Matthew, Beloved of the Lord

09/08/2026

The "Vladimir" Icon of the Mother of God is commemorated by the Church today (9/8).

09/03/2026

Happy Birthday, Anna!
Memory Eternal, Matthew!

They were inseparable in life, but even more so since Matthew's departure from this temporal life. Death cannot separate us from the love of God, nor does it separate true believers from each other. Members of the Body of Christ remain as such, even after the soul has departed from the body. They are very much cognizant of the lives of those whom they love.

And that is quite evident with Anna and Matthew. Their mutual love for each other, their mutual love for Christ and His Holy Church, and their mutual love for the Mother of God, continues to manifest itself in ways that transcend human understanding.

Glory to God for all things.

08/25/2026

Statistically, at least 90% of women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome choose to abort their child. In some countries that number is as high as 100%. Pray that those who have committed such heinous acts will repent and find forgiveness, and that this madness will stop.

A diagnosis should never be a death sentence.

08/16/2026

These photos were taken 5 years ago today, just seven weeks before Matthew fell asleep in the Lord.
... the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: as it seemed good to the Lord, so has it come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21 LXX).

07/17/2026

"The taunts of an atheistic worldview are never able to dislodge faith from the hearts of those who know the truth".

Bishop Irinei (Steenberg) of London and Western Europe

07/06/2026

The "Vladimir" Icon of the Mother of God is commemorated by the Church today.

07/04/2026

It was 5 years ago, on the Feast of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, that I blessed a unique icon of St. John and Brother José. My family had purchased the icon for our private veneration, and it's kept in our home. Amazingly, It had arrived just in time for St. John's Feast Day.

That same day after the evening service Matthew kept trying to enter into the sanctuary. He was so persistent that my wife and our other children tried to restrain him, but he pulled away with tremendous strength, and I was able to intercept him as he headed toward the deacon's door. Suddenly, he quieted down, and walked with me into the sanctuary and around the back of the altar as if he were being churched, all the while looking around the sanctuary in awe.

Matthew was so sick when he was born that he was baptized in the hospital and chrismated at home, but because of the difficult circumstances we were facing at the time we simply forgot to complete the churching. But 5 years ago, exactly three months to the day before his repose, Matthew understood what needed to be done.

We're convinced that he knew the Lord would soon call him back to Himself. We're convinced, just looking at his expression of wonder, that at that moment he saw the inhabitants of the Heavenly Kingdom whom he had spent a lifetime conversing with, in the homeland that he hoped to gain.

It was always obvious to us that St. John and Brother Jose were Matthew's personal favorites among the saints. It was St. John who was his constant intercessor throughout the most difficult days of his life, and it was both St. John and Brother Jose who were his constant companions in his last years, which were by far the most joyful and vibrant that he had ever experienced. As the sun always bursts forth brilliantly just before it sets below the horizon, so did Matthew become most radiant and joyful in his last years.

When we buried Matthew we placed a copy of that icon in his hands among several others in his coffin, as is customary in Orthodoxy, and so when he rises on the last day to face the Awesome Judge he will be able to say: "I offer as my intercessors those whose lives were well-pleasing to You, and with whom I desire to dwell in Your Kingdom, eternally beholding Your Glory".

06/30/2026

Anna & Chris put Matthew's picture under the Holy Relics of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco today. St. John was Matthew's fervent intercessor from his mother's womb.

06/08/2026

It is not fitting to call those dead for whom Christ, in His love, suffered and died. They are alive in the living Lord. We shall all know this clearly when the Lord visits the graveyard of this world for the last time, and the trumpets sound.

St. Nikolai Velimirovich

06/02/2026

We visited Matthew's grave today to clean up some old vegetation. God willing, we'll be back in the Fall to seed.