{"id":10521,"date":"2021-11-23T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=10521"},"modified":"2021-11-23T05:00:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T10:00:44","slug":"st-peter-news-november-23-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-news-november-23-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter News November 23, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
\nThirteenth Sunday of Luke <\/h2>\n

Venerable-Martyr Stephen the New, Martyr Irinarchos of Sebastia and those with him<\/h4>\n

Who was Venerable-Martyr Stephen the New?<\/h2>\n
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\n\"Venerable-Martyr\n<\/div>\n
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The Monk Martyr and Confessor Stephen the New was born in 715 at Constantinople into a pious Christian family. His parents, having two daughters, prayed the Lord for a son. The mother of the new-born Stephen took him to the Blachernae church of the Most Holy Theotokos and dedicated him to God.<\/p>\n

During the reign of the emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741) there was a persecution against the holy icons and against those venerating them. With the support of the emperor, the adherents of the Iconoclast heresy seized control of the supreme positions of authority in the Empire and in the Church. Persecuted by the powers of this world, Orthodoxy was preserved in monasteries far from the capital, in solitary cells, and in the brave and faithful hearts of its followers.<\/p>\n

The Orthodox parents of Saint Stephen, grieved by the prevailing impiety, fled from Constantinople to Bithynia, and they gave over their sixteen-year-old son in obedience to the monk John, who labored in asceticism in a solitary place on the Mount of Saint Auxentius. Saint Stephen dwelt with the venerable monk John for more than fifteen years, devoting himself totally to this spirit-bearing Elder, and learning monastic activity from him. Here Stephen received the news that his father was dead, and his mother and sisters had been tonsured as nuns.<\/p>\n

After a certain time his teacher John also died. With deep sorrow Saint Stephen buried his venerable body, and continued with monastic effort in his cave by himself. Soon monks began to come to the ascetic, desiring to learn from him the virtuous and salvific life, and a monastery was established, with Saint Stephen as the igumen. At forty-two years of age Stephen left the monastery he founded, and he went to another mountain, on whose summit he dwelt in deep seclusion in a solitary cell. But here also a community of monks soon gathered, seeking the spiritual guidance of Saint Stephen.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Read the entire history on the Orthodox Church in America<\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Services This Week<\/h2>\n