{"id":11824,"date":"2023-11-20T19:10:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T00:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=11824"},"modified":"2023-11-20T19:10:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T00:10:38","slug":"st-peter-news-november-12-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-news-november-12-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter News November 22, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Venerable Alypios the Stylite of Adrianople; Nikon the preacher of repentance; Venerable Stylianos of Paphlagonia<\/h4>\n
\n\"Venerable<\/p>\n

Venerable Alypios the Stylite of Adrianople<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Our holy Father Alypios was born in the city of Adrianople in the province of Paphlagonia during the reign of Heraclius (610-41). When he was only three his father died, and his mother placed him in the care of Bishop Theodore to study sacred literature and to be brought up for the service of the Church. The child’s remarkable ability as well as his great piety commended him to the Bishop’s successor, who made him steward of the church and ordained him deacon when he reached the canonical age. He fulfilled this double office admirably, but he longed to follow the eremitic life. As a result, he gave away his goods to the poor and told his pious mother of his intention to leave for the Holy Land and to embrace the monastic life.<\/p>\n

So fast did word spread of the servant of God that, much as he wished to persist in his holy work without distraction, he was under the necessity of welcoming many of the faithful who came to receive his blessing. Gentle, easy to speak to, attentive to all alike, young and old, rich and poor, he would have no one leave him except filled with spiritual joy. But becoming aware that such involvement was harmful to his soul, and having by then sufficient skill in the ascetic art, he decided to make his abode on top of the pillar, protected from the weather by a small, rough, wooden roof.<\/p>\n

He was ferociously attacked by demons jealous of his progress. When they began hurling stones at him, he asked his mother, who lived at the foot of the pillar, for an axe, intending to show them that soldiers of Christ rate their attacks no more than juvenile insults. Throwing the roof that sheltered him to the ground, he faced without protection the hail of stones, prepared to die like Stephen the first Martyr, if that were the will of God. Alarmed by his boldness and unshakeable faith in God, the demons took flight from the place, bewailing their discomfiture.<\/p>\n

The Saint received the gift of prophecy; he healed the sick, reconciled enemies, gave instruction in the mysteries of divine wisdom, either directly or in letters; he became all things to all men that he might by all means save some for Christ (1 Cor. 9:22). One day, having thrown down his tunic to a poor man in need, he remained shivering on the pillar until a recluse of the men’s monastery saw his state and came to his assistance.<\/p>\n

When he gave us his soul to God at last, aged ninety-nine, the people hastened to venerate his body and a possessed man was healed in its presence. St. Alypios reposed in the year 640, at age 118. The body of the venerable stylite was buried in the church he founded in honor of the holy Martyr Euphemia. His head is preserved in the Monastery of Koutloumousiou on the Mount Athos. The feast day of Saint Alypios is celebrated on November 26.<\/p>\n

Read the complete history on the Mystagogy<\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n

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