Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.
Synaxarion . From the Menaion.
On June 13 we commemorate the Holy Virgin Martyr Aquilina (Akylina) of Byblos (293)
On this day we also commemorate the holy Martyr Diodore of Emesa.
On this day we also commemorate the holy Myriad (or Ten Thousand) of Martyrs who were beheaded.
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Father Triphyllios, Bishop of Leukosia and Disciple of Saint Spyridon (~370)
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Father Antipater, Bishop of Bostra in Arabia.(458)
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Father Eulogius, Patriarch of Antioch.(607)
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Mother Anna of Larissa(†826) and her son John.
Our righteous Father James, who out of delusion worshipped the Antichrist, that is, the devil, but repented.
On this day we also commemorate the holy Hieromartyr Fandila the Priest-monk of Cordova.(853)
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Fathers Andronicus (1395) and Sabbas (1410) of Moscow.
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Father Philotheos of Sklataina, Second Founder of the Monastery of Saint Stephen at Meteora (+ 1550)
On this day we also commemorate the holy New Hieromartyr Anthimos, Metropolitan of Wallachia (+ 1716)
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Mother Alexandra, foundress of Diveyevo Convent (1789).
On this day we also commemorate our righteous Father John Triantaphyllides, the New Chrysostom and Merciful (from Chaldia Pontos (1903)
Finding of the Sacred Relics of the Newly-Revealed Hieromartyr Nicholas in Karyes of Lesvos in 1960
On this day, the Thursday of the sixth week of Pascha, we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ.
On this day, the Holy Georgian Martyrs of Persia (+ 1616)
On this day, the Synaxis of Panagia Arvanitissa in Chios
On this day, the Synaxis of Panagia Chrisopigi of Sifnos
Verses
Thou didst sit at the right hand of the Father, O Word,
Granting unto Thine initiates a most steadfast faith.
“Ascension, my Saint, give me a little fish for the Brother.”
By Elder Paisios the Athonite
I remember an elderly monk at Esphigmenou Monastery on Mount Athos, who was so simple, that he thought “Ascension” was the name of a women Saint. He prayed to her on his komboschoini, “Saint of God, intercede for us!” Once, he had to feed a sick Brother in the infirmary and had nothing to offer him. He immediately went down the stairs, opened a window overlooking the sea, stretched his arms out and said, “Ascension, my Saint, give me a little fish for the Brother.” And right away, as if by miracle, a big fish jumped out of the sea and into his hands. The others who saw him were astonished, but he simply looked at them smiling, as if he were saying “What’s so strange about what you’ve just seen?” And then look at us. We may know everything about the life and martyrdom of the Saints, or about when and how the Ascension took place and yet, we cannot even catch a tiny little fish! These are the strange and paradoxical things of the spiritual life, which the reasoning of those intellectuals that are centred on themselves and not on God, cannot explain, because their knowledge is of this world and sterile; their spirit is ill with secularism and their mind void of the Holy Spirit.
Source: From Spiritual Counsels, Volume 1: With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man by Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (Holy Monastery “Evangelist John the Theologion”, 2006), p. 230.
***
How Blessed Natalia Ivanovna Dimitrievna saw the Truth off.
Many times I heard around the Monastery that before her death in 1900, Blessed Matushka Natashenka saw the Truth off to Heaven with the ringing of the bells. But how it happened exactly, I could not find out.
During the 1950’s I happened to meet one woman from the village of Knyaz-Ivanovo. She told me that this happened during her own time, at the time of some summer feast; it seems it was on Pentecost.
At the time there was not yet a bell tower in the Monastery, and the bells were located at the end of the canal on a wooden beam. Natalia Ivanovna’s hermitage was next to the bread bakery, and she always rang for the Midnight Office. That day she unexpectedly began ringing during the Liturgy. Everyone left the church to find out what had happened. The late Abbess Maria also came out. Everyone went to the bells. The Abbess asked the blessed one why she was ringing like that. She answered:
”I am seeing Truth off to Heaven. The Truth is no longer on Earth!
”Well, don’t do that again,” the Abbess said.
”I will never do it again,” replied the blessed one and dropped her hands. That year she died.
From Saint Seraphim, Wonderworker of Sarov and His Spiritual Inheritance, St. Xenia Skete, Wildwood, CA, 2004 , Nun Seraphima (Bulgakova)
Source: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/44009.html
***
“Peace be unto you.”
Blessed Father Charalambos, who was also Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Dionysios of Mount Athos, when he was in Nea Sketi in 1964, at an unsuspecting moment and to my question “what is the difference between the peace of Christ and the peace of the world”, answered: ” Peace with peace makes a difference. There is a vast difference from the peace that God gives. Thus once praying near the window of my cell, I felt a thing that no one can express. Where I was praying, I suddenly hear a shout “shhh, shhh… shhh”. My external senses were cut off and an indescribable peace “opened” in my heart. I couldn’t move. An inexpressible sweetness, serenity, peace… It cannot be described! I felt Heaven inside me. This took maybe an hour. Then he retreated. But it stayed in me. Of course, very little remained. And since then, no matter what happened, any care, turmoil, temptation, etc., the peace inside me was not lost. When that great and inexpressible peace was gone, I wept, cried: what was this, what was this? My God, I said, was this the peace that you gave to the Holy Apostles: “I will give you peace”? I couldn’t stand it. “I was crying, crying, what was that, my God?!!”
Experiences during the Divine Liturgy, pr. Stefanou K. Anagnostopoulou, Athens.[Google Translate]
O Lord, ascended into heaven, illumine our mind with Your understanding that we may more easily adopt Your unfathomable love toward mankind and weep–weep from sorrow because of our hardened hearts and because of our darkened and malicious minds and weep because of joy, because of Your love toward us, who are darkened and embittered. St. Nicholai Velimirovich
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2023/05/24/o-lord-ascended-into-heaven-illumine-our-mind-with-your-understanding-that-we-may-more-easily-adopt-your-unfathomable-love-toward-mankind-and-weep-weep-from-sorrow-because-of-our-hardened-hearts-an/
The feast of the Ascension is the revelation of our human vocation… we are all called to become partakers of the divine nature. Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/the-feast-of-the-ascension-is-the-revelation-of-our-human-vocation-we-are-all-called-to-become-partakers-of-the-divine-nature-anthony-bloom-of-sourozh/
St. Alexandra (Melgunova), foundress of Diveyevo Convent
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2018/06/12/st-alexandra-melgunova-foundress-of-diveyevo-convent/
Scripture readings for the Feast are the following: At Vespers: Isaiah 2:2-3, 62:10-63:9; Zechariah 14:1,4,8-11.
At the Orthros (Matins) Mark 16:9-20;
At the Divine Liturgy: Acts 1:1-12; Luke 24:36-53.
Apolytikion of Holy Ascension in the Fourth Tone
O Christ our God, You ascended in Glory and gladdened Your disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. Your blessing assured them that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.
Apolytikion.
Mode 4.
You ascended in glory, O Christ our God, after You filled the Disciples with joy, by promising to send them the Holy Spirit, and You blessed them and established their faith, that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.
Troparion of Holy Ascension, Tone IV:
Thou hast ascended in glory, O Christ our God, * having gladdened Thy disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit; * and they were assured by the blessing * that Thou art the Son of God, ** the Redeemer of the world. (Thrice)
Oikos
Leaving things of earth upon the earth; consigning things of ash unto the mound; come, let us rouse ourselves, lift up eyes and thoughts, and to the heights ascend. Let our faces and our senses, mortals, likewise look to heaven’s gates. Imagine us upon the mount called Olivet to gaze upon the Redeemer riding on a cloud. From there, the Lord went straightaway to the heavens. There, the Liberal One distributes gifts to His Apostles: as a father calling them, confirming them; directing them as sons; saying to them, “I do not part from you. I am with you, and there is, therefore, none against you.”
Idiomelon. Mode 1.
Now that You have ascended to heaven, from where You descended, please do not leave us orphans, O Lord. May Your Spirit come and bring peace to the world. Show the sons of men Your mighty works, O Lord who love humanity.
Idiomelon. Mode pl. 2.
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; praise Him, all you peoples.
Lord, when Your Apostles saw You being lifted up on the clouds, they were filled with sadness. They grieved, and with tearful laments they said to You, O Christ the giver of life, “Master, do not make orphans of us your servants, whom You loved for pity’s sake, You who are compassionate. But as You promised, send us Your all-holy Spirit, to guide and illumine our souls.”
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE [24:36-53]
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
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