Divine Liturgy - 03/22/2015 (Sunday of St. John Climacus)
March 22, 2015
O John our father, saint of God, you were revealed as a citizen of the desert, as an angel in a body and a worker of miracles. Through fasting, prayer and vigils you have received heavenly gifts of grace, and have healed the sick and the souls of those who turn to you with faith. Glory be to Him who gave you strength; glory to Him who crowned you; glory be to Him who through you grants to all men healing.
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St. John Climacus (St. John of the Ladder)
On this Sunday of Great Lent, we remember St. John Climacus or St. John of the Ladder. He was the abbot of the Monastery of St. Katherine on Mt. Sinai during the seventh century. St. John wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which is a guide to ascetic living (living a spiritually disciplined life). This book is read in every Orthodox monastery during Great Lent. In this book, St. John writes about 33 rungs of the ladder we climb in our ascent to heaven. Each rung represents a different Christian virtue (obedience, repentance, love, humility, etc.).
In today’s Gospel passage, we are shown that through faith in Christ all things are possible. We too need to cry as the father in today’s Gospel, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” Furthermore, this passage reveals that faith to conquer our demons comes only from prayer and fasting. At this point, Christ begins to reveal to the disciples about His upcoming suffering. St. John of the Ladder is commerated on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. His Feast Day is on March 30.
Annunciation of the Theotokos– March 25
Six months after John the Forerunner’s conception, the Archangel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, a town of Galilee, unto Mary the Virgin, who had come forth from the Temple a mature maiden (see Nov. 21). According to the tradition handed down by the Fathers, she had been betrothed to Joseph four months. On coming to Joseph’s house, the Archangel declared: “Rejoice, thou Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” After some consideration, and turmoil of soul, and fear because of this greeting, the Virgin, when she had finally obtained full assurance concerning God’s unsearchable condescension and the ineffable dispensation that was to take place through her, and believing that all things are possible to the Most High, answered in humility: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And at this, the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her all-blameless womb, and the Son and Word of God, Who existed before the ages, was conceived past speech and understanding, and became flesh in her immaculate body (Luke 1:26-38).
Bearing in her womb the Uncontainable One, the blessed Virgin went with haste from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea, where Zacharias had his dwelling; for she desired to find Elizabeth her kinswoman and rejoice together with her, because, as she had learned from the Archangel, Elizabeth had conceived in her old age. Furthermore, she wished to tell her of the great things that the Mighty One had been well-pleased to bring to pass in her, and she greeted Elizabeth and drew nigh to her. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she felt her six-month-old babe, Saint John the Baptist, prophesied of the dawning of the spiritual Sun. Immediately, the aged Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and recognized her as the Mother of her Lord, and with a great voice blessed her and the Fruit that she held within herself. The Virgin also, moved by a supernatural rejoicing in the spirit, glorified her God and Savior, saying: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” and the rest, as the divine Luke hath recorded (1:39-55
Healing through Prayer and Fasting
Do you see how He now proceeds to lay beforehand in them the foundation of His doctrine about fasting? You see, at any rate, how many blessings spring from them both. For he who is praying as he ought, and fasting, has not many wants, and he who has not many wants cannot be covetous; he who is not covetous, will be also more disposed for almsgiving. He who fasts is light, and winged, and prays with wakefulness, and quenches his wicked lusts, and propitiates God, and humbles his soul when lifted up. Therefore even the apostles were almost always fasting. He who prays with fasting has his wings double, and lighter than the very winds… nothing is mightier than the man who prays sincerely…But if your body is too weak to fast continually…although you cannot fast, yet you can avoid luxurious living.
St. John Chrysostom
Napoleon I | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Napoleon I
00:05:56 1 Early life
00:09:33 2 Early career
00:11:04 2.1 Siege of Toulon
00:12:43 2.2 13 Vendémiaire
00:16:04 2.3 First Italian campaign
00:20:06 2.4 Egyptian expedition
00:23:35 3 Ruler of France
00:25:33 3.1 French Consulate
00:29:55 3.1.1 Temporary peace in Europe
00:33:22 3.2 French Empire
00:36:05 3.2.1 War of the Third Coalition
00:42:52 3.2.2 Middle-Eastern alliances
00:43:47 3.2.3 War of the Fourth Coalition and Tilsit
00:48:39 3.2.4 Peninsular War and Erfurt
00:53:47 3.2.5 War of the Fifth Coalition and Marie Louise
01:00:18 3.2.6 Invasion of Russia
01:04:18 3.2.7 War of the Sixth Coalition
01:08:05 3.2.8 Exile to Elba
01:09:31 3.2.9 Hundred Days
01:12:32 4 Exile on Saint Helena
01:14:23 4.1 Death
01:15:55 4.1.1 Cause of death
01:18:30 5 Religion
01:19:59 5.1 Concordat
01:21:23 5.2 Arrest of Pope Pius VII
01:22:08 5.3 Religious emancipation
01:24:04 6 Personality
01:26:52 7 Image
01:33:00 8 Reforms
01:33:58 8.1 Napoleonic Code
01:37:01 8.2 Warfare
01:39:41 8.3 Metric system
01:40:40 8.4 Education
01:42:07 9 Memory and evaluation
01:42:17 9.1 Criticism
01:45:51 9.2 Propaganda and memory
01:49:04 9.3 Long-term influence outside France
01:50:25 10 Marriages and children
01:54:08 11 Titles, styles, honours, and arms
01:54:19 12 Ancestry
01:54:28 13 See also
01:54:39 14 Notes
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- Socrates
SUMMARY
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Napoléon Bonaparte (; French: [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt], Italian: Napoleone Bonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte (Italian: [napoleˈoːne di ˌbwɔnaˈparte]) in Corsica to a relatively modest family of Italian origin from the minor nobility. He was serving as an artillery officer in the French army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution and becoming a general at age 24. The French Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and the Italian monarchs aligned with the Habsburgs—winning virtually every battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year while establishing sister republics with local support, and becoming a war hero in France. In 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He orchestrated a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. His ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and he became the first Emperor of the French in 1804. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over the Russian Empire and Austrian Empire at the Battle of Austerlitz which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, ...