Feast of Saints. Their Historicity, Significance and Lturgical, Religious and Ethnographic Importance - Vasile Miron

Preface / 7

Preliminaries / 9

Chapter I. General Notions about Saints and their Feasts / 16
1. Who are the saints / 16
2. The foundations of the veneration of the saints / 32
3. Forms of expression of the veneration of saints / 51
4. Canonization of saints in the Orthodox Church / 59
5. The origin and institution of the feasts of the saints / 65
6. The latreutic and educational-catechetical function of the feasts of the saints / 73

Chapter II. The Feasts of the Saint with General Honor in all the Orthodox Churches / 79
1. St. Great Martyr Dimitrie, The Fountain of Myrrh / 79
2. The Council of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel and of all the heavenly powers / 94
3. Saint Andrew the Apostle / 133
4. Saint Hierarch Nicolae / 160
5. The Holy Apostle the First Martyr and Archdeacon Stefan / 183
6. The Holy Hierarch Basil the Great / 199
7. The Council of Saint John the Baptist / 256
8. The Holy Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom / 281
9. Sfantul Mare Mucenic Gheorghe / 339
10. The Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen / 362
11. The birth of Saint John the Baptist / 379
12. The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul / 396
13. The Holy Prophet Elijah Tesviteanul / 437
14. The beheading of Saint John the Baptist / 454

Chapter III. The Feasts of the Saints with General Honor in the Romanian Orthodox Church / 470
1. Saint Pious Parascheva / 471
2. Saint Pious Dimitrie the New Basarabov / 477
3. Saint Pious Gregory the Decapolis / 483
4. Sfanta Mucenita Filofteia / 488
5. Saint Pious Nicodemus of Tismana / 492
6. The Holy Martyr Ioan cel Nou (John the New) from Suceava / 497

Conclusions / 506

BIBLIOGRAPHY / 513


 

Our work wants to emphasize that holiness is not an impossible act to accomplish, because it is the supreme ideal of our Christian life and therefore can be achieved by anyone in different steps or degrees, according to the gift received and measured to the endeavors of each, sustained and strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit. "The renewal of the world in the Christian spirit is possible only by raising all to the level of life in the grace of the Holy Spirit."
Through the window of this work, the ordinary believer has access to one of the most beautiful and fascinating sources of Orthodox Christian life and spirituality and, at the same time, to the wonderful folklore and ethnographic treasure of the Romanian people, because "folklore is the mirror in which it is reflected. the soul of the people under all its manifestations ”.
The book is addressed to the general public, clergy, believers of all ages and, especially, young people at the crossroads of centuries (millennium) and mentalities, constantly assailed by the spirit of secularism, misconceptions and confusions and false spiritual manifestations, which have the tendency to transform ancestral religious customs and beliefs into market products, emptied of the authentic meanings of living the Christian life. Living in the light of the holiday, we preserve our Orthodox Christian identity. The purpose of the book is to convince any Christian that the holidays of the saints and the religious traditions related to these holidays must be lived with all our being, because they are an organic part of the structure of our soul life.
If these feasts include such important moral and religious values ​​and such noble spiritual purposes, we are obliged to honor and respect them with all the piety and good Christian decency, celebrating them in such a way as to bear fruit in the fields of souls, to transform our life and our being, to become true Christian living in the love of neighbor and prayers for the salvation of the world, as the saints were. If when they lived on earth they were in close proximity to people, caressing them, alleviating their pains and healing their impotence and physical and mental illnesses, how much more can they do this now, when they dwell in the tents of heavenly glory and I know and feel through the Holy Spirit our daily sufferings, toils and anxieties. When we lift our hearts to them, the saints hear our prayers and receive from God the power to help us. As one great contemporary clergyman put it, “the saints defend Christianity and all of God's creation. We would pray to any saint - there is no bridge or bridge between us and the saints, but there are only wings through which to communicate without customs ”.
Therefore, "having around us so many clouds of testimony" (Hebrews 12: 1), "let us thank the brethren, the Most Good God and the heavenly Father, Who has given us such lighters and guides, protectors and guardians; defenders and doctors, parents and helpers, warm protectors, whom we call with faith in trouble and trouble, in times of war and danger, we will always find mediators, prayers to God, cover, defenders and, after God, saviors of to our soul and bodies ”.

Archimandrite Conf. Univ. Dr. VASILE MIRON