Hail, Saint Cyprian of Antioch, saint and sorcerer, theurge and thaumaturge, mage and martyr and mystic! On this holy day we venerate you, blessed and faithful servant of God; hear our prayers, receive them, and present them to the Lord for our sakes and for the sake of the healing, salvation, and redemption of all humanity before and through God. Intercede for us in our hour of need and at the hour of our death, and help us walk the path of righteousness in the dark and in the light, with hands both on our left and our right, through Christ our Lord, amen.
By sharing in the ways of the Apostles,
you became a successor to their throne.
Through the practice of virtue,
you found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God;
by teaching the word of truth without error,
you defended the Faith, even to the shedding of your blood.
Hieromartyr Cyprian, entreat Christ God to save our souls.You abandoned ungodly darkness, becoming a light of truth;
You were illustrious as a pastor;
You were glorified in contest:
O righteous Father Cyprian together with godly Justina,
Intercede for us before God the Creator of all!You turned from the art of sorcery to the knowledge of God,
and were shown forth as a skilful healer for the world, Cyprian, inspired by God.
Together with Justina you grant cures to those who honor you;
with her, pray to the Master who loves mankind that He may save our souls.(troparia and kontakion from the website of the Orthodox Church in America)
Yup, it’s the Feast of Saint Cyprian of Antioch today, and you know what that means: PARTY TIME! I’m throwing a celebratory party tonight for my friends and colleagues to honor the good Saint Cyprian, now that my household’s novenas are complete and the time of Saint Cyprian has come upon us. If you haven’t made any prayers or works yet with Saint Cyprian, then today’s your day, so get off your ass and start preparing yourself to do just that! Today’s basically a Cyprianista Christmas, and one of the best days of the year for magicians, sorcerers, necromancers, and all kinds of occultists. Probably the biggest thing I get to look forward to is, after today, I can finally take a break from all the Cyprianic work I’ve been doing and take it easy for a few days to focus on a few loose ends and other projects before Crucible Convention 2014 (which you should totally come to if you’re anywhere near the Princeton, NJ area to hear me and many other highly-regarded magicians talk).
Of course, my dear readers will also know that I’ve been holding a fundraiser in honor of Saint Cyprian these past nine days, and I am floored by what I’ve been privileged to witness. After all the donations and link-sharing, you guys have raised a total of $944 from 49 different people for the Malala Fund, which empowers girls through education and helps Pakistani, Kenyan, and Syrian children and refugees, and named after Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl activist who was shot by Taliban extremists, survived to world acclaim, and has been working since to improve the condition of life for girls and children across the world in extreme conditions. I’ll be arranging the donation first thing on Monday, since my plate is a little full for today, and I’ll also be raising money tonight at my celebration of the Feast of Saint Cyprian to augment what people have donated online. Besides, this will also give me enough time to let my paycheck come in so I can donate some extra of my own, too, so I can round up the total sum to a nice cool $1000.
With that, I’d like to publicly thank and honor you guys who helped chip in for this fundraiser in the name of Saint Cyprian of Antioch:
- Mondo C.
- Sacha B.
- Kevin M.
- Ocean Delano
- Michele M.
- Ahmadi Riverwolf
- Papa Newt
- Ty B.
- Narkaios Alepou
- Charles R.
- Daniel
- Nathen S.
- Pallas Renatus
- Alexander R.
- Richard
- Jon P.
- William T.
- Mary B.
- Andrea M.
- Joshua B.
- Devin M.
- George T.
- Kemal Y.
- Christopher C.
- Israel D.
- ♊+天死
- Steve N.
- Lee C.
- Kevin K.
- Julio. C. O.
- Doc Firment
- Kelly M.
- Susan M.
- Ericson P.
- Andrew Watt
- Joe W.
- Others who have nobly chosen to remain anonymous (don’t worry, Saint Cyprian of Antioch and God know the work you did, even if other people won’t)
And, since (way) more than nine people donated, I’m thrilled to be able to do my drawing for the prizes I mentioned in the fundraiser post. I did the drawing at the altar of Saint Cyprian himself earlier, allowing him to pick the winners, so I’ll be contacting you guys today by email letting you know who won and what you’ve won; to those who won the geomancy reading or consultation prizes, you’re free to use them immediately or schedule them whenever you like in the future.
Guys, thank you for helping out with this. I am truly grateful, humbled, and flabbergasted that I have such noble, charitable, and awesome readers and visitors to this blog. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, every one of you who donated, spread the word, and helped out in this effort. May the blessing of God the Father, of God the Son, of God the Holy Spirit, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Saint Cyprian of Antioch, of Saint Justina, of Saint Theoctistus, and of all the saints and angels above, below, and upon the Earth illumine, protect, and guide you both this and every day of your lives and into eternity.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a party to set up for.
