Monday, July 9, 2012

Notable Feast Days - Month of July

While things seem to have a slower pace over the summer and liturgically as we journey through the days and weeks after Pentecost, there are some significant commemorations and feasts in the month of July, including some of particular note for our tradition:

Tuesday, July 10 - Venerable Anthony of the Caves, the first of all the Monks of Rus' to lead a monastic life during the sovereignty of Vladimir the Great (see below). He was a hermit, who in the laura called “the Caves” followed the monastic life which he had learned on Mt. Athos. He was the founder of Russian monasticism.

Sunday, July 15 - Vladimir the Great, Equal to the Apostles. Grand Duke of Rus' who sought to bring Christianity to his realm and thus to our ancestral Slavic lands. Son of Prince Svyatoslav, grandson of Igor and Olga, he was pagan for the first part of his life. He sent out envoys to find the religion best suited for his people, and he and his court were later baptized in the orthodox faith. It was his envoys who, upon hearing the Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia, described the experience to their master by saying "we no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth".

Friday, July 20 -  Feast of the Holy and Glorious Apostle Elijah (a/k/a St. Elias), the Tishbite, who was a prophet of the Lord in the days of Ahab, the king of Israel and defended the rights of the one God against the unfaithful people with such a strength of spirit that he prefigured not only John the Baptist but even Christ himself. Written prophecies do not remain, but his memory is faithfully kept, especially on Mount Carmel. simple feast which falls on a Friday this year, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated on this date at 7PM. Propers, hymns and hymn selection (order of worship) for this Feast Day will be posted on the For the Faithful resource page as soon as possible.


[adapted from: Byzantine Monthly Menaion - Volume 11 (July), Metropolitan Cantor Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 2005]

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