Heilige Konstantin und Elena - Das Kloster der Varna

Heilige Konstantin und Elena in der Geschichte der Kirchenmalerei

Konstantin der Große (324 – 337) ist eine der populärsten Persönlichkeiten unter den kanonisierten Heiligen in der Geschichte des christlichen Mittelalters. Die Zeit seiner Regierung bezeichnet das Ende der drei Jahrhunderte andauernden Christenverfolgung im alten Rom. In seinen „Bekennenden Worten“ nennt ihn Patriarch Eftimij „Stolz der Zaren“ und bezeichnet ihn als Vorbild für die nachfolgenden Zarengenerationen in Bulgarien nach dem Zweiten Bulgarischen Reich. Ende des III. und Anfang des IV. Jahrhunderts, war Konstantin einer der vier Cäsaren, welche der Herrschaft eines der größten Christenverfolger im Römischen Reich – Imperator Diokletian (284 – 305) nachfolgten. Mehr Info

The Holy Spring The Holy spring (agiazmo) is situated in the altar behind the Communion table! People have many things in their life for nothing. These are things given by Our Lord and people haven’t taken pains over them. People were given many things by God for their own good. These are the earth and sky, the air and sun, water ... The monastery church was constructed on the spot of the holy spring and it is unique nowadays, there is no information about such a church in Europe; a church with a holy spring under the very Communion table, the place where the Holy Liturgy, the Sacrament of All Sacraments is celebrated. Believe, and saved you will be! Let it be to you according to your faith - says Our Lord in the Gospel. Mehr Info

Saint Martyr Valentine's Relics Today pilgrims in the monastery can worship the small piece of St Martyr Valentine’s relics and ask for his prayers and protection. Nowadays the man of God is more popular in the Roman Catholic Church and is inevitably connected with the so called holiday of lovers. But everyone can use his own judgement to what extend it is pious after he gets acquainted with the saint’s passional. In the 3AD in Ombria, an Italian region, in the town of Intermna, the Bishop was Saint Valentine, a man ordained by God with the gift of cure. Curing people of all kinds of illnesses and infirmities by prayer and invoking the Most Holy Name of Jesus Christ, he converted the infidels from idolatry to God. At that time the pagan polytheism still dominated over the world and impious kings in the West and East persecuted the Christians. Mehr Info


Holy Reverend Martyr Maria Gatchinskaya 1874 - †1932 Among the names of the Russian new martyrs and confessors the name of nun Maria Gatchinskaya is somewhat prominent both because of her unusual feat which she carried and the circumstances of the last two months of her life spent in the prison hospital where she died already condemned ... Mehr Info


The Holy Seven Youths (the Seven Sleepers) of Ephesus: Maximilian, Jamblicus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Eksakustodian (Constantine) and Antoninus The Seven Youths of Ephesus: Maximilian, Jamblicus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Eksakustodian (Constantine) and Antoninus lived in the 3rd century. Saint Maximilian was the son of the governor of Ephesus, the remaining six boys - sons of other noble citizens of Ephesus. Young men had been friends since childhood, and all were military men. When the emperor Decius (249-251) came to Ephesus, he ordereded all citizens to come to sacrifice to pagan gods; tortures and death expected the recalcitrants. Denounced by people who curried favour with the emperor, the seven youths of Ephesus were also called to response to him. Brought before the emperor, the holy youths confessed their faith in Christ. Mehr Info