JAN 11: DIVINE LITURGY – 6:00 PM.
We commemorate on January 11th Theodosius Venerable. Saint Theodosius the Great lived during the fifth-sixth centuries, and was the founder of cenobitic monasticism. He was endowed with a splendid voice & toiled at church reading and singing. He yearned for the solitary life & settled in Palestine into a desolate cave, in which, according to tradition, the three Magi had spent the night, having come to worship the Savior after His Nativity. He lived there 30 years in great abstinence and unceasing prayer. People flocked to the ascetic, wishing to live under his guidance. When the cave could no longer hold all the monks, praying he took a censer with cold charcoal and incense, the monk started walking into the desert. When the charcoal ignited by itself and the incense smoke began to rise, he established the first cenobitic monastery, or Lavra (meaning “broad” or “populous”). Soon the Lavra of St Theodosius became renowned for its service to giving aid to the poor and providing shelter for wanderers.
