{"id":11765,"date":"2023-10-03T00:15:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T04:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=11765"},"modified":"2023-10-03T00:15:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T04:15:02","slug":"st-peter-news-october-4-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-news-october-4-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter News October 4, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
\nThe Third Sunday of Luke<\/h2>\n

The Righteous Mother Pelagia the penitent of Antioch, Martyr Pelagia the Virgin of Antioch; Venerable Tha\u00efs of Egypt<\/h4>\n

Who was Righteous Mother Pelagia the Penitent of Antioch?<\/h4>\n
\n\"Righteous<\/p>\n

Righteous Mother Pelagia the Penitent of Antioch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Lord loves sinners with an abiding love, we are told, and it is easy to imagine that He must have loved the Venerable Pelagia pelagia2 with a special fervor – because this egregious sinner not only sought repentance for her misdeeds, but then went on to become a pious and ascetic saint.<\/p>\n

Born in Antioch to parents who were intensely observant pagans, this Third-Century saint frittered away her youth. Blessed with beautiful features and graceful limbs, she soon became a popular dancer and an accomplished actress. So wanton and reckless were her ways, however, that she fell at last into the abyss of outright prostitution, which brought her great wealth – even as it deadened and degraded her soul to any awareness of God or spiritual beauty.<\/p>\n

Pelagia seemed doomed to a life of moral collapse . . . but the Almighty took mercy on her and inspired her to confront the iniquity into which her existence had descended. The miracle of her awakening took place one morning around 250 A.D. as she was passing the Church of the Holy Martyr Julian, where the famed Bishop St. Nonnus was delivering a powerful sermon that had his listeners entranced.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Read the entire story on the Patriarch of Antioch.<\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n

Services and Events This Week<\/h2>\n