St. Cyril of Jerusalem quote

Multiplier of Wheat

The Multiplier of Wheat Icon of the Mother of God

(Also translated as She Who Ripens the Grain)

We are grateful to have this special icon in our home. My husband is a baker, and we delight in harvesting herbs and vegetables from our kitchen garden.

The Most Holy Theotokos intercedes for harvests, seasonable weather, and lifting of droughts. She is the Benefactress of farmers, gardeners, and others who work the soil for their daily bread.

The Mother of God is a helper for people in their labours for the acquiring of their daily bread… Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with You! Grant unto us unworthy ones the dew of Your grace and the showing forth of Your mercy! ~ St. Ambrose of Optina

Salutations to you forever, Virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for to you do I turn again… You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; … the living altar of the Bread of Life (Jesus)… ~ St. Methodius

The Teacher of children became Himself a Child among children, that He might instruct the unwise. The Bread of heaven came down to earth to feed the hungry. ~ St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Give us this day, our daily bread. ~ St. Matthew 6:11

For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. ~ 1 Corinthians 10:17

Our Lord says: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ~ John 6:51

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. ~ St. John 12:24

The Most Holy Mother of God prays for us ceaselessly. She is always visiting us. Whenever we turn to her in our heart, she is there. After the Lord, she is the greatest protection for mankind. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

O Most Holy Theotokos, nourish and pray for us, that we may worthily become God’s wheat!

Nativity of the Theotokos

Icon of St. Anna holding the Most Holy Theotokos – Benaki Museum, Greece, 2017

Greetings on this beautiful Feast Day! (September 21 /8)

In their barren affliction the holy parents [Sts. Joachim and Anna] of the Mother of God cried aloud unto the Lord; and they… received from heaven a gift worthy of God… Today the inhabited earth rejoiceth with thee, O holy Anna. For thou hast borne as blossom the Mother of its Redeemer, even her who brought forth the Rod of our strength from the root of Jesse, and who bore Christ as flower… Husbandman of our Thoughts and gardener of our souls, Thou hast made the barren earth fertile. Thou hast turned the ground that once was parched into fruitful land, rich in corn and bearing fruit. From Holy Anna Thou hast made to blossom… the Theotokos. ~ Matins Excerpts on the Birth of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos

7th century sermon on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary ~by St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

The root is the household of the Jews, the rod is Mary, the Flower of Mary is Christ. She is rightly called a rod, for she is of the royal lineage, of the house and family of David. Her Flower is Christ, Who destroyed the stench of worldly pollution and poured out the fragrance of eternal life. As He Himself said, ‘I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys.’ ~ St Ambrose of Milan (4th century)

I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the Holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the Holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God? ~ St. Cyril of Alexandria (375 -444 AD)

She is the flower of the field from whom blossomed the precious lily of the valley.~ St Augustine (354-430 AD )

Here are some traditions on ways to celebrate today! Besides wearing blue in honour of the Theotokos, many hike and go birdwatching after Liturgy and lunch, to count how many birds and species they can see today. (It is said St. Anna saw a mother bird tending her fledglings in a garden nest, which saddened but inspired St. Anna to pray yet again faithfully for the blessing of a child.) If hiking, and you are allowed to, flowers and wild grasses are picked and placed in the family icon corner.

Some families have recently adapted baking a Birthday Cake or another kind of sweet, and sing the Tropar of the Nativity of the Theotokos before enjoying the treat. Others share they make blueberry pancakes after Liturgy or bake a blueberry pie for dessert for after dinner!

Thy nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, hath proclaimed Joy to all the world;
for from thee hath shone forth Christ our God, the Sun of Righteousness,
Who, having annulled the curse, hath given His blessing, and having abolished death, hath granted us life everlasting. ~ Troparion Tone 4

O Most Holy Theotokos, pray to God for us!

Beautiful Orthodox Hymn to the Virgin Mary by St. Nektarios of Aegina Greece (with English translation)

Abbreviated version in Greek

Full version in Slavonic

Through Attention

Beautiful Sunflower Church Bouquet with Lemons and Chestnuts, by Evguenia

It is impossible for anyone who stands in God’s holy Church collecting his thoughts, lifting his mind to God, occupying his understanding with the sacred singing from the beginning until the end, and waiting patiently, not to undergo a divine change, in accordance with his attention to God and His teachings. Through this attention a certain warmth is born in the heart which chases away evil like flies, creates a spiritual peace and comfort in the soul and bestows sanctification on the body, according to him who said, ‘My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned’ (Psalm 39:3)… ~ St. Gregory Palamas

The church has been planted as a paradise in this world. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

A Christian should inscribe the Symbol of Faith upon the tablets of the heart... Your accumulated offences do not surpass the multitude of God’s mercies: our wounds do not surpass the great Physician’s skill. ~ St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315 – 386 AD)