Venerable Chariton the Confessor the Abbot of Palestine
Categories: feast-days
Date: 28 September 2008 05:09:38
Troparion - Tone 8:
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
Our Father Chariton, pray to Christ God to save our souls!
Kontakion - Tone 2:
You delighted in the monastic life, divinely-wise one
and conquered the bodily passions;
you increased in faith, blossoming as the tree of life in the midst of Paradise,
most blessed and holy Chariton!
A Saint I had not heard of before, but one I felt a keen affinity to as I read an extract of his life in our parish bulletin, as I heard the hymns sung in his honour at Matins [pages 5 and 8-9 for Matins; there are hymns earlier for Vespers; document is a PDF]. From the linked article: Saint Chariton the Confessor suffered at Iconium during one of the persecutions against Christians under the emperor Aurelian. The example of the holy Protomartyr Thekla encouraged him, she being a native of his city, whose memory he in particular deeply venerated. After miraculously being freed from robbers, he built a church, around which in time there formed a monastery, the renowned Pharan Lavra in Palestine. Yearning for solitude, the monk went farther into the desert, but there also he did not reject those who sought his spiritual guidance; he founded two more monasteries: the Jericho and the Souka, named the "Old Lavra." At the end of his life, St Chariton struggled in a cave on a hill near the Souka monastery, but he did not cease to provide guidance for all three of the monasteries he founded.
It is also the Feast Day today of, among many others, the Prophet Baruch [Orthodox honours the righteous of the Old Testament] and Martyr Wenceslaus the Prince of the Czechs [yes, he of Good King Wenceslas fame].
We also had some further information on the Scout Hall purchase; while it will be quite a stretch for us to have the funds available, we know all things are possible with God; so, if it be His Will, we continue on. The auction is in two Saturdays. Your continued prayers are valued, and coveted.
Through the prayers of Venerable Chariton the Confessor the Abbot of Palestine, the Prophet Baruch, Martyr Wenceslaus the Prince of the Czechs, and all the Saints, Lord have mercy on us and save us!