The Protection of the Mother of God (Pokrov [Покров] in Russian or Skepi [Σκέπη] in Greek) is a feast day celebrating the appearance of the Mother of God at Blachernae (Vlaherna) in the tenth century. The Blachernae Palace church was where several of her relics were kept. The relics were her robe, veil, and part of her belt that had been transferred from Palestine during the fifth century. The Theotokos (birth-giver of God) approached the center of the church, knelt down and remained in prayer for a long time while tears streamed down her face. Then she took off her veil and spread it over the people as a sign of protection. After her appearance, the danger from a barabrian invasion was averted and the city was spared from bloodshed and suffering. Aside from its historical significance, this feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I truly understand the role of Mary in the life of Christ and His Church? Do I desire her protection? Do I truly seek her love? Do I pray for her intercession? Icon of the Protection of the Mother of God If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here

According to Sacred Scripture, the holy Apostle Thomas did not believe the reports of the other disciples about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25). On the eighth day after the Resurrection, the Lord appeared to the Apostle Thomas and showed him His wounds. "My Lord and my God," the Apostle cried out (John 20:28). "Thomas, being once weaker in faith than the other apostles," says St John Chrysostom, "toiled through the grace of God more bravely, more zealously and tirelessly than them all, so that he went preaching over nearly all the earth, not fearing to proclaim the Word of God to savage nations." This feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I truly believe that God was incarnate, suffered, and was crucified? Do I have faith in His Resurrection? Do I pray for the intercession of Thomas in my life? Am I willing to preach the Word of God to others? Am I tireless in the work of God? Icon of St. Thomas the Apostle If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

The Holy Apostle James (son of Alphaeus and brother of the Holy Evangelist Matthew) made missionary journeys throughout Judea, Edessa, Gaza, and Eleutheropolis, proclaiming the Gospel, healing all sorts of sickness and disease, and converting many to the path of salvation. This feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I proclaim the Gospel everywhere I go? Do I pray for the healing of all of my spiritual, mental, and physical illnesses? Am I willing to be converted? Do I work to convert others? Do I pray for the intercession of the Apostle James? An icon of St. James the Apostle If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here

St. Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) is one of three saints of the Orthodox church to have been given the title of Theologian (the others are St. John the Apostle and St. Gregory Nazianzen). Born in Galatia and educated at Constantinople, he became abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas. His feast day is celebrated by some on March 12, the date of his repose, while others commemorate his feast on October 12, because March 12 falls within Great Lent. St. Symeon was a theological poet who embodied the mystical tradition and hesychasm. He once wrote: "When a man walks in the fear of God he knows no fear, even if he were to be surrounded by wicked men. He has the fear of God within him and wears the invincible armor of faith. This makes him strong and able to take on anything, even things which seem difficult or impossible to most people. Such a man is like a giant surrounded by monkeys, or a roaring lion among dogs and foxes. He goes forward trusting in the Lord and the constancy of his will to strike and paralyze his foes. He wields the blazing club of the Word in wisdom" (The Practical and Theological Chapters). This feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I walk in the fear of God? Am I fearless in the midst of the wicked? Do I put on the invincible armor of faith? Am I prepared to wield the blazing club of the Word? Do I pray for the intercession of St. Symeon? An icon of St. Symeon the New Theologian If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

The holy, glorious and all-laudable Apostle and Evangelist Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke, the companion of the Apostle Paul (Phil 1:24, 2 Tim 4:10-11), and is numbered among the Seventy Apostles. He was a native of Syrian Antioch and a physician. His emblem is the calf, the third symbolical beast mentioned by Ezekiel (1:10), which is a symbol of Christ's sacrificial and priestly office. Luke was born in the Hellenistic city of Antioch and was extremally educated. His studies included Greek philosophy, medicine, and art. He painted three icons of the Theotokos and others of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. For this reason, St. Luke is considered the founder of Christian iconography. This commemoration offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I educate myself in the faith? Do I seek the intercession of St. Luke? Do I have any icons to help focus my prayer? Do they help me concentrate my prayer? An icon of St. Luke If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

The Holy, Glorious, Right-Victorious, Great-Martyr Demetrius of Thessalon came from a noble family of the Roman province of Macedonia. Through this noble ancestry and through his own ability and virtue he rose to a high military position under Galerius Maximian, Caesar of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire (with Diocletian as the Augustus, or senior emperor). Despite this position in the still-pagan empire, he remained fervent in faith and works for Christ, encouraging many Christians to endure persecution and even bringing many pagans to the faith. For that he was martyred in 306. During the seventh century a miraculous flow of fragrant myrrh was found emanating from his tomb, giving rise to the appellation Mirovlitis, the Myrrh Gusher to his name. His tomb containing his relics is now in the crypt of the Church of St. Demetrios in Thessaloniki. This feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I have a deep faith? Do I evangelize? Do I help others grow in their faith? Do I seek the intercession of St. Demetrius? An icon of St. Demetrius If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

The Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of St. Claudia Procles of Judea, who was Pontius Pilate's wife. We know of her only from the Gospel According to St. Matthew. "While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message: 'Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night, I suffered much on account of him'" (Matthew 27:19). Even though we don't know much about St. Claudia, whose name is not even mentioned in the passage above, this feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I listen to God when He communicates with me? Do I speak up on behalf of others, especially when an injustice is being done? Do I stand up for my faith? If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

The Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of St. Marcellus of Tangier (or St. Marcellus the Centurion) who refused to participate in the birthday celebrations of Emperor Maximian, which would have involved worship of the pagan gods. Even though a saint like Marcellus may seem obscure to our modern world, a feast like this gives us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I adhere to my faith when others around me do not? Am I willing to stand up for my faith in the workplace? Am I prepared to suffer the consequences for living my faith? If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

"Today the faithful celebrate the feast with joy illumined by your coming, O Mother of God. Beholding your pure image we fervently cry to you: 'Encompass us beneath the precious veil of your protection; deliver us from every form of evil by entreating Christ, your Son and our God that He may save our souls'." - Kontakion (a type of hymn) sung on the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. An icon of the Protection of the Mother of God If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

Have you ever stepped outside Just before sunrise and Right after sunset? What did you notice? The sun, certainly. And the moon, too. But what about them? Each arrived with a unique, and equally Exquisite opening act. Both disappeared with their own Version of a curtain call, too. But in different ways. The sun is bold and generous. It floods the world with deep Confidence, knowing, and purpose. Its setting is a lavish surrender of Molten amber, dusky rose, and slow ceremony That cause the proud to take humble, deep breaths. The moon is subtler in its theater. It rises unremarked, A silver angel at the gilded edge of a party. Then, it slips silently below the horizon Toward the endings and beginnings that Belong to the dark. This ebb and flow remind us that Creation and completion are not opposites Moving away from each other in tension, but really Reflections of life (and spiritual life, too) Where every ending seeds something new, and Every beginning remembers what ended to make room for it. Yet, we are tragically unaware that We live in this luminous cycle of Arriving and departing Remembering and forgetting. Knowing that nothing is simply over and Nothing is simply new. We are always something Beginning and finishing. Living and dying Hurting and healing Praying and forgiving. Loving through it all. Beautiful Cloud Formation in the Sky · Free Stock Photo If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

The Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the 100,000 Martyrs of Tbilisi who were put to death for not renouncing Christianity to Khwarezmid Sultan Jalal ad-Din upon his capture of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in 1226. Even though an event like this seems so distant of place and time from our world, this feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Am I aware of where Christians are suffering int he world? Do I pray for them? Do I suffer for my faith? Do I seek the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the angels, and all the saints? Am I willing to die for my faith? If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

God is generous beyond our imagination: not only in the sense of creating the universe, giving us life, and offering us the gift of faith, but also in the sense of making specific promises to specific people. To understand this, just look at the following passage from the Old Testament. You shall therefore keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land which you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey […] a land which the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. And if you will obey my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full (Deuteronomy 11:8-15). As you can see, God was generous to the Israelites in very specific ways. Even when they drifted away from Him, He became incarnate so they could be reminded of His sacred generosity in person. This is one way, of course, that we know God will be faithful and generous to us too. You see, when we think times are bad or we feel like God isn’t listening, remembering these stories from Sacred Scripture are one way that we can know God is very much by our side and always giving us what we need. Even when we find ourselves pulling away from God, we have to be reminded that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are generously offering us everything we need to deepen our faith and to survive on earth until we enter the kingdom of heaven. All we have to do is ask God for help. To understand this more, look at this passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke. And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:9-13). The promise of these passages is to say that all any of us has to do is to go to God and ask for what we need. If we go to Him with the love and humility of children, we can experience God’s goodness and generosity over and over again. If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.