St. Euphemia the Great Martyr icon (2)

St. Euphemia the Great Martyr icon (2)

$ 19.00

Orthodox icon of Saint Euphemia the All-praised the Great Martyr (2).

Commemorated Sept 16 and July 11

Saint Euphemia was the daughter of pious parents. Her father was a senator named Philophronos and her mother was Theodosia. She was born in Chalcedon, located across the Bosporus from the city of Byzantium. From her youth she dedicated her life to Christ and practiced the virtues of prayer, fasting and chastity. She suffered martyrdom in the city of Chalcedon in the year 304, during the time of the persecution against Christians by the emperor Diocletian (284-305). The miracle of Saint Euphemia.

In the year 451 in the city of Chalcedon, in the very church where the glorified relics of the holy Great Martyr Euphemia rested, the sessions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (July 16) took place. The Council was convened for determining the precise dogmatic formulae of the Orthodox Church concerning the nature of the God-Man Jesus Christ. This was necessary because of the widespread heresy of the Monophysites [mono-physis meaning one nature], who opposed the Orthodox teaching of the two natures in Jesus Christ, the Divine and the Human natures (in one Divine Person).

The Monophysites falsely affirmed that in Christ was only one nature, the Divine [i.e. that Jesus is God but not man, by nature], causing discord and unrest within the Church. At the Council were present 630 representatives from all the local Christian Churches. On the Orthodox side Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople (July 3), Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem (July 2), and representatives of St Leo, Pope of Rome (February 18) participated in the conciliar deliberations. The Monophysites were present in large numbers, headed by Dioscorus, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the Constantinople archimandrite Eutychius. After prolonged discussions the two sides could not come to a decisive agreement.

The holy Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople proposed that the Council submit the decision of the Church dispute to the Holy Spirit, through His undoubted bearer St Euphemia the All-Praised, whose wonderworking relics had been discovered during the Council's discussions. The Orthodox hierarchs and their opponents wrote down their confessions of faith on separate scrolls and sealed them with their seals. They opened the tomb of the holy Great Martyr Euphemia and placed both scrolls upon her bosom. Then, in the presence of the emperor Marcian (450-457), the participants of the Council sealed the tomb, putting on it the imperial seal and setting a guard to watch over it for three days.

During these days both sides imposed upon themselves strict fast and made intense prayer. After three days the patriarch and the emperor in the presence of the Council opened the tomb with its relics: the scroll with the Orthodox confession was held by St Euphemia in her right hand, and the scroll of the heretics lay at her feet. St Euphemia, as though alive, raised her hand and gave the scroll to the patriarch. After this miracle many of the hesitant accepted the Orthodox confession, while those remaining obstinate in the heresy were consigned to the Council's condemnation and excommunication.

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First Ecumenical Council of Nikea Icon (1)

First Ecumenical Council of Nikea Icon (1)

$ 19.00

Orthodox icon of the First Ecumenical Council.

Commemorated May 29.

The first Ecumenical Council was held in Nicea, Asia Minor in 325 under Emperor Constantine the Great. 318 Bishops were present. It was called to deal with a controversy about the nature of Christ called the Arian controversy. Arius was a presbyter who denied the divinity of Christ.He taught that if Jesus was born, then there was time when He did not exist. If He became God, then there was time when He was not.

The Council defended Apostolic Tradition and declared Arius' teaching a heresy, unacceptable to the Church and decreed that Christ is truly God as well as truly human. He is of the same essence "homoousios" with God the Father.

First Ecumenical Council of Nikea icon (2)

First Ecumenical Council of Nikea icon (2)

$ 19.00

Orthodox icon of the First Ecumenical Council, by Michael Damaskinos (1545), Iraklion Crete.

Commemorated May 29th and the 7th Sunday after Pascha.

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste icon

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste icon

$ 19.00

Orthodox icon of the Forty Martyrs of the Sebaste Lake.

Commemorated March 9th.

This Orthodox icon according to Saint Basil, involves forty soldiers who had openly confessed themselves Christians who were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, so that they might freeze to death. Among the confessors, one yielded and, leaving his companions, sought the warm baths near the lake which had been prepared for any who might prove inconstant.

One of the guards set to keep watch over the martyrs beheld at this moment a supernatural brilliancy overshadowing them and at once proclaimed himself a Christian, threw off his garments, and joined the remaining thirty-nine. Thus the number of forty remained complete. At daybreak, the stiffened bodies of the confessors, which still showed signs of life, were burned and the ashes cast into a river.

Christians, however, collected the precious remains, and the relics were distributed throughout many cities; in this way, veneration of the Forty Martyrs became widespread, and numerous churches were erected in their honor.

The names of the Forty Martyrs as follows: Hesychius, Meliton, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Domnus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Euthychius, John, Xantheas, Helianus, Sisinius, Cyrion, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecditius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Candidus, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Gorgonius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valaerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, and Aglaius

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste icon (2)

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste icon (2)

$ 19.00

Orthodox icon of the Forty Martyrs of the Sebaste Lake (2)

Commemorated March 9th.

This Orthodox icon according to Saint Basil, involves forty soldiers who had openly confessed themselves Christians who were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, so that they might freeze to death. Among the confessors, one yielded and, leaving his companions, sought the warm baths near the lake which had been prepared for any who might prove inconstant.

One of the guards set to keep watch over the martyrs beheld at this moment a supernatural brilliancy overshadowing them and at once proclaimed himself a Christian, threw off his garments, and joined the remaining thirty-nine. Thus the number of forty remained complete. At daybreak, the stiffened bodies of the confessors, which still showed signs of life, were burned and the ashes cast into a river.

Christians, however, collected the precious remains, and the relics were distributed throughout many cities; in this way, veneration of the Forty Martyrs became widespread, and numerous churches were erected in their honor.

The names of the Forty Martyrs as follows: Hesychius, Meliton, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Domnus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Euthychius, John, Xantheas, Helianus, Sisinius, Cyrion, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecditius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Candidus, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Gorgonius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valaerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, and Aglaius

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