December- Icon Of The Day

Philaret The Merciful
December 1

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Saint Philaret a native of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor, was a virtuous Christian layman
who lived in lawful wedlock and raised a family. He was most renowned for his generosity
to all in need. With the permission of God, in a short
space of time he lost the greater part
of his possessions
to theft and other misfortunes and was left with nothing but his family, his home, and a little livestock. Yet he
continued to give generously
to the poor despite the faint-heartedness of his family, who reproached him for giving alms when they were in need themselves; and God, seeing his faith, restored his prosperity to him
many times over. He foresaw the day of his death, and reposed in an odour of sanctity in Constantinople in 789

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Prophet Habakkuk
December 2

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This Prophet, whose name means "loving embrace," is eighth in order of the minor Prophets. His homeland and tribe are not recorded in the Divine Scriptures; according to some, he was of the tribe of Symeon. He prophesied in the years of Joachim, who is also called Jechonias, before the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish People, which took place 599 years before Christ. When Nabuchodonosor came to rake the Israelites captive, Abbacum fled to Ostrakine, and after Jerusalem was destroyed and the Chaldeans departed, Abbacum returned and cultivated his field. Once he made some pottage and was about to take it to the reapers in the field. An Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and carried him with the pottage to Babylon to feed
Daniel in the lions' den, then brought him back
to Judea (Bel and the Dragon, 33-39): His book of prophecy is divided into three chapters; the third chapter is also used as the Fourth Ode of the Psalter. His holy relics were found in Palestine during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great, through a revelation to Zebennus, Bishop of Eleutheropolis -Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., Book VI 1, 2-9

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John Of Damascus
December 4

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Description of John Saint John was born in Damascus about the year 675, the son of wealthy and pious
parents, of the family of Mansur. He was reared
together with Saint Cosmas (see Oct. 14). who had been adopted by
John's father Sergius, a man of high rank in the service of the Caliph of Damascus. Both of these
young men were instructed by a certain monk, also named Cosmas, who had been taken
captive in Italy by the Arabs
and later ransomed by John's Father. Saint John became a great philosopher and enlightener of the age in which he lived, and was honoured
by the Caliph with the dignity of counsellor

When Emperor Leo the Isaurian (reigned 717-741) begin his war on the holy icons, John wrote epistles
defending their veneration. Since the Saint, being under the Caliph of Damascus, was beyond
Leo's power, the Iconoclast Emperor had a letter forged in John's handwriting which invited
Leo to attack Damascus, saying the city guard
was then weak; Leo then sent this letter to the Caliph, who in his fury punished John's supposed treason with the severing
of his right hand. The Saint obtained the Caliph's Permission to have his severed hand again, and that night prayed fervently to the most holy Theotokos before her icon. She appeared to him in a dream and healed his hand, which, when he awoke, he found to be healed in truth. This Miracle convinced
the Caliph of his innocence, and he restored John to his office as counsellor. The Saint, however, with many pleadings obtained his permission
to withdraw from the world to become a monk. He assumed the monastic habit in the Monastery of Saint Sabbas. Then he had as elder a very simple and austere monk who commanded
him neither to write to anyone, nor to speak of the worldly knowledge he had acquired, and John faithfully obeyed. A monk grieving over his brother's death, however, after insisting vehemently, prevailed upon John to write a funeral hymn to console him for his brother's death. When John's elder learned of his transgression of the rule he had given him, he cast him out of his cell, and would only accept him back after John had humbly, with much self-condemnation and without murmuring consented to clean all the latrines in the lavra. After his elder had received him back, our Lady appeared to the elder and sternly charged him not to hinder John any longer from his writings and composition of hymns.
In his writings he fought courageously against the Iconoclasts Leo the Isaurian and his son Constantine Copronymus. He was also the first to write a refutation of Islam. The time he had spent as a counsellor in the courts of the Moslems of Damascus had given him opportunity to learn their teachings at first hand, and he wrote against their errors with a sound understanding of their essence. Saint John was surnamed
Chrysorroas ("Golden-stream") because of the eloquence of his rhetorical style and the great abundance of his writings; this name - Chrysorroas was also the name of the river that flows by Damascus. In his writings he set forth the Orthodox Faith with exactness and order. In his old age, after his foster-brother Cosmas had been made Bishop of Maiuma, John also was ordained presbyter by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Having lived eighty-four years, he reposed in peace in 760. In addition to his theological writings, he adorned the Church of Christ with metrical and prose hymns and composed many of the prosomia used as the models for the melodies of the Church's liturgical chant; he also composed many of the sacred hymns for the feasts of the Lord Saviour and the Theotokos. The life of Saint John of Damascus was written by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem

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Great Martyr Barbara
December 4

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Description of Barbara the Great Martyr
Saint Barbara was from Heliopolis of Phoenicia and lived during the reign of Maximian
She was the daughter of a certain idolater named Dioscorus. When Barbara came of age, she was enlightened in her pure heart and secretly believed in the Holy Trinity. About this time Dioscorus began building a bath-house; before it was finished he was required to go away to attend to certain matters, and in his absence Barbara directed the workmen to build a third window in addition to the two her Father had commanded. She also inscribed the sign of the Cross with her finger upon the marble of the bath-house, leaving the saving sign cut as deeply into the marble as if it had been done with an iron too. (When the Synaxarion of Saint Barbara was written, the marble of the bath-house and the cross inscribed by Saint Barbara were still preserved, and many healings were worked there.) When Dioscorus returned, he asked why the third window had been added; Barbara began to declare to him the mystery of the Trinity. Because she refused to renounce her faith, Dioscorus tortured Barbara inhumanely, and after subjecting her to many sufferings he beheaded her with his own hands, in the year 290

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Savas The Sanctified
December 5

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Description of Sabbas
This Saint was born in 439 in Moutalaska, a small village of Cappadocia. He entered the arena of the monastic life
from childhood and was under that master trainer of
monastics, Euthymius, the Great, the teacher of the
desert. He became the spiritual Father of many monks
and an instructor for the monasteries in Palestine, and
was appointed leader (archimandrite) of the desert
dwellers of Palestine by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In his
old age he went to Constantinople, to the Emperors
Anastasius and Saint Justinian the Great, in behalf of the
Orthodox Faith and the dogmas of the Council of
Chalcedon. Having lived ninety-four years, he reposed in 533. The Typicon for the ecclesiastical services had its
beginning in the monastery established by this righteous
one

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Nicholas The Wonderworker
December 6

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Description of Nicholas
This Saint lived during the reign of Saint Constantine the
Great, and reposed in 330, As a young man, he desired
to espouse the solitary life. He made a pilgrimage to the
holy city Jerusalem, where he found a place to withdraw
to devote himself to prayer. It was made known to him
however, that this was not the will of God for him, but
that he should return to his homeland to be a cause of
salvation for many. He returned to Myra, and was
ordained bishop. He became known for his abundant
mercy, providing for the poor and needy, and delivering
those who had been unjustly accused. No less was he
known for his zeal for the truth. He was present at the
First Ecumenical Council of the 318 Fathers at Nicaea in
325
;upon hearing the blasphemies that Arius brazenly uttered against the Son of God, Saint Nicholas struck him on the
face. Since the canons of the Church forbid the clergy to
strike any man at all, his fellow bishops were in
perplexity what disciplinary action was to be taken against this hierarch whom all revered. In the night our
Lord Jesus Christ and our Lady Theotokos appeared to
certain of the bishops, informing them that no action was
to be taken against him, since he had acted not out of passion, but extreme love and piety. The Dismissal
Hymn for holy hierarchs, The truth of things hath
revealed thee to thy flock ... was written originally for
Saint Nicholas. He is the patron of all travellers, and of
sea-farers in particular; he is one of the best known and
best loved Saints of all time

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John Of Kronstadt
December 7

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Saint John of Kronstadt was a married priest, who lived with his wife in virginity. Through his untiring labours in his priestly duties and love for the poor and sinners, he was granted by our Lord great gifts of clairvoyance and miracle - working, to such a degree that in the last years of his life miracles of healings - both of body and of soul - were performed countless times each day through his prayers, often for people who had only written to him asking his help. During his lifetime he was known throughout Russia, as well as in the Western world. He has left us his diary My Life in Christ as a spiritual treasure for Christians of every age; simple in language, it expounds the deepest mysteries of our Faith with that wisdom which is given only to a heart purified by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Foreseeing as a true prophet the Revolution Of 1917, he unsparingly rebuked the growing apostasy among the people; he foretold that the very name of Russia would be changed. As the darkness of unbelief grew thicker, he shone forth as a beacon of unquenchable piety, comforting the faithful through the many miracles that he worked and the fatherly love and simplicity with which he received all. Saint John reposed in peace in 1908

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Ambrose, Bp. Of Milan
December 7

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This Saint was born in Gaul in 340, and was a member of the Roman Senate. After the death of Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Milan, a violent dispute arose among the Orthodox and Arians about who would succeed him. Ambrose, desiring as Governor of the province to restore the peace, attempted to mediate between them. As he spoke to the people, eloquently persuading them to elect a new bishop without tumult and disorder, a young child, inspired from on high, suddenly cried out "Ambrose, bishop!" To his astonishment and dismay, the people immediately took up this cry themselves, and over his many protests, he was raised to the episcopal throne of Milan on December 7, 374. A great Father of the Church, he wrote many works in Latin, and was both an unwearying opponent of Arianism, and a fearless accuser of emperors when they transgressed the law of God. Having lived fifty-seven years, he reposed on April 4, on the eve of Pascha, in the year 397

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Patapios Of Thebes
December 8
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This Saint was from the Thebaid of Egypt and struggled many years in the wilderness. He departed for Constantinople, and having performed many miracles and healings, he reposed in peace in a mountain cave on the Gulf of Corinth, where his holy relics are found incorrupt to the present day

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Conception Of The Theotokos
December 8

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Description of The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos

According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since Saint Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift. And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God's promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, and was deemed worthy to become the mother of the Mother of our Lord

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