The Most Holy Theotokos

Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven. Mark 10:4
Sunday, July 28, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 24

The Miracles of St. Irene

Today is the nameday of St. Irene Chrysovalantou.
St. Irene grew up in a wealthy and important family. She was even supposed to marry the Emperor, but when she got to Constantinople, he was already married! She wasnt sad though. Instead, St. Irene went to live in the Monastery of Chrysovalantou. She gave away her money and her things to the poor, and decided to become a nun.
As a nun, St. Irene tried to be like Christ always humble and loving to other people. St. Irene had many miracles happen. Sometimes at night, St. Irene would go out into the garden to pray. Once, another nun couldnt sleep and went out there too. She This is an icon of St. Irene Chrysovalantou. You can see the tree bowing down to her saw St. Irene praying, and she was floating and the other nun peeking out the door. above the ground. Three trees were even bowing down to her! In the morning, the nun told the other sisters. They noticed that there were handkerchiefs on the tops of the tall trees!
Now St. Irene still works many miracles because she is so close to God. She especially helps people who cannot have children. Many times, the family finally has a child and names him or her Chrysovalantou or Chrysovalanti!

WORD SEARCUH M C N U N I Q G C U R T N Z
Can you find these words?
ACTIONS CHRISTIAN CHRYSOVALANTOU EMPEROR IRENE MARTYR NUN PLATYTERA PRAYING TREES P M E P B K P J T H G W H A W A H U P F P N B B U V T R H R Y S O V A L A N T O U E J T G X L I D I Z F V R B T Q Y L N T V E B R E M X Y Y F R H S I E Q L U E N E D T N C I L M Y M O B Y N U J A C R V P D J A L W H U E D L H W E N S L M R P E O O L P O R A I W I H E P P N G W V O X G R C U D S N O I T C A Q B J B G W Y M C F Z E A M R E E S M E M Q Z A D X U R H I O S L R L R Y L R C R Y B R F T H N S H E T C I S Z

SAY JESUS IS LORD

WITH WORDS AND ACTIONS!
Do you remember what a martyr is? A Christian
martyr is somebody who died because he or she is a Christian. Sometimes martyrs even went out of their way to tell the authorities that they were Christians! They did not want to be secret Christians.
In todays epistle reading, we hear that we should say that we are Christians. We hear, If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. God wants us to say that we are Christians.

Can you find it?

Lots of churches have a big icon of the Theotokos in the back of the altar. This is called the platytera. Can you find it?

But when we say we are Christians, we have to do something about it, too! Lets think about the martyrs. When they said they were Christians, they were really doing something about it, too! They were giving their lives to show they loved Jesus Christ!

Here is an icon of St. George in front of the Emperor Diocletian. The Emperor killed lots of Christians (including St. George).

We can say we are Christians, but what can we do to SHOW it?

go to church speak nicely to others help people who are poor visit people who are lonely pray for other people read our Bibles