whether they will ever be officially canonized as saints, but it seems to me that perhaps they are already standing amongst the great multitude of saints that we glorified today. Let’s pray for the repose of the souls of the newly-departed, murdered for the sake of Christ’s name, archpriest Nicholas and Michael, and, if they have pleased the Lord through their lives and acquired boldness in prayer at the throne of the Most-high God as a result of their deaths, let them also today pray for us sinners.