Feast Day: August 13th
The Life of Saint Tikhon: He loved to read the Lives of the Saints and the works of the Holy Fathers. He knew the Psalter by heart, and he usually read or sang the Psalms on his journeys…
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Prayers
Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone: From thy youth thou didst love Christ, O Blessed one, and wast a model in word, life, love, spirit, faith and humility. Now thou art dwelling in the Heavenly mansions where thou dost stand before the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity. Holy Father Tikhon, Pray that our Souls may be saved.
Kontakion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone: O successor of the Apostles, adornment of Hierarchs and teacher of the Orthodox Church: Pray to the Lord of All that He grant Peace to the world and great Mercy to our Souls.
“We also observe how sweet and comforting it is for a man to rest from his hard labours, and to forget the sorrows and pains of those labours. How sweet and peaceful will it be for the Saintly Soul to find rest in eternal life from the labour, struggle and feats of piety; after multiplying the talents from the Lord and serving Him and the neighbour with awe and love!”
“God and His Divine Grace mean everything for our Souls; they are its calmness, nourishment, light, glory, honour, wealth, comfort, joy, happiness; they are all the good things that it enjoys when it finds Him. The more it seeks Him, the more it desires Him and will desire and seek Him until it meets Him face to face. We will then draw all the longer from His ever-springing, Life-giving source, with Eternal longing, and without saturation or excess. For the more we see Him, so much the stronger we desire Him.”
“Leave the darkness and aspire to the truth, to understand the Truth. Remember the words of our Saviour: For many are invited, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). We are called by His Grace to have Eternal Life; so let us seek to be not only among the invited but also among the chosen. Reflect upon this diligently and frequently, and you will grow to despise the world with its affections and lusts.”
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“Christ is my Wisdom, Truth, Sanctification and Deliverance; the Faithful Soul will know full-well that no truth and sanctity may exist without Christ. Without Him, we may have no enlightenment or deliverance, and all wisdom without Him is madness. Faith in Christ gives wisdom, we are justified, Sanctified and redeemed by our Faith. However, without Christ, all wise men are mad, all righteous men are sinful, all pure men are impure, and all men will die.”
“Observe the honour that He has accorded us. His death is our life. By His illnesses and ulcers, He cured our illnesses. He brought us honour and glory by suffering dishonour. Our spiritual rebirth is predicated in His Birth. His sorrows are our joy. By His labours, we acquire eternal rest. By His torments, we are spared from our eternal torments. By the journeys of his Earthly life, we inherit our fatherland in Heaven. His hunger and thirst give us an eternal reprieve from thirst and heat. The goodness that man acquires emanates from Him alone, and to Him alone, we must ascribe.”
“Many Christians say with their mouths: “We revere You, we bow to You, we Glorify and praise You”, but their actions show otherwise. They praise and Glorify Christ with their mouths, but revile Him by their iniquities.”
“Kingly honour and worldly fame is to eternal glory like darkness is to light. Earthly wealth is nought by comparison with wealth in Heaven. Comfort today is to goodness in Heaven is like foul and impure water to clean and life-bringing water; rather, it is meaningless.”
“Truth is like Eternal Life; once found, it is never lost.”
“A heart that cares for Eternal Life no longer cares for vain acquisitions; but when vanity enters our hearts, Eternal Life is lost.”
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“We are blessed, for Our Lord has come. He has come for our sake. He likened Himself to His people and came to His people for their sake. He came to save the sinners, which means us, for we are among the sinners. He came to redeem the dead, which means us, for we are among the dead. Blessed is the Lord Who came to save the sinners and to redeem the dead!”
“A sinner acts towards God like a man who mocks and reviles his keeper and feeder. The sinner sees none of these things, for he is blinded by his sin; but when he opens the eyes of his spirit, he will see, and accept it as true.”
“We know that by Faith alone we have no power to rise against sin and to defeat it, or to do genuine goodness, and so we plead and Pray fervently to God for His help in all these things.”
“God is impartial, but He has mercy on all who repent… A sinner is destroyed not by the gravity or number of his sins, but by a life without repentance.”
“Forgiveness is better than revenge.”
“Sit down, for I know you. Love is higher than fasting.”
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“When we die, we leave all things behind; not just our possessions, but also the earth and our very bodies; we depart with our Souls only, and nothing else. So why should we care about things that we must abandon one day or another?”
“When the son returned to his father from a distant land, how great was his joy at reuniting with him and seeing his face! How heartfelt the welcome and embrace of his father! Imagine then the what blessing it will be for the honourable Soul to return from this world, to leave behind its faraway land and its vale of tears, to reunite with its Father in Heaven, to see His Holy face, to bow before the radiant Throne of His Glory, and is met by His Holy embrace!”
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The following year, he again saw the Mother of God in the air and several people near her. The Saint knelt down, and near him four others in white garments also fell to their knees. The Saint entreated the All-Pure Virgin for someone, that she would not leave him (Tikhon did not tell his cell-attendant who the four people were, nor for whom the request was made). She answered, “Let it be as you ask.”
A year and three months before his death, in a vivid dream, it seemed to the Saint that he was standing in the monastery church. A priest of his acquaintance was carrying the Divine Infant, covered with a veil, out of the altar through the Royal Doors. The Saint approached and kissed the Infant on the right cheek, and he felt himself stricken on the left. Awakening, the Saint sensed a numbness in his left cheek, his left leg, and a trembling in his left hand. He accepted this illness with joy.
Shortly before his death, the Saint saw in a dream a high and twisting ladder and he heard a command to climb it. “At first, I was afraid because of weakness,” he told his friend Cosmas. “But when I started to go climb, the people standing around the ladder lifted me higher and higher, up to the very clouds.” “The ladder,” said Cosmas, “is the way to the Heavenly Kingdom. Those who helped were those you have helped by your advice, and they remember you.” The Saint said with tears, “I thought so, too. I feel that my end is near.” He frequently received the Holy Mysteries during his illness.
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