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2100 W. Frontage Rd. • Palatine, IL . 60078

Volume 20 - NO. 7/8 - July/August2005www.stmarysofchicago.com

he was not an ordinary woman, because not justany woman could have been Christ’s mother. TheLord chose and prepared the most pure St. Maryto be the recipient of this great honor. AsOrthodox Christians, we do believe that St. Maryis the “MOTHER OF GOD”, however some non-Orthodox Christians deny St. Mary this status. Tosettle this argument, let us see who is at fault?

To properly answer this question, let us refer tothe Holy Gospel. St. Luke the Evangelist testifiesthat when St. Mary visited Elizabeth, mother of

Our church will celebrate St. Mary’s fast by holding a Spiritual week startingTuesday evening, August 16 and ending Sunday August 21.

The program will include; daily Liturgy service, vespers prayers, glorification,and sermons delivered by different visiting priests.

A Divine Liturgy Service will be held on Monday, August 22,from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

to celebrate St. Mary’s Feast.

For more information please visit the church’s website at:www.st.marysofchicago.com

In the 4th century, Nestor, the Patriarch ofConstantinople, claimed that Jesus Christ came inhuman flesh, therefore the Virgin May should notbe called the “MOTHER OF GOD”, rather theMOTHER OF JESUS.

For this reason the 3rd Ecumenical councilconvened in Ephesus in the year 431 A.D. Itincluded 200 Bishops, presided by by St.Cyrl, the

John the Baptist, and greeted her, Elizabethwas filled with the Holy Spirit and sheexclaimed with a loud voice; “Blessed are youamong women and blessed is the fruit ofyour womb. And why is this granted tome, that the ‘MOTHER OF MY LORD’came to me...” (Luke 1:39-40)

This testimony does clearly and without anyshadow of doubt state that She is the Lord’s

choice to be “MOTHER OF GOD”, and that thistitle was given to her by the Holy Spirit.

24th Pope of Alexandria to look into this heresy.

The council proclaimed that Virgin Mary is the“MOTHER OF GOD”. They added the followingintroduction to the creed; “We magnify thee, OVirgin Saint Mother of God, for thee has born untous the Saviour of all the world. He came and savedour souls...”

An Insight

s

We magnify thee,O Virgin SaintMother of God

Congratulations To:❖ Dr. Elizabeth Shehata & John Iskandar.❖ Medhat Assad & Jennifer Sedrak.❖ Dr. Allen Mikhail & Megan Davis.❖ John Marcos & Vera Buotros.❖ Mina Rizk & Elaine Yannakopoulos.❖ Boula Mekail & Rebecca Bebawy.For becoming one in Christ. May the Lord bless

their marriage and grant them happiness.

❖ Salem &Eva Twadrous for the baptism of their daughter Rachael.❖ Anwar & Julia Awad for the baptism of their daughter Youliana.❖ Nader & Dr. Heidy Nicola. for the baptism of their daughter Alexandra.

❖ Ihab & Shereen Marcos for the birth of their son Jonah.❖ Dr. Nader & Nabila Tobia for the birth of their son Stephen.May the Lord bless the newborn to grow in grace

and stature before God and men.

Fr. Arkadi, was a kindand simple villager,he could hardlysupport his largef a m i l y . H ed e p e n d e dcompletely onthe parishioners

who loved him forhis honesty. They

tried frantically toprotect him whenever

there was persecution on the church.

It so happened in the thirties that the governmentissued high taxes on Fr. Arkadi. Since it was farbeyond his resources to pay, the people raised themoney for him and paid the taxes. This happenedmore than once, and each time the people joinedhands to pay it for him, which made the authoritiesskeptical. Accordingly they accused him ofconspiracy to turn the people against thegovernment, so they put him into prison in a place,called: “Iskeet Golgotha of the cross”, which lies ona mountain in the Island of Anzer in northern Russia.There a group of monks and hermits lived in absoluteseclusion. The life in the monastery was prosperousfor the last two centuries. The monks never stoppedpraying or enchanting. It was said that the MOTHEROF GOD has repeatedly appeared in that place andpromised to visit the monastery and take care of itsmonks. It was near “Iskeet the Golgotha of the cross”that the Virgin appeared in the thirties.

This was when the prisoners under thesupervision of viscous inhumane guards, werecutting wood in the valley of the Golgotha mountainwhich was surrounded with barbed wires, that

Fr. Arkadi felt weak and was unable e even to lift theaxe. The guard threatened to kill him. Fr. Arkadi kneltpraying to God and pleading to the absolute virtuousMother saying: “O watchful Mother, who protectsher children, these are my final moments! Please donot deprive my family from your love andprotection.” At that moment the guard pointed hisgun towards Fr. Arkadi and yelled at him, “Startworking or I’ll shoot.” However something caughthis attention, he saw a woman heading to hisdirection... He did not have a clue where she camefrom, as there were no families on that secludedIsland. The guard prompted to ask her where shewas going, but he was not able to do so, even hiswild dog who could attack any stranger and tearhim apart, was debilitated and simply laid on theground wiggling his tail.

The woman then passed through the barbed wiresas if they did not even exist and she approachedFr. Arkadi saying: “Do not worry about your children,because I will never leave them alone..” Thiswoman was so gentle and kind that she touched allthe prisoners with peace and tranquillity. Tears ofjoy filled their eyes and uplifted their spirits. Theyall called her “Mother” and She was kind enough tocall them “My children” and many of them saw tearsin her eyes.

All the prisoners knelt down praying. Their lifewas a living hell, and they were looking forward todie. Suddenly, they stood up and right before theireyes was an old Icon on the trunk of a tree. Theycould, not understand where it came from or whobrought it or why they had not seen it before, whichbaffled them. As for the guard, he was dumb struckand he was hysterically screaming, at the prisonersto stop praying. He attempted to remove the Icon,yet for some reason he was unable to do so,something seemed to restrain him.

In the evening after the prisoners returned to theprison, the guard wrote reporting the incident to hissuperiors saying: “During my shift in the forest, theMother of God appeared to us, leaving behind anIcon on the trunk of a tree which causes miraclesto happen”. The guard was then sent to theheadquarters of the prison and on his way he wasenchanting the litanies of St. Mary. Nobody could

explain how that pagan guardlearned them.

At the headquarters, the officialsthreatened and questioned theguard trying to know the storybehind the Icon but of no avail. Asfor the Icon, it had miraculouslydisappeared. The guard was

committed to a mental hospital because they didnot want that story to be told.

As for Fr. Arkadi, he admitted during questioningthat he saw the apparition of St. Mary. The authoritiesthen sentenced him for an extra term with hard labor.“However, we are sure that the Mother of God will alwaysprotect him”. These were the words by which theeyewitness ended his testimony and it shows that hewrote his story when father Arkadi was still in prison.

This story is told by eyewitness called Gennady the Russian. This is a false name of areligious Russian writer. The story is about an incident that happened in one of the hardlabor jails in northern Russia. Previously this place was one of the most famous convent inRussia, in the eighties it was transformed into a museum.

CONDOLENCES TO:

❖. Dr. Gamal Naguib, for the passing away of his sister, the Late Mrs. Aida Naguib.

May the Lord repose the soul of the deceased andconsole her grieving family.