Academy celebrated the beginning of a year with the Divine Liturgy
At night on December 31 to January 1, the Academy honored the memory of St. Boniface.
Archimandrite Simeon (Tomachinsky) co-served by the clergy of the Intercession Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy.
St. Martyr Boniface lived in the 3rd century. He was a slave and a lover of a rich Roman woman Aglaida. Both were deeply ashamed and wanted to wash away their sin. Once they herd that keeping and venerating the relics of holy martyrs in a house, help to part with sinful habits. Aglaida sent Boniface to the East to find such relics. Before leaving, the young man joked:
"If I do not find the relics and suffer for Christ myself, will you accept my body with honor?"
In Tarsus, Boniface saw how Christians were tortured. He was stricken and began to ask martyrs to pray for his soul. When the guards approached him, he confessed that he was a Christian and refused to offer sacrifice to idols. After that, he was tortured and executed.
The Holy Church honors St. Boniface’s memory on January 1, which is on New Year Day.
After the Divine Liturgy, Archimandrite Simeon gave a sermon:
“How wonderful it is to start a new year with a prayer to God and with the Communion. We should not expect this year to be better, but we have to become better ourselves. So, if we become true Christ’s disciples - courageous, faithful, pure - the world and all people around us will become better as well. "
Background information:
Chanting performed under the conduct of the second-year Master student Fyodor Surovtsev.
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