Agios ephraim biography of christopher
•
Saint Christopher the Martyr
Mount Athos lithography (icon) of Saint Christopher the Martyr on natural wood carved by hand.
Saint Christopher lived and martyred during the period when Decius was emperor of Rome. He came from a barbaric tribe and was originally called Reprobus. In Antioch, where he was taken prisoner, he embraced the Christian faith and was baptized a Christian by Bishop Babylon with the name Christopher.
One day, he defended Christians who were being persecuted by pagans, with the result that he was reported to Decius who ordered his arrest. The Saint miraculously managed to multiply the bread to satisfy the hungry soldiers who were chasing him. The Roman soldiers were baptized Christians and as a result they were arrested and beheaded.
Decius tried with flattery to övertyga Christopher to embrace the idols and sent him two women of free morals to please him. At the urging of the Saint, these women were baptized Christians and then died a martyr'
•
Hades rules over our mortal race, but not forever. Laid in the tomb, O Mighty One, with thy life-giving hand thou hast destroyed the bars of death. As the first born who rose from the dead, thou hast proclaimed true redemption, O Savior, to those who throughout the ages slept in the tombs. -From the Kathisma, Holy Friday
Childhood
Born Paul Robert Penney on September 3, 1956 in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador (not even ten years after the Republic of Newfoundland, a British colony, joined the Canadian confederation), Dad was proud of his heritage. He would tell his children of his childhood berry-picking and playing kick-the-can with siblings and cousins who all lived on the same street, ‘Penney Avenue’. He was the second oldest of four children and one of countless cousins.
Possessing an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, Dad convinced a local shop-keeper to let him cart snacks and drinks up the hill to sell to workers at a local construction site. Th
•
Saint Alexander, Patriarch of Constantinople
Saints Alexander, John and Paul, Patriarchs of Constantinople, lived at different times, but each of them happened to clash with the activities of heretics who sought to distort the teachings of the Church. Saint Alexander (325-340) was a vicar bishop during the time of Saint Metrophanes (June 4),…
Read the LifeTroparion & Kontakion
Saint John, Patriarch of Constantinople
Saint John IV the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople (582-595), is famed in the Orthodox Church as the compiler of a penitential Nomokanon (i.e. rule for penances), which has come down to us in several distinct versions, but their foundation is one and the same. These are instructions for priests…
Read the LifeTroparion & Kontakion
Saint Paul the New, Patriarch of Constantinople
Saint Paul, by birth a Cypriot, became Patriarch of Constantinople (780-784) during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo IV the Khazar (775-780), and was