St. Eftychios icon

St. Eftychios icon

$ 19.00

Orthodox icon of Saint Eutychius, Eftychios, Patriach of Constantinople.

Commemorated April 6.

Saint Eutychius, Archbishop of Constantinople, who was born in a village called Divine in the province of Phrygia. His father Alexander was a soldier, and his mother Synesia was the daughter of the priest Hesychius of Augustopolis. When the Fifth Ecumenical Council prepared to assemble during the reign of the holy emperor Justinian (527-565), the Metropolitan of Amasea was ill and he sent St Eutychius in his place.

At Constantinople the aged Patriarch St Menas (August 25) saw St Eutychius and predicted that he would be the next Patriarch. After the death of the holy Patriarch Menas, the Apostle Peter appeared in a vision to the emperor Justinian and, pointing his hand at Eutychius, said, him be made your bishop. At the very beginning of his patriarchal service, St Eutychius convened the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), at which the Fathers condemned the heresies cropping up and anathematized them.

However, after several years a new heresy arose in the Church: imperishability which taught that the flesh of Christ, before His death on the Cross and Resurrection, was imperishable and not capable of suffering. St Eutychius vigorously denounced this heresy, but the emperor Justinian himself inclined toward it, and turned his wrath upon the saint. By order of the emperor, soldiers seized the saint in the church, removed his patriarchal vestments, and sent him into exile to an Amasean monastery (565).

The saint bore his banishment with meekness, and lived at the monastery in fasting and prayer, and he worked many miracles and healings. During the Persian invasion of Amasea and its widespread devastation, they distributed grain to the hungry from the monastery granaries on the saint's orders, and by his prayers, the stores of grain at the monastery were not depleted. After the death of the holy Patriarch John Scholastikos, St Eutychius returned to the cathedra in 577 after his twelve year exile, and he again wisely ruled his flock.

Four and a half years after his return to the Patriarchal throne, St Eutychius gathered together all his clergy on Thomas Sunday 582, blessed them, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord. 

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First Ecumenical Council of Nikea Icon (1)

First Ecumenical Council of Nikea Icon (1)

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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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