REJOICE, FAITHFUL EGYPT; REJOICE, BLESSED LIBYA

(Celebrated on Saturday, the eve of Cheesefare Sunday)

HAGIORITE WORDS

On the Saturday prior to Cheesefare Sunday, we commemorate all our blessed, God-bearing Fathers who shone in ascesis.

 

2nd Sticheron chant of the feast-day Vespers.
Plagal of the Fourth (as in the chant "Come, all ye faithful")

"Rejoice, faithful Egypt; rejoice, blessed Libya; rejoice, exquisite Thebes; rejoice, every place and city and land, which has nurtured the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and has magnified them through their self-restraint and sufferings and desires, and has elevated perfected men before God. These emerged as luminaries of our souls; these same ones, with the prestige of miracles and with the signs of their labors did shine forth intelligibly, to the ends of the world. Let us cry out to them: "O, most blessed Fathers, mediate for us, that we may be saved."

Image: The Holy Fathers who shone in ascesis. 1799 AD. Portable Icon in the Temple of the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Glossa, Skopelos Island. Possibly the work of a Hagiorite workshop.

In our day, harsh Islam prevails in Egypt, Libya and (Egyptian) Thebes, and Christians are being decimated and eliminated.
May the Lord - through the Theotokos and all the Saints of Africa and Asia - help in restoring His true faith in these places, and in our hearts...

Saturday of Cheesefare Commemoration of all our God-bearing Fathers and Mothers who shone forth in asceticism

OCA

On this day, we commemorate all the righteous and God-bearing Fathers and Mothers, both known and unknown, who shone forth in asceticism. With these two weeks of Meatfare and Cheesefare, the Church gradually eases us into the full fasting which begins on Monday.

The holy acetics are virtuous men and women who contended against the devil and their own passions. By examining their lives and their struggles against the Enemy, we take courage from the victory they have achieved, and are inspired to imitate their God-pleasing conduct. They also teach us that fasting is not merely abstinence from food, but involves refraining from inappropriate speech and unseemly actions.

Since these holy ascetics share the same human nature that we have, their example is an encouragement to us as we embark on our own spiritual struggles. Their lives are a model for us to follow as we seek to acquire and practice the various virtues and to turn away from everything evil. If we undertake these same struggles of prayer, fasting, and good works, we shall receive from God the same reward they did.

Most of the holy ascetics commemorated today have their own separate Feast Day during the year, while some are remembered only on this day.

Troparion — Tone 8
Only Creator, with wisdom profound, You mercifully order all things, / and give that which is needed to all men: / Give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Your servants who have fallen asleep, / for they have placed their trust in You, our Maker and Fashioner, and our God.

Kontakion — Tone 8
With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the souls of Your servants, / where there is neither sickness nor sorrow, and no more sighing, / but life everlasting. 

Please, see also

Ancient Christian faith (Orthodox Church) in Africa The Orthodox Church of Alexandria & the Patriarchate of Alexandria
Dream Team of the Desert
Orthodox Monasticism
LIVE, BEYOND THE LIMITS!
The holy anarchists... in the Egyptian Desert
Hymn to the African Saints
Theosis (deification): The True Purpose of Human Life
The Kingdom of Heaven, where racial discrimination has no place
August 7: the day of the 10.000 African Orthodox Saints  
Monasticism (tag)

Orthodox nuns from Sub-Saharan Africa
Orthodox Nuns from all the World
Less “Bishops”, More Monastics Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa
Islam (tag)
Apostle Paul, the Christian equivalent to Mohammed

The Penalties for Apostasy in Islam
Traditionalist View on Sex Slavery in Islam
Early Muslim conquests & Rashidun Caliphate
From Islam to Christianity: Saints in the Way to the Lihgt The Orthodox Christian sentiment regarding the persecutions of Christians by Islamists

راديو الأرثوذكسية - Al Orthodoxiya Radio Station, via internet, a Light in the Darkness
التأله , السيدة مريم العذراء , الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية , باللغه العربيه , من هو يسوع