Welcome to St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church - Freehold, NJ

 Mission Parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Synaxis of All Saints of the Carpatho-Rus

Upcoming Church Schedule:

Sunday June 22, 2025 

The Hours - 9:00AM

Divine Liturgy - 9:30AM

SPECIAL INTENTIONS:

Please keep in your minds and hearts our parishioners, family, and friends in need of our prayers.  May God grant them peace, health and happiness for many blessed years! 

Please pray for Catechumens and inquirers, for those preparing for Marriage, for Expecting Mothers, for those serving in the Armed Forces and Civil Authorities. 

Please pray for Jacob Cochran, son of Father David and Pani Andrea.

Please pray for the healing of Rebecca (Becky) Ream, daughter of Pani Anna Marie Slovesko (and of Fr. Michael Slovesko of blessed memory). 

Please pray for the health of baby Noelle.

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:

In the Year 2006, His Eminence, +Metropolitan Nicholas received the blessing of  His All- Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew  to celebrate the Synaxis or Gathering of All Saints of the Carpatho-Rus, each year on the Second Sunday after Pentecost. On this day, the Church calls to mind the saints that shown forth amongst the Carpatho-Rusyn peoples.

The following synaxarion or account of the lives of saints,  has been provided to give a samplying of the countless numbers martyrs, confessors, and pious laity who  have lived within the geographical regions of Carpatho-Rus' or were intimately involved with the region.

September 6/19-Holy Martyr Maxim of Gorlice

One of the most glorified martyrs of Orthodoxy in the 20th century St. Maxim (Sandovich) serves as a reminder that true belief has a price. He was born to pious parents in Galicia in the Horlitsky district in the village of Zdyna. Having finished primary school and four years of study at the gymnasium, he entered the Pocheav Lavra in Russia as a novice. After several years at the monastery, he entered the seminary in Zhitomir. After completing his studies, he married a young Orthodox woman, Pelagia, and was ordained to the holy priesthoodin 1911. He returned to his home-land to serve the growing number of Orthodox faithful who had fled the "Unia" and returned to the Orthodox Church. In less than one year, he was arrested by the Austro-Hungarian militia for his zealous activity among the Orthodox faithful, and taken to prison bound in chains. For two years, he languished in a Lvov prison without trial enduring horrible conditions and abuse. In early 1914, the holy priest was released from prison for lack of evidence, and he returned to his home village.

By the summer of 1914, the Austro-Hungarian authorities were suspicious of any persons involved with the Orthodox Church, especially the Priest Maxim Sandovich. Without warning, the militia arrested Fr. Maxim, his Matushaka, and his parents, dragging them off in chains to the district prison. Forced to travel by foot the entire way, they suffered much at the hands of their captors. On Sunday, August 6th, just before dawn, the priest rose from his bunk, read his morning prayers and three akathists.

Having finished the third akathist, two soldiers dragged him from the cell and put him before Captain Deitrich, a man known for his cruelty. Saint Maxim stood silently before his accusers. Captain Deitrich read out the execution order and laughed heartily. He approached the innocent priest, tore off his pectoral cross and lettingit fall to the ground, trampled it under his feet. He then marked an "X" on Fr. Maxim's black riassa in the middle of his chest for the firing squad. Two soldiers, standing less than ten feet away, waited for the command. As Captain Deitrich began the customary command of orders to the two soldiers, St. Maxim cried out; "Long live the Rusin People! Long live Orthodoxy!" Shots rang out in the courtyard, and the newest martyr for Christ fell to the ground. One of the soldiers approached the dead priest and shot him three more times in the head with a revolver. His mother and father along with his Matuska wept as they watched the scene before them. The pious Orthodox faithful buried the holy priest under the watchful eye of those who had murdered him. To this day, many travel to his grave asking the holy martyr to intercede for them.

September 16/29-Holy Martyr Ludmila

Blessed Ludmila was from Serbia, the daughter of a Serbian prince. Being of royal lineage, her family decided that she should marry the Czech Prince, Borivoj, who had been baptized by St. Methodius in the mid 870's. The prince had supported the missionary work of Saints Cyril and Methodius, especially in the education of his people in their own language, Slavonic. In 873, Ludmila and Borivoj were joined in marriage, and in honor of this blessed event they ordered the construction of the first church in Prague, dedicated to the Theotokos. Her husband died at an early age, so her son, Vratislav, ascended the throne. At this point in her life, Holy Ludmila put her trust in the Lord and distributed all her goods to the poor. For 30 years her son ruled Bohemia and Moravia building numerous churches as well as encouraging the use of Slavonic over that of Latin in liturgical use.

Following Vratislav's death, Wenceslas, Ludmila's grandson, assumed power and continued to support the construction of churches and encouraged the use of Slavonic in the church. Her daughter-in-law, Drahomira, an avowed pagan and extremely jealous over Ludmila's piety, began to plot against her. Without any warning, the peace and tranquility in Blessed Ludmila's life was under attack. Having discovered her daughter-in-law's evil plan, Blessed Ludmila fled to a nearby town, but two boyars, hired by Drahomira, secretly followed her.

One night, they broke into the blessed one's house, threw a rope around her neck and strangled her. When Wenceslas learned about the crime a few days later, he hurried to the village, and with great solemnity, transported her holy body to the Church of St. George in Prague. Christ's holy martyr had breathed her last in 926. Her piety spread throughout the Orthodox World, and her saintly life holds a place of prominence in the vast choir of martyrs.

September 16/29-St. Procopius of Sazava

By the end of the tenth century, internal division and wars had reduced the great Moravian Empire. The Poles and Germans had conquered and divided up most of the territory that previous Moravian princes had gained. It was during these bleak years that an important center of Orthodox Christianity arose in the Monastery of Saints Mary and John the Baptist on the Sazava River. On a land grant from Prince Oldrich, St. Procopius built the monastery and established a community dedicated to serve the Slavic population in Eastern Moravia.

The monks copied manuscripts and made numerous translations of liturgical services from Latin into Church Slavonic. The monastery continued to be a center of learning and perpetuation of the Byzantine tradition until the death of the pious abbot in the year 1053. With the Roman Catholic decision to separate itself from the Holy Orthodox Church in 1054, the monastery became an easy target for Latin hostilities. The monastery experienced many setbacks under Roman Catholic authority, and was forced to close in 1074. Many of the monks sought refuge in Serbia and Kievan Rus.

October 29/November 11-St. Rostislav, Prince and Confessor

As the ninth century dawned, the entrenched pagan beliefs and customs of the Slays in central Europe began to weaken as the surge of Christianity hit this land. The drive to evangelize these Slays came from the south and the west, respectively Roman and Frankish missionaries were poised for the task. As the kingdom of Moravia expanded and grew in strength, Prince Rostislav allied himself with the Byzantine Empire in the east rather than with the Franks and Romans in the west.

With the fear of God and with a firm conviction to educate his people in the faith of Christ, St. Rostislav, who had been baptized in 846 asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send missionaries to his people. Michael III chose two brothers from Macedonia, Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius. In 863, Saints Cyril and Methodius traveled to Moravia, and began to teach The Slays in their own language. Earlier that year, St. Cyril had invented The Slavonic (Glagolitic) Alphabet, and began to teach them to read and write by using the New Testament and Byzantine law. Under the rule of the Blessed Prince Rostislav, Orthodox Christianity was firmly planted in Eastern Europe with the building of many churches and the teaching of the faith in Slavonic. The holy prince died in 870.

February 14/27-St Cyril, Equal to the Apostles

St. Cyril, in baptism Constantine, is synonymous with Orthodox Christianity in Carpatho-Rus. The seventh of seven children born to pious parents of noble rank in the city of Thessaloniki, St. Cyril excelled in all manner of learning under the tutelage of St. Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. Numerous events in the empire caused upheaval and division especially in matters concerning the church. In these instances, the Emperor called upon Cyril the "Philosopher" to defend the Orthodox faith. Involved with defending the faith against theiconoclasts as well as the Muslims, the blessed Saint brought many to Orthodoxy.

In 862, the Byzantine Emperor Michael received a request from Prince Rostislav of Moravia asking for "two pious and educated men to explain to us in our own language the true Christian faith." The wise Emperor chose the two holy brothers, Cyril and Methodius, to teach the Slays in Moravia. Cyril prayed fervently to God for help, and soon he began creating the letters to the new language of the Slays, the Cyrillic (Glagolitic) alphabet.Upon their arrival in Moravia, Prince Rostislav received the holy brothers with great honor. Immediately, the population began to learn the new letters of the Cyrillic Alphabet, and they began to read holy scripture and other liturgical texts in their own language.

But the Latin-speaking priests became indignant and accused the holy brothers of teaching in a heretical language. They claimed that only Greek, Latin or Hebrew could be used to instruct the faithful. Based on these false charges, the brothers traveled to Rome to defend the use of Slavonic. In an over whelming defense, Cyril and Methodius declared that, " the faith is taught in many languages: Armenian, Persian, Arabic, Coptic and Ethiopian. Why should we not teach in Slavonic? Do Christ's words to teach all nations only pertain to those who speak Greek, Latin or Hebrew?" After listening to both sides, Pope Hadrian sided with the holy brothers, placed the Slavic Scriptures in the Church Of St. Mary, and celebrated the holy liturgy over them.

It was also at this time that Cyril, still named Constantine, grew ill. Desiring to become a monk, he was tonsured with the name Cyril and lived for fifty more days. When the last day approached, he prayed for a while and then kissed everyone with a holy kiss. He reposed on the 14th Day of February 867. His bier was taken through the streets of Rome, and Pope Hadrian commanded that Cyril's holy body be placed in the crypt of St. Peter's. But St. Methodius requested that Cyril's Coffin be placed in the Church of St. Clement, whose relics Cyril had brought to Rome from Cherson. Thus the Equal to the Apostles and Teacher of the Slays, Cyril, ended his life.

March 4/17-Holy Martyr Wenceslas

According to tradition, St. Wenceslas was born in 907 in the village of Stochov. At the age of 7, his father summoned the Slavic Archbishop of Moravia to tonsure the boy in a manner that other princes were tonsured. His upbringing and education were entrusted to his grandmother, St. Ludmila. She placed him under the direction of a priest to learn the Slavic language as well as Latin and Greek. But his education was interrupted with the unexpected death of his father, Vratislav, and he assumed the throne of the Czech and Moravian lands. His rule was marked by the discipline of the gospel: he clothed and fed the poor, defended the widows and the orphans, and gave generously to the Church.

Although many in the kingdom rejoiced at the good works of St. Wenceslas, his envious brother, Boleslav, hoped to find a way to murder the pious king. During one of his travels through the towns of his kingdom, he stopped in a small village to attend the feast day divine liturgy of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Again, friends warned the holy ruler of his brother's evil plot to kill him, but the king refused to believe such a story. On the next morning, hearing the bells of the church calling the faithful to Matins, he set off for the church. However his evil brother, Boleslav, overtook him at the gate of his home and struck him over the head with his sword. Two other conspirators assisted in the murderous plot piercing the king's ribs with their swords. St. Wenceslas cried out, "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," and he breathed his last. The conspirators also killed many others, and the entire kingdom was in disarray.

A priest from the local church placed a shroud over the bloody corpse and carried the king to his home. There he was bathed and clothed, and his body was taken to the middle of the church for the funeral. Thus was the holy one brought to the end of his life in 929. Boleslav, feeling much remorse and pain, repented for his evil act and ordered the soldiers to bring the holy prince to Prague. His body was placed in the church of the Saint Vitus and remains there to this very day.

May 7/20-Holy Father and Confessor Alexis of Wilkes-Barre

Born on March 18, 1854 into a pious and well-educated family, the young Alexis finished his preliminary education, and entered the Preshov Seminary where he graduated with honors. After serving his compulsory military duty, he was ordained to the holy priesthood and appointed as professor of church law and church history at the Preshov Seminary. For nearly a decade, he served the diocese of Preshov. In November of 1889, the Bishop of Preshov assigned him to St. Mary's Parish in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Upon his arrival in Minneapolis and following proper protocol, he presented himself along with his credentials to the Roman Catholic Archbishop, John Ireland. In what can be considered a rude and hostile treatment of the most recent Greek Catholic priest in America, Archbishop John Ireland shouted, "I do not consider either you or this 'bishop of Preshov' to be Roman Catholic." The young priest soon realized that this brief encounter was just the beginning. The archbishop launched a vicious campaign against Fr. Alexis Toth, prohibiting all Catholic priests from having any contact with him.

With this assault against the Greek Catholic Church in America, along with two centuries of broken promises that supposedly guaranteed the traditions of the Greek Catholic Church under the "Union with Rome," St. Alexis began his return to the mother church of Orthodoxy. On Sunday, March 25, 1891 Fr. Alexis and 365 parishioners were formally received into the Russian Orthodox Church. Few recognized this action as the catalyst that would give rise to countless thousands of "Eastern Rite Catholics" abandoning the broken promises of the Union with Rome and seeking refuge within their mother church of Orthodoxy. Conservative estimates by the Roman Catholic Church maintained that this return to Orthodoxy cost the Roman Church a quarter of a million communicants in the United States.

For the rest of his life, St. Alexis served the Orthodox Church in many capacities. He wrote pamphlets and instructional material, preached to a host of congregations, and educated entire parish communities that desired to return to the Orthodox faith of their ancestors. Neither the lies of his opponents nor the decisions of the courts could silence this confessor for the faith. When defending his position among a hostile audience, the saint would simply ask, "Is it Eastern Rite to perform two or even three masses in one day on the same altar? To perform the liturgy without the Proskomedia or in hushed whispers? Is it Eastern Rite to introduce organs and to throw out the iconostasis? Who of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church ever ordered this!" Many in the crowd realized the error of the "Unia" and embraced Orthodoxy.

The holy confessor for Orthodoxy, St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre, reminds us that struggle is inevitable when one desires to find the Truth in Christ. One must often set aside feelings of ethnic identity as well as cultural pride in order to find real peace in Christ. The saint passed from this life into eternal life with Christ in 1909.

May 11/24-St Methodius, Equal to the Apostles

Hearkening to the call of the pious Prince Rostislav and desiring to bring the word of God to all nations, St. Methodius accompanied his brother St. Cyril to Moravia to instruct the Slays in the gospel of Christ in their own written Slavic language. With St. Cyril acting as the principle teacher and St. Methodius serving as his assistant, both men diligently carried out their duties baptizing many into the faith and training many men for ranks of the clergy including Saints Clement, Gorazd I, Nahum, Angelarius, and Savva.

They left Moravia and traveled to Rome to defend their missionary, activities before Pope Hadrian. The western clergymen had accused the Holy brothers of heresy by translating Holy Scripture into Slavonic as well as using Slavonic in the services of the church. After a brilliant defense by St. Cyril, the pope placed the Slavonic gospel book on the altar and served a mass directly over it. The pope ordained Methodius a priest and Cyril a deacon. Shortly after the victory over those who wished only Latin to be used among the Slays, St. Cyril died, and obeying the wishes of his dying brother, St. Methodius returned to Moravia to continue the missionary activities that both brothers had begun.

St. Methodius labored tirelessly in Moravia. Having learned about the labors of the holy brothers, Prince Kocel, the ruler of the Slavic kingdom ofPannonia-modern day Austria and Hungary - asked the pope if he would send Methodius to instruct his people. Knowing the importance of such a mission, Pope Hadrian II received Methodius in Rome and consecrated him bishop. However, the Latin clergy objected to Methodius' activity as well as his popularity among the Slays, and plotted to arrest Methodius and put him in prison. For two years, the saint suffered in prison. News of this terrible crime reached Pope John VII in 873, and he sent a delegation to the city of Swabia, the place of Methodius' imprisonment, to gain release of the saint. Acting upon the pope's orders the four bishops responsible for this act of aggression were suspended, and Methodius returned to Moravia in great triumph. The people drove out the German priests and demanded Prince Svatopulk to bring back their holy Bishop Methodius.

The church prospered greatly in Moravia, and many accepted baptism in the true faith. But the Latin clergy continued to scheme and plot a way to remove the Holy Bishop from Moravia. They declared that Methodius was a heretic since he refused to say the creed with the insertion of the words, "and the son" known as the filoque. The words, "and the son" were inserted into the: creed by the Roman Catholic Church and reflects their erroneous belief concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit. Methodius defended himself by recalling the precise words of the creed as taught by the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils. He also argued that the addition of the words regarding the procession of the Holy Spirit into the creed were contrary to the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Seeing that they would not win this case, Methodius' enemies brought the king a forged papal document, which supposedly condemned the Orthodox version of the Creed. This tactic also failed and in the end St. Methodius remained in power, and those who plotted against the holy bishop were put to shame.

As the end of his life neared, Holy Methodius accompanied Prince Svatopulk to meet with the King of Hungary, Charles III, in order to bring about a peace treaty between the two kingdoms. King Charles III embraced the pious bishop and both men spoke at great length. When they had finished their deliberations, King Charles kissed his hand and said, "O venerable Father, remember me always in your prayers." Methodius returned to his home in Moravia, and appointed Gorazd as his successor. Bishop Methodius grew weaker and several days later passed away on the 6th of April 885. The liturgy and funeral were celebrated in Slavonic, Greek, and Latin, and he was buried in the cathedral of Stare Mesto.

June 11/24-St. Ephrem of New Torzhok

In the days of the venerable great princes, the Holy Passion-bearers of Russia, Saints Boris and Gleb, three brothers from the Carpathian lands and members of the Boyar class, Ephrem, George, and Moses had been enlisted to guard and protect the holy princes. However, when the enemies of Christ had succeeded in murdering the Holy Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, Ephrem and Moses escaped death, while their brother George died while trying to defend St. Boris.

Following the death of the holy princes, Ephrem became a monk in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery in Kiev in 1020, while Moses remained a pious layman attached to the princes of Rus'. Ephrem lived in the monastery for several years, but he desired to establish the monastic life in another area of Rus'. With the blessing of his abbot, Ephrem traveled to the city of Torzhok. He found a beautiful spot along the banks of the Tversta River and built a church in honor of the Holy Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb. Having gathered many monks, he then built a monastery on the same spot in the year 1038. Raised to the rank of Archimandrite, St. Ephrem labored in fasting and prayer until his death in 1053. After his death, many miracles were performed at his grave.

July 26/August 8-8t Moses the Hungarian

One of the greatest monks of the famous Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Monastery, St. Moses labored for much of his life as a pious layman. In his early years, he devoted himself to the service of the holy princes, Saints Boris and Gleb. After the princes' death, Moses fled to Kiev where he remained in the home of Predislava, Prince Yaroslav's sister.

A great battle was fought in Kiev, and Prince Yaroslav's forces were defeated. Moses was led away in chains to Poland to serve as a slave to King Boleslay. While serving the king, a Polish noblewoman saw the young and exceedingly handsome Moses, and begged the king to sell him to her. He agreed to this plan, and she brought Moses to her vast estate with the intention of marrying him. When they arrived at her estate, the woman tried to seduce Moses in many ways. The pious layman refused her advances, and she became enraged by hisunwillingness to accept her offers. Seeing that her plan was not working, she ordered that Moses be placed in prison and fed only dry bread and water. The holy servant of God prayed and fasted more diligently than ever, and many came to his aid offering food and prayers.

Seeing that her plan was failing and that Moses would not yield to her advances, the woman devised another scheme by which she hoped to convince him to marry her. She led Moses throughout her villages showing him all that he would gain by submitting to her wishes. Moses simply replied, "You are doing all this in vain. You cannot entice me with corruptible things of this world, and you cannot steal from me incorruptible spiritual wealth."

By God's mercy, a priestmonk from the Holy Mountain who was traveling in the area heard of Moses, and came to him one night. After much conversation, the priestmonk tonsured Moses and taught him about the spiritual life. Later the next day, servants informed the woman about the priestmonk and all that he had done. She ordered that Moses be beaten with metal rods. During his torture, a rebellion broke out in the land, and King Boleslav as well as the noble woman perished. Moses was now a free man.

After his liberation, he traveled to Kiev and entered the Monastery of the Kiev Caves where he struggled as a hesychast for ten years. He reposed on July 26, 1043. To this day, his sacred and fragrant relics lie in the cave of St. Antony, founder of the Kiev Caves Monastery.

August 22/September 4-Holy Martyr Gorazd, Bishop of Prague

Born in the village of Hruba Vrbka in Moravia in 1879, Matej Pavlik (Bishop Gorazd) entered the Roman Catholic Seminary and was ordained a priest for the province of Slierska. During the First World War, he began to explore the early Byzantine influence of Christianity especially the missionary activity of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Soon the priest realized the errors of the western church, and desired to return to the Orthodox faith. Following World War I, the Serbian Orthodox Church assisted in re-establishing the Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia. In 1921, the Serbian Patriarch received the priest, Matej Pavlik, bestowed upon him the name Gorazd, and consecrated him bishop of Moravia and Slierska.

Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, Bishop Gorazd labored tirelessly to rebuild the Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia writing catechetical and spiritual manuals for the faithful. With the advent of World War II, Bishop Gorazd continued to labor for Orthodoxy in German occupied Czechoslovakia. Life became unbearable for the Slavic population as the process of Germanization, a form of ethnic cleansing, was implemented and overseen by the German SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich. In an attempt to thwart the Nazi regime, the resistance movement planned the assassination of Heydrich. On May 27, 1942, the assassination took place, and Hey-rich died one week later from injuries sustained in the attempt.

With little time to escape, the brave men who carried out the assasination fled to the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Fr. Vladimir Petrak, a priest of the Cathedral, decided to hide them in the crypt of the church. On June 18, the Nazi's surrounded the Orthodox Cathedral, and with 360 members of the SS, they stormed the church and the crypt. Many were arrested that day including Fr. Vladimir Petrak. Immediately, Bishop Gorazd, who knew about the hiding place, went to the office of the Prague Reichprotector. In an attempt to end the terror, the saintly bishop said, "I surrender my person to the authorities, and I am ready to undergo any punishment, even death if necessary." The Nazi regime ignored his plea.

Five days later, Bishop Gorazd was arrested and was tortured for several weeks. He was tried and convicted as a conspirator along with Fr. Vladimir Petrak. On September 4,1942 the pious Bishop Gorazd was executed by a Nazi firing squad. The parishes of the Czech Orthodox Church were dissolved and their properties confiscated by the Third Reich. All Orthodox priests were taken away by the Gestapo and sent to labor camps in Germany. Thus the holy martyr Bishop Gorazd ended his life laboring 21 years for the Holy Orthodox Church.

Holy Father and Confessor Alexis of Khust

St. Alexis (Kabaljuk) was born in Carpatho-Rus' and entered the Russian Orthodox Monastery in Kholm. In 1913, Archimandrite Alexis and most of the village of Iza openly proclaimed themselves Orthodox. The Hungarian Government declared this as an act of treason against the state. In an official trial in the city of Marmarosh, St. Alexis was convicted of treason - instructing the faithful in the teachings of Orthodoxy - and was sentenced to prison. Many of the villagers who had proclaimed their Orthodox faith suffered brutal punishment including one woman who would later become the abbess of a convent in the village of Lipsha.Following the end of World War I, St. Alexis continued to bring many of our people back to the Orthodox Faith. His efforts, along with the aid of the Serbian Patriarchate, brought forth fruit one hundred fold as dozens of formerly Greek Catholic villages renounced their "Uniate faith" and embraced Orthodoxy. Some 20 villages numbering 35,000 souls returned in the first years after the war.

The Saint also built an academy and boarding school at the church in Khust where he served. When the Serbian Patriarch decided to revive the Orthodox Diocese of Mukachevo, it was the parish in Khust, under the pious leadership of Archimandrite Alexis that accepted the task as temporary administrative center of the diocese. It was also at this time that St. Justin (Popovich) arrived to assist the newly reorganized diocese of Mukachevo.

With the advent of World War II, the Orthodox Church in the Carpathian Homeland again endured the heavyhanded persecution of the Hungarians. Having aligned themselves with Hitler's Nazi Germany, the Axis Army swept through the villages removing "suspicious" individuals. Our holy father and confessor, Alexis, old and frail, continued to endure the persecution and zealously assist and defend Orthodoxy throughout the war years. In 1947, he fell asleep in the Lord having brought many from darkness into the light of Christ.

Epilogue

This narrative serves as a companion guide to the icon, Synaxis of Saints of Carpatho-Rus'. Within the scope of this holy endeavor, I have tried to portray a sample of those who have lived within the geographical regions of Carpatho-Rus' or were intimately involved with the region. For example, St. Moses the Hungarian is depicted in the icon since he is a true native of our people's homelands, while Saints Rostislav, Ludmila and Wenceslas are seen as historical rulers of the region of Carpatho-Rus' responsible for establishing Orthodoxy in our ancestors' homeland. Many other martyrs, confessors, and pious laity should be included in future iconographic as well as hagiographic works.

Many of these saints' lives have been unavailable to the pious faithful in America because of linguistic barriers. For the first time, these are now available in English for the benefit of all. Nearly twelve centuries have passed since the two brothers from Thessalonica, Saints Cyril and Methodius, arrived in the lands of our people bringing them the world of God. They, along with a host of martyrs, confessors, ascetics and blessed ones, form a continuous link in our holy Orthodox Church both in the Carpathian lands and in America. To those who wishfurther insight into Orthodoxy in Carpatho Rus', a bibliography is provided at the end of this booklet. Let us all praise these holy ones and give honor and glory to our God in Three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

 M. Binkewicz (Compiler and Editor)

Bibliography

Alesh, Pavel,

Pravoslavna Cirkev u nas, Preshovskej Univerzity, Preshov, 1998.Biskup Gorazd - Pastyr a Martyr , Olomouc, 1994

Barriger, Fr. Lawrence,

Good Victory, Holy Cross Press, Brook-Line, 1986.

Glory be to Jesus Christ , Holy Cross Press, Brookline, 2000.

Dimitri of Rostov, Saint,

The Great Collection of the Lives of The Saints, (in Slavonic), Kiev, 1904.

Kantor, Marvin,

Medieval Slavic Lives, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1983.

The Origins of Christianity in Bohemia, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, 1990.

Lacko, Michael S.J.,

The Union of Uzhorod, Slovak Institute, Rome/Cleveland, 1976.

Mukachevskii Svyato-Nikolaivskii Pravoslavinii Monasjtir', Vidavnistsvo Zakarpattya, Uzhorod,1998.

Pekar, Athanasius,

The History of the Church in Carpathian Rus', East European Monographs, Columbia University Press, New York, 1992.

Puhalo, Archbisop Lev,

The Kiev-Caves Paterikon, Synaxis Press, British Columbia, 1979.

Soldatow, George (trans. & ed.), The Writings of St. Alexis Toth, Confessor and defender 
       of Orthodoxy in America, Minneapolis, 1994.

Page Source:  https://www.acrod.org/orthodox-christianity/articles/saints/rusyn-saints

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O Lord, the High Priest of God's people, You have shown us that it is Your will that men be called to the service of Your Holy Church. From the ranks of fishermen, You called Andrew and Peter and James and John, and made them and their successors in every age to be the "fishers of men." We, your people in this age, call upon Your great love to inspire for our churches, young men to be Your future priests. Touch their lives with Your Holy Spirit; give them the courage to answer Your call and the strength to work all the days of their life for Your service. Continue to shower upon our Diocesan Seminary Your choicest blessings and make us aware of her needs so that it may continue to be a place where the souls of those called to Your service may be trained and prepared to teach and preach, to pray and labor, to forgive and heal - to care in every way as priests of Your fold, O Good Shepherd. You told us with Your precious lips, "Without me, you can do nothing." As we call upon Your Name for more vocations, O Great High Priest, hear us and have mercy.