The Orthodox Church commemorates today the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, that took place in 451 AD in Chalcedon.
The Synod issued the Confession of Chalcedon that provides a clear statement on the two natures of Christ, the human and the divine. The two natures unite to form the one person (“prosopon”) of Jesus Christ, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably.
The Orthodox Church also commemorates today Venerable Macrina, the daughter of Basil the Elder and Emmelia and the sister of Basil the Great, Naucratius, Peter of Sebaste, and Saint Gregory of Nyssa.
The life of Venerable Macrina is a living proof that the family, when it follows the path that leads to Jesus Christ, is indeed a “domestic church” (“kat’oikon ecclesia”) and that its members, through prayer, mutual love and mutual support, harmoniously follow the path towards purity and the Kingdom of God.
Venerable Macrina, who was older than her siblings, helped her mother with the upbringing of her younger brothers and sisters and devoted herself to her religion. She became a nun and practised asceticism in a women’s monastery in Pontus, near Iris River. Her life was described by her brother, Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, who wrote that she spent the rest of her life praying, following a rigorous ascetic way of life, and doing wonderful charity works. She peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the place of her repentance and entered the Kingdom of Heaven.
Source: Church of Cyprus
