Saint Michael the Confessor From his youth he longed for the
monastic life and was sent by Patriarch Tarasius (784-806) to a
monastery on the coast of the Black Sea. St Theophylactus (March 8), the
future Bishop of Nicomedia also entered the monastery together with
him. [March 8th is my birthday]
At the monastery both monks engaged in spiritual struggles
and were soon glorified by gifts from the Lord. Once, during a harvest,
when the people were weakened by thirst, an empty metal vessel was
filled with water by the prayer of the monks.
Patriarch Tarasius
consecrated St Michael as bishop of the city of Synada. Through his holy
life and wisdom, St Michael won the love of believers, and the notice
of the emperors Nicephorus I (802-811) and Michael I Rangabe (811-813).
St Michael was present at the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicea in
787.
When the Iconoclast heretic Leo the Armenian (813-820)
assumed the throne, he began to expel Orthodox hierarchs from their
Sees, appointing heretics in their place.
St Michael defended
Orthodoxy, bravely opposing the heretics and denouncing their error. Leo
the Armenian brought St Michael to trial, but not fearing torture he
answered resolutely, “I venerate the holy icons of my Savior Jesus
Christ and the All-Pure Virgin, His Mother, and all the saints, and it
is to them I bow down. I shall not obey your decrees to remove icons
from churches.”
Leo then banished St Michael to the city of
Eudokiada, where the confessor died about the year 821. The head of St
Michael is preserved in the Great Lavra of St Athanasius on Mount Athos,
and part of the relics are at the Iveron monastery.
Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary, Mike Rizzio
Imitate Mary Become like Jesus Live for the Triune God
Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ See you on the High Ground!
* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for: Jesus, Mary and Joseph; O Beata Trinitas; St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael
Ecclesiasticus 43:11 Look upon the rainbow, and bless him that made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness. It encompasseth the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the most High have displayed it.
THE MYSTERY OF TIME – TRINITY
THE MYSTERY OF UNITY – BOTH/AND
THE MYSTERY OF SIGNS – COVENANT OF TRUTH
A Sacred Oath of Fatherhood and Kinship
THE MYSTERY OF OPTICAL LIGHT
Analogous to the Most Holy Trinity
Jesus Christ – Lord of the Rainbow
Jesus Christ – Lord of the Covenant
If we raise it, He might come!
The Divine Dance – Perichoresis
In a Joint Encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis write:
Triune Truth?
The Truth that must be handled
"Breathing with Both Lungs" reveals the Truth about E=mc2
The genesis of this blog was the Reflecting Pool Project. It is still alive in my heart and I hope to get some version of it published before too long.
For Our Lady
< T O T U S T U U S >
Rainbow in the Clouds
The New Evangelization
Cross His Heart, and hope to live!
A Poem to Ponder...
Drawn and Quartered by Mike Rizzio
Four chambers, but one purpose, Four Gospels live to tell, A Sacred Heart, so wounded, A lance launched straight from hell.
Our brokenness, bloodletting, True Mystics judged insane, King Science, throne ascending, To deaden all our pain.
Four riders, on four horses, Steeds rearing for a treat, Our corpse, nears rigor mortis, For Art not Science meet.
But wait...a ray of His Glorious Sonshine...
One part—sacred theology, One part—mystic sight, One part—true science, One part—creative light.
...and if ever two lungs breathed forth, East-West, air that is sweet, Aloft they'll send His Body, Heartbeat, Heartbeat, Heartbeat.
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