The Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome, was born at Rome into a rich and illustrious family. Separated from his parents from childhood by force of circumstances, Clement was raised by strangers. Living in Rome, the youth received a fine education, he was surrounded by luxury, and had access to the imperial court. But these comforts brought him no joy, and pagan wisdom failed to attract him. He began to ponder the meaning of life.
When the news of Christ and His teaching began to reach the capital, Saint Clement left his home and estate and went to the lands where the Apostles were preaching. At Alexandria Saint Clement met the holy Apostle Barnabas, listening to his words with deep attention, and perceiving the power and truth of the Word of God. Arriving in Palestine, Saint Clement was baptized by the holy Apostle Peter and became his zealous disciple and constant companion, sharing his toil and sufferings with him. Shortly before his own sufferings and death, Saint Peter consecrated Saint Clement as Bishop of Rome. After the death of the Apostle Peter, Saint Linus (67-79) was the next Bishop of Rome, succeeded by Saint Anacletus (79-91), and then Saint Clement (92-101).
The virtuous life, charitable works and prayerful activity of Saint Clement converted many to Christ. He once baptized 424 people on the day of Pascha. Among the baptized were people of all social classes: slaves, officials, and even members of the imperial family.
The pagans, seeing the success of his apostolic preaching, denounced Saint Clement to the emperor Trajan (98-117), accusing the saint of insulting the pagan gods. The emperor banished Saint Clement from the capital, sending him to the Crimea, to work at a stone quarry near the city of Cherson. Many of the saint’s disciples followed after him voluntarily, preferring to go into exile rather than live without their spiritual Father.
When he arrived at the place of exile, Saint Clement found many Christian believers there, sentenced to labor under harsh conditions amidst a scarcity of water. He prayed together with the condemned, and the Lord appeared to him in the form of a lamb and revealed the location of a spring, from which gushed forth a veritable river of water. This miracle attracted a multitude of people to Saint Clement. Hearing the zealous preacher, hundreds of pagans were converted to Christ. Each day 500 or more men were baptized. And there in the stone quarry, a church was built, in which he served as priest.
The apostolic activity of the saint aroused the wrath of the emperor Trajan, and he ordered that Saint Clement be drowned. They threw the martyr into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. This occurred in the year 101.
The saint’s faithful disciples Cornelius and Fibius asked the people to pray that the Lord would permit them to see the martyr’s body. The sea drew back a distance of three miles from the shore and the people walked out on the seabed until they found a marble cave shaped like a church. There they found the incorrupt body of their archpastor in this “Angelic Church” formed by God. After this, each year on the anniversary of Saint Clement’s martyric death the sea receded, and for seven days Christians were able to venerate his holy relics.
During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Nikēphóros (802-811), by divine providence, the sea failed to withdraw, and the relics of Saint Clement became inaccessible for fifty years. In the time of the emperor Michael and his mother Theodora (855-867), Saints Cyril and Methodius visited Cherson. When they learned of the concealed relics of Saint Clement, they asked Bishop George of Cherson to pray that the Lord would show them the relics of the hieromartyr.
Saints Cyril and Methodius walked along the shore in procession with the clergy who came with them from Constantinople. Through the fervent prayers of everyone gathered there, the holy relics of Saint Clement miraculously appeared on the surface of the sea at midnight. They solemnly took them to the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople. A portion of the relics were then brought to Rome by Saints Cyril and Methodius, but a large portion of the relics was later brought to Kiev by the holy Prince Vladimir (July 15) and placed in the Desyatin-Tithe church, together with the relics of Saint Fibius, where a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement had been built. The hieromartyr Clement is widely venerated in Russia. From ancient times, many churches have been dedicated to him.
Saint Clement, who belongs to the Apostolic Fathers, has left to us a spiritual legacy (two Epistles to the Corinthians) the first written examples of Christian teaching after the writings of the holy Apostles.
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-15)
We as God’s children have a responsibility to press on to maturity. We are on a continual spiritual growth track. To grow spiritually means to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Gospel tells us how a Christian can grow spiritually. It is Christ's power in the believer that gives us the ability to grow spiritually. As we rely on His power and obey His commands, we can develop maturity. Since God is the source of all spiritual development, we cannot neglect Him and expect to become mature. Transformation begins with time in His Word and prayer. No one accidentally becomes mature. Spiritual growth requires a diligent pursuit of God. When we are mature in Christ, we recognize our own inadequacy and rely on the Holy Spirit within us. It's His job to transform our character and empower us to accomplish everything the Lord calls us to do.
To evaluate our spiritual growth, we can measure our improvement in the "fruit of the Spirit." The Holy Spirit in us produces qualities in us, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If we are increasing in love, in joy, in patience, we are growing spiritually. It is God's will that we grow to be more like Jesus. We also have the promise that the Lord Himself will oversee our growth and bring us to maturity. He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
“How great is the one who finds wisdom but none is greater than the one who fears the Lord. Fear of the Lord surpasses all else. To whom can we compare the one who has it.”
No, Satan does not know anything about us. The only thing he knows is the thoughts he throws into our minds. The gospel tells us that he is a liar and our enemy. He came to steal, kill and destroy. When the gospel speaks about our mind, it does refer to our heart. Satan does not read our minds, but he can influence our thoughts and thinking. Satan sees our behaviors, actions, choices, and decisions we make. He studies our actions to know our tendencies and weaknesses, and then he starts to create his plan of temptation to attack us. For example, he throws questions about God’s power and authority, His love for humanity, etc. Also, he throws thoughts of envy, pride, hurt, division and hatred.
So the truth is that satan does not read our minds, but he responds to our demonstrated patterns of behavior. When he sees that you are not satisfied with what you have and never thank God for his provisions and you are looking to others possessions and have the tendency to envy them, he quickly throws the thoughts of blaming and cursing God for his poor provisions, envying your friend of having better or more than what you have. He keeps sending thoughts of hatred and dissatisfaction until he influences you to take action. This action is sin. Proverbs 4: 23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” From the heart, means from the mind comes out our actions.
We must know that our mind is our control center, and everything we do comes from the thoughts we think about. The choice we make is always after an idea we have. The first sin Eve did was after satan influenced her thoughts. She made a decision based on the influence that happened to her thoughts. In the epistle of St. James chapter one, we find a clear explanation of how sin begins. “But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). This verse explains how sin begins. First, with evil desire, and this comes from our thoughts. Therefore, Satan will attempt to influence our thoughts because if he can do that successfully, this will lead to our actions and sins.
The last thing I want you to know is that Satan never knows our thoughts from the Holy Spirit. So We have to be sober and alert, filter our thoughts, accept those from the Holy Spirit, and reject those from evil. Now the question is, how to know if this thought is from the Holy Spirit or Satan? Simply, those thoughts of love, unity, encouragement, peace, kindness, mercy, satisfaction, and thanksgiving are from God. Those of hatred, envy, strife, division, fear, sadness, and cruelty are from Satan.
Living beings on earth cannot have acquired life and existence on their own, as evidenced by the fact that they cannot retain this life and lose it in destruction and decay. There must be a source of life, which is alive in Himself, and He is the one who provided these beings with the power of life and existence. If we look to the man in whom the image of the infinite mind is imprinted that made him a wise, rational being, we find that his wisdom bears fruit in works of love and goodness for humanity. But when the man lost contact with the source of his life, enlightenment, and understanding, he employed reason and wisdom to invent tools of murder, demolition, and destruction. Whoever carries within himself life, his wisdom bears the fruit of love, joy, and peace. In contrast, he who is separated from the source of his life and the light of his heart and mind, has become haunted by death and hatred that comes out of him against others by killing, destruction, and demolition. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).
Modern man has established his well-being on sex and pleasure and the plundering of the wealth of weaker peoples, and that is why his civilization has become inhabited by death and anxiety and threatened by the horror of destruction and annihilation. He lives haunted inside and surrounded by death and fear.
Why did Christ present Himself with the phrase “I am the way, the truth, and the life? No one comes to the Father except through me”(John 14:6). The direct answer is that He gives man what is in Himself and has given it with proof. He raised the dead, healed the sick, and opened the eyes of the blind. He ordered the coming out of the unclean and evil spirits that tortured the human being. He revealed the truth and the love of Father God. He forgave the sins of sinners and gave them a life triumphant over death, hurts, and sorrows. So whoever can give man life, love, and Joy, He necessarily has the way leading to the source of life and joy.
The world has many doctrines, religions, and philosophies that promise man happiness, life, and healing. However, the evidence is still the actual result capable of improving human life. As a minister of Christ for many years, I can pass on my experience to those who want to know Him. I have seen with my own eyes that Christ still grants healing to this day. He heals patients with diseases for which there is no cure. He restores sight to the blind and releases from the chains and bondages of sin, hurts, and sorrows to those who ask Him.
The problem for many believers is that their faith is like straw, devoid of the power of God’s life and love. Also, others confuse the Gospel of Christ and the teachings of the New Testament with the legacies of the teaching of the Old Testament before the covenant of grace. That is why they have not experienced anything real from Christ in their lives and thus have provided others with a faint and sometimes repulsive model of the Christian life. But the truth is that Christ who is life, and in Whom life was a light for man and the world, is still overflowing with His eternal life that prevails over those who come to Him and ask for His indwelling with a sincere heart and will “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it abundantly”( John 10:10).
As I rise from sleep I thank You, O Holy Trinity, for through Your great goodness and patience You were not angered with me, an idler and sinner, nor have You destroyed me in my sins, but have shown Your usual love for men, and when I was prostrate in despair, You raised me to keep the morning watch and to glorify Your power. And now enlighten my mind’s eye and open my mouth to study Your words and understand Your commandments and do Your will and sing to You in heartfelt adoration and praise Your Most Holy Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
We can perceive the word of God
only with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit working in us
Glory to the Father, Son & the Holy Spirit
1 TIMOTHY 2: 1-10
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.”
St. Paul who was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the non-believers teaches us IN FAITH & TRUTH to:
1- Supplicate,
2- Pray,
3- Intercede,
4- Give thanks.
FOR WHOM
1- For all men,
2- For kings,
3- For all who are in authority.
WHY
That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
FOR WHAT
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, WHO desires all men to be SAVED and to COME to the knowledge of the truth.
WHO IS HE
The Man Christ Jesus
&
WHO gave Himself a ransom for ALL.
1- Men PRAY everywhere,
2- LIFTING UP HOLY hands,
3- Without WRATH and DOUBTING.
1- Women ADORN themselves in MODEST APPAREL,
2- With PROPRIETY and MODERATION.
