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The Donskoy Icon of the Mother of God, also known as the Don Icon, was painted by Theophanes the Greek (c. 1340–c. 1410). It is a two-sided icon, on the back of which is a depiction of the Dormition of the Theotokos. It is made in the traditional style of the Eleousa icons, in which Mother and Son show tender affection towards each other. The Donskoy Icon was probably originally located in the Dormition Cathedral in Kolomna, built by Great Prince Dmitry Donskoy.

On the day of the Kulikovo Battle (8 September 1380, the Feast of the Birth of the Most Holy Mother of God), the Icon was amidst the Russian army, giving it help, but after the victory it was passed on by the Don Cossacks as a gift to their commander, Great Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1363-1389), who then transferred it to Moscow.

The Icon at first came to be at the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral, and later at the Annunciation Cathedral. On July 3, 1552, Ivan the Terrible prayed before the Donskoy Icon prior to the Kazan campaign, and took it with him on the campaign, then placed it in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In commemoration of the victory on the banks of the River Don it was given the name "Donskoy Icon".

In the year 1591 the Crimean khan Nuradin and his brother Murad Giray invaded Russia with a numerous army, and advancing on Moscow, they positioned themselves on the Vorob'ev hills. For the guarding from enemies, around Moscow there was made a church procession with the Donskoy Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God. On the day of battle it was situated in the military chapel amidst the soldiers ranks and set the Tatars to flight.

In thanksgiving to the Most Holy Mother of God for Her mercy, manifest through the Donskoy Icon, in 1592 at the very place where it stood amidst the soldiers was founded the Donskoy Monastery, into which was put the wonderworking Icon, and its feast day established for August 19th.

By established custom, in the small cathedral in honor of the Donskoy Icon of the Mother of God, once every four years His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia performs the rite of the preparation of holy chrism.

The Icon is now in the Tretyakov State Gallery. Every year, on the day of the Icon's celebration on August 19th, it is delivered to the Donskoy Monastery for the performance of a festive divine service before it.

SOURCE: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2017/08/the-donskoi-icon-of-mother-of-god.html?m=1

The Donskoy Icon of the Mother of God, also known as the Don Icon, was painted by Theophanes the Greek (c. 1340–c. 1410). It is a two-sided icon, on the back of which is a depiction of the Dormition of the Theotokos. It is made in the traditional style of the Eleousa icons, in which Mother and Son show tender affection towards each other. The Donskoy Icon was probably originally located in the Dormition Cathedral in Kolomna, built by Great Prince Dmitry Donskoy.

On the day of the Kulikovo Battle (8 September 1380, the Feast of the Birth of the Most Holy Mother of God), the Icon was amidst the Russian army, giving it help, but after the victory it was passed on by the Don Cossacks as a gift to their commander, Great Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1363-1389), who then transferred it to Moscow.

The Icon at first came to be at the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral, and later at the Annunciation Cathedral. On July 3, 1552, Ivan the Terrible prayed before the Donskoy Icon prior to the Kazan campaign, and took it with him on the campaign, then placed it in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In commemoration of the victory on the banks of the River Don it was given the name "Donskoy Icon".

In the year 1591 the Crimean khan Nuradin and his brother Murad Giray invaded Russia with a numerous army, and advancing on Moscow, they positioned themselves on the Vorob'ev hills. For the guarding from enemies, around Moscow there was made a church procession with the Donskoy Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God. On the day of battle it was situated in the military chapel amidst the soldiers ranks and set the Tatars to flight.

In thanksgiving to the Most Holy Mother of God for Her mercy, manifest through the Donskoy Icon, in 1592 at the very place where it stood amidst the soldiers was founded the Donskoy Monastery, into which was put the wonderworking Icon, and its feast day established for August 19th.

By established custom, in the small cathedral in honor of the Donskoy Icon of the Mother of God, once every four years His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia performs the rite of the preparation of holy chrism.

The Icon is now in the Tretyakov State Gallery. Every year, on the day of the Icon's celebration on August 19th, it is delivered to the Donskoy Monastery for the performance of a festive divine service before it.

SOURCE: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2017/08/the-donskoi-icon-of-mother-of-god.html?m=1

Saint Theophanes the New, a native of the city of Ioannina, lived during the sixteenth century. As a young man, he received monastic tonsure on Mount Athos at the Docheiariou monastery. He was later chosen igumen of this monastery because of his lofty virtue. With the help of God, the Saint freed from the Turks who had captured Constantinople his own nephew who had been forcibly converted to Islam, gave him refuge in his own monastery, and blessed him to enter the monastic life.

The brethren, fearing revenge on the part of the Turks, began to grumble against the saint. He, not wanting to be the cause of discord and dissension, humbly withdrew with his nephew from the Docheiariou monastery, quit the Holy Mountain and went to Beroea. There, in the skete monastery of Saint John the Forerunner, Saint Theophanes built a church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos. And as monks began to gather, he gave them a cenobitic monastic rule.

When the monastery flourished, the saint withdrew to a new place at Naousa, where he made a church in honor of the holy Archangels and founded there also a monastery. To the very end of his days Saint Theophanes did not forsake guiding the monks of both monasteries, both regarding him as their common father.

After receiving a revelation foreseeing his own end and giving his flock a final farewell, the saint died in extreme old age at the Beroeia monastery. Even during his life the Lord had glorified his humble saint: saving people from destruction, he calmed a storm by his prayer, and converted seawater into drinking water. Even after death, the saint has never forsaken people who asked for his grace-filled help.

SOURCE: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2009/08/19/102346-venerable-theophanes-of-docheiariou-mount-athos

Saint Theophanes the New, a native of the city of Ioannina, lived during the sixteenth century. As a young man, he received monastic tonsure on Mount Athos at the Docheiariou monastery. He was later chosen igumen of this monastery because of his lofty virtue. With the help of God, the Saint freed from the Turks who had captured Constantinople his own nephew who had been forcibly converted to Islam, gave him refuge in his own monastery, and blessed him to enter the monastic life.

The brethren, fearing revenge on the part of the Turks, began to grumble against the saint. He, not wanting to be the cause of discord and dissension, humbly withdrew with his nephew from the Docheiariou monastery, quit the Holy Mountain and went to Beroea. There, in the skete monastery of Saint John the Forerunner, Saint Theophanes built a church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos. And as monks began to gather, he gave them a cenobitic monastic rule.

When the monastery flourished, the saint withdrew to a new place at Naousa, where he made a church in honor of the holy Archangels and founded there also a monastery. To the very end of his days Saint Theophanes did not forsake guiding the monks of both monasteries, both regarding him as their common father.

After receiving a revelation foreseeing his own end and giving his flock a final farewell, the saint died in extreme old age at the Beroeia monastery. Even during his life the Lord had glorified his humble saint: saving people from destruction, he calmed a storm by his prayer, and converted seawater into drinking water. Even after death, the saint has never forsaken people who asked for his grace-filled help.

SOURCE: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2014/08/19/102346-venerable-theophanes-of-docheiariou-mount-athos

In the grim years of Ottoman rule, as is known from history, thousands of Christians were martyred. One of them is the Holy Neomartyr Constantine of Kappua in Thessaly, who before being baptized and received into the bosom of our Church was a Muslim, the son of a Turkish official. At the age of twenty he was introduced to Christian doctrines by a certain educated monk from the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Kappua. When this monk determined that the faith in Christ was established in this young Turk, he baptized him in the Monastery, and from his former name Saim he was given the new name Constantine.

The reaction of the Turkish official, who was the father of the neophyte Constantine, was thunderous and dynamic. He wanted to punish the three monks of the Monastery in Kappua with death, but he did not succeed because they managed to flee to Meteora, where they sought protection from the monks there. The anger of the father peaked and he burned down the Monastery. Enraged by the strong stance and behavior of his son, he ordered the soldiers of his guard to throw him in the dungeon and were ordered not to release him until he returned to his ancestral faith.

The soldiers acted in accordance with the orders of the father. They threw Constantine into a dark and moldy dungeon, and from morning till night they would ask him if he repented of his apostasy. Constantine, however, would answer with sweetness and stability: "I will never deny my Christ, no matter what you do to me. I fear nothing. He is beside me and strengthens me." The angry and exhausted father, having reached the limits of his patience, ordered his soldiers to torture him harder, and that if he still refuses repentance, they were to bring him to the gallows. But even the new harder tortures were not able to bend the mind and faith of Constantine. Then the soldiers announced the decision of the father to have him hung, as a last resort threat, but they still received the same firm answer: "I tell you again, nothing can separate me from my Christ. I love Him so much, that I do not care if I even have to give my life for His love."

Under the command of his father, the soldiers led him outside of the town of Kappua, where the modern day village of Kappa is located. Here they threw a rope over a thick branch of a large plane tree that existed at this location, near the Community Bureau of Kappa, and they hung Constantine. The holy soul of the young Constantine flew near to the eternal love of Christ. His honored relics were buried by Christians near the place of his martyrdom, at a place called "Tria Dendra" (Three Trees), where a church was erected.

Saint Constantine was martyred on the 18th of August in the year 1610.

SOURCE: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/08/holy-new-martyr-constantine-of-kappua.html?m=1

He was born in the town of Galatista in Chalkidiki around 1710. Galatista was the seat of a diocese at that time. In his homeland he received his secondary education. At this time in Galatista, as in other parts of Chalkidiki, “they have schools that are quite well-trained and a staff of teachers to teach them”. It is worth mentioning that from Galatista during this period came the great relative hagiographers called Galatsanoi, who painted many icons and frescoes on Mount Athos, and many of their works are preserved in the Vatopedi monastery.

As a young man, he traveled to Jerusalem to worship the Holy Land, where he remained, was ordained a monk, and became a member of the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood. He was ordained priest of the Holy Sepulchre by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Parthenios (1737-1766).

He was then sent as steward of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Thessaloniki, where the church of Nea Panagia was located near the White Tower, where it still exists today. During his stay there, he taught at the Urban School of Thessaloniki.

In 1743, Patriarch Parthenios of Jerusalem sent Archimandrite Agapios to Moscow to collect funds to repay the large debt of the Holy Sepulcher to the creditors of the Patriarchate. Agapios, due to many and various problems, remained in Russia until 1747 and returned with a sufficient amount to repay the debt.

When he returned to Thessaloniki, he continued his teaching work at the school there. Then he taught as a professor at the Athonia Academy, near the Vatopedi monastery. At the suggestion of the wise teacher Eugenios Voulgaris, the saint was appointed by the venerable Ecumenical Patriarchate as the Scholarch of Athonia: The interest of the Great Church of Christ increased even more in the early years through the appointment of Ephors in Constantinople and Athos, commissioners in Europe and Scholarchs, such as Neophytos of Kafsokalyve, the virtuous and wise Archimandrite. Agapios of the Holy Sepulchre and martyred on August 18, 1752 in Thermi, Thessaloniki, and subsequently the miraculous and wise Hierodeacon Eugenios of the Bulgarian."

The great Evgenios Voulgaris, in a letter dated April 10, 1752 from Ioannina to Agapios, congratulates him on taking up his duties in Athoniada. This letter was in the archives of the learned bishop of Campania Theophilos (1749-1795), who was a student of Voulgaris in Ioannina. Theophilos was from Ioannina, and the seat of his diocese was Koulakia, Thessaloniki, where he himself notes: “This letter was addressed to the enlightened archimandrite of the Holy Sepulchre, Lord Agapios, who was killed outside Thessaloniki by the wicked murderous Janissaries, returning from Galatistis, his homeland, on the 18th of August! "May our generation be afflicted by the loss of such a wise man. Truly, the judgments of God are a great abyss."

On August 18, 1752, the virtuous and wise "Archimandrite of the Holy Sepulchre, the Great Teacher of the Nation, the wisest Scholar of Athonia, Agapios the Agiotaphite, was martyred outside Thessaloniki, near Thermi, by evil Janissaries as he was coming from Galatista to Thessaloniki."

We know that at this time the army of the violent Janissaries in this region was committing plunder, kidnapping and bloodshed against the Orthodox people. We do not know what happened during the arrest and martyrdom of Agapios. We also do not know where he was buried and what happened to his honorable remains.

The first event in honor of Saint Agapios took place in 1977 in his birthplace by the most venerable Metropolitan of Ierissos, Mount Athos and Ardameri, Mr. Nikodimos, with the efforts of its protosyngellos, Archimandrite Chrysostomos Maidonis. The icon of the saint was painted by the Athonite hieromonk Benedictos Neoskitios in 1997 and placed in the holy church of Panagia Galatista. A church is being built in his honor in his homeland. His sacred service was composed by the hymnographer Charalambis Bousias.

His memory is unknown to the synaxarists. He is honored on August 18th.

Source: Monk Moses of Mount Athos, Vatopedi Synaxarion, published by the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos, 2007.

SOURCE: https://www.vatopedi.gr/en/ergo/agapios-agiotafitis/

Did you know that God has endowed us with free will?

Free will may seem difficult to reconcile with God’s omniscience and omnipotence. If God knows everything, how can we be in control of our lives? Simply, God’s foreknowledge does not preclude our free will. Just because God knows what we’re going to do does not preclude us from being able to freely

do what we want, whether good or bad. Both things are true. God knows what we’re going to do, and he still allows us to do it.

Likewise, simply because God is in control of everything does not mean that he inhibits our free will. God creates us and sustains us, so naturally, we depend on him for everything. Dependency, however, does not preclude free will. Simply because God creates and sustains everything does not mean that

we do not have free will; it simply means that the Divine Will permits us to have autonomy in our own willing.

God’s plan for every human being is salvation, but God allows us to freely determine for ourselves whether we wish to accept that salvation or not, as he himself says, “For many are called, but few are

chosen” (Matthew 22:14). God calls all of us to be saved, but we are free to reject the salvation which he freely and generously dispenses unto all of us.

God gives us the free will to determine whether we wish to love him as he has loved us. Freedom is a prerequisite to love, because love, by definition, is the act of freely choosing to will good unto someone. God cannot force us to love him because anything which is not done freely is coercion, and love can never be coerced.

SOURCE: https://www.goarch.org/documents/32058/12709588/Free+Will.pdf/8c96f208-4473-d02a-754b-d757e7458c51?version=1.0&t=1786996614593

This blessed father of the Church was born in Tourlada, Kalavryta at the end of the 19th century (1891) and departed this life in the midst of the 20th century (1967). From a young age, he cherished the monastic life and lived his days piously in the temple, engaging in frequent prayers and supplications. Upon reaching adulthood, he was tonsured as a monk in the nearby Monastery of Holy Lavra, where he was ordained as a deacon and priest. After many years, he served as a parish priest and spiritual father in Attica, particularly in Amarousio at the Temple of the Neratziotissa. There, he distinguished himself as a parish priest and spiritual father, serving the Orthodox people remarkably, and assisted by divine grace, he led many onto the path of the Lord, healed others from ailments of the soul and body, and helped many materially during the times of the German occupation, saving a multitude from death by starvation. In the latter days of his life, he established the Sacred Monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Faneromeni, in Rodopoli (commonly known as Ballas), appointing nuns therein. The remainder of his life was spent in silence, serving God day and night. The Lord granted him the gift of signs and wonders. He departed this life peacefully amidst illness. The translation of his honorable relics took place in the later years (on October 23, 2014) by His Eminence Metropolitan Kyrillos of Kifisia, Amarousion and Oropos, the honor of which is celebrated alongside his commemoration.

Through his holy intercessions, Christ our God, save our souls.

SOURCE: https://www.mystagogyresourcecenter.com/2025/08/synaxarion-of-our-venerable-father.html?m=1